Ex-diplomats' letter to * on ME policy--add your name?

There is a notice about ex-diplomats giving a press conference tomorrow May 4 at the Nat'l Press Club about a "Letter to the President(sic)" deploring the * stance on Israel/Palestine. They are calling for more signatures (they have about a dozen now) from other ex-diplomats, but also from anyone interested for a supplementary signature page. Go to http://www.wrmea.com/ if you're interested in adding your name.

<<The American Educational Trust, publishers of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, will host a press conference in the Lisagor Room of the National Press Club, 529 14th St, NW, Washington, DC at 12:00 noon on Tuesday May 4, 2004, to announce and discuss the following letter to President Bush. If you are a former diplomat and would like to sign the letter, please call the Washington Report at 202-939-6050, extensions 104, 106, or 0, or email us at info@wrmea.com. If you are a non-diplomat, you may sign on in the supplementary list. Please include a title, and the place and position of your last post if you were an foreign service officer. Thank you.>>
Here's part of the letter:

<<Dear Mr. President:
We former U.S. diplomats applaud our 52 British colleagues who recently sent a letter to Prime Minister Tony Blair criticizing his Middle East policy and calling on Britain to exert more influence over the United States. As retired foreign service officers we care deeply about our nation's foreign policy and U.S. credibility in the world.

We also are deeply concerned by your April 14 endorsement of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's unilateral plan to reject the rights of three million Palestinians, to deny the right of refugees to return to their homeland, and to retain five large illegal settlement blocs in the occupied West Bank. This plan defies U.N. Security Council resolutions calling for Israel's return of occupied territories. It ignores international laws declaring Israeli settlements illegal. It flouts U.N. Resolution 194, passed in 1948, which affirms the right of refugees to return to their homes or receive compensation for the loss of their property and assistance in resettling in a host country should they choose to do so. And it undermines the Road Map for peace drawn up by the Quartet, including the U.S. Finally, it reverses longstanding American policy in the Middle East.
....

It is not too late to reassert American principles of justice and fairness in our relations with all the peoples of the Middle East. Support negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis, with the United States serving as a truly honest broker. A return to the time-honored American tradition of fairness will reverse the present tide of ill will in Europe and the Middle East—even in Iraq. Because the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is at the core of the problems in the Middle East, the entire region—and the world—will rejoice along with Israelis and Palestinians when the killing stops and peace is attained.>>

drip, drip drip.

:kick:

but I kick it because they may want signers before noon tomorrow when the press conference goes on.