Take Action: How You Can Help the U.S. Stop Israeli Settlements
June 1st, 2009
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas meeting with President Obama, May 28, 2009.
In meetings
last week with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Ali Aboul Gheit
and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, the Obama Administration again
made its position on Israeli settlements crystal clear.
Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton stated: “With respect to settlements, the President
was very clear when Prime Netanyahu
was here. He wants to see a stop to settlements
– not some
settlements, not
outposts, not natural growth exceptions. We think it is in the best interests
of the effort that we are engaged in that settlement expansion cease. That is
our position. That is what we have communicated very clearly, not only to the
Israelis but to the Palestinians and others. And we intend to press that point.”
And President Obama added that “in my conversations with Prime Minister
Netanyahu I was very clear about the need to stop the settlements; to make sure
that we are stopping the building of outposts”.
While the Obama Administration’s tough words are certainly welcome, words by
themselves are unlikely to produce a change in Israel’s
behavior without corresponding action on the part of the United States.
If the United States wants
to see Israel stop the
expansion of settlements, then it should cut off or, at the very minimum,
condition its military aid to Israel
until this and other policy goals are met.
See the items below for action steps you and your organization can take to help
make this possible.
TAKE ACTION
1. Send a personalized letter to
the Members of Congress on the Appropriations Subcommittees with jurisdiction over military aid programs.
Later this month, the Senate and House Appropriations Subcommittees on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs are likely to "mark-up" the President's FY2010 budget request, which includes $2.775 billion in military aid to Israel.
Join thousands of others who have already sent nearly 150,000 letters to these Members of Congress letting them know that you oppose the President's budget request and want to see military aid to Israel ended or, at the very minimum, conditioned on Israel achieving stated U.S. policy goals.
The US Campaign is organizing an open letter to the
Appropriations Subcommittees opposing the President’s FY2010 budget request for
$2.775 billion in military aid to Israel.To date, more than 150 organizations have endorsed this letter. To read and endorse the letter (organizational endorsements only
please), click here.
Check out
the list of national organizations that have endorsed this open
letter:
1.
After Downing Street 2. American Jews for a Just Peace 3.
American Muslims for Palestine 4. Code Pink Women for Peace 5.
Council for the National Interest 6. Council on American-Islamic
Relations 7. Episcopal Peace Fellowship 8. Fellowship of
Reconciliation 9. Friends of Sabeel—North America 10. Global
Exchange 11. Gold Star Families for Peace 12. Grassroots
International 13. Interfaith Peace-Builders 14. Israeli
Committee Against House Demolitions—USA 15. Jewish Voice for
Peace 16. Latino American Dawah Organization 17. Middle East
Children's Alliance 18. Middle East Research and Information
Project 19. Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation 20.
Muslim Student Association West 21. National Benedictines for
Peace 22. National Immigrant Solidarity Network 23. National
Lawyers Guild 24. New Internationalism Project, Institute for
Policy Studies 25. Palestine Aid Society 26. Presbyterian Peace
Fellowship 27. Progressive Democrats of America 28.
Student/Farmworker Alliance 29. Unitarian Universalists for
Justice in the Middle East 30. United for Peace and Justice 31.
United Muslims of America 32. US Campaign to End the Israeli
Occupation 33. Veterans For Peace 34. War Times/Tiempo de
Guerras 35. Women’s International League for Peace and
Freedom—U.S. Section
To read
the full text of the open letter and to have your organization endorse it,
please click here.
3. Spread the word about our campaign.
Copy and paste the graphic to the left and link it
here and then place it on your website, blog, social networking site, and email
signature.
Receive an organizing packet in the mail from us with postcards, petitions,
flyers, fact sheets, stickers, and an educational DVD—everything you need to
educate and organize people in your community to challenge military aid to Israel. Since
February 2007, we’ve sent out more than 1,200 organizing
packets to volunteers in more than 600 cities and 48 states (yep, still waiting
on Nevada and North Dakota). Check out the amazing Google
map of all of our organizers below and sign up to join them today by clicking here.
View Challenge Military Aid to Israel in a larger map
5. Offset your tax contribution to Israeli military occupation.
Although Tax Day has come and
gone, it’s not too late for you to make a statement that you don’t want your
tax dollars going to fund Israel’s
human rights abuses of Palestinians.According to our research, Israel
killed more than 3,000 innocent Palestinians, including more than 1,000
children, during the Bush Administration, often with U.S. weapons.
We’re estimating that in FY2010,
each individual tax payer will on average be giving $17.75 in military aid to Israel.Offset your tax contribution to Israeli
military occupation and human rights abuses by making a tax deductible
contribution to us by clicking on the logo below.
For each contribution of $17.75, we will send you some of these “Yes, We
Can…End U.S. Military Aid to Israel!”
stickers.
Offset the tax contribution of
just five people or more ($88.75 or more) and we’ll send you the stickers and a
copy of the award-winning documentary Occupation
101.
Offset your tax contribution of military aid to Israel today by clicking on the icon to the left.