by Charles Lenchner at Peace in the Middle East, January 20, 2009

[n.b. Lenchner, formerly a member of the Israeli military who went to prison for his refusal to serve in occupied Palestinian territory, spoke to 2CDC as a PDA organizer in 2005. The article below is one of those featured for the week at Blog for Change (not to be confused with the Obama change.gov site), 1/23/09.]

Today is indeed the dawn of a new era. Obama is the president of America’s hopes, and he carries with him the dreams of many others around the world. Here are my hopes for the incoming Obama administration:

Please treat israeli settlements, checkpoints, the siege of Gaza, family unification and other actions harmful to peace with the severity that it merits. Use the prestige of the presidency to impress upon Israel that Palestinian terrorism is not the cause of instability in the Middle East, it is a byproduct of a world in which the Palestinians do not enjoy complete independence.

Please work openly with pro-peace organizations, inviting them to participate in the formulation of policies on the Middle East. J-Street, the American Task Force on Palestine, ANERA and other organizations need to be at the heart of future American policies - displacing, if only a bit, the hawkish pro-occupation think tanks like WINEP, The Saban Center, and other institutions aimed at preserving Israeli dominance.

Please don’t let Martin Indyk be in charge of anything. He cannot be trusted after promoting the false line that it was Arafat who was wholly responsible for the failure of the peace talks at Camp David in 2000.

The Israelis have far more power to scuttle a just and lasting peace than the Palestinians. For that reason, you need to shift your resources in such a way that US power can be used to hold both sides accountable - not just the Palestinian side. In this long, drawn out and bloody drama - no one can held innocent, no one gets a free pass, no one can be assumed to have pure intentions.