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Powerpoint about World March

1200+ Sign Declaration on the Crisis in Gaza
NO MORE BLANK CHECK FOR ISRAEL!
Declaration and Signatures Being Sent to President Obama,
Secretary of State Clinton, and Middle East Envoy Mitchell

NEW YORK, N.Y., February 10, 2009 The New York-based Campaign for Peace and Democracy is sending a declaration to President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Middle East Envoy George Mitchell entitled “No More Blank Check for Israel!” The text of the declaration is below. To date 1257 individuals have signed, including Ervand Abrahamian, Michael Albert, Stanley Aronowitz, David Barsamian, Phyllis Bennis, Norman Birnbaum, Eileen Boris, Vinie Burrows, Adam J. Chmielewski, Noam Chomsky, Ariel Dorfman, Martin Duberman, Carolyn Eisenberg, Daniel Ellsberg, Bruce Gagnon, Chris Hedges, Adam Hochschild, Doug Ireland, Tony Judt, Jan Kavan, Kathy F. Kelly, Nelson Lichtenstein, Dave Marsh, Scott McLemee, David McReynolds, Molly Nolan, Charlotte Phillips, MD, Katha Pollitt, Danny Postel, Matthew Rothschild, Adam Shatz, Alice Slater, David Swanson, Wallace Shawn, and Marilyn B. Young. The full list of signers is available on request or at www.cpdweb.org

The declaration says that “No country should have to face rockets fired at its citizens, and we condemn Hamas’s launching of rockets into Israeli civilian areas. But the solution is not raining bombs and missiles down on one of the most densely populated sites in the world, making massive civilian casualties inevitable, and which, apart from its immorality, guarantees only another generation of hatred towards Israel. The solution — as the Israeli peace movement, human rights groups, and the United Nations have urged — is to lift the economic blockade imposed on Gaza and end the Occupation.” The statement ends with a call for an immediate end to U.S. military aid to Israel. “We do not want our tax dollars or the leaders who speak in our names to continue supporting the attacks on the Palestinian people.”

The declaration was prepared by Joanne Landy, Thomas Harrison, Stephen Shalom and Jesse Lemisch of the Campaign for Peace and Democracy, who wrote, “Our declaration was written in early January, during Israel’s savage attack on Gaza. At this writing there is a fragile cease-fire, but even if it holds, the statement retains its relevance and urgency. Israel may have won a kind of military ‘victory,’ insofar as it has re-asserted its military dominance, but the worldwide outrage at its shocking massacre of innocent people constitutes a political and moral defeat of immense proportions. And even though major fighting has stopped, for the time being, the economic blockade a deadly and flagrantly illegal collective punishment of Gaza continues. It must be lifted. CPD rejects Hamas’s reactionary social agenda, but that has no bearing on our determination to oppose Israeli aggression and end U.S. complicity. There will be no peace, either for Palestine or Israel, until the Israeli occupation is ended and the Palestinian people win their right to independence and security. For this to occur, we must end the U.S. military and political support that facilitates Israel’s cruel and ultimately self-destructive policies.”

Campaign for Peace and Democracy
2790 Broadway, #12
New York, NY 10025
Email: cpd@igc.org Web: www.cpdweb.org