Page 9 of 16 FirstFirst ... 7891011 ... LastLast
Results 81 to 90 of 158

Thread: Israel Air Strikes On Gaza Kill 155

  1. #81
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    America
    Posts
    30,749
    White House repeats call for 'durable' ceasefire in Gaza

    http://rawstory.com/news/afp/White_H..._01062009.html

    1/6/2008

    The White House reiterated on Tuesday it wanted to see a "durable" ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, stopping short of endorsing a proposed humanitarian truce for Gaza.

    "We are working to help bring about a durable ceasefire," spokeswoman Dana Perino told AFP when asked if President George W. Bush would be ready to back a humanitarian truce.

    She said that "humanitarian aid has been flowing to the region, provided by Israel and the UN."

    Perino spoke as France worked with Arab states on a draft UN resolution calling for an immediate end to the Israeli military offensive in Gaza as well as to rocket fire into Israel by Gaza-based militants.

    The text would also urge the lifting of the Israeli siege of Gaza to allow humanitarian access to the beleaguered Palestinian population, protection of Palestinian civilians, a resumption of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and a means to monitor the truce and protect civilians, diplomats said.

    Perino struck a cautious tone over French President Nicolas Sarkozy's diplomatic effort to persuade Syria to push its ally Hamas to agree a truce.

    "We have not found such talks with the Syrians to be constructive or useful," she said.

    "If President Sarkozy is successful in getting Syria to stop supporting Hamas and Hezbollah, that would be good."

    Sarkozy arrived in the Syrian capital Damascus earlier Tuesday as part of a Mideast tour trying to broker a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

    Syria is a key player in the region and is home to the self-exiled chief of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal.
    No One Knows Everything. Only Together May We Find The Truth JG


  2. #82
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    America
    Posts
    30,749
    Deadly Israeli raids on schools take Gaza toll to 660

    http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Deadly_..._01062009.html

    1/6/2008

    Israeli tanks and troops blazed into towns across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday striking Hamas targets, but hits on three UN-run schools killed at least 48 people and sparked urgent new ceasefire calls.

    While troops battled Islamist militants inside Gaza City in the heaviest fighting of the 11-day-old offensive to halt cross-border rocket attacks, Hamas made its deepest rocket strike yet into Israel.

    As the Palestinian death toll surged above 660, Arab states pressed for a UN Security Council resolution condemning the onslaught, but Israel rejected ceasefire calls by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and other leaders.

    "Europe must open its eyes," President Shimon Peres told an EU ministerial delegation.

    "We are not in the business of public relations or improving our image. We are fighting against terror and we have every right to defend our citizens."

    The United Nations demanded an investigation after tank and air assaults hit three schools run by its Palestinian relief agency, UNRWA.

    At least 43 people sheltering at the Jabaliya refugee camp school in northern Gaza were killed, emergency services said. The UN confirmed at least 30 dead and 55 wounded after the shelling.

    The Israeli military said a preliminary inquiry indicated that mortar rounds may have been fired from the Jabaliya school.

    Earlier two people were killed when an artillery shell hit a school in the southern city of Khan Yunis. Three people also died in an air strike on another school in Gaza City's Shati refugee camp, medics said.

    UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the Palestinian territories Maxwell Gaylard said Israel had the GPS coordinates of all UN buildings in Gaza -- including schools.

    "Neither homes nor UN shelters are safe" for civilians, he said in a statement and called for an investigation. "If international humanitarian law has been contravened, those responsible must be held accountable."

    Heavy fighting raged in Gaza City and around nearby Deir al-Balah and Bureij. One air raid on Gaza City killed 12 people, including seven children, from the same family.

    Tanks with helicopter gunship support rolled into Khan Yunis before dawn, to be met with return fire from Hamas and its allies, witnesses said.

    Four Israeli soldiers were killed in two friendly fire incidents during overnight fighting, the army said. Five have now died since Saturday.

