1.15.2009

Gaza is dying

Dear friends,

Spread the word - as the awful Gaza death toll passes 1000, our
Ceasefire Now petition is being delivered worldwide through ads, phone
calls, and meetings with world leaders. We urgently need to reach 1
million signatures this week, act now and forward this email:
Sign Ceasefire Petition,
see our US ads!

Gaza is dying -- the battle has moved deep into its cities, jam-packed
with 1.5 million civilians lacking food, medicine or water. President
Bush undermined Thursday's United Nations ceasefire resolution and
over 1000 people are now dead. The borders remain closed --
journalists can't get in, and desperate civilians can't get out.

But the global movement to end this war is building -- as we spread
the word the petition is at 430,000 signatures and rising, it has been
delivered to top leaders at the EU, UN and Arab League, our US members
are flooding their representatives with phone calls, and Avaaz members
worldwide have donated over $120,000 to an ad campaign in key
newspapers.

The pressure is working -- so we're ratcheting it up with hard-hitting
US ads pressing Barack Obama personally for an immediate change of
tack, face-to-face petition deliveries to European leaders this week
to get them to act, and working with Palestinians and Israelis to plan
bold actions on the ground. But every one of these actions becomes
stronger as more of us join the campaign. We need to reach 1 million
signatures this week -- thank you for signing the petition already,
let's all of us now take a moment to forward this email to all our
friends and family so they can join us and be heard:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/gaza_time_for_peace

Voices for a ceasefire are finally being heard in the Israeli cabinet
and media, Hamas is signalling it could accept a deal including
Turkish forces and EU monitors, but the sides are too far apart to end
this themselves.[3] That's why action by world powers is critical to
break the deadlock -- and global citizens' voices can make all the
difference if we raise an unstoppable voice calling on incoming
President Obama, the EU and Arab and Muslim states to guarantee a fair
and lasting ceasefire.

This week we are lobbying European and Muslim states for a more
effective international initiative to end the violence, protect
civilians on all sides and make normal life possible again in Gaza,
while reaching out to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon who is in the
Middle East working for a deal (we met him last year to deliver our
food crisis campaign). Meanwhile we're challenging contacts on both
sides to think creatively and accept a fair, internationally-overseen
agreement.

We've already run member-funded ads in the influential Washington Post
and Roll Call, the US Congress newspaper -- on the day of his
inauguration this coming Tuesday, we will press Barack Obama to
abandon Bush's failed policies and act immediately to end this war,
using his own words alongside hard facts to make the case in ads, US
media debates and directly lobbying his team.

It's amazing what we can do when hundreds of thousands of us come
together arond the world -- and if we raise our efforts to another
level this week, we could help to finally end the Gaza horror. Follow
the link below to take the first step by signing the petition, then
spread the word so others can do the same:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/gaza_time_for_peace

With hope and determination,

Paul, Graziela, Alice, Ricken, Luis, Brett, Ben, Iain, Paula,
Veronique, Milena and the whole Avaaz team

P.S. For a report on some of Avaaz's other campaigns so far, see:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/report_back_2

Sources:

1. "White House behind US volte-face on ceasefire call":
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/09/gaza-us-security-council-abstention

"Israeli PM Ehud Olmert claims to be able to order Bush around":
http://www.juancole.com/2009/01/israeli-pm-ehud-olmert-claims-to-be.html

2. Washington Post: Israelis Push to Edge of Gaza City:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/11/AR2009011100616.html

3. Haaretz, "Olmert ignoring calls from Barak, Livni for immediate Gaza truce":
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1055214.html

Other Voice - Sderot and Gaza residents calling for a ceasefire:
http://www.othervoice.org/welcome-eng.htm

On Hamas acceptance of a Turkish force, first reported in the Arabic
Al-Hayat newspaper, see:
http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/domestic/10771766.asp?scr=1

"Gaza bloodshed continues despite UN calls for ceasefire", 9 January 2009:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/09/gaza-fighting-un-ceasefire

"Reigniting Violence: How Do Ceasefires End?" (6 January 2009) is a
statistical analysis by an MIT professor, based on Israel's own data
for rocket fire (which it shows stopped for four months) and on which
side struck first. It provides useful factual background for how the
Israel-Hamas truce effectively collapsed in November well before it
expired (facts poorly reflected in some news reporting):
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nancy-kanwisher/reigniting-violence-how-d_b_155611.html

International Crisis Group's Ending the War in Gaza report (5 January 2009):
http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=5838&l=1

This Rasmussen Reports poll from the US is of interest: Only 31% of
Democrats support offensive, most prefer a diplomatic solution:
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/americans_closely_divided_over_israel_s_gaza_attacks

"Gaza: outlines of an endgame", Ghassan Khatib (6 January 2009)
http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/gaza-outlines-of-an-endgame

Jerusalem Post: "Israel must get out of Gaza now", 8 January 2009:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1231167305710&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull

Reuters: "Hamas seeks truce but says lifting siege a must" (5 January
2009) http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L5111105.htm

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

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ABOUT AVAAZ Avaaz.org is an independent, not-for-profit global
campaigning organization that works to ensure that the views and
values of the world's people inform global decision-making. (Avaaz
means "voice" in many languages.) Avaaz receives no money from
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