$103,000 pledged to Palestinian relief; largest event of its type in Kansas or Missouri -- ever

FUNDRAISER WAS HUGELY SUCCESSFUL!

Participants at the July 2 “Viva Palestina” fundraising event pledged $103,000 for medical relief for Palestinians in Gaza. This generous sum is the largest grassroots fundraising effort for Palestinians in Kansas or Missouri – ever.

Mr. George Galloway, British member of parliament, gave a much-anticipated speech to a capacity crowd of 300 at the Overland Park Marriott. Credit for the large amount raised goes to Galloway for his convincing appeal for direct relief to Palestinians in Gaza. Members of Kansas City’s Muslim and Arab-American communities, as well as many other residents responded generously.

The amount raised will ensure that six trucks representing Kansas and Missouri, will be purchased in Egypt and driven to Gaza, joining with hundreds of other relief vehicles donated by generous Americans from all across the United States. Three Kansas City audience members will journey to Egypt to drive the vehicles in a convoy flying US flags and state and organizational banners to begin a two-week stay in Gaza. Galloway mentioned that his three-month tour of US cities raised $2 million.

One participant “found the event informative and practical, the tone was as much of a call to action as it was a personal, emotional reaction to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.” Representatives of several organizations supported the appeal for funds, including American Friends Service Committee—KC, Peaceworks, Citizens for Peace and Justice in the Holy Land (Lee’s Summit, MO), Seventh Generation Indigenous Visionaries (Haskell student group traveling to Palestine on August 1), American Muslims for Palestine, Citizens for Justice in the Middle East, and MAS Freedom.

After brief presentations by local Kansas City area Palestinian-American residents Mohammed Atwa and Dr. Mohamed Ouda, Galloway outlined his support for the Palestinian struggle for self-determination.

In 1975 as a 20-year old young man he first learned of the Palestinian catastrophe – the dispossession of 750,000 from their land in 1948. In 1977 he lived for a year with Palestinians in refugee camps in Lebanon.

‘Dark Days’ for Palestinians

Recalling the “dark days” of the massacre of thousands of refugee women and children at the Sabra and Shatila camps in Lebanon in 1982 following the devastation of Beirut by invading Israeli forces, he suggested the Israeli attacks in December 2008/January 2009 cast an even darker pall over the Palestinian future.

By preventing Palestinians from departing the small Gaza Strip, he described the recent attacks as “shooting fish in a barrel.” In past massacres, news crews did not arrive until after the deaths and destruction. However, Galloway emphasized that alternative news sources brought the ghastly destruction into homes and to computer screens in real-time. Al Jazeera, PressTV, YouTube and other Internet sites showed horrific human injuries and infrastructure damage.

Galloway said tens of thousands of homes were damaged or destroyed during the 22-day Israeli military campaign. A United Nations report found “52,400 families had homes that were demolished or damaged. Due to ongoing restrictions on the entry of essential construction materials, reconstruction or major repairs have yet to take place.” [1]

If conditions were not bad enough, Galloway stressed “not a single brick, bag of cement, hammer or nails” had been allowed into Gaza to rebuild homes, hospitals, mosques, or schools. “Some people are living in the ruins of their houses,” he added.

Child malnutrition levels and unemployment have increased, leaving the protection of Palestinians to international agencies like the United Nations. Galloway underscored that it was the “UN’s responsibility to feed Palestinians but it was being denied” from providing supplies.

Galloway recalled several well-documented horrific incidents like the one where a 3-year old girl was left undiscovered for days after the massacre of hundreds of Palestinians in Zatoun. Another where a ten-year old girl lost all seven family members. During Galloway’s visit to Gaza with the British convoy the girl asked him “where is this Arab world they tell us about in school?” referring to the lack of support after the 22 days of attacks.

Bold move to break the Israeli (and Arab) siege of Gaza

Galloway announced on January 10, 2009 at a massive rally in Britain that he would organize a convoy to Gaza to provide assistance, to break the siege. On February 14 the convoy left Britain with 100 vehicles to drive through Europe and North Africa.

He revealed the popular support for the convoy as it drove through Europe, Morocco, Tunusia, Algeria, Libya, then Egypt – despite sometimes cold reception from Arab government officials. He described how 100 vehicles were added to the convoy in Libya, “the only country where the people and government supported” the relief convoy. The now two-mile long convoy of vehicles loaded with medical supplies eventually drove from Egypt to Gaza on March 9.