    The military said another soldier was killed in a clash near Gaza City.

    It also said that paratroopers shot at the belt of a suicide bomber running towards them to detonate his bomb.

    About 35 Hamas rockets were fired over the border, one landing 45 kilometres (28 miles) inside Israel -- the deepest yet -- slightly wounding a baby, it said.

    Three civilians and one soldier have been killed by rockets hitting Israel since the offensive began.

    Protests against Israel have spiralled worldwide and the French president led new calls for a truce as he met Israeli leaders in Jerusalem on Monday.

    But Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reaffirmed that there can be no ceasefire until "terrorist" rocket attacks and weapons smuggling into Gaza are ended.

    Sarkozy went to Damascus and Beirut and later returned to Egypt to see President Hosni Mubarak, saying there was a "glimmer of hope" for ending the bloodshed. A Hamas delegation also arrived in Cairo.

    Egypt brokered a six-month truce that ended on December 19. Hamas refused to renew the deal and started firing rockets, sparking the war.

    Israel launched Operation Cast Lead on Hamas on December 27 with a massive air bombardment of Gaza, and sent in thousands of ground troops a week later.

    Since then, 660 Palestinians have been killed, including about 200 children, with more than 2,950 wounded, Gaza medics say.

    Egypt said on Tuesday the number of Palestinians who have died after being evacuated through the Rafah crossing rose to 11 when four more succumbed to their wounds.

    Israel has denied there is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, but the International Committee of the Red Cross stepped up pressure with a rare public statement.

    "There is no doubt in my mind that we are dealing with a full-blown and major crisis in humanitarian terms. The situation for the people in Gaza is extreme and traumatic," said Pierre Kraehenbuehl, ICRC director of operations.

    He said ICRC staff in Gaza described the past night as "the most frightening to date" in the territory, where there is no power or water and food rations are severely limited.

    The UN Security Council was to meet again on Tuesday to weigh an Arab call for a ceasefire and to protect Palestinian civilians, diplomats said.

    Washington has strongly backed Israel, with President George W. Bush saying any truce must ensure an end to militant rocket fire.

    President-elect Barack Obama vowed to speak out about the conflict once he takes office, but insisted until then only Bush can speak for the US.

    "After January 20 I am going to have plenty to say about the issue," Obama told reporters.
    No One Knows Everything. Only Together May We Find The Truth JG


  3. #83
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    America
    Posts
    30,749
    Al Qaeda Vows Revenge for Gaza
    Ayman al-Zawahiri Vows to Avenge Deaths of Palestinians

    http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=6588084&page=1

    By MADDY SAUER
    Jan. 6, 2009

    Osama bin Laden's top deputy in al Qaeda has released a new tape in which he threatens the United States and vows revenge for the deaths of Palestinians in Gaza.

    "We will never stop until we avenge the death of all who are killed, injured, widowed and orphaned in Palestine and throughout the Islamic world," said Ayman al-Zawahiri in a new 10-minute audio recording released today on extreme Islamist Web forums.

    The message is entitled "The Massacre in Gaza and the Siege of the Traitors".

    Zawahiri refers directly to President-elect Barack Obama saying he has partnered with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, whom Zawahiri labels as a traitor to Islam.

    "What you are facing today is just occupation and settlement that is limited to one area or one country, but is part of a series in the Crusaders war against Islam," says Zawahiri. "These air strikes are a gift from Obama before he takes office, and from Hosni Mubarak, the traitor who is the primary partner in your siege and murder."

    To the Palestinians he says: "Be strong and persist in the way of Jihad. The whole Muslim ummah is united with you."

    He also vows to carry out al Qaeda's repeated threat that the United States will not live in peace until Palestine does.

