Hope for Gaza ~ Update

The Audacity of Hope, the U.S. boat of Freedom Flotilla II, is now sitting outside Athens while being held by Greek authorities. Some passenger members, including Medea Benjamin and Ann Wright, are still on board.

Benjamin and Wright say they are in dismal, restricted conditions. Benjamin wrote in an e-mail that they are enclosed by gates and razor wire and baking in 95-degree heat. She also said:

Press are not allowed in; visitors are restricted and must be pre-approved. Our Embassy has refused to help us. Worse yet, when we try to protest at our Embassy, the Greek police detain us and take us to jail — on orders, they tell us, from the U.S. Embassy.

Ann Wright along with Regina Carey put out an Action Alert on USTOGAZA:

Athens, July 12, 2011, At 10 am Greek time today, the shore electricity was cut off to the Audacity of Hope, the U.S. Boat to Gaza, leaving us with no power. The boat has been imprisoned at the US Embassy/Greek Coast Guard dock, near Piraeus, Greece, just outside of Athens, since we tried to sail to Gaza on July 1. The Greek Coast Guard intercepted our small boat and hauled us into this compound.

 It is over 100 degrees inside the boat, and a Russian ship is spewing grain and dust over the entire area as it unloads grain. In addition, the off-loading noise the ship is making is above environmentally acceptable limits, sounding like a bad rock concert playing at the back of our boat! Six women are staying on board to protect the Audacity of Hope, since two boats heading to Gaza were already sabotaged in an attempt to prevent us from sailing to Gaza. Four of us are over 60. The Greek naval facility is co-located with a U.S. Embassy compound, which has one warehouse exclusively for the U.S. government, as well as a ramp for loading vehicles onto a ship. It also has a parking area for the wrecked cars of Americans who have been involved in traffic accidents plus a secure warehouse compound behind the ubiquitous high fence topped with razor wire and signs printed in both English and Greek in the U.S. government block style lettering.

 The Greek Coast Guard is probably caught in the middle and may be ready to release us, but government politics seems to want to keep us in port to appease the Israeli government, since the occupation of Palestine has been outsourced to the Greeks.

Folks are being asked to contact the Greek Embassy and the U.S. State Department.

I find it despicable at how Palestinians are treated, including those of Gaza, and how those are treated who, in solidarity with them, are trying to help them. It seems to me that the tail of Israel is wagging the dog of the United States and against its own citizens.

Gaza Stripped

WHERE IS GAZA? 
The Gaza Strip (also known as Gaza) is a coastal strip of land along the Mediterranean Sea, 45 km (25 miles) long and at most 10 km (6 miles) wide. It borders Egypt to it south-west and Israel to its north and east.


WHO LIVES THERE?

Nearly 1.5 million Palestinians live in Gaza, many of them concentrated in one-half of the territory. In this area, the population density is nearly 20,000 people per square mile, one of the highest in the world. Over one-half of its residents are children. In addition, with an annual growth rate of nearly 3.5%, Gaza's young and fertile population is projected to reach over 2 million people in 8 years.

More than three quarters of Gaza's residents are refugees who were driven from their homes during past wars with Israel (in 1948 and 1967), and their descendants. Israel has permanently barred their return. Over half of these refugees still reside in Gaza's eight refugee camps.

Overall, there are over five million Palestinians living in Israel and the occupied territories of West Bank and Gaza, while a quarter of them live in Gaza which is 1.5% of the whole territory. Most Gazans live on less than $2 a day with deteriorating health and malnutrition, and up to 80 percent are dependent on food aid, according to humanitarian groups.

WHO GOVERNS GAZA?
Egypt, which governed the Gaza Strip from 1948-1967 controls the southern border between the Gaza strip and the Sinai desert (however the de-facto control of this border rests with Israel). The Gaza Strip is not recognized internationally as part of any sovereign country. Israel, which governed the Gaza Strip from 1967-2005, still controls the strip's airspace, territorial water and offshore maritime access, as well as its side of the Gaza-Israeli border. This continued control has allowed the Israeli state, which opposes Hamas, to control the inflow and outflow of multiple types of resources, including food, electricity, water, fuel, import/export goods and humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.

