One of the saddest parts of watching the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people by Israel and its ally, the US, is watching California's two excellent US Senators, Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein, fight for civil rights the world over while being unable to condemn Israel's treatment of the Palestinian people. That issue is the crux of the entire Middle East turmoil.
What is more telling is both women sit on committees important to deciding America's position on the issue. Senator Feinstein sits on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Senator Boxer sits on the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Subcommittee in Near Western and South Asian Affairs.

While insisting Hamas acknowledge Israel's right to exist, these senators are okay with punishing the Palestinian people because Hamas won a fair election and the occupier, Israel, doesn't like it because the Palestinians stood up to them.

The two senators have also refused to censure Israel's Likud Party for a political platform that refuses to acknowledge Palestine's right to exist and calls for a Greater Israel, gained by a complete confiscation of Palestine. One would think the two would at least be as liberal as Israeli Prime Minister Ahud Olmert's wife who believes in a two state solution and respect for the rights of both factions.

Instead, while they each pay lip service to Palestinian rights, it's always hinged on the Palestinians laying down their arms, giving up all resistance to occupation and accepting Israel's right to exist, in other words, surrendering. At the same time, the Palestinians aren't being fully accorded their right to exist. The illegal occupier is allowed to lay siege to Palestine, confiscate land of a sovereign nation and carry out assassinations of that country's leaders at will.

Senator Feinstein did, in 2005, sponsor an amendment to authorize the State Department to spend $10 million, a pittance, to increase economic development in the Gaza Strip. The money was to be used to leverage as much as $116 million in private investment and go to the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), which would aim its services at microfinance, small business and corporate and mortgage lending. This was just where funds are needed the most, that and infrastructure and employment and health facilities and schoolhouses. However, almost all international funds have been frozen causing massive hardship to the already suffering Palestinians.

Senator Feinstein did make an enlightened speech on the economic package she sponsored. "One of the critical ingredients for peace in the Middle East is to give Palestinians hope that they will be able to develop their economy and infrastructure in the coming years. I believe it is important for there to be an economic dividend for the Palestinians as the Israelis withdraw from Gaza. This funding would create incentives for private investment in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and help create good jobs."

In a May 8th interview conducted by Al-Jazeera, Omar Abul Razeq, a former finance professor and the current Finance Minister of the Palestinian Authority, explained the dilemma he faces with the freezing of Palestinian aid. In his opinion, the US, Israel and the EU want a weak government. When asked about the danger of receiving Iranian aid, Razeq explained, "I want to ask you, what are we supposed to do? Starve to death? Besides, the Iranians are our brothers and have an Islamic obligation to stand beside us." Al-Jazeera asked "The US and the EU have said they would resume financial aid if you recognized Israel, disavowed violence and accepted outstanding agreements between Israel and the PA."

Razeq: "Which Israel would you want me to recognize? Is it Israel from the Nile to the Euphrates? Israel with the occupied Golan Heights? Israel with East Jerusalem? Israel with the settlements? I challenge you to tell me where Israel's borders lie."

When asked about Hamas' reaction if Israel withdrew to the 1967 borders, Razeq came back with, "Does Israel recognize the 1967 borders? Can you tell me of one Israeli government that ever voiced willingness to withdraw to the 1967 borders?"

While Boxer and Feinstein decry the truly heinous acts of Israelis being attacked by suicide bombers, they ignore the far more vicious attacks on Palestine by the Israeli Defense Forces.

According to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, in Palestine between September 29, 2000 the beginning of the second Intafada, and April 30, 2006, there were 3,881 deaths from the occupation and 29,811 injuries. Of the deaths, (calculated in this instance until February 28, 2006), there were 1,898 deaths in Gaza, 541 in Nablus, 350 in Jenin and approximately 250 each in Ramallah and Hebron and so on.

From the beginning of the Second Intafada to March 24, 2006, the number of attacks on ambulances totaled 846. Twenty-eight of the 139 ambulances damaged were damaged beyond repair. Personnel injuries ran 206 with 12 people killed. The PRCS logged 1,798 ambulance access denials.

Chronic malnutrition among children is prevalent. Schools are war zones. Hospitals have inadequate resources. Ambulances are attacked and babies have less of a chance of surviving to old age from one year to the next. When are Boxer and Feinstein going to use their influence to end the occupation and bring peace to the region?