Jewish Voice for Peace Petition

[mom cat]

This came in my e-mail today from Brookline Peaceworks, a long time peace advocacy group in Massachusetts:

Dear Friend:

I've just signed an important petition for Jews and their non-Jewish friends and supporters who are outraged by Israel's attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, as well as by U.S. support for those attacks.

I hope you'll go here (click on hotlink or paste address into your browser):
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/jvfp/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=323
to sign the petition too. Jewish Voice for Peace, a group I support, will present the petition to Condoleezza Rice, George Bush and Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister. They will also release the number of signers to the media. We need to get as many people as possible to sign the statement.

It goes without saying that we all deeply mourn the loss of Lebanese, Gazan and Israeli lives. But instead of negotiating and helping to reduce the violence, Israel's wildly disproportionate response has inflamed the situation. Massive bombing of neighborhoods, roads and even cars with people in them is not just illegal and immoral-- it feeds the forces of extremism.

Please join me! Let's show the world the thousands of Jews and allies who seek an end to the settlements and occupation, and a just and fair peace in the Middle East.

Check out www.JewishVoiceforPeace.org


:hug:
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/jvfp/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=323
:hug:

[flpoljunkie]

1. I urge all to read their statement below and sign their petition.

On July 6, in a full-page ad in The Times of London, 300 British Jews cried out against the collective punishment of the people of Gaza with the anguished question, "What Is Israel Doing?" Several weeks later, as the Middle East sinks deeper into chaos, that question is ever more urgent.

Hezbollah's attack on an IDF outpost was a violation of international law. And after Israel attacked Lebanon, Hezbollah fired missiles at Israeli cities, killing and injuring civilians.This is not morally acceptable, whatever the provocation.

But Israel's response-- an explosion of violence and collective punishment directed against airports, bridges and populated neighborhoods of Lebanon--is an even greater crime. And now Lebanon, like Gaza, is on the brink of a humanitarian disaster.

In the face of so much violence and suffering, the United States' vetoes of UN Security Council resolutions calling for a cease fire are immoral and irresponsible.

We call upon U.S. Jews and others to join us in support of Israeli peace groups who write: "The only way to guarantee a different future of peace and security is by ending the occupation and establishing a relationship of equality and respect between Israelis and Palestinians and between Israelis and the neighboring nations."

We call upon the U.S. government to use its influence with Israel to stop the collective punishment of the people of Gaza and Lebanon; to work with the international community to impose a cease-fire and prevent any further loss of civilian life; and to work for the immediate start of direct, good-faith negotiations.

Israel's ongoing occupation of Palestinian territories and massive human rights abuses against the Palestinian and Lebanese peoples are opposed by many Jews in Israel, the U.S., and throughout the world.

Attacks on civilians will not bring peace, security or justice to Palestinians, Israelis, or Jews anywhere.

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/jvfp/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=323

[mom cat]

3. What a wonderful statement. May all those who lump all

of the people in any religion read this and know better. Our peaceful voices may at times be drowned out by the shrill haters, but all of "the People of the Book" have wiser adherents who believe in the core that God is love ... not hate. :grouphug:

[EFerrari]

2. Gives me hope, to see this, mom cat. Thank you!

K & R

[mom cat]

4. What you are doing gives me hope too. I think the women of the world need

to tell the men to go to their rooms and for us to take charge of what happens to living things.

[mogster]

5. This is great!

It must be kicked!

[silverlib]

6. signed, kicked, and recommended

[mogster]

7. Kick!

:kick: :hug: