EMERGENCY PICKET: END THE SIEGE ON GAZA!

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Date: Friday Jan. 25
Time: 5pm
Place: Israeli Consulate at 180 Bloor St. West
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At approximately 8pm on Sunday, January 20th, the
Gaza Strip power plant ran out of fuel and shut down,
plunging the Gaza Strip into darkness. The closure of
the Gaza power plant, in addition to Israel's
continuing tightened siege of the Gaza Strip, will
have a catastrophic effect on the 1.5 million
residents of Gaza, who are already suffering chronic
shortages of fuel, medicine and some basic food
stuffs.

After months of increasingly harsh sanctions, Israel
imposed a total closure on the Strip's border
crossings, even preventing the delivery of
humanitarian aid.  Meanwhile the Israeli army
continues its attacks on the imprisoned Palestinian
people of Gaza, demolishing homes, factories and
agricultural land and carrying out arrests.  In the
week of Jan 10 –16 alone, the Israeli military killed
26 Palestinians, and wounded 44 others in Gaza. Fatal
bombing raids continue, killing Palestinian men, women
and children.  United Nations Special Rapporteur on
Human Rights, John Dugard said “Gaza is a prison and
Israel seems to have thrown away the key.”

Israel is counting on our apathy to see how far they
can go on starving the people of Gaza – so we need to
act, be loud and clear – that the collective
punishment of Palestinians is a crime against
humanity.

Come out to this picket – Stand with the people of
Gaza!

Toronto picket organized by Palestine House in
conjunction with the Jewish Women’s Committee to End
the Occupation weekly Friday pickets.

Endorsed by: Canadian Arab Federation (CAF), Coalition
Against Israeli Apartheid

To endorse this emergency picket please email:
info@palestinehouse.com

FACTS ABOUT THE SEIGE ON GAZA 
To date, IOF have closed all border crossings to the
Gaza Strip for almost 18 months continuously. The
total siege imposed by IOF on the Gaza Strip has had a
disastrous impact on the humanitarian situation in
Gaza, and has violated the economic and social rights
of the Palestinian civilian population, particularly
their rights to appropriate living conditions, health
and education. It has also paralyzed most economic
sectors. Furthermore, severe restrictions have been
imposed on the movement of the Palestinian civilian
population. The siege of the Gaza Strip has severely
impacted the flow of food, medical supplies and other
necessities, such as fuel, construction materials and
raw materials for various economic sectors. After the
Hamas' takeover of Gaza in June 2007, IOF further
tightened the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip, and the
living and economic conditions of Palestinian
civilians in Gaza have subsequently deteriorated. On
19 September 2007, the Israeli government declared the
Gaza Strip “A hostile entity” and measures of
collective punishment against the civilian population
of Gaza escalated from this point. Since September
2007, the Israeli Government have severely limited the
goods exported to the Gaza Strip to just nine basic
materials. Consequently, local markets have run out of
many goods, causing sharp increases in prices, which
in some cases have amounted to 500%.
. 69 is the death toll in the Gaza strip due to lack
of medical drugs or due to Israel preventing patients
from leaving for medical treatment.

. ZERO will be the stock balance of 360 basic drugs at
the Ministry of Health stores in Gaza by February 2008
due to the Israeli siege
. ZERO is the stock balance of 60 blood bank supplies
and lab materials at the Ministry of Health in Gaza
due to the Israeli siege
. 624 students are prevented from leaving Gaza to
their universities due to the Israeli siege.
. 900 workers lost their jobs in the light drinks
factories alone due to the Israeli siege on Gaza

. 25,000 workers lost their jobs in the textile sector
due to the Israeli siege on Gaza

. 6,000 workers lost their jobs in the furniture
factories in Gaza due to the Israeli siege

. 120,000 workers lost their jobs inside the green
line due to the Israeli siege on Gaza