Hi Mark

Please add my name and many thanks for putting this together.

Emma Ridley
Community Psychologist

On 7/17/14, Mark Burton <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> We said that we'd have a deadline of 21.00 tomorrow, Friday for people
> to sign.
> So if you haven't and would like to, then you still can.
> Mark
>
>
> On 17/07/14 23:14, Mark Burton wrote:
>>
>> Please see below the statement as it is now.
>> I've made a couple of minor amendments:
>> a) second sentence in paragraph 3
>> b) newly inserted paragraph 4
>> I don't think these changes materially alter what people have said
>> they'd sign, but they improve the statement.
>>
>> Please would you:
>> 1) Let us (see below for definition of 'us') know if you'd like to opt
>> out.
>> 2) Check the spelling of your name and that your title is correct.
>> I've not put in affiliations as this might be compromising for some
>> people, but we could indicate the spread of people from health,
>> community and university settings. I've put Prof and Doctor where
>> either I know the title or people have indicated (and made informed
>> guesses in a small number of cases). Otherwise I've just given names
>> so let us know if you'd like to change. This is one occasion where I
>> think it is persuasive and appropriate to use these titles to suggest
>> a level of seniority and expertise.
>> 3) As noted before, I am away from late morning tomorrow. I would
>> very much appreciate a volunteer to finish the job of pulling this
>> together so we lose as little time as possible. I can help by
>> preparing a list of places to send it to. Otherwise it will have to
>> wait until early Monday morning.
>> 4) And do encourage anyone else who might be interested to sign.
>>
>> And thanks for the real enthusiasm you've shown for this action. It
>> is only a small contribution but it is important that soidarity is
>> demonstrated, both as moral support to people in Palestine and to show
>> our leaders that there is a strong current of informed opinion that
>> wants to see justice for the people of Gaza and the rest of Palestine.
>> Mark Burton
>>
>> Statement of support and solidarity with the people of Gaza.
>>
>> As Community and Community-OrientatedPsychologists in the UK we again
>> extend our support for and solidarity to the people of Gaza. We are
>> calling upon the British government and the British people to take all
>> feasible steps, beginning with immediate boycotts, disinvestments and
>> sanctions against the state of Israel, to oblige Israel's political
>> administration to: abide by international law; dismantle its apartheid
>> regime spanning both the occupied territories and Israel; immediately
>> and unconditionally end its assault on and siegeof Gaza; end the
>> occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, including its illegal
>> settlements; abandon all claims to possess or control territory beyond
>> its 1967 borders; and commit to pursuing a long-lasting, just peace.
>>
>> We condemn all attacks on civilians, including the rocket retaliation
>> from Gaza, noting that combatants have an obligation to protect
>> civilians under international law. However we draw attention to the
>> disproportionality of Israel's attacks on Gaza, which includes the
>> indiscriminate killing of men, women and children by the armed forces
>> of a supposedly democratic State whose citizens they still are (since
>> only limited autonomy has been granted to the Palestine Authority). We
>> are concerned by reports from doctors that DIME munitions are again in
>> use which cause extremely destructive damage to the bodies of those
>> near the blast. The Israeli military deliberately targets hospitals,
>> civilian shelters and prevents medical aid reaching the injured and
>> medical supplies and equipment from entering the Gaza Strip and
>> destroys Gaza's infrastructure of roads, water supplies, sanitation,
>> food production, food distribution, food security, electricity, social
>> services, education services, health services, law and order, housing,
>> environmental services, and broader social support structures. We
>> particularly note that during armed conflict, international
>> humanitarian law requires that health care facilities, ambulances,
>> medical personnel and the wounded and sick are all afforded specific
>> protection.
>>
>>
>> As psychologists we also draw attention to the impact of this and
>> other attacks on Palestinians on the psychological and social health
>> and well-being of all sections of the population, particularly
>> children, the elderly and those with additional vulnerabilities. UNRWA
>> has indicated very high and rising levels of severe psychological
>> trauma, especially among children. The extreme constraints placed on
>> the Palestinian health services, UNRWA and the various NGOs and civil
>> society organisations can only make this situation far worse, despite
>> the admirable and inspiring capacity of the Palestinian people to
>> maintain and celebrate their cultural traditions.
>>
>> We do note that many Israeli citizens (at home and worldwide) are
>> opposed to the policies and resultant violence of their government.
>> Moreover, the situation is also detrimental to the psychological
>> well-being of Israeli citizens, who are living in a context where
>> threat of 'the other' is used to instil fear and legitimise such
>> abhorrent action.
>>
>>
>> The massacre of civilians in Gaza is the latest, terrorist phase of a
>> war that successive governments of Israel (supported by the USA and
>> Britain) have been waging against the people of Palestine for more
>> than 60 years, since Britain's botched abandonment of its mandate
>> triggered the Palestinian Nakba of 1948. The goal of this war has
>> never changed: to use overwhelming military power to eradicate the
>> Palestinians as a political force capable of resisting Israel's
>> ongoing appropriation of Palestinian land and resources. CPUK believes
>> that for the sake of justice and global peace, the Israeli State must
>> not be allowed to achieve this. Our belief in the right of the
>> Palestinians to democratic self-determination, and to resist military
>> aggression and colonial occupation means we stand with the people of
>> Palestine, whether in Gaza, the West Bank, occupied Jerusalem or the
>> pre-1967 boundaries of the State of Israel in their struggle against
>> that racist, colonial State and its government.
>>
>>
>> _Additional notes_
>>
>> For UNWRA statement on post-conflict psychological trauma see
>> http://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/press-releases/serious-upsurge-post-conflict-trauma-gaza-says-un
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> The blockade means a severe shortage of medicines and other vital
>> supplies. Before the current attack the Gaza health services were
>> already suffering from an acute shortage of fuel and supplies, with 54
>> percent of medical disposables and 28 percent of essential drugs at
>> zero stock. Now some hospitals are reporting that they do not have
>> sutures, materials to treat bone injuries, or enough reactive agents
>> to perform routine blood tests. On 15 July 41 organizations warned of
>> an extremely severe Palestinian health sector crisis, with, in Gaza's
>> hospitals the cessation of most primary services and women's health
>> services.
>>
>>
>> 80% of Gaza's population are refugees or their descendants.
>>
>>
>> The Gaza population of 1.7 Million is confined in a small area, no
>> bigger than the Isle of Wight. There is no escape from the missiles
>> and naval bombardment, nor the frequent army incursions. There is
>> clear evidence (for example BBC Radio 4 reports, 17 July) that
>> Israel's claim to warn civilians of missile attacks is meaningless.
>> Unlike Israel, the Palestinians do not have air raid shelters.
>>
>>
>> Primary Source: Medical Aid for Palestinians
>> _http://www.map-uk.org/news/41-organizations-warn-of-palestinian-health-sector-crisis.aspx_
>>
>>
>> *Signatories*
>>
>>
>> 1.
>>
>>     Professor Mark Burton
>>
>> 2.
>>
>>     Dr Steve Melluish
>>
>> 3.
>>
>>     Dr Cathy Amor
>>
>> 4.
>>
>>     Dr Jacqueline Akhurst
>>
>> 5.
>>
>>     Dr Chris Pawson
>>
>> 6.
>>
>>     Aisling Kelly
>>
>> 7.
>>br>>>     Dr Joe Judge