Examining the American Paradox of Self-Determination in Palestine

Professor Hisham Ahmed

Political scientist and Palestine scholar Hisham Ahmed argued on March 18 that Zionist interests were being factored into American foreign policy toward Palestine long before the creation of the State of Israel and the Palestinian exodus in 1948. His lecture, entitled "American Foreign Policy Toward Palestine Before 1948: Reflections on Palestinian Self-Determination Today," attracted a packed audience in West Hall, where he had been invited to speak by the Prince al Waleed bin Talal Center for American Studies and Research.

Ahmed said the idea that people should be self-governed is a founding tenet of America's approach to democratic rule. Ratified by the Declaration of Independence, this principle was subsequently only selectively applied because "it clashed with the expansionist visions of America's political leaders." Ahmed argued that the duplicitous endorsement of the right to self-determination in American foreign policy becomes most evident in the paradox of America as the world's self-proclaimed defender of democracy today. He said "the United States itself has been a historical supporter of non-democratic and dictatorial regimes," indicating that rulers like the former Chilean, South Korean, and most recently, the Indonesian dictators have been "on chummy terms" with the United States administration.

Ahmed commented on the extensive fundraising performed after the 1948 naqba by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA). He said that "this urgent assembling of funds" did not primarily aim to alleviate Palestinian suffering, but rather to "dilute unrest among refugees, engineered toward their integration among Arab host countries in order to safeguard Israeli strategic interests." He concluded that the United States has utilized its diplomatic weight to block the efforts of the international community to reemphasize the Palestinian people's right of return, as well as the much-vaunted right to self-determination America claims to valorize.

Ahmed is an associate professor of political science at St. Mary's College in California. He earned his PhD in political science at the University of California Santa Barbara. His most recent publications include "Palestinian Resistance and 'Suicide Bombing': Causes and Consequences" and "The Evolution of Hamas in Palestinian Society: Domestic, Regional, and International Determinants."