• The Golden Rule
    “That which is hateful to you do not do to another ... the rest (of the Torah) is all commentary, now go study.”
    - Rabbi Hillel
Gaza		 If I am not for myself, then who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, then what am I? And if not now, when?”
- Rabbi Hillel

 Gaza   The Middle East   Issues   Israel   Iran   Tehran   Iraq   Occupation   Ending Occupation

Sen. John Kerry and Reps. Keith Ellison and Brian Baird visited the occupied Gaza Strip to assess the damage from Israel's recent war and ongoing siege. This was the first time any U.S. government official visited Gaza in more than three years. After their visit, Ellison and Baird released a strong press release, stating:

"If this had happened in our own country, there would be national outrage and an appeal for urgent assistance.  We are glad that the Obama administration acted quickly to send much needed funding for this effort but the arbitrary and unreasonable Israeli limitations on food and repair essentials is unacceptable and indefensible.  People, innocent children, women and non-combatants, are going without water, food and sanitation, while the things they so desperately need are sitting in trucks at the border, being denied permission to go in."

Keep up the momentum to hold Israel accountable by taking action below.

TAKE ACTION

1. Encourage President Obama to sanction Israel for its misuse of U.S. weapons. Send a letter to the President today asking him to investigate Israel's prior misuses of U.S. weapons against Palestinians and to reconsider his anticipated request for additional weapons in his upcoming budget. To send your letter, please click here.

2. Thank Sen. Kerry and Reps. Ellison and Baird for visiting the occupied Gaza Strip. Contact these Members of Congress to thank them for visiting Gaza to assess the damage from Israel's war and ongoing siege, and be sure to thank Reps. Ellison and Baird for their strong statement.
Sen. John Kerry: 202-224-2742
Rep. Brian Baird: 202-225-3536
Rep. Keith Ellison: 202-225-4755
A Palestinian woman salvages some of the family's belongings from the rubble of AP – A Palestinian woman salvages some of the family's belongings from the rubble of their home in Gaza City, …
   One Israeli official promised a holocaust in Gaza; it is impossible to keep pace with the death toll.
Gaza is an immense concentration camp -- 1.5 million people squeezed into 140 square miles hemmed in on all sides by 25-foot-high walls separated by a vast expanse of bulldozed earth. The 2005 "pull-out" left Gaza still controlled by Israel from air and sea, its entries and exits prisonlike mazes electronically controlled and under constant surveillance. Bombing it, assaulting it with tanks and Uzis, is like shooting animals in a pen. The claptrap about "pinpoint" accuracy and "avoiding civilians" is a lie so flagrant, so transparent, that any child -- certainly any Gaza child -- could grasp it.

There have been eight military assaults on Gaza since 2004; blockades started in 2005, and then a siege of medieval proportions in 2006, punishment for Gazans' having elected the wrong party for Israel and its U.S. patron. By December 2008, Richard Falk, special rapporteur on the Occupied Territories for the United Nations, reported an overall Gaza malnutrition rate of 75 percent, a childhood anemia rate of 46 percent and a devastated infrastructure.  (For more, see Richard Falk's "Understanding the Gaza Catastrophe.")

This latest war -- called Operation Cast Lead -- is the "holocaust" promised by Israel's Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai last spring when he said Israel would create a shoa if Qassem rockets kept dropping on Israeli towns like Sderot. Shoa, Hebrew for holocaust, is a serious word denoting the extermination of an entire people. Vilnai embarrassed the Israeli government, and no official has used the term since.
Get Informed About Gaza  Get informed about the background and facts about Gaza, the consequences of Israel's attack on Gaza, as well as world and U.S. reactions to the attack.

Inform Others About Gaza  Take action to inform your fellow citizens about the situation in Gaza and Palestine.

Thank Your Reps Thank those representatives that supported an equitable U.S. policy toward Palestine.

