Madison Rafah Journal

On January 21, 2010 54 members of Congress sent a letter to President Obama calling for an end to the Gaza blockade by Israel and Egypt. You can thank Tammy Baldwin for signing this letter and supporting an end to the suffering in Gaza here.

Philip Weiss, Mondoweiss, February 4, 2010

Israel lobbyists are calling the 54 brave congresspeople who signed the letter to Obama against the Gaza blockade "the gang of 54," and trying to light a fire under em. One of them has cold feet. From Arutz Sheva wire:

At least one of the signatories to the letter, U.S. Representative Yvette Clarke (D-NY), has apparently withdrawn her signature, change her political attitude when the issue hit a little closer to home. A long-standing representative of the Brooklyn community of Crown Heights, Clarke recently joined a photo-op snapped with Brooklyn Jewish community leaders who had gathered donations for the earthquake-stricken people of Haiti. 

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Mr. Bill Corcoran, President
American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA)
Tuesday, 9 February 2010, 12:30 – 2:00 p.m.
The Palestine Center
Washington, DC

RSVP here, or watch the webcast live at 1 PM.

A year after the bombs stopped falling on Gaza, full recovery remains elusive. Survival is a daily challenge. ANERA president Bill Corcoran has traveled to Gaza regularly during the past year to assess the damage and the effectiveness of humanitarian assistance. He will talk about current conditions and challenges for helping Gazans rebuild their lives.

Mr. Bill Corcoran has been president of ANERA since 2007. Before joining ANERA, he was Vice President of the Christian Children's Fund, a $300 million nonprofit serving children and their families in 32 countries. During the 1990's, Mr. Corcoran directed the Pontifical Mission for Palestine based in Jordan with projects there and in Iraq. He also supervised various projects in Lebanon and Syria.

Gush Shalom, Haaretz, Jan 15, 2010

Mike Murray, The Capital Times, January 8, 2010

Dec. 27 marked the one-year anniversary of Israel’s brutal invasion of the occupied Gaza Strip, which was commonly referred to as “Operation Cast Lead.”

During this three-week act of aggression, Israel killed more than 1,400 Palestinians, injured thousands more, and destroyed billions of dollars of Palestinian civilian infrastructure. Today, Israel continues to subject the 1.5 million Palestinian inhabitants of the Gaza Strip to a dehumanizing blockade — an illegal act of collective punishment — that denies Palestinians adequate access to food, clean water, sanitation, electricity, and even school books and construction materials for rebuilding.

While most governments around the world have maintained an official silence about the siege of Gaza, activists worldwide are beginning to speak out against Israel’s illegal actions. Recently, a worldwide coalition of activists organized solidarity marches around the world — including Egypt and Gaza — to protest the siege.

Back in the United States, Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, has begun to demonstrate an admirable proclivity for compassion, courage and rationality in regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in an institution where all three of these characteristics are sorely lacking on this issue: Congress. Many progressive and independent-minded members of Congress are beginning to tire of their colleagues’ unthinking support of Israel and are showing a willingness to challenge both Israel’s actions toward the Palestinians and our government’s unconditional support for Israel.

Recent events in Congress have revealed that many members — including Baldwin — are no longer willing to march in lockstep behind Israel. The most striking example was the House’s reaction to the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, known as the Goldstone Report. The Goldstone Report was issued by the U.N. and was written by a group headed by imminent international human rights jurist Richard Goldstone. The report detailed human rights violations that were committed both by Israeli invasion forces against Palestinian civilians and by Hamas fighters during the Gaza conflict.

Not surprisingly, the House overwhelmingly passed House Resolution 867, which condemned the report as “biased” against Israel. Most members of Congress voted for H.R. 867 without ever reading the Goldstone Report.

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Friends Committee on National Legislation, January 7, 2010

One year after the Gaza war's end, the ongoing Israeli blockade prevents Gazan parents from keeping their children warm and well-fed. It fuels violent extremism, too. Who would know? No one talks about this humanitarian crisis.

The administration and Congress should take steps now to help end civilian suffering. In order to rebuild, the people of Gaza need shipments of constructions supplies and medical equipment that can't make it through the blockade.

Rep. Jim McDermott (WA) and Keith Ellison (MN) have persuaded 28 members of Congress to join them in a letter urging President Barack Obama to advocate immediate, specific measures to lift the severe restrictions on the movement of goods and people in and out of Gaza. Please ask your representative to sign this letter.

The members of Congress write

We recognize that the Israeli government has imposed restrictions on Gaza out of a legitimate and keenly felt fear of continued terrorist action by Hamas and other militant groups. This concern must be addressed without resulting in the de facto collective punishment of the Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip.

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The Survivors Speak to You

Al Mezan Center For Human Rights, Dec 2009 – Jan 2010

Al Mezan Center for Human Rights is releasing 23 personal testimonies which examine how, a full year after Operation Cast Lead, the survivors of this brutal offensive are coping with their loss, trauma and disabilities. One testimony will be released on each day of the Operation Cast Lead commemoration, 27 December 2009 to 18 January 2010.

"As a human rights organisation working here on the ground, we are forced to focus our energies on investigating and documenting the serious human rights violations perpetrated daily in the Gaza Strip,” says Issam Younis, Al Mezan’s director.

“As a result, we are sometimes unable to find the time to remind people why upholding human rights is so important. The pain, anguish and misery of the survivors persist for years or even decades after the bombs have fallen. Through releasing this series of personal testimonies we hope to show the world that life in Gaza is not back to normal; for many, it will never be back to normal.”

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Palestinian girls in Rafah after Israel's 22-day offensive, July 2009. (AFP/File/Said Khatib)

Agence France Presse, Dec 23, 2009

GENEVA – A UN human rights expert on Wednesday condemned a "tragic failure" by major powers to end Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip or probe alleged war crimes committed during a military offensive one year ago.

The UN Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Richard Falk, urged Israel's European and North American allies to press for the immediate end of the blockade "backed up by a credible threat of economic sanctions."

"There is no evidence of meaningful international pressure being brought to bear to end the blockade or to ensure that Israeli and Hamas officials are held accountable for alleged war crimes perpetrated during the Gaza attacks," he said in a statement.

"This represents both a tragic failure of responsibility by the powerful governments of the world and of the UN," he added.

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