What can you do for Gaza/Palestine? PLEASE SPREAD WIDELY

This logo was made by the University of California Gaza Solidarity Coalition (UCGSC) and they write: "We watched the world remain silent while Gaza was in flames. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA (UC) GAZA SOLIDARITY COALITION urges college students to stand up and speak out. Gaza needs our voices now." freegaza.org

Original version written by Dr. Mazin Qumsieh
this blog entry is undergoing regularely developments

So far hundreds of civilians have been killed in Gaza. Five sisters in one family, four other children in another home, two children on a cart drawn by a donkey. Universities, colleges, police stations, roads, apartment buildings were all targeted. The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian areas issued a statement that

"The Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip represent severe and massive violations of international humanitarian law as defined in the Geneva Conventions, both in regard to the obligations of an Occupying Power and in the requirements of the laws of war."

Twenty (and more) things to do to bring peace with justice:

1) First get the facts and then disseminate them. Here are some basic background information
http://www.btselem.org/english/Gaza_Strip
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article4933.shtml
http://www.mepeace.org/forum/topics/the-true-story-behind-this-war The true story behind this war
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/downloads/If%20Gaza%20falls.pdf If Gaza Falls
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10055.shtml Gaza massacres must spur us to action
http://gazasiege.org (I added this later)
http://www.ochaopt.org/gazacrisis (added by me later)
http://www.israel-stop.com/fr (added by me later - French - but many languages)
http://www.info-palestine.net (added by me later - French)
http://anotherworldispossiblenow.blogspot.com/2008/12/occupation-101.html
(added by me later: this film tries to explain the whole story from many perspectives)

2) Contact local media. Write letters to editors (usually 100-150 words) and longer op-eds (usually 600-800 words) for local newspapers. But also write to news departments in both print, audio, and visual media about their coverage. In the US http://www.congress.org/congressorg/dbq/media You can find media listings in your country using search engines like google.

3) Organize and join demonstrations in front of Israeli and Egyptian embassies or when not doable in front of your parliament, office of elected officials, and any other visible place (and do media work for it).

4) Hold a teach-in, seminar, public dialogue, documentary film viewing etc. this is straightforward: you need to decide venue, nature, if any speakers, and do some publicity (the internet helps).

5) Pass out flyers with facts and figures about Palestine and Gaza in your community (make sure also to mention its relevance to the audience: e.g, US taxpayers paying for the carnage, increase in world instability and economic uncertainty).

6) Put a Palestinian flag at your window.

7) Wear a Palestinian head scarf (Koufiya).

8) Wear Black arm bands (this helps start conversations with people).

9) Send direct aid to Gaza through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). http://www.un.org/unrwa/

10) Initiate boycotts, divestments and sanctions at all levels and including asking leaders to expel the Israeli ambassadors (an ambassador of an apartheid and rogue state). See Palestinian call http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10056.shtml

11) Work towards bringing Israeli leaders before war crime courts (actions along those lines in courts have stopped Israeli leaders from traveling abroad to some countries like Brigtain where they may face charges).

12) Calling upon all Israelis to demonstrate in front of their war ministry and to more directly challenge their government.

13) Do outreach: to neighbors and friends directly. Via Internet to a lot of others (you can join and post information to various listservs/groups).

14) Start your own activist group or join other local groups (simple search in your city with the word Palestine could identify candidate groups that have previously worked on issues of Palestine). Many have also been successful in at bringing coalitions from different constituencies in their local areas to work together (human rights group, social and civil activists, religious activists, etc).

15) Develop a campaign of sit-ins at government offices or other places where decision makers aggregate.

16) Do a group fast for peace one day and hold it in a public place.

17) Visit Palestine.

18) Support human rights and other groups working on the ground in Palestine.

19) Make large signs and display them at street corners and where ever people congregate.

20) Contact local churches, mosques and other houses of worship and ask them to take a moral stand.

added later (to be continued):

21) Boycott Israel and Israeli products:
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10056.shtml
http://www.bdsmovement.net
http://www.pacbi.org
USinvestments in Israel
http://www.boycottisraeligoods.org/modules11748.php
http://www.boycottisraelinternational.org (French)
http://boycottisraelnow.com/list.htm
http://www.bigcampaign.org
http://www.mylinkspage.com/israel.html

22) Contact elected and other political leaders in your country to urge them to apply pressure to end the attacks. In the US, contact the State Department at 202.647.5291, the White House 202-456-1111 the Egyptian Embassy 202.895.5400, Email (embassy@egyptembassy.net) and the Obama Transition Team 202-540-3000 (then press 2 to speak with a staff member).

23) Sign petitions for Gaza, e.g.
http://www.avaaz.org/en/gaza_time_for_peace/96.php?CLICK_TF_TRACK
(even if I promoted it before I am not sure if I would do it now ... )
http://www.petitiononline.com/freegaza/petition.html
http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?pni
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Israel-Sanctions
http://www.iacenter.org/gazapetition Ramsey Clark's Petition to stop the massacre in Gaza
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Suspend-EU-Israel-Trade-Agreement
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Israel-Sanctions
http://www.petitiononline.com/ampgaza1
http://www.petitiononline.com/Fr33Gaza/petition.html
http://www.petitiononline.com/EAFORD09/petition.html

24) Write and call people in Gaza

25) Work with other groups that do not share your political views (factionalism and excessive divisions within activist communities allowed those who advocate war to succeed).

26) Dedicate a certain time for activism for peace every day (1 hour) and think of more actions than what is listed above.

27) use IT-tools and web 2.0 tools
Unify your planing, communication and operation tools with
http://www.opennetworx.org/toro/resource/html?locale=de
http://www.ning.com such as http://palestine1network.ning.com
http://collanos.com
http://www.fiveforpalestine.org

Conferencing Tools
http://www.dimdim.com
http://elluminate.com/live/pd.html?rk=FEIJS6KJDYTCQIQP
http://www.talkingcommunities.com

Co-Documentation
http://www.dokuwiki.org/dokuwiki
http://sites.google.com/?pli=1

http://www.socialnetworkingarticles.com/2007/10/27/youtube-alternatives-sites-hosting-social-media-videos-video-clips

For support and contacts of people in Gaza or to volunteer, please contact the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People, via gaza@imemc.org, or call 989-607-9480 (from the US and Canada) or 972 2277 2018 (from other places)
or support http://www.actionpalestine.org/campaigns/do-something-for-gaza
http://www.map-uk.org
http://www.mecaforpeace.org
http://helpupa.com
Red Cross und Red Crescent
http://www.un.org/unrwa
http://www.medico.de
http://www.dec.org.uk


get updates and alternative news:

http://electronicintifada.net
http://www.flokli.ch/index.php?page=212
http://www.palestinechronicle.com/news.php
http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23gaza (international voices uncensored)
http://jaiku.com/channel/gaza News from and about Gaza
http://www.youtube.com/user/linktv
http://english.aljazeera.net
http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now Livestream
http://www.livestation.com/help you can download this tool for getting better broadcasting quality
http://www.democracynow.org
http://angryarab.blogspot.com
http://ingaza.wordpress.com/

for rough translation use: google translate