The Israeli military carried out a second night of airstrikes in Gaza July 8. As of Wednesday morning, July 9, at least 29 Palestinians had been killed since the airstrikes began July 7, including seven children under the age of 16. [1] At least two Israelis had been lightly wounded by rocket fire from Gaza, Haaretz reported. [2] The military conflict “showed no signs of abating,” according to a New York Times report on July 9. [3] From the past, we know how this ends. There will be a new ceasefire. The key question is how long it will take, how many people will be killed and injured, how much will be destroyed in the meantime. The United States can help save both Israeli and Palestinian lives by speaking out urgently in support of a ceasefire, and working vigorously with U.S. allies in the region that have good relations with both sides, such as Egypt and Jordan, to press for a ceasefire. The U.S. can help make the ceasefire last by pressing for an agreement that would permanently lift the blockade of Gaza. The State Department should also continue to press for an investigation of the beating in Israeli police custody of U.S. citizen Tarek Abu Khdeir. [4] Press the Obama Administration to engage vigorously and urgently by signing our petition. References: 1. “Seven children killed in Israeli airstrikes over Gaza,” Defence for Children International Palestine, 9 Jul 2014, http://www.dci-palestine.org/documents/eight-children-killed-israeli-airstrikes-over-gaza 2. “Live updates, July 7, 2014: Rockets bombard south, Hamas claims responsibility,” Haaretz, Jul. 8, 2014, http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.603472 3. “Dozens of Gaza Strikes by Israel as Hamas Extends Rockets’ Range,” Steven Erlanger and Isabel Kershner, New York Times, July 9, 2014, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/10/world/middleeast/israel-and-hamas-exchange-fire.html 4. “State Dept. demands investigation into reports of teen's beating in Israel,” Kyle Balluck, The Hill, 7/06/14, http://thehill.com/policy/international/211380-us-demands-investigation-into-reports-of-teens-beating-in-israel

I have recently returned from the Occupied Palestinian Territories where I served as an Ecumenical Accompanier, a program sponsored by the World Council of Churches. EAs provide a peaceful presence for the Palestinian people and work with Israeli and Palestinian peace groups in finding ways to engage in non-violent resistance to the Occupation. While I was there, Christians were denied access to the Old City in Jerusalem during Holy Week, Muslim men under age 50 as well as school children were denied access to the Al Aqsa Mosque Compound on a regular basis, a Bedouin farmer's home was demolished by the IDF three times, Abu Omar's home was bulldozed, and 14 families in another Bedouin village received eviction notices. In South Hebron Hills, a farmer's entire wheat harvest was torched, as it lay drying in the field, by Israeli settlers. Daoud, owner of The Tent of Nations Conference Center near Bethlehem, lost 800 fruit trees to settlers. Our tax dollars are paying for these human rights abuses that take place on a daily basis because of the Occupation of the Palestinian Territories. As long as we remain silent, we are complicit in whatever violence takes place on either side. I urge you to sign this petition to help end the Occupation and give the Palestinian people their freedom and Israel the security it longs for. Thank you, Lynn Coulthard

Egyptians are currently being jailed, murdered, raped and victimized simply for advocating for democracy, freedom, and human rights. We are signing this petition to stand with the pro-democracy Egyptians and stand against Egypt's military regime that is responsible for the atrocities and enabled in large part by our U.S. Tax Dollars which are being sent to Egypt as more than $1.3B in annual aid.

