Faith in Action

Dear Congressman Elijah Cummings,

I appreciate your response to my email about the unrest in the Middle East and the military offensive Israel is waging against Lebanon, however, as I shared with a member of your staff earlier today, I strongly disagree with you.

You reference in your email UN Security Council Resolution 1559, but you make no mention of UN Security Council Resolution 242 which calls for the “withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict and termination of all claims or states of belligerency”. Resolution 242, which predates 1559, makes clear that Israel has been in violation of international law for 37 years. Israel has been illegally occupying the West Bank and the Gaza Strip for close to 4 decades!

Is the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and other Jewish lobbying groups so powerful that elected officials are not allowed to challenge Israel on this fact? You are far more intelligent than I am. Why didn’t you mention the roots of this conflict in your email or any public statements that you’ve made? Israel is oppressing the Palestinian and Lebanese people by occupying their land, killing their civilians, destroying their infrastructure, and controlling every aspect of their daily movement.

In your email you spoke of bringing sanctions against Syria and Iran for sponsoring Hezbollah, but you said nothing about the expedited arms shipments that the U.S. is supplying Israel in this conflict. How can Condoleeza Rice & America be an honest broker of peace when the bombs obliterating Lebanon say “Made in the USA”? We are sponsoring the destruction of Lebanon therefore, America is complicit in the attacks.

I am seriously concerned about your perspective on this matter. While we agree on issues like Genocide in Darfur and Debt Relief in Haiti, our views are vastly different on the matter of occupation and oppression in the Middle East. You democrats are sounding too much like the Republicans on this issue. This is not the time to buckle under mainstream pressure. This is the time to be courageous and bold. The American public doesn’t need the narrow views on this issues that are being manufactured in Washington and broadcast on corporate-sponsored media 24/7. We need elected officials who are brave enough to stand for what is right even when right isn’t politically popular.

I would highly recommend a wonderfully insightful documentary called “Peace, Propaganda, and the Promised Land”. It clearly explains the history and roots of the current unrest in the Middle East with special attention to Palestine, but relevance to the situation in Lebanon as well.

Again - I’m praying for your COURAGE,

Min. Heber Brown, III
Baltimore, MD
7th Congressional District