Emergency Action Needed to Stop Israel's War!

[UFPJ Action Alerts <listmaster at unitedforpeace.org>]

<http://www.unitedforpeace.org>
<http://www.unitedforpeace.org>www.unitedforpeace.org | 212-868-5545 |
<http://www.unitedforpeace.org/email>Click to subscribe
If you are having trouble viewing this message, please
<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=154141422&url_num=4&url=http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=3326>click
here.

Please forward widely!

Stop Killing Civilians in Lebanon, Gaza, and Israel!
Immediate Ceasefire! Start Negotiating!

George Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert are creating a
humanitarian and political catastrophe in Lebanon and Gaza. Israeli
military strikes have killed 210 Lebanese, almost all of them civilians;
destroyed much of Lebanon's infrastructure; put Israeli citizens at much
greater risk (29 Israelis have been killed since June 27th); and made a
full-scale regional war a possibility.

UFPJ opposes all violence against civilians. We condemn Hezbollah's attacks
on Israeli civilians, and we condemn the Israeli assault in Gaza and
Lebanon. We also see the vast differences in the scope and scale of these
actions. As the French Foreign Minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy, described
it, Hezbollah's seizure of the soldiers and firing rockets into northern
Israel were "irresponsible acts"; Israel's bombing of the Beirut
international airport was "a disproportionate act of war."

Israel's military offensive in Lebanon comes while Israel continues a
separate siege of the Gaza Strip. Three weeks of Israeli air strikes and
attacks have killed more than 60 Palestinians, stripped most of Gaza's 1.4
million residents of access to electricity and water, and plunged them into
further deplorable living conditions. Just last Wednesday, 23 Palestinians
were killed, including a family of nine.

George Bush is giving a green light to Israel's use of force, which is
being conducted in part with U.S.-supplied weapons. The Bush
administration's trampling of international law and national sovereignty in
its war on Iraq has also emboldened Israel to disregard international
condemnation of its behavior.

These U.S.-backed Israeli actions -- the disproportionate, collective
punishment of civilian populations -- are illegal and irresponsible
responses to the capture of two Israeli soldiers and killing of eight
others in southern Lebanon, and the capture of an Israeli soldier in Gaza.
In fact, Israeli peace activists have been in the forefront of pointing out
that these are being used as pretexts by an Israeli government determined
to use force to impose its will on Palestinians, Lebanese and other
neighboring peoples.

United for Peace and Justice urgently calls on the Bush administration and
Congress to:

pressure Israel to immediately cease its military operations in both
Lebanon and the Gaza Strip;

work with international partners to broker an immediate and unconditional
ceasefire in Lebanon, Palestine, and Israel;

commence negotiations to peacefully resolve outstanding disputes, including
the release of prisoners held on all sides, an end to Israel's 39-year-old
occupation of Palestinian lands, and implementation of U.N. resolutions on
the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

For a cease-fire and negotiations to have a chance, the Bush
Administration's unconditional, one-sided backing of Israel's actions must
end. Now, it is more important than ever for the U.S. antiwar movement to
be speaking out for a peaceful and just solution to the Arab-Israeli
conflict and an end to the U.S. role in sustaining it.

TAKE ACTION: Hold the Bush Administration to account for its backing of
Israel's killing of civilians and destruction of civilian infrastructure in
the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.

1. Get the facts and spread the word:
<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=154141422&url_num=5&url=http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=3313>Click
here for background information and resources from a wide range of UFPJ
member groups and allies.

2. Pressure the Bush Administration and Congress:
Call the White House (202-456-1111), the U.S. State Department
(202-647-4000), and the Congressional switchboard (202-224-3121), which
will connect you to your Congressmembers' offices, to demand that the U.S.
take immediate action. Organize delegations of peace advocates to
Congressional offices. We need to end Bush's war policy in Iraq and in the
Middle East.

3. Send a letter to the editor at your local newspaper:
People in your community need to hear from you. Your neighbors are probably
as appalled by this as you are, and they need to see your words in print so
they know they are not alone.
<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=154141422&url_num=6&url=http://www.congress.org/congressorg/dbq/media/>Click
here to send a letter to the editor at your local paper.

Suggested Talking Points:
"Israel has been demolishing the civilian infrastructure in Gaza and
Lebanon, targeting power plants, commercial airports and bridges. While
Hezbollah violated international law by attacking Israel and then firing
missiles at Israeli cities, there are vast differences in the scope and
scale of these actions. As the French Foreign Minister described it,
Hezbollah's seizure of the soldiers and firing rockets into northern Israel
were 'irresponsible acts'; Israel's bombing of the Beirut international
airport was 'a disproportionate act of war.' It is an act of collective
punishment of the Lebanese population -- a grave violation of international
law. That is unacceptable and an even greater crime."

