SEATTLE
DIVEST FROM ISRAEL'S MILITARY OCCUPATION
WHY DIVESTMENT?
Both
Israelis and Palestinians deserve to live in peace, independence and
security. If we want peace and justice in Israel/Palestine, we must
support both Israeli and Palestinian claims to statehood and self-determination.
We must also penetrate the veil of misinformation that surrounds this
conflict, misrepresenting it as a religious war, an ancient conflict,
or a battle between two equal sides. It is not an equal battle. One
side has power over the other, and has imposed a military occupation
for over 35 years. We currently have municipal public funds invested
in companies that support that military occupation, and the time has
come for that to end.
Since
1967, over three million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza have
lived in a state of apartheid under Israeli military occupation. Under
occupation, Palestinians have no right to vote, no freedom of speech
or assembly or movement. They can be arrested and imprisoned indefinitely
without charge or trial. They are routinely subject to torture in prison.
Israeli soldiers and civilians attack and murder them with relative
impunity. According to the US State Department's Country Reports, the
Israeli army targets civilians even when soldiers are not in imminent
danger. Amnesty International is concerned that the main aim of the
Israeli army's conduct "is to collectively punish all Palestinians,"
stressing that the Israeli army has taken actions which amount to war
crimes.
No peace talks have offered Palestinians independence. No peace talks
have stopped Israel from continuing to build settlements for Israeli
citizens inside the Occupied Territories. Several Israeli generals have
agreed that these settlements serve no purpose for the defense or security
of Israel. As former President Jimmy Carter has observed, this ongoing
process of colonizing occupied land for an Israeli population is an
egregious and destabilizing obstacle to peace in the region. Our political
and financial support of these activities only makes more violence inevitable.
The military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza is illegal under the
UN Charter and 4th Geneva Convention, which not only forbid the acquisition
of land by force, but also forbid the occupying power from moving its
own population into occupied territories. As parties to the Geneva Convention,
both the United States and Israel are compelled to "respect and ensure
respect for" the Convention. The US therefore has an affirmative duty
under international law to see that the illegal occupation ends. Under
domestic law also, the US should not be supporting the Israeli occupation.
Both the US Foreign Assistance Act and Arms Export Control Act forbid
selling weapons or giving financial support to countries that engage
in consistent patterns of gross violations of human rights.
The
Israeli military occupation, which denies human rights based on ethnicity,
is a moral outrage as well. We would not support torture if it occurred
in front of us, and conscience demands that we not support it anywhere.
We would not support apartheid in South Africa or in the Jim Crow South
of our own country, and conscience demands that we not support it when
it happens in Israel/Palestine.
Through
its Retirement Pension Funds for city employees, the City of Seattle
invests in several corporations that sell military equipment to the
Israeli army for use in the Occupied Territories. These companies sell
equipment used to brutalize and kill people. Our divestment campaign
focuses on seven such companies:
Caterpillar sells armored bulldozers which
are used to demolish homes and uproot olive trees.
United
Technologies makes Blackhawk helicopters which attack Palestinian
buildings and civilians.
General
Dynamics makes the 20mm guns for F16 jets.
Boeing
sells AH64 Apache Helicopters which kill Palestinian civilians.
General
Electric makes engines for the Apache Helicopters.
Northrop
Grumman makes radars and weapons systems.
Oshkosh
Truck Corporation makes tactical military trucks.
We
are not calling for a boycott of all Israeli companies, or of all companies
that do business with Israel. Our demand is specific: withdraw financial
support from companies that sell equipment to Israel's military occupation,
and send a clear signal that Seattle does not support illegal or immoral
actions, at home or abroad.
The City of Seattle's Retirement Pension Fund has only one mandate for
investment: fiduciary responsibility. We support that mandate and believe
that a fiduciary duty includes ensuring that public funds do not support
racism, torture or apartheid. The Israeli Occupation is both illegal
and immoral, and we call on the City of Seattle not to use public funds
to support acts that shock the conscience.
Divestment from Israeli military occupation is not only a moral imperative.
It is an opportunity. It is one of many ways we must demand a future
built on justice and peace, not only for the peoples of the Middle East
but for ourselves as well.
SEATTLE DIVEST FROM ISRAELI MILITARY OCCUPATION
for more information contact Palestine Solidarity Committee
(206) 633-1086
palestinejustice@aol.com
WAYS TO JOIN the Seattle Divest from Israeli Military Occupation Campaign
The
Israeli military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza is not a narrow
political issue.
It is a legal and moral outrage which our public funds are supporting.
Our goal:
to approach the City of Seattle with a broad and united community of
concern, demanding that our public funds be spent in support of human
rights and wellbeing, not in support of apartheid and dictatorship.
