RESOLUTION CALLING FOR THE ENFORCEMENT OF INTERNATIONAL LAW

RESOLUTION CALLING FOR THE ENFORCEMENT OF INTERNATIONAL LAW IN ISRAEL/PALESTINE

SUBMITTED BY THE MIDDLE EAST SUB-COMMITTEE OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE – November 3, 2000

WHEREAS:

1. Despite the Oslo Agreements signed since 1993, the State of Israel continues to occupy and largely control the lives of the Palestinian people in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, and the Syrian people in the Golan Heights;

2. Since September 28, 2000, the Palestinian people have been engaged in an uprising against the Israeli military occupation;

3. Israel has, in order to suppress this uprising, intensified its violations of international law and used excessive use of force in a disproportionate reaction against Palestinians, including shelling and firing at Palestinian cities from tanks and helicopters;

4. The UN issued Resolution 1322 condemning Israel's excessive use of force and calling for the establishment of an international inquiry to investigate the deaths of over 160 Palestinians, 8 Israelis and over 4000 wounded Palestinians;

5. Amnesty International has issued a report condemning Israel's excessive use of force as possible war crimes;

6. Physicians for Human rights issued a report on November 3, 2000, in which one of its findings was that Israeli Defense Forces violated international law as follows: "The numerous head and eye injuries, the high proportion of thigh wounds and fatal head wounds, and the fact that similar patterns of such shootings occurred over a period of weeks demonstrate two disturbing patterns: 1) IDF soldiers are not firing only in life threatening situations and 2) they are firing at heads and thighs to injure and kill, not to avoid loss of life and injury.";

7. On October 3, a week after the bitter fighting and killing began, the United States government announced it would provide Israel with the largest purchase of military helicopters by the Israeli Air Force in a decade;

8. The sale of military helicopters was condemned by Amnesty International (October 19), in so far as "US-supplied helicopters have been used to violate the rights of Palestinians and Arab Israelis during the recent conflict in the region";

9. A Pentagon official recently acknowledged that "anti-tank missiles and attack helicopters are not traditionally considered tools for crowd control";

10. One-fifth of the population of Israel is Palestinian, of which half are internal refugees, who continue to suffer from discriminatory and segregationist policies favoring he Jewish citizens of Israel;

11. In September and October 2000, 13 Palestinian citizens of Israel were killed and hundreds injured by Israeli police;

12. The progressive community of Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel is isolated and under attack within Israel and has called for progressive forces in the United States and internationally to pressure the United States government and to educate the people in the United States about the apartheid regime that is forming in the area;

13. The US government has undermined a fair and just resolution of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict by its persistent support of Israeli impunity in the face of international law and its massive funding of the Israeli military and nuclear weapons industries,

Therefore, be it resolve, that the National Lawyers Guild:

1. Calls on the international community to immediately provide international protection for Palestinian civilians;

2. Calls on the international community to take all necessary steps to enforce the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention in the Occupied territories, beginning with reconvening the Geneva meeting of member states which was postponed indefinitely in July 1999;

3. Calls on the United States government to cease its monopoly over the peace process and work together with the United Nations and others to forge a new paradigm for negotiations based on international law, UN resolutions and on justice and equality for all residents, Jewish and Palestinian, in the area;

4. Calls on the United States government to immediately halt all foreign aid to Israel that is used by Israel for ends that violate the rights of the Palestinians and Syrian residents of the Golan, until Israel complies with international law -- including the United Nations Charter, UN Resolution 194, the Fourth Geneva Convention, and the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination-- and calls on Congress to use its oversight power to ensure that no aid given to Israel is used for the aforementioned illegal purposes;

5. Calls on the United States to freeze immediately all sales of weapons, military hardware and weapons technology to Israel and the Israeli arms industry until Israel ceases to use these weapons on Palestinian civilian populations;

6. Calls on the Israeli government to immediately cease its use of military force including tanks, missiles, live ammunition and metal bullets coated by rubber, dismantle its military occupation, fulfill its agreement to implement UN Resolution 194 and allow for international protection to b provided for Palestinian civilians;

7. Recognizes the right of Palestinians to self-determination and the right of return of all Palestinian refugees in accordance with UN Resolutions 194;

8. Calls for the elimination in Israel of laws, institutions, regulations and practices which have the purpose or effect of discriminating on the basis of religion, national or ethnic origin, sex or race;

9. Directs the National Executive Committee to communicate this resolution to the President of the United States, the Department of State, the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, the United Nations, the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, the Palestinian Bar Association, the Israeli Bar Association and other relevant governmental and other bodies.