| | What can YOU do to help the Palestinian people of Gaza? Read the ENGAGE 10 Point Guide and get working TODAY! |
'During the last seven years, 14 Israelis have been killed by mostly homemade rockets fired from the Gaza Strip, while more than 5,000 Palestinians were killed by Israel with some of the most advanced US-supplied armaments in the world', Seumas Milne, The Guardian, 30 December 2008.
1. Contact your MP by phone and in writing via email.
You can find contact details for your MP on the Parliament website, www.parliament.uk or you can find your MP through the search facility on www.theyworkforyou.com. Phone your Member of Parliament TODAY and make sure that s/he notes your dismay and disappointment at the Government’s refusal to condemn the assaults on Gaza and its refusal to demand an immediate stop to all military activity. Ask your MP why Israel's bombings of mosques and university buildings in Gaza have gone uncriticised. MPs do work for you, so get writing and insist on your MP seeking clear answers on your behalf from the Foreign Secretary to questions such as these: (a) Why has the UK not clearly condemned the savage bombardment of Gaza by the Israelis?
(b) Does the UK Government accept that the Israeli action is barbaric and a crime against humanity?
(c) How does the UK Government think it will be able to legitimately defend its position as a member of the Quartet brokering peace in the Middle East when it fails to condemn the actions of a state which threatens beyond all doubt prospects for a lasting peace?
(d) Does not the Government’s refusal to condemn the Israelis insinuate complicity in the latter’s attempt to rout a democratically elected government and seek peace on its term and its terms alone? Is this the Government’s idea of a lasting peace in Palestine?
(e) The Government failed in summer 2006 to call for a ceasefire while the Israelis bombed Lebanon repeatedly destroying much of the country’s infrastructure. Refuse to allow it to sit back and do nothing once again.
(f) Does the UK Government not accept that its refusal to condemn the Israelis renders hollow all its protestations on its commitment to peace in the Middle East and its PREVENT agenda, on tackling the causes of radicalization in the UK?
2. Call for a Debate in the Houses of Parliament
Ask your MP to raise the brutal Israeli bombardment in Gaza as a matter for debate in the Houses of Parliament. What reasons does the Government have for remaining silent on this matter? Why has it not been more forthright in its utter condemnation of the atrocity? Does the Government think that committing funds to humanitarian aid absolves it from addressing the causes of the disaster?
3. Government representations to the UN
Ask your MP to insist that the Government condemn the murderous actions of the Israelis in the UN. The UN is another member of the Quartet (along with the US, EU and Russia) and is similarly responsible in forcing Israel to halt military action and cease its belligerent breach of international law.
4. Demonstrate
Demonstrate against the outrageous conduct of the Israelis. Much of what Israel seeks to do is to compel others to accept that it is the victim in this war. Demonstrate against its lies and deception and show your solidarity with the true victims of Israeli attacks.
The Stop the War Coalition are organizing demonstrations all this week. Also check the website, www.stopwar.org.uk for further details of these and other demonstrations across the country.
*Tuesday 30 December*, 2 - 4pm outside Israeli Embassy, (nearest tube: High Street Kensington)
*Wednesday 31 December*, 2 - 4pm outside Israeli Embassy
*Thursday 1 January*, 2 - 4pm outside Israeli Embassy
*Friday 2 January*, 2 - 4 pm outside the Egyptian Embassy, 26 South Street, London, W1K 1DW. Call for Egypt to open the border immediately.
***National Demonstration: Saturday 3 January: Hands off Gaza: Stop the bombing: Free Palestine*** ASSEMBLE 12.30 PM EMBANKMENT, LONDON WC2 - Nearest tube Embankment or Charing Cross
Join as many demonstrations as you can and urge others to come with you. Keep up the pressure, vote with your feet, and show that you will not sit back and allow this massacre to go unchallenged. Remember, silence is complicity.
