Thanks to all the positive responses so far.  That's hugely encouraging.
To sign, just confirm by return email, to me today, or to whoever volunteers to complete the process (see my email below, line 5) tomorrow!

Carl, thanks for your suggestion of a formal approach to the BPS section ctee. - Yes please do.

Finally, UNWRHA mentioned 64,000 children in conditions of severe psych trauma on R4 this morning.  I'll check the figure and add that in.
Mark



From: Mark Burton

Scholar-Activist.

Visiting Professor, Manchester Metropolitan University

37 Chandos Rd South Chorlton Manchester M21 0TH, UK
Telephones:
+44 (0)161 881 6887 landline
+44 (0)777 594 9479 mobile
skype name: markburton52

http://steadystatemanchester.net Steady State Manchester

http://libpsy.org Liberation Psychology Network

http://www.compsy.org.uk Community Psychology UK

http://uncommontater.net personal blog including information on my publications

http://houghendhall.org Friends of Hough End Hall

-----Original Message-----
From: Helen Beckwith <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Thu, 17 Jul 2014 9:12 AM
Subject: Re: [COMMUNITYPSYCHUK] Gaza Statement: proposed text

Hi Mark.

Reads well - thank you. Please add my name to the list.

Helen Beckwith

Here is a draft text for this statement.  I think this would work better on an opt-in basis with a minimum of 12 signatures before it is sent.  It would not come from an official organisation, either the network of the BPS section since this will take too long to get some kind of representative agreement from members.
I propose that we use Thursday 18th for amendments - these can be suggested via this email list by 21.00hrs.
Then we have Friday to get signatures with a view to sending it out by 21.00 Friday.
I am happy to handle the first part of the process but will be away from Friday p.m so suggest someone else puts the signatory list together.
Finally I have drafted it rather like a press release.  I sugest it is sent to the 4 "quality dailies" and the Morning Star, is posted on the CPUK libpsy.org and other websites and circulated via our networks.
And we must send it to the main organisations concerned with palestinian solidarity MAP and PSC as a minimum and those contacts we have in Palestine.

Mark Burton

Statement of support and solidarity with the people of Gaza, July, 2014.

As Community Psychologists 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, divestments 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 seige of 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. The extreme constraints placed on the Palestinian health services, UNWRA 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.

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

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

 

 

 

 

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