<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">The following letter was printed in the Blue Hill Weekly Packet this week. Thank you to Bonnie.</span></font><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><br></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><br></span></font></div><div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><br></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font style="font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"> </span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">On Wed., Dec. 30, I marched through town with 20 of my fellow Blue Hill peninsula residents. Our simple request was for Israel to end the siege of Gaza. We were small in number, but are part of a worldwide movement to bring justice to the Palestinian people.</span></font></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font style="font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"> </span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">One year ago, Israel began a brutal attack on Gaza which lasted three weeks and left 1400 hundred Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead. Homes, hospitals, schools and water systems were bombed. There were documented war crimes on both sides, but those committed by Israel were overwhelmingly more numerous and more serious. Since the end of this war, Israel has tightened its long-standing siege of Gaza, allowing only minimal supplies to enter. Clean water, food, and medicine are in short supply. Materials to rebuild the infrastructure damaged or destroyed in the war are not allowed to be brought into the country, leaving the people living amidst the rubble.</span></font></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font style="font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"> </span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">Our own government is fully supportive of Israel in this. We provided weapons used in the war, and are supporting the siege. We are even helping Egypt build an underground “wall” to prevent the use of tunnels to move supplies from Egypt into Gaza. Imagine having to hand-carry what you need to rebuild a hospital, for example, through a tunnel. Once upon a time an American President yelled “Tear down that wall!” and the Berlin wall indeed was torn down. Now we support the building of walls throughout Palestine.</span></font></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font style="font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"> </span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">All walls between people must come down. We must begin by tearing down the walls of fear around our own hearts, so we can open ourselves to the truth that we are all one, we are all of equal worth in the sight of God, and we all must be free. Open your eyes to the truth of what is happening, and tell your elected representatives that it is unacceptable.</span></font></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><br></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><br></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font style="font: 12.0px Helvetica"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">Bonnie Preston</span></font></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font style="font: 12.0px Helvetica"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">Blue Hill</span></font></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br></div></div></body></html>