Following an approach similar to the British convoy, Galloway announced news in April 2009 of the fundraising effort for a US convoy departing on July 4 – tomorrow.. All who participated in the July 2 fundraising event in Overland Park are saluted for their generosity. You demonstrate not only the good will of the American people, but also the funds needed to lift the dark days and break the siege.

We in Kansas City are proud to be part of George Galloway's historic mission.

Matt Quinn
Citizens for Justice in the Middle East

Andrea Whitmore
Citizens for Justice in the Middle East

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[1] “Protection of Civilians,” 3-6 June 2009, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, occupied Palestinian territory, [http://unispal.un.org/pdfs/WBN312.pdf]


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> THERE’S STILL TIME TO SUPPORT VIVA PALESTINA. Send a CHECK MADE PAYABLE to: “Viva Palestina USA – IFCO”

Viva Palestina USA – IFCO
47 West Polk Street
Suite 100 – 403
Chicago, IL 60605-2085

IFCO stands for Interreligious Foundation for Community Organizations/Pastors for Peace. Note: IFCO will send your receipt of donation for your records at the end of 2009 so please make sure your correct contact information is included in your donation!

“The Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization, which has been working for racial, social, and economic justice since 1967, is serving as fiscal sponsor for Viva Palestina USA. Your donation to Viva Palestina - IFCO is fully tax deductible under IFCO’s 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status.”
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“Viva Palestina” fundraiser will provide a lively and timely update on Gaza humanitarian relief efforts

Event organizers announce guest speakers

UPDATE ON CONDITIONS IN GAZA -

In December 2008, Israel began a military campaign that caused over 5300 Palestinian deaths or injuries, nearly half of the casualties were women and children. Thirteen Israelis were killed, including three civilians. 35,000 Palestinians were forced to flee their homes. 4000 Palestinian homes were destroyed in the 22 days of attacks. Mona El-Farra, a Palestinian physician and human rights/women’s rights activist, wrote one week after the attacks that “medical staff and people still shell-shocked although cars and people on the streets again but all people have the memories of the events of 20 days bombardment, charred bodies and probably no family is intact.”

The Israeli blockade of Gaza continues today. The stranglehold of Gaza threatens the lives, livelihood, and human dignity of 1.4 million people by severely limiting basic goods and supplies from being transported to Gaza. Human Rights Watch calls the blockade “collective punishment of the civilian population.”

In March, in a bold move, Viva Palestina, a British grassroots organization along with George Galloway led a convoy of 100 vehicles to donate $2 million worth of humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.

Since that time, UK and EU lawmakers, as well as former US president Jimmy Carter have met with Hamas leaders in Gaza. "I don't believe there is any possibility to have peace between Palestinians and Israel unless Hamas is involved directly, with Fatah,” Carter said.

While we can be optimistic that international partners will alleviate the human catastrophe through aid programs, many basic food and medical supplies remain in severe shortage due to the blockade. Viva Palestina USA will shortcut this blockade by delivering medical supplies to health professionals, charities and grassroots non-governmental organizations working in Gaza.

GUEST SPEAKERS at Viva Palestina Fundraiser in Overland Park, Kansas -

Your generous donation at the Viva Palestina fundraising event on Thursday, July 2 in Overland Park is an important gesture to Palestinians. The following speakers will be part of the event, providing first-hand reports on conditions in Gaza, sharing activities for ending the siege, and, most importantly, raising funds for humanitarian relief.

• George Galloway is a British Member of Parliament for the London constituency. He was first elected to Parliament for the City of Glasgow in Scotland in 1987. He has been elected five times to the House of Commons and is now one of the more senior members. For fourteen out of fifteen years he was the elected Senior Vice Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party's Foreign Affairs Committee. The exception was the year 1991 during the Gulf War when he was narrowly defeated.
  
  He is a founder of the Stop the War Coalition UK and is currently its Vice-President. The Stop The War Coalition mobilized two million people to protest against the war on Iraq (the largest demonstration of people in British history).
  