This was the situation that constituted their arrest, trial and sentence to prison. . . . . . Early on the morning of July 28, 2012, the three “veteran activists” hiked over a ridge and cut through four fences to reach the United States “new” storehouse for bomb-grade, highly enriched uranium at the Y-12 nuclear weapons complex. Their arrest led to a temporary shutdown of Y-12 operations, oversight hearings in Congress, and an on-going security overhauls throughout the nuclear weapons enterprise. Before you sign this, you’re probably asking yourself a couple of questions: #1. Why do these people do what they do? It’s to draw your attention to exactly what is going on in our country. It’s the nuclear build-up of weapons that are beyond most of our wildest imagination. Each one of America’s 14 nuclear subs has 24 missiles and each missile has 4 to 8 independently targeted warheads. Each of the individual warheads on a missile is now 30 times more powerful than the bombs used on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. It takes only one of American’s 14 submarines to ruin Europe as a civilization and the definite possibility of becoming the means of eliminating all life on this planet. Now ….. Let’s work a little with these numbers. We’re producing a weapon that is 30 times more powerful than Nagasaki. 150,000 died at Nagasaki so 30 X 150,000 = 4 million men, women, children and the environment around them becomes ashes.. In actuality, these three, labelled terrorists, by attempting to make us aware of this, should be crowned as saints, because what we’re talking about here is really insanity. If you think these statements are off the wall, add the price tag of a 100 billion to build 14 new nuclear subs all this and then make the claim, along with our government that we need all this to protect ourselves. So….. The reason for you to sign this is, the way we’re heading with the improved nuclear systems, you could possibly become one of the 4 million to experience the fruits of America’s thirst for power. #2. Why should I get involved with all this? The second reason why you should sign this petition is because of our morally bankrupt court system. When they label and convict an eighty-five year old nun of being a terrorist and no one objects, it means that we’ve accepted a rotten process. So…. are Sr. Megan, Michael & Gregg terrorists? Are they saboteurs? When we, as a people, accept untruths as truths, then it’s not long till the government can bring you in calling you something you’re not and when our high courts cannot distinguish right and wrong then we’re all in trouble. They had a great saying in Germany. “When they came for the journalist, I said nothing. When they came for the labor leaders, I said nothing. When they came for the teachers, I said nothing and finally, when they came for me there was no one left to speak for me. The evil of nuclear weapons is present and along with it the forces that keep it operational. We appreciate your willingness to engage with us to keep real freedom alive which is always founded in truth. So…. Keep this in mind. You are signing this as much for ourselves as the three righteous and courageous people in jail.

On June 19, the House took an important step by prohibiting the transfer of MANPADS (shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles) to actors in Syria. [1] House passage of the bipartisan Conyers-Yoho-Welch-Amash-Grayson-DesJarlais-Nolan amendment showed that Members of the House understood that these are particularly dangerous weapons due to the possibility that they could be used by terrorists against civilian planes in Israel and elsewhere. [2] [3] [4] Recent events in Iraq have shown that there is no border separating Sunni insurgents fighting the government of Syria from Sunni insurgents fighting the government of Iraq, nor any boundary between different groups of Sunni insurgents. Members of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee are in a unique position to advance this legislation. They could virtually ensure that the House provision becomes law by including it in the Senate’s Defense Appropriation. References: 1. House Votes to Ban Some, but Not All, Weapons for Syrian Rebels http://blogs.rollcall.com/five-by-five/house-votes-to-ban-some-but-not-all-weapons-for-syrian-rebels/ 2. 19 Reps say NO to MANPADS in Syria http://fcnl.org/issues/middle_east/19_reps_syria_manpads/ 3. JFP stmt: House bars transfer of MANPADS to Syria http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/node/1527 4. 14,000 at MoveOn - Congress: Back Welch-Jones-Mulvaney-Conyers Against Syria Manpads http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/Welch-Syria-no-manpads

I started harvesting coffee bean from the age of 4 and my grandfather had been doing so for 75 years but was not able to purchase a cup of coffee. My cousins who lived further South of Cameroon unlike me from the Savannah North were equally harvesting cocoa beans since they were 3 years old. I drank my first cup of coffee when I was 25 years old and had moved to Europe and my cousin ate his first chocolate bar when he was 27 years old and had moved to the US. Why can Cameroon and other African countries not grind their coffee and cocoa beans into powder? Because the WTO Clause bars them from doing so and it is the intention of this petition to force those players at the WTO to realise that the WTO is the worst violator of fundamental Human Rights.