 

The AAPER Foundation is a Washington, DC-based organization working with a professional team of lobbyists to provide information about Gaza.  Right now, we are focused on bringing members into our Five for Palestine Campaign so we can demonstrate to lawmakers that a large portion of US society is dissatisfied with current US policy in the Middle East. We are asking peace groups throughout the country to visit our website:  www.aaper.org If our goals are in line with the work you are doing, please promote our initiative with your members. This can be as simple as sending one email to your members or posting a link to our webpage on yours. Please let me know if you would like to be added to our listserv so we can keep you updated on what we are doing here in DC.
 Best, Heidi Schramm   National Education Associate / American Association for Palestinian Equal Rights Foundation  www.aaper.org   1761 S St. NW, #10 / Washington, DC 20009
Phone: (202) 683-8438   Fax: (202) 330-5110 / schramm@aaper.org

  • Call your representatives and tell them to call for an immediate ceasefire!
    Thank Earl Blumenauer for his call for a Ceasefire and Engagement!

    Senator Jeff Merkley 1-202-224-8845
    Senator Ron Wyden (202) 224-5244  (503) 326-7525
    Congressman Earl Blumeanuer (202) 225-4811    (503) 231-2300
    Congressman Peter DeFazio  (202) 225-6416  (541) 465-6732
    Congressman Greg Walden 202-225-6730 541-776-4646
    Congressman Kurt Schrader (202) 225-5711 (503) 588-9100
    Congressman David Wu (202) 225-0855 (503) 326-2901  toll free Oregon (800) 422-4003
    Here is a place to contact your representatives anywhere in the USA
     

    Here is the "Dear Colleague Letter" by Kucinich:
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    Q&A: The Gaza Conflict

    by Greg Myre

    NPR.org, January 6, 2009 · Israel and the Palestinians have been shooting at each other in and around the Gaza Strip almost daily for more than eight years. It is the main battleground in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and on Dec. 27, Israel launched its largest — and deadliest — offensive in all those years of fighting.

    Here are some of the issues surrounding the current battle:

    Why has Israel undertaken such a major offensive now?
    In the last half of 2008, a six-month truce kept the shooting to its lowest level in years, although both sides violated it. When the truce ended Dec. 19, Hamas stepped up its rocket fire. Israel then unleashed a major air campaign directed at Hamas targets, followed by the ground incursion on Jan. 3. Political factors also appeared to play a role in the timing of the Israeli campaign. President Bush's administration has been strongly supportive of Israel and has generally backed the latest Israeli action. The incoming Obama administration has refrained from taking any clear position before assuming office on Jan. 20. Also, Israel has elections planned for Feb. 10.

     

    Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is stepping down, but his Kadima party and its coalition partners want to show they are taking strong action against security threats to Israel.

    Israel has carried out repeated military operations in Gaza since 2000 and has never been able to stop the Palestinian rocket fire. Is this time likely to be different?

    The scope of the Israeli operation is much larger than any previous military action. In the past, Israel often relied on helicopters and unmanned drones to fire relatively small missiles. This time, Israel has called in F-16 fighter planes that have dropped large bombs, flattening government buildings.Previously, Israel feared heavy casualties if it sent ground forces into the congested cities and towns of Gaza. This time, Israel has poured thousands of troops into the coastal territory. While Israel has already dealt Hamas a heavy blow, it is not yet clear how Israel would prevent Palestinian militants from rebuilding their rocket arsenals once the Israeli troops are gone.

     

     
     

    What is the focus of the Israeli ground campaign?

    The Israeli troops have taken up positions in the farming fields in the northern and the eastern fringes of Gaza, where the Palestinians fire rockets. The rocket fire has been reduced, but it has not stopped. The troops have also advanced to the edges of Gaza City, taking up positions atop high-rise buildings. Gaza City, with a population of roughly half a million, is the largest Palestinian city and the home of many Hamas leaders and supporters.

    The Israelis are expected to maintain their focus on northern Gaza, but they also want to shut down the smuggling tunnels that run beneath Gaza's southern border with Egypt.

    What are conditions like for Palestinians in Gaza?

    In Gaza City, many Palestinians say they have rarely left their homes since the Israeli offensive began. Electricity and water are not available in many areas, and food is getting harder to come by. Gaza is extremely poor, and families are large. It's not uncommon for an extended family of 10 or more to share a small apartment.

    Hospitals have been overwhelmed by the casualties, with civilians accounting for about a quarter of the Palestinian dead. The Israeli military has called Palestinian homes and dropped leaflets urging families to leave areas that are likely to become battlegrounds. However, many Palestinians say they have no place to go, and taking to the streets at a time when they are controlled by Israeli troops is also considered extremely risky. Israel has allowed some humanitarian supplies into the area, but many Gazans complain that food, medicine and other essentials are difficult if not impossible to get for those in the battle zone.

