<div dir="ltr">To All: Below is the national statement on Iran from <b class="gmail_sendername">Brit Tzedek v'Shalom</b> <a href="http://btvshalom.org">btvshalom.org</a><br>of which our local Western Mass group is a chapter. I thought you might like to see another center-to-left American Jewish organization's position on Iran. This group is a 501C3 so it does not do lobbying in the same way that the JStreet group does. Its focus is to move the mainstream Jewish community towards a negotiated two-state solution in Israel/Palestine. With that focus in mind, I thought you might like to see their statement. Many of the Brit Tzedek national leadership are on the board of JStreet so there is a philosophical link.<br>
Carolyn (Toll Oppenheim)<br><div class="gmail_quote"><br><br>
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<p><font color="navy" size="5"><b>Talking To and About
Iran</b></font></p>
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<div align="center"><b><font color="#f0f0f0">Update: Over 1000 Brit Tzedek<br>Activists Urge
Senator Obama to Make Peace a
Priority</font></b></div></td></tr>
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<p>More than 1000 people in just 3 days weighed in with Senator
Barack Obama in advance of his trip to Israel and the West Bank,
urging him to demonstrate his intent to put Israeli-Palestinian
peacemaking at the top of his foreign policy agenda.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.btvshalom.org/pressrelease/2008/Letter_to_Senator_Obama.pdf" target="_blank">View the letter</a> sent to the Obama
campaign.<br><a href="http://www.btvshalom.org/pressrelease/2008/20080724pr.shtml" target="_blank">View the press
release</a></p></td></tr></tbody></table>
<p><i>The mission of Brit Tzedek v'Shalom is to promote a
negotiated two-state resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict. As part of this work, we have at times been
compelled to address regional conflicts that have a significant
impact on the Israeli-Palestinian situation, e.g. the Lebanon
War of 2006 and recent Israeli-Syrian peace overtures.</i></p>
<p><i>The implications for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict of
the rising threat of Iran's nuclear program and the potential of
a U.S. or Israeli attack against Iran have compelled us to
broaden our scope yet again. At the same time, the Bush
Administration has appeared to retreat from its policy of
isolating Iran in <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/18/world/middleeast/18iran.html?_r=1&ref=middleeast&oref=slogin" target="_blank">recent days</a>. </i></p>
<p><i>As such, Brit Tzedek has issued the following policy
statement on Iran including the urgent need for robust,
diplomatic engagement. Below the statement, you will find
links for further information.</i></p>
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<p><b><font size="4"><img align="right" border="0" hspace="6">Brit Tzedek v'Shalom Policy on
Iran</font></b><br><font size="4">July 2008</font></p>
<p align="left">Brit Tzedek v'Shalom recognizes the serious
strategic threat posed to American and Israeli security
interests by Iran's efforts to expand its nuclear program and by
its financial and political support for Hezbollah and
Hamas. As American Jews, we are particularly
disturbed by President Ahmadinejad's blatant anti-Semitism and
his denial of the Holocaust.<br> <br>We believe that the
correct path to a successful outcome lies through robust U.S.
diplomatic engagement with Iran and not through diplomatic
isolation or veiled threats of military action. We call for
direct, sustained, and unconditional talks between the
government of the United States and the government of Iran in
order to resolve all outstanding issues. </p>
<p align="left">Together with the international community, the
U.S. should pursue a comprehensive "sticks and carrots" approach
to Iran -- utilizing diplomatic and economic incentives and
sanctions together -- in order to persuade Iran to stop its
pursuit of nuclear weapons capacity and agree to meaningful
international oversight and inspection of its nuclear
program.</p>
<p align="left">Brit Tzedek opposes a pre-emptive strike against
Iran, whether by the United States or Israel, as well as actions
and threats that bring us closer to such a confrontation.
A military attack on Iran would put Israeli citizens and
Americans stationed in Iraq under severe threat of retaliation,
result in heavy human casualties, strengthen Iranian hardliners,
seriously derail any progress on Arab-Israeli peace talks, and
plunge the Middle East into further chaos. In addition,
most experts agree that a military strike is unlikely to wipe
out Iran's nuclear facilities and could in fact compel Iran to
increase the pace of its nuclear development. <br> <br>Brit
Tzedek restates its consistent call for active U.S. engagement
in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian and broader Arab-Israeli
conflicts. We strongly believe that progress on these fronts has
great potential to undermine Iran's influence and power in the
region, while a military confrontation with Iran would deal a
devastating blow to the likelihood of an Israeli-Palestinian
peace agreement in the near future.</p>
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<p><b><a name="11b57095ce9f0f4e_below"></a>Additional resources on
Iran:<br></b><i><br>Recommended articles and
blogs</i></p>
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/19/world/middleeast/19iran.html" target="_blank">Iran Open to U.S. Diplomatic Talks, Official
Says</a>, by Sebnew Arsu. <i>The New York Times</i>. July
19, 2008.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/24/world/middleeast/24iran.html" target="_blank">Iran Won't Relent on Nuclear Program</a>, by
Alan Cowell. <i>The New York Times</i>. July 24, 2008.</p>
<p><a href="http://peacenow.org/pr.asp?rid=&cid=5138" target="_blank">U.S. Presence in Iran Talks should be First Step
toward Real Diplomatic Engagement</a>, Americans for Peace Now.
July 22, 2008.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.forward.com/articles/13756/" target="_blank">America Sounds a Dovish Note as Iran and Israel
Trade Threats</a>, by Nathan Guttman. <i>The Jewish Daily
Forward. </i>July 10, 2008.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0702/p09s01-coop.html" target="_blank">The alternative to an Israeli attack on Iran</a>,
by Shlomo Ben-Ami and Trita Parsi. <i>The Christian
Science Monitor</i>. July 2, 2008.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/opinion/10tue1.html?_r=2&ref=opinion&oref=slogin&oref=slogin" target="_blank">Threatening Iran</a>, by Editorial. <i>The
New York Times.</i> June 10, 2008. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/26/AR2008052601740.html" target="_blank">A Sensible Path on Iran</a>, by Zbigniew
Brzezinski and William Odom. <i>The Washington
Post</i>. May 27, 2008.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2008/06/8836_mojo-convo-iran.html" target="_blank">MoJo Convo: Iran Panic? Talk About It With the
Experts</a>. <i>Mother Jones</i>. June 28, 2008.</p>
<p></p><br><i>Resources from allied organizations and
campaigns:</i>
<p><a href="http://newiranpolicy.org/641/index.html" target="_blank">Campaign for a New American Policy on Iran:
Resource Page</a> (very useful!)</p>
<p><a href="http://peacenow.org/updates.asp?rid=0&cid=5093" target="_blank">Americans for Peace Now: Wanted: A Smarter Policy
on Iran</a></p>
<p><a href="http://jstreet.org/page/iran" target="_blank">J Street
policy page on Iran</a></p>
<p><a href="http://ipforum.org/display.cfm?id=6&Sub=15&dis=4" target="_blank">Israel Policy Forum: IPFFriday: Diplomacy as a
Last Resort?</a></p>
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<p><font color="black">Brit Tzedek v'Shalom, The Jewish Alliance
for Justice and Peace<br>11 E. Adams Street, Suite
707<br>Chicago, IL 60603<br>Phone: (312) 341-1205<br>Fax: (312)
341-1206</font><br><a href="mailto:info@btvshalom.org" target="_blank"><font color="blue" face="Arial">info@btvshalom.org</font></a><br><font color="blue"><a href="http://www.btvshalom.org/" target="_blank"><font color="blue" face="Arial">www.btvshalom.org</font></a><br>
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