As any news-readers will know, there is currently an especially terrible man-made catastrophe going on in the Middle East, mainly in terms of great bloodshed and distress being caused in Lebanon, Israel and Palestine. Over 1000 civilians are dead, and a million displaced. It could get even worse.

For anyone who is into petitioning - and why not? - you might like to consider signing up at the Ceasefire Campaign. The United Nations is currently meeting to decide what should be done to resolve these problems, and this petition demands that they must insist on a ceasefire as a first step to resolution. Whilst Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general, has already called for such a thing, some of the big 5 players, especially America, have refused to agree. With the outdated and unfair system that the UN works within, this means that nothing can be done. We therefore must persuade them to change their minds.

Some information from the Ceasefire Campaign follows.

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Dear friends,
For more than four weeks now we've watched the bloodshed in the Middle East with horror. For a month, global and regional leaders have stood by and failed to take the necessary action to stop the violence.

Finally, last weekend, the US and France reached agreement on a plan. But it's now clear that this flawed compromise plan, which did not call for both sides to stop all attacks, has failed to curb the violence.

http://www.ceasefirecampaign.org/mo/en.html

This is unacceptable. Over a thousand innocent civilians have already been killed, thousands more wounded, and almost a million people have been made homeless.
The UN Security Council is currently meeting to resolve the crisis. They need to know that the world is watching them, and that anything less than an immediate ceasefire is not good enough. Click below to sign this petition demanding that the members of the UN Security Council take immediate action to end this bloodshed.

http://www.ceasefirecampaign.org/mo/en.html

Please sign the petition today, and then spread the word by forwarding this email on to all your friends and family. Our goal is to deliver a petition to the Security Council with 1 million signatures, and to publicize the petition in major newspapers in the capitals of the US, UK, France and other Security Council members.

Thanks so much for your help,

Ricken Patel
CeasefireCampaign.org

PS—Groups and leaders from across the world and from diverse perspectives agree that an urgent ceasefire is an important part of resolving this crisis. Most countries of the world, from Lebanon to Tanzania to India, have called for a ceasefire, and have been joined by major international NGOs such as Oxfam and Amnesty International. Christian leaders such as Pope Benedict XVI, and the World Council of Churches have also called for a ceasefire. Arab and Muslim organizations such as the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the Arab League have also been joined by Israeli and Jewish groups such as Meretz Israel, Degel HaTorah, and Brit Tzedek v'Shalom in calling for a ceasefire.