Take ‘The Israel Challenge’ and Help Margaret Beckett See the Light

• Turn off your power supply at the mains
• Turn off your water supply at the mains
• Stop using all forms of transportation
• Stop going to work, school or college
• Reduce your food intake to a minimum and eat sporadically
• Ask your neighbour to play loud music all through the night
• Do this until we tell you to stop!

If you take the challenge, you will have some idea of the conditions faced by thousands of Gazans right now.

If you can't stomach the 'Israel Challenge', then we ask you to send a tea-light/candle to Foreign Minister Margaret Beckett now, asking her to forward it to the people of Gaza. She has refused to condemn the Israeli attack against Gaza – maybe thousands of tea-lights will make her see the light.

The Rt. Hon. Margaret Beckett
Foreign Secretary
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
King Charles Street
London SW1A 2AH  

During the early hours of 28 June 2006, the Israeli Occupation Force launched a ground offensive in Southern Gaza. As part of the assault, the Israeli Air Force attacked three bridges and the Gaza City power station, cutting power to much of the area.

The transformer station is also used to help pump water from the water network to apartments in Gaza. As the power has been severed, the water cannot be pumped and Gazans are unable to access water. As a result, some 860,000 residents in Gaza are currently without electricity and running water.

The situation is further exacerbated by the use of sonic booms, whereby low flying planes break the sound barrier over Gaza to fulfill Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's order that no one should be able to sleep at night in Gaza.

According to The Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network (Pengon):

The public health and safety and environmental hazards stemming from the damage caused to infrastructure as a result of this military operation include:

• water shortages
• contamination of any remaining drinking water
• uncontrolled discharge and flow of untreated sewage in the streets, resulting in groundwater pollution
• pollution of agricultural land which Gazans will be unable to cultivate to harvest crops, negatively impacting their earning power
• damage to marine life as untreated wastewater flows into the sea
• migration of fish to other parts of the coast, resulting in a reduction in the number of fish caught and, concomitantly, money earned by Gazan fishermen
• direct exposure to untreated wastewater in open systems
• indirect human health risks due to the consumption of polluted crops and fish
• an increase in waterborne acute and infectious diseases as a result of additional viruses, bacteria and protozoa in the water. These are likely to cause serious illnesses ranging from gastroenteritis and cholera to liver failure and death.


Once again the British Government remains silent in the face of the latest round of collective punishment inflicted on the people of the Occupied Territories