What does it mean that they are not taking any chances? It means that if this ballot measure made it on the ballot, Seattle voters would approve it -- and the opponents know it.

So they\'re trying to keep us from having a say in whether Seattle $$$ should be invested in the illegal wars in the Middle East, because they know they will lose the political battle.

Press release issued by the I-97 campaign regarding this frivolous lawsuit:

http://www.divestfromwar.org/pressroom/lawsuit-pr-2008-05-06.html

I-97 Campaign Denounces Frivolous Lawsuit

Condemns attempt to limit the democratic rights of Seattle residents

For Immediate Release: May 6, 2008

The grassroots campaign Seattle Divest From War and Occupation announced today that its lawyers have reviewed the lawsuit brought against the campaign, the City of Seattle, and the King County Director of Records and Elections, and are confident that they will successfully prove the lawsuit to be baseless and without merit.

Ballot initiative 97, if adopted, would require the Seattle Employees\' Retirement System to divest from any company that is participating directly in the occupation of Iraq or profiting from privatization of Iraqi state resources, any company providing direct material support to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem, and Golan Heights, and any company with a direct presence in Israeli settlements in the occupied territories listed above. It will also require divestment from Israeli government bonds if Israel carries out a military attack on Iran without UN authorization.

\"This lawsuit is brought by outside forces, who have historically tried to squelch any criticism of Israel,\" said campaign spokesperson Carla Curio. \"It is an attempt to interfere with the fundamental democratic rights of Seattle residents to petition their city council through the initiative process. If the plaintiffs believe that this initiative should not be adopted by the city of Seattle, they should make their case in the court of public opinion, and try to convince voters in Seattle to vote against it on election day. Apparently, they recognize that they will most likely lose that battle, because Seattle voters do want their city to divest from illegal wars and occupations in the Middle East. Therefore, they have chosen to clog up our court system, and to waste taxpayer dollars by not only taking this to court, but also by naming city and county government entities as co-defendants.\"

The plaintiffs are Washington Israel Business Council, the Israel Emergency Alliance (dba StandWithUs), and Robert Jacobs.

The ballot title, which the plaintiffs claim is not legal, was written by city attorneys and was approved by the City Clerk.

END

More Information:
Seattle Divest from War and Occupation
http://www.divestfromwar.org
media@divestfromwar.org
(206) 299-4186

I think this challenge to the anti-war, anti-occupation initiative shows how the Israel lobby always tries to quash discussion of the monstrous oppression to which Israel has been subjecting the native Palestinians for six decades now. Just as with South Africa, the Israeli Apartheid system must be attacked through divestment iniatives such as the present one. Hopefully I-97 will open up debate on what Israel has been doing in colonizing the \"occupied territories, and it will succeed in cutting off the support of U.S. corporations for this blatant transgression of human rights and international law.

\"...city initiative that would pull the city employee retirement fund out of investments in businesses that are involved in the U.S. occupation of Iraq, those that provide material support for the Israeli government, and, furthermore, would withdraw any investment in Israeli government bonds if the country attacks Iraq.\"

Quick fact check: The initiative states that the city would divest from Israeli government bonds if the country attacks Iran without UN authorization, not Iraq.

Unfortunately, we are once again witnessing true and tried right wing propaganda and tactics with this lawsuit. It sure would be nice if these folks who claim to want transparency would give the voters of Seattle enough credit to take part in a democratic initiative process and make up their own minds about it. Instead, they are holding up this democratic process with a trivial lawsuit that is aimed not only at the campaign itself but the rights of voters in Seattle.

My name is Carla Curio, not Carol Curio. The full statement I made about why we, a group of people here in Seattle are conducting this campaign, is NOT to mandate foreign policy -- we\'ve marched, written letters to the editors, to congressional representatives, voted in people we thought would speak for us about governmental policies of the US-- only to be disappointed again & again. So we decided to look to governmental bodies closer to home where we could influence LOCAL policies, to empower ourselves; to ask that the city of Seattle change its investment policy to protect its citizens -- to invest retirement funds in responsible ways that do not violate the human rights of others. We want ethical investments that are more secure. We feel the wars & occupations in the Middle East are illegitimate, violating international laws and protocols regarding human rights. The companies participating may be held accountable in the future, endangering investments.

The initiative follows international law. Under international law, occupation is illegal.

Pull our money out of illegal occupation of Iraq and Palestine.

One of the many recommendations of the Iraq Study Group report was to seek a comprehensive peace in the Middle East and that\'s what this initiative seeks to accomplish. There can be no peace in the Middle East until the United States ends its occupation of Iraq and Israel ends its occupation of the Occupied Territories. Both occupations violate international law. The U.S. invasion violated the UN Charter, and the Israeli occupation violates the Geneva Convention, which prohibits settlements and confiscation of land as a result of war. The two occupations are intimately linked, and these links are nowhere more apparent than in the actions of the neoconservatives who dominated the Bush administration and who originally drafted their plan for the invasion of Iraq as a document for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Those who love justice and who seek peace and who want to isolate those who practice terrorism know that a just resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the key to bringing peace to the Middle East. Only those who want war and conflict and who profit from it seek to continue the two occupations. Divestment was an effective strategy against apartheid South Africa. I believe Seattle voters will recognize the importance of this initiative in bringing similar pressure to bear on both the Israeli and U.S. governments. These governments are totally out of touch with world opinion and routinely violate human rights and international humanitarian law. Many people are beginning to see that international human rights laws not only key to peace; they\'re also the basis for a smart and effective foreign policy.

As a Seattleite I feel that my national government is not representing me. I’ve tried talking to my congresspeople about ending the Iraq war and putting real pressure on Israel to behave, but apparently the money they’ve been getting from Big Oil, the military and the Israel lobby means more to them than my opinion. So I decided to go back to the grassroots and support I-97. If I can’t stop the president from making war, I should at least be able to stop my city from doing it. But wait! Here comes the war lobby again, trying to stifle my voice and pull democracy up by the roots.

The anti-I-97 lawsuit is without merit. Clearly, this is NOT a multiple-issue initiative; it simply requires the City of Seattle to pull our money out from companies like Halliburton and Blackwater -- companies that are making profit from wars that a majority of Seattleites are against.

As far as the number of letters in the initiative title goes . . . Come on now, Mr. \"Stand-With-Israel\" Jacobs. You ain\'t foolin\' nobody. You\'re just wasting the court\'s time!

I think my man Bob Dylan said it best:

Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build the big bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks

occupation?
1967 war -
put pressure on gaza?hezbolah?arab states to aid their neighbors? attacks on israel - ?
so confused as to issues here?

occupation?
1967 war -
put pressure on gaza?hezbolah?arab states to aid their neighbors? attacks on israel - ?
so confused as to issues here?

occupation?
1967 war -
put pressure on gaza?hezbolah?arab states to aid their neighbors? attacks on israel - ?
so confused as to issues here?