Dear President Obama,
I just heard from one of Senator Leahy's staffers that you're going to receive the $715M you requested for Palestinian reconstruction. That's great news, as is the reporting requirement he attached to the funds.
That said, we have a problem. All the money in the world will not rebuild Palestine if the aid it purchases can't get through the borders. And sadly, it's not.
Gaza needs 500 trucks of aid A DAY to survive, let alone go beyond subsistence. Currently only 100 trucks are allowed to pass the Israeli checkpoints. It's a Kafkaesque nightmare (or if you remember the scene at the Judenrat in Schindler's List) at the checkpoints, where each day something new is forbidden: one day it's toothpaste, the next day macaroni. Yes, macaroni is a serious threat to Israeli security.
You might think that's a joke, but it isn't. It's truly random selection of products to ban from the territory, and if a truck is "contaminated" with the forbidden item, it can't go through. So little "luxury" goods are not allowed in the first place, and can prevent other necessary items from getting in.
Unfortunately, really necessary things for reconstruction such as concrete are consistently banned. Hamas could use it to build bad things, you see. So families continue to live literally in rubble that once was their homes.
This is no way to rebuild. This is no way to secure peace.
I was pleased to see you told Netanyahu that Israel had to stop with the settlements. That's wonderful, but more immediate is the humanitarian crisis that will not be solved simply by throwing money at the problem.
Israel needs to open the borders and allow aid to flow.
To that end, I am joining a delegation of over 100 citizens from around the world in going to the Erez crossing in June at the invitation of UNRWA to refocus attention on the plight of Gazans and deliver what aid we can.
Since you have significantly more power than I, perhaps you could lean on Israel to open the borders. We provide billions in military aid to our ally--much more than the monies we've pledged to Palestinian reconstruction--and some strings attached would go a long way to showing the United States is serious about being more balanced in our policy. Israel has to listen to you, should you show the moral courage.
The beginning of real peace is to create it at every opportunity. Let's not create more radicalized opponents in Gaza, where more than half the population is children. Children who are growing up traumatized, terrorized and seeing Israel as only an evil ally of ours bent solely on destroying them as a nation and a people.
You can change the dynamic dramatically by pushing Israel to do the right thing. Open the borders. End the siege.
Peace,
ntodd
Green Mountain Code Pink
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