Palestine Solidarity Campaign: British Government Must Immediately Act to Uphold International Law and End Siege of Gaza
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 21, 2008
9:19 AM
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CONTACT: Palestine Solidarity Campaign
info@palestinecampaign.org
Tel: 020 7700 6192.
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British Government Must Immediately Act to Uphold International Law and End Siege of Gaza
Protest on Saturday the 26th Opposite Downing Street 4pm
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WASHINGTON - January 21 - Yesterday evening (Sunday 20 January), Gaza ’s only power station was forced to shut down, after Israel cut fuel supplies to the Gaza Strip.
Omar Kittaneh, the head of the Palestine Energy Authority in Ramallah, has said that ‘reducing the fuel supplies until the plant had to shut down will affect not only the electrical system but the water supply, and the entire infrastructure in Gaza – everything.’
Israel has imposed a total closure on the Strip's border crossings, even preventing the delivery of essential humanitarian aid. Over 80 per cent of Gaza ’s population rely on food aid from the United Nations or other agencies. Over 70 Gazans have died as a result of Israel preventing patients with serious medical conditions from accessing treatment outside the Gaza Strip. This catastrophic cutting of fuel supplies is already seriously affecting hospitals, supplies of fresh water and sewage systems, has removed heating and lighting from 800,000 people, and making it impossible for those few factories which have managed to remain open despite the blockade.
In carrying out these actions, the Israeli government is violating the strict prohibition on collective punishment of a civilian population in the Fourth Geneva Convention.
As a signatory to the Fourth Geneva Convention, the British government has a responsibility to act on violations to that convention. The Palestine Solidarity Campaign is calling for urgent action to be immediately taken by the government. The suffering endured by Palestinians in Gaza must be ended now.
A protest is taking place on Saturday 26 January from 4-6pm opposite 10 Downing Street calling for an end to the siege of Gaza .
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