End the Siege on the People of Gaza
International Day of Action, Jan. 26
Call for a Comprehensive
Ceasefire, End US Military Aid to Israel
Israel is continuing to escalate its attacks on Gaza,
killing more than 40 Palestinians just this past
week and wounding scores more, and has placed
the already besieged territory under complete
lockdown.That is eliminating what little access
the besieged population had to food, fuel, clean water
and ever-more-urgent medical services. By Sunday
Gaza's only power generator was shut down because
of a lack of fuel; hospitals are starting to be affected
and Palestinian medical officials reported five gravely
ill patients had died.
Israel's announcement, under international pressure,
that it would allow one day's worth of fuel to re-start
Gaza's only power generating plant does not mean an
end to the crisis; Gaza will remain desperate as Israel
continues to use the access to vitally needed fuel and
other goods as a weapon of occupation to impose
collective punishment on the entire population of
Gaza. The conditions in Gaza have become desperate,
and international solidarity organizations in London,
Rome and elsewhere around the world are mobilizing
to demand an end to the siege of Gaza in protests on
January 26. That same day Israeli peace groups are
organizing an emergency convoy to try to break the
siege.
Israel's increasing attacks on Gaza - the economic
blockade and military assaults - are not in response
to the rocket attacks from Gaza. The Israeli attacks,
and Israel's continuing occupation-through-siege of
Gaza, are the reason for the rocket fire in the first place.
But even if the Israeli attacks were in response to Gaza
rockets, such a response would still be illegal (collective
punishment is always illegal), disproportionate,
and ultimately futile.
U.S. military support bolsters Israel's occupation
and enables the current escalating punishment. The
U.S. must stop all military aid to Israel, and demand
that Israel end its collective punishment and
indiscriminate bombing of the civilian population
of Gaza. Further, the U.S. must push for a
comprehensive ceasefire that covers all the occupied
Palestinian territories. Otherwise, the U.S. will continue
to be vilified for its support of collective punishment and
attacks on civilians, U.S. citizens will be seen by the rest
of the world as complicit in major human rights violations,
and any future talks about "peace" will be viewed as
providing continuing support for an Israeli-imposed
military settlement.
TAKE ACTION:
Call the White House at 202-456-1111
and State Department's Bureau of Near
Eastern Affairs at 202-647-7209. Demand:
the opening of its border crossings to people and goods.
territories and all parties to the conflict.
new $30 billion military aid package to Israel by
going to
http://www.democracyinaction
/dia/organizations/uscampai
paign.jsp?campaign_KEY
local media. Demand:
Palestinian territories. This is particularly
important since the Israeli lock-down of
Gaza has resulted in very little news emerging
of the most recent attacks.
an article in your paper using the talking
points in this action alert.
For contact information, go
to http://www.congress.org
If your group has consultative status
at the United Nations, call the office
of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon:
member state, accountable for its
human rights violations.
January 17, 2008, repeated on January 18, in
which he demanded an "immediate halt" to
Palestinian rocket and sniper fire from Gaza,
but only urged "maximum restraint" from the
Israeli occupation forces assaulting Gaza.
In both statements he "reminds all parties of
their obligation to comply with international
humanitarian law and not to endanger civilians,"
without acknowledging the different obligations
between an occupied population and an occupying
power already violating numerous UN resolutions
that demand an end to the occupation itself.
Contact:Office of the Secretary General,
Chief of Staff Vijay Nambiar:
nambiar@un.org or 1-212-963-8922.
Find out about the January 26 convoy
that will try to break the siege of Gaza
with food and medicine:
http://zope.gush-shalom.org
en/events/1200266785
Join Protests in the United States
on Jan. 26 or Organize Your Own
-The Cleveland Middle East Peace Forum
will sponsor a rally and town
meeting in support of the January 26 actions.