Your
group can support the campaign to divest from Israeli apartheid by:
Phase I
endorsing
the campaign so your name is used in campaign literature
appointing
a divestment liaison & sending the liaison to our strategy meetings
passing
a resolution supporting divestment
also
by:
donating
money
getting
other groups and individuals involved
hosting
informational meetings about Palestine and divestment
Phase II
joining
us in our meetings with public officials
joining
a letter-writing campaign to City Council and the Mayor
sending
pre-printed postcards to City Council and the Mayor
placing
ads in the papers
phoning
City Council and the Mayor and asking them to divest
demanding
divestment at Town Halls, on radio shows, and at City Council meetings
Ask
the City of Seattle to divest from these corporations:
GENERAL ELECTRIC
Aircraft Engines have had presence in Israel since 1968. GE Aircraft
Engines supports the Israeli Air Force propulsion systems on a long
list of aircraft including: F-16 Falcon Fighters, F-4 Phantom fighters,
Israel made Kfir, CH-53 heavy lift helicopter, AH-64 Apache attack helicopter,
UH-60 Black Hawk utility helicopter and the Sahar 5 gunboat. General
Electric- parts for HELLFIRE II laser missiles, T-700 and 701C jet engines,
and propulsion systems for attack helicopters used in the occupied territories.
UNITED TECHNOLOGIES
Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corporation,
sells Israel U.S. armaments used to destroy Palestinian cities and perform
political assassinations of Palestinian civilians from the sky. Sold
15 Blackhawk helicopters to Israel in 1997, has contracts for 25 helicopters
in 2002. Major arms contractor with Israel. Was charged in 1997 of diverting
US aid to Israel into a slush fund for an Israeli Air Force officer.
"Our company's relationship of more than 40 years with Israel is a source
of pride," said Sikorsky President Dean Borgman in a February 1, 2001
press release while announcing his firm was awarded a $211.8 million
contract with the Israeli Air Force.
BOEING
Missile systems, F-15 software, Longbow Fire Control radar, Apache Helicopters,
Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) a guided air-to-surface weapon
Boeing's Apache Longbow helicopter is the U.S. Army's most advanced
attack helicopter. The Apaches are equipped with the Hellfire missile
system, produced by Lockheed Martin Missiles & Fire Control in Orlando,
Fla. One of these missiles killed local Palestinian leader Hussein Abayat
along with two women standing nearby, in the second of half of October
2000.
CATERPILLAR
Armored D9 bulldozers used for destroying Palestinian homes in Jenin
and elsewhere In Jenin at least 140 buildings were completely leveled
-- many of them multi-family dwellings --while over 200 others were
severely damaged, leaving an estimated 4,000 people, more than a quarter
of the camp's population, homeless. During one of Israel's home demolition
campaignsÑmorbidly entitled "Operation Enjoyable Song"Ñmore than 32
shelters, housing some 400 people, were demolished April 11, 2001.
GENERAL DYNAMICS
Approximately one thousand M60A3 Main Battle Tanks, originally manufactured
by General Dynamics Land Systems, were supplied to Israel. General Dynamics
Armament Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics (NYSE:
GD), has been awarded contract from the U.S. Army for the production
of 44 Reactive Armor vehicle sets under a licensing agreement with Rafael
Armament Development Authority of Haifa. Sells the F16 Fighting Falcon
Jets to Israel. F16 is capable of Mach 2+, can be armed with three-barrel
cannon with 515 rounds; up to 9,276 kilograms (20,450 pounds) of ordinance
including: nuclear weapons, ASMs, AAMs, anti-radar missiles, anti-ship
missiles, free-fall or guided bombs, cluster bombs, dispenser weapons,
rocket launchers, napalm tanks, drop tanks and ECM pods, carried on
nine external hardpoints.
NORTHROP GRUMMAN
has launched a bid to acquire TRW Systems in a hostile takeover that
could cost $6 billion. TRW is the prime contractor of the Tactical High
Energy Laser in a joint U.S. project with Israel. Northop is the manufacturer
of the Global Hawk unmanned air vehicle, which is being examined by
Israel in a joint venture for its missile defense efforts. Northrop
makes warships for Israel such the SA'AR 5 Multi-Mission Corvette loaded
with Boeing Harpoon surface to air missiles with a warhead of 227 KG
and the BARAK anti-air missile system.
OSHKOSH TRUCK CORPORATION
Supplies Mobility Tactical Trucks to Israeli Military.
SEATTLE DIVEST FROM ISRAELI MILITARY OCCUPATION
for more information contact Palestine Solidarity Committee
(206) 633-1086
palestinejustice@aol.com