al-Nakba: the Palestinian "Catastrophe"

GAZA, ENDING THE BLOCKADE OF

Whereas Israel has blockaded Gaza since 2007 in violation of international law, specifically the Fourth Geneva Convention which states: "No protected person may be punished for an offense he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited", and

Whereas Israel during Operation "Cast Lead" in December 2008 and January 2009 bombed and destroyed much infrastructure in Gaza – factories (219 estimated), schools, hospitals, offices, mosques, homes (over 3,000 estimated, with an additional 20,000 damaged) — in addition to killing over 1400 people, most of them non-combatants and children, and

Whereas Israel damaged or destroyed 48% of the 122 health facilities in Gaza during Operation "Cast Lead", according to the World Health Organization, and

Whereas it is estimated that 60% of the children of Gaza suffer from malnutrition and estimates by the UN put the amount of food allowed in to Gaza by Israel at approximately one-quarter of the minimum amount necessary, and one-quarter of what came into the country prior to the siege, and

Whereas the World Food Programme UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that Israel has destroyed between 35% and 60% of the Gaza agriculture industry and that nearly all of the 13,000 families whose livelihoods depend directly on farming, herding and fishing having suffered considerable impairment, and

Whereas items like cement and glass, which could be used to rebuild Gaza, as well as numerous goods essential for mere existence, are prohibited from entering Gaza, and

Whereas in order to obtain life’s necessities Gazans are risking their lives as they tunnel out of the country, an exploit that has caused the deaths of over 200 people, and

Whereas the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs calls the situation "a massive destruction of livelihoods and basic services" and

Whereas John Ging, Director of Operations in Gaza for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), noted that a conference in Sharm el-Sheikh last year put the price tag at $4.5 billion to reconstruct Gaza and that "That’s $4.5 billion, at the moment, of despair and misery until such time that recovery and reconstruction gets under way", and

Whereas Mr. Ging commented that "the physical suffering of so many continues on a daily basis, not just physical suffering, but psychological suffering because people are at their wits’ end to understand when all of this will come to an end", and

Whereas the Statement of Purpose of Veterans For Peace asserts that we will: "restrain our government from intervening, overtly and covertly, in the internal affairs of other nations," and that we will "seek justice for veterans and victims of war;"

Therefore Be It Resolved that Veterans For Peace condemns in the strongest possible terms the Israeli blockade of Gaza that has caused so much suffering, and calls on the United States Government to pressure Israel to permanently lift the blockade and allow food, aid, and reconstruction materials to flow freely into Gaza.

Approved at the 2010 VFP national convention

ISRAEL, ENDING MILITARY AID TO

Whereas, Veterans For Peace has as a Statement Of Purpose, "To abolish war as an instrument of national policy" and military aid to any country is in conflict with that statement, and

Whereas, Noam Chomsky characterized the Israel 2006 attack on Lebanon as he "US-Israel invasion", where 1,000 were killed, mostly Lebanese civilians, and

Whereas, an Israeli commander stated in December 2006 "We fired more than a million cluster bombs in Lebanon and that is widely forbidden by international law Phosphorous and cluster bombs were heavily used", and

Whereas, Israel disproportionately killed 1,300 Palestinians in 2009 in retaliatory attacks on Gaza for the Hamas firing rockets indiscriminately that killed 13 Israelis, six of whom were reported to be civilians, and

Whereas the United States continues to supply military funding that supported the Israeli military attack that killed nine activists during the June humanitarian flotilla to Gaza, and

Whereas, in August 2007, the Bush Administration agreed to increase U.S. military assistance to Israel by $6 billion over the following decade. Israel is to receive incremental annual increases of $150 million, starting at $2.55 billion in FY2009 and reaching $3.15 billion per year for FY2013-2018, and

Whereas, The U.S. funding that pays for the guns and ammunition, F-16 bombers, and Apache helicopters that are used to carry out Israel's occupation of Palestinian land and people serves neither Israelis, Palestinians, nor Americans, and

Whereas, Israel is the second highest recipient of U.S. military aid after Colombia, and

Whereas the U. S. continues to provide Israel over $7 million a month that entitles every Israeli free universal health care while U.S. citizens do not have universal government health care;

Therefore Be it Resolved that Veterans For Peace urges the United States government to immediately stop all military aid to Israel.

Approved at the 2010 VFP national convention

GAZA FLOTILLA SUPPORT

Whereas, it is imperative that all persons of conscience challenge U.S. Government policy that funds and supports Israel's cruel and illegal blockade of Gaza and it’s collective punishment of 1.4 million people, including 800,000 children, and

Whereas, the Free Gaza Flotilla has, at great cost and sacrifice brought the world's attention to this illegal blockade of Gaza, and

Whereas, there is now a U.S. campaign to purchase and outfit a U.S Boat which will sail in the next international flotilla to break the siege of Gaza;

Therefore Be It Resolved that Veterans For Peace encourages it's members, and Chapters, to do everything in their power to encourage and promote support for this U.S, boat, The Audacity of Hope, which will present a challenge to US foreign policy and affirm the universal obligation to uphold human rights and international law.

