Breaking News: Negotiators in Vienna have announced that they are going to extend talks with Iran for another 4 months. These talks are incredibly important and it’s crucial that negotiators have the time to secure a deal that solves the Iranian nuclear issue. Even before the extension was announced, conservative lobby groups were calling the negotiations a failure and pushing to increase sanctions on Iran. John McCain has even said: “I think the sanctions that have been relaxed ought to be reimposed.” The President has made it clear over and over again the increasing sanctions on Iran during the negotiations will undermine diplomacy and take us down the path to war. Over the next few days representatives in Congress will be looking at legislation to increase sanctions - we need to let them know now that they must stand with the President and support diplomacy. We know our voices are crucial in these debates. It was your voices - through petitions, phone calls and meetings - that helped give diplomacy a chance last year, helped put the Menendez sanctions bill on ice and allowed the international community to reduce Iran’s nuclear stockpile. We will be in DC next week with the peace delegation and we will ensure that your petitions will be hand delivered to Congressional offices.

Peace on Earth. No more children, being killed. No more pain, and loss. It can be done. God is our Father, and he will judge us all 1 day. Be faithful. America can help in the right way's, not the wrong.

It was wrong what the Germans did to the Jews, wrong what South Africa did with apartheid and equally wrong what is being done to the Palestinians.

To end the Israeli genocide of the Palestinian people.

I have supported Israel my entire life and I still do. However, I cannot support the occupation or the blockade of Gaza. And now the bombing of innocent people in Gaza utterly sickens me. And the United States can stop it because Israel depends on our aid money and our weapons. We must use our leverage to stop the killing.

The people of Gaza are literally being decimated by powerful bombs while the world watches. It is simply inexplicable why Israel is bent on destroying Gaza. It is real children who are being murdered, real families being torn apart, real women and real men being incinerated from above. It's a horrible repeat of the massacre of 2008/2009, and it is absolutely unconscionable that the US condone Israel's actions against innocent civilians. Dropping flyers of impending doom on them has to be a macabre joke. As Jon Stewart pointed out--where on earth are they going to go?? The people of Gaza are literally fenced in where they are, and they are being decimated. That is genocide, and an absolute war crime. We, the people of the US, and the people of the world cannot condone it! We ask you as our President to step forward and speak out to Israel's leaders for peace and a ceasefire now--not any kind of endlessly negotiated ceasefire, but an End to Israel's one-sided show of might and ego and force against a completely defenceless civilian population. Israel needs to stop bombing first.

Wafa Hospital in Gaza’s Shujaiyya district has already been hit twice by Israeli airstrikes. The Israeli military has told the hospital to evacuate, but the hospital’s staff say that 16 elderly and terminally ill patients are too frail to move. [1] When an Israeli military officer called the hospital late on Tuesday warning that it must be evacuated by 8AM Wednesday morning, Dr. Basman Alashi, the hospital’s executive director, called the World Health Organization, saying that such a move would risk the lives of patients. On Wednesday, while many inhabitants of the surrounding area were fleeing in response to Israeli bombardment warnings, Dr. Alashi, 16 medical staff members and the same number of patients stayed behind. They have been joined by eight international solidarity activists, including American journalist Joe Catron, who have volunteered to act as human shields at the hospital. [2] Press President Obama and Members of Congress to demand that Israel not bomb Wafa Hospital or other medical facilities in Gaza protected by international humanitarian law by signing our petition. References: 1. “Gaza hospital defies Israel evacuation warning amid fears for frail patients,” Robert Tait, The Telegraph, 16 July 2014, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/palestinianauthority/10970795/Gaza-hospital-defies-Israel-evacuation-warning-amid-fears-for-frail-patients.html 2. “American among volunteer human shields at Gaza hospital,” Daniella Cheslow, McClatchy, July 13, 2014, http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/07/13/233190/american-among-volunteer-human.html

To stop the war between Israel and Palestine. Most of the people being killed by random bombing by Israeli forces, is killing mostly children and the elderly.

If Ireland's IRA was bombarding England's kindergartens day in and day out, all the while threatening the US with terrorist attacks, would the United States of America contribute to the terrorist IRA? Congress has the laws that IT ITSELF wrote. Abide by the law you have written, America.

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.