Resolution To Sanction Israel In Support Of U.S. And International Law

Veterans are speaking out and taking a stand over Israel's military aggression toward civilians.

(EUGENE, Ore.) - Jack Dresser, Ph.D., a Eugene, Oregon Behavioral Research Scientist who works in Political & Prevention Psychology with the group Veterans for Peace, says he is pleased to report that the proposed resolution below was passed today by the national conference of Veterans for Peace.

Co-signers included the past and current presidents of VFP and distinguished author and activist, Col Ann Wright. Dresser is the co-director, The Al-Nakba Awareness Project which studies the Palestinian Holocaust that began in 1947, with the formation of the state of Israel.

This is a subject that Salem-News.com follows very closely. Israel is considered a staunch ally of the United States and other western nations, but it is becoming increasingly clear that Israel embraces policies that the U.S. gave up long ago.

This includes apartheid laws that create separate rules and sanctions for Jewish and non-Jewish citizens.

It seems clear without too much examination, that this is separate legal structure based along ethnic breakdowns is not healthy or acceptable on a humanity wide basis.

Dresser says great credit must be given to the leaders of Veterans for Peace who recommended this resolution and the membership that passed it, and to VFP member Bill Perry who shepherded and supported it with vigor on the conference floor.

"Credit is also due these same members for defeat of two weaker resolutions and withdrawal of another, all of which - among other deficiencies - failed to acknowledge the critical distinctions between occupier and occupied, aggressor and victim."

Dresser continued, "Our VFP peers displayed the awareness, understanding and conscience to reject the official U.S. position on Israel/Palestine controlled by the Israel lobby and to assert the primacy of international law, universal human rights and U.S. constitutional obligations to these principles."

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Resolution To Sanction Israel In Support Of U.S. And International Law

Whereas, the U.S. Arms Export Control Act prohibits non-defensive use of U.S.-supplied weapons, and

Whereas, Israel has launched massive, brutal and disproportionate violence and infrastructure destruction with U.S.-supplied weapons against the largely helpless population of Gaza as collective punishment, violating the Fourth Geneva Convention and other international laws, and

Whereas, Israel has attacked an unarmed humanitarian flotilla on the high seas with U.S.-supplied weapons, violating the UN Convention on the Laws of the Seas and the sovereignty of the U.S.-flagged Challenger 1 vessel, killing nine human rights activists including one American aboard the Mavi Marmara, and subjecting citizens of 40 countries including the United States to illegal abduction, torture, imprisonment and property theft, and

Whereas, Israel has attacked, intercepted, boarded and seized other Free Gaza vessels and their humanitarian cargoes in international waters in violation of international maritime law, and abducted, transported to Israel and imprisoned American citizens including former congresswoman and Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney and former U.S. diplomat and VFP member Colonel Ann Wright, and

Whereas, the U.S. Foreign Assistance Act prohibits foreign aid to any nation engaging in a consistent pattern of human rights violations, and

Whereas, Israel has continued to defy U.N. Resolutions 194, 242 and 338 demanding withdrawal to its pre-1967 borders and return of all U.N.-registered refugees to their homes as required under Articles 13 and 17 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and

Whereas, Israel has continued to impose limitations on mobility, association, commerce, property ownership, land use, marriage, and access to educational, medical and other community resources through discriminatory laws and policies, a wall determined illegal by the International Court of Justice, a network of Jewish-only roads that Palestinians cannot cross, and some 700 roadblocks and checkpoints in the West Bank, violating the Fourth Geneva Convention and Articles 13, 15, 16, 17, 21, 22 and 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and

Whereas, Israel has destroyed over 24,000 Palestinian homes and over 300,000 Palestinian olive and fruit trees that provided the agricultural base of the Palestinian economy, and continues to confiscate privately owned Palestinian properties in East Jerusalem in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention and Articles 17 and 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and

Whereas, Israel violates Palestinians’ rights to life, liberty and security required by Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, having killed 1,449 Palestinian children since September 2000 and maintained a consistent population of over 8,000 Palestinian political prisoners under their military occupation system, and

Whereas, Israel violates Palestinians’ rights to equality, justice and protection from mistreatment under the law required by Articles 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 20 and 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, applying separate, unequal and discriminatory legal systems for Jews and non-Jews within both Israel and the West Bank, and

Whereas, Israel has ignored the long-standing offer of the Arab League, including Hamas, to provide diplomatic recognition and guaranteed security to Israel upon compliance with UN resolutions 194, 242 and 338, thereby prolonging its violation of Palestinian human rights, and

Whereas, Israel has refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and intends to increase its nuclear weapons stockpile with U.S. “cooperation” - as recently reported by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz citing Israeli Army Radio - which would cause U.S. violation of our commitments to the NPT and thereby violation of Article VI of the U.S. Constitution defining our treaty obligations as “the Supreme Law of the Land,”

(1) all military aid be withheld from Israel under the Arms Export Control Act, including any transfer of U.S. nuclear materials or technology; and

(2) all other foreign aid be conditional upon Israel's compliance with international law, in particular the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Fourth Geneva Convention and long-established international laws of armed conflict, United Nations resolutions, and Israel's duties as a United Nations member state; and

(3) the United States discontinue its protection of Israel from international justice through use of United Nations Security Council vetoes, and

(4) VFP continues to support the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaigns as requested and guided by the Palestinian BDS movement.

Be It Further Resolved that the Executive Director is requested to, within thirty days, issue for broad media distribution a press release publicizing this resolution.

Submitted by Jack Dresser (Eugene OR, jack@jdresser.com). Endorsed/supported by Greater Seattle VFP Chapter 92, Malcolm Chaddock, Ward Reilly, VFP Gaza Freedom March, Cairo Caucus, Colonel Ann Wright, Billy Kelly, Terry Perry, Ken Mayers, Mike Hearington, Tarak Kauff, Will Covert, Fred Nagle, Bill Perry, Michael McPhearson, Patrick McCann, Jan Barry Crumb, James Murphy, Louise Legun, Will Thomas, Dayl Wise, Mike Ferner.