The Skunk
The Fourth of July, our Independence Day, is a celebration of American ideals – freedom, liberty, respect for the rule of law, democratic (small d) principles and republican (small r) government. Our Embassies and Consulates around the world invite guests from their host countries to join in the festivities.
The Fourth of July, our Independence Day, is a celebration of American ideals – freedom, liberty, respect for the rule of law, democratic (small d) principles and republican (small r) government. Our Embassies and Consulates around the world invite guests from their host countries to join in the festivities.
Consul General Ronald Schlicher of our Consulate in Jerusalem, Israel, however, invited a skunk to his garden party – Fatah Secretary General Marwan Barghouti, leader of the Tanzim faction of the PLO. There are few people more completely identified with the Palestinian war against Israel; few people less appropriately invited to honor America.
According to the State Department’s latest report on Palestinian compliance, “While it is difficult to determine who, if anyone, planned specific instances of anti-Israeli violence, public statements by leaders of the Tanzim clearly encouraged violence.” (Hello, Mr. Schlicher, they were talking about Marwan Barghouti.)
Perhaps he hadn’t read the report. Perhaps he didn’t know that Barghouti told an Arab newspaper, “The goal (includes) UN resolutions setting the time table for negotiations while ending the U.S. monopoly on the peace process and the inclusion of active international forces such as China, the EU, Russia and various Arab parties.” Or he didn’t read the interview in which Barghouti said, “It is useless to agree on the resumption of negotiations through American arbitration because the U.S. is not an arbitrator but rather a partner with Israel in its aggression against the Palestinian people.” Perhaps he didn’t know that Barghouti is a firm defender of the mortars fired against Israel from PA territory. “We are not only in a position to retaliate, but we have the ability to initiate surprising actions and to invent new means of struggle. It is our right…we still have many and the mortars are not the last of them.” And, “He who demands (an end to the fighting) should immediately be thrown from his work … continuation (of the intifada) is in the interest of the Palestinian people in the homeland and abroad.” [For more, see www.memri.org.]
But he should have known. Marwan Barghouti is a man whose views and goals are the antithesis of American policy calling for a secure and peaceful modus vivendi between Israel and its neighbors. It would be one thing for an American official to speak with him to reiterate our determination to see an end to Palestinian-initiated violence. To have invited him to our official celebration, however, sends the unacceptable message that he and his advocacy and glorification of violence are legitimate in the eyes of the government of the United States.
JINSA has always believed that moving our Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem is the right thing to do. But it isn’t the only thing to do. The Consulate, because it reports directly to the State Department (not through the Embassy) has had a fairly free hand in U.S.-Palestinian diplomacy. That has to stop and Congress should stop it. Congress should hold hearings on regularizing the status of the Consulate so that the Ambassador is the authority, whether he holds court in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem. And Congress should make it clear that the purveyors of violence have to be persona non grata everywhere, particularly at the American Consulate in Jerusalem, Israel.