Emergency
aid and medical teams have been largely prevented from reaching Gaza, due to Israel and Egypt’s border
closings, including aid and staff from the International Committee for the Red
Cross and the UN. The UN has now suspended its operations in Gaza due to the severity of Israeli attacks. Click here for the latest release from the ICRC on the severe humanitarian crisis. For an overview of the humanitarian crisis, read this piece by the BBC.
Israel continues to reject international calls for a ceasefire. Last night, the UN Security Council approved a resolution
calling for an 'immediate, durable, and fully respected ceasefire' in
Gaza. The U.S. was the only member of the 15-group body to abstain from
a vote on the measure.
Despite
the U.S.'s abstention, this vote is a sign that our collective pressure
is being heeded and we are forcing some kind of change in U.S. foreign
policy towards the conflict. Now is the time to demand from
our Members of Congress, the State Department, White House, and the
Obama Transition Team the immediate implementation of UN Security
Resolution 1860!
Click here for Action Ideas from the U.S. Campaign on this resolution.
Israel is carrying out these attacks with F-16 fighter jets and missiles provided by U.S. taxpayers. From 2001-2006, the United States transferred to Israel more than $200 million worth of spare parts to fly its fleet of F-16's. In July 2008, the United States gave Israel 186 million gallons of JP-8 aviation jet fuel. Last year, the United States signed a $1.3 billion contract with Raytheon to transfer to Israel thousands of TOW, Hellfire, and 'bunker buster' missiles.
Click here for the U.S. Campaign to End the Israel Occupation's fact sheet on U.S. military aid to Israel.
Israel's lethal attack on the Gaza Strip could not have happened without the active military and political support of the United States. We need to take action now to protest this attack and demand an immediate cease-fire.
The U.S. Campaign to End the Israel Occupation has issued an action alert with these suggestions -- we urge you to take action today!
- Contact the White House to protest the attacks and demand an immediate cease-fire. Call 202-456-1111 or send an email to comments@whitehouse.gov.
- Contact the State Department at 202-647-6575 or send an email by clicking here.
- Contact your Representative and Senators in Congress at 202-224-3121 or find contact info for your Members of Congress by clicking here.
- Contact your local media by phoning into a talk show or writing a letter to the editor. To find contact info for your local media, click here.
- Organize a local protest or vigil and tell us about it at congress@endtheoccupation.org.
- Sign our open letter to President-Elect Obama calling for a new U.S. policy toward Israel/Palestine and find out other steps you can take to influence the incoming Administration by clicking here.
In addition, the Middle East Children's Alliance (another member group of UFPJ) is working with health organizations in Gaza to procure the most-needed medicines and send them directly to Gaza with the help of the Free Gaza Movement. You can make a secure online contribution now.
Background Information
Below are resources you may want to read for background information and reports on the Gaza crisis. And for up-to-the-minute updates, please click here for al-Jazeera English.
'If Gaza Falls...', Sara Roy, Professor at Harvard's Center For Middle Eastern Studies and author of 'Failing Peace: Gaza and the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict'.
'End Game in the Gaza War?', Sara Roy and Augustus Richard Norton, Global Affairs Blog
'What You Don't Know About Gaza', Rashid Khalidi, Professor at Columbia University, New York Times, January 7, 2009
'An Unnecessary War', Fmr. U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Washington Post, January 8, 2009
'Gaza Massacres Must Spur Us To Action', Ali Abunimah, Co-founder of The Electronic Intifada and author of 'One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse' (Metropolitan Books, 2006).
'The Facts About Israel's War on Gaza', Adam Sheets, December 31, 2008