The Gaza Strip is currently claimed by the Palestinian Authority as part of the Palestinian territories, though following the June 2007 battle of Gaza, actual control of the area is in the hands of the de facto government dominated by Hamas. However, Israel still remains the ultimate power controlling territorial access and flow of all resources to the Gaza Strip.

Prior to Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005, the United States considered the Gaza Strip to be an Israel-occupied territory. Following the withdrawal, no official US government statement has been made on the status of the Strip. However, the CIA World Factbook on the Gaza Strip (an official U.S. government publication), which was last updated on December 18th, 2008, continues to list the Gaza Strip as an Israeli-occupied territory.

--Some of the Gaza Facts from the Gaza Freedom March website


Q. What is Gaza stripped of?
A. The people of Gaza are stripped of human rights.

Hope for Gaza

The U.S. boat, Audacity of Hope, a member of Freedom Fotilla II, is trying to set sail from Athens, Greece bound for Gaza while armed with letters of hope for the people of Gaza from those in the United States.

The boat has been prevented from leaving Athens by Greek authorities. Just today the captain of the boat was arrested  over the ship's "seaworthiness" and for jeopardizing passengers' safety. Those associated with the boat believe the delays have been due to the interference of Israel and the United States.


The Audacity of Hope is one of nine boats of Freedom Flotilla II. The current flotilla is commemorating the flotilla of a year ago in which Israeli forces attacked the Turkish boat the “Mavi Marmara” on May 27, 2010  resulting in the deaths of nine passengers, one of them an American citizen. 


Among the boat's passengers are Medea Benjamin, a co-founder of CODEPINK: Women for Peace and Ret. Col. Ann Wright who has also been associated with CODEPINK. Benjamin has been blogging of this endeavor at CODEPINK's blog, PINKtank.


For more information, see the official website: USTOGAZA, CODEPINK's Gaza Freedom March website, and  the website of  Al Jazeera English.


I have been very concerned about the people of Gaza who have been denied justice, freedom, and peace. They are being treated against International Law, especially the Geneva Conventions. They are living or surviving in extremely dire circumstances. Many, especially children, are suffering from malnutrition. They have been cut off from the rest of the world while living in one of the world's most densely-populated places. They are human beings who are being treated like abused animals in a cage. I have formally endorsed the mission of the Audacity of Hope at the website USTOGAZA. Hope shouldn't have to be so audacious and bringing it shouldn't have to be either.


The Audacity of Hope should be allowed to sail.

Obama's Middle East and N. Africa

I have come to believe that my country, the United States of America, is two-faced. We tend to have great values, such as human rights, but tend to act toward other countries, and sometimes against our own people, in a completely contrary manner. I mentioned before that the Native Americans used to say, especially in those "Westerns" of my younger days, that the white man speaks with forked tongue. The Native Americans certainly experienced first hand our contrariness.

In their post for CODEPINK's blog, PINKtank, Medea Benjamin, a co-founder of both CODEPINK and Global Exchange, and Charles Davis, an independent journalist, seem to be saying the same thing about President Obama's major speech on May 20 at the State Department regarding the Middle East and North Africa. We speak of and commend non-violence, but act in a completely different manner.

Here are some excerpts ~

**Given that President Obama daily authorizes the firing of hellfire missiles and the dropping of cluster bombs in places such as Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen, it was awful odd seeing him wax eloquent this week about the “moral force of non-violence” in places like Egypt and Tunisia. But there he was, the commander-in-chief of the largest empire in history, praising the power of peaceful protest in countries with repressive leaders backed by his own administration.

Were we unfamiliar with his actual policies – more than doubling the troops in Afghanistan, dramatically escalating a deadly drone war in Pakistan and unilaterally bombing for peace in Libya – it might have been inspiring to hear a major head of state reject violence as a means to political ends. Instead, we almost choked on the hypocrisy.

* *Yet even for all his talk of human rights and how he “will not tolerate aggression across borders” – yes, a U.S. president said this – Obama didn’t even feign concern about Saudi Arabia’s repressive regime invading neighboring Bahrain to put down a pro-democracy movement there. In fact, the words “Saudi Arabia” were never uttered.

