Urgent Call for National Day of Action on Gaza Thursday

[Comrade Grumpy]

http://www.mailermailer.com/x?function=view&c=16869684q-afac431a%2a1076913t-9d28fdeb

URGENT CALL FOR A NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION THURSDAY, JULY 24

END THE ASSAULT ON GAZA AND LIFT THE BLOCKADE

The groups endorsing this call include:

Code Pink
Global Exchange
Just Foreign Policy
International Socialist Organization
Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice
Peace Action
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
Adalah-NY
Friends of Sabeel-North America
US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
War Times/Tiempo de Guerras

Please join us this Thursday, July 24, in this urgent call to stop the Israeli offensive in Gaza and end the 7-year siege that has made life in Gaza so miserable. In this latest round of violence, over 500 Palestinians have been killed and thousands are injured. Seventy-two percent of those are civilians, including over 80 children. One hundred thousand are displaced and living in makeshift shelters; electricity has been reduced to four hours a day for 80% of the population; water has been cut off to hundreds of thousands; sewage is flowing into the sea; hospitals have been bombed and there are shortages of everything from food to medicines. We must act now!

We encourage you, both organizations and individuals, to hold actions and events in your communities this Thursday, July 24. We are grateful for all the actions that have taken place and that will continue, but doing something together on one day can help demonstrate the breadth of our movement and concern. Whether you can get out a crowd or just a few people, please do something!

Here are some possibilities:
-- Visit your local Congressional office and invite the media to join you in asking questions of your elected officials/staff; you might also consider a call-in, preferably in a public place, to your representatives, the White House and State Department.

-- Hold a rally or vigil in a visible public space, and invite local news media. Commemorate the dead, reading their names.

-- Visit the offices of a corporation profiteering from and/or complicit in Israel’s war and occupation; bring them a letter explaining why you are there.

-- Go to the office of your mainstream media and demand balanced coverage; organize a letter writing campaign with examples of bad/misleading coverage.

-- Be in a public place asking people to sign a petition, either your own or one from another organization.

-- Organize acts of civil disobedience to reflect the urgency of the situation and attract media attention.

-- Use social media to target U.S. politicians, the Israeli ambassador to the U.S., and the mainstream media.

As you act Thursday, think how you can begin or expand a campaign in your community's institutions to boycott and/or divest from corporations profiting from and/or complicit in Israel’s war and occupation. Consider boycotting Sabra and Sodastream products. Many US corporations are directly involved in the recent conflict, including Caterpillar, Boeing, HP, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, GE, and Raytheon. Please check to determine if your school, church, work place, and other community institutions may be invested in them.

Have your organization endorse the National Day of Action here: http://tinyurl.com/mrwr2gc

Add your Thursday local action to the list here: http://tinyurl.com/n3kdqd8

Post your photos, videos, and reports from actions here: http://theworldstandswithpalestine.tumblr.com/

Signed [list in formation]
Code Pink
Global Exchange
Just Foreign Policy
International Socialist Organization
Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice
Peace Action
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
Adalah-NY
Friends of Sabeel-North America
US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
War Times/Tiempo de Guerras

Background information and up-to-date reports:

#GazaUnderAttack: Action Alerts, Resources and updates can be found here.

Nine Ways to Support Gaza through Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions are listed here.

Rashid Khalidi, Mouin Rabbani and Noura Erakat explain why the first attempt to arrange a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas failed here.

Photographs of protests across the world against Israel's assault on Gaza are here.

Live from Palestine: Israel Wants Us to Die, But We will Remain, by Rami Almeghari, is here.

Why I Object to Israel's Military Campaign, by Israeli journalist and editor Noam Sheizaf, is here.