Gaza Crisis Continues, Peace Community Calls for Ceasefire, End to Blockade

Apparently, George Waldo Bush woke up just long enough Saturday to blame Hamas for the crisis in the Gaza Strip. Earlier, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was quoted in the press as saying "There is no humanitarian crisis in the Strip, and therefore there is no need for a humanitarian truce." Both government officials need to understand that they can no longer hope that the world citizenry will not know and understand the truth on the ground in Gaza.

In early December, it was well known in the peace community that the 1.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip were for months being systematically denied food, medicine, medical supplies, fuel, electricity, and other basic necessities by the Israeli government. In one example reported by Ali Abunumah, Palestinians were resorting to using animal feed for sustenance. The resulting humanitarian crisis has been widely condemned across the globe, even through the situation was not widely being reported in the American corporate media. Details of the humanitarian crisis -- and Israel's responsibility for this illegal collective punishment of the Palestinians -- has gotten global notice because of electronic outlets including the Internet, alternative media sources, and cell phones.

Peace supporters across the globe hit the streets in Europe, the Middle East, the U.S. and elsewhere opposing Israel's disproportionate military barrage on Gaza's Palestinian civilians and the blockade. The Greater Lansing's peace community (pictured above) shared these global sentiments at the weekly peace vigil at the Michigan Capitol Building on Friday, January 2, 2008. Photos of the peace vigil can be seen here. Video coverage of the peace vigil is provided below. Peace supporters are already planning to return next Friday (January 9, 2008) at the noontime vigil to again support the embattled Palestinian civilians trapped in the Gaza Strip. The Lansing peace supporters are calling on all combatants to adhere to an immediate ceasefire and for an end of the blockade of the Gaza Strip.

-- Rico Thomas Rico

Greater Lansing Peace Community

Supports Gaza Ceasefire, End to Blockade