Dissident Veteran For Peace

I sent an e-mail today to Lincoln Grahlfs, chairperson of the Veterans for Peace Resolutions Committee submitting the resolution below. Also, below is the final list of co-sponsors and endorsers. Thanks again to everyone—and especially VFP chapter 92 (Western Washington) members—for their support. Check back here for progress reports as the resolution wends its way through the process.

Justice and Peace in Palestine

RESOLVED, as a peace organization based in the United States—the major diplomatic, financial, and military underwriter of the State of Israel—Veterans for Peace has a special duty to work for a just peace in Palestine, the territory which comprises Israel and the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories. To this end, although we do not prejudge what a just peace would look like, we express our strong preference for the peaceful creation of one democratic state between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea with equality for all of its citizens and we stand in solidarity with the growing number of Palestinians and Israelis calling for such a solution; and,

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Veterans for Peace calls for an immediate end to all diplomatic, financial, and military support of the government of the State of Israel by the United States government; and,

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Veterans for Peace urges its members, chapters, and other people of conscience to work diligently—using boycotts, divestment, and other nonviolent means—to bring about the conditions necessary for Palestinians and Israelis to settle their longstanding conflict not on the basis of military force but on the basis of universal principles of human rights and international law; and,

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Board of Directors is directed to allocate adequate financial and staff resources to ensure meaningful implementation of this resolution, including working with other justice and peace organizations, such as Al-Awda—the Palestine Right to Return Coalition, to promote the boycott and divestment campaign called for by Palestinian civil society on July 9, 2005 and endorsed by VFP in convention that same year; and,

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that the Executive Director shall provide a progress report on the implementation of this resolution in the Winter (January, 2007) and Spring (April, 2007) issues of the VFP newsletter; and, shall, within thirty days, issue, for broad media distribution, a press release publicizing this resolution; and, shall within fourteen days transmit copies of this resolution to the President of the United States, the President pro tem and the minority leader of the U.S. Senate, the Speaker and the minority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, and the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Veterans for Peace Co-sponsors (in alpha order)

1. Thomas F. Barton, editor, GI Special; member, Military Project*
2. Mary Crane, assoc. member, VFP chapter 92*
3. Emily Horswill, member, VFP
4. John Kimber, at-large (California) member, VFP
5. Tom Krebsbach, Vietnam vet; member, VFP chapter 92*
6. o'Kelly McCluskey, disabled WWII vet; member, VFP chapter 92*; Director, VusPAs*
7. Dorli Rainey, assoc. member, VFP chapter 92*
8. William Wilkerson, M.D.; helicopter pilot, U.S. Army, Vietnam 1965-66; clinical assoc. prof. of Emergency Medicine, Univ. of Michigan; medical director, regional Tactical Emergency Medical Services; member, VFP chapter 93*
9. Mike Yanasak, member, VFP Chapter 92*

Endorsements (in alpha order)

1. Art Cvar, Pacific Green Party*
2. Joanne Cvar, Pacific Green Party*
3. Nada Elia, PhD
4. Hedy Epstein, St. Louis (Mo.) Women in Black*
5. Laura Hampton, Ohio Green Party*
6. Tom Hayes, filmmaker, People and the Land
7. Henry Herskovitz, Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends*
   
8. Michael Neumann, author, The Case Against Israel
9. Elaine Rumman, board member, Arab American Organization*
   
10. Farouq Shafie, member, Palestine Aid Society of Ann Arbor*
11. Rabia Shafie, co-founder, Palestine Aid Society of Ann Arbor*
12. Aimee Smith, Huron Valley Greens*
    

*for identification purposes only

See also:

• VFP Palestine Resolution Defeated
• VFP Palestine Resolution Defeated--Take 2

Last revised: 11/28/2006

Labels: Veterans for Peace