    "We are at work to carry out the promise of our fighting sheikh Osama Bin Laden (may Allah protect him) who promised that America will not live in peace in their dreams before we live in peace in Palestine, and until all the forces of the infidels leave the lands of Muhammed," Zawahiri says.
    No One Knows Everything. Only Together May We Find The Truth JG


  4. #84
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    America
    Posts
    30,749
    Dag. Now they got the damn Qaeda involved.
    No One Knows Everything. Only Together May We Find The Truth JG


  5. #85
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    America
    Posts
    30,749
    Venezuela Expels Israeli Ambassador
    Chavez Fiercly Critical Of Gaza Conflict, Israel's "Barbarism"

    http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/...n4703025.shtml

    1/6/2008

    (CBS/AP) Venezuela ordered the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador and some embassy staff on Tuesday to protest Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip.

    The decision by President Hugo Chavez, a longtime critic of U.S. and Israeli policy, to kick out the diplomats appeared to be the strongest reaction yet to the Gaza offensive by any country with ties to Israel.

    Venezuela's Foreign Ministry announced the move in a statement, saying it "has decided to expel the Israeli ambassador and part of the personnel of the Israeli embassy."

    The Israeli offensive in Gaza has killed nearly 600 Palestinians in ground and air strikes. Israel launched the attacks Dec. 27 to stop Palestinian militants from firing rockets into southern Israel.

    Venezuela's Foreign Ministry said its U.N. mission is joining with other countries in demanding the Security Council "apply urgent and necessary measures to stop this invasion."

    Officials could not immediately be reached at the Israeli Embassy in Caracas, which had closed by the time of the announcement.

    Chavez earlier condemned the Israelis carrying out the military campaign as "murderers" and urged Jews in Venezuela to take a stand against the Israeli government.

    "Now I hope that the Venezuelan Jewish community speaks out against this barbarism. Do it. Don't you strongly reject all acts of persecution?" Chavez said.

    "How far will this barbarism go?" he said in an appearance on state television. "The president of Israel should be taken before an international court together with the president of the United States, if the world had any conscience."

    While many countries have protested Israel's offensive, none so far has expelled the ambassador.

    Mauritania, which established relations with Israel in 1999, called home its ambassador from the Jewish state on Monday.

    Jordan and Egypt, the other two Arab nations with relations with Israel, summoned their Israeli ambassadors to protest the Gaza attacks, but they have resisted popular calls to expel them.

    Chavez has long been critical of the Israeli government's policies in the Middle East and has supported the Palestinians' stance in the conflict.

    During Israel's 2006 conflict in Lebanon, Chavez withdrew his top envoy from Israel, calling the bombings there "a new Holocaust."

    In spite of its criticisms of Israel, Chavez's government has insisted it is friendly toward Jewish people.

    Chavez met with Jewish leaders in August, pledging to work against anti-Semitism despite strong differences on Mideast politics.

    Chavez's condemnations of Israel's offensive have grown gradually more severe in recent days.

    He called on Israelis to "stand up against" their government. As for those leading the offensive in Gaza, he said, "they are cowards - bombing innocent people. What great soldiers they are, how brave the soldiers of Israel are."

    Protests against the offensive have been held in Venezuela and other Latin American countries in recent days.

    In Argentina, which has the third-largest Jewish population outside Israel as well as a sizable population of Arab descent, hundreds of people marched to the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires to call for an end to the offensive.

    Brazil's government says it is sending 14 tons of medicine and food to the Gaza Strip. And in Bolivia, about 100 Palestinians and Arabs marched to protest the violence.
    No One Knows Everything. Only Together May We Find The Truth JG


  6. #86
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    America
    Posts
    30,749
    Israeli leaders to debate "final" Gaza push

    http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L6222934.htm

    By Dan Williams
    07 Jan 2009 07:05:24 GMT

    JERUSALEM, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Israeli leaders will debate on Wednesday whether to order their armed forces to storm into the Gaza Strip's urban centres, the planned culmination of a nearly two-week-old offensive, political sources said.

