A LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA

Following is a copy of a letter I sent to President Barack Obama today.


Dear Mr. President:

I am writing to offer plaudits and gratitude for your leadership in producing the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1887 regarding nuclear disarmament. It demonstrated the resolve and resourcefulness that we have come to expect from your Administration. As one who supported your election, I was particularly pleased to know that you were at the gavel for that session.

I hope that choosing that venue for the initiative; i.e., the community of nations united, was another example of your government’s intention to earnestly participate in that community. It is in that context that I wish to respectfully offer a challenge to you.

I speak of your government’s position toward the State of Israel. I am a retired American physician, a constituent of the 23rd Congressional District in Texas. For the past two years I have been living in Jerusalem and doing volunteer work in the West Bank and Gaza. It is from this perspective and experience that I write to you.

For several decades, the State of Israel has ignored numerous UN Resolutions, rulings of international legal bodies, and mandates of international humanitarian agencies regarding its illegal Occupation of the Palestinian territories and its oppressive treatment of the Palestinian people. In the face of these admonishments to Israel’s policies and actions, the United States and the international community have been silent. In so doing, our government has tacitly approved these actions and to that extent has been complicit in them.

I respectfully ask, Sir: how can the US and other nations expect compliance with Resolution 1887 while it empowers Israel to ignore other resolutions and act with impunity?

I hope that your government does not hold the rationale that it can overlook transgressions of the State of Israel because it is in the national interest to do so. Such a position will only further justify the anarchy of self-interest that we see too commonly in our world, as well as place the US on the wrong side of history.

You are fond of using that metaphor. I respectfully ask you, then, how often we now condemn empires of the past because they came to power on the backs of innocents? How often do we now view previous political expediencies as egregious self-interest? Sir, will you enter history as having stood up against injustice in any quarter, or will you enter history asterisked merely as a two-term President?

Either we are part of the community of nations, or we are not. Either we hold all member nations accountable to international law, or we do not. Either we abide by the consensus of international bodies, or we do not. To advocate compliance for some nations for some issues is disingenuous at best, and arrogant and cynical at worst.

I am aware of the forceful statements from you and Secretary Clinton regarding the settlements in the West Bank. You should know, Mr. President, that those statements have brought much hope to Palestinian people here. But with respect, Sir, the statements come from lips and mouth only and have no “teeth”. Unless and until the statements are enforced by the same kind of sanctions and forceful economic measures from the international community that are applied toward rogue nuclear states, those statements will continue to be ignored by the State of Israel.

Israel does not await responses from the world. From my two years living here, I assure you that although the diplomatic process proceeds sluggishly, the reality on the ground accelerates at a relentless pace. Indeed, as I write from Jerusalem today, Palestinian apartheid is very nearly a fait accompli. While your Administration’s efforts are repeatedly rebuffed, and duplicitous decoys of relaxed travel restrictions obscure the truth, the suffering of 4 million people increases every day.

I implore you, Sir, to uphold the integrity and credibility of your Administration by enforcing international law wherever it applies.

In closing, Mr. President, I offer fervent support for the success of your Administration and hope that you will heed the advice of your predecessor and follow the better angels of your nature.

Respectfully,
John Harry Gunkel, M.D.