Sound Nonviolent Opponents of War (SNOW) Response to the Current Military Hostilities in Lebanon, Gaza, Israel

SNOW supports all efforts to maintain the cease-fire in Lebanon, while calling on Israel to withdraw from occupied territory. SNOW also endorses a speedy Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and an end to the blockade. We believe that the goal of achieving peace and justice while protecting human lives must outweigh the drive for political gain.

We reject the use of collective punishment as a strategy to control or root out selected enemies, and regard aerial bombardment of populated areas -- whether by Israeli airplanes or Hezbollah missiles -- as a war crime; call for the immediate cessation of weapons sales to Israel (and any other nation), as such sales always undermine the cause of peace; decry the destruction of property and infrastructure on all sides; and reject dependence on a war economy, striving instead to replace it with an economy based on peace.

We refuse to be manipulated by fear. We will expose the myth of a war on terror, work to connect the situation in Iraq with the events in Lebanon in the public mind, apply an even-handed condemnation of violence against civilians by all parties, and support the refusal of members of the military to participate in an illegal war.

Toward this end, we urge our members to communicate to their Congressional representatives their call for an end to the killing of innocents, for active American support of peaceful negotiation, and for pursuit of a settlement that is responsive to the needs and rights of all affected peoples -- and to leaflet in order to call attention to these issues. Equally important, as individuals we must look for ways to support and applaud voices for peace in our region's Muslim and Jewish communities.