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| 17/1/05 | US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation: Announcing “Weapons Watch” |
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The US Arms Export Control Act (Public Law 90-829) limits the use of U.S. weapons given or sold to a foreign country to “internal security” and “legitimate self-defense” and prevents their use against civilians. In 2005, U.S. taxpayers are providing Israel with $2.2 billion worth of arms. Israel often uses U.S. weapons in an external, offensive manner to prosecute its illegal 37 year-old military occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem. Using U.S. weapons to enforce a foreign military occupation can never be justified as “internal security”. When the US Campaign is able to document that the killing of Palestinian civilians by Israel was committed with U.S. weapons, it issues an action alert with specific information on the incident and mobilizes a nation-wide network of volunteers to collect petition signatures to Congress and the President calling for an investigation into Israeli violations of the US Arms Export Control Act and a halt in arms transfers to Israel until it complies with human rights standards and international law. The US Campaign is seeking 100,000 petition signatures in 2005 to create a powerful nation-wide political movement to challenge ongoing arms transfers to Israel while it violates human rights and domestic laws with these weapons. Collecting petition signatures will also help your local organizations grow and become stronger. Sign the petition today by visiting: www.endtheoccupation.org/petition.php?pid=7 Sign up
to become a “Weapons Watch Volunteer” today and distribute
action alerts and collect petition signatures by visiting: Download
a PDF version of the petition to collect signatures by visiting: US Campaign
to End the Israeli Occupation HTML Version: www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?id=914 PDF Version: www.endtheoccupation.org/downloads/beitlahiyafactsheet.pdf START DATE:
January 5, 2005 BACKGROUND INFORMATION: On January 4, an Israeli tank fired three anti-personnel artillery shells from an illegal settlement in the occupied Gaza Strip, killing seven Palestinian youth, six of whom were from the same extended family, aged ten to eighteen, who were working in their family’s strawberry field in Beit Lahiya. The shells, which were fired from a distance of approximately 300 meters, spewed out thousands of metal darts, severing limbs, decapitating heads, and badly mangling the bodies of the victims.[i] The shells were likely M494 105mm APERS-T rounds, otherwise known as flechettes, a Vietnam War-era artillery round produced in the United States. “The Israeli military obtained these weapons from the USA after the 1973 war and we have thousands of old shells in warehouses,” according to an Israeli defense source. “The weapon is not regarded as reliable or effective and gunners have a difficult time in aiming this properly.”[ii] The anti-personnel tank shell contains 5,000 steel darts, which, when fired from a distance of 300 meters, indiscriminately hit objects within a 94-115 meter arc. These anti-personnel artillery shells can be fired from an M60 Patton or M1 Abrams main battle tank. Israel has in service 1,400 M60 Patton main battle tanks acquired from the United States in 1970 and 1980.[iii] The US Arms Export Control Act (Public Law 90-829) limits the use of U.S. weapons given or sold to a foreign country to “internal security” and “legitimate self-defense” and prevents their use against civilians. Killing civilians from an illegal settlement while protecting a foreign military occupation cannot be justified as “internal security” or “legitimate self-defense”. Israel’s killing of seven Palestinian youth with US tanks and shells is an apparent violation of this law that must be investigated. WHAT YOU CAN DO: 1) Sign up to be a “Weapons Watch Volunteer” to distribute information and collect signatures on a petition to Members of Congress and the President calling for an investigation into Israeli violations of the Arms Export Control Act and a halt in weapons transfers to Israel until it complies with human rights standards and international law. Sign up as a “Weapons Watch Volunteer” at: www.endtheoccupation.org/modinput.php?modin=79 Download a PDF version of the petition at: www.endtheoccupation.org/downloads/wwpetition1-14-05.pdf Download
an accompanying PDF flyer of this action alert at: 2) Sign an on-line version of the “Weapons Watch” petition at: www.endtheoccupation.org/petition.php?pid=7 3) Contact your Members of Congress, the White House, and the State Department and ask them to investigate the killing of Palestinian youth in Beit Lahiya as a possible violation of the Arms Export Control Act. Contact information for your Members of Congress is at: www.congress.org/ Contact the Office of Israel and Palestinian Affairs at the State Department at mailto:nea-ipa@state.gov>nea-ipa@state.gov or 202-647-3672. Contact the White House by phone at 202-456-111, by fax at 202-456-2461 or by email at mailto:president@whitehouse.gov [i] Details of the killing are taken from the following newspaper accounts: Conal Urquhart, “Seven children die in crossfire as Israelis target suspected militants,” Guardian (UK), January 5, 2005, www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,5095901-103552,00.html ; Khalil al-Sheikh, “Massacre in Beit Lahiya,” al-Ayyam (Palestine), January 5, 2005, www.al-ayyam.com/znews/site/template/printpreview.aspx?did=14789 ; Molly Moore, “Shelling in Gaza Kills 7 Palesitnian Youths,” Washington Post, January 5, 2005, www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46654-2005Jan4.html?sub=new [ii] Steve Rodan, “Israel’s military debates use of flechette round,” Jane’s Defence Weekly, May 22, 2001, www.janes.com/regional_news/africa_middle_east/news/jdw/jdw010522_2_n.shtml [iii] Jaffee
Center for Strategic Studies, “Middle East Military Balance 2003-2004,” Chapter
6-Israel, p. 14, www.tau.ac.il/jcss/balance/Israel.pdf This is the listserve for the friends of Palestine Solidarity Committee, based in Seattle. You can find out more about PSC by replying to this email address, emailing us at palestinejustice@aol.com, going to www.palestineinformation.org, or by coming to one of our events. We welcome all anti-racists working for justice and human rights all over the world, including Palestine, to work with us. To unsubscribe, please email palestinejustice-unsubscribe@lists.riseup.net |
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