CAIR ACTION ALERT #489

TELL CONGRESS NOT TO PUNISH THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 3/13/2006) - CAIR is urging American Muslims and other people of conscience to contact their elected representatives to urge that they not enact legislation, such as H.R.4681, H.R.4668, S.2237 and S.2370, designed to punish the Palestinian people for exercising their right to democratic elections. (To learn more about these bills, go to: http://thomas.loc.gov/ Enter the bill numbers as search terms.)

Passage of such legislation would effectively end all relations between the U.S. and the Palestinians, undermining America’s often-repeated message of support for democracy.

In contrast to the legislation now moving through Congress, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters Sunday: “We are looking at ways to even increase our humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people during this period of time.”

SEE: Rice: U.S. May Increase Palestinian Aid http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1717579

On March 6, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported, “nearly 400 rabbis signed a letter to President Bush urging him to maintain indirect assistance to the Palestinians and ‘constructive engagement’ with the Palestinian government.”

SEE: Rabbis Press Bush on Palestinians http://jta.org/page_view_breaking_story.asp?intid=1672

Last year, the U.S. House passed a resolution (H.Res. 56, passed 415-1) praising the Palestinian people for conducting a “free and fair election.” The House went on to urge Palestinians to “advance democratic ideals.”

“Any new Palestinian government should be tested as to whether it can deliver basic services, security and the fulfillment of Palestinian national aspirations in an atmosphere free of violence,” said CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad. “Taking a heavy-handed approach to the election results would deal a severe blow to our nation’s public diplomacy initiatives and would harm the effort to win the ‘hearts and minds’ of Muslims worldwide.”

Awad urged elected officials to support a “long-term and thoughtful” response to the Palestinian elections.

IMMEDIATE ACTIONS REQUESTED:

1) CONTACT YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS and ask them to ensure that America’s response to the recent Palestinian elections will: 1) support democracy and 2) help quickly bring about a just solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict that is acceptable to all parties.

TO CONTACT YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS, GO TO (Talking Points are provided for you at the web site linked below.): http://capwiz.com/cair/issues/alert/?alertid=8573801&type=CO

2) PUT YOUR CELL PHONE TO GOOD USE. Call all of your friends and family members and ensure that they contact their elected officials. Act as a facilitator. You can enter their zip code into our website at http://capwiz.com/cair/dbq/officials/ and get the names and contact information of their Senators.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT: CAIR Government Affairs Director Corey P. Saylor, (202) 488-8787, x3221, (571) 278-4658