Home
Sydney
events
About CJPP
Join CJPP
Contact CJPP
Action
News, Views,
Analysis
Past events
al-Nakba
Gaza: Stop the Blockade
Sign a petition calling on the international community to help end the blockade and reach a ceasefire. Take a look here
What can we do here in Australia?
Letters to the editor can help balance the Australian media's policy of misinformation on the issue of Palestine. Scroll down for links and information about Gaza and the email addresses for "Letters to the Editor" at major papers.
Write to the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, the Minister for Defence, Stephen Smith and your member of parliament, links and addresses here soon. If you are not happy with media coverage, we will soon have links to complaints lines here. Please be patient.
Letters to the editor
Please send your letter to one or more of the following:
Sydney Morning Herald: letters@smh.com.au or Fax: 9282 3492.
Financial Review: edletters@afr.com.au or Fax: 9282 3137
Telegraph: letters@dailytelegraph.com.au or Fax 9288 2300
Australian: letters@theaustralian.com.au or Fax: 9288 2824
Canberra Times letters.editor@canberratimes.com.au or Fax: 6280 2282
Hints for letters to the editor
- Put your letter in the body of the email - most newspapers will not take attachments.
- Use a separate email for each newspaper
- All letters and email must carry the sender's home address and day and evening phone numbers for verification.
- Make your letter brief and to the point. Ideally, letters will be a maximum of 200 words.
- You might like to send us a copy of your letter, but please do not cc.
Either use bcc or send it to us in a separate email using
admin@coalitionforpalestine.org
It is difficult to get letters published on this issue but remember that even if your letter does not get published it will be taken into account in deciding the number of similar letters that do get published.
Gaza by numbers
The information below comes from the Palestinian-International Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza
www.end-gaza-siege.ps
-
69+ victims .. Is the death toll among patients due to lack of medical drugs Or were prevented from leaving Gaza for medical treatment Due to the Israeli siege
-
624 student ... Are prevented from leaving Gaza to their universities Due to the Israeli siege on Gaza
-
ZERO .. Is the stock balance of 90 basic drugs at the Ministry of Health stores in Gaza due to the Israeli siege
-
ZERO .. Will be the stock balance of 360 basic drugs at the Ministry of Health stores in Gaza by February 2008 due to the Israeli siege
-
ZERO .. Is the stock balance of 60 blood bank supplies and lab materials at the Ministry of Health in Gaza due to the Israeli siege
-
100 Million USD .. Is the estimated losses of the agricultural season of 2007-2008 in Gaza due to the Israeli siege
-
14 million USD .. Is the current losses in the Strawberry and Carnations products in Gaza Due to the Israeli siege
-
80% of Agricultural Corps .. Will be damaged due to lack of pesticides, medicines, fertilizers, and greenhouse materials due to the Israeli siege on Gaza
-
40 thousand workers .. in the agricultural sector will lose their jobs due to the Israeli siege on Gaza
-
25 thousand tons .. Of Potato and Vegetables are prevented from being exported Due to the Israeli siege on Gaza
-
160 million USD .. Are the current losses of Construction sector because no raw materials are allowed into Gaza
-
100% .. Of factories of construction accessories stopped Due to the lack of raw materials allowed into Gaza
-
20 million USD .. Are the current losses of the textile sector Due to the Israeli siege on Gaza
-
600 textile factory .. Closed their doors totally due to the Israeli siege on Gaza
-
25 thousand workers .. Lost their jobs in the textile sector due to the Israeli siege on Gaza
-
90% .. Is the decline percentage of production of furniture factories due to lack of raw materials due to the Israeli siege on Gaza
-
12 million USD .. Is the current losses of the furniture factories due to the Israeli siege on Gaza
-
6,000 worker .. Lost their jobs in the furniture factories in Gaza Due to the Israeli siege
-
95% .. Of metal and engineering factories closed their doors Due to the Israeli siege on Gaza
-
700 worker .. Lost their jobs in the engineering and metal factories Due to the Israeli siege on Gaza
-
25 million USD .. Are the current losses of the trade sector Due to the Israeli siege on Gaza
-
39 tourist company.. Are about to close their doors due to closure of borders
-
ZERO .. Is the accommodation percentage in Gaza hotels Due to the Israeli siege
-
ALL .. Light drinks factories in Gaza stopped their activities Due to the Israeli siege
-
900 worker .. Lost their job in the light drinks factories Due to the Israeli siege on Gaza
-
30% .. Is the current production capacity of the food factories in Gaza Due to the Israeli siege
-
45 factory .. Closed their doors in Gaza Industrial Zone Due to the Israeli siege
-
30% .. Of owners of factories in the Industrial Zone began procedures to leave Gaza
-
90% .. of the trade shipping sector is totally stopped Due to the Israeli siege on Gaza
-
450 driver and 1000 worker .. Lost their jobs in the trade shipping sector Due to the Israeli siege on Gaza
-
120 thousand worker .. Lost their jobs inside the green line Due to the Israeli siege on Gaza.
