Join Peace Action in Calling for
a Cease-Fire in the Middle East
As the crisis in the Middle East grows, with the continued Israeli military incursion in the Gaza Strip and escalating, daily attacks between the Israeli armed forces and Hezbollah guerillas in Lebanon, we urge you take action at this critical time.
Hundreds of civilians have already been killed – Lebanese, Palestinian and Israeli alike – and hundreds of thousands more are in danger of death and injury, and are suffering life-threatening deprivation from water, electricity and other basic necessities. The current crisis could also lead to miscalculation and a larger regional war, and our government’s rhetoric and actions are not helping resolve the situation.
Please contact President Bush and Congress immediately. Urge them to take action to bring about an immediate cease-fire in the current conflict.
Peace Action opposes all violence against civilians. This includes not only acts of terrorism, but also most if not all modern wars, which inevitably kill more civilians than combatants, and utterly fail to create a more just and peaceful world based on recognition of fundamental human rights.
The complex, incredibly painful, decades-old conflict between Israel, the Palestinians and Arab countries has proven over and over again that violence only begets more violence, and the current crisis is the bitter fruit of that cycle of violence. We will not recount that long history here, but as an organization which promotes not only peace and human rights but also international law, we must call attention to those actions which have threatened multitudes of civilians, and thereby dramatically escalated the conflict.
Two weeks ago, a militant group associated with Hamas killed two Israeli soldiers and captured a third, who is still captive. Israel responded with a full-scale military incursion into the Gaza Strip, killing civilians and immediately destroying the power station that a majority of the 1.4 million Palestinians in Gaza depend on for electricity and water. These actions are a direct violation of the Geneva Conventions prohibiting collective punishment and attacks on civilian infrastructure, and they have created a severe humanitarian crisis.
Last week, Hezbollah guerillas based in Lebanon killed 8 Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid, and captured two others, who are still captive. Israel responded with a military attack in Lebanon that included not only strikes on suspected Hezbollah targets – even when those targets were in civilian areas – but also direct attacks on civilian infrastructure, including airports and bridges, and a naval blockade of the entire country. Once again, these actions are in direct violation of the Geneva Conventions, and have predictably led to further reprisals and counter-reprisals, and a dramatic escalation in which hundreds of civilians, both Lebanese and Israeli, have been killed.
Peace Action believes that sovereign nations always have the right to protect themselves, but that right can never be exercised through attacks on civilian infrastructure and populations. An immediate ceasefire is required to halt the bloodshed, and the United States, which provides Israel with essential financial backing as well as many of the weapons being used in the current attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, has both the responsibility and the power to bring a halt to the current round of violence through pressure on Israel and persuasion within the international community.
Contact President Bush and Congress today. Demand that they do everything in their power to effect an immediate ceasefire in the current hostilities in the Middle East.
The current conflict proves the adage that "an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind". We must raise our voices for peace now. Take Action.
