US State Department Directer Josh Paul resigned on October 18 due to a difference of opinion with the Biden administration. After working in the Bureau of Political/Military Affairs for 11 years, Paul stated his inability to reconcile his mission of furthering democracy and peace with the heightened supply of high tech arms to Israel during the Gaza crisis. Josh Paul was responsible for arms transfer, according to his letter of resignation.
In the letter, Paul states, “ I cannot work in support of a set of major policy decisions, including rushing more arms to one side of the conflict, that I believe to be shortsighted, destructive, unjust, and contradictory to the very values that we publicly espouse, and which I wholeheartedly endorse: a world built around a rules-based order, a world that advances both equality and equity, and a world whose arc of history bends towards the promise of liberty, and of justice, for all.”
“Decades of the same approach have shown that security for peace leads to neither security, nor to peace… I fear we are repeating the same mistakes we have made these past decades, and I decline to be a part of it for longer.” Paul said.
While Josh Paul didn’t advance a theory for how the conflict could end, other Americans have not been remiss in doing so. On the same day as Paul’s resignation, thousands of Jews protested in the nation’s capitol and inside the US Congress building demanding a ceasefire. According to a report by the Jewish Voice for Peace, “Two dozen rabbi… held a sit-in inside one of the Capitol buildings, chanting ‘Not in our name’ and ‘Ceasefire now.’”
UN chief António Guterres also called for a ceasefire on Oct. 18, for the release of hostages in Gaza and for Israel to allow food, water and medical aid to enter the Gaza strip.
The Muslims of America have also called for a ceasefire and an end to Islamophobic violence in the United States.
Peace treaties are not unprecedented in the history of Islam, and one of its tenets is the fulfillment of the same. During the time of the Holy Last Messenger Muhammad (peace be upon him), himself and his holy companions were pushed from their homes in Makkah. When the Treaty of Hudaibiya was initiated, the companions thought it was a defeat and became despondent. But in the wisdom of the Holy Last Messenger (peace be upon him), the treaty was a time of peace and a safeguard for the lives of the Muslims of that time.
A treaty of peace is the same that is needed for the Muslims and Christians of Palestine today.
As Josh Paul said, “…if we want a world shaped by what we perceive to be our values, it is only by conditioning strategic imperatives with moral ones, by holding our partners, and above all by holding ourselves, to those values, that we will see it… And I wish all of us– peace.”
IP Correspondent
