R
At 01:33 PM 3/18/2002 -0500, you wrote:
>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forces have been withdrawn from the occupied Palestinian territories;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