5. Raise Your Voice and Your Pen
What is happening in Gaza is all over the news, on TV, on radio and on internet discussion forums. The Israeli Media Strategy document procured by ENGAGE shows clearly that dominating the news, controlling the dissemination of information and framing the war is as much a part of Israel’s assaults on Gaza as the raining down of missiles. Challenge what you see and hear and be the voice of the Palestinian people who are prevented from speaking for themselves. (a) Is the news dominated by Israeli spokespeople? If so, ask why. There are two sides in this war and the views of both must be made available to us. How else are we to judge who is the victim and who the aggressor? Say no to Israeli spin and Israeli centred news coverage.
(b) Is the radio coverage unbalanced? What interviewees are invited to take part on news programmes on the Gaza assaults? How often do you hear Palestinian and Hamas representatives?
(c) Call in to news programmes, on your local radio station or national radio stations, and contribute your comments and views to what is going on. Don’t restrict your outrage and fulminating to shaking your fists at the television. Do something, speak out.
Contact details for major TV stations:
BBC:
www.bbc.co.uk/complaints 03700 100 222
ITV:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
0844 881 4150
Channel 4:
http://help.channel4.com 0845 076 0191
Sky News:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
0870 240 3000
ITV Teletext:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
020 8323 5000
Newspapers: | Daily Telegraph | | The Guardian | | The Independent | | The Times | | Financial Times | | Daily Mail | | Daily Mirror | | Daily Express | | The Metro | | The Sun | | The Scotsman | | The Herald | | | | 020 7931 2000 | | 020 7278 2332 | | 020 7005 2000 | | 020 7782 5000 | | 020 7873 3000 | | 020 7938 6000 | | 020 7293 3000 | | 0871 434 1010 | | 020 7651 5242 | | 020 7782 4000 | | 0131 620 8620 | | 0141 302 7000 | |
6. Blogs and Discussion Forums
The internet is among the most popular forms of present day news consumption. Some internet blog sites are read by more people than some national newspapers. Capitalise on the trend of consuming news online and join in on discussion threads and post comments to blogs and news items that are discussing the events in Gaza.
Your comments will be read by a multitude. Don’t be swayed or alarmed by false or incendiary posts. Keep calm and write with clarity and conscience. Reject the lies and propaganda of the Israeli media and PR machine. Don’t allow Zionists to dominate and distort the public’s perception of what is taking place in Gaza.
7. In the Mosques
Go to your local mosque and ask them to formally write an urgent letter TODAY to your MP making the points above and demand a meeting with the MP.
Ask your local mosque to begin collections for the Palestinians and to make the issue of Gaza the content of the Friday sermon. Ensure that your mosque uses its position in the local community to protest on the community’s behalf on what is taking place in Gaza.
While Muslims pray for the souls of those that have lost their lives in recent days, take steps to prevent the further loss of life. Make sure your mosque is actively involved in more than just being a place for prayer.
8. Interfaith Initiatives
Ask your local mosque and community centres to seek out Christian and Jewish places of worship and centres in your local community and join together in initiatives to bring peace to Palestine. Muslims, Jews and Christians reside in the Palestinian Territories and all faith groups should be working together to denounce the murderous actions of the Zionists in Israel and work for interfaith harmony and social peace.
9. Online petitions
Create or sign online petitions to be presented to your MP and the Government demanding that they call for an immediate stop to all military activity by Israel. Urge all your friends to sign a petition and insist that your elected representatives heed the protests of their electorate.
A petition calling for the Government to impose economic sanctions against Israel is currently underway and you can sign it here. A petition calling for an arms embargo against Israel can be signed here. 10. British Banks and Charities working for the Palestinians
Write to Lloyds TSB and Barclays Bank anew and insist that the banks reverse their decisions on closing the bank accounts of Interpal and Ummah Welfare Trust. The work of these charities will be needed now more than ever. Insist that the banks re-open the charities’ accounts so that you might donate and contribute to the provision of emergency aid to the embattled Gazans.
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