    Escalating from a week-long air assault, Israeli troops and tanks invaded the Hamas-ruled territory on Saturday, clashing with Palestinian guerrillas but not advancing beyond the outskirts of the city of Gaza or other densely populated areas.

    Israel called the initial ground sweep the "second stage" of the operation, without saying what could follow. The opacity helped spur a frenzy of international mediation to secure a truce under which Hamas would stop cross-border rocket fire.

    Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's security cabinet, due to convene on Wednesday, would discuss the third -- and final -- stage of the offensive, two senior political sources said, though the ministers may defer a vote on approving the plan.

    "The plan is to enter the urban centres," said one source, declining to be named.

    Postponing a final decision on the plan could allow Israel to keep its forces in readiness while maintaining leeway for any breakthrough in possible truce talks led by Egypt.

    Olmert's spokesman Mark Regev declined to comment on Wednesday's meeting, saying: "We do not generally discuss the agendas of the security cabinet."

    CHALLENGE
    Military analysts believe Israeli forces would be severely challenged by combat in Gaza's congested casbahs and alleyways, where much of their air support would be irrelevant and where Palestinian gunmen would be able to mount hit-and-run ambushes.

    Conquering Gaza could amount to a reoccupation of a territory the Jewish state captured from Egypt in a 1967 war and quit in 2005. Israeli leaders have said they do not want to reoccupy Gaza or, for now, to topple the Islamist Hamas group.

    Seven Israeli soldiers have died in an offensive that has killed more than 640 Palestinians, at least a quarter of them civilians, medics said. Palestinian rockets, the stated reason for Israel's assault, have killed four Israeli civilians.

    Israel said its troops had killed 130 guerrillas since Saturday, a figure that suggested the total Palestinian death toll since Dec. 27 might be close to 770 and that bodies could still be on the battlefield.

    According to one Israeli source with knowledge of the security cabinet's discussions, the initial ground sweep was executed well but the military top brass was disappointed by what they saw as relatively little Palestinian resistance.

    "The assumption was that our forces could draw out the enemy into open areas where they could be eliminated, but they didn't come out in the number we expected," the source said. "Taking the fight into the populated areas would be much tougher."

    Hamas spokesman Abu Ubaida said in a speech on Monday: "We have prepared for you, Zionists, thousands of tough fighters who are waiting for you in every street, every alley and at every house, and they will meet you with iron and fire."
    No One Knows Everything. Only Together May We Find The Truth JG


  7. #87
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    America
    Posts
    30,749
    Kucinich: Israel may be using American weapons illegally

    http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Kucini...ican_0106.html

    1/7/2008

    Responding to media reports that Israel had bombed a UN school serving as a refuge for Palestinian civilians, Congressman Dennis Kucinich is calling for a Congressional report on Israel's possibly illegal misuse of US weapons.

    His letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice follows.

    ####

    Dear Dr. Rice:

    I am writing concerning Israel's military offensive against Gaza, which began on December 27th. I support Israel's security and its right to exist in peace, without the fear of rocket attacks from Hamas. Moreover, I abhor the violence being visited upon the citizens of our firm ally. However, no nation is immune from the legal conditions placed on the receipt of U.S. military assistance.

    I believe that with the current escalation of violence in Gaza, a legal threshold has been reached, warranting a Presidential examination and report to Congress. I hereby request an examination of Israel’s compliance with the provisions of the Arms Export Control Act of 1976 (AECA).

    While neither the AECA nor the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (FAA) define “internal security” and “legitimate self-defense,” I believe that Israel’s most recent attacks neither further internal security nor do they constitute “legitimate” acts of self-defense. They do, however, “increase the possibility of an outbreak or escalation of conflict,” because they are a vastly disproportionate response to the provocation, and because the Palestinian population is suffering from those military attacks in numbers far exceeding Israeli losses in life and property.