On June 19, the House took an important step by prohibiting the transfer of MANPADS to actors in Syria. [1] House passage of the Conyers-Yoho-Welch-Amash-Grayson-DesJarlais-Nolan amendment showed that Members of the House understood that these are particularly dangerous weapons due to the possibility that they could be used by terrorists against civil aviation in Israel and elsewhere. [2] [3] [4] Recent events in Iraq have shown that there is no border separating Sunni insurgents fighting the government of Syria from Sunni insurgents fighting the government of Iraq, nor any boundary between different groups of Sunni insurgents. Illinois Senator Dick Durbin is in a unique position as Chair of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. He could ensure that the House provision becomes law by including it in the Senate’s Defense Appropriation. References: 1. House Votes to Ban Some, but Not All, Weapons for Syrian Rebels http://blogs.rollcall.com/five-by-five/house-votes-to-ban-some-but-not-all-weapons-for-syrian-rebels/ 2. 19 Reps say NO to MANPADS in Syria http://fcnl.org/issues/middle_east/19_reps_syria_manpads/ 3. JFP stmt: House bars transfer of MANPADS to Syria http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/node/1527 4. 14,000 at MoveOn - Congress: Back Welch-Jones-Mulvaney-Conyers Against Syria Manpads http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/Welch-Syria-no-manpads

Some press reports have suggested that the U.S. could begin airstrikes in Iraq at any time. Our best opportunity to stop this is to press President Obama to come to Congress for authorization, as required by the U.S. Constitution and the War Powers Resolution, before using military force. Pressing the President to come to Congress was essential to stopping the U.S. from going to war in Syria last year. California Democrat Barbara Lee and Virginia Republican Scott Rigell have initiated a bipartisan letter to President Obama, urging him to respect the Constitutional requirement to come to Congress for authorization before using military force. Urge your Representative to join the Lee-Rigell letter by signing our petition. The petition will be automatically delivered to your Representative when you sign.

I am starting this petition because we could be spending our money on creating jobs for our people instead of spending money on the Middle East, which will never be at peace. So stop being involved in the Middle East.

As a Marine I believe that America should return to the pre-Bush Doctrine of military engagement only when a country has attacked America and it is in our direct National Security interests. We learned from Vietnam to not trust politicians waging wars. We forgot when Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Bremer and their co-conspirators in conservative media and talk radio engaged to push the false war in Iraq and to castigate any who dared to challenge the immoral nature of that war and the new "Pre-emptive strike" mindset of the Bush Doctrine.

Over the past decade, American taxpayers have sunk hundreds of billions into military action in Iraq. The $816 billion that we’ve spent on 10 years of war in Iraq could otherwise have been spent on domestic programs that badly need investment. For example, those dollars could have financed a well-rounded domestic program, including: provided 4.75 million students Pell Grants of $5,550; equipped 4 million households with wind power; hired 65,000 new police officers; supplied 5 million veterans with VA medical care; and paid 100,000 elementary school teachers each year for a decade. Instead, such programs have suffered from significant budget setbacks and austerity while our nation spent billions on military intervention in a complex and unstable conflict. This is not our fight. Americans overwhelmingly oppose renewed military operations in Iraq: a recent poll from Public Policy Polling showed that 74 percent of the public are opposed to sending combat troops back into Iraq. In contrast, the majority of Americans do support investment in domestic programs like public education, jobs, food assistance, health care, and renewable energy and the environment. With our domestic economy still struggling, our veterans in dire need of care and support, and millions of people struggling to make ends meet at home, now’s not the time to commit more funds to war. The President and Congress must look for ways to be helpful in the Iraq crisis that don’t involve combat operations and the cost to our nation that goes along with them. We need to show that we’ve learned our painful lesson, that sending American troops to the Middle East will not make the situation better.

Because all of my people in Iraq are in danger, because our country is destroyed now, because we lost hope in the future, and because I want to see a better Iraq, with a better future for our youth.