MAH Press Release regarding Gaza

As we count the hours remaining to usher the New Year, Palestinians in Gaza are counting the bombs falling in their neighborhoods and on their loved ones. The MAH -like other Muslim, Jewish and Christian organizations, and all people of conscience, condemn in the strongest possible term, the Israeli civilian carnage, the disproportionate violence, and the indiscriminate and collective punishment imposed on all the population of Gaza. We also condemn the ongoing Israeli blockade of humanitarian aid.

A Palestinian named Hamoudi from Tal elHawa said” Let it be known that in the 21st century this is happening while the whole world is watching but remains silent. I wonder how cheap Palestinian blood is.” Dr. Amin Asfour of Gaza City said “We're just waiting for the next bomb to fall and wondering whether it will hit us or the neighbors…..In the hospital, we are short on medicine…we do miss many supplies and the equipment we work with is really old ….”

Avi Bitton, an Israeli Citizen from Sderot, who is witnessing what is happening in Gaza, said:” why do we have to go through this process of killing and shedding blood first? Why can't we stop? Why do we need for them (Palestinians) to suffer so terribly, and I have no doubt that they are suffering more than us...”

We sympathize with these innocent civilians and demand that our government stop endorsing such aggression and to take immediate steps to end the immoral and illegal Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip that includes hospitals, medical centers, universities and homes and resulted to close to 400 deaths, including many women and children. Our government must take concrete actions to restore the flow of humanitarian aid to the civilian population in the Gaza Strip and to help reinstate the cease-fire that the Israeli newspaper Haaretz admits was “unilaterally violated when [Israel] blew up a tunnel”. We caution that failure to take strong steps to end the Israeli attacks and restore the cease-fire will only damage efforts to bring peace with justice to the Middle East, harm our nation’s image and interests worldwide and strengthen voices of extremism in the region.

We urge our president-elect Obama, to listen to people like us and to adopt a more even-handed Middle East policy that is in our nation’s, not Israel’s interest alone. “Hope & Change We Believe In” must deal with the core issue of peace with justice, support a just and comprehensive resolution to the conflict that takes into account the rights and responsibilities of all parties and give the Palestinians some hope of freedom from the Israeli occupation and supremacy. Yes, we know we have one president at a time, but where is he?? We haven’t heard from him or seen him since a month ago ducking a shoe in Iraq…..Just amazing how irrelevant he has been and continues to be and how the entire planet is in worst condition than it was 8 years ago.

We are urging the Muslim communities and all people of conscience across the United States to play a positive role in promoting peace by contacting their elected representatives and urge them to condemn and put an end to the Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.