CONGRESSIONAL LETTERS SUBMITTED IN JANUARY
On January 22, Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) submitted a letter to President Obama, calling on him to "press for immediate relief for the citizens of Gaza". The letter specifically requests that the President "advocate for immediate improvements for Gaza" in access to clean water, food, agricultural materials, medicine and health care products, sanitation supplies, construction materials for repair and rebuilding, fuel and spare parts. It further seeks improvement in the ability of people as well as commercial and agricultural goods to move into and out of Gaza. The letter earned the signatures of 54 members of Congress.
CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFINGS
On January 20, Representatives Keith Ellison (D-MN) and Brian Baird (D-WA) participated in a Capitol Hill briefing sponsored by the New America Foundation that focused on the situation in Gaza one year after the conclusion of Israel’s attack on the Gaza Strip. They sat on a panel along with Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish, a Palestinian medical doctor who lost three of his daughters during the Israeli invasion; Eric Yellin, an Israeli resident of Sderot in southern Israel and the founder of a nonprofit organization called Other Voice; Uri Zaki, the Washington, DC director of B'Tselem, the Israeli information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories; and Amjad Atallah, director of the New America Foundation’s Middle East Task Force.
Each panelist spoke of his experience in Gaza and southern Israel and of the pressing need to alleviate the humanitarian crisis created by Israel’s attack on, and exacerbated by Israel’s continued blockade of, the Gaza Strip.
Congressman Ellison identified the siege of Gaza as a matter of national security for the United States and called upon members of Congress to stop identifying as either “pro-Israel” or “pro-Palestine,” and come to see themselves as pro-peace. He also urged his colleagues to travel to Gaza themselves as a means of raising the profile of the Gaza Strip in the United States.
Dr. Abdelaish spoke about the situation in very personal terms, recalling the lives and untimely death of three of his daughters. Despite his tragic loss, he remains committed to the eradication of hatred and the possibility of a better future for himself, his remaining children and the people of Gaza. “The antidote for hatred and revenge,” he said, “is the success [of the] children.” It is to these ends that he continues to work.
Eric Yellin shared his perspective as an Israeli citizen of Sderot who opposed the invasion. One month before the invasion, his organization, Other Voice, circulated and sent a petition to Israeli and Palestinian leaders, urging them to take advantage of the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel that, at the time, was still holding. He was harshly criticized by his peers, but believes, to this day, that the Israeli people do not actually believe the truth of what happened in Gaza. They cannot accept that their government and military are capable of causing such damage.
Uri Zaki gave an update on the humanitarian catastrophe that continues in Gaza, which includes high unemployment rates, only 8-10 hours a day of electricity and the reality that 20,000 Palestinian civilians remain homeless a year after the invasion. He spoke of the siege as a factor that adds to Israel’s security problem rather than as a legitimate security measure. He agreed with Yellin that the Israeli public is uneducated or indifferent in matters regarding Gaza. B’tselem is presently working to put a human face on the Gaza crisis by providing Gazans with video cameras which they can use to document daily life. Some of these videos have been shown on mainstream news channels in Israel.
Amjad Atallah also spoke of the siege as a matter of national security for the United States, as Gaza has taken on iconic status in much of the Muslim world and the global South. The world refuses to believe, he said, that the United States is incapable of pressuring Israel and Egypt to open their borders with Gaza. Rather, Atallah suggested that it was a lack of political will that allows the humanitarian crisis to continue, which inspires anger toward the United States around the world. All of the panelists agreed that the time had come for the United States to use its leverage to pressure Israel to end the blockade of the Gaza Strip.