    Israel’s current military campaign in Gaza has inflicted a significant toll on Palestinian civilians and society. Israel’s recent aerial and ground offensive against Gaza has killed nearly 600 and injured over 2,500. The Associated Press reported: “children are paying the price... The United Nations has said the death toll includes 34 children... But the broad range of Israel's targets--police compounds, fire stations, homes of militants, Hamas-run mosques and university buildings--means most shelling is occurring in residential areas."

    The extensive destruction of such civilian institutions violates Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits the wanton destruction of property and collective punishment of a civilian population. There have also been reports of bombings of United Nations (UN) schools, despite the fact that Israeli Defense Forces were allegedly given coordinates of the facilities prior to the current escalation in violence.

    The blockade that Israel has imposed on Gaza since 2006 has further exacerbated the extent of collateral damage, as hospitals and morgues have been unable to cope with the magnitude of deaths and injuries as a result of the current escalation in violence and hospitals lack proper supplies needed to treat the injured.

    I believe that Israel’s use of defense articles provided by the U.S in the current Gaza military attacks may constitute a violation of the AECA. At a minimum, the conflict is sufficient to warrant an immediate report to Congress as required by 22 U.S.C. §2753. Please contact my office by close of business on January 7, 2009 with the date the report will be submitted.

    Sincerely,

    Dennis J. Kucinich
    Member of Congress
    No One Knows Everything. Only Together May We Find The Truth JG


  8. #88
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    America
    Posts
    30,749
    Israel to consider French-Egyptian ceasefire plan

    http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/br...-14131261.html

    Wednesday, 7 January 2009

    Israeli President Shimon Peres has said his country will consider a plan put forward by France and Egypt in a bid to secure a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

    The move comes as Israel continues its bombardment of the densely populated Palestinian territory.

    The onslaught triggered further international revulsion yesterday when Israeli tanks attacked a UN-controlled school that was being used as a shelter by civilians whom the Israelis had ordered to leave their homes.

    At least 40 civilians were killed in the attack.

    Israel claims Hamas militants were firing mortars from the school, but Hamas has denied the accusation.

    The claims cannot be independently verified because Israel has banned foreign journalists from entering the Gaza Strip.

    Meanwhile, Israel has agreed to open a "humanitarian corridor" today to allow aid to be delivered to the impoverished population of Gaza.

    It has also reportedly agreed to halt all attacks for three hours to allow residents gain access to aid.
    No One Knows Everything. Only Together May We Find The Truth JG


  9. #89
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    America
    Posts
    30,749
    Israel conditionally welcomes cease-fire proposal

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090107/...l_palestinians

    1/7/2009

    GAZA CITY, Gaza – Israel said Wednesday that it "welcomes" an Egyptian-French cease-fire proposal for Gaza as long as it halts militant rockets and weapons smuggling in a possible sign that the bloody 12-day offensive could be winding down. Hamas said it would only support a deal that included an opening of Gaza's borders.

    French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in Paris that both Israel and the moderate Palestinian leadership in charge of the West Bank had accepted the truce proposal. And in Turkey, a diplomat said that country will be given the task of constructing an international force for Gaza.

    However, Israel said it would support the proposal only if it halts "hostile fire" from Hamas in Gaza and includes measures to prevent the militant group from rearming, said government spokesman Mark Regev.

    A Hamas official offered similar cautions.

    "Israel is still widening and escalating its aggression and is not giving any positive signals in response to these efforts," Ghazi Hammad said.
    No One Knows Everything. Only Together May We Find The Truth JG


  10. #90
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    America
    Posts
    30,749
    What Most US Media Isn't Telling You

    Anna Baltzer
    1/7/2009

    Four days ago, Israel invaded Gaza on the ground to compliment its aerial bombardment. The Palestinian death toll has reached 660. The official Israeli death toll is up to 5, of whom 4 were civilians. Attacks on civilians, no matter who they are, is criminal. Yet the US government, public relations officials, and mainstream media—unlike those of almost every other country in the world—continue to criminalize Palestinian violence while absolving Israel (the undisputed party in power) of almost any responsibility of its own. The official position seems clear: Israel can do as it likes until Hamas stops all violence.

