Dear UK friends
Below are some template letters to circulate to your contacts for lobbying government to pressure Israel to uphold international law. The first is the basic template, the second is adapted from this and combined with Lawyers for Palestinian Human rights and has the contact details for UK & US at the bottom of post.
Below are some template letters to circulate to your contacts for lobbying government to pressure Israel to uphold international law. The first is the basic template, the second is adapted from this and combined with Lawyers for Palestinian Human rights and has the contact details for UK & US at the bottom of post.
Templates
"Dear
I am writing to you to urge you to immediately call on Israel to cease
its attacks on Gaza. I am horrified to learn that more than 200 people
have been killed in Gaza in the last few hours and many more will be
killed if Israel does not cease its attacks immediately.
I also urge you to call for an urgent meeting of the United Nations
Security Council to press for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
The response of the international community in urging Israel to
minimise civilian casualties is entirely unacceptable when nearly 200
people, many of whom are women, children and innocent civilians, have
been killed in the past few hours. Israel must be pushed to
immediately cease all its attacks.
The international community must accept that it has a moral imperative
to bring an end to the violence unfolding in Gaza. The UN Security
Council should meet straight away, call for a ceasefire and impose an
arms embargo on Israel.
I am writing to you as a (British citizen) who is horrified by the
response of my country to these killings and urge you as a
representative of my country to take immediate action.
Yours sincerely
Dear
I am writing to you to urge you to immediately call on Israel to cease
all its attacks on Gaza.
I am horrified to learn that over 200 people have reportedly been
killed in Gaza in the last few hours, many of them entirely innocent
civilians, a significant number believed to be schoolchildren
returning home from morning lessons.
As Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights and many other observers
feared, Israeli rhetoric of avoiding civilian loss of life is not
rooted in a proper application of the legal principles of
proportionality and distinction. Today's events are not proportionate
acts of self-defence.
I do not believe that Israel has made a lawful case for the wholesale
targeting of Hamas. I believe from news reports that one target struck
today was a graduation ceremony of police officers employed by the
Hamas government – what evidence is there of any connection between
rockets fired by militants, whether under the direction of Hamas or
otherwise, and these trainee police officers?
But in any event, striking populated areas with the kind of force used
by Israel today, even if some of the targets were in principle
legitimate military targets, can never be in compliance with an
ordinary understanding of the laws of war. Israel's acts are therefore
war crimes and crimes against humanity and everything possible will be
done within the law to bring all those concerned to justice, including
any third parties against whom there is evidence that they have aided
and abetted these crimes.
Many more civilians will be killed if Israel does not cease its
attacks immediately.
I urge you to immediately contact other foreign ministers to arrange
an urgent meeting of the United Nations Security Council to pass a
resolution requiring an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and calling on the
international community to collect evidence of war crimes and crimes
against humanity.
The response of the international community in urging Israel to
minimise civilian casualties is entirely unacceptable when many
innocent civilians, including children, have been killed in the past
few hours. Israel must be pushed to immediately cease all its attacks.
The international community must accept that it has a moral and
arguably a legal imperative to bring an end to the violence unfolding
in Gaza.
Yours sincerely,
Contacts for British people
1. Write to your MP
You can find your MPs details on this site
http://www.writetothem.com/
just enter your postcode. If you don't live in the UK you can write to
the MP at your last address.
2. Write to the Labour Party
You can send a message to the Labour Party using this online form
http://www.labour.org.uk/contact
3. Write to the Conservative Party
Write to David Cameron
camerond@parliament.uk
You could mention you are appalled that he has been on the BBC calling
for restraint on all sides when nearly 200 Palestinians have been
killed."
4. British Consulate Jerusalem
972 (02) 541 4100
Call them asking what the British government is doing about the attacks on Gaza.
5. British Embassy Tel Aviv
02 3510 1167 / (0)3 527 1572
Call them.
6. Prime Minister - Gordon Brown
Fax PM's office on +442079250918
7. Foreign Secretary - David Miliband
private.office@fco.gov.uk
U.S. Senators -
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
U.S. Representatives - https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml
President Bush - http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
"Dear
I am writing to you to urge you to immediately call on Israel to cease
its attacks on Gaza. I am horrified to learn that more than 200 people
have been killed in Gaza in the last few hours and many more will be
killed if Israel does not cease its attacks immediately.
I also urge you to call for an urgent meeting of the United Nations
Security Council to press for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
The response of the international community in urging Israel to
minimise civilian casualties is entirely unacceptable when nearly 200
people, many of whom are women, children and innocent civilians, have
been killed in the past few hours. Israel must be pushed to
immediately cease all its attacks.
The international community must accept that it has a moral imperative
to bring an end to the violence unfolding in Gaza. The UN Security
Council should meet straight away, call for a ceasefire and impose an
arms embargo on Israel.
I am writing to you as a (British citizen) who is horrified by the
response of my country to these killings and urge you as a
representative of my country to take immediate action.
Yours sincerely
Dear
I am writing to you to urge you to immediately call on Israel to cease
all its attacks on Gaza.
I am horrified to learn that over 200 people have reportedly been
killed in Gaza in the last few hours, many of them entirely innocent
civilians, a significant number believed to be schoolchildren
returning home from morning lessons.
As Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights and many other observers
feared, Israeli rhetoric of avoiding civilian loss of life is not
rooted in a proper application of the legal principles of
proportionality and distinction. Today's events are not proportionate
acts of self-defence.
I do not believe that Israel has made a lawful case for the wholesale
targeting of Hamas. I believe from news reports that one target struck
today was a graduation ceremony of police officers employed by the
Hamas government – what evidence is there of any connection between
rockets fired by militants, whether under the direction of Hamas or
otherwise, and these trainee police officers?
But in any event, striking populated areas with the kind of force used
by Israel today, even if some of the targets were in principle
legitimate military targets, can never be in compliance with an
ordinary understanding of the laws of war. Israel's acts are therefore
war crimes and crimes against humanity and everything possible will be
done within the law to bring all those concerned to justice, including
any third parties against whom there is evidence that they have aided
and abetted these crimes.
Many more civilians will be killed if Israel does not cease its
attacks immediately.
I urge you to immediately contact other foreign ministers to arrange
an urgent meeting of the United Nations Security Council to pass a
resolution requiring an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and calling on the
international community to collect evidence of war crimes and crimes
against humanity.
The response of the international community in urging Israel to
minimise civilian casualties is entirely unacceptable when many
innocent civilians, including children, have been killed in the past
few hours. Israel must be pushed to immediately cease all its attacks.
The international community must accept that it has a moral and
arguably a legal imperative to bring an end to the violence unfolding
in Gaza.
Yours sincerely,
Contacts for British people
1. Write to your MP
You can find your MPs details on this site
http://www.writetothem.com/ just enter your postcode. If you don't live in the UK you can write to
the MP at your last address.
2. Write to the Labour Party
You can send a message to the Labour Party using this online form
http://www.labour.org.uk/contact 3. Write to the Conservative Party
Write to David Cameron
camerond@parliament.uk You could mention you are appalled that he has been on the BBC calling
for restraint on all sides when nearly 200 Palestinians have been
killed."
4. British Consulate Jerusalem
972 (02) 541 4100
Call them asking what the British government is doing about the attacks on Gaza.
5. British Embassy Tel Aviv
02 3510 1167 / (0)3 527 1572
Call them.
6. Prime Minister - Gordon Brown
Fax PM's office on +442079250918
7. Foreign Secretary - David Miliband
private.office@fco.gov.uk U.S. Senators -
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm U.S. Representatives -
https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml President Bush -
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
