Hastings and Rye Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Newsletter   12 October 2023
  In this newsletter:
  • Take local action - join us for our Hastings event on Saturday
  • Update from our friends in Al Mawasi
  • Write to your MP - a template email
  • National March in London - join the local group travelling by train

    STAND WITH PALESTINE- STAND WITH GAZA

    Saturday 14 October 12 noon. Hastings Town Centre (Near Owens)

  • Please join us on Saturday in Hastings Town Centre to raise our voices in solidarity with the people of Palestine and especially Gaza. Facebook event page.

  • Bring your messages/placards showing that we are thinking of the people of Gaza, showing our solidarity.

  • 2.2 million people have been trapped there under an illegal blockade for 16 years and are being subjected to unbearable suffering.

  • Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant: 'we are imposing a complete siege on Gaza. No electricity, no food, no water, no fuel - everything is closed. We are fighting human animals, and we act accordingly.' This is sheer genocidal talk - directed at 2.2 million people crammed into an area smaller than the Isle of Wight.

  • 1,417 Palestinians have been killed, 338,900 have been displaced according to the UN. 14 medical facilities have been destroyed, along with mosques, mainly housing.

  • Power has been turned off. Sewage is now building up in the streets because the water treatment plant can't operate, hospitals cannot keep vital life support systems going and are on the brink of collapse.

  • Israel has threatened to bomb any humanitarian conveys from Egypt.

  • We're still in contact with our friends in Al-Mawasi. Many have moved out and are living in temporary housing. We have been able to send some funds (waiting to see if arrived). More information about Al-Mawasi, see below.

  • A friend in Gaza City has written: "From Gaza to the whole world. We are being exterminated. SOS."

  • Write to your MP, see below.

  • Donate: Al-Mawasi.     Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP)

  • Much of the 'information' in the corporate media is appalling, quite often found to be made up. Some useful sources: Middle East Eye.    Electronic Intifada.    Middle East Monitor.

    Israel-Palestine war: These posts are fake or misleading. Article here.
    Jonathan Cook: Israel-Palestine war: The blood of Gaza is on the West's hands as much as Israel's. Article here.
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    Updates from Al-Mawasi, Gaza

    We have been in constant contact with our friends in Al-Mawasi. The situation is catastrophic. Many of the friends we have made have moved out and are staying in makeshift shelters. We have updates here.
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    Write to your MP

    Demand immediate action of your elected representative today to stop this humanitarian catastrophe

    Let us create a flood of outrage!

    Please write your owns words, or you can use this template letter:

    To Sally-Ann Hart at sallyann.hart.mp@parliament.uk
    or Huw Merman at huw.merriman.mp@parliament.uk

    Dear Sally-Ann Hart/Huw Merriman,

    As the elected representative for my constituency I call on you to act urgently to help stop an unfolding humanitarian catastrophe.

    Whatever your personal or political views, you are first and foremost a human being who I hope would do everything in your power to prevent needless suffering and death.

    Right now the people in Gaza are being put through a genocide and we are all watching in real time.

    Israel's 'total siege' sees them denied the very basics of human life - food, water, fuel and medical aid - as their homes are destroyed by non-stop bombing campaigns.

    The suffering is unimaginable - after five nights of intensive bombing that has seen schools, mosques and UN offices hit, whole neighbourhoods reduced to rubble - the deaths and injuries have mounted in the hospitals to levels one doctor there described as 'like a slaughterhouse'.

    Doctors in Gaza are calling for immediate ceasefire and a humanitarian corridor to prevent a catastrophe for all 2 million residents of Gaza - a form of collective punishment and a war crime.

    These are civilians - over half the population of Gaza are children. 60% of the casualties are young people or the elderly.

    338,900 are now displaced according to the UN, already 1417 are dead.

    Power has been turned off. Sewage is now building up in the streets because the water treatment plants can't operate. The area has been plunged into darkness, vital life support systems have been cut endangering many more innocent lives. As a humanitarian I beg you to act on my behalf, your constituent, and amplify my voice to the government to demand they do everything they can to stop this disaster. I do not want this on my conscience - do you?

    Sincerely,

    *****
    Name and address necessary.
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    March for Palestine - End the Violence - End Apartheid
    National Demonstration in London Saturday 14 October 12.00. BBC, Portland Place W1A

    A local group is travelling to London. They plan to catch the 9.49am train. Meet at St Leonard's Warrior Square station at 9.30am. Details here.
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    Information stalls

    Since 2014 we have been running weekly information stalls (interrupted by the Covid period and the occasional bad weather). We have now started to have fortnightly stalls instead. They will be on the first and third Saturday of each month. So the dates will be 21 October, 4 November, 18 November. They run from 12.00 noon until 2 pm in the Hastings Town Centre (Near Jempsons, Wellington Place) TN34 1NY.

    Please pay us a visit. Apart from a range of leaflets, pamphlets and stickers, we have keffiyehs from Hirbawi in Hebron, a range of T-shirts and Palestinian flag umbrellas. We also have handicrafts from the Shu'fat Refugee Camp.
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    Hastings and Rye PSC online membership and donations

    Becoming a member of Hastings and Rye PSC is an important way of supporting our work.The annual subscription is £10 waged, £5 unwaged. We now have an online membership payment form. It can also be used to renew membership. The work of Hastings & Rye Palestine Solidarity could not continue without the generous donations from members of the public. If you would like to support our work without becoming a member please visit our shop page here and see the right hand column:
    Donate to Hastings & Rye PSC.
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    Recent Hastings and Rye PSC newsletters:

    6 October 2023
    22 September 2023
    15 September 2023

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