  In response to the Israeli attacks on Gaza, Galloway organized the Viva Palestina aid convoy to the Gaza Strip. Raising over $2 million-worth of humanitarian aid in four weeks, Galloway and hundreds of volunteers launched the convoy comprising approximately 120 vehicles intended for use in the Strip, including a fire engine, 12 ambulances, a boat and trucks full of medicines, tools, clothes, blankets and gifts for children. The 5,000-mile route passed through Belgium, France, Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt.[Wikipedia]
  

• Imam Mahdi Bray is a long time civil and human rights activist currently serving as the Executive Director of MAS Freedom (MASF), the Washington, D.C.-based civic and human rights advocacy entity of the Muslim American Society (MAS).

• Dr. Mohamed Odah is a principal professional engineer and founder of a highly respected environmental engineering firm, based in Overland Park, Kansas. Dr. Odah developed and patented engineering technologies that are implemented worldwide and is a frequent speaker at major national and international engineering conferences. Dr. Odah earned his Ph.D. at UMKC and his M.S. and B.S. in engineering at the University of Kansas.
  
  Dr. Odah grew up in Gaza and arrived at KU after finishing high school and has been a resident of the Kansas City area for almost 30 years. His family, including his 89 years old mother whom he has not been able to visit in 6 years despite several attempts, continues to reside in Gaza.
  

• Mohammed Atwa is a Kansas City resident with Palestinian family members in Gaza. He spoke about his family recently on KKFI-FM 90.1 radio. Mr. Atwa’s mother lives in Gaza, while his brother is a journalist for Ramattan, the only news organization reporting live on events in the Gaza Strip during the Israeli attacks. Mr. Atwa grew up and studied in Gaza, and works with Arava Institute, an environmental education school in Israel. Mr. Atwa spoke at the CJME Gaza fundraiser in January 2009.

Given the Israeli government’s unwillingness to allow humane levels of supplies to pass to Gaza, as well as US government reluctance to provide assistance, the challenge for American citizens is to make financial donations to humanitarian relief through organizations like Viva Palestina USA.

Please give generously!

Citizens for Justice in the Middle East

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For more information on the July 2 fundraising event use any of the following resources.

> WEB: Read more on Kansas City / Viva Palestina Fundraiser

> CALL 816-213-3022 or 816-729-9102

> FACEBOOK: Signup for event on Facebook

> TWITTER: Follow Viva Palestina event

> EVENT FLYER (Adobe PDF, 3.5 MB size) | PRESS RELEASE (HTML)

> MORE on Viva Palestina-US and George Galloway web site

> NOT ATTENDING THE EVENT? Send a CHECK MADE PAYABLE to: Viva Palestina USA – IFCO

MAS Office

10107 W. 105th Street

Overland Park KS 66212

Viva Palestina Fundraiser on July 2 is opportunity for KC residents to send medical relief to Gaza

British MP George Galloway and Mahdi Bray headline Kansas City Viva Palestina Fundraiser

KANSAS CITY, MO – Several area peace and justice groups – Muslim American Society (MAS) Freedom, Citizens for Justice in the Middle East, Citizens for Peace and Justice in the Holy Land (Lee's Summit, MO), American Friends Service Committee-KC, Peaceworks—KC, and American Muslims for Palestine – are proud to join hands for a large fundraiser event for medical relief for Palestinans. The event will feature British Member of Parliament George Galloway (see photo), MAS Freedom executive director and civil rights activist Mahdi Bray, and local speakers.

The fundraising event will be held on Thursday, July 2, 2009 at 6:30 pm at the Overland Park Marriott hotel in Grand Ballroom E located at 10800 Metcalf Avenue in Overland Park, Kansas. There is no charge to attend the event, but organizers are hoping event participants will give generously.

Hosting a stop on the fundraiser tour of Viva Palestina is a privilege for Kansas City area residents. Other stops on the tour have included San Diego, Chicago, Anaheim, Houston, New York, Chicago, and Denver. The event will give area residents an opportunity to make a direct impact towards breaking the nearly two-year Israeli blockade on Gaza.

Over $4000 was raised at Kansas City event in January to assist the United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) to overcome the effects of the 23-day siege of Gaza, which left 1400 Palestinians dead, mostly women and children.

Despite a faltering U.S. economy that has impacted your savings and jobs, many of you generously made a financial donation at the January event. Citizens for Justice in the Middle East and Overland Park fundraiser event organizers are hoping you will come out to the July 2 event, one of the last events before the Viva Palestina convoy departs New York for Egypt on July 4. The convoy will take 500 vehicles and $10 million in humanitarian aid from Egypt to Gaza.