    The underlying assumption here is that Palestinians' human rights depend on the actions of their leaders. This is false. Palestinians do not have to earn the human rights inalienable to every person on Earth. Human rights are non-negotiable. Likewise, Israelis do not have to earn their human rights. Israeli state terror notwithstanding, it would be criminal to bombard the entire population of Israel (in which, as in Gaza, fighters live alongside their families in civilian areas) for the crimes of its government.

    But this is exactly what Israel is doing in Gaza with US weapons before a seemingly impotent international community. Every day the carnage unfolds on CNN-International (different from CNN-US—the United States is the only country in the world with domestically customized international news coverage): a mother and her 4 kids killed instantly; a 7-year-old shot twice in the chest (I'm not sure how that happens accidentally, but does that even matter?); more than 40 policemen in training obliterated (even Israel does not claim the Palestinian police orchestrates rocket attacks); TV stations and places of worship successfully destroyed; a mortuary out of room for bodies.

    According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, "sewage water is pouring into the streets in Beit Hanoun, following damage to the main pipeline between Beit Hanoun and the Beit Lahiya wastewater treatment plant." Save The Children reports that newborn baby Gazans are battling hypothermia due to power cuts and freezing winter winds.

    Some of the worst news comes from the doctors. Can you imagine a hospital functioning without electricity? According to the mainstream British newspaper The Guardian, medics are working around the clock and running out of anesthesia. There is no more gauze so doctors are using cotton, which sticks to wounds. Nurses are forced to draw blood with the wrong sized syringes and without alcohol. The Guardian article was entitled, "The injured were lying there asking God to let them die." Many have gotten their last wish, dying as they wait in the emergency rooms.

    Medical workers themselves have also been under fire, with at least 4 killed as they tried to reach victims. Ambulances are not safe, nor are the schools:

    When I woke up yesterday a UN school had just been bombed, killing 3 of the civilians who had come to the school seeking shelter. Watching the news later in the evening, I learned the same UN school had been bombed again (twice in one day), killing 40 more. The British director of the school, having lost his usual calm, was irate and imploring the world to understand that nowhere in Gaza is safe anymore—there is nowhere left to go.

    Yet reading the Washington Post and watching the nightly news you might believe that Israel's is in fact the most virtuous army in the world, going as far as sending text messages to and dropping leaflets in Palestinian areas explaining that unless civilians leave, they will be attacked. Reported alone, this might sound reasonable, but quickly becomes absurd if you know that Gazans have no place to go to! Nowhere inside the strip of land is safe and there is no way to leave it, since the borders are sealed.

    The bombing and invasion have clearly heightened the threat against Gazans' lives, but they did not start it. For the 18 months preceding the invasion, the average Gazan could not reliably go to school, make a living, contact the outside world, divert their sewage, heat their homes, drink clean water, or eat. This was due to the enclosure summed up in the words of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights: "Gaza is a prison and Israel seems to have thrown away the key." This was the reality of Israel's "ceasefire."

    The closure pushed Gaza's humanitarian crisis to a new low, with poverty reaching 80%. Any attempt to counter poverty was thwarted. Gaza students dependent on transportation could not reach their schools, and those accepted at foreign universities in America, Europe, and the West Bank were denied permits to leave. Without enough fuel, industrial businesses were either shut down or running below 20% capacity, resulting in the loss of tens of thousands of jobs. Contrary to Israeli court order, the Israeli army allowed just 15% of fuel needed for generators, wells, and transportation, resulting in garbage piled high in the streets while up to 15,000,000 gallons of raw or partially-treated sewage flowed into the sea every day. This was the reality of Israel's "ceasefire."

