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The Israel Challenge
From the Palestine
Solidarity Campaign:
Take ‘The Israel Challenge’ and
Help Margaret Beckett See the
Light
*Turn off your power supply at the mains
*Turn off your water supply at the mains
*Stop using all forms of transportation
*Stop going to work, school or college
*Reduce your food intake to a minimum and
eat sporadically
*Ask your neighbour to play loud music all
through the night
Do this until we
tell you to stop!
If you take the challenge, you will have
some idea of the conditions faced by thousands of Gazans right
now.
If you can't stomach the 'Israel Challenge',
then we ask you to send a tealight/candle
to Foreign Minister Margaret Beckett now, asking her to
forward it to the people of Gaza.
She has refused to condemn the Israeli attack
against Gaza – maybe thousands of tealights will make her
see the light.
The Rt. Hon. Margaret Beckett
Foreign Secretary
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
King Charles Street
London SW1A 2AH
During the early hours of 28 June 2006, the
Israeli Occupation Force launched a ground offensive in Southern
Gaza. As part of the assault, the Israeli Air Force attacked three
bridges and the Gaza City power station, cutting power to much
of the area.
The transformer station is also used to help
pump water from the water network to apartments in Gaza. As the
power has been severed, the water cannot be pumped and Gazans
are unable to access water. As a result, some 860,000 residents
in Gaza are currently without electricity and running water.
The situation is further exacerbated by the
use of sonic booms, whereby low flying planes break the sound
barrier over Gaza to fulfill Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's order
that no one should be able to sleep at night in Gaza.
According to The Palestinian Environmental
NGOs Network (Pengon):
The public health and safety and environmental
hazards stemming from the damage caused to infrastructure as a
result of this military operation include: water shortages contamination
of any remaining drinking water uncontrolled discharge and flow
of untreated sewage in the streets, resulting in groundwater pollution
pollution of agricultural land which Gazans will be unable to
cultivate to harvest crops, negatively impacting their earning
power damage to marine life as untreated wastewater flows into
the sea migration of fish to other parts of the coast, resulting
in a reduction in the number of fish caught and, concomitantly,
money earned by Gazan fishermen direct exposure to untreated wastewater
in open systems indirect human health risks due to the consumption
of polluted crops and fish an increase in waterborne acute and
infectious diseases as a result of additional viruses, bacteria
and protozoa in the water. These are likely to cause serious illnesses
ranging from gastroenteritis and cholera to liver failure and
death.
Once again the British Government remains silent in the face of
the latest round of collective punishment inflicted on the people
of the Occupied Territories
Palestine
Solidarity Campaign
Box BM PSA
London WC1N 3XX
Tel: 020 7700 6192
Fax: 020 7609 7779
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