[van-announce] Mon: Protest Israeli War Crimes (vancouver)

[Harsha]

* 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 Palestinian solidarity groups, including Al Awda
Vancouver and Boycott Israeli Apartheid Campaign. For more information
email vancouver.gazaprotest at gmail.com or call 604 716 8925 or

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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 hands 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.

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.


[ My friends are always preparing a farewell feast for me/ A soothing
grave in the shade of oak trees / A marble epitaph of time / And always I
anticipate them at the funeral / Who then has died...who? - Under Siege by
Mahmoud Darwish ]


* 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:

Provided by TAKAFUL, a direct refugee support organization. Financially
support affected families in Gaza via www.refugeesupport.org

The suffering that the Gazans have endured in the past two years as a
collective punishment with the silence of Arab Regimes and limited
solidarity work gave Israel the upper hand in the starvation of people,
and today, mass massacre of over 200 people in hours. Israel is currently
testing it's status with the U.S. new upcoming administration, as well as,
exploiting the holiday times when many parts of the world are busy with
holiday celebrations. The victims that fell today are a direct result to
our silence. TAKAFUL project reported last month on the deterioration in
Gaza Strip is as follows:

- 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, TAKAFUL
organizations on the ground are working on alternative plans to secure
cash flow to the families as planned even if the fees are higher.

- 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.