**The president also didn’t deviate from his policy of “unshakable” support for Israeli militarism, typified by his administration’s efforts to safeguard the Jewish state from accountability for its war crimes in Gaza – crimes that left some 1,400 Palestinians dead – and his determination to hand an already wealthy nation more than $3 billion a year in military aid, even as it flaunts the “peace process” and colonizes ever more Palestinian land. 

**Obama’s remarks on the killing of Osama bin Laden were likewise delivered with a complete lack of self-awareness. Describing the latter as a “mass murderer,” Obama – who since taking office has the blood of hundreds of Afghan and Pakistani civilians on his hands – said bin Laden’s philosophy of using bloodshed to achieve desired political changes had been discredited “through the moral force of non-violence” that has swept the region. 

You can read the full post here:  Obama Should Follow His Own Advice on the ‘Moral Force’ of Non-Violence | PINKtank.


Somehow: May Peace Prevail in the Middle East and North Africa. May Peace Prevail in United States Foreign Policy.

Memorial Day~2010

This is proving to be a noteworthy Memorial Day.

US military member deaths in Afghanistan have now hit 1000. Icasualties.org calculates 1007. That site also states that 4400 US military members have died in Iraq now. I also note that many Afghan and Iraqi militants and many, many more civilians have died because of our presence and actions in their countries. CostofWar.com of the National Priorities Project declared on Sunday that total dollar cost of the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq since 2001 has now hit $1 Trillion.

Al-Jazeera reported that Israel attacked today a flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza and killed 19 activists on board, injuring dozens. CODEPINK: Women for Peace strong condemned the attack and called on President Obama and Congress to issue a STRONG CONDEMNATION of the "abominable" attack and for it to be accompanied by action: an immediate cut off of all aid to Israel and sustained pressure on Israel to lift the siege of Gaza. “We need our leaders to show their commitment to peace by condemning this act, launching an immediate inquiry, calling on Israel to lift the siege of Gaza, and supporting an immediate halt to arms supplies for Israel,” said Medea Benjamin of CODEPINK, who has travelled four times to Gaza. For more information on the flotilla, see the Gaza Freedom March, Free Gaza, and  Witness Gaza.com which has video from the ship.

May Peace Prevail in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in Israel-Palestine, and in the United States and in its foreign policy.  MAY PEACE PREVAIL ON EARTH! I DECLARE WORLD PEACE. It is a matter of life and death.

More on Gaza, Carter & CODEPINK

Here is a final follow-up and update to my previous two entries.

Ann Wright is a 29-year US Army/Army Reserves veteran who retired as a Colonel and was a US diplomat. She resigned her diplomatic post in March 2003 in opposition to the war in Iraq. She is now associated with CODEPINK: Women for Peace and has been with the CODEPINK delegations to Gaza. She has had two recent articles on those delegations posted on Common Dreams.

The one published on June 15 was entitled, Israeli Police and Military Brutalize Peaceful Protesters at Netanyahu’s Speech. There she detailed the treatment CODEPINK delegation members received when they unfurled several pink banners that read "Free Gaza" and "End the Occupation " outside of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent foreign policy speech at Tel Aviv University. She wrote of Tighe Barry, a male activist with CODEPINK, who ended up in the hospital from injuries and an asthma attack. Barry himself wrote in e-mail to CODEPINK members, “During my short visit, I was tear gassed by Israeli soldiers while joining a Palestinian protest against the apartheid wall in the West Bank town of Bi'lin. I was beaten with an M-16 by soldiers when we were peacefully protesting Prime Minister Netanyahu.”

Ann Wright’s article of June 18 was entitled, President Carter and Citizen Activists Witness Destruction in Gaza. Here are some excerpts of that article:

I was in Gaza the week before President Carter arrived, my third trip to Gaza in three months. Organized by CODEPINK: Women for Peace, we took 66 persons from ten nations and 18 American states to Gaza through the Rafah, Egypt border crossing in late May. Three additional groups totaling 73 persons led by delegates from CODEPINK's March, 2009 International Women's Day 60 person delegation also entered Gaza in late May through the Rafah, Egypt crossing. CODEPINK also took 45 persons in early June from three nations to Israel, in an unsuccessful attempt to cross into Gaza via the Erez, Israel border crossing.