The July 2 event in Overland Park promises to be a lively, sober update of the current events in Gaza, along with an update on relief efforts. Your financial contribution at the event is not only an important step to relieve the suffering of people in Gaza, but also acknowledges an Israeli-Palestinian peace resolution is the cornerstone of a Middle East transformation.

Matt Quinn
Citizens for Justice in the Middle East

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For more information on the July 2 fundraising event use any of the following resources.

> WEB: Read more on Kansas City / Viva Palestina Fundraiser

> CALL 816-213-3022 or 816-729-9102

> FACEBOOK: Signup for event on Facebook

> TWITTER: Follow Viva Palestina event

> EVENT FLYER (Adobe PDF, 3.5 MB size) | PRESS RELEASE (HTML)

> MORE on Viva Palestina-US and George Galloway web site

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Gaza Background: While news and reports on the Gaza crisis have disappeared from major news media, there are several reports available that reveal the severe impact of the continuing siege on Palestinians in Gaza. Here are two recent reports.

Health Effects on Children of Gaza Crisis Worsening

The World Health Organization reported that more than 10% of children in Israeli-besieged Gaza ‘chronically malnourished’.

Rising poverty, unemployment and food insecurity in Gaza, compounded by the recent 23-day Israeli offensive, have increased the threat of child malnutrition, say UN agencies, health ministry officials and healthcare NGOs in Gaza.

UN World Health Organization (WHO) officials are concerned by the warning signs, including rising malnutrition indicators - like increased cases of stunting, wasting and underweight children - and continuing high rates of anaemia among children and pregnant women.

Over the past 18 months the agricultural sector has been struggling to cope with an Israeli blockade on imports and exports, causing lower productivity and reducing access to affordable fresh food, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

“There was a rise in anaemia amongst children in our centres in 2008 and [this is] continuing,” said Adnan al-Wahaidi, director of Ard al-Insan Benevolent Association in Gaza, the main healthcare NGO supporting an estimated 16,000 undernourished children.

“Women with children who are underweight or wasting have been coming to the centres in greater numbers over the last few months; many of their husbands died during the recent conflict or are unemployed.”

314 children were killed and at least 860 wounded as a result of the Gaza conflict since it began on 27 December. (Al Mezan).

Still today, children and babies are dying in conditions that no human should have to endure, let alone a child. Handicap International estimates that up to 55 percent of people injured (including about 450 children) have sustained injuries that are so severe that without proper rehabilitation, they will likely result in permanent disability and/or death. (OCHA)

< Read more >

Health conditions worsening in Gaza as borders remain closed

The deteriorating health situation in Gaza has been intensified by Israel’s blockade of crossings into the area, the United Nations agency tasked with assisting Palestinian refugees warned today. – UN agency – 22 May 2009.

According to the agency’s latest health report, some 4,000 medical items per day on average could cross into Gaza before the conflict, whereas only 40 items are currently allowed to be imported daily.

< Read more >

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Story-tellers at the Crossroads: American Indian youth group seeks bonds with Palestinian youth‏

What would compel a student group from Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas to travel to Palestine? Despite enduring a legacy of stolen land and sovereignty, Native youth will exchange stories with Palestinian youth during a two-week delegation to Palestine in August.

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Fundraiser Dinner Event for 7th Generation Indigenous Visionaries
To support the Haskell students’ delegation Citizens for Justice in the Middle East will host a fundraiser dinner on Sunday, May 31 at 6:00 pm at the Holy Land Café, 12275 West 87th Street Parkway, Overland Park, Kansas. All proceeds will go to the student group, 7th Generation Indigenous Visionaries, to help pay for their travel expenses. The dinner will feature Haskell student leader Melissa Franklin, who will participate in the Indigenous Youth Delegation to Palestine, and Laura Closson, a Kansas City resident and Redlands University graduate, will discuss her observations in a women's delegation to Gaza in March 2009.

The fundraiser dinner cost is $25 per person, $40 per couple, and $50 for a family. The dinner will consist of Middle Eastern cuisine at the award-winning Holy Land Café. Benefit participants are encouraged to make reservations by calling Ginger at 913-362-8362, or purchase tickets by sending a check made out to “MECA” and addressed to Ginger Kenney, CJME, 9000 Mullen, Lenexa, KS 66215. MECA is the Middle East Children's Alliance (MECA), which is a registered nonprofit organization working for the rights and the well being of children in the Middle East.
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Melissa Franklin, a student leader at the university, will join four other current students and alumni on the delegation. Haskell serves as a “crossroads for many Indian tribes,” Melissa mentioned, pointing out that dozens of tribes have been represented by the children and students attending. Her grandmother attended Haskell in the 1920’s and her grandfather worked there for 27 years. Her family heritage includes Comanche, Wichita, and Sac & Fox tribes.

