In spite of Obama’s historic speech in Cairo early last year finding Israel’s siege “intolerable,” the siege remains intact and deprivations worsened by Israel’s three week attack a year ago continue. At least 1,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians and roughly 300 children were killed. Israel has since ignored Washington pleas to permit sufficient humanitarian aid and building materials into the Strip.
Now, two Congressmen, Rep. Jim McDermott and Rep. Keith Ellison, have acted to create a letter to President Obama calling attention to the devastating humanitarian impact of Israel’s illegal blockade of the occupied Gaza Strip
54 Members of Congress have signed on, irrespective of possible repercussions from the Israel Lobby, AIPAC, in particular.
This announcement from the Campaign to End the Occupation read,
Unfortunately, it’s not too often that we get the opportunity to thank Members of Congress for doing the right thing. That’s why it’s so important to do so when they do something that we ask of them.
On January 21, 2010, 54 Representatives sent President Obama a letter that termed Israel’s blockade of the occupied Gaza Strip as “de facto collective punishment” and called on the United States to press Israel “for immediate relief for the citizens of Gaza.”
To read the entire text of this “Dear Colleague” letter, organized by Rep. Jim McDermott and Rep. Keith Ellison, and to see the full list of signatories, please CLICK HERE.
A list of the Congressmen signatories is at the end of the letter.
