To
say that the proliferation of Israeli settlements in
Occupied Palestinian Territory
is an impediment to peace is an understatement. As Israel continues to
gobble up
Palestinian land, the individual rights of landowners and the
Palestinian
people are trampled upon, leaving no realistic peace process of which to
speak.
Ever
since the Israeli occupation began in 1967, the United
States has held that the transfer of Israel's civilian population into
those
territories is illegal and contrary to the Fourth Geneva Convention, an
agreement that both Israel
and the United States
are party to. Consecutive presidential administrations have taken public
stances against settlement building.
President
Obama's recent national security strategy identifies securing a peace
agreement
as a key national security interest. Last year, in Cairo,
President Obama restated the importance of a peace agreement and said
that the United States
does not recognize the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements.
This
makes the premise of a recent New York Times story exposing the
extent
of funds from American tax payers to support the continuation of Israeli
settlements so disturbing. The story highlighted an issue that has long
been
problematic for activists and policy-makers alike. Hundreds of millions
of U.S. tax dollars in deductible contributions are
funneled into occupied territory through American charities to fund the
enterprise that is killing the very peace process the United States
aims to champion.
The
extent of the networks operating here in the United
States to support Israel's settlements is vast and
likely much greater than what the Times story revealed.
Certainly,
charities in the business of subsidizing colonization have made efforts
to
disguise their contributions, and these efforts will continue as more
light is
shed on these controversial transactions.
The
time has come for a comprehensive effort to crack down on this obvious
loophole
in U.S.
foreign policy. Stating opposition to settlements, while allowing
pro-settlement
groups in this country to funnel tax dollars to Israel's
hilltop colonies, undergirds the perception of hypocrisy Middle
Easterners are
all too accustomed to associating with the United States.
Thus
far, actions to counter the efforts of pro-settlement funders using a
tax-deductible status have been limited to filing complaints with the
Internal
Revenue Service (IRS). Through this method, activists have been able to
register a complaint with the IRS, usually claiming a settlement-funding
charity either engages in misleading fundraising or funds discriminatory
practices.
Yet
even though these efforts are noble attempts by activists to halt
funding to
settlements, they have yielded few results and rely on the IRS to follow
through on complaints with little precedent or the tangible evidence
necessary
to open investigations.
A
new approach is necessary to ensure that U.S.
tax dollars are in line with U.S.
foreign policy. Instead of a citizen-initiated, grassroots effort to
mobilize
the IRS, a government-led interagency approach to comprehensively crack
down on
the funding of illegal Israeli settlements in occupied territory is
needed.
Luckily,
such an approach would not require significant changes in policy, the
rearranging of agencies or even significant expansion of any particular
agency.
The mechanisms for enforcement are already in place.
FinCEN,
or the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, became an official branch
of the
Treasury Department with the passage of the USA PATRIOT act in 2002. It
is
tasked with enforcing laws and regulations relating to financial crimes
like
money laundering and foreign terrorism finance. The foreign component of
this
policy, of course, involves the State Department. When it comes to
combating
international terrorism finance, for example, the agencies work together
to
prevent funding to organizations designated by the State Department as
Foreign
Terrorist Organizations.
In
fact, in 1995, then President Clinton issued Executive Order 12947 which
stated
that acts that "disrupt the Middle East peace process constitute an
unusual and
extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and
economy of
the United States" and funding of these acts is illegal and prohibited.
In this
context, the Executive Order was targeting militant organizations, Arab
and
Jewish alike, who used violence against civilians.
Minor
changes in legislation or an Executive Order could allow the State
Department
to maintain a similar list of settlement organizations which American
banks and
charities would not legally be allowed to deal with, and would give
FinCEN the
appropriate authority to crack down on organizations in the United
States which direct U.S. tax
dollars to settlements.
These
settlements continue to prolong the Arab-Israeli conflict which General
Petraeus recently cited as a significant complicating factor for U.S.
objectives
throughout the region.
Few
problems facing the United
States are so obvious. Even fewer have such
obvious solutions. The rest is just a matter of political will. So long
as
American interests are the first priority, lawmakers should have an easy
time
correcting such a glaring and dangerous problem.
Yousef Munayyer is the Executive Director of the Jerusalem Fund and
the Palestine Center
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