http://www.ipc-ps.info/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/e_News/news2003/2003-10/104.html

International Press Center-Palestine

US Senator Equates Israeli Policies to Racism and Discrimination, Destruction in Gaza to a Hurricane

GAZA, October 25, 2003 (IPC)-- A United States Senator said the Israeli policies in the Palestinian territories resembled the segregation and discrimination that was practiced against the African-American community in the United States back in the fifties, describing the destruction that she saw in Gaza Strip “like that of a hurricane”.

Senator Donzella James, Senator for the state of Georgia, was among a delegation representing the Inter-religious and International Federation for World Peace (IIFWP), who, despite the Israeli obstacles, managed to come to Gaza Strip and witness the enormous destruction there.

In an exclusive interview with IPC correspondent, Senator James said that she was appalled and surprised with the amount of destruction, because the foreign and US media don't convey the whole and real picture of the situation in the Middle East, especially the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"… I was really surprised when I came here, because you don't really hear about everything. You would think that after one bombing, they would clean it up, start repairing, because you hear what some people want us to hear in the United States. It was almost as if a hurricane has come through to make the destruction that I saw," Senator James said.

The Senator expressed sorrow for what is happening to the Palestinian people by the hands of the Israeli forces, and added that her efforts is working both on the direct and indirect levels in order to improve the situation of the Palestinians, and bring “peace and harmony to the region”.

Senator James has been in office for ten years, and despite her veteran and experienced service in the United States Senate, she was surprised to closely observe the Palestinian way of life under occupation.

"It is obvious to me that I, who thought that I had inner roads to all the information, I would not know what was really happening here, and for me as a 10-year politician not to know about that, I say it has something to do with …I just want to say that nobody is really reporting 'the real deal'."

As well, Senator James equated the oppression of the Palestinian people by the Israeli occupying forces to the racial discrimination against the African-Americans in the United States, which lasted nearly 400 years.

"I can equate that (the racial discrimination and oppression) to what is happening here; the discrimination, the harassment, the robbing of your own land from you, and I know that we can achieve peace if we can all come together, work together, and make sure that in this land that God gave to all his children, we can live in peace and harmony together here," Donzella remarked.

Concerning her reaction and plans to help, Senator James said that lobbying was the best way to move in the United States, since "I know that laws and decisions in the United States are not made in the (White) House or the Senate chambers.

They are made out in the golf courts with the lobbyists, or in the restaurants with the lobbyists." She elaborated by saying that she intends, when going back to the States, to talk to some of her colleagues, in order to build some sort of a coalition, which will focus in its early steps on stopping the annual US funds going to the Israeli government, which are used to harm the Palestinian people.

Other than the political level, Senator James mentioned that she intended to educate the common American citizens about the actual Palestinian catastrophe, and as part of the IIFWP initiative for world peace, she would cooperate with the other members of the delegation, who are mostly leaders of churches of different denominations and from around the world, would affect their own community and persuade them not to vote to those in office who disregard the facts and continue to send money to the occupying force here.

The United States government gives about three billion dollars of US tax payers' money to Israel every year, without asking Israel any questions about how they spend this money. In the current year, the US Congress agreed to give Israel an additional nine billion dollars as loan guarantees, and another one billion as "military aid".