In response to the unfolding humanitarian crisis faced by the 1.5 million residents of Gaza, United for Peace and Justice is joining peace groups in Israel and around the world in a call for an international day of action on Saturday, January 26.
Many of the solidarity actions will be done as part of the US and World Social Forum Day of Action already scheduled for that day.
We urge that you share this email with others and urge them to take action. For more in-depth analysis and to join a protest in your area, click here.
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 lock-down. That is eliminating what little access the
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 have
reported that five gravely ill patients have died.
Israel's
announcement, under international pressure, that it would allow one
day's worth of fuel to restart Gaza's only power generating plant does
not mean an end to the crisis; Gaza will remain desperate as Israel
continues to use 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, theU.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 the State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs at 202-647-7209. Demand:
Call your national as well as your local media:
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Demand
coverage of what's going on in the Occupied 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.
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Write a letter to the editor in response to an article in your paper using the talking points in this action alert.
For media contact information, click here.
If your group has consultative status at the United Nations, call the office of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon:
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Demand that the UN hold Israel, as a member state, accountable for its human rights violations.
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Protest
the Secretary-General's statement of 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 at
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. | 
