Please call your political representatives about Gaza
Even according to non-Palestinian reports, the Israeli military has been committing atrocities in Gaza. Accounts coming out of the area are extremely grim. They have bombed UN-owned and -controlled schools, many Red Crescent (same as Red Cross) ambulances, UN aid convoys (leading the UN to suspend convoys), and attacked a house full of civilians that the Israeli military placed in the house the day before.
If you haven't already, please consider contacting your representatives and asking him/her to put pressure on Israel to:
• Congress should be calling for an immediate, unconditional, comprehensive ceasefire. Israel has killed more than an estimated 700 Palestinians and injured more than 3,000 since December 27. Resolutions that condition a ceasefire will only lead to more needless death and destruction, and biased resolutions that enable Israel to continue killing and injuring Palestinians are unacceptable. We are also critical of Hamas for launching rockets aimed at and killing civilians in Israel.
• Congress should be calling for unrestricted access for humanitarian aid. Israel is allowing through only a trickle of humanitarian aid into Gaza. As the Occupying Power of the Gaza Strip, Israel is legally obligated by the 4th Geneva Convention to ensure that Palestinians receive adequate supplies of food, medical supplies, and other necessities of life. Israel's siege on the Gaza Strip imposes an illegal collective punishment on 1.5 million civilians by denying them access to these vital supplies in violation of international law. Israel must lift its siege of the Gaza Strip to comply with its Geneva Convention obligations and humanitarian aid deliveries must be allowed to enter without restrictions.
• Israel is misusing U.S. weapons to attack a civilian population. Instead of placing blame for Israel's war on and siege of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on the victims, Members of Congress should join with Rep. Dennis Kucinich in demanding from the Secretary of State an investigation into Israel's violations of the Arms Export Control Act. Members of Congress must hold Israel accountable for its misuse of U.S. weapons to kill Palestinian civilians in violation of U.S. and international law, not vote for resolutions which justify these illegal killings.
(talking points are from United for Peace and Justice)
If you haven't already, please consider contacting your representatives and asking him/her to put pressure on Israel to:
• Congress should be calling for an immediate, unconditional, comprehensive ceasefire. Israel has killed more than an estimated 700 Palestinians and injured more than 3,000 since December 27. Resolutions that condition a ceasefire will only lead to more needless death and destruction, and biased resolutions that enable Israel to continue killing and injuring Palestinians are unacceptable. We are also critical of Hamas for launching rockets aimed at and killing civilians in Israel.
• Congress should be calling for unrestricted access for humanitarian aid. Israel is allowing through only a trickle of humanitarian aid into Gaza. As the Occupying Power of the Gaza Strip, Israel is legally obligated by the 4th Geneva Convention to ensure that Palestinians receive adequate supplies of food, medical supplies, and other necessities of life. Israel's siege on the Gaza Strip imposes an illegal collective punishment on 1.5 million civilians by denying them access to these vital supplies in violation of international law. Israel must lift its siege of the Gaza Strip to comply with its Geneva Convention obligations and humanitarian aid deliveries must be allowed to enter without restrictions.
• Israel is misusing U.S. weapons to attack a civilian population. Instead of placing blame for Israel's war on and siege of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on the victims, Members of Congress should join with Rep. Dennis Kucinich in demanding from the Secretary of State an investigation into Israel's violations of the Arms Export Control Act. Members of Congress must hold Israel accountable for its misuse of U.S. weapons to kill Palestinian civilians in violation of U.S. and international law, not vote for resolutions which justify these illegal killings.
(talking points are from United for Peace and Justice)