For more information,
contact donmbryant@yahoo.com
-In Philadelphia various groups are supporting
the Jan. 26 day of action, with a press conference
on Friday 1/25 and a march to the Israeli
consulate on 1/26. For more information,
contact rkamel@verizon.net
-January 24 Boston Action
COME JOIN OUR DEMAND TO ALLOW
HUMANITARIAN RELIEF INTO GAZA NOON,
THURSDAY 24 JANUARY
ISRAELI CONSULATE, PARK PLAZA HOTEL, BOSTON
MEET AT HADASSAH WAY AND PROVIDENCE ST
in support of the Gaza Relief Convoy
http://gush-shalom.org.toibillb
JEWS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN GAZA
Let us know you are coming
gazahumanrights@gmail.com
Please bring a food item to deliver to the consulate.
We are going to present cartons of food and medical
aid to the Israeli consul's office (Park Plaza Hotel, noon
Thursday 24 January) and request that it be taken to
Gaza, and that the Israeli government let the Gaza
Relief Convoy through the Erez Checkpoint on 26 January.
Boston Coalition for
Palestinian Rights
On Saturday, January 26, from NOON to 1 PM
in Harvard Square there will be a demonstration in
support of the International Campaign to Break the
Siege of Gaza. On that date, Israeli peace groups
will attempt to enter the Gaza Strip with a convoy
of essential supplies and medicines. Gaza no longer
has sufficient fuel to keep its power station running.
Hospitals and homes are dark and cold, remaining
food stocks are being spoiled, the water and sewage
infrastructure is breaking down. We American
taxpayers — who make this collective punishment
possible — must raise our voices. Please join us if
you can — the group will gather on the sidewalk in
front of Au Bon Pain.
BACKGROUND & TALKING POINTS
1. Demand an immediate end to the assault
on Gaza and open borders
The 1.5 million citizens of Gaza, half of whom
are children aged 14 and under, have been under
an increasingly tight siege since January 2006 when
Hamas was elected in free and fair elections - at least
as free and fair as any election held under military
occupation can be. The living standards of the population
have plummeted and their access to medical services,
education, and basic food has dwindled.Over 80% of
Gazans now live in poverty according to the United
Nations and the World Bank. The World Bank has
identified Israel's tight control of movement of people
and goods into and out of, as well as within, the occupied
territories as the single most important reason for the
collapse of the Palestinian economy. Israel has never
implemented the agreement on movement and access
that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice negotiated
in November 2005. Israel must end its assault on Gaza
and let Gaza have open borders to the rest of the world.
2. Call for a comprehensive ceasefire that covers all
territories and all parties to the conflict
Israel and the Palestinian Authority signed a
ceasefire that included Gaza on November 26, 2006.
However, Israel continued to conduct incursions into
the West Bank and carry out "targeted assassinations,"
some of which resulted in the murder of civilians.
Between November 26, 2006 and April 3, 2007,
Israeli forces killed 51 Palestinians in the West Bank.
Rocket fire from Gaza into Israel came as a clear
retaliation to these killings. The ceasefire collapsed on
April 22, 2007. Although the U.S. media continually
claims that Israeli attacks are in response to
Palestinian rocket fire, the actual pattern of Israeli
attacks provoking Palestinian responses has been
documented by Israeli journalist Gideon Levy.
(See his July 9 and December 3 2006 articles
on www.haaretz.com, as well as Institute for
Palestine Studies Policy Notes No. 15 on
www.palestine-studies.org) Official U.S.
statements supporting Israel's assaults on
Gaza make the U.S. government complicit in
Israeli violations of the Geneva conventions
(which prohibit all collective punishment).
3. Urge an end to U.S. military aid to Israel.
Although Israel has not dismantled even the
West Bank "outposts" as it had promised the U.S.,
let alone the rest of its illegal settlements and
infrastructure in the West Bank, the U.S. has
increased military aid to Israel by 25% for a total
of $30 billion over the next 10 years. U.S. military
and political support means Israel can ignore
legitimate Palestinian aspirations for independence,
sovereignty, equality and justice. It makes a mockery
of claimed U.S. support for the "peace process,"
because the U.S. guarantees the overwhelming
superiority of the Israeli occupier and its
decades-long exploitation of Palestinian land
and resources.
world understands to be one country's destruction
of a country and people.Only an end to U.S. military
aid to Israel will signal that our country is
beginning to get serious about peace.
US Campaign to
End the Israeli Occupation
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