[WCUSP] Fwd: [womeninblack] Stop the Siege of Gaza - International Campaign / by Hannah Safran & Debby Lerman
yvonne simmons
roweenayvonne at yahoo.com
Mon Nov 13 07:16:02 CST 2006
]Pat,Can you print this for me and Odile I think this
text will help us with our work on the ten reasons. In
Peace Yvonne. Stop the Siege of Gaza -
> International Campaign / by
> Hannah Safran & Debby Lerman
>
> all documents are in plain texts, but for those it
> is good so they work with it in word.doc (and can
> open them), I keep the word doc in the mail. Sorry
> for the mailing being heavy file
> > From: hannah safran
>
>
> take action and circulate widely!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Gaza
>
> Stop the Siege! Stop the War!
>
> A month of protest: November 4 – December 2, 2006
>
>
>
> Dear friends,
>
>
>
> We would like to start this mail by expressing our
> outrage at the horrifying Israeli carnage of
> civilians in Bet Hanoun in Gaza Strip, that cost the
> lives of 20 civilians, among them 7 children and 6
> women, and left many more injured. Since the end of
> June, Israeli military assaults on civilians in Gaza
> have resulted in the killing of 383 Palestinians,
> among them 68 children and 14 women.
>
> The international response to the "End the Siege
> on Gaza Campaign" has been overwhelming, and we wish
> to thank all of you for your efforts. In our next
> mail we will give you a list of the actions planned
> for the weeks ahead. As there is still much work to
> do, and only 3 weeks until the end of the campaign,
> please let us know as soon as possible:
>
> § Your plans for December 2, the last day
> of the campaign, and the day when we plan to hold
> demonstrations around the world. We want to publish
> the information on the website, and include it in
> the updates that we will send
>
> § What you think you will need in the
> campaign activities. For starters, you will find
> both below and attached to this mail 4 WORD
> documents that we hope will make your work easier:
>
> 1. Question & answer sheet about the current
> situation in the Gaza Strip
>
> 2. Email addresses, fax numbers and other
> contact info for Israel's PM, Defense Minister and
> Chief of Staff, so that thousands of messages
> condemning their policies reach them from all over
> the world
>
> 3. Sample letter addressed to Israeli
> decision makers
>
> 4. Sample letter to elected parliamentarians
> and decision makers in the international community
>
> § In the next few days we plan to send you
> a PowerPoint presentation with information on the
> situation in Gaza, and a poster designed by David
> Tartakover, a well known Israeli artist, that we
> would like to use as the main visual prop in all the
> actions and the demos worldwide, to show that all
> the activities are part of a coordinated, joint
> international campaign
>
>
>
> Further to our first mail calling to "End the
> Siege on Gaza Campaign", we suggest that you use the
> month up to the big demonstration on December 2 to
> raise awareness in your communities. Some ways to
> do this are: organizing emergency delegations to the
> region that will witness and report on the situation
> on the ground, sending letters, faxes, and
> petitions to your elected representatives, holding
> vigils, public events, and hearings about the
> situation in Gaza, sending protest letters to
> Israeli decision makers, and distributing fact
> sheets and information on the situation in Gaza and
> on the campaign activities in Israel and the
> Occupied Territories..
>
>
>
> These are the activities that took place during
> the past week in Israel:
>
> (all photos credit to: activestills.org)
>
>
>
>
> § 4.11.06 Rabin Square, Tel Aviv, protest
> action and distribution of 12,000 flyers: during the
> annual event in memory of the murder of Yizhak Rabin
> we formed three human chains and distributed
> stickers, black balloons and flyers
>
> § 6.11.06 Tzavta Hall, Tel Aviv, public
> event: Are war crimes taking place in Gaza?
> Speakers: Former Palestinian Minister of Prisoners`
> Affairs Sufian Abu Zayda (from Gaza), Writer Ronit
> Matalon, Sari Bashi (lawyer, head of "Gisha") and
> Haaretz journalist Danny Rubinstein.
>
> § 7.11.06 Bat Shalom, Jerusalem,
> screening of the documentary "Red Fields": a film by
> Ayelet Heller and Osnat Trabelsi which portrays
> Palestinian strawberry growers that struggle to
> produce a crop, while simultaneously coming under
> attack from the Israeli army.