Using their story-telling experience the student group will share stories with Palestinians tracing their ancestors’ footsteps through Haskell boarding school before it became a four-year university. Through family and tribal stories, they recall how Haskell started as an institute of forced assimilation but now serves as a center of healing.

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7th Generation Indigenous Visionaries, an independent group of current students and alumni from Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas, will join a delegation to Palestine for two weeks in August 2009. The delegation is comprised of grassroots youth groups throughout the U.S. and Palestine. The organizing group is connecting Native and immigrant youth in the U.S with youth in Palestine “through the use of print media, traditional music, hip hop, photography, poetry, video, and other forms of arts media, we share our stories and involve our local communities in building a national and international movement against colonization and for self-determination.”
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The 7th Generation Indigenous Visionaries’ goal to share their stories is a powerful gesture of solidarity with Palestinians. This effort to bridge their common struggle is inspiring. Liberation and self-determination is the delegation’s goal – let’s do all we can to support them by attending the fundraiser or making a financial donation.

For more information go to the CJME web site – http://www.cjme.org

May 31 benefit in Kansas City helps area students on first ever Native Youth Delegation to Palestine

Fundraiser dinner to support group’s travel expenses

05.20.2009 – Citizens for Justice in the Middle East, a Kansas City advocacy group focusing on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, will host a fundraiser dinner for Haskell student group 7th Generation Indigenous Visionaries. The fundraiser will help pay for the student group’s participation in the first-ever Indigenous Youth Delegation to Palestine. The dinner will feature speakers and take place on Sunday, May 31 at 6:00 pm at the Holy Land Café, 12275 W 87th Street Parkway, Overland Park, Kansas.

The fundraiser event will feature:
- Haskell students who will be joining the Indigenous Youth Delegation, including student leader Melissa Franklin.
- Laura Closson, a Kansas City resident and Redlands University graduate, who will speak about her experience with a women's delegation to Gaza in March 2009. The delegation, which included author Alice Walker, contributed to the relief of Palestinian women living in Gaza.

7th Generation Indigenous Visionaries, an independent group of current students and alumni from Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas, will join a delegation to Palestine for two weeks in August 2009. The Indigenous Youth Delegation to Palestine is comprised of grassroots youth groups throughout the U.S. and Palestine. Youth Solidarity Network, a project of the Middle East Children's Alliance, is connecting Native and immigrant youth in the U.S. with youth in Palestine by creating forums to reflect together and bridge their struggles.

Middle East Children's Alliance (MECA) was founded in 1988 and is a registered nonprofit organization working for the rights and the well being of children in the Middle East.

The fundraiser dinner cost is $25 per person, $40 per couple, and $50 for a family. The dinner will consist of Middle Eastern cuisine at the award-winning Holy Land Café. Benefit participants can make reservations by calling Ginger at 913-362-8362, or purchase tickets by sending a check made out to “MECA” and send a check to Ginger Kenney, CJME, 9000 Mullen, Lenexa, KS 66215. Please provide the names of the people you are making reservations for. Seating at the restaurant is limited so participants are encouraged to make their reservations early.

Date:
Sunday, May 31, 6:00 p.m.

Cost:
$25 per person; $40 couple; $50 family
RSVP - 913-362-8362
Middle Eastern cuisine

Location:
Holy Land Cafe
12275 W. 87th Street Parkway
Overland Park, Kansas
(southeast corner of 87th & Monrovia)

Make your check out to "MECA" and send to:
Ginger Kenney
Citizens for Justice in the Middle East
9000 Mullen
Lenexa, KS 66215

For more information call 816-729-9102 or write info@cjme.org

How could this happen in Gaza? – Again

UN observers say there was no safe refuge in Gaza after the Israeli military bombed several schools, hospitals and 20 mosques. The International Committee of the Red Cross described Israeli actions as “shocking” and “unacceptable.” International human rights organizations charged Israel with war crimes over the illegal use of white phosphorous, dense inert metal explosives (DIME) and weapons with depleted uranium. Finally, doctors in Gaza describe the catastrophe as “genocidal attacks.”

