URGENT ACTION – CRISIS IN GAZA
Take ‘The Israel Challenge’ and Help Margaret Beckett See The Light!!
– “The Israel Challenge” –
– Turn off your power supply at the mains
– Turn off your water supply at the mains
– Stop using all forms of transportation
– Stop going to work, school or college
– Reduce your food intake to a minimum and eat sporadically
– Ask your neighbour to play loud music all through the night
Do this until we tell you to stop!
If you take the challenge, you will have some idea of the conditions faced by thousands of Gazans right now.
– Help Margaret Beckett See The Light!! –
If you can’t stomach the ‘Israel Challenge’, then we ask you to send a tealight/candle to Foreign Minister Margaret Beckett now, asking her to forward it to the people of Gaza.
She has refused to condemn the Israeli attack against Gaza – maybe thousands of tealights and candles will make her see the light.
The Rt. Hon. Margaret Beckett
Foreign Secretary
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
King Charles Street
London SW1A 2AH
During the early hours of 28 June 2006, the Israeli Occupation Force launched a ground offensive in Southern Gaza. As part of the assault, the Israeli Air Force attacked three bridges and the Gaza City power station, cutting power to much of the area.
The transformer station is also used to help pump water from the water network to apartments in Gaza. As the power has been severed, the water cannot be pumped and Gazans are unable to access water. As a result, some 860,000 residents in Gaza are currently without electricity and running water.
The situation is further exacerbated by the use of sonic booms, whereby low flying planes break the sound barrier over Gaza to fulfill Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s order that no one should be able to sleep at night in Gaza.
According to The Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network (Pengon):
The public health and safety and environmental hazards stemming from the damage caused to infrastructure as a result of this military operation include:
– water shortages
– contamination of any remaining drinking water
– uncontrolled discharge and flow of untreated sewage in the streets, resulting in groundwater pollution
– pollution of agricultural land which Gazans will be unable to cultivate to harvest crops, negatively impacting their earning power
– damage to marine life as untreated wastewater flows into the sea
– migration of fish to other parts of the coast, resulting in a reduction in the number of fish caught and, concomitantly, money earned by Gazan fishermen
– direct exposure to untreated wastewater in open systems
– indirect human health risks due to the consumption of polluted crops and fish
– an increase in waterborne acute and infectious diseases as a result of additional viruses, bacteria and protozoa in the water.
These are likely to cause serious illnesses ranging from gastroenteritis and cholera to liver failure and death.
Once again the British Government remains silent in the face of the latest round of collective punishment inflicted on the people of Occupied Territory.
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Emergency in Palestine – Israel holds an entire nation hostage
The Israeli government’s assault on the Palestinian people has reached a
new and terrifying level.
Israel has:
. Imposed a brutal blockade on the Palestinians, resulting in deliberate
starvation
. Destroyed Gaza’s water and electricity supplies, creating death and
disease
. Destroyed vital bridges and roads
. Killed 51 Palestinians including 20 children in June 2006 alone
. Imprisoned 10,000 Palestinian political prisoners including 100 women
and 300 children
. Arrested half the elected government and a quarter of elected MPs
The government of Israel must:
. Stop violating international law and UN resolutions
. End the collective punishment of the Palestinians
. Stop the shelling and bombing of Gaza
. End its illegal occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem and
remove its settlements
. Respect the right of the Palestinians to a viable independent state
. Respect the right of return of refugees
. Dismantle its illegal apartheid wall built on stolen Palestinian land
We desperately need a targeted response from all members in this current
emergency.
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We ask you to call your MP now and arrange to meet him/her asap.
MPs must insist Israel end its aggression against Gaza now and abide by
international law. It has been over a week and our Foreign Office has not
condemned Israel’s continued attack on Gaza or raised the issue of this act
of collective punishment being against international law.
Britain has an arms trade agreement with Israel and these weapons are being
used against Palestinians right now in Gaza – we must demand Britain end
this agreement.
The British government must condemn the war crimes of the Israeli
government.
