| Take Action: Gaza Still Blockaded One Year after 'Cast Lead'
December 29, 2009
 | Last Sunday marked one year since Israel unleashed 'Operation Cast Lead' against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip. During this three-week attack, Israel killed more than 1,400 Palestinians, injured thousands more, and destroyed billions of dollars of Palestinian civilian infrastructure. | Today, Israel continues to subject the 1.5 million Palestinian inhabitants of the Gaza Strip to a dehumanizing blockade-an illegal act of collective punishment-that denies Palestinians adequate access to food, clean water, sanitation, electricity, and even school books and construction materials for rebuilding.
Meanwhile the international community has failed to enforce UN Security Council Resolution 1860, which calls for "unimpeded provision and distribution throughout Gaza of humanitarian assistance, including of food, fuel and medical treatment" or hold Israel accountable for what the UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict documented as violations of human rights, international law, war crimes, and possible crimes against humanity.
Here are five things that you can do to take action to end U.S. support for Israel's illegal blockade of Gaza one year after the beginning of 'Operation Cast Lead':
1. Call the State Department at 202-647-4000 or send an email by clicking here asking Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to tell Egypt to allow the Gaza Freedom March to proceed.
We've been working closely with the organizers of the Gaza Freedom March in their efforts to hold a nonviolent protest in the occupied Gaza Strip to call attention to the ongoing blockade and to deliver humanitarian supplies. However, Egypt is refusing to allow the more than 1,400 marchers to cross into the Gaza Strip. Learn more about the situation as it unfolds by clicking here.
2. Join an action in your community in solidarity with the Gaza Freedom March. Hundreds of solidarity actions across the globe will be taking place over the next few days. To find an event near you or to post details of your event, please click here.
To learn how to link your solidarity action into our ongoing national campaigns, click here. To find out how to take action in the media in your community, click here.
3. Contact your Representative to "cheer or jeer" him/her for signing or not signing the "Dear Colleague" letter of Rep. Jim Moran and Rep. Bob Inglis to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urging her to "press the Israeli government to end the ban on student travel from Gaza to the West Bank." To find out if your Representative signed the letter and to take action, please click here.
4. Set up winter recess meetings with your Members of Congress and ask them to take action to end U.S. support for Israel's illegal blockade of the occupied Gaza Strip. Members of Congress will be on recess until January 11 and in their home districts to meet with constituents. Take advantage of this opportunity and press your Members of Congress for policy change! For educational resources, how-to guides, and suggested policy issues to raise with your Members of Congress, please click here.
5. Make a year-end tax-deductible contribution to the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation and help us continue advocating for an end to Israel's illegal blockade of the occupied Gaza Strip. Read our special holiday message and book offer from Steering Committee member Phyllis Bennis and make a donation by clicking here.
| Take Action
1. Call the State Department at 202-647-4000 or send an email by clicking here asking Secretary of State Clinton to tell Egypt to allow the Gaza Freedom March to proceed.
2. Join an action in your community in solidarity with the Gaza Freedom March.
3. Contact your Representative about the "Dear Colleague" letter on Gaza education.
4. Set up a winter recess meeting with your Members of Congress to press for an end to Israel's blockade of Gaza.
5. Make a year-end donation to the US Campaign to help us advocate to end U.S. support for Israel's blockade of Gaza. |
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