Prior to the attacks that began on December 27, UN and human rights reports described the misery caused by the 18-month long Israeli blockade of Gaza as inhumane. Yet the deadly attacks further compounded the misery, resulting in over 1200 Palestinians have been killed and 5300 wounded, nearly half of the casualties are women and children. Thirteen Israelis were killed, including three civilians. 35,000 Palestinians were forced to flee their homes. Psychologists describe a horrific and widespread trauma that Palestinians will experience long past the dead are buried.

Many people in Kansas City were appalled and sickened by the death and destruction in Gaza. They responded by writing letters to newspapers, calling elected officials, signing petitions, donating money, joining protests, and speaking out in emails and on the Internet. This support for an end to the attacks and blockade showed people are hopeful about a change in US foreign policy. But others strongly support Israel’s military campaign.

Demonize your enemy, Kansas City style

Demonizing your enemy is not a new concept. Israel and the US government have dehumanized Palestinians for decades with US media describing nearly every Israeli attack as simple retribution for Palestinian “terror.” Palestinian supporters demonize Israeli government officials, too, but what sticks in American minds is what the US media reports.

To hear what type of Israel support there is in Kansas City, I attended the conservative Kansas City-based Zenith Boosters Club, which took on the topic of Gaza in January with a presentation by Rabbi Alan Cohen.

The rabbi offered a defense of Israel military policy, typically found in mainstream US media and government, namely, Hamas is part of an international terror network bent on the destruction of Israel. Hamas launched thousands of rockets despite Israel’s “self-restraint, enormous self-restraint,” referring to the attacks that had killed 500 Palestinians and injured thousands by the time of this talk. In other words, Israel had no choice.

The first question after the presentation came from a regular member of the club. He asked why Israel did not apply the genocidal solution of Genghis Khan to the Palestinians. When someone asked the questioner if he meant “move them [the Palestinians] out” of Gaza, he said, “No, I mean exterminate -- wipe them out.” The questioner overlooked the irony of asking a Jewish rabbi if exterminating Palestinians was a viable solution. In response, however, Rabbi Cohen suggested that if Israel is confronted with a real threat that it has a nuclear bomb and would not hesitate to use it.

“Israel wants nothing more than to live in peace, side-by-side” with Palestinians, Rabbi Cohen suggested, citing an oft-repeated line that contradicts the reality of Israel’s attacks, which left Gaza ungovernable.

Another Massacre Denied: “We are not targeting civilians”

Israeli leaders and public relations spokespersons stated from the first day of the Gaza attacks that the military was only targeting Hamas militants, careful to avoid civilian casualties. Pressed with revelations that women and children were a major portion of the casualties, these same officials claimed Hamas was using civilians as human shields.

On January 15, 2009, a single day during the recent attacks, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights reported “All civilian institutions in the Gaza Strip, including the UN Relief and Works Agency, the International Committee of the Red Cross; medical institutions, civil defense and information institutions, are being targeted by IOF [Israeli Occupation Forces], who are flagrantly continuing to obstruct the work of these institutions, and in doing so are violating humanitarian law.” The International Committee of the Red Cross unearthed 22 bodies from the Al-Samouni family in Al-Zaytoun district east of Gaza City. Israel military bombed the medical compound of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society which includes offices and the five-story Al Quds Hospital. “Three shells hit the Al Quds hospital in the neighborhood, settings its pharmacy building ablaze, trapping 400 patients and staff inside the main hospital building,” according to a Associated Press story on the same day.

Sadly, the Gaza attacks by Israel follow a familiar pattern in other military campaigns. Using a similar justification for disproportionate attacks in Iraq in April and November 2004, US military forces invaded Fallujah for retribution of the killing of private contractors.

US congressional representative Jim McDermott, a critic of the attacks, reported “US forces cut off Fallujah’s water and electricity. About 200,000 residents were forced to flee…. Public buildings, mosques and residences were subjected to assault by air and ground forces. Convoys sent by the Iraqi Red Crescent were turned away from attending to the injured. The means of attack employed against Fallujah are illegal and cannot be justified by any conceivable ends.” [1]

A member of the Brussels, Belgium Tribunal Committee reported that “everything that moved became a target and even ambulances weren’t spared. An ambulance was hit by a missile right before our eyes and completely burned out.” [2]. The report also documented use of cluster bombs and white phosphorous in the attacks. The Central Health Centre in Fallujah was bombed by US forces on November 9, killing “40 patients and fifteen health workers.” US forces claimed the hospital was controlled by insurgents and used as a “center of propaganda.”