>
> § 8.11.06 Defense Minister's Office and
> IDF Central Command, Hakirya, Tel Aviv, protest
> vigil
>
>
>
>
>
>
> § 8.11.06 Haifa: Protest vigil to condemn
> the massacre in Bet Hanoun
>
> § 9.11.06 Salon Mazal, Tel Aviv, screening
> of the documentary "Red Fields"
>
> § 9.11.06 Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv:
> Protest vigil to condemn the massacre in Bet Hanoun
>
> § 12.11.06 Car cavalcade to the Erez
> Checkpoint: A car convoy of more than 40 cars, about
> 200 people, with black ribbons, black flags and the
> Gaza poster that drove slowly south from Tel-Aviv
> and Jerusalem. There was a significant, though not
> large, Palestinian representation. During the
> demonstration by the checkpoint there were a few
> speeches, and some slogans chanted—with the
> Palestinian women leading them. At the end a minute
> of silence.
>
>
>
>
>
> Please send us your photos and news items about the
> activities that are taking place where you live and
> we will publish then in the website:
>
http://coalitionofwomen.org/home/english/activities/open_gaza_gates/
>
>
>
>
>
> We look forward to your mails
>
>
>
> Debby Lerman
>
> debbyl at actcom.co.il
>
>
>
>
>
> for the organizing Committee of "End the Siege on
> Gaza Campaign"
>
> (Coalition of Women for Peace; Gush Shalom; Hadash;
> Anarchists Against the Wall; The High School Seniors
> Letter; Taayush; Yesh Gvul; Rights; ICAHD,The
> Students Coalition – Tel Aviv )
>
>
>
>
>
> 1.. . Question & Answer Sheet About The
> Current Situation In The Gaza Strip
>
>
> Compiled by the "End the Siege on Gaza Campaign"
>
>
>
> The Campaign represents a coalition of groups from
> the Israeli peace movement: Coalition of Women for
> Peace; Gush Shalom; Hadash; Anarchists Against the
> Wall; The High School Seniors Letter; Taayush; Yesh
> Gvul; ICAHD,The Students Coalition – Tel Aviv.
>
>
>
> Introduction
>
>
>
> In the summer of 2005 Israel implemented its plan
> for "disengagement" from the Gaza Strip designed,
> among other things, according to the government of
> Israel at the time, to create "potential for the
> improvement of the Palestinian economy and living
> conditions". Ever since then, Gaza has been under
> siege, bolstered periodically by Israeli military
> attacks—overland, aerial and sea. The combination of
> violence and hunger now pose a dire threat to the
> lives of 1.4 million people who are living in the
> Gaza Strip—women and men, elderly and children,
> combatants and a vast majority of civilians. This
> policy has nothing to do with the security of
> Israel's citizens. On the contrary, turning the
> Strip into a giant powder keg means a threat to all
> Israelis, including, first of all, the Israeli
> residents of the areas adjacent to Gaza some of whom
> are among the most poverty stricken people in
> Israel.
>
>
>
> "Israel evacuated the Gaza Strip and it didn't
> help—the violence didn't stop; what do the
> Palestinians want?"
>
>
>
> Israel evacuated the settlements in the Gaza Strip
> unilaterally, without conducting negotiations with
> the Palestinian Authority or reaching an agreed
> settlement on the future of the Strip. The
> unilateral evacuation, as well as the failure to
> negotiate agreed accords, meant a missed opportunity
> to advance a political solution for the
> Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In addition, this
> combination worked to undermine the status of the
> Palestinian Authority.
>
>
>
> "The occupation of Gaza is over. Israel is no
> longer responsible for what takes place in the
> Strip".
>
>
>
> When Israel evacuated the settlements and the
> military forces from Gaza, it declared and end to
> the military government of the Strip. Today,
> however, while there is indeed no permanent military
> presence within the Gaza Strip, Israel continues to
> exert nearly full control over every aspect of life
> within the area. Gaza's shores, its airspace and the
> overland passage between the Strip and the West Bank
> are all fully controlled by Israel. Israel also
> retains complete control of the entry and exit of
> goods into and out of the Strip, as well as the
> entry and exit of people. In addition, Israel
> controls the registration of births, deaths,
> marriages and people's place of residence, including
> the administration of requests for family reunion.
> Under the Oslo Accords Israel also continues to
> control major portions of the taxation system of the
> Palestinian Authority.
>
>
>
> "The Palestinians are firing Qassam rockets into
> Israel, aimed at killing civilians, while the
> Israelis are fighting a war on terror."
