The world was subjected to daily images of bombing and killing of civilians, including women and children, in Gaza for two years, with more than 75,000 Palestinians killed. Our students committed to nonviolence and protested Israel’s destruction of Gaza and Palestinians. Violence continues, belying the Oct. 9, 2025, ceasefire with more than 1,000 Palestinian deaths since.
The war of Israel and the United States against Iran escalated into a regional war involving the oil-producing Gulf Nations, impacting the global economy and our environment — with the danger of escalating into World War III. The Doomsday Clock is currently at 85 seconds to midnight (catastrophe), the closest it has ever been.
The citizens of Palestine, Israel, Iran — and now Lebanon — are suffering.
We have seen multiple “ceasefires” inter-mixed with war — a failure of diplomacy. Let the United Nations Charter Treaty be used to fulfill its purpose – to eliminate war and make peace.
The Charter was ratified in 1945 with the goal to eliminate “the scourge of war” in the aftermath of World War II, which destroyed nations and killed an estimated 68 million people. The Charter created the United Nations, the only worldwide forum for resolving global problems, now with 193 members.
The UN Charter affirms the Rule of Law — nonviolent, cooperative diplomacy — to replace the Rule of Force — military and economic power — that resulted in 20th century global wars. The Rule of Law is designed to prevent another global war.
The UN Charter affirms equal sovereignty for each member nation. A member that suffers aggression from another member has the right to defend its territorial sovereignty. The Charter affirms ideological sovereignty, a nation’s right to its own beliefs and governance. The UN Charter Rule of Law forbids aggression, threats of aggression, embargoes, punitive tariffs, regime change, economic war and sanctions by one member against another member unless authorized by the UN Security Council.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, drafted under Eleanor Roosevelt, affirms 30 human rights and was adopted by the UN in 1948 by proclamation. Together with the UN Charter it provides the framework for international law.
Article 6, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution states that Treaties — together with the Constitution, and the laws of the United States — “shall be the supreme Law of the Land.” Thus, the UN Charter is legally binding.
President Trump, we want a government that:
- Re-commits to the UN Charter and its Universal Declaration of Human Rights as the best way to preserve peace and confront worldwide problems.
- Supports a resolution to the Security Council for full membership for Palestine in the UN, with guarantees for peace and security for both Israel and Palestine.
- Supports resolutions to the Security Council for Cease-Fires in the Israel/United States-Iran War and in the Ukraine/NATO-Russian war, with UN peace-keeping support to achieve peace with security guarantees for each country.
- Supports China’s sovereignty of Taiwan and relies on diplomacy to prevent aggression, not preemptive military armaments.
- Investigates the Central Intelligence Agency for retaliatory actions that violate the UN Charter and destabilize the world order.
- Encourages a more equal gender representation of women, for example House and Senate Foreign Relations committees.
- Introduces legislation to reopen multinational disarmament talks with the goal of eventual elimination of nuclear weapons and ratification of the UN Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons.
Recognizing Palestine as a full member of the United Nations now will end the Israel-Palestine war and can enable peace to the Middle East.
The world will support the commitment of Israeli and Palestinian citizens to long-term reconciliation, drawing inspiration from “The Future is Peace,” by Palestinian Aziz Abu Sarah and Israeli Maoz Inon, both of whom lost family in the conflict, and in their grief, rejected retaliation and embraced forgiveness: “We do not see ourselves as Palestinians and Israelis, or as Jews and Arabs, but as human beings who believe in fostering a culture of dialogue, a culture of forgiveness, and a culture of peace.”
Nicholas Ourusoff lives in New London.