Call on Egypt to cease construction on underground wall

ACTION ALERT

(AMP 1/21/10) – The Egyptian government, succumbing to pressure from Israel and the United States, is continuing to construct an underground steel barrier 100 feet deep and six miles long. When completed the impenetrable wall will cut off a network of tunnels the besieged Palestinians of Gaza rely upon for their very survival.

Israel’s nearly total blockade of Gaza has wiped out Gaza’s economy – including its industrial, agricultural and fishing sectors. The siege and last winter’s Operation Cast Lead has resulted in the loss of employment for more than 70 percent of the working population and at least 90 percent of Palestinians of Gaza rely upon the United Nations for food aid. But Israel allows in less than 25 percent of the humanitarian shipments it did before imposing the siege in June 2007.

The result of such deprivation has been a burgeoning “tunnel economy,” according to Andrew Whitley of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. If the wall is built and the tunnels are shut down while the siege continues, it will have catastrophic consequences for the already suffering Palestinians of Gaza.

TAKE ACTION

AMP calls on it supporters to contact Egyptian Ambassador Sameh Shoukry and demand Egypt stop building the wall and to open the Rafah border crossing.

Our objective is to flood the embassy with our calls and emails so please call and email as many times as you can – at least once per day or even once per week. Please remain calm and be respectful and polite.

TALKING POINTS

1. Always state your name and your city of residence.
2. Stress that building walls are against all the values of freedom and liberty that Americans hold dear.
3. Americans hate walls that divide people.
4. The Palestinians of Gaza are dying because of the siege.
5. Successive Egyptian governments have supported Palestinians and their rights to self-determination.
6. Building the wall and closing Rafah supports Israel’s illegal and inhumane siege of the Gaza Strip.
7. The siege is in direct violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Fourth Geneva Convention.
8. Egypt should be building bridges of peace and love with its Arab neighbor, not a wall of deprivation and starvation.

CONTACT INFO

Email Ambassador Sameh Shoukry at [email protected] or call 202.895.5400.