Sample letter to elected representatives and official personalities

To: XXXXXX

Outraged by the silence and indifference of our elected officials/ country/ our government/ our organization/ the international community to the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, we turn to you to ask for your help.

The situation in Gaza has reached emergency levels – inadequate water, electricity, and medicine; widespread hunger, poverty, and unemployment; schools and other services rendered inoperative; constant bombardments and attacks by the Israeli military. On November 8, the bombardment of a building in Bet Hanoun cost the lives of 21 civilians, among them 8 children and 4 women, and injured many others.

The cause for this humanitarian catastrophe is the siege of the Gaza Strip by Israel and the sanctions imposed by the international community on the Palestinian people, made worse by ongoing IDF attacks. If this siege continues, we will see spreading disease, malnutrition, and more violence.

We call on you speak out and demand from our parliament and government to pressure the government of Israel to end the siege of Gaza and its war on the civilian population of Gaza, to withdraw its armed forces, release the tax revenues confiscated from the Palestinian government, and embark upon negotiations with the Palestinian legitimate representatives.

We also request your insistence that our government stop the political and economic sanctions imposed on the Palestinian people, by our country as well as the international community.

Please join us in the international campaign to end the siege on Gaza, called for the month of November, and in the activities planned for the international day of protest on December 2, 2006, by:

• Visiting the region as part of a delegation, to witness and report on events on the ground, and to meet decision makers in Israel and Palestine
• Hold a special hearing and debate on the siege on Gaza with the participation of other parliamentarians and decision makers.
• Send a letter to the Prime Minister and Defense Minister of Israel, condemning their current policy and demanding that Israel end the siege on Gaza and its war against the civilian population of Gaza, that it withdraw its armed forces from the Strip, that it transfers the tax revenues confiscated from the Palestinian government, and enter into negotiations with the legitimate Palestinian representatives.

For further details on the campaign and information on the situation in Gaza, please contact…