End the Siege on Gaza: International Day of Action, Saturday 26th January

End the Siege on Gaza: International Day of Action,

Saturday 26th January

4-6pm

Opposite No10 Downing Street

Withehall, London

And please write to your MP asking them to sign Early Day Motions 305, 624 and 698 on Gaza

On Sunday 20 January, Gaza ’s only power station was forced to shut down, after Israel cut fuel supplies to the Gaza Strip. Israel has imposed a total closure on the Strip's border crossings, even preventing the delivery of essential humanitarian aid. Over 80 per cent of Gaza ’s population rely on food aid from the United Nations or other agencies. Over 70 Gazans have died as a result of Israel preventing patients with serious medical conditions from accessing treatment outside the Gaza Strip.

This catastrophic cutting of fuel supplies is already seriously affecting hospitals, supplies of fresh water and sewage systems, has removed heating and lighting from 800,000 people, and making it impossible for those few factories which have managed to remain open despite the blockade.

In carrying out these actions, the Israeli government is violating the strict prohibition on collective punishment of a civilian population in the Fourth Geneva Convention.

We are particularly appealing to medical staff to join us in uniform to visibly express their opposition to the medical impact of the blockade. More details: www.palestinecampaign.org; www.endgazasiege.net;

View a short film about the 400 strong protest on the 12th of January outside Downing Street : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWhBC6hP6cM

***PLEASE CIRCULATE WIDELY***

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DCI/PS asks the international community for immediate and effective intervention to stop Israeli war crimes in the Gaza strip

http://www.dci-pal.org/english/display.cfm?DocId=658&CategoryId=1

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From MAAN News - http://www.maannews.net/en/

Cancer patient becomes 72nd victim of Israeli siege in Gaza Eighteen year old cancer patient Mahmoud Hussein died on Saturday after Israeli authorities denied him permission to leave the Gaza Strip for medical treatment, Palestinian medical sources said. Hussein, from the city of Jabalia, became the 72nd person to dies as a result of Israel's crippling closure of the Gaza Strip's border crossings, the according to the Popular Committee for countering the Israeli siege said. Hussein's family said that they applied three times for a travel permit to take their son for treatment not available inside Gaza. They said the Strip's hospitals are not sufficiently equipped to treat cancer. On Friday Israel tightened the embargo even further, imposing total closure on all of the Strip's border crossings, preventing deliveries of vital supplies of food and fuel.

Economists warn of "disaster" in Gaza Strip as power plant shuts down

Date: 20 / 01 / 2008

Palestinian economists warned on Sunday of a looming humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip after Israel blocked supplies food and fuel entering the Strip since last Thursday. The Gaza Strip's power plant will shut down by 8:00pm on Sunday because it no longer has the fuel needed to keep running. One of the plant's two electricity-generating turbines had already shut down by noon. This will drastically reduce output to 25 or 30 megawatts, down from the 65 megawatts the plant produces under normal conditions. By Sunday evening the plant will shut down completely, leaving large swaths of the Gaza Strip in darkness. Omar Kittaneh, the head of the Palestine Energy Authority in Ramallah, confirmed that by tonight, the one remaining operating turbine will be powered down, and the Gaza power plant will no longer be generating any electricity at all. “We have asked the Israeli government to reverse its decision and to supply fuel to operate the power plant”, Dr. Kittaneh said. “We have talked to the Israeli humanitarian coordination in their Ministry of Energy [National Infrastructure]. We say this is totally Israel’s responsibility, and that reducing the fuel supplies until the plant had to shut down will affect not only the electrical system but the water supply, and the entire infrastructure in Gaza – everything.” After months of increasingly harsh sanctions, Israel imposed a total closure on the Strip's border crossings, even preventing the delivery of humanitarian aid. The Israeli government says the closure is punishment for an ongoing barrage of Palestinian homemade projectiles fired from the Gaza Strip. "Famine" 180 fuel stations have shut down after Gaza residents to buy gas for cooking. A Palestinian economist Hasan Abu Ramadan said the current humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip will be deepened by the blockade on fuel and food supplies. He warned that Gaza Strip could go from a situation of deep poverty to all out famine, disease, and malnutrition. Abu Ramadan said that more than 80% of the Strip's 1.5 million residents have been surviving with the help of food aid from international organizations such as UNRWA for Palestinian refugees.

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Palestine Solidarity Campaign Box BM PSA London WC1N 3XX

Tel: 020 7700 6192 Fax: 020 7609 7779

Email: info@palestinecampaign.org

Web: www.palestinecampaign.org

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