A well-crafted condemnation of Israel's oppression in the West Bank by the National Lawyers Guild that I support-- Nathan
----- Original Message ----- From: "heidi boghosian" <director at nlg.org>
STATEMENT OF THE NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD
The National Lawyers Guild calls on the U.S. government to condemn Israel for its widespread military incursions and crimes in violation of international law, and immediately take the following actions to protect Palestinian citizens:
1. Suspend all economic and military aid to Israel until Israel's military forces have been withdrawn from the occupied Palestinian territories;
2. Support - rather than use its veto to hinder -- the immediate deployment of a United Nations peacekeeping force to the occupied territories.
The National Lawyers Guild recognizes the need for affirmative, difficult steps both from Israel and Palestine and condemns the killings on both sides. However, the horror of the recent state-sponsored carnage and atrocities Israel is inflicting against the Palestinian people must stop.
Since September 2000, the Israeli army and Israeli settlers living illegally in the Palestinian territories have killed over 1,200 Palestinians, one third of them children, and the vast majority civilians uninvolved in any clashes with Israeli soldiers or settlers. In the past week, Israel has systematically directed military incursions into refugee camps, and has now occupied the Palestinian towns of Ramallah and El-Bireh. Medical personnel have been killed while attempting to rescue the injured. Palestinian civilians have been arrested, detained and imprisoned. Hundreds more have been killed; thousands wounded.
The United States provides Israel with over $5 billion per year in economic aid and sophisticated weaponry which Israel has used to assassinate Palestinian activists and to collectively punish Palestinian civilians in violation of federal laws including the Arms Export Control Act and the Foreign Assistance Act, and international treaties such as the Fourth Geneva Convention. The U.S. does not provide weapons to the Palestinian Authority.
The time for creating a just peace is now. The National Lawyers Guild - an organization of lawyers, legal workers and law students dedicated to social and political justice - sent an investigatory delegation to the Middle East in January 2001. The findings of that delegation - reported at www.nlg.org/members/struggles - persist under the heel of the continued Israeli occupation. The occupation must end! A Palestinian state must become a reality.
CONTACT: Linda Mansour, Co-Chair NLG Middle East Committee Lindamansour at aol.com Dan Burnstein, Co-Chair NLG Middle East Committee npro1 at ziplink.net