Say the word that's always missing from White House pronouncements about the situation in Palestine. Say the word that we never hear when the administration talks about how Hamas is a terrorist organization that wants to destroy Israel. You know the word, Mr. Johndroe. It's Occupation.

O-C-C-U-P-A-T-I-O-N, Mr. Johndroe, that's the word that was curiously missing from your vocabulary in yesterday's press conference and the one you gave today on behalf of President Bush. But your failure to mention this inconvenient word wasn't entirely unexpected, since it's been entirely missing from the vocabulary and understanding of the adminstration over these past eight years.

(A quick note: Are you especially busy this holiday season? Don't become intimidated by this post's length! Just scroll down to nearly the end, click on the link to the J Street petition to end the Gaza violence, go to the page and sign it and viola, you're done! And thank you!)

Without the word, Occupation, it's entirely impossible to truly understand what's going on in the Israel-Palestine conflict. It's not a small oversight. The people of Palestine have lived under brutal Occupation for 40 long years. Under Occupation, they've seen the loss of their property and livelihoods, their very lives and hope for the future. How can one possibly speak about the conflict and overlook the Occupation?

Under Occupation, the Palestinian population has been subjected to daily insults, and far worse, at the hands of the Israelis. They have seen their property confiscated and homes demolished, their people detained and tortured, often on the most specious grounds, they've been subjected to constant insults and abuse from the IDF and violence and destruction of property at the hands of the illegal Israeli settlers, they've been prevented from working to support their families; they've watched helplessly as the olive trees that have provided a source of livelihood to their families for generations are destroyed and the culprits get off with a slap on the wrist from the Israeli authorities, they've had their families torn apart and residency revoked for specious reasons that serve the Israeli goal of eliminating the Palestinian population of Jerusalem, they've waited for hours at checkpoints and roadblocks that they need to pass in order to carry on the regular activities of daily life: work, school, a visit to the doctor.

Fifty-one Palestinian citizens have died during the course of the eight years of the Bush administration because of Israeli restrictions on movement that prevented them from getting needed medical care. To Palesinians, those deaths don't represent mere statistics, they represent real people that they have known and loved. Just this year, 2,222 innocent Palestinian non-combatants were killed in the Palestinian territories by Israeli security forces, the majority of them in Gaza. Compare that to the 19 Israelis who died over the entire 8 years of the Bush administration because of the Hamas rocket fire into Israel. Did the administration never consider the message that's being given to the Arab world about how we Americans value the worth of an Arab life when we simply ignore the deaths of innocent civilians while railing vehemently against the relatively few Israeli deaths? How could our government give Israel the official, if tacit, imprimature of the U.S. to continue the bombings?

Illegal Settlements in the Occupied Territories
A map of Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories can be found here. The areas in yellow indicate Palestinian settlements; those in dark purple, mid-purple and light purple indicate the areas of illegal Israeli settlement. Note how the areas of Israeli settlement are distributed throughout the West Bank. If Israel is successful in retaining most of the larger settlements in any final peace agreement, the remaining Palestinian land will be effectively divided into a series of discontiguous areas - Bantustans cut off one from another - and the hopes for a truly viable Palestinian state will be quashed. That's what the ongoing Israeli effort to establish "facts on the ground" by settling illegally in the territories is all about.

In the the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the population of illegal settlers in Palestinian territory has reached 443,702 under the disinterested watch of this administration (download xls spreadsheet - note that this number is based upon the 2007 statistics, the actual number will be higher when the 2008 statistics are released). Further, it's been demonstrated that the the route of the Separation Wall, supposedly constructed for security reasons by Israel, in fact was designed in order to give Israel maximum opportunity to appropriate valuable Palestinian farmland and water resources. And the illegal settlement activity, according to a March 2008 report by the Israeli human rights group, Peace Now, significantly increased after the Annapolis conference, which you claimed today represented a significant step forward and a meaningful accomplishment of the Bush administration. But why should it have stopped, considering the letter Bush wrote to Ariel Sharon in 2004, essentially giving the OK to Israeli settlement activity, something in complete violation of international law and which no other U.S. President ever had done? Why is it that the administration always forgets to mention that all the Palestinian violence you decry has occurred under the constant backdrop of illegal and often violent settlement activity by Israeli settlers on the land that your administration claims is destined ostensibly to become part of the future Palestinian state? Why does the administration constantly call the Palestinians to task, while ignoring all Israeli violations of the agreements that are supposed to lead toward peace?