Approved at the 2010 VFP national convention

ISRAELI DEFENSE FORCE ATTACK ON GAZA HUMANITARIAN AID FLOTILLA, CONDEMNATION OF

Whereas, in humanitarian response to the continuing Israeli blockade preventing all commerce and delivery of civilian goods to Gaza, in the spring of 2010 an international gathering of humanitarian aid ships known as the Gaza Freedom Flotilla was organized by a coalition of over 700 human rights activists for the express purpose of delivering civilian aid cargo to the isolated population of Gaza, and

Whereas, said Flotilla, comprised of some six civilian cargo ships loaded with some 10,000 tons of donated civilian aid goods embarked from Cyprus in late May, and continued on its peaceful mission through the Mediterranean sea toward Gaza, and

Whereas, during the evening of 30 May, the aid Flotilla was intercepted by Israeli warships (in International waters, well beyond any national territorial limits), and ordered not to continue toward Gaza, and

Whereas, leaders of the aid-flotilla clearly and repeatedly communicated to the Israeli Defense Forces that the aid-flotilla carried no weapons or military supplies, and furthermore invited full inspection of the unloading of the humanitarian aid supplies once the flotilla reached Gaza, and

Whereas, the naval IDF responded that the blockade preventing delivery of all cargo to Gaza, civilian, humanitarian or otherwise would be fully enforced, and

Whereas, on the 31st of May, 2010, at approximately 04:30 GMT, (at Latitude:32.64113, Longitude:33.56727" in international waters, some 70 miles from the coast of northern Israel and 90 miles from Gaza), Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) operating from (its) Naval ships and military helicopters, under cover of darkness, instituted an unprovoked commando-style raid on the Egyptian registered cargo ship Mavi Marmara, ‘flagship’ of the aid-flotilla, and

Whereas, despite pleas by aid-delivery participants who urgently assured IDF forces that their numbers consisted only of non-combatant and peaceful civilians, IDF Commandos rappelled from helicopters to the deck of the aid-flotilla flagship and immediately initiated hostile and aggressive military action against peaceful, unarmed aid-delivery participants, utilizing deadly force, including, but not limited to military small arms, automatic rifles, tear gas, blinding lights and flares, and stun grenades, and

Whereas the IDF commandos quickly escalated the illegal boarding to the perpetuation of violent and ultimately deadly action against the flotilla civilians, and

Whereas said violence escalated to severe beating and the point-blank shooting of unarmed civilians, and ultimately the murder of nine (9) flotilla participants and serious injury to many others;

Therefore Be It Resolved that Veterans For Peace officially condemns the aforementioned blatant attack and calls on appropriate members of the Israeli government (and) the US State Department (and) the United Nations Human Rights Commission to join in official condemnation of this unprovoked violence.

Be It Further Resolved that Veterans for Peace calls for an official investigation of the raid under the power and authority of the United Nations’ International Court of Justice (ICJ) at the Hague (aka the World Court) to determine if members of the IDF who participated in the raid, and/or members of the Israeli government who authorized the raid should face international criminal charges under international law and under auspices of said court.

Approved at the 2010 VFP national convention

IRAN, OPPOSING MILITARY INTERVENTION IN

Whereas, President Obama and members of his Administration have alleged that Iran poses an imminent threat to the United States, U.S. troops in the Middle East, and U.S. allies, and

Whereas, these allegations are similar to the lead-up to the Iraq War and U.S. Occupation, with the selective use of information and unsubstantiated accusations about Iran's nuclear program and its supply of weapons to Iraqi forces as centerpieces of a case to the American people for aggression against Iran, and

Whereas, the U.S. House of Representatives are currently considering resolution H.R. 1553 green-lighting an attack on the Iranian people by supporting Israel to use all means necessary to "eliminate nuclear threats" posed by Iran, and

Whereas, Iran has not threatened to attack the United States, and no compelling evidence has been presented to document that Iran poses a real and imminent threat to the security and safety of the U.S. that would justify an unprovoked unilateral pre-emptive military attack, and

Whereas, top US military leaders have warned of the many dangers of military strikes against Iran, and

Whereas, we cannot ignore the history of U.S. government misinformation used to inspire U.S. aggression in Vietnam and again in Iraq, as embodied in the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and more recently in what we know now as false claims of weapons of mass destruction, and

Whereas, Iranian activists have urged that even raising the specter of war undercuts the opposition in Iran, and

Whereas, a pre-emptive U.S. military attack on Iran would violate international law and our commitments under the U.N. Charter and further isolate the U.S. from the rest of the world, and
Whereas, an attack on Iran is likely to inflame hatred for the U.S. in the Middle East and elsewhere, inspire terrorism, and lessen the security of Americans, and

Whereas, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and occupations have already cost the lives of more 5,600 American service men and women, and countless civilians, and

Whereas, the Iraq and Afghanistan War and occupation has cost U.S. taxpayers more than $1 trillion, depriving our cities of much-needed funds for services and infrastructure.

Therefore Be It Resolved Veterans For Peace hereby supports diplomatic engagement with Iran on nuclear issues; in pursuit of good faith negotiations toward peaceful resolutions as outlined for signatories of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the United Nations Charter.

Be It Further Resolved that VFP opposes any U.S. or Israeli attack on Iran, and urges the Obama administration to continue to pursue vigorous diplomatic engagement with that nation.

Approved at the 2010 VFP national convention