[Peace-discuss] Fwd: Washington Wednesday Action Alert | No Aid for
Checkpoints
Morton K.Brussel
brussel4 at insightbb.com
Sun Mar 6 20:47:06 CST 2005
FYI and possible action. --mkb
Begin forwarded message:
> From: US Campaign to End the Israeli
> Occupation<us_campaign at endtheoccupation.org>
> Date: March 2, 2005 8:55:45 AM CST
> To: brussel at uiuc.edu
> Subject: Washington Wednesday Action Alert | No Aid for Checkpoints
> Reply-To: us_campaign at endtheoccupation.org
>
>
> US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
> Action Alert—No Aid for Checkpoints
> “Washington Wednesday”, March 2, 2005
>
> START DATE: March 2, 2005
> END DATE: Until Congress acts on President Bush’s supplemental war
> appropriations request
>
> BACKGROUND: On February 14, President Bush formally submitted to
> Congress a request for $82 billion in supplemental appropriations for
> FY2005 primarily to continue the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The
> request includes $200 million of assistance to the Palestinian people,
> which according to the State Department, will be designated for:
>
> • Financing home construction in Gaza
> • Expanding education opportunities
> • Developing the economic infrastructure for a Palestinian state
> • Helping to improve the Palestinian social safety net to provide
> social services to the poor
> • “Building bridges” to help improve the flow of people and goods
> between Israel and the West Bank and Gaza [1]
>
> The US Campaign strongly supports US assistance to the Palestinian
> people to help offset some of the damage done to the Palestinian
> economy by Israel’s illegal military occupation of the Palestinian
> West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem, which the US government has
> enabled with our tax dollars.
>
> However, the US Campaign is deeply concerned that the request for
> funds “to help improve the flow of people and goods” will actually
> solidify and entrench Israel’s system of illegal checkpoints in the
> Occupied Palestinian Territories, including those associated with the
> illegal wall Israel is constructing in the West Bank. The
> International Court of Justice ruled that no country can “render aid
> or assistance” to Israel to maintain this wall. According to a White
> House official, as much as $50 million of assistance ostensibly
> designated for the Palestinians could be given to Israel to construct
> high-tech checkpoints and transit terminals. [2]
>
> Israel’s system of checkpoints and other transportation barriers in
> the Occupied Palestinian Territories is illegal because it prevents
> Palestinians from exercising their right to freedom of movement in
> their own land, as enshrined in Article 13 of the Universal
> Declaration of Human Rights. Barring freedom of movement is also a
> form of collective punishment, which is outlawed by Article 33 of the
> Fourth Geneva Convention. US assistance to Palestinians must not be
> earmarked to finance steps that deprive them of their human rights.
>
> ACTION REQUESTED: Contact your Members of Congress to express your
> support for US assistance to Palestinian civilians and ask your
> Members of Congress to offer an amendment to the supplemental
> appropriation request to make sure that none of this assistance can be
> earmarked for projects by Israel to solidify and entrench its
> restrictions on the freedom of movement of the Palestinian people in
> their own land.
>
> CONTACT INFORMATION: Detailed contact information for your Members of
> Congress and their staffs can be found at the new and improved US
> Campaign 109th Congressional Report Card at:
> http://endtheoccupation.org/article.php?list=type&type=89
>
> TALKING POINTS:
>
> * I strongly support US assistance to Palestinians civilians to offset
> some of the damage that has been done to the Palestinian economy as a
> result of Israel’s illegal military occupation of the West Bank, Gaza
> Strip, and East Jerusalem, which the US government has enabled with
> our tax dollars.
>
> * A White House official stated in the Washington Post on February 6
> that up to $50 million of this proposed US assistance to the
> Palestinian people could be turned over to Israel to fund the
> construction of high-tech checkpoints and transit terminals in the
> Occupied Palestinian Territories.
>
> * Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights enshrines
> freedom of movement in one’s land as a fundamental human right.
> Israel’s checkpoints and other transportation barriers in the Occupied
> Palestinian Territories are violations of this right. Barring freedom
> of movement is also a form of collective punishment, which is outlawed
> by Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Congress must not
> ostensibly provide assistance to the Palestinian people that would
> deprive them of their human rights.
>
> * Congress has already passed legislation designed to ensure that US
> assistance is not used by Israel to maintain and deepen its illegal
> military occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East
> Jerusalem. In legislation authorizing US loan guarantees to Israel,
> Congress mandated that they may be used "only to support activities in
> the geographic areas which were subject to the administration of the
> Government of Israel before June 5, 1967." (Public Law No. 108-11:
> Emergency Wartime Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2003)
>
> * To ensure that US assistance to the Palestinians is not misspent to
> maintain and deepen Israel’s military occupation, Congress should add
> language to the supplemental request that reads: “No amount of this
> assistance may be obligated to Israel to support activities, including
> the maintenance or construction of barriers, checkpoints, transit
> terminals, or other obstacles to the freedom of movement of the
> Palestinian people, in the geographic areas that Israel has occupied
> militarily since or after June 5, 1967.”
>
> ABOUT “WASHINGTON WEDNESDAY”: The US Campaign to End the Israeli
> Occupation and its member organizations issue an action alert, known
> as “Washington Wednesday”, the first Wednesday of each month.
>
> The US Campaign’s network of Congressional District Coordinators
> distributes these action alerts to constituents in their Congressional
> districts who use them to educate their Members of Congress about the
> need for the United States to end its support for Israel’s military
> occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East
> Jerusalem.
>
> If you would like to become a Congressional District Coordinator and
> help coordinate efforts to educate your Member of Congress, please
> fill out the brief on-line form at:
> http://endtheoccupation.org/modinput.php?modin=9
>
> SOURCES:
>
> [1] “U.S. Assistance to the Palestinians”, Fact Sheet, U.S. Department
> of State, February 7, 2005. Available at:
> http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2005/41870.htm
>
> [2] Glenn Kessler, “U.S. Takes Low-Key Role in Mideast”, Washington
> Post, February 6, 2005. Available at:
> http://www.seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/
> 2002172411_mideastpolicy06.html
>
> DONATE: Donate today to the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
> at: http://www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?list=type&type=149
>
> JOIN THE US CAMPAIGN’S EMAIL LIST:
> http://www.endtheoccupation.org/email.php
>
> _____________________________________________________
> To unsubscribe or update your listing go to:
> http://www.endtheoccupation.org/email.php?id=6888&token=813539
>
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