GET INVOLVED! 10 THINGS YOU CAN DO

Here's a list of 10 things you can do to advocate for an end to the siege and injustice against the people in Gaza, adapted from "Twenty-five things you can do to bring peace with justice," by the Center for Rapprochment Between People, in Bethlehem.

This is our first draft of "10 things you can do" - it is being improved and will be updated continuously. The items are listed here in order of ease (i.e. easiest first).

1) Be informed, and inform others. Get the facts and disseminate the best articles, action alerts, and resources.  Check our "Info, News, Resources" section. Also refer people to this website! You can rely on electronic dissemination, but printing and distributing flyers can also be very effective.

2) Boycott Israeli products and companies that support Israel! Join the Palestinian boycott call http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10056.shtml

3) Display your solidarity! Put up a Palestinian flag at your window, wear a Palestinian head scarf (kufiyeh) or a black arm band, affix a bumper sticker to your car; all these help start conversations, and communicate public support for the Palestinian people. You could also make signs and display them at street corners and where ever people congregate.

4) Contact your local media.  Write letters to editors (usually 100-150 words) and longer op-eds (usually 600-800 words) for local newspapers.  But also write to news departments in both print, audio, and visual media about their coverage and to simply pass information to them. 

5) Send direct aid to Gaza by donating to the organizations doing humanitarian work there. One good channel is the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), but we will also list others here soon.

6) Join a solidarity group in your community. You can search Palestine Freedom Project's database to find one.

7) Contact elected and other political leaders in your country to urge them to oppose the government's continued support of Israel's aggression against the Palestinian people, as well as diplomatic missions, e.g. Egyptian embassy. Click here for the Palestinian community's action alert regarding Egypt's role in the siege, with an online form that you can send.

8) Organize an event, even if its a small one - reaching out and affecting the views of a even a few people should not be underestimated. To organize a teach-in, seminar, public dialogue, documentary film viewing, etc., you just need to secure a suitable space, do the logistics involved for the presentation, and the necessary publicity publicity to bring in an audience. See our "Documentary" section to organize a screening of the very powerful film 'To Shoot An Elephant.

9) Contact local churches, mosques, synagogues, and other houses of worship and organizations and ask them to take a moral stand and issue a public statement, and pass that on to elected government officials and the media. '

10) Organize and join demonstrations in front of Israeli and Egyptian embassies or, when not doable, in front of your parliament, office of elected officials, and any other visible place (and do media work for it).