Fifty-four House members are defying AIPAC and calling on President Obama to lift the deadly blockade of Gaza. Specifically, the House Members ask that Obama pressure Israel to permit:
* Movement of people, especially students, the ill, aid workers, journalists, and those with family concerns, into and out of Gaza;
* Access to clean water, including water infrastructure materials,
* Access to plentiful and varied food and agricultural materials;
* Access to medicine and health care products and suppliers;
* Access to sanitation supplies, including sanitation infrastructure materials;
* Access to construction materials for repairs and rebuilding;
* Access to fuel;
* Access to spare parts;
* Prompt passage into and out of Gaza for commercial and agricultural goods; and
* Publication and review of the list of items prohibited to the people of Gaza.
In short, the courageous 54 want the blockade lifted.
Please take a look at the list of these legislators who will, no doubt, catch hell from powerful AIPAC types in their districts and, more significantly, among their donor base.
Also note this. The fact that your favorite liberal is not among the 54 does not mean he or she disagrees with their braver colleagues. It only means that they are not ready to stand up and be counted.
The 54 deserve our thanks as does J Street and Americans for Peace Now, which supported the House effort that was led by three Minnesotans: Keith Ellison, James Oberstar, and Betty McCollum.
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We will start a movement to get them out of office. Wait and see. Also I am sure if you look at their voting records it will show them for what they are.
Israel protects herself from suicide bombings, and rocket attacks and these 64 want Israel to let its guard down. The Palestinians are Arabs who were kicked out of Jordan. With all of the $ the Arabs have from oil they could easily build a country for them, but the main goal is to destroy Israel.
Remember several years ago some Palestinians found a large sea turtle that was washed up on the beach. They tortured this turtle for hours, and then slit its throat to drink the blood thinking it will give them better potency. And these are the people who want to live "peacefully" with the Israelis? They will do the same thing to them.
this blockade must end, is it possible that in 2010, people can be put in big jail for more than 3years with no where to go, there is no reason, tou cannot explain this, like terrorism, shoah, these kind of acts cannot be justified.
How rockets launched into the desert can be the reason to put more than a million of innocent people in starvation, I sincerely tried to understund but never succed .
and for the people who are justifing this I want to say that the resistance to occupation is a right that the UN and international law garante, even if there is no israeli soldier in Gaza, this part of palestine is a part of nation (the west bank) so resistance is a right until the end of occupation of west bank.
Thank you for publishing the word about the very brave, the 54! All professional organizations should be ashamed of themselves for advocating anything less than what is laid out so beautifully in this letter about the unbearable siege imposed by the IDF upon the Palestinian people, their elders & children in Gaza. President Obama, are you up to the challenge of pressuring the Israeli govt. to lift this cruel siege that is doing no credit to the ideals or practices of the American people.
My sentiments exactly!
Israel does allow food and medicine into Gaza. Did you know that Gazan terrorists attack the crossings in order to prevent humanitarian aid from getting into the Gaza Strip? Pretty interesting behavior for an allegedly starving people.