Background
The Gaza Strip has been under siege since June 2006. All borders have been closed by the Israeli army. This total siege has created a humanitarian crisis, destroying the economy and violating the basic human rights of the Palestinian civilian population, particularly the rights to decent living conditions, health and education.
On 19 September 2007 the Israeli government declared the Gaza Strip "a hostile entity" and stepped up its collective punishment of the population. A crime is being perpetrated against civilians in Gaza which violates international law and the Fourth Geneva Convention.
The UN (OCHA Special Focus December 07) stated:
"Palestinians are suffering from hunger and malnutrition. Food imports cover only 41% of demand. 80% of Gazans receive food aid and 80% live below the poverty line.
People who are seriously ill are being prevented from accessing essential medical treatment outside Gaza. Over 40 Gazans have died as a result of being denied medical treatment by the Israeli authorities and 20% of essential drugs and 31% of essential medical supplies are no longer available inside Gaza.
Israel is cutting fuel and electricity supplies, affecting essential health and water facilities. 210,000 people are able to access drinking water for only 1-2 hours a day."
Meanwhile the Israeli army continues its attacks on the imprisoned Palestinian people of Gaza, demolishing homes, factories and agricultural land and carrying out arrests. Fatal bombing raids continue, killing Palestinian men, women and children.
The Israeli, EU, US and British governments hope to overturn the results of the last Palestinian parliamentary elections in January 2006, declared free and fair by the international community. This siege is punishing Palestinians for simply exercising their democratic right to choose their own representatives.
Coalition for Justice & Peace in Palestine
PO Box 399
Dulwich Hill NSW 2203
cjpp@coalitionforpalestine.org
www.end-gaza-siege.ps
Sydney Morning Herald Letters 24 Jan
Warsaw and Gaza a difference of means and ends
What we can never know, David Calvey (Letters, Jan 23), is whether the oppressed in Warsaw would have retaliated had they been given the means with which to do so.
Rachel Merhebi Turramurra
You're right, David Calvey, the oppressed minority in Warsaw before World War II did not protest with rockets and suicide bombs. But I believe most of them ended up in the Nazi gas chambers.
Paul Sadler Newtown
The reason, David Calvey, that the oppressed minority were not fighting back with weapons and explosives is that they didn't have them. I am sure Polish Jews would have used anything available and done anything possible to disrupt the German war machine. I am sure what Zaid Kahn was getting at is the massive hypocrisy of Israel; it was oppression back then when done to them, but it is somehow OK to do it to someone else now.
Daniel Gardiner Camperdown
Maybe I'm not as familiar as David Calvey with Europe 70 years ago but, if the oppressed minority suffering in Warsaw was subjected to the same oppression for 50 continuous years or more, they, too, would take more extreme measures. Also, to the best of my knowledge, like the people in the occupied territories, the oppressed in Warsaw did eventually revolt against the oppression, and justifiably so.
Brad Spencer Ljubljana (Slovenia)
I don't need to visit Gaza to tell David Calvey that 99 per cent of its population don't have rockets in the back shed and bomb vests in the bedroom.
Like the Jews in Warsaw, most Palestinians in Gaza are being held captive with the barest of essentials purely on the basis that they were "accidentally" born of the wrong blood in the wrong place. How can an average Palestinian Joe hope to stop the actions of a few mad militants? And why should the Israelis or we expect them to do so? The current policy effectively holds every man, women and child responsible for any act of terrorism.
Last thing I heard, there are quite a few unsolved murders in Sydney. I say we lock the whole place down until people there realise that the rest of the country won't tolerate it. After all, if they are prepared to murder their fellow Sydneysiders they might come after the rest of us.
Anura Samara Geneva (Switzerland)
Letter to The Times, London
Sir, As an Israeli peace campaigner who has witnessed the plight of the Palestinians for the past 60 years, I would like to thank you for publishing the heart-wrenching and truthful article by Stefanie Marsh. About 80 percent of the population of the Gaza Strip live under the poverty line and suffer near-starvation. Basic utilities such as electricity and fuel have been cut by Israel to a bare minimum. Recently Israeli Physicians for Human Rights issued an emergency appeal for medical supplies for hospitals, and urged the Israel military to allow critically ill patients to get access through the sealed cross-border points so that they could get medical treatment outside Gaza Strip.
My grandparents perished in the besieged Warsaw Ghetto (1941-1943) through starvation and disease. I am appalled to see that the people of the Gaza Strip are now doomed to the same fate.
Ruth Tenne
London NW6
Al Jazeera clip
21 Jan 2008
Humanitarian impact of Israel's Blockade of Gaza
Click here
Hopeless in Gaza
As President Bush visits the Middle East, our correspondent reports on the plight of Palestinians trapped behind a wall ...
More at TIMESONLINE...
From MAAN News
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. MORE
Int'l community calls on Israel to end Gaza siege
www.chinaview.cn
2008-01-22 16:54:39
BEIJING, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- The international community asked Israel to end its newly strengthened siege on the Gaza strip, which is causing a looming humanitarian crisis in the region.
MORE