Placing the Israeli attacks in perspective, there is only one way to describe events that occurred recently in the Gaza Strip – Israel engaged in a planned, deliberate massacre of Palestinian people.

The massacre in Gaza, like the massacre of 1700 civilians in the Sabra and Shatila Palestinian refugee camps, should be investigated and adjudicated in an international court.

Occasionally a massacre reveals the depth to which officials deny responsibility. In an attack in El Salvador in 1981, soldiers from the US-trained Salvadoran government Atlacatl Batallion killed “733 peasants, mostly children, women and old people” in a supposed raid against anti-government rebel forces. The first US newspaper reported on the massacre six weeks later. The Salvadoran government denied the reports, then US Assistant Secretary of State Eliot Abrams stated the reports “were not credible,” and the Wall Street Journal criticized the stories.

Yet the truth about the US role was clear as reported by author Mark Hertsgaard, "What made the Morazán [El Salvador] massacre stories so threatening was that they repudiated the fundamental moral claim that undergirded US policy. They suggested that what the United States was supporting in Central America was not democracy but repression. They therefore threatened to shift the political debate from means to ends, from how best to combat the supposed Communist threat — send US troops or merely US aid? — to why the United States was backing state terrorism in the first place." [3]

Who broke the truce? Why try to destroy Hamas?

“The breakdown of a truce between Hamas and Israel had been observed for several months by both sides. The truce was maintained by Hamas despite the failure of Israel to fulfill its obligation under the agreement to improve the living conditions of the people of Gaza. The recent upsurge of violence occurred after an Israeli incursion that killed several alleged militants within Gaza” on November 4. [4]

This was not a war against Hamas, but an all-out campaign to destroy Palestinian civil society, a campaign to destroy Palestinians’ ability to govern and protect themselves. Witness the destruction of all government buildings in Gaza, including police stations, prisons, courthouses, and businesses. Gaza society was on the verge of collapse because of an 18-month Israeli blockade – before the latest attacks. One resident said “Whatever capacity we did have to run our affairs is no longer there.”

The US bears a huge portion of responsibility for perpetuating the catastrophe when it “blocked approval of a statement demanded by Arab countries calling for an immediate cease-fire and expressing serious concern at the escalation of violence.” [5] In a similar pattern the US blocked a ceasefire resolution on the second day of the Lebanon/Gaza crisis in 2006, which resulted in over 1000 Lebanese deaths, 400 Palestinian Gazan deaths, and over 100 Israeli deaths. An early ceasefire would have greatly reduced deaths.

Let’s be clear – rockets from Gaza should have stopped -- but let’s also be honest by acknowledging Hamas’ limited capacity to threaten Israeli society. The right approach is to negotiate a truce, leading to an end to the occupation and long-term resolution to the conflict.

In one of the most brilliantly argued explanations for Israel’s military attacks, Henry Siegman, former executive director of the American Jewish Congress, wrote “Why then are Israel’s leaders so determined to destroy Hamas? Because they believe that its leadership, unlike that of Fatah, cannot be intimidated into accepting a peace accord that establishes a Palestinian ‘state’ made up of territorially disconnected entities over which Israel would be able to retain permanent control. Control of the West Bank has been the unwavering objective of Israel’s military, intelligence and political elites since the end of the Six-Day War.” [6]

Matt Quinn

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[1] Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 1/11/2005
[2] Brussels Tribunal report, 12/20/2005
[3] On Bended Knee: The Press and the Reagan Presidency, Mark Hertsgaard, Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1988
[4] Richard Falk, UN’s Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, 12/30/2008
[5] Kansas City Star, AP report, 1/3/2009
[6] “Israel’s Lies,” Henry Sieman, London Review of Books, 1/29/2009 - http://www.lrb.co.uk/v31/n02/sieg01_.html

Open Letter to the People of Gaza

Dear Friends of Citizen Voices

Please read and sign and/or reply to the letter below. You may pass it along to like-minded people but please keep in mind that its critical stance toward Israel will not be helpful to those who cannot tolerate such criticism. We need to engage them differently, especially Jews, many of whom I believe are still traumatized, if only secondarily, from the Holocaust. That doesn't excuse what the Israeli government has been doing but I don't want to intentionally provoke someone whom I know can't tolerate, for what ever reason, the truth.

