According to news sources, Israel’s cabinet took a decision to begin to apply large scale collective punishment on the people of the Gaza strip. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon warned that any cutoff of vital services like fuel and electricity would violate international law and punish the already suffering civilian population. The Palestinian American Congress is deeply concerned over these reports of intended Israeli state terrorism. We are distressed at the silence of many in the International Community to the ongoing 40 year occupation and colonization of the West Bank and Gaza as well as the 60 year program of ethic cleansing and disposession. We ask our members, supporters, and people of conscience in the US to contact:

• the White House:
  http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
• the State Department:
  http://contact-us.state.gov/cgi-bin/state.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php
• elected representatives:
  http://capwiz.com/fconl/dbq/officials/
• the media, use:
  http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=111
  and
  http://www.congress.org/congressorg/dbq/media/

Talking points:

- The framework invoked by Israel to carry out this illegal and immoral act by declaring Gaza a “hostile entity” within a “conflict short of war” has absolutely no standing in international law.

- Israel is still the occupying power in Gaza until such time that it allows Palestinians self-determination, lifts the siege, and allows free movement of goods and services into and out of Gaza including letting Palestinians freely operate the airport, the Rafah terminal and a seaport in Gaza.

- Obligations of occupying powers under the fourth Geneva convention are very clear and involve a number of responsibilities towards the protected person who live in occupied territories.

- It is prohibited according to International law to deny essential services or to impede economic development in occupied areas.

- Also see “The war on Gaza’s children: Israel ’s sanctions are leaving a generation of Palestinian children poorly educated and hungry” by Dr. Saree Makdisi

Via Palestinian American Congress: http://pac-national.org
Contact: media@pac-national.org