>
>
>
> While armed Palestinian groups are indeed firing
> Qassam rockets at Israeli towns, a total of 480
> rockets in all have been fired between June and
> November 2006, injuring a total of seventeen
> Israelis. At the same time, the Israeli military
> assault against the Gaza Strip since Corporal Gilad
> Shalit was taken prisoner has taken over 350
> Palestinian lives, at least half of them civilians
> including 80 children, while injuring over 800
> Palestinians. The Israel Defense Force has caused
> enormous damage to the infrastructure of the
> Strip—half of the power supply in Gaza has been cut
> since the bombing of the power plant, causing severe
> damage to the water pumping system and the sewage
> system. The summary executions referred to by Israel
> as "targeted assassinations", often carried out from
> helicopter gunships, as well as the recurring
> artillery fire place the lives of the 1.4 million
> citizens of the Gaza Strip in constant jeopardy. The
> sonic "booms" created by Israeli Air Force planes
> have no military justification whatsoever. Prime
> Minister Ehud Olmert himself described their intent
> precisely: "no one in Gaza will be able to sleep ".
>
>
>
> "How can Israel be held responsible for the
> economic situation in Gaza?"
>
>
>
> Since the beginning of the Israeli occupation in
> 1967 and up until the Oslo Accords in 1993,
> development in the Occupied Territories was totally
> arrested. Over those years, Israel found it very
> convenient to exploit the Palestinians as a cheap
> labor force and therefore intentionally prevented
> economic development both in the Gaza Strip and in
> the West Bank. In 1991, Israel began a process of
> gradually lowering the number of Gazan workers who
> were allowed access to Israel, finally blocking the
> entry of workers altogether. Some of the workers who
> were laid off in this process were then employed by
> the Palestinian Authority. However, since the
> elections that brought Hamas into power, Israel has
> stopped transferring the taxes that it legally owes
> the Palestinian Authority. Consequently, in addition
> to hundreds of thousands of unemployed workers,
> employees of the Palestinian Authority have received
> no salaries since March 2006, that is for 8 months
> now. Moreover, due to the economic blockade on Gaza
> the unemployment has soared to 40% and the number of
> families living in poverty has reached an
> unprecedented 80%. Seventy-five percent of the
> inhabitants of the Strip are currently suffering
> food shortages.
>
>
>
> "There's no point in Israel conducting
> negotiations with a nation that elected a terrorist
> organization as its leader."
>
>
>
> There is full international consensus that the
> elections held in the Palestinian Authority were
> truly democratic and that Hamas was legally elected.
> In past, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)
> and it's largest component movement, Fateh, were
> also defined by Israel as terrorist organizations, a
> fact that Israel's government tends to ignore at its
> convenience. The leaders of Hamas have declared time
> and again that they are willing to conduct
> negotiations with Israel, under the direction of PLO
> leader and Chairman of the Palestinian Authority,
> Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen). It is clearly in the
> interests of the people of Israel to have their
> government negotiate with an elected Palestinian
> government that is enjoys full public trust. The
> Prisoners Document and the Saudi Initiative are
> excellent foundations for dialogue between Israel,
> the Palestinian leadership and the Arab countries.
> If Israel continues ignoring and sidelining the
> elected leadership of the Palestinian people, more
> and more Palestinians may arrive at the conclusion
> that the only way forward is armed struggle.
>
>
>
> "What's the problem with closing the borders—isn't
> it simply a legitimate way to prevent terrorist
> attacks?"
>
>
>
> Closing the borders has clearly failed to prevent
> the firing of Qassam rockets or the digging of
> tunnels. On the other hand, it imposes direct and
> severe damages upon the entire population of the
> Gaza Strip. It was intended to do so in order to
> exert pressure upon the government led by Hamas.
> Israel controls the closing and opening of the
> borders between Gaza and the outside world,
> including the operation of the Rafah border crossing
> into Egypt. Since the capture of Corporal Shalit,
> Israel has kept the borders closed most of the time,
> preventing the passage of people and goods, in
> contravention of agreements brokered by the U.S. and
> signed by Israel. The siege of the Gaza Strip is a
> form of collective punishment which is being imposed
> upon every resident of the Strip, turning the entire
> area into a huge prison and denying its residents
> work, vital goods, appropriate medical care and
> basic human rights.
>
>
>
> "The only solution is a re-occupation of Gaza."
>
>
>
> The military operations conducted by Israel in the
> Strip have not brought back the prisoner of war
> Gilad Shalit. They have failed completely to end the
> firing of Qassam rockets into Israel. As the recent
> war in Lebanon failed to provide a solution to the
> conflict with Hezbollah, in Gaza and the West Bank
> too, military actions will provide no solutions to
> the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The security of
> Israel's residents will only be ensured though a
> political settlement putting a true end to Israeli
> rule in the occupied territories and incorporating a
> recognition of the rights of the Palestinian people.