To find your MPS telephone number go to www.upmystreet.com/commons/l/
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If you are a member in the constituency of Kim Howells or Margaret
Beckett please call us now so we can discuss specific actions at their
surgeries.
Call 020 7700 6192.
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Contact your MEPs to call for EU funding to be fully reinstated to the
Palestinian Authority.
To find your MEP go to www.europarl.org.uk/uk_meps/MembersMain.htm
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Crisis Fund
PSC urgently need funds to respond appropriately during this current
emergency. We want to do media adverts etc. We urge you to have collections
at local meetings, mosques, churches and other places of worship and help
the PSC to campaign effectively during such emergencies. Donations can be
made by card – so if you have a collection or would like to make an
individual donation PLEASE CALL US NOW on 020 7700 6192 in order to make a
card payment.
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During this crucial time we all need to monitor the media and ring
immediately to complain when clear pro-Israeli bias is being used to
misrepresent the situation.
For media contacts go to www.arabmediawatch.com/amw/Default.aspx?tabid=150
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Supermarket AGM’s
We would like to ask members who have shares in major supermarket companies
to get in touch with us inorder to discuss how they can be used – we could
use them as proxy votes to attend these supermarkets AGM’s.
Please contact [email protected] and/or
[email protected], or call us if you can help to bring the BIG
message straight to the companies complicit in the illegal actions of the
Apartheid State of Israel.
Many thanks.
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IMPORTANT: PLEASE FORWARD THIS WIDELY!!
SIGN THE PETITION ONLINE NOW: http://www.palestinecampaign.org/petition.asp
Stop starving the Palestinians!
To the Prime Minister, 10 Downing Street:
We note that the decision of the European Union and the United States to
withhold funding to the Palestinian Authority together with the Israeli
government’s regular closure of trade routes in and out of Gaza gravely
threatens the health and well-being of the Palestinian people. Poverty and
malnutrition have increased, and Palestinians have died as a result of a
blockade on medical supplies. We note that this decision was taken
following the elections in Palestine which were declared free and fair by
international observers. The Palestinian people are being punished for
exercising their democratic right to choose their own representatives. We
oppose this act of collective punishment against the already impoverished
Palestinian people in contravention of international human rights
conventions. We call upon the government to :
* Demand the immediate reinstatement of all funding, as well as for the
return of the withheld revenues collected by the Israeli government which
belong to the Palestinian people.
* Recognise Palestinian democracy.
* Ensure Israel abides by international law, including a complete
withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, West Bank and East Jerusalem.
http://www.palestinecampaign.org/petition.asp
Sign the Online Petition Now!! And Please Forward it Widely!
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EDM 2041- SUSPENSION OF EU AID TO PALESTINE
EDM 2041 on the suspension of aid to Palestine has 91 signatures. Please
make sure you circulate the information and get your MP to sign it. Please
visit this website to find out if your MP has signed EDM 2041:
http://edmi.parliament.uk/edmi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=30539%09%09%09%09%09%09%09&SESSION=875
Corbyn, Jeremy
That this House notes the decision of the European Union to withhold
funding to the Palestinian Authority; recognises that this decision,
together with both the Israeli government’s regular closure of trade routes
in and out of Gaza, and similar funding decisions taken by the United
States, Japanese and Canadian governments gravely threatens the health and
well-being of the Palestinian people, and quite possibly the jobs of
approximately 150,000 Palestinian employees who have in total an estimated
seven dependants per employee; expresses its opposition to this act of
collective punishment against the already impoverished Palestinian people
in contravention of international human rights conventions; and calls upon
Her Majesty’s Government to work with EU and national governments for the
immediate reinstatement of funding, as well as for the return of the
withheld revenues collected by the Israeli government which belong to the
Palestinian people.
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For a full list of events, news and protests about Palestine in the UK
please visit:
www.palestinecampaign.org
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Palestine Solidarity Campaign
www.palestinecampaign.org
Tel: 020 7700 6192
