People of Faith CT

End all U.S. aid to Israel!

No U.S. Support to the Israeli Bombing of Gaza!

End the Blockade of Gaza!

Bring the Troops Home Now from Iraq and Afghanistan!

A Statement of the National Assembly to
End the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars & Occupations

As of Dec. 31, the Israeli bombing of Gaza has killed over 400 Palestinians – the largest number of people killed by Israel in such a short time in decades. 1,400 more have been wounded, most all civilians – women, children and the elderly. The massing of soldiers and tanks along the Gaza border suggests that additional horrors are contemplated.

The ruination of Gaza has been long in the making. Over 75% of Gaza’s inhabitants are refugees from land that became Israel. They have been denied the internationally recognized right to return to their homes and are now denied the elementary right to flee relentless bombing and a threatened invasion. These are the families who had developed the agriculture and economy of Palestine under the rule of foreign empires for generations. Ripped from their land, they were crowded into what is now the most densely populated 360 square kilometers in the world.

Their homes have been bulldozed, their crops and livelihoods destroyed, food and fuel severely restricted, their borders closed, their water pilfered by settlers, their fishing restricted.

In 2006, the Palestinians of Gaza conducted a democratic election and chose Hamas as the governing party. They have desperately reached out to obtain basic food, medical supplies and the essentials for survival that have been denied them. It is for these “crimes” that the Palestinians of Gaza are being punished – for choosing their own leaders, seeking freedom, and refusing to be driven from their homeland.

The people of Gaza have seen their elected officials imprisoned. They have been put on a starvation diet and placed in darkness by an internationally-enforced blockade. They are subjected to night-time sonic booms that shatter windows and cause miscarriages, and suffer recurring aerial bombardments that have decimated their infrastructure.

The Hamas government’s signing and enforcement of the June 2008 truce with Israel led to no relief from this relentless siege. On November 4, Israeli strikes killed dozens of Palestinians. Isolated shelling attacks from Gaza, which resulted in few, if any, Israeli casualties, have been used as a pretext by Israel to launch genocidal attacks, which have been denounced by people around the world. Israeli Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, now says this will be a “war to the bitter end.”

The Israeli government claims that Gaza is no longer “occupied” since “settlers” were withdrawn a few years ago. This is a boldface lie used to abdicate legal and moral responsibility for the welfare of an occupied people and to demonstrate that Gazans cannot govern themselves and live peacefully with their neighbors. A land that is completely surrounded and controlled, lacking the very basics of survival, is even more cruelly “occupied” than before. This describes a prison, not a sovereign territory.

The horrors experienced in Gaza are closely linked to the murderous U.S. wars and occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan, which aim to control the resources in the Middle East. The systematic torture of Gaza, many call genocide, is a crime against all people of this planet. No one can be free while others are oppressed. It is time for the people of the world to unite and say, “No to the U.S.-backed Israeli war in Gaza” and “No to the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan!”

The atrocities carried out against Gaza are made possible by $8 billion in yearly U.S. aid to Israel, the largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid, with 30 billion more to be allocated over the next ten years. Israel has the fourth largest military in the world.

75% of our tax money pays for the U.S. war machine – for the most modern weapons of mass destruction, mainly profiting U.S. contractors and weapons makers.

We call upon Congress and the current president of the United States to cut all support and ties to Israel as long as this siege, this blockade and the occupation of Palestine continues. We call upon president-elect Barack Obama to denounce the present atrocities committed against the people Gaza. We call upon the people of the U.S. and the international community to declare solidarity and to offer all assistance to the besieged Palestinians in Gaza.

Join with the National Assembly and other coalitions, networks and organizations on March 21, 2009 for a national mass March on the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. (and in San Francisco and other cities) to demand:

Bring the Troops Home Now!

Stop the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan!

No to wars on Pakistan and Iran!

Condemn U.S. support for the continued occupation of Palestine!

Money for human needs – for jobs, healthcare and education – not for wars and corporate bailouts!

For further information contact:

National Assembly to End the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars and Occupations

https://natassembly.org/
216-736-4704