PHA-Exch> LIFT THE BLOCKADE ON GAZA!!

[Claudio Schuftan]

Press release, Jan. 21, 2008

* *

*LIFT  THE  BLOCKADE  ON  **GAZA**!!*



*Saturday 26.1.08:  A countrywide relief convoy and Israeli demonstration in
solidarity on the **Gaza** border with a parallel Palestinian demonstration
in the Strip.*



On Saturday, 26 January 2008, a humanitarian convoy of supplies headed by
peace and human rights organisations will go from Haifa, Tel Aviv,
Jerusalemand Beer Sheva to the Gaza Strip border, decked with signs
"Lift the
Blockade!"  The convoy will meet up at 12.00 noon at Yad Mordechai Junction
and all will then travel together to a hill which overlooks the Strip, where
a demonstration will take place at 13:00.  Speakers will be Shulamit Aloni,
Uri Avnery, Ronit Matalon, Hassan Jabareen and Prof. Jeff Halper.  There
will be a 'phone link between the Israeli demo and hundreds of Gazans on the
Gaza side in Gaza City at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, demonstrating as
part of the Palestinian-International Campaign to End the Siege," one of
whose spokesmen is psychiatrist and human rights activist, Dr. Eyad Sarraj.



The convoy will contain sacks of flour, food supplies and other essential
products, especially water filters.  Water supplies in Gaza are polluted,
with nitrates at a level ten times the maximum recommended by the World
Health Organisation.  Due to the Israeli blockade, Gaza has a critical
shortage of water filters, creating an intolerable violation of minimum
humanitarian standards.



Organisers of the convoy will be appealing to the army for immediate
permission for the goods to be allowed into the Strip, and are prepared for
an ongoing campaign next to the border crossings, together with a public and
judicial appeal; nearby kibbutzim, which are within the range of the Qassam
rockets and mortars, have offered their warehouses for storage of the
convoy's goods.



*Participating organisations:*

*Gush Shalom, Combatants for Peace, Coalition of Women for Peace, ICAHD –
The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, Bat Shalom, Bat Tzafon for
Peace and Equality, Balad, Hadash, Adalah, Tarabut-Hithabrut, Physicians for
Human Rights – Israel, AIC – The Alternative Information Center,
Psychoactive – Mental Health Workers for Human Rights, ActiveStills, The
Students Coalition (Tel Aviv University), New Profile, MachsomWatch, PCATI –
The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, Yesh Gvul, Gisha, Local
Television on the Internet.*



*Background:  *



Despite unilateral evacuation of 7,000 settlers, the Gaza Strip remains
Occupied Territory and the situation of its residents is increasingly
worsening.  *Israel continues to control its airspace, territorial waters,
population registry, tax system, supply of goods, freedom of movement and
access to healthcare.*  Entry and exit of people and goods is completely
controlled by Israel, and is currently under total closure, so that the
Strip has actually become the largest prison in the world.
We sympathize with Sderot's residents and others living near the border,
exposed to traumatising Qassam rockets, but siege and collective punishment
are no answer: although 1.5 million men, women and children are denied basic
necessities, driven to the edge of starvation, Israel is increasing the
daily death-toll among Palestinians,  many of them civilians – whilst the
rocket fire has increased. Few Israelis ask why several Palestinian
ceasefire offers have been rejected out of hand by the Israeli government.
*We'll go to the **Gaza** border, in co-operation with Palestinian partners
inside **Gaza**, to show there's an alternative to siege and rocketfire – an
alternative of peace.*
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