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:
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. 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:
To find a protest in your area,
visit our online events calendar. If you are organizing a
protest, please post the details on our events calendar and on http://www.endtheoccupation.org. To maximize media
interest, seek out voices from constituencies not known to be as active on
these issues. Here are two posters you can download and use at your actions:  
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. (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 | 