…

Carter said, "Last week, a group of Israelis and Americans tried to cross into Gaza through Erez, bringing toys and children's playground equipment - slides, swings, kites, and magic castles for your children. They were stopped at the gate and prevented from coming. I understand even paper and crayons are treated as 'security hazards' and not permitted to enter Gaza. I sought an explanation for this policy in Israel, but did not receive a satisfactory answer - because there is none...."

CODEPINK's delegation in late May that entered Gaza through the Rafah, Egypt crossing was successful in breaking the blockade and brought three sets of playground equipment and toys and a variety of educational materials to the kids of Gaza.

On the governmental diplomatic front there has been a bit of good news. The Israeli newspaper, Ha’aretz, revealed, on June 18, that the United States is putting pressure on Israel to end its Gaza blockade:

The United States has stepped up pressure on Israel regarding the Gaza Strip: Three weeks ago it sent Jerusalem a diplomatic note officially protesting Gaza policy and demanding a more liberal opening of the border crossings to facilitate reconstruction.

U.S. and Israeli sources say the note was followed by a verbal communication clarifying that the Obama administration thinks Israel's linkage of the case of abducted soldier Gilad Shalit and the opening of the crossings was not constructive.

The note was delivered to Israel after a decision by senior U.S. officials including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and special Mideast envoy George Mitchell. The latter discussed the contents of the note during his visit to Israel last week.

U.S. demands on Israel's Gaza policy were also raised Wednesday during talks between Clinton and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who is on an official visit to Washington.

It seems that the U.S. is demanding improvements in the import of food and medicine, the transfer of cash through banks, and the import and export of goods.

Carter in Gaza

Former Pres. Jimmy Carter has been in the Middle East. On Tues. June 16, he toured Gaza where he held a press conference with Hamas P.M. Ismail Haniyeh.

Since Carter's visit to Gaza was not in local papers, here are some news excerpts:

From CNN via CommonDreams:

Among the sites he visited was the American school that was destroyed by the bombings Israel initiated in response to rocket attacks launched from Gaza into southern Israel.

"It is very distressing to me. I have to hold back tears when I see the deliberate destruction that has been raked against your people.

"I come to the American school which was educating your children, supported by my own country. I see it's been deliberately destroyed by bombs from F16s made in my country and delivered to the Israelis. I feel partially responsible for this -- as must all Americans and all Israelis," Carter said at a news conference.

"The only way to avoid this tragedy happening again is to have genuine peace," he added, pointing out that many Palestinians are now fighting each other in the West Bank and Gaza because of their affiliations with Hamas or Fatah.

"It's very important that Palestinians agree with each other, to cooperate and stop attacking each other and to build a common approach to an election that I hope to witness and observe next January the 25th."

After the briefing, Carter headed to a graduation ceremony for students who completed a human rights curriculum provided by UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.

"The human rights curriculum is teaching children about their rights and also about their responsibilities," Carter said in his speech to graduates.

In his speech to graduates, Carter said bombings, tanks and a continuing economic siege have brought death, destruction, pain and suffering to Gaza. "Tragically, the international community largely ignores the cries for help, while the citizens of Gaza are treated more like animals than human beings."

"The responsibility for this terrible human rights crime lies in Jerusalem, Cairo, Washington, and throughout the international community," Carter said.

From Al-Jazeera English:

"This is holy land for us all and my hope is that we can have peace ... all of us are children of Abraham," the former US president said during a joint news conference with Ismail Haniya, the deposed Hamas Palestinian prime minister, in Gaza City.

Following a tour of the area to see the effects of Israel's offensive, Carter said: "My primary feeling today is one of grief and despair and an element of anger when I see the destruction perpetrated against innocent people in January.

He said the Palestinians had been treated "like animals" and the deprivations faced by them in Gaza were unique in history.

...

The former president said ... that he would be reporting his findings from his trip to Gaza and the Middle East back to Barack Obama, the US president.

...

Ayman Mohyeldin, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Gaza, said: "The symbolism [of the visit] is important, raising the issue of the suffering of the Palestinian people through the international media following Carter through Gaza."

Carter is believed to have delivered a note to Haniyeh from the parents of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit, who has been held since 2006.

