Jews demonstrate on Dec 2 against siege of Gaza

Jews across the US, Israel and world
demonstrate on December 2 for an
end to Israel’s siege of Gaza

Jewish Voice for Peace calls on US to support international peacekeepers in Gaza, withhold aid until Israel allows Gazans to rebuild their economy

For info about local demonstrations or JVP’s policy positions, contact:
Mitchell Plitnick 510-465-1777 (office), 510-484-6472 (cell)  
Cecilie Surasky 510-410-4202 cell

Friday December 1, 2006 (Oakland, CA) - American peace group Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) will hold demonstrations in cities across the United States on Saturday, December 2  calling on the United States government to pressure Israel to end its strangling control of the Gaza Strip. The demonstrations are part of a worldwide effort orchestrated by Israeli human rights groups to call attention to the ongoing crisis in Gaza. Demonstrations are planned in nearly 100 cities around the world.

Mitchell Plitnick, JVP’s Director of Education and Policy, said that in addition to welcoming the recent cease-fire, many Jews in Israel and around the world want to see Israel allow passage in and out of Gaza, release the tax funds it has withheld from the Palestinian economy and allow Gazans the freedom of use of their air and water space.

“We applaud the cease-fire, shaky though it may be,” Plitnick said. “But it only delays the inevitable resumption of violence if the people of Gaza cannot rebuild their shattered economy. They need to be able to fish and to move goods and people in and out of the resource-barren Strip, and they need Israel to repair the power station they destroyed in late June. Without that plant, Gazans have sporadic electricity and that has far-reaching effects on sanitation, health conditions and the ability to deliver adequate medical care.”

JVP says that the United States must push Israel to take these needed steps and more. Israel has withheld tax revenues that normally amount to some $60 million per month from the Palestinian economy since the election of Hamas in January. They have simultaneously clamped down on the Palestinians’ ability to export goods, creating a major economic crisis in Gaza. JVP calls for the US to resume its own aid programs to the Palestinians in addition to pressuring Israel to release the withheld tax funds.
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Jewish Voice for Peace is a national grassroots organization dedicated to promoting a US foreign policy in the Middle East based on democracy, human rights and respect for international law. JVP is a voice for the silent majority of American Jews who polls consistently show support a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and an end to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. For information about the conflict and expert sources go to www.JewishVoiceforPeace.org.

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