27 December 2008

The world majority stands with the Palestinian people in this devastating time that Israeli Defense Secretary Ehud Barak calls “just the beginning.” Israeli attacks on Gaza in the past 24 hours have killed over 200 people and injured hundreds more. We decry the multiple forms of collective punishment currently being inflicted that reflect Israel’s 60-plus year history of ethnic cleansing: lack of access to electricity and potable water, blockades of food and medicine, and these brutal attacks.

We are outraged but not surprised by this escalation. Israel’s unilaterally designed and implemented disengagement from Gaza has maintained control of the borders, air and water space, and completely isolated Gaza practically and politically. This has been accomplished with unconditional support from the United States and its allies and with the complicity of the broader international community and Gaza’s neighbors. It has also set the stage for these horrendous events.

The media frames this violence as a conflict between warring peoples with equal power. This framing is possible because the media fails to recognize Israel as an apartheid State or as a colonial occupying force with one of the most technologically advanced militaries in the world.

The Gaza-based One Democratic State Group has called for “all civil society organizations and freedom loving people to act immediately in any possible way to put pressure on their governments to end diplomatic ties with Apartheid Israel and institute sanctions against it.” IJAN stands in solidarity with the people of Gaza and supports this call.

WE ASK YOU TO JOIN US AND TAKE ACTION!

1. Join or organize emergency protests and direct actions in partnership with Palestine solidarity and social justice organizations in your area. Please send announcements of actions you are joining or organizing (with date, time and location) to ijan@ijsn.net so they can be announced on our web site. Also send reports of actions you participate in so this information can be shared with people around the world.

2. Donate money through the Middle East Children’s Alliance to pay for desperately needed medical supplies and their delivery. The current conditions in Gaza medical facilities are dire. The Middle East Children’s Alliance is working with health organizations in Gaza to procure the most-needed medicines and send them direct to Gaza with the help of the Free Gaza Movement.

3. Flood Israeli embassies and consulates with letters and calls decrying the attacks. Find contact info for Israeli embassies around the world.

4. Contact government officials and call on them to act by denouncing the attacks and demanding an immediate cease-fire.

5. Shift the framing of Israel’s actions in the media by phoning into a talk show or writing a letter to the editor.

6. Sign the petition in support of UN General Assembly President Father Miguel D’Escoto Brockmann who has spoken out to condemn Israeli “Apartheid” and call for boycott, divestment and sanctions.


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