Kucinich Urges Restoration of Humanitarian Aid to Gaza

[Tom Joad]

Washington, Jan 24 - Yesterday Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), along with 10 Members of Congress, sent a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urging her to exert her influence to lift the blockade of Gaza.

“The U.S. must exercise its role as the honest broker in the region to help lift the Israeli blockade of Gaza and to end the military occupation of the Palestinian territories. It is not possible for Gaza to live on emergency aid forever and Israelis, especially those in southern Israel, deserve to live without fear,” Kucinich said.

Gaza is home to 1.5 million Palestinians and is primarily dependent on Israel for its energy supply. The Gaza Strip border crossings have been closed since Thursday causing the blockade of fuel, food, medical supplies and water sanitation equipment. The World Food Program may suspend food distribution as early as today due to a lack of fuel for their trucks. The Red Cross has requested regular access to the territory to avert a total breakdown of health and sanitary services. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has placed the ultimate blame of the humanitarian crisis on Hamas, which has escalated their rocket attacks against Israel in the past ten days.

“Threatening the public health of 1.5 million people is not an effective or lawful means to ensure the security of Israel,” Kucinich said. “Collective punishment will not stop the rocket fire; it only creates a questionable “balance” of suffering on both sides of the border.

“The United States must support a viable peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis” Kucinich said. “The Administration has a responsibility to act as an honest broker of peace.”

http://kucinich.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=82513

You can read the full letter by going to this site, and then clicking the appropriate link.
http://endthesiege.blogspot.com/2008/01/congresspeople-to-sec-rice-end-blockade.html
AFSC blog, AFSC rocks, by the way.

This is a very good and powerful statement. So there are maybe a dozen members of Congress that oppose starving Gazans into submission. I'm impressed.

Here are the names of the congresspeople who stood up for human rights for the people of Gaza.
Neil Ambercrombie
Eddie Bernice Johnson
Raúl M. Grijalva
Maurice Hinchey
Betty McCollum
Jim Oberstar
John Conyers
Danny K. Davis
Eleanor Norton
Sam Farr
Dennis Kucinich

[kayecy]

1. Ten Congressmen ignore AIPAC pressure?

“The United States must support a viable peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis” Kucinich said. “The Administration has a responsibility to act as an honest broker of peace.”
Text

You mean 10 Congressmen ignored AIPAC pressure?

Tom, you really shouldn't have printed their names, goodness knows what intimidation they might have to suffer. Bet they lose their seats at the next election!