Hi,
I've just signed this emergency petition calling for an immediate
ceasefire in Gaza, you might want to do the same. Already over 600 people
have been killed and the death toll is climbing daily. Read the email
below to learn more...
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Dear friends,
The bloodshed in Gaza is escalating - - the death toll now stands at over
600 people and rising, almost half of them civilians and over 100 children
dead.[1] As Israeli tanks, airplanes and artillery bombard targets in
thickly populated urban areas, thousands more have been injured and 1.5
million terrified civilians have no escape from this prison -like enclave
- - the borders have been sealed. Hamas continues to fight and fire
rockets deep into Israel, killing 5 Israeli civilians.
Our worldwide call for an internationally -guaranteed ceasefire to protect
civilians on all sides has begun to ring out loud and clear, winning the
support of leaders in Europe, the Middle East and beyond: hopeful outlines
of a deal are emerging.[2] But Israel is rejecting a truce for now and
escalating its offensive, while US President Bush is opposing a fair UN
ceasefire, trying instead to impose a skewed alternative that could
legitimize Israel's suffocating isolation of Gaza.[3]
Enough is enough: these civilian deaths can't go on, and we can't let Bush
and co block a fair, negotiated ceasefire. 250,000 of us have signed the
ceasefire petition, let's make it half a million - - we'll publish it in
a hard -hitting ad in the Washington Post and deliver it in meetings with
UN Security Council members - - follow the link below to see the ad, sign
the petition, and forward this message to all your friends and family:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/gaza_time_for_peace/98.php?cl_tf_sign=1
Our efforts really can make a difference - - Israel's own foreign
minister admits that international pressure, if intense enough, could
ensure a ceasefire. As the international community debates and delays,
civilians are dying by the day. The top UN official in Gaza says, "There's
nowhere safe in Gaza. Everyone here is terrorized and traumatized."
Opposing a United Nations resolution, Bush reportedly proposes to exclude
Hamas from any ceasefire deal and leave Israel a free hand, something that
would guarantee that the violence continues. That's why we're targeting
incoming President Obama and US decision -makers, as well as the European
Union and other international leaders, to pursue a fair and stable
resolution.
To be lasting, a ceasefire must protect civilians and end all attacks - -
Israeli bombings and incursions as well as the rockets Palestinian
factions fire into southern Israel. International supervision is
desperately needed at the borders, to reopen Gaza's borders and crossings
for food, fuel, medicine and goods, to prevent weapon -smuggling which has
only grown under the blockade, and to monitor and enforce the ceasefire on
both sides.[4]
Hamas, which won elections in 2006 and now runs Gaza, suggests it will
agree to such a ceasefire.[5] It should be challenged to live up to its
word just like Israel. There is no military solution for either side - -
it's time for world powers to step in, advancing a fair deal to protect
civilians on all sides and let them live their lives in peace and
security. Sign the petition now at the link below and send this message to
everyone you know - - we'll publish it in The Washington Post and
elsewhere, and seek face -to -face meetings to deliver the petition with
the Obama team, the UN Security Council and European leaders:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/gaza_time_for_peace/98.php?cl_tf_sign=1
With hope and determination,
Paul, Graziela, Ricken, Luis, Alice, Brett, Ben, Iain, Paula, Veronique,
Milena and the whole Avaaz team
P.S. We wrote to European, US and Arab leaders last week about our
campaign, and received several responses - - now we need to escalate the
pressure. For a report on many of Avaaz's other campaigns so far, see:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/report_back_2
Sources:
1. Associated Press: "Israel Shells Near UN School, killing at least 30"
)5 January 2009(
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ioi_0jtO9RjMwPNRoXNCndRPRq3gD95HTJE00
2. "Gaza: outlines of an endgame", Ghassan Khatib )6 January 2009(
http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/gaza -outlines -of -an -endgame
Al -Jazeera: "Arab ministers hold UN ceasefire talks" )6 January 2009(:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/01/20091522052418539.html
Associated Press: "Diplomats seek truce as civilian toll rises" )5 January
2009(:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ioi_0jtO9RjMwPNRoXNCndRPRq3gD95HCD4G3
3. Israel Today: "Israel rejects European, UN efforts for immediate
ceasefire" )5 January 2009(:
http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=17938
Yediot Aharonot: "Israel examining international treaty to isolate Hamas"
)5 January 2009(
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L -3650522,00.html
4. These parameters are advocated by a broad range of experts and
policymakers. See for example International Crisis Group's Ending the War
in Gaza report )5 January 2009(:
http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=5838&l=1
5. Reuters: "Hamas seeks truce but says lifting siege a must" )5 January
2009(
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L5111105.htm
Strikingly, the US Army War College has just released a substantial report
supporting the view that Hamas can and must be brought into negotiations
and is capable of sustaining a long -term truce, or even peace with
Israel. Linked via:
http://ricks.foreignpolicy.com/node/10703
The inside story of the civil strife between Fatah and Hamas and the Bush
administration's involvement in this debacle is best -told in The Gaza
Bombshell, an investigative article published in the leading US magazine
Vanity Fair in April 2008:
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/04/gaza200804
This news item from November 2008 provides more background to the story of
how the Israel -Hamas truce collapsed:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/05/israelandthepalestinians
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messages without your consent--although your friends could, of course,
send you another message.
midrange.com
