How we can help Gaza

Seven basic ways:

1. Educate people. Eye witness testimonies are available on the blogs of our two friends currently in Gaza:
   • eva: www.ingaza.wordpress.com
   • sharon: www.talestotell.wordpress.com
   • The Free Gaza web site also has current articles by other human rights activists in Gaza right now.
2. Join a protest.
3. Contact your representatives. Numbers to call for Marin residents:
• Lynn Woolsey: (415) 507-9554 and (202) 225-5161
• Diane Feinstein: (202) 224-3841, fax (202) 228-3954
• Barbara Boxer: (202) 224-3553 , fax (202) 224-0454
4. Contact the media, either with your own article, or to correct their bias in reporting.
5. Contact the Israeli consulate near you:
   

   Consulate General of Israel in San Francisco,
   456 Montgomery Street, Suite 2100
   San Francisco, CA 94104
   Phone: (415) 844-7500
   Fax: (415) 844-7555
   Email: sf@israeliconsulate.org

6. Sign a petition. Many are currently circulating on the Internet.
7. Donate money to any of the big organizations such as Free Gaza, MECA, and the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation.

A comprehensive list is given on the US Campaign web site on how we can help Gaza. Click here.

If you want even more suggestions on how to help, see this comprehensive list of 25 things you can do to help the people of Gaza.

Upcoming Event:

What Will It Take for Peace in Israel/Palestine?

Two Marin residents will share what they experienced in Israel/Palestine during November and December, 2008.

One speaker went on a fact-finding tour with the Interfaith Peace-Builders that included visits to Sderot, Ramallah, Jenin, Jerusalem and Bethlehem and extensive discussions with Palestinians and Israelis.

Another speaker participated in peace conferences in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, visited Hebron and spent four nights living with settlers.

The talks will be illustrated with photos taken by the speakers.

The program will take place at 7:30 p.m. on January 14 at the San Anselmo Inn, 339 San Anselmo Ave., San Anselmo

Admission is free.

For more information, please call (415) 462-2722 or send an email to 14friendsofpalestine@gmail.com .

More Events planned for 2009

1. A Sponsored Diet for 14 Friends of Palestine. Starts Thursday Jan 8th 2009.
2. An Israeli guest speaker against the Wall. Saturday Feb 7th 2009.
3. A Rachel Corrie Memorial Concert of Arabic Music and Dance, March 2009.

2008 End of Year Appeal

All contributions to 14 Friends of Palestine are tax deductible.

You may pay online by clicking the 'Donate' button above, or send us a check made out to '14 Friends of Palestine'. Our mailing address is on the Contact page.

All money received will support a variety of humanitarian and human rights projects for the Palestinian people.

Currently in the planning are:

1. A project in Gaza to obtain interviews with Nakba survivors born in 1936 or before, for Palestine Remembered.com, the oral history project.
2. Continued support of our two sponsored children, a little girl in Gaza and a boy in Ramallah.
3. Support for the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation.
4. A variety of outreach events in Marin County.

Thank you for your support.

The remainder of 2008 will be devoted to the auction.

If you are interested in any of the remaining items, do contact us at:

14friendsofpalestine@gmail.com

Click here to go to the Auction page.

The three Free Gaza activists who were abducted by the Israeli navy have now been deported, having left all their belongings behind in Gaza. The three Palestinian fishing boats that were seized at the same time have now been returned as directed by the Israeli Supreme Court, albeit damaged and with equipment such as GPS missing. Further details are on the Free Gaza web site.

August 23rd, 2008

THEY'VE DONE IT!!!!! The SS Free Gaza and the SS Liberty have arrived safe and sound in Gaza City after braving high seas (9-ft. waves and seasickness) and electronic sabotage (almost all communication down). Tumultuous ecstatic reception in Gaza. Musheir El Farra's father-in-law among the crowd waiting at the beach. The flotilla of Gazan fishing boats were turned back to Gaza, and the press boat had to turn back to Cyprus because of high seas and electronic sabotage, but the SS Free Gaza and the SS Liberty are now docked at Gaza City! Congratulations to everyone!

For updates, please visit the Free Gaza Movement web site Also, click here to see more news and links. There is also a picture slideshow here and more pictures here.

 

A big thank you to everyone who joined our demonstration and vigil in support of the Free Gaza Movement on Thursday August 21st in San Francisco. Click here for photos. We were very encouraged that no less than 29 people came at such short notice. The whole thing was put together in three days flat! Thank you also to Alison Weir of If Americans Knew for her expert guidance and advice throughout. One of our members came home from Cyprus a few days ago, where he had been offering support to the Free Gaza activists, who requested that he organize some kind of demonstration here in the SF Bay Area. It was an exercise in Rapid Organization, as it had to be done before their scheduled departure from Cyprus on Friday. The result was remarkably successful, with over 800 flyers distributed to passers by outside Senator Feinstein's SF office. Thank you everyone for your support. Further information on the Free Gaza boat trip from Cyprus to Gaza, attempting to break the Israeli siege of Gaza, can be found on their web site: www.freegaza.org

Activists from all over the world sailed to Gaza, including five of our friends, Lauren Booth (the sister-in-law of Tony Blair), and Hedy Epstein, a survivor of the Nazi Holocaust.

This from Lauren Booth sailing on the Free Gaza (15th August):

Today I was going to write about about practical developments, here in the waters of the Greek islands. Of setting sail again, of bumpy seas and equally churning stomachs. However, the subject of today's bulletin is psychological terrorism. Over the the past 72 hours almost a dozen aggressive messages have been received by members of the groups both on board the ships and in Cyprus. In Nicosia, where twenty human rights campaigners including Hedy Epstein await to board the Freegaza and the Liberty, anonymous callers have been making threats to the general well being of all concerned.

Some of these texts, calls and answer messages focus on the ships being 'blown up' or 'destroyed, killing all on board.' Unnerving enough. But today I can reveal even more pernicious acts of psychological violence on those both reporting and supporting this effort to ease the blockade of Gaza by Israel.

Since Monday, some campaigners, (who I will not name here for obvious reasons), have received phone calls made to their mobiles. More disturbingly, in an increasing number of cases - to family members.

Now, it is my turn. Yesterday afternoon, on the 14th of August 2008, an anonymous young man called my home in France as my daughters played hide and seek in the garden. This stranger spoke to my husband, warning him that 'your wife is in great danger. These ships will be blown up.' My husband asked how it was this person had obtained our private home number. No response was forthcoming, but the illicit threats carried on.

Who is behind these phone calls? Who benefits by upsetting the families of those onboard the Freegaza and the Liberty? Who would wish to unsettle journalists aboard as unarmed ships set sail towards the waters around Gaza and almost certain interception by Israeli forces?

The answer is clear.

 

Our group has been very concerned with the welfare of Mohammed Omer, the Palestinian journalist who was badly assaulted at a check point on his return to Palestine after winning an award for journalism in Europe.

Please read details of this case in the article written by Professor Kenneth Ring, and sign the petition if you are as appalled as we are. Thank you.

Thank you to everyone who supported our joint event with Keep Hope Alive on Tuesday, July 29th: Anna Baltzer's presentation on Occupied Palestine. It was terrific to see so many people there. We were able to give Anna donations totaling $1,068, plus 15 Euros! For people who did not get a copy of Anna's fact sheet handout, click here, We printed 150, but over 200 people came.

Anna's web site is here and the 'Five for Palestine' web site is here.