proposed Warfield/Dresser Resolution for Israel/Palestine Peace

note: Current dues paid members of VeteransForPeace are encouraged to sign the official petition at this link: http://www.squadron13.com/WarfieldDresserResolution/ which will insure each signers name is added on the final copy formally sent in for consideration at the next National Convention later this summer.
Otherwise, anyone may sign the petition below.


March 29, 2009

Warfield/Dresser Resolution for Israel/Palestine Peace

Since 1907 the peoples of the world have created a body of international law to prevent the armed violence of war. These are enshrined in key international covenants such as the United Nations Charter, the Nuremberg Charter, the Geneva Conventions, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which have established by consensus the laws of mankind. To maintain its integrity of purpose and secure its objective of world peace, VFP must demand adherence by all nations to these international laws and their enforcement by the international community, in particular by the United States which we represent as citizens, and by any nation supported by the United States.

Israel has remained in continuous defiance of these laws throughout its 61 years of existence. The 1948 Palestinian refugees' right of return, a fundamental right declared in Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and confirmed for these refugees in UN Resolution 194 has never been honored despite Israel's pledge to do so as a condition of its 1949 admission to the United Nations. The illegality of land acquisition through force was again disregarded by Israel in 1967, followed by relentless transfer of the Israeli population into occupied Palestinian land in violation of the 4th Geneva Convention, which also requires an occupying power to protect, not displace and abuse, a population under occupation. Forty-two years of repressive military occupation have continuously violated the Palestinians%u2019 right of self-determination as declared for all people in Chapter 1, Article I, Paragraph  2 of the United Nations Charter to which Israel is a signatory, Articles 13 and 15 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the first article in both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1976, and United Nations Security Council Resolution 1514 of 1960. The long series of Israeli violations has resulted in passage of some 100 UN resolutions of censure and condemnation as well as 42 Security Council resolutions against Israel vetoed by the US, with the US on each occasion casting the only vote in support of Israel. Israel far surpasses the record of international illegality of any other nation. Under this same body of international law, explicit in Chapter 7, Article 51 of the United Nations Charter affirming the %u201Cinherent right of individual and collective self-defense,%u201D Palestinians have the right to defensively employ armed force against Israel's invasion and occupation which is itself illegal under the United Nations Charter, Chapter 1, Article 2, Paragraphs 3 and 4. Palestinian resistance violates international law only when civilians are targeted, which is difficult to avoid when they lack air defenses against Israeli military aircraft and an air force or precision artillery to target IDF installations.

This is not a matter of civil disputes to be litigated or negotiated, which has been used as a dilatory tactic for decades while Israel has continued to gobble up Palestinian land. This is a matter of criminal violations to be enforced. It is time for Veterans For Peace to take a clear, unequivocal stand in support of all international laws enacted to ensure peace.

Therefore, be it resolved that Veterans For Peace shall call for:

1) a "one-state solution" in all of historic Palestine where Jews and other religions (including the non-religious) have equal rights, as opposed to the current "two-state" proposal, which would preserve the present apartheid system within Israel and permit Israel to evict indigenous citizens from their own lands, keeping all the best olive groves and orchards, beachfront properties, and other desirable real estate and turning their non-Jewish citizens into more refugees without legal rights, even the right to life should they resist.

2) a national boycott of all Israeli products as well as products of companies such as Caterpillar and Motorola that provide equipment for the occupation, including active support of existing boycott programs (e.g. http://www.bdsmovement.net/)

3) a divestment campaign to impose economic sanctions upon Israel (as was done with South Africa) to coerce it to amend its ways. (Note: economic coercion against the rich and powerful is not the same as coercion by the rich and powerful against the poor and weak, as inflicted by Israel upon the helpless population of Gaza.) Again, see http://www.bdsmovement.net/.

4) an immediate end to all military assistance by the U.S. f or Israel.

5) implementation of the right of return for all UN-registered Palestinian refugees per UN Resolution 194 in 1948, to which Israel agreed as a condition of its 1949 admission to the United Nations, with establishment of a commission to adjudicate property disputes, to be fully funded with freed-up military assistance dollars.

6) cessation of all US diplomatic protection of Israel from the judgments and sanctions of international legislative and judicial bodies.

7) suspension of all foreign aid to Israel contingent upon Israel's full compliance with international law and UN resolutions.

8) reimbursement by Israel to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for the full costs of its 60 years of care for the Palestinian refugees it has illegally prevented from returning.

Signed,

Winston Warfield
VfP, Chapter 9, Boston (Smedley Butler Brigade), past president
U.S. Army (RA18951984)
Hq. Co., 1st Brigade, 5th Inf. Div. (Mech.)
I Corps, Quang Tri Province, Vietnam, 1968-1969

Jack Dresser, Ph.D.
Former Chief Psychologist, Madigan General Hospital, US Army
Veterans for Peace
Co-founder, the Al-Nakba Awareness Project

Gordon Sturrock 
founder Squadron13.com, co-founder VeteransAgainstTorture.com
member VeteransForPeace & VVAW

Bill Perry
VFP, DAV, VVAW, VFW, VVA
Delaware Valley Veterans For America, co-founder VeteransAgainstTorture.com
 
 
 

The following documentation is provided in support of this resolution:

A Middle East Union: A Two-Stage Solution To The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, by Jeff Halper
http://www.squadron13.com/WarfieldDresserResolution/Halper-2%20stage%20solution.doc

Forget the two state solution. Israelis and Palestinians must share the land. Equally. by Saree Makdisi
http://www.squadron13.com/WarfieldDresserResolution/LAT%20article.doc

If One State Is Impossible, Why Is Olmert So Afraid Of It? By Jonathan Cook in Nazareth
http://www.squadron13.com/WarfieldDresserResolution/One%20State%20by%20JCook.doc

The One State Declaration
http://www.squadron13.com/WarfieldDresserResolution/One%20State%20Declaration.doc

Democracy: an existential threat? Ali Abunimah and Omar Barghouti
http://www.squadron13.com/WarfieldDresserResolution/One%20state%20solution.doc

Arguments supporting proposed 2009 VFP resolution on Israel/Palestinel, by Jack Dresser, Ph.D
http://www.squadron13.com/WarfieldDresserResolution/Supporting%20Arguments.htm

Al-Nakba-History.com by Jack Dresser, Ph.D.
http://www.al-nakba-history.com/