Gaza Freedom March - Demand Accountability and an End to the Siege
December 8th, 2009
Almost
one year ago, Israel
unleashed “Operation Cast Lead” on the occupied Gaza Strip.Israel’s 22-day assault killed
about 1,400 Palestinians, injured thousands more, and destroyed billions of dollars
of Palestinian civilian infrastructure.
To this day, Israel
maintains a comprehensive siege of the Gaza Strip, an illegal act of
collective punishment targeting 1.5 million Palestinian civilians.The siege denies Palestinians adequate
access to food, clean water, sanitation, electricity, and even school books
and construction materials for rebuilding.
Unfortunately,
the United States is
complicit in Israel’s
human rights abuses of Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip.During “Operation Cast Lead,” Israel misused U.S. military aid to kill
and injure Palestinian civilians. Congress has approved another
$2.775 billion in military aid to Israel
for FY2010, in violation of the Arms Export Control Act.Last Month, the House of Representatives passed a resolution
condemning the Goldstone Report, thereby undermining international efforts
to hold Israel
accountable for the human rights abuses and war crimes it committed before,
during, and after “Operation Cast Lead.” And the Department of Energy just awarded a contract
to Motorola Israel, whose bomb fuzes enabled some of the bombs Israel
dropped on Palestinian civilians during “Operation Cast Lead.”
It’s our
responsibility to end U.S.
support for Israel’s
human rights abuses and war crimes against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza
Strip and elsewhere. Below are several ways to take action to end U.S.
support for the siege of the Gaza Strip.
At our
national conference in September, US Campaign member groups voted
overwhelmingly to endorse the Gaza Freedom March. Now it’s time to step up and
show our support with action.
The Gaza
Freedom March will bring over
1,000 international human rights activists to the Gaza
Strip to march side-by-side with Palestinians from the Rafah checkpoint in the
south to the Erez checkpoint in the north of the Gaza Strip.The
internationals participating in the Gaza Freedom March will convene in Cairo on December 27th,
the day that “Operation Cast Lead” began one year ago, cross into the Gaza
Strip on December 29th, and join with Palestinian activists to march
the length of the Gaza Strip on December 31st.
The Gaza
Freedom March will draw the attention of the whole world to Israel’s ongoing siege of and the
precarious humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.Even if you’re not able to participate in the
Gaza Freedom March, there are still things you can do in your community to
support its goals.
Plan an event in your area in solidarity
with the Gaza
Freedom March Gaza Freedom Marchers have put out a call for solidarity actions
between December 27th and January 1st.You can organize
a march in your community or another event, such as a vigil, film screening,
art exhibition, or teach-in, during these days of action.Click here for more action ideas or here
to register your event so others can find it.
While we expect that the Gaza Freedom March events will be powerful expressions
of our collective sorrow over last year’s attack on the Gaza Strip, we also
know that one day of action won’t end Israel’s
blockade or the U.S. support
for Israel’s
human rights abuses of Palestinians.There are many ways to link your Gaza Freedom March event to ongoing
actions to end the siege of the Gaza Strip and bring a just and peaceful resolution
to Israel’s
military occupation and apartheid practices against Palestinians.
Connect your event to an ongoing campaign
One way to link your event to the struggle to end U.S.
support for Israeli military occupation and apartheid in the Gaza Strip and the
rest of the OccupiedPalestinianTerritories
is to become a
Congressional District Coordinator (CDC) and invite participants in
your event to future lobby meetings with your Members of Congress.
Members of Congress are currently scheduled to adjourn for their winter recess
on December 18 and are expected to be in their home districts until January
11.During this winter recess, we are
asking our CDC’s to set up constituent meetings with their Members of Congress
to ask them to end U.S.
support for Israel’s
blockade of the occupied Gaza Strip.Click here
to register as a Congressional District Coordinator or here to coordinate one
round of meetings with your Members of Congress and we’ll help train and
support you in setting up a meeting with your Members of Congress during the
winter recess.
You can
also connect your event to an ongoing boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS)
campaign.While there are myriad
corporations that profit from Israel’s
occupation and apartheid practices and deserve to be boycotted and/or divested
from, we suggest you plug into an already active campaign that we are
organizing or supporting.Three popular
BDS campaigns are:
Hang
Up On Motorola: This campaign is working for accountability from Motorola,
which profits by providing communications equipment to the Israeli
military, “security” infrastructure to Israeli settlements, and products
and services that normalize Israel’s settlement system.Click here to
order a campaign kit to get your community involved in this boycott.
Stop
Caterkiller: This campaign is working to stop Caterpillar from profiting
from Israel’s
home demolitions and apartheid wall.Caterpillar’s equipment was even mentioned over 25 times in the
U.N. Goldstone Report on “Operation Cast Lead.” Join us in pressuring this
U.S. corporation to end
sales to Israel
of equipment that it systematically uses to deny Palestinians their human
rights.Click here to
order a campaign kit to educate and activate your community.
Stolen Beauty: This campaign is focused on Ahava cosmetics,
a corporation that is based in an Israeli settlement on Palestinian land
in the West Bank.Not only is Ahava headquartered in an
illegal settlement, it also literally sells stolen Palestinian resources
from the Dead Sea.Click here for campaign ideas and resources.