    How does Hamas get its rockets?

    Hamas has fired thousands of rockets into southern Israel in recent years. Most were made in small metal workshops and garages that repair cars. The rockets are inaccurate, but they sow panic in southern Israel. More recently, Hamas has obtained longer-range rockets that were brought in from abroad through smuggling tunnels on the Egyptian border. Most Palestinian-made rockets travel only a few miles, and most are directed at the town of Sderot, just a couple of miles beyond Gaza's perimeter fence. But the imported rockets have struck as far away as Beersheba, a town 25 miles beyond Gaza's borders.

    Is Hamas likely to remain in control of Gaza when the fighting ends?

    Israeli officials say toppling Hamas is not an explicit aim. However, Israel has been squeezing Hamas ever since the radical Islamist group won the Palestinian elections three years ago, and Israel has made clear it would welcome the demise of Hamas in Gaza. However, the rival Fatah movement, which controls the West Bank, is weak and disorganized in Gaza and does not appear well-positioned to take over.

    Israel fell far short of its goals when it waged a similar military campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2006. Is the current Gaza operation analogous?

    There are similarities. Israel is once again seeking to suppress rocket fire coming from a radical Islamist group based on its border. However, Hezbollah in Lebanon is much stronger than Hamas in Gaza. Southern Lebanon is rugged, hilly territory, where Hezbollah fighters could fire rockets and disappear. The group had a huge stockpile of weaponry supplied by Iran. The Israelis faced intense rocket fire most everywhere they went in southern Lebanon. In contrast, Gaza is a small, flat territory where Israeli troops were present for nearly four decades. Palestinian militants have many automatic rifles and other small arms, but they lack the heavier weapons needed to take on Israel's tanks and other armored vehicles. Israel will be able to move around Gaza at will but can expect to face great difficulty in rooting out individual militants and Hamas leaders.

    What are Israel and Hamas demanding in order to end the current round of fighting?

    Israel says it wants three things: to eliminate Hamas' ability to fire rockets; a clear understanding that firing rockets in the future will lead to severe reprisals; and security arrangements that keep Hamas from rearming. Like Israel, Hamas has shown little interest in a cease-fire at this point. The group says it wants an end to the economic embargo that Israel has placed on Gaza, and an opening of commercial traffic between Gaza and Egypt.

    How long is Israel likely to stay in Gaza?

    Israel pulled all its troops out of Gaza in 2005 and says it has no plans to keep troops there indefinitely. However, Israel has set no limitations. Israel is likely to reassess its actions when the Obama administration takes office on Jan. 20. The approach of Israel's election next month also is likely to put pressure on the military to wrap up the operation.

    Greg Myre is a senior editor at Morning Edition. He reported from the Middle East for more than a decade.

     
     
    Other Gaza & headline news items
  • FOR MORE Information, contact Hala Gores at Hala@goreslaw.com or (503)307-9339 or Peter Miller at Pmiller@auphr.org or (503)358-7475. You can log into change.gov and vote on other people's questions, indicating your stance on issues like the bombing of Gaza, the misuse of U.S. military aid, and Israeli policies which include home and crop destruction, arbitrary checkpoints, etc.
     Next, sign our open letter to President-Elect Obama and send it to all your friends.  This open letter will be published in Capitol Hill newspapers during the inauguration and lays out our plan for real change from the failed Bush Administration policies of unquestioning military and diplomatic support for Israel even in the face of human rights abuses and violations of international law.  Click here to sign our open letter as an organization or an individual or click here to invite a friend to sign. 
    Katherine M. Fuchs   /  US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation National Organizer P.S. There are a lot more ways to get active in stopping Israel's assault on Gaza.  Click here to get materials to educate your community about U.S. military aid to Israel, click here for a list of protests and vigils in solidarity with Gaza across the United States, or click here for more action ideas.  Making a tax-deductible donation to the US Campaign is another great way to both support the movement for justice in Palestine/Israel and make sure that less of your money goes to the Israeli military through taxes.  
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