.bmp)
.bmp)
[[[[[[Southern California Muslims and other "progressive" faith leaders met last week with Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) to express their concern about Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip and the resulting humanitarian crisis,the Council on American-Islamic Relations said.]]]]]] Representatives from CAIR, the Muslim Public Affairs Council, and the Los Angeles City Human Relations Commission attended the meeting, as did a rabbi and the leader of a progressive Christian group. The interfaith leaders said they pressed Boxer to take a leadership role in urging Israel to end its blockade of the Gaza Strip.The international community has supported a boycott of the Gaza Strip since Hamas took over in a violent coup last June. Israel further isolated the Gaza Strip in January, curtailing fuel and electric supplies and limiting other shipments into the Hamas-ruled area, which is heavily dependent on outside aid. Nevertheless, humanitarian aid has continued to flow into the Gaza Strip. Since Friday more than 300 trucks carrying supplies from baby food and diapers to food staples, meat and fish have entered the Gaza Strip. the Israeli army said.Israel clamped down after Palestinian militants launched more than 200 rockets and mortar shells at southern Israeli communities in a four-day period.At the time, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Israel would not relent until the rocket fire stops. "We are going to put pressure and more pressure on Gaza," Barak said on Jan. 21.Israel's decision to seal the border in January drew international condemnation. On Feb. 6, Amnesty International said that Israel, by imposing a blockade on Gaza's entire population to punish rocket-launching militants, was violating international law against collective punishment. (Amnesty International also urged Hamas to "put an immediate end to the firing of rockets.")Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has urged Israel to ease the humanitarian situation in Gaza, but on a recent visit to Israel, she also accused Hamas of holding the Palestinian people "hostage." The Bush administration is pushing the Palestinian Authority and Israel to reach a two-state solution to their long-standing conflict. Hamas, considered a terrorist group by the U.S. and Israel, is not part of the negotiations. Hamas is sworn to Israel's destruction and accuses the Palestinian Authority of selling out to the U.S. and Israel.Ignore the 'war-making industry'Salam Al-Marayati, executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, said that Sen. Boxer-as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Subcommittee on Near Eastern Affairrs-"must break the silence on the humanitarian crisis and suffering in Gaza." Al-Marayati said Boxer should listen to the "growing interfaith peacemaking community" as opposed to the "war-making industry" in Washington.The Israeli blockade has caused serious food shortages, a health care crisis, fuel and electricity shortages, and problems with the water and sewage systems, the interfaith leaders said. "Our Administration's silence on Palestinians' suffering and the lack of a call for a ceasefire indicate that our Administration places less value on the lives of Palestinians than Israelis," said Sharaf Mowjood, CAIR's government relations coordinator. The Rev. Peter Laarman, executive director of Progressive Christians Uniting, expressed disappointment that a well-known peacemakers like Sen. Boxer has not spoken against "the horrendous suffering of Palestinians in Gaza or on the threat to a resolution of the conflict posed by the new settlements in the West Bank."Rabbi Allan Freehling, executive director of the L.A. City Human Relations Commission, said he stands with the Muslim American community "in their grave concern over the profound suffering of too many Palestinians and Israelis."Freehling "reminded the senator of their long-standing relationship, and urged her to remain steadfast in pursuing peace in the region despite the pressure she must be facing from special interest groups," an apparent reference to groups that support Israel's right to exist and defend itself.The interfaith leaders said they expect to hear back from Sen.Boxer's office in a week's time.As in the days of Noah....