4. Join or organize an emergency protest in your community:
Protests are planned in
<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=154141422&url_num=7&url=http://www.unitedforpeace.org/calendar.php?calid=17288>NYC
and
<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=154141422&url_num=8&url=http://www.unitedforpeace.org/calendar.php?calid=17287>DC
for today, Tuesday, July 18. To find a protest in your area, visit our
<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=154141422&url_num=9&url=http://www.unitedforpeace.org/events>online
events calendar. If you are organizing a protest, please
<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=154141422&url_num=10&url=http://www.unitedforpeace.org/addevent>post
the details on our events calendar and on
<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=154141422&url_num=11&url=http://www.endtheoccupation.org/>http://www.endtheoccupation.org.
To maximize media interest, seek out voices from constituencies not known
to be as active on these issues.

BACKGROUND
Bush says repeatedly that "Israel has a right to defend herself," both with
respect to Gaza and to the new assault on Lebanon.

If, as it appears, last Wednesday's attack was Hezbollah's initiative in
crossing Israel's border, it constitutes a violation of international law,
despite its claimed intention of aiding the Palestinians and helping
achieve the release of Lebanese prisoners held by Israel. However, it was a
border skirmish -- something common on borders all over the world all the
time and hardly new on the Israel-Lebanon border. A border skirmish is not
the beginning of a war unless one side wants it to be. The Israeli
government wanted it to be.

Israel could have responded by negotiating a prisoner swap with the
Palestinians and Lebanese, as it has frequently done. Instead, it chose to
attack Lebanon's civilian infrastructure, along with Gaza's, and it has
killed more than 196 Lebanese civilians. These aren't defensive acts; they
are acts of aggression.

Every Lebanese airport has been attacked and rendered unfit for travel.
Every seaport has been attacked. Several major gas stations and electrical
stations have been destroyed. The major bridges in the country have been
destroyed. The main arteries of the country have been destroyed -- from the
south to the north -- making travel between main cities throughout Lebanon
-- and therefore escape from Israel's bombs -- physically impossible. The
Israeli army has been calling upon villages in South Lebanon to evacuate,
yet they have destroyed the roads on which people can travel and have
bombed two vehicles full of civilians attempting to leave.

Israel's reckless actions have endangered not only Palestinian and Lebanese
citizens, but also their own people. By straining the delicate balance
among Lebanon's ethnic and religious groups, Israel also risks igniting a
new civil war.

Worse, the possibility that Israel's assault on Lebanon will trigger a
full-scale regional war grows daily. Even before Israel's assault Bush's
occupation of Iraq has destabilized the region and inflamed Arab and Muslim
opinion. Now Israel has attacked near the Syrian border; Hezbollah is
supported by Syria and Iran; Syria says it will defend itself if attacked;
and Iran warns that if Israel attacks Syria, Tehran will retaliate against
Israel. Then Bush would have a pretext for bombing Syria and Iran.
<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=154141422&url_num=12&url=http://progressive.org/mag_wx071406>(See
Matthew Rothschild's excellent piece on the Progressive's website.)

But if Israel could not defeat Hezbollah during its 18-year occupation of
southern Lebanon, neither can it do so now with air strikes, blockades, and
buffer zones, nor even with another occupation. For four decades Israel has
tried to deny Palestinians a meaningful state -- using a military
occupation to take their land, and responding with excessive force whenever
it is attacked itself. But security for Israelis seems as far away as it
was in 1967. Just as in Iraq, there is no military solution to the current
crisis. The only real and lasting solution is to resolve the source of
conflict by negotiating a resolution based on freedom from occupation and
equal rights for all as enshrined in international law.

MORE RESOURCES

<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=154141422&url_num=13&url=http://www.alternativenews.org/>Alternative
Information Center
<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=154141422&url_num=14&url=http://www.adc.org/>American-Arab
Anti-Discrimination Committee
<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=154141422&url_num=15&url=http://afsc.org/israel-palestine/default.htm>American
Friends Service Committee
<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=154141422&url_num=16&url=http://coalitionofwomen.org/home>Coalition
of Women for a Just Peace (Israeli organization)
<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=154141422&url_num=17&url=http://electronicintifada.net/new.shtml>Electronic
Intifada
<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=154141422&url_num=18&url=http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en>Gush
Shalom (Israeli organization)
<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=154141422&url_num=19&url=http://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/>Jewish
Voice for Peace
<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=154141422&url_num=20&url=http://www.mecaforpeace.org/>Middle
East Children's Alliance
<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=154141422&url_num=21&url=http://stopthewall.org/>Stop
the Wall Campaign
<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=154141422&url_num=22&url=http://www.tikkun.org/>Tikkun
<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=154141422&url_num=23&url=http://www.endtheoccupation.org/>US
Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation

Help us continue to do this critical work:
<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=154141422&url_num=24&url=http://www.unitedforpeace.org/donate>Make
a donation to UFPJ today.

ACTION ALERT * UNITED FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE
<http://www.unitedforpeace.org/>www.unitedforpeace.org | 212-868-5545
To subscribe, visit
<http://www.unitedforpeace.org/email>www.unitedforpeace.org/email

If you no longer wish to receive emails from us, visit
<http://www.demaction.org/ufpj/unsubscribe.jsp>www.demaction.org/ufpj/unsubscribe.jsp