Gaza has been under airstrikes 10+ days nows
Fuel bans mean power plants are only able to provide electricity a couple hours a day.
Beyond this, over the last few days Covid-19 has spread into the community, resulting in need for lock down.
Take a moment to write to all elected members of the Canadian government.
Tell them that beyond the current bombardment, 13 years too long: Lift the Gaza closure.
The Canadian government has responsibility under both international and domestic law to hold Israel accountable.
Canadian residents and citizens are asked to SIGN and share this petition that will be presented to the Canadian government calling for the end of the blockade on Gaza.
This URGENT action is in support of the Gaza 20/20 campaign:
Gaza 20/20 is an urgent call from the Palestinian human rights organization
Al-Haq to the international community.
This campaign was inspired after a 2017 UN report warned that Gaza is expected to be uninhabitable by 2020. In this deeply worrying
report, the UN Coordinator for Humanitarian Aid and Development Activities noted that Gaza’s trajectory of “de-development” has accelerated. For the nearly 2 million Palestinians in Gaza, Israel’s persecution and collective punishment had already made life there unbearable.
In Canada during 2018, Just Peace Advocates partnered with Al Haq to bring
this message to civil society and to the Canadian government, pointing out Canadian accountability through both international and domestic law.
Specifically:
International Law: Under Article 1 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, all High Contracting Parties (which includes Canada), are required to take action to ensure respect for the Convention “in all circumstances.”
Domestic Law: Under the Special Economic Measures Act, the Canadian government can impose sanctions when “gross and systematic human rights violations have been committed in a foreign state.”
In November 2018, over
100 organizations signed a letter to the Canadian government calling for
Canadian sanctions on Israel until at least the blockade was lifted for the Palestinian people living in Gaza.
We continue to call for as a minimum on the Canadian government to:
-publicly condemn Israeli security operations in Gaza and demand an end to all breaches of international humanitarian law and international human rights law;
-insist through the implementation of sanctions that Israel end its blockade of Gaza;
implement an arms embargo, and press for a comprehensive arms embargo at the level of the UN Security Council;
-vote at the UNGA in alignment with the majority of the international community in taking a stance in line with international law and human rights for Palestinians,
-impose a ban on all goods originating from illegal Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory entering Canada as well as a ban on Canadian companies operating in illegal settlements or trading in settlement goods.
Gaza 20/20 also calls the Canadian government to
-support the Prosecutor’s motion before the Pre Trial Chamber that the “territory” over which the ICC may exercise its jurisdiction under the Rome Statute for the purpose of formally investigating the purported commission of war crimes in this situation comprises of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza; and not to take any steps at the ICC or any other international forum that would oppose the work of the Prosecutor in this regard.
