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SEND OUR PREWRITTEN LETTER NOW OR, WRITE YOUR OWN: http://www.cflweb.org/congress_merge_.htm
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Citizens for Fair Legislation
For Immediate Release
October 22, 2004
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CFL ALERT: SUPPORT THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH'S STAND AGAINST ISRAELI APARTHEID
The head of a U.S. Presbyterian Church delegation has called on Israel to end
its occupation of Palestinian territories and warned that his church may begin
withholding investments to pressure Israel. The Rev. Nile Harper said in an
interview, "The occupation by Israel in the West Bank and Gaza [Strip] must
end because it is oppressive and destructive for the Palestinian people." Rev.
Harper said that the General Assembly of his church holds investments worth $8
billion, and that he has instructed his church's investment agency to study
the possibility of withdrawing its money from U.S. corporations whose products
"are being destructively used against the Palestinians" by Israel.
TALKING POINTS
*The Presbyterian Church's 216th General Assembly voted to divest from Israel
because of the policies of apartheid in that country. Jay Rock, coordinator
for Interfaith Relations at the Presbyterian Church has said that this new
divestment policy is motivated by his church's desire to "make our voice heard
about the direction of Israeli policy." The decision to divest from Israel was
passed by a resounding majority of 431 to 62. A delegation from the
Presbyterian Church toured the occupied Palestinian territories and viewed the
devastation first hand. Please take a moment to urge all of your elected
officials to listen to what the Presbyterian Church saw in the occupied
territories and to hear their argument for divestment: http://www.pcusa.org/washington/divestment.htm
and http://www.pcusa.org/nmd/pdf/0904nmdc-f13-divestment.pdf.
*Proponents of divestment from Israel are looking to the successes of the
divestment strategy against apartheid South Africa. The divestment movement
against South Africa was fought by ordinary people across the world. In the
U.S. that movement involved faith-based leaders who informed their followers;
union members that pressured their companies' stockholders and consumers that
persistently questioned their store owners. Students played an important role
by persuading universities to change their portfolios. All of those grassroots
efforts eventually forced the apartheid regime in South Africa to change its
policies. The Presbyterian Church has begun this same historic and courageous
process of divestment against Israel and as my representative I expect you to
support the Presbyterian Church in their efforts to stop the 53 year old
Israeli occupation of Palestinian land.
*Please urge all of your elected officials to stop playing politics and to
once and for all stand up for the human rights and dignity of the Palestinian
people and especially for the rights of Palestinian children. Remind your
representatives what Israeli apartheid means. It means the death of over 700
Palestinian children and tens of thousands maimed children in the last 3 years
alone. It means the targeted starvation of Palestinian children; the UN will
be releasing another report for a second year in a row showing the devastation
that Israeli apartheid is creating; the report will cover the extensive brain
damage that Palestinian children under age 5 suffer from brain defects caused
by malnutrition because of the occupation. Please urge your representatives to
demand an end to Israeli violence against children, to stop the collective
punishment of millions of children who are now allowed to go to school and for
the IDF to stop shelling and demolishing Palestinian schools.
Please choose the appropriate letter to send! (YOU MUST PICK A SUBJECT FROM
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WHITE HOUSE COMMENTS LINE: 202-456-1111
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Citizens for Fair Legislation is a grassroots organization committed to
encouraging a fair domestic and foreign policy with an emphasis on the US/Arab
world.
www.cflweb.org
To learn more about John Kerry and his anti-human rights position on
Palestinians, click here: http://cflweb.org/kerryonisrael.htm.htm
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