Issues

Palestine

Updates on the Issues: Gaza's Human Factor

By AAI
Posted on Thursday February 5, 2009

The Human Need
While world tries to find a path to peace, it would do well to understand that the path to peace begins with Healing Gaza’s Wounds. As Dr. James Zogby put it in this week’s Washington Watch:

Societies are like human organisms: when part of the body is traumatized, the pain radiates throughout, affecting all its parts. Not only Palestinians in Gaza but, worldwide, and to a remarkable degree Arabs, in general, were affected by the shock of this war. That is so, because Palestine and the dispossession of its people has long been an open wound among Arabs, reminding them of their loss of control of their history, their vulnerability, and their inability to secure legitimate rights in the face of Western betrayal. So it is that the pain in Gaza has taken a toll, which will not only last for generations there, but has also radiated outward.

To read the full article click here.

Diplomacy of a new kind…

On January 28th we asked you to be part of a growing chorus. Retired US Army Colonel William Bache join us when he made the observation that “[n]othing would telegraph the message that “America is back” in the Middle East with a balanced, smart-power policy better than for US President Barack Obama to immediately send a US Naval hospital ship to Gaza.” Click here to read the article.
http://www.commongroundnews.org/article.php?id=24775&lan=en&sid=1&sp=0&isNew=1

ACTION ITEM:

•Ask President Obama to send hospital ships USNS Comfort and USNS Mercy to Gaza. Click here for more information.

Experts agree…
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed the same sentiment last Thursday at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. Reuters reports that the Secretary-General “launched a humanitarian appeal for the people of Gaza in the aftermath of Israel’s military offensive” from the forum.

The Egyptian foreign ministry announced that it will host an international conference on March 2 to raise funds to rebuild the Gaza Strip. Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said in Agence France Presse, “This meeting will focus on what needs to be done in the Gaza Strip as well as the means to secure necessary funds for the reconstruction.”

Only a few hours after Al Arabiya broadcast President Obama’s first interview in office, special envoy Senator George Mitchell began his tour of the region, another indication of the vigor with which the new administration will pursue peace. Click here to view Mitchell’s press conference in Cairo.

As part of a growing chorus, retired US Army Colonel William Bache made the observation that “[n]othing would telegraph the message that “America is back” in the Middle East with a balanced, smart-power policy better than for US President Barack Obama to immediately send a US Naval hospital ship to Gaza.” Click here to read the article.

ACTION ITEM:


  • Ask President Obama to send hospital ships USNS Comfort and USNS Mercy to Gaza. Click here for more information.

So what is our congress doing? Let us count the ways…

1. On January 7, Congressman Kucinich sent a letter to Secretary of State Dr. Condoleezza Rice requesting she look into violations of the Arms Export Control Act of 1976 (AECA). In his statement from the floor of the House he said, “The children of Palestinians and the children of Israel both deserve life. But the lives of the children of Gaza are cynically discounted as “human shields”. Massacres are being rationalized. Israel’s ‘moral high ground’ in Gaza, a growing pile of small bones in a graveyard.”

A week later the Congressman introduced a resolution ”[e]xpressing the sense of the House of Representatives concerning the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.”

ACTION ITEM:


  • Thank Congressman Kucinich (D-OH) for his continued support and courage on this issue, and thank and the 10 other members of Congress for co-sponsoring the bill. Click here for more information on how to thank him today.


2. On January 9, Congresswoman Capps sent a letter to then-President Bush urging him to resolve the humanitarian tragedy unfolding in Gaza.
”[T]the violence that now permeates Gaza only puts off the serious and difficult work of diplomacy that is a predicate to peace. And in the meantime, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has grown to unspeakable proportions, and millions of innocent Palestinians and Israelis are suffering.”

ACTION ITEM:


  • To thank Congresswoman Capps for her letter to President Bush click here.


3. On January 28, 2009 Congresswoman Capps and 63 other member of Congress co-signed Congressman John Olver’s letter to the new Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, calling attention to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The letter addresses the need to open the borders, and allow more than the current trickle of aid, “limited to food and medicine”, and noted that supplies are needed to rebuild the infrastructure that disintegrated during the ground invasion:

We also remain especially concerned about the desperate condition of medical services in Gaza. Although Israel has begun to allow limited medical supplies into Gaza, the need far outweighs the availability while hospitals remain understaffed and ill-supplied. One of the most crucial steps that needs to be taken is for Israel to allow critically ill patients to be transported out of Gaza and into Israel, the West Bank and Jordan, where they may receive necessary medical care. We therefore urge you to express this concern directly to Israeli government officials..

ACTION ITEM:


  • To see if your congressman signed the letter and thank them click here.

4. On the same day, Senator Patrick Leahy, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary committee, gave a floor statement, recounting the heart-breaking story of the Shurrab family in Gaza. Muhammed Shurrab and his two sons were shot returning from their farm during the “three hour humanitarian cease-fire”, and left for dead by Israeli soldiers. Senator Leahy noted that “the Israeli Army was preventing an ambulance from reaching them.” He went on to say:

This case cries out for an immediate, thorough, credible and transparent investigation by the Israeli Government. Any individuals determined to have violated the laws of war should be prosecuted and appropriately punished. In addition, it is important that the U.S. Embassy determine whether any Israeli soldiers who were equipped by the U.S. violated U.S. laws or agreements governing the use of U.S. equipment, both in relation to this incident and others involving civilian casualties. This should include the use of white phosphorous in heavily populated areas, which is alleged to have caused serious injuries to civilians.

To read Senator Leahy’s full statement, please click here.

(Remember, AAI’s website helps you to easily communicate with your members of Congress… click here to get started)

There is more happening on the Hill – stay tuned.

A final word, not from the Hill, but from the heart…

A few weeks ago we asked you to send a message to the children of Gaza to let them know that the world cares. ANERA received over 600 messages from across the globe. Genia from the USA wrote:

“Dear Children, I have never met you but I love each of you as I love my own child. I wish I could give you all a great big hug, and bring you to my house, in a quiet place where nobody is fighting and there are no bombs going off ever. I hope the leaders of this world will consider you while they are trying to arrange for peace, for you children are the only ones who can bring peace to the world. Remember children, peace works. It worked for Ghandi and for Martin Luther King. Fighting and killing just bring more destruction. It is harder to work for peace, but it is worth while. God Bless you and your families!”

The messages have been translated and complied into a booklet called “Marhaba ya hilween!” which means “hello my lovelies”, and these booklets will be distributed to ANERA staff and partners to share with the children of Gaza.

Gaza still needs our help. ANERA President Bill Corcoran is leaving shortly to deliver the messages to the children of Gaza, personally assess the damage, and plan how to best rebuild the clinics, hospitals and preschools that have been destroyed. If you would like to help, please visit the ANERA website: http://www.anera.org/