Occupation has for 40 years deeply and destructively affected the lives of every single Palestinian: Fatah and Hamas, Muslim and Christian, fighter and non-combatant. Recent reports estimate that half of the children of Gaza suffer from PTSD. Now, Israel tacitly has been given the green light by the U.S. for the virtual destruction of Gaza, and there's little real hope in sight. Why did you not demand that Israel stop the bombing?

Today in the press conference, Mr. Johndroe, you made much of the humanitarian supplies from the U.S. that supposedly now will be delivered to Gaza, but we've heard that story before; once the crisis appears over and the eyes of the world turn away, the relief suddenly disappears. And besides, where have we been during all the months of suffering that our own policies in the area have done so much to create in the first place? For how many Palestinians will such aid simply come too late?

You said that President Bush has "laid good groundwork that will ultimately lead to a two-state solution," but came closest to acknowledging the truth when you noted, "it's [the peace process] not something that's going to advance in the immediate near term. However, true to the Occupation-blind approach of the administration (which is no doubt also a result of the Presidential advisors you said were involved in the administration's response - Cheney, and Steve Hadley), you blamed the problem entirely on Hamas' actions. Did you not realize how this delay of any solution in the near term serves the purposes of Israel, by allowing it more time to put yet more settlers in the Occupied Territories, creating more facts on the ground and thereby further destroying any chance of a viable Palestinian state? Not to mention that you're allowing the most intransigent members of Hamas - the ones who are determined to derail any peace process leading to a two state solution - to gain politically from this latest horror when you don't hold Israel responsible for the disproportionality of it's retaliation.

Repeat after me, Mr. Johndroe, The violence is a result of 40 years of Occupation. Oh, I know that Israel claims that Gaza is no longer under Occupation, since Israeli troops were withdrawn in 2005, and the administration appears to agree with that. So here's another term for you, Mr. Johndroe, International Law. Under international law, Israel remains in Occupation of Gaza, because although it withdrew it's security forces and dismantled the Gaza settlements, it has retained complete control over Gaza. It instituted a blockade which has prevented the most basic requirements of human daily life from reaching the citizens of Gaza, many of whom aren't even Hamas' supporters. This amounts to collective punishment, a crime under international law. The economy of Gaza has come to a near standstill. Desperately needed medical supplies cannot reach the people of Gaza due to the Israeli blockade, and the delivery of electricity has been interrupted, seriously compromising medical care in Palestinian hospitals. Fishermen are harrassed when they set out into Palestinian waters in the Mediterranean in order to provide food supplies to Gaza. There are inadequate food supplies in general because of the Israeli blockade. Israel controls the airspace. Practically no one is allowed to leave Gaza. Under international law all these actions represent a continuing Occupation and are illegal, not to mention immoral.

So despite your claims, Mr. Johndroe, about the wonders of the Annapolis conference and the great strides President Bush has made toward a two-state solution, the true Middle East legacy of this administration is represented by that one sadly forgotten word.

Occupation. Say it, Mr. Johndroe.

*********************************************************************************** Take Action! Stop the violence in Gaza! Sign J Street's petition to demand that the United States intervene to bring about an immediate resumption of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. J Street is the new pro-peace Israel lobby.

And/or, sign the Washington Report on Middle East Affair's petition to end Israeli harassment of travelers and journalists in the Occupied Territories

Additional sources: Relief Web's Gaza Humanitarian Situation Report 28 Dec 2008

For some additional information on conditions in the Occupied Territories, check out one or more of the power point slide shows offered by Peace Now on their website.

B'tselem, the Israeli human rights organization, has a collection of photographs that describe the conditions in the Occupied Territories far better than words can do.