Thursday, April 13, 2006

ACTION ALERT: Stop the bombing of Gaza! Prevent a humanitarian crisis!

Eight days and thousands of shells later, the assault on Gaza continues. Israel has vowed that it will continue to intensify the attack. Eighteen people are dead, including at least two children, and many more are injured.

Amnesty International is "calling on the Israeli army to end immediately its air bombardments and shelling of civilian residential areas in the Gaza Strip." Amnesty says, "Israeli forces...must put an immediate end to the frequent, disproportionate and excessive use of force against Palestinians. Such attacks continue to cause death and injury to Palestinian children and other bystanders, and constitute violations of international law."

John Ging, Director of UNRWA Operations in Gaza, stated that "from a humanitarian perspective the outlook here in Gaza is bleak at the moment. We are once again facing imminent food shortages, insecurity is making delivery of humanitarian services difficult and we are very concerned about the public health risks from the outbreak of avian influenza. All of this is likely to add up to more refugees falling below the poverty line and becoming dependent on humanitarian assistance."

Please help stop these atrocities:
  1. Contact your local representatives and demand they raise the issue of the bombardment of Gaza and the closure of the Karni checkpoint (see information below);

  2. Contact your Ministry of Foreign Affairs and demand they put pressure on Israel to stop the bombardment of Gaza and open the Karni checkpoint (see information below);

  3. Hold a protest, vigil, or rally in front of your Israeli embassy or consulate and demand that Israel stops bombarding Gaza and opens the Karni checkpoint. To find the address of the Embassy or one of the Consulates, go to (www.embassiesabroad.com/embassies-of/Israel.cfm#171)


UK
Contact MPs
politics.guardian.co.uk/aristotle/

Fax your MP direct from this site
www.faxyourmp.com/

USA
Contact local representative
www.house.gov/writerep/

Contact your Senators
www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

US (Department of State)
www.state.gov/

Websites for Ministries of Foreign Affairs
For all countries see www.usip.org/library/formin.html

Australia
www.dfat.gov.au/contacts.html

Denmark
www.um.dk/en/servicemenu/Contact/?wbc_purpose=basi

France
www.diplomatie.gouv.fr

Greece
www2.mfa.gr/www.mfa.gr/en-US

Germany
www.auswaertiges-amt.de/www/en/index_html

Japan
www.mofa.go.jp/feedback/index.html

Spain
www.mae.es/en/Home/