[HCCN] Vets for Peace responds to Israel's high seas attack

[Judith Robbins]



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 31, 2010
1:08 PM

CONTACT: Veterans for Peace
Mike Ferner 419-729-7273
Dennis Lane 314-306-0024

Veterans For Peace's Response to Armed Attack on Aid Flotilla
VFP member Ret. Colonel Ann Wright is one of the members of the Flotilla
WASHINGTON - May 31 - The world is reacting in righteous outrage at  
this moment to Israel's high seas attack on an international aid  
flotilla, reportedly killing up to 20 people escorting tons of  
humanitarian aid to Gaza in an effort to break Israel's three-year  
blockade. "Made in the U.S.A." is stamped on the weapons commandos  
used to kill and wound the international peace activists.

We are saddened and we are angry.  At least one of our own members,  
retired Army Col., Ann Wright, is among the 700 people aboard the  
boats attacked in the middle of the night.  But we cannot say we are  
very surprised.  Palestinians die quietly and unnoticed every day in  
Gaza, the world's largest open air prison, as a result of Israel's  
blockade and violent repression.

Veterans For Peace Board Member, Cherie Eichholz, traveled to Gaza in  
May and had this to say about the situation in Gaza, "Surrounded by a  
massive wall and a naval blockade, Gazans are imprisoned, suffering  
without the most basic of necessities, including enough food and safe  
drinking water. The situation on the ground is grave."

Another Board Member, Elliott Adams, also traveled to Gaza in May  
said, "On our Memorial Day we veterans are presented with the ugly  
specter of  US citizens having their lives threatened and being held  
captive in an act of piracy.  Making it more painful, this is being  
done with US weapons.  While the people of Gaza cry out for basic  
humanitarian needs, a neighboring nation is willing to kill to deny  
them basic life support."

Many of our 7,000 members in over 100 chapters are already organizing  
or will soon join the protests being organized across the U.S.  We  
urge our members to use every nonviolent tactic available in the  
streets and in local Congressional offices to protest this attack.   
At the same time we demand Congress cut off U.S. military aid to  
Israel which has totaled over 32 billion dollars since 1997.

For interviews about what life is like in Gaza, please contact Cherie  
Eichholz at 206-227-6095 or Elliott Adams at 518-441-2697.


###
Veterans For Peace is a national organization founded in 1985. It is  
structured around a national office in Saint Louis, MO and comprised  
of members across the country organized in chapters or as at-large  
members. The organization includes men and women veterans of all eras  
and duty stations including from the Spanish Civil War (1936-39),  
World War II, the Korean, Vietnam, Gulf and current Iraq wars as well  
as other conflicts. Our collective experience tells us wars are easy  
to start and hard to stop and that those hurt are often the innocent.  
Thus, other means of problem solving are necessary.
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