Trouble In Palestine

With Palestinians crammed into the Gaza strip like canned sardines, Israel began bombing the strip on December 27. This was only one day after humanitarian workers were allowed into the Gaza Strip to provide aid. The bombing has been continuos, leading to over four hundred deaths and 2000 injuries, many being innocent civilians. This number is four hundred times greater then the casualties incurred by Israel. The UN has labeled the situation a "critical emergency".

The goal of the Israel army is to wipe out Hamas militants. Hamas has been accused of ending a six month cease fire by sending missiles into Israel territory. One must ask: was this act unprovoked? As you will discover in the articles posted below it most certainly was not. The blockade placed on the Gaza Strip has caused more damage and killed more people then any rocket ever fired by Hamas. While I don't agree with the method of using terrorism to end oppression, these acts were not unprovoked as the media would lead you to believe. Many associate violence or terrorism with the explosion of bombs and bullets. A blockade though is one of the most vicious forms of violence. The blockade placed on Gaza by Israel jeopardizes the lives of over one and a half million people.

To read more about the situation in Israel and Gaza I highly recommend checking out these articles:

"Party To Murder" by Chris Hedges
"An Open Letter To George W. Bush" By Ralph Nader
"Stealing Gaza" By Brian Eno
"Whatever Happened To Western Morality?" By Paul Craig Roberts
"Israel's Attempted Endgame in Gaza" By Jennifer Lowenstien
"The Gaza Ghetto and Western Cant" By Tariq Ali
"Molten Led In Gaza" By Uri Avnery

This humanitarian crisis is taking place largely due to the support of the United States government. Between 2001 and 2006 the US gave Israel more than 200 million dollars worth of spare plane parts, more then 100 million dollars worth of helicopter parts, 186 million gallons of jet fuel (july 2008), an additional 1.9 billion dollars worth of littoral combat ships and last year the US signed a 1.3 billion dollar contract with Raytheon to transfer to Israel thousands of TOW, Hellfire and bunker buster missiles. (This information comes from the U.S. Campaign to End The Israeli Occupation) Because of the US's finical support to Israel it is the duty of American citizens to tell their government to stop supporting Israel's attack on the Palestinian people.

I encourage you sign this petition to telling Barack Obama to change the US's Israel/Palestine policies.

Help Influence the Obama Administration: Yes We Can End Military Aid to Israel!