    On November 4th and 5th, Israel broke the "ceasefire" by killing at least 6 Palestinians in Gaza, reported on CNN-International but unlikely by CNN-US. Of course, there was no ceasefire to begin with, since the main requirement on Israel was to sufficiently unseal Gaza's borders, a requirement that was consistently ignored. By the end of the "ceasefire," 262 had Gazans died due to lack of access to proper medical care during the blockade.

    Hamas should be condemned for its attacks on civilians, but it is naïve to expect that they would renew a truce that Israel had never adhered to. Whether or not it would cease cross-border attacks in exchange for Israeli reciprocity—as Hamas continues to offer—is something we cannot know, since Israel has never given the offer a chance.

    ----------------------------------------

    10 IDEAS for TAKING ACTION:

    Analysis and sympathy have no value if they do not result in any action. There are enough action ideas below that every single person on this list has the power to do at least one, ideally many more.

    1. Monitor and contact local media to inform others and counter misinformation. Write letters to the editor (usually 100-150 words) or op-eds (usually 600-800 words) for local newspapers. Also contact radio talk shows and television news departments, especially in response to biased coverage. You can find all local media at:

    http://www.congress.org/congressorg/dbq/media/

    The US Campaign to End the Occupation compiled a fact sheet about US direct contributions to the war on Gaza, which you can use for facts:

    http://www.endtheoccupation.org/down...us_weapons.pdf

    2. Organize and join demonstrations in front of Israeli embassies or (if that's not doable) in front of the offices of elected officials or other visible place. Inform the media beforehand. Here is a list of the many demonstrations happening around the country (For example, St Louis, where I live, usually has one a month, but this month there are demonstrations every day):

    http://www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?id=1773

    3. Join local activist groups organizing local actions. If there aren't any, start your own. Now is an excellent time to rally support.

    4. Initiate boycotts, divestments and sanctions to nonviolently pressure Israeli compliance with international law, as was effective in the struggle against Apartheid in South Africa. Now is an excellent time to rally support and begin a campaign. More info and resources at http://www.bdsmovement.net/

    5. Send direct aid to Gaza through one of the following organizations:

    6. Contact elected and other political leaders in your country to urge them to apply pressure to end the attacks. Find your representatives and their contact info at http://www.congress.org/congressorg/officials/congress

    Call the Obama/Biden Transition Office at 202-540-3000, press 2 to speak to staff member. Tell them the U.S. needs a new Middle East policy, which holds Israel accountable to international law and UN resolutions and human rights. Tell them the U.S. should not support Israel with billions of dollars every year and should not be arming Israel with U.S. made weapons. Add your own suggestions. The time is right for President-elect Obama to hear from the peace community.

    7. Sign petitions for Gaza, for example:

    http://www.avaaz.org/en/gaza_time_fo...p?cl_tf_sign=1

    http://capwiz.com/arab/utr/2/?a=12364076&i=90758629&c

    https://secure2.convio.net/pep/site/...A..&id=233

    8. Put a Palestinian flag at your window. Wear a Palestinian head scarf (keffiya). Wear black arm bands (this helps start conversations with people).

    9. Do a group fast for peace one day and hold it in a public place.

    10. Inform others in your community with flyers, vigils, and conversations. At the very least, forward this on.

    This list was based on a call from the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People and Friends of Sabeel.
    No One Knows Everything. Only Together May We Find The Truth JG


Similar Threads

  1. Suspected U.S. Missile Strikes Kill 27 In Pakistan
    By Gold9472 in forum The New News
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 10-31-2008, 01:45 PM
  2. Israel Locks Down Gaza
    By Gold9472 in forum The New News
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 01-18-2008, 08:47 AM
  3. Replies: 6
    Last Post: 10-06-2006, 07:08 PM
  4. Replies: 0
    Last Post: 08-01-2006, 06:11 PM
  5. Replies: 0
    Last Post: 07-13-2006, 08:59 AM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •