by Paul Findley served the 20th District of Illinois during eleven terms from 1961 to 1983.  Findley wrote the very first book to analyze the pervasive influence of the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) on American politics, policy, and institutions from the perspective of Congress. Carefully documented with specific case histories, They Dare Speak out: People and Institutions Confront Israel's Lobby reveals how the Israel lobby helps to shape important aspects of U.S. foreign policy and influences congressional, senatorial, and presidential elections. First published in 1985 and reprinted several times since, the book criticizes the undue influence AIPAC exerts in the Senate and the House and the pressure AIPAC brings to bear on university professors and journalists who seem too sympathetic to Arab and Islamic states or too critical of Israel and its policies.  Findley is co-founder of the Council for the National Interest.

Thank you. Thanks for the warm welcome.

The first Israeli settlement was established in the early 1970s, forty years ago. It was wrong.  It should have been resisted by a torrent of protests across the country. It did not come. And I freely admit my own personal guilt. I should have done more. I should have made this the cause of the day, everyday, from then on. But today I have what I call happy news. There is a way out. And it’s a way that is humane, just, and peaceful. Not one shot out of a gun is required. Not one extra dollar or shekel is required:

President Barack Obama, acting alone, can extricate Palestine, Israel, and America from the seemingly inescapable quagmire in which all three are sinking these days.

To make peace possible, Obama must issue an Executive Order suspending all aid to Israel, until Israel and Palestine conclude a peace treaty that creates a two-state solution.

Israel must recognize Palestine’s sovereignty over all territory seized in the l967 war. All Israeli personnel and officials must leave Palestine only those who approved by the government of Palestine would be able to remain as foreign nationals.

Now that is the negative side of the picture from the standpoint of Israelis. Look at the positive effect this would have on Israel.

For the first time in history, Israelis would be able to achieve peace and security at home and abroad, a prospect that is unthinkable today. Arab states long ago agreed to recognize Israel and have peaceful relations with Israel once Palestine became nationally sovereign and politically independent with its international borders recognized as legitimate and inviolable by the UN Security Council.

When that happens, Israel will be free from territorial expansion and the burden of the occupation, which must be horrendous, but is rarely discussed. And if requested by either party, I would recommend that the U.S. provide military police in order to keep order during the transition.

Israel will be greatly strengthened by this process, because the Arab states all agreed to extend normal relations once Palestine was secure and that would have an enormous effect on the future of Israel.

Pleased with Palestine’s national sovereignty and independence, Hamas, Hizbollah, Islamic Jihad, Al-Qaeda, Iran, and many other countries long opposed to Israel’s illegal occupation will have less reason—perhaps none—to challenge the Jewish state.

Why? Because Israel will have finally agreed to abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention, which is very important because Israel not only signed the Fourth Geneva Convention, it was one of the driving forces for its enactment.

Palestinians will be ecstatic. They will enjoy full citizenship for the first time since the end of World War II.

For the first time in nearly half a century, America will be liberated from complicity in Israel’s unlawful treatment of Arabs.

Extremist groups will lose one of the main stated reasons for being. The specter of religious war between the West and the East will be drifting away.

Obama’s act will also set free the people like us of America and Israelis would be freed from the stigma that has existed for the last forty years for having long been international outlaws [inaudible].

If Obama acts and perseveres, the world will rejoice in his statesmanship, and historians will record him a great peacemaker.

His Executive Order, like the one that Abraham Lincoln used to emancipate the slaves, will herald the blessings of liberty for millions of long-suffering human beings.

But Obama must act, and act promptly, and persevere. It won’t work otherwise.

Only a dream? Yes, but more than that— it’s a vision that is as practical as it is humane.

It will become the reality if our president sees clearly and acts with statesmanship and moves decisively to grasp what I call the outstretched hand of destiny.

Now this is a tall order, but it will work if Obama is bestirred to action. He’s toward the end of his eight year term. He has expressed many times his sympathy for the Palestinians. Here is his chance to do something about it.

And here is something that you can do about it, too. Back on the tables are several hundred copies of a petition to President Obama. And this petition needs to have signatures on it. Obama needs to have piles of these petitions show up every morning for a long time.

It’s the one hope I have that this message will finally reach him personally.

I have tried numerous avenues for about four months to try to get the message to Obama. The bright promise that this approach holds for him personally. The bright promise that it holds for the state of Israel. The bright promise that it holds for Palestine and for the people of the United States.

So if you would like copies of the petition there are two or three hundred of them on one of the tables back of this assembly hall. And I hope you will act upon it. I won’t give up. I have other avenues I will pursue. Because I see this as the great hope of our country, of humanity, and if we act decisively through the President, good things will happen very soon, of that I am certain. So I invite you to take part.

All of us were negligent during the development of the settlements. Today 500,000 illegal settlers live on land that belongs to the Palestinian people, 500,000, and those half million people encompass one half of the land that Israel has occupied and treated as subordinate group of human beings.

That’s my message. I see hope today because I believe Obama is at the point in his presidency when he will be seeking a legend, a memorial to his service, and this could make him an all-time hero that would be matched by no one else.

Thank you very much.

Prepared by Paul Findley
Member of Congress 1961-1983
Jacksonville, IL 62650

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