SPECIAL ORDER OF BUSINESS ON STATE-SPONSORED TERRORISM AND THE CRISIS IN THE MIDDLE EAST

WHEREAS, terrorism is the use of violence to impose the will of a minority on society; and

WHEREAS, the most egregious incidents are increasingly carried out by organizations acting on behalf of undemocratic governments; and

WHEREAS, these governments seek to avoid responsibility for the human suffering, death and destruction caused by the terrorist groups they use to impose their will on sovereign countries and their citizens; and

WHEREAS, the most recent attacks on the United States succeeded in large part because the terrorist organization, Al Qaeda, responsible for the deaths of more than 3,000 Americans on September 11, 2001, was protected and supported by the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan; and

WHEREAS, the terrorist organization, Hezbollah, openly sponsored and supported by the governments of Syria and Iran, proudly takes credit for the 1983 bombing of the Beirut barracks in which 241 U.S. marine peacekeepers were murdered; and

WHEREAS, on July 12, 2006, armed Hezbollah terrorists supported by Iran and Syria and based in Lebanon crossed the internationally recognized border between Lebanon and Israel and killed eight Israeli soldiers and abducted two others back across the border to Lebanon; and

WHEREAS, this unprovoked attack was only the latest assault against Israel carried out by Hezbollah despite the fact that Israel withdrew from all Lebanese territory more than six years ago; and

WHEREAS, Hamas, the organization elected to run the Palestinian Authority, initiated the current crisis in Gaza by crossing the border into Israel, murdering two Israeli soldiers and abducting a third soldier to Gaza; and

WHEREAS, both Hezbollah and Hamas continue to attack Israeli cities and civilians with rockets, mortars and other heavy weapons supplied to them by Iran and Syria; and

WHEREAS, these two terrorist organizations are holding the people of Lebanon and the Palestinians in Gaza hostage while they carry out the political agendas of Iran and Syria; and

WHEREAS, the State of Israel has the right and responsibility to defend its citizens and borders as well as the obligation to demand the safe return of her soldiers abducted by Hamas and Hezbollah:

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers condemn the bombings, killings and kidnappings by Hezbollah and Hamas that precipitated this current crisis; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT recognize Israel’s right and responsibility to defend its borders and citizens from terrorist attacks and other threats to its sovereignty; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT call for the implementation of U.N. Resolution 1559 that calls for the complete disarmament of Hezbollah and its withdrawal from Southern Lebanon and call on the parties to negotiate a cease fire; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT call on the world community to rally to the support  of the democratically elected government in Lebanon to assist in its effort to establish a democratic, pluralistic Lebanon at peace with its neighbors and working to improve the lives of its own citizens.