[mobglob-discuss] Mon: Protest Israeli War Crimes (vancouver)

[Harsha Walia]

* please forward widely *

PROTEST ISRAELI WAR CRIMES

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Mon Dec 29 @ Noon
US Consulate (1075 West Pender)
Gather on HASTINGS side (corner Thurlow)
(Burrard Skytrain Station)

Organized by various Palestine solidarity groups.
For more information email vancouver.gazaprotest at gmail.com

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Please come out rain, snow or shine to demonstrate your outrage and our
collective humanity in response to the latest massacre of Palestinians.

At least 200 Palestinians have been killed and over 800 injured in the
latest Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip, while the threat for further
bloodshed still hangs heavily as air strikes continue. This is the single
largest massacre in Gaza since Israel illegally occupied Gaza in 1967,
many among the dead are civilians and the numbers keeps mounting.

Israel’s latest massacre in Gaza occurs with official US and Canadian
complicity towards Israel’s illegal siege and ongoing sanctions over the
civilian population in Gaza. Over the past two years the Gaza Strip has
been undergoing the daily violence of a wide-ranging humanitarian
catastrophe triggered by severely reduced access to energy, food, and
medicines. In effect, Gaza is the world’s largest open air prison.

The suffering and collective punishment that the Gazans have endured in
the past two years are due, in part, to the silence of Arab regimes and
the limits of our solidarity. This has given Israel the brazen ability to
starve people, and today, to mass massacre people in hours. Israel is
currently testing its status with the new U.S. administration, as well as,
exploiting a time of year when many parts of the world are busy with
holiday celebrations. The victims that fell today deserve more than our
silence or our complicity.

Demonstrations are planned all over the world in the next few days
including in the Canadian cities of Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa.  Join
us in Vancouver as people of conscience to stand in solidarity with the
Palestinian people of Gaza and to demand an end to the siege of Gaza and
Israeli apartheid.

* Endorsed by:
Adala - Arab Justice Committee
Al-Awda - Vancouver
Boycott Israeli Apartheid Campaign
Canadian Arab Federation - National
Canada Palestine Association - Vancouver
Canadians Against War
No One Is Illegal-Vancouver
Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights - University of British Columbia
StopWar Coalition.
Vancouver Socialist Forum
Voice of Palestine - Vancouver

* Gaza massacres must spur us to action by Ali Abunimah, The Electronic
Intifada, 27 December 2008
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10055.shtml

* Live from Palestine: The rains of death in Gaza
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10058.shtml

* Background on Siege of Gaza:

- Bread Crisis: The lack of propane gas (cooking gas), has caused the 
closure of over 70% of the bread bakeries in Gaza. People stand in lines 
for over 4 hours per day to receive minimal bread rations, which often are
insufficient for the family. Very limited quantities of corn and barley
flour are usually mixed with a variety of grains used for animal feed to
make bread, which is nearly inedible.

- Fuel Crisis: A new phenomenon of home fires is causing tremendous
damage, due to lack of information about alternative fuels such as dirty
propane, kerosene and candles, the only source of fuel or lighting
available. Propane (cooking) gas is mixed with other types of fuel,
causing hazardous and harmful fumes, and causing suffocation without
sufficient ventilation. An alternative has been the kerosene-based heat, a
method that has not been used since the 1920s that can only be used for
making tea and coffee, but not for cooking meals. Candles have also been
used quite often as an alternative to electricity.

- Lack of Cash in banks: The banks closed their doors two days before
Eid Al-Adha holiday, due to lack of cash in the bank to pay salaries for
over 150,000 employees. The banks have promised to open their doors once
Israel allows the cash to come in. If the situation continues.

- Pilgrims' Crisis: Since 1948, no one has been prevented from going to
the holy pilgrimage in Mecca, however, this year, many pilgrims from the
Gaza Strip were stopped and deprived from the right to pilgrimage, and the
Egyptian government was clearly pressured to prevent the pilgrims from
crossing the borders.

- Hospitals Crisis: The electricity generator at Shifa hospital, a major
hospital in the heart of Gaza Strip serving over 500 new patients per day,
has broken, risking the lives of many of their patients.

- Blockade on Livestock -- Qurbani: During the Eid al-Adha holiday, it is
a custom to eat meat, and for people to donate 1/3 of their livestock to
the poor. The Israeli blockade has prevented the entry of livestock into
Gaza Strip which meant that Qurbani meat is not available for families
this year.