Future:Media:Change

Before you make that New Year’s Resolution (and even if you don’t make them) you can do one small thing that could make a difference to the people of Gaza. A year ago Israel launched a military offensive on Gaza, destroying and damaging thousands of homes and some schools and hospitals. This January the people of Gaza are still unable to rebuild their lives because of an Israeli imposed blockade.

While Israel is allowing a some food items to enter, the Government is not allowing anyone, including the United Nations and other humanitarian agencies, to bring in cement, glass, and other simple building materials to rebuild homes, schools and hospitals.

Here’s something you can do right now - send a New Year’s message to the UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband asking him to make it his New Year’s Resolution to help bring an end to the blockade of Gaza and get vital supplies through so Gazans can rebuild their lives. Please make it your New Year’s Resolution to pass this on to ten people you know. We need to deliver a global outcry that one year on people in Gaza are left without essential tools and materials they need to start to rebuild their lives.

“Gazans must be allowed to redevelop intensive agriculture within the buffer zone. They don’t want to rely on humanitarian aid, they want to work on their land.”

The international community and those involved in the conflict have prioritised their own political objectives over people’s rights and needs, leaving Gazans sitting on the ruins of their homes. By attempting to isolate Hamas, the government of Israel and key international donor governments and institutions have just isolated the people of Gaza, reducing the chances of securing a peaceful and durable resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In its report Rebuilding Gaza earlier this year Oxfam asked:

• The government of Israel to fully lift the blockade on Gaza, in line with its international legal obligations.
• Palestinian actors to ensure speedy reconciliation is reached in the short-term to facilitate aid delivery and follow this by intensive talks to reach a long-term resolution.
• The international community to stick to its international legal obligations to secure an end to the blockade, especially by exerting pressure on the government of Israel. The International community also needs to cease putting ‘political conditions’ on the delivery of assistance for the reconstruction of Gaza.

Six months on and the situation in Gaza is getting worse – check out this blog from Catherine Weibel who works for Oxfam Novib.

So please take this action right now and pass it on.