Jacky Rowland, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Jerusalem, said: "The Israelis will take from Carter what he can offer, for example, the fact that he was able to carry a letter from the family of Gilad Schalit, a letter which will be presumably delivered to Schalit.

"But his criticism won't be taken that seriously given that he is not speaking on behalf of the US administration."

Mohyeldin said that Carter had earlier met with families of Palestinian prisoners, including an eight-year-old girl who had never met her father as he has been in an Israeli jail since she was born.

"So he [Carter] is taking back with him a letter from the Palestinian people to give to Israeli officials, so certainly in that capacity he is also acting as a semi-official mediator between Palestinians and Israelis," Mohyeldin said.

From the Institute for Public Accuracy via CommonDreams:

WASHINGTON - June 16 - The British newspaper the Guardian reports today that Jimmy Carter, who has been in Israel and just met with top Hamas officials in Gaza, said of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's recent speech: "My opinion is he raised many new obstacles to peace that had not existed under previous prime ministers. ... He still apparently insists on expansion of existing settlements, he demands that the Palestinians and the Arabs recognize Israel as a Jewish state, although 20 percent of its citizens here are not Jews. This is a new demand."

Cater also stated: "To me, the most grievous circumstance is the maltreatment of the people in Gaza, who are literally starving and have no hope at this time. ... They're being treated like savages. The alleviation of their plight to some means I think would be the most important [thing] the Israeli PM could do."

Let My People Go!

When I was growing up, I was fond of a genre of songs that at that time was referred to as “Negro spiritual.” I guess today we would call these songs African-American spirituals or slave songs. I found out later that many of these songs talking about Israelite bondage in Egypt and the yearning for the Promised Land were actually songs of code for the enslaved of the Old South of our United States.

I have been thinking lately of the of the one that has these lyrics:

Let My People Go

When Israel was in Egypt's land:
Let my people Go!
Oppress'd so hard they could not stand,

Let my people Go!

CHORUS: Go down Moses, 'way down in
Egypt's land:
Tell ol' Pharaoh, Let my people go.

The Lord told Moses what to do:
Let my people GO!
To lead the children of Israel through,
Let my people Go! CHORUS

Your foes shall not before you stand:
Let my people Go!
And you'll possess fair Canaan's land,
Let my people Go! CHORUS

I believe without a doubt:
Let my people Go!
A Christian has a right to shout,
Let my people Go! CHORUS

Now the reason this song has recently come to mind is that 1) CODEPINK: Women for Peace has recently had and now has a delegation to the people of Israeli-Occupied Gaza, especially the children, 2) President Obama recently delivered a major speech at Cairo University addressed specifically to the Arab and Muslim worlds and 3) Pres. Obama’s envoy to the Middle East, former Sen. George Mitchell is to be in the area this week.

Beginning with the middle, a portion of President Obama’s speech in Cairo on June 4 was given to addressing the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Here are the relevant excerpts:

The Holy Koran teaches that whoever kills an innocent is as -- it is as if he has killed all mankind. And the Holy Koran also says whoever saves a person, it is as if he has saved all mankind.

…

On the other hand, it is also undeniable that the Palestinian people -- Muslims and Christians -- have suffered in pursuit of a homeland. For more than 60 years they've endured the pain of dislocation. Many wait in refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza, and neighboring lands for a life of peace and security that they have never been able to lead. They endure the daily humiliations -- large and small -- that come with occupation. So let there be no doubt: The situation for the Palestinian people is intolerable. And America will not turn our backs on the legitimate Palestinian aspiration for dignity, opportunity, and a state of their own.

…

At the same time, Israelis must acknowledge that just as Israel's right to exist cannot be denied, neither can Palestine's. The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. This construction violates previous agreements and undermines efforts to achieve peace. It is time for these settlements to stop.

And Israel must also live up to its obligation to ensure that Palestinians can live and work and develop their society. Just as it devastates Palestinian families, the continuing humanitarian crisis in Gaza does not serve Israel's security; neither does the continuing lack of opportunity in the West Bank. Progress in the daily lives of the Palestinian people must be a critical part of a road to peace, and Israel must take concrete steps to enable such progress.

