PLEASE FORWARD THIS ALERT TO OTHERS WHO MIGHT BE INTERESTED

Please contact your Congress members and/or Senators to urge them to use their
power to bring a stop to Israel's inhumane pressure on the civilians of Gaza.

GAZA UNDER EXTREME PRESSURE, SIEGE

We are sending you this alert to ask you to take action with regard to the
deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza. In recent weeks Israel has intensified
its ongoing punitive campaign and blockade against the population of Gaza by
cutting off fuel supplies, and by daily bombing of the territory, resulting in
the deaths of dozens of civilians. The cutoffs have created a dire situation,
with severe shortages of food, medicine, and other essentials. With Gaza's only
power plant in danger of being shut off, hospitals are working in the dark and
without crucial supplies, forced to decide whose life to save, and whose to
sacrifice. Israel's treatment of Gaza amounts to collective punishment on the
scale of a crime against humanity.

ACTION:

Contact your Congress member and Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, and
let them know that you deplore the current policy of Israel towards Gaza. Urge
them to draft a resolution censuring Israel's actions and calling on the
Israeli government to end all attacks on civilians and to lift the siege of
Gaza, allowing in all needed fuel, food, and medical provisions.

START DATE FOR ACTION:
Tuesday, January 22

TIME BY WHICH ACTION SHOULD BE TAKEN:
Monday, January 28

BACKGROUND:

Residents in Gaza are facing the closure of Gaza's only power plant as Israel
continues a shutdown of its border crossings. The plant shut down one of its
two turbines on Sunday because of a fuel shortage following Israel's sealing of
Gaza's borders and shutoff of fuel supplies.

In the past couple of months Israel has sealed its border with Gaza, blocking
all air, land, and sea entries. It has cut off the flow of almost all
supplies, including medications, in a bid to turn Gazans against Hamas.
Hundreds of seriously ill people face death due to the lack of medical
treatment and Israel’s refusal to let them travel to Egypt or Israel to
receive proper care. Even the importation of water filters, vital for purifying
the water drawn from Gazan wells, has been prevented.

Meanwhile, in just the past week over 40 people have been killed by Israeli
bombing raids, with dozens more wounded, including women and children. In that
time, Israel has launched daily operations against Gaza. In only one day last
week, nineteen people were killed. More than 120 people, most of them
civilians, have been killed in air strikes since Israelis and Palestinians
formally relaunched a peace process in late November.

The Israeli government has drastically reduced its supply of fuel and energy,
increasing the already desperate humanitarian crisis. Gaza now has only 35
percent of the power that its 1.5 million citizens need. With most areas
already suffering power cuts for up to eight hours a day, Gazans are now faced
with living entirely without electricity.

At the beginning of this week, a spokesperson for the International Committee
of the Red Cross said Gaza hospitals still had medications, "but it won't last
for more than two or three days." Now, Gazans must also contend with the
possibility of already scarce food supplies being cut off. The UN relief agency
UNRWA said that the agency could be forced to suspend food distribution to
860,000 people because of the shortage of fuel and plastic bags.

On Monday Israel agreed to allow diesel fuel and medicine into Gaza on a
one-time basis, momentarily easing the blockade. The shift came after the
Israeli prime minister had said Gaza's residents can "walk, without gas for
their cars." However, this token move will not appreciably resolve the crisis;
the Israeli government will do no more than the minimum, without significant
pressure from the United States.

RECOMMENDED ACTION

Please write letters to your Congress members and Senators Patty Murray and
Maria Cantwell, objecting to the Israeli bombardment and siege of Gaza, and to
Israel's policy of withholding fuel and goods needed for survival. Appeal to
your representatives to censure Israel for the cruelty and hopelessness that it
is wreaking upon the Gazan population. See talking points below.

The most effective ways to get in touch with Congress and Senators are listed
in order:
1. fax
2. telephone calls
3. e-mail letters

Contact information:

Phone numbers and e-mail addresses for your U.S. Senators:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Phone numbers and e-mail addresses for your Congress members:
http://clerk.house.gov/

E-mails to most Congress members must be sent via their web sites. To access
these sites, enter the URL supplied below into the address bar of your browser.

Senator Murray
Fax: (202) 224-0238
Phone: (202) 224-2621
E-mail: www.murray.senate.gov/email/index.cfm

Senator Cantwell
Fax: 202-228-0514
Telephone: 202-224-3441
Email: www.cantwell.senate.gov/contact/index.html

TALKING POINTS:

--Israel's siege against Gaza is resulting in life-threatening shortages of
food and medicine, as well as a cutoff in crucial power supplies. This is
unconscionable treatment of a civilian population.

--The United States, principle sponsor of Israeli policies, must not sit idly
as this humanitarian crisis unfolds.

-- The laws and conventions of warfare make a distinction between a civilian
population and armed forces -- a distinction which Israel is openly ignoring.
The collective punishment against the entire population of Gaza is a violation
of international law, amounting to a crime against humanity.

--Forcing the people of Gaza to die in darkened hospitals, to drink polluted
water because of lack of electricity to power water pumps, and to starve
slowly, will in no way help the people of Sderot, where Gazan fighters are
firing their small and ineffective rockets. Direct negotiations with Hamas must
be initiated.

Thank you for your urgent attention to this matter.

Note: Please e-mail us at alerts@... and let us know what
action you have taken. This enables us to measure the impact of our alerts.

*

Information for this alert has been taken from the following sources, which you
can consult as background material:

1. http://www.challenge-mag.com/en/article__196
"Economic Warfare in Gaza" by Yossi Wolfson
Challenge Magazine
Jan-Feb 2008

2. http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/880/re02.htm
"Green light for atrocities"
Saleh Al-Naami

3. http://endtheoccupation.org/article.php?id=1491
"Bush in Jerusalem: Rhetoric Trumps Substance"

4.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/ECA56EC5-ED9B-4878-B386-3C4A132940EE.htm
Sunday, January 20, 2008 11:08 Mecca Time, 8:08 Gmt
"Gazans facing power shutdown"

5. http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9242.shtml
"Role of the Media Where does it end?"
Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada
21 January 2008

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