<br>
<p class="MsoNormal">From: <span class="gd">Maria Hamlin Zuniga</span> <br>
Given some of the comments on the PHM statement why not remind people<br>
that our PHM Charter CLEARLY STATES our position on War, Conflict and<br>
OCCUPATION.<br>
Maria</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Xxxxxxxx</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">From: <a href="mailto:patmatem@yahoo.co.uk" target="_blank">patmatem@yahoo.co.uk</a><br>
Counting the number of dead once a conflict or war has started is like try to
pick water poured on desert sand! Yes, Isreal has a superior military might in
the middle east and has purportedly used it to defend its citizens that were
being threatened by incessant missiles from the Gaza strip but who would turn a blind eye to
such threats?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It is true that the issues of the Isreali-Palestinian
rivalry dates back farther than many of us care to think back but correcting
the situation does not lie in condemning and vilifying any one side. We must
get both sides to stop acts of terrorism and return to the dialogue table.<br>
Please let us call a spade a spade and if we have no solution to the rampaging
injustices, we should at least refrain from letting our emotions fuel a bad
situation further.<br>
<br>
Pat Matemilola<br>
<b>+++++++++++++++++++++<br>
From: </b>kathy sheetz <<a href="mailto:kathysheetz@hotmail.com" target="_blank">kathysheetz@hotmail.com</a>></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I am an American. After 911 I started to attend different
lectures to learn more about the mideast and the role of the US. At one
point I agreed to be a medical person for a group of international civilians
who decided to take a boat to Gaza to break what
they called the draconian siege of Gaza.
I went, not really knowing that much.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The time was Aug 2008. We did break the siege. The first
boats to enter Gaza
in 41 yrs from international waters. My life changed forever after that trip.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I find I can only tell people to go see for themselves. Not
easy to do. But the people guiding me have been courageous Jews from the US and Israel.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You can find the "other side" of the story in the US main stream
media. But here are two stories. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.75pt">I can only share what I know.
Especially in the US,
people simply "dont know", but there is an awakening. I can
only hope people find their own truth soon. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.75pt"><span style="font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Helvetica">Kathy</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++<br>
From: <a href="mailto:adufem2000@yahoo.com" target="_blank">adufem2000@yahoo.com</a><br>
Dear All, the exchange of brutality by both the Palestine & Israel should
stop to show respect for the sanctity of human life. Peace is a pre-requisite
for devt. I wish UN do something fast to save innocent souls.
<br>
Femi Tinuola PhD, Associate Professor of Sociology, Kogi State University,
Anyigba, Nigeria<br>
+++++++++++++++++++++++<br>
From: majdy ashour <<a href="mailto:majdyash@yahoo.com" target="_blank">majdyash@yahoo.com</a>><br>
What Israel is doing to Gaza is like burning your next door neighbour's house
down because he plays his music too loud. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Comparing killing civilians in Gaza with the psychological traumas caused by
Hamas rockets fired into Israeli cities, which were home to our parents and
grandparents before 1948, is simply meaningless. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.5pt;font-family:"Courier New"">Majdi Ashour</span><span style="font-size:12.5pt;font-family:"Courier New"">, MD</span><span style="font-size:12.5pt;font-family:"Courier New"">, MPH, PHM- Gaza </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">xxxx</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="go">From <a href="mailto:paul.hamel@utoronto.ca">paul.hamel@utoronto.ca</a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I don't want to crowd this list with a fight over "who
started what". One does need to be clear, however, that people in Gaza are trapped in what
I have seen is rightfully referred to as the world's largest open air prison.
Like the work we do in PHM, unless we address the roots of this so-called
conflict, that is the crushing oppression of all aspects of Palestinian life
and culture, both in Israel and in the Occupied Territories, and the
overwhelming military force rained upon a population without a military, then
the people who promote this wonton destruction of a people and defend it
through marketing the idea that they are the aggrieved party have truly
colonized our minds.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Paul</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Xxxxxxx</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">From: Edlira Xhafa <a href="mailto:edlira_xh@hotmail.com">edlira_xh@hotmail.com</a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Of course there is nothing new about media bias in reporting
Israel-Palestine conflict (see just the examples from BBC and CBC). <br>
Here is what Chomsky and others have clearly argued:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“The lack of widespread public outrage at these crimes is a
direct consequence of the systematic way in which the facts are withheld and/or
of the skewed way these crimes are portrayed. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We wish to express our outrage at the reprehensible media
coverage of these acts in the mainstream (corporate) media.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We call on journalists around the world working for
corporate media outlets to refuse to be instruments of this systematic policy
of disguise. We call on citizens to inform themselves through independent media,
and to voice their conscience by whichever means is accessible to them”. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Edlira</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Xxxxxx</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> From: <a href="mailto:pdvos@itg.be">pdvos@itg.be</a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Calibri;color:#1f497d">Only if we can agree that in a situation of more than 60 years
of aggressive state terrorism, colonization, organized impoverishment and
apartheid, can the question of “cause” <span style> </span>be analyzed in a comprehensive way.</span> <span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Calibri;color:#1f497d"><span style> </span><span style> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Calibri;color:#1f497d"><span style> </span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Calibri;color:#1f497d">Pol</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Calibri;color:#1f497d">Xxxxx</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Fom: <a href="mailto:sehar.sufi87@gmail.com">sehar.sufi87@gmail.com</a><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Calibri;color:#1f497d"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The offensive tactics of Israel go way further back than a
couple days ago. It goes back more than 40 years. See: <a href="http://bit.ly/S0tWsF" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/S0tWsF</a> ) It
is <b>so necessary to know the kind of mind-boggling crimes against
humanity Israel is committing with the FULL BACKING of the U.S.</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<br>