…

Too many tears have been shed. Too much blood has been shed. All of us have a responsibility to work for the day when the mothers of Israelis and Palestinians can see their children grow up without fear; when the Holy Land of the three great faiths is the place of peace that God intended it to be; when Jerusalem is a secure and lasting home for Jews and Christians and Muslims, and a place for all of the children of Abraham to mingle peacefully together as in the story of Isra, when Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed, peace be upon them, joined in prayer.

On the morning of Pres. Obama’s speech, members of CODEPINK delivered to the U.S. embassy in Cairo two items that were accepted by embassy staff members. In a tremendous act of citizen diplomacy, the first was a CODEPINK-initiated letter from Hamas addressed to the President inviting him to visit Gaza. The letter ended this way:

The International Court of Justice stated in July 2004 that the whole of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem are occupied Palestinian territories designated for Palestinian self-determination, and that the Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories are illegal.
Not one of the 15 judges sitting on the highest judicial body in the world dissented from these principles.

The main human rights organizations in the world, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have issued position papers supporting the right of the Palestinian refugees to return and compensation.

Each year in the United Nations General Assembly nearly every country in the world has supported these principles for resolving the Israel-Palestine conflict. Every year the Arab League puts forth a peace proposal based on these principles for resolving the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Leading human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch have also stated that Israel’s siege of Gaza is a form of collective punishment and therefore illegal under international law.
We in the Hamas Government are committed to pursuing a just resolution to the conflict not in contradiction with the international community and enlightened opinion as expressed in the International Court of Justice, the United Nations General Assembly, and leading human rights organizations. We are prepared to engage all parties on the basis of mutual respect and without preconditions.

However, our constituency needs to see a comprehensive paradigm shift that not only commences with lifting the siege on Gaza and halts all settlement building and expansion but develops into a policy of evenhandedness based on the very international law and norms we are prodded into adhering to.

Again, we welcome you to Gaza which would allow you to see firsthand our ground zero. Furthermore, it would enhance the US position; enabling you to speak with new credibility and authority in dealing with all the parties.

Very Truly Yours,
Dr. Ahmed Yousef
Deputy of the Foreign Affairs Ministry
Former Senior Political Advisor
to Prime Minister Ismael Hanniya

The second item CODEPINK delivered was a petition of 10,000 signatures, including mine, asking President Obama to visit and witness Gaza. That afternoon, during the speech, CODEPINK was outside of Cairo University with a giant pink banner that read in both English and Arabic, "Obama Stop Funding Israeli War Crimes”.

In a commentary that included her reactions to the President’s speech, Fatimah Shalash, a Lexington Palestinian-American, wrote in the June 7 Lexington Herald-Leader:

The homemade rockets used by Palestinians are pebbles compared to Israel's million-dollar weapons funded by U.S. tax dollars. The U.S. gives $7 million a day to Israel. In early February, it had already given Israel at least $2.55 billion in military aid for Fiscal Year 2009.

Obama did not go into detail of what violence Israel has transformed that money into, nor its war crimes against the Palestinians. He did not speak of the sleeping children and old women who have died in attacks on Palestine.

She ended:

Unfortunately, Israel is repeating the cycle of what happened to its own people. It oppresses Palestinians every day with indiscriminate killing, blocks humanitarian aid to civilians, builds walls to cut them off, and jails men based solely on their ethnicity. Violence is not the answer. Yet, it has been Israel's own answer over and over, and America has paid for it. At least 6,348 Palestinians and 1,072 Israelis have been killed since September 29, 2000. There is no justification for this violence. As Americans, we must demand an end to it. If you think the Palestine-Israel conflict does not concern you, you are wrong. This is your money and your country.

Regarding the mentioned spiritual, I do believe the tables have been turned. The Israeli heirs of those Israelites are now oppressing and holding the Palestinians in bondage, especially those in Gaza. President Obama did not visit the enclave next to Egypt when he was in the region. No member of his administration has been there to see what our military aid has inflicted. As former Sen. George Mitchell, the president’s envoy, is in the region this week, he should go see the destruction from the recent Israeli war and ongoing bondage that is there.

The Palestinians, as well as the Israelis, are God’s people. The peoples of the three main faiths of the Land are all spiritual children of Abraham. President Obama should firmly tell the Israeli pharaoh to let the people go.

End the Occupation
End the Seige
Open the borders
Set ‘em free