For Immediate Release: January 12, 2010

 

Contact: Sarah Jaine Szekeresh

                sarahjaine.sz [at] gmail [dot] com
              

 

 

 

 

Despite being in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, Obama's government budgets billions for these wars as well as for Israeli apartheid in Palestine, and these requests are approved by a pliant Congress.  To fund these imperialist adventures, money for education, infrastructure, and healthcare are cut, to the detriment of working Americans and the environment.  We feel the end these disasters will have to come from outside the political establishment.   

Who: Campus Antiwar Network
What: National Conference: “It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over: Hope Only Goes So Far”
When: February 26 – February 28
                (call contact for more specifics)
Where: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Why: To build a grassroots student movement to fight imperialism and stand for human rights

 

Both Gaza Freedom March and Viva Palestina are having trouble entering Gaza. The news for the past few days has been that the boarder is completely closed due to security reasons. The government here also said that the Gaza Freedom March cannot go forward and delegates are not allowed to meet in groups larger than 6 people.
Despite that we are still organizing. Earlier this evening we received positive news.

Below is an excerpt from an email from one of the organizers:

Tonight, the Ma’am News Agency put out a release saying, “Despite earlier announcements that the crossing would be closed until January, Egyptian officials will open the Rafah crossing for four days next week, three for general traffic and a fourth for Egyptian citizens. Head of the Administration of crossings in the de facto government Ghazi Hamad announced Saturday that the crossings would be open starting Tuesday 29 December. On Friday Egyptian nationals only will be permitted to cross. Each day 10-12 buses loaded with 60-70 passengers each will leave Gaza” ... See More

The Foreign Ministry, however, has told us they knew nothing about this and that our situation, i.e. being denied entry, had not changed. For us, however, this represents a major change because it means there might be an opening since the government can no longer say that the border is too unsafe.

In light of this, we are re-adjusting plans to try to leave Cairo on the morning of December 28, as planned.

The people of Gaza are waiting for us. There are demonstrations planned in the West Bank, Israel proper, and all over the world, as well. On Dec 31st the international community will raise their voices in support of the Palestinian people and speak out against the murderous siege.

To my friends in NY: I cannot stress the importance of your help. The US government can and will apply pressure on both Egypt and Israel if there is enough support. At home, I urge everyone who supports the Palestinian cause to march with Al-Awda: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, on Sunday, December 27, 2009 from 1:00pm - 4:00pm at 50th & 5th Ave, Rockefeller Center.

I am asking you to show your support, not for the Gaza Freedom March, or for Viva Palestina, but for the Palestinians. Please help us to break the siege.
 

     This New Year, five members of Hunter College Campus Anti-war network will be traveling to the besieged Palestinian territory of Gaza to participate in the Gaza Freedom March, which is being organized by the International Coalition to End the Illegal Siege of Gaza.

      We will join over one thousand activists, hailing from many different nations, organizations, and political orientations, who share our outrage at the murderous siege enforced on the people of Gaza for the past two years and the complicity of the US government in the crimes of the Israeli state. Inside Gaza, we’ll march as one with over 50,000 local Palestinians, in coordination with solidarity rallies that will take place all over the world, including inside Israel proper.

      The siege has cast a dark shadow over every aspect of life inside of Gaza. Before it was implemented, the Gaza strip was receiving an average of 600 trucks of foreign aid per day to sustain an already precarious existence. That average has now dropped to approximately 100 trucks per day. In addition to that, the Palestinians living inside of Gaza are subjected to random aerial and artillery bombardment, IDF “incursions”, political assassinations, house demolitions, the destruction of olive groves and farms, and the illegal arrest and detention of innocent men, women, and children for indefinite periods of time without ever being charged with a crime.

     On December 27th 2009 Israel began a three week assault on the Gaza Strip, which resulted in the deaths of 1,400 people, 900 of whom were civilians. Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the Goldstone Report accused Israel of war crimes and, in one case, hinted at crimes against humanity. Israel currently refuses to allow in even the concrete and steel needed to rebuild the destroyed homes, factories and hospitals whose rubble still litters the streets of Gaza. Meanwhile, thousands of war wounded, denied entry into Israel for treatment, must take their chances in clinics whose few bandages and precious generator fuel must be smuggled into Gaza through tunnels.

     We and our fellow marchers are united by our refusal to stand idly aside while a society of 1.5 million people is brutalized and slandered. As students and people of conscience, we call on the Government of the United States to end military aid to Israel until the blockade is lifted. On December 29th, marking the first anniversary of Israeli assault, the Hunter Campus Antiwar network will raise our voices in solidarity with the imprisoned people of Gaza. Free Gaza! Free Palestine!

 

We will be blogging at: www.campusantiwar.net/hunter

For more information visit: www.gazafreedommarch.org