Justice and peace for Gaza and Palestine! End the occupation and slaughter!

The letter below is written from Ramallah, the capitol of the West Bank where I lived for 3 months. Please read this and ck out the doc.’s below.

The death toll has risen to over 300 & almost 1,000 injured from Israeli air attacks on Gaza since this letter was written. Join us in public protest or organize one in your city. Add your city to the many who are crying out…..enough! Justice and peace for Gaza and Palestine! End the occupation and slaughter!

Wth a heavy heart, but with fire of love to move!
Mary Anne Grady Flores

Date: Sun, 28 Dec 2008 16:17:03 -0500

Dear all,

I am writing to you from Ramallah … not so far away from Gaza, where almost 300 Palestinians were killed by Israeli raids in less than 48 hours. The mood is quite tense around here, there were few clashes around Ramallah today and yesterday, mainly around Qalandia, Balou’a, and Jalazoun camp; however the situation in the West Bank remains quiet mild when compared to the catastrophic situation in Gaza.

What happens in Gaza today is just another episode in Israel’s series of ethnic cleansing activities in Palestine, a series that started more than 60 years ago (for more on this, read Ilan Pappe’s “The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine”). It is also a continuation of Israel’s policy of collective punishment of Palestinians in Gaza, which has been ongoing for the past two years.

Most people seem to be shocked at the current escalation of hostility and aggression, but the fact is that Gaza has been living in misery for the past few months. I am attaching here a document prepared and released by OCHA oPt (UN Office of Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs in the occupied Palestinian Territories); the report summarizes the impact of the blockade imposed by Israel on Gaza since July 2007: lack of electricity, shortage in water supply, soaring unemployment and poverty rates, rising food insecurity, paralyzed health services … etc.

Of course, Israel hastened to claim self-defense to justify its bloody attack on Gaza. Its Minister of Foreign Affairs Tsipi Livni, said yesterday that Israel is doing this to protect its citizens from rockets fired by Hamas into Gaza. Livni failed to mention that the rockets launching is a desperate act committed by desperate people living under siege in desperate conditions, with no hope what so ever of a better future, and that the damage caused by those rockets is mostly insignificant compared to the disproportionate use of force from Israel’s side.

The second document I am attaching includes comprehensive tables, detailing the number of people killed from both sides due to direct conflict. Again, the figures speak for themselves: since 2005, the total number of Israelis killed in direct conflict with Palestinians is 116 including 11 children. On the other hand 1735 Palestinians including 302 children were killed in direct conflict with Israel.

My question is: if Hamas is a terrorist organization because it caused the death of 116 Israelis including 11 children, then doesn’t the killing of 1735 Palestinians including 302 children make Israel terrorist as well? (This is not to mention other occupation crimes committed by Israel of course!) Also, if (and that’s a huge if) one day Hamas acquired F16 jet fighters and bombed the hell out of Israel to protect Palestinian citizens, how would the world react? I wonder …

My last question: Does Israeli blood count more than Palestinian blood? Are Palestinians considered inferior? Is the world that racist after all?

Hisham Elsalfiti,
Occupied Ramallah

–Mary Anne Grady Flores
514 N. Plain St., Ithaca, NY 14850
1-607-273-7437/ 1-607-280-8797
Ithaca Catholic Workers