> Re-occupying Gaza will not solve anything and,
> moreover, its cost in terms of the lives of both
> civilians and soldiers will prove unbearable—both
> for Israeli society and for Palestinian society. At
> this moment, however, before all else, the siege of
> the Gaza Strip must end immediately.
>
>
>
>
>
> 2. Contact Info for PM, Chief of Staff,
> Defense Minister
>
>
>
> 1. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
>
> · Address: 3 Kaplan St
>
> Jerusalem 91919
>
> · Phone: +972 2 6705555
>
> · Fax: +972 2 -6705475
>
> · Email: pmo.heb at it.pmo.gov.il
>
>
>
>
>
> 2. Defense Minister Amir Peretz
>
> · Address: Defense Ministry
>
> 37 Kaplan St
>
> Tel Aviv 61909
>
> · Phone: +972 3 6975349
>
> · Fax: +972 3 6976218 /691
> 6940 / 696 2757 / 691 7915/
>
> · Email: sar at mod.gov.il;
> pniot at mod.gov.il ; aperetz at knesset.gov.il
>
> 3. IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz
>
> · Address: Chief of Staff Office
>
> Defense Ministry
>
> 7 A Street
>
> Hakyria
>
> Tel Aviv 61909
>
> · Phone: +972 3 6109898 /
> 6080200/19
>
> · Fax: + 972 3 691 6940 / 608
> 0343
>
> · Email: info at mail.idf.il
>
>
> 3. Sample petition to Israeli decision makers
>
>
>
>
> Gaza: Stop the Siege – Stop the War!
>
>
>
> I wish to express my outrage at the
> humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, caused by the
> siege, and the constant bombardments and attacks by
> the IDF.
>
> I call on you to immediately end the siege and the
> war on the civilian population of Gaza, to withdraw
> the armed forces, release the tax revenues
> confiscated from the Palestinian government, and
> embark upon negotiations with the legitimate
> Palestinian representatives.
>
>
>
> Stop the destruction!
> Stop the siege of the Gaza Strip!
>
> 4. Sample letter to elected representatives
> and official personalities
>
>
>
> To: XXXXXX
>
>
>
> Outraged by the silence and indifference of our
> elected officials/ country/ our government/ our
> organization/ the international community to the
> humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, we turn to you to
> ask for your help.
>
> The situation in Gaza has reached emergency levels
> – inadequate water, electricity, and medicine;
> widespread hunger, poverty, and unemployment;
> schools and other services rendered inoperative;
> constant bombardments and attacks by the Israeli
> military. On November 8, the bombardment of a
> building in Bet Hanoun cost the lives of 21
> civilians, among them 8 children and 4 women, and
> injured many others.
>
> The cause for this humanitarian catastrophe is the
> siege of the Gaza Strip by Israel and the sanctions
> imposed by the international community on the
> Palestinian people, made worse by ongoing IDF
> attacks. If this siege continues, we will see
> spreading disease, malnutrition, and more violence.
>
>
>
> We call on you speak out and demand from our
> parliament and government to pressure the government
> of Israel to end the siege of Gaza and its war on
> the civilian population of Gaza, to withdraw its
> armed forces, release the tax revenues confiscated
> from the Palestinian government, and embark upon
> negotiations with the Palestinian legitimate
> representatives.
>
> We also request your insistence that our
> government stop the political and economic sanctions
> imposed on the Palestinian people, by our country as
> well as the international community.
>
>
>
> Please join us in the international campaign to
> end the siege on Gaza, called for the month of
> November, and in the activities planned for the
> international day of protest on December 2, 2006,
> by:
>
> § Visiting the region as part of a
> delegation, to witness and report on events on the
> ground, and to meet decision makers in Israel and
> Palestine
>
> § Hold a special hearing and debate on the
> siege on Gaza with the participation of other
> parliamentarians and decision makers.
>
> § Send a letter to the Prime Minister and
> Defense Minister of Israel, condemning their current
> policy and demanding that Israel end the siege on
> Gaza and its war against the civilian population of
> Gaza, that it withdraw its armed forces from the
> Strip, that it transfers the tax revenues
> confiscated from the Palestinian government, and
> enter into negotiations with the legitimate
> Palestinian representatives.
>
>
>
> For further details on the campaign and
> information on the situation in Gaza, please
> contact
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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