Also note that I was advised to leave out the word "jihad" by someone because westerners tend to associate it with terrorism and violent resistance. I decided to keep it in because the letter really is to Gazans who know or should know its true meaning as "righteous struggle", i.e. like what CJME and other peace and justice groups have been doing.

Shalom and Salaam,

Jim Fleming
816-213-1885

OPEN LETTER TO THE PEOPLE OF GAZA

Dear Friends,

We, citizens of the United States, are deeply saddened and disturbed by the recent destruction of your homeland and killing of your people by the Israeli Defense Forces, an action which has been shamefully funded and justified as "defense" by our own government. The massive killing of civilians and destruction of infrastructure in Gaza is yet another cruel blow by the Israeli government against the Palestinian people. Such rampant escalation of violence and destruction, coming on the heels of an inhumane and prolonged blockade, can not be tolerated and must not be repeated.

Right now most of the Arab and Muslim world and much of the rest of the world is outraged by Israel's aggression which the U.N has condemned as out of proportion to the rocket attacks fired by Hamas fighters. Even though the official response of the new U.S. administration has been little different from that of previous ones, there is likely to be a shift toward a more critical posture toward Israel.

Ironically the humanitarian crisis and the greater than 100:1 ratio of Gazan to Israeli deaths in this conflict puts Gaza and Hamas in a position of advantage in the eyes of the world. Israel has clearly overreached; Israel has clearly been the primary aggressor. In the eyes of the world Palestinians are being seen as the real victims. Sadly, but in truth, this situation presents an opportunity to build support for a true Palestinian state, however this advantage will certainly vanish if there are renewed attacks on Israel including by rockets and suicide bombings.

We are not being moralistic here. It is not a matter of whether renewed attacks are justified or not. It is a matter of practicality. It is a matter of innocent lives being saved. Moreover, the cause of justice for Palestinians will not be served by more attacks on Israel which is likely to unleash more attacks on Gaza and cause potentially sympathetic countries including the U.S. to withdraw from support for a Palestinian homeland. The Hamas leadership knows these attacks inflict no significant damage on Israelis as a whole or on Israel's military machine. They only inflame Israeli hatred. But the most potent weapon Israel has at its disposal is the term the "terrorist". Once this potent word is uttered, the dialogue is over and somehow the rationalization for anything Israel does is made in the name of "defending itself".

Israel's inhumane policies and actions in the Occupied Terrorities are already being compared to the apartheid system of South Africa and their recent attacks on Gaza could clearly be characterized as "terrorist" in nature. But those with the power in the region, especially the U.S. are not ready to apply these damning labels yet, labels which have been shown to be capable of toppling powerful, repressive and unjust regimes.

The anguish and rage which must be felt by your people is difficult for most of us in the U.S. to understand and it is impossible to say how any of us would respond if we too had been subjected to decades of indignities. A natural reaction would be to strike back. Unfortunately there are many Israelis who would welcome another opportunity to punish the Palestinians, perhaps even harder--amazingly a large majority of Israelis supported the recent attacks and invasion of Gaza. But the Hamas leadership could make a strategic decision to denounce attacks on Israel and take steps to be sure attacks don't occur on their watch. If they do, their status will rise in the eyes of the world and Israel's oppressive behavior will be highlighted. Already there are calls for prosecution of israel for war crimes and support for a thorough investigation of the recent massive, almost month long Israeli aggression will not be silenced as long as Gazans are shown to be
focused on recovery and peace rather than revenge. Support for Palestinians will increase and support for the apartheid structure will crumble. Further, those groups in Israel, now a minority, which are promoting peace and justice for Palestinians will rise in status and become real players in the Israeli government.

The suffering and oppression of your people and that of all Palestinians must stop. We support you in your struggle for justice but righteous struggle, jihad, need not be violent. Violence only breeds more violence--until one side decides to cease. It take great courage and strength, but non-violent struggles do succeed.

In the name of the innocent people who died in the recent onslaught in your homeland; in the name of peace and justice for your children and ours; in the name of God who is Merciful; we urge you and your leaders to use the power of words and the power of non-violence resistance to set a new course for peace and justice in your region. We will support you. The world will support you. We beg of you: seize this opportunity for change.

In Peace and Solidarity,

James L. Fleming, M.D.

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