Fateh Azzam, at a Recent Rally Outdside of Congresswoman Chellie Pingree’s (D) Portland Office..
More than 260 businesses and organizaations across Maine have signed a letter to ‘call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Israel and Palestine.”
The letter circulated in mid-December has recruited signatures from almost every sector of Maine’s diverse economy. Among their demands, the signatories are calling on all four members of Maine’s Congressional delegation to meet with representatives of the Maine Coalition for Palestine to discuss supporting existing and pending ceasefire resolutions in the House and Senate. The letter goes on to say its signatories “oppose our tax dollars beng used to fund the Israeli military’s offensive against Gaza.”
As the Israeli war on Gaza enters its fourth month:
MORE than 23,000 Palestinians have been killed, 70% of them children and women; OVER 65,000 are maimed or injured; NEARLY 2 million Palestinians in Gaza have been displaced; FEWER than 30% of GAZA’s hospitals remain operational; NEARLY 350 healthcare workers have been kiled; 90% of Gaza’s population is food insecure, with 50% at risk of starvation; THE United Nations is trackig 14 diseases with “epidemic potential.” ” And don’t forget the large humber of the members of the Gaza press who have not survived this war and has recently been well-documented,” said this blogger.
In October the state-wide Coalition for Palestine petitioned Maine’ Congressional delegation to call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza. That petition garnered over 900 signatories to date. A representative from the Coalition said: “No mililtary objective can justify this level of brutality. It must be stopped, NOW!”
Now the effort has been joined by hundreds of small businesses and organizations, connecting the wari in Gaza to the financial and professioal interests of Maine’s economic base. Two hundred (200) of these businesses and organizations further pledged to boycott and divest from entities in or connected to Israel. They vowed to “commit to not giving organizaational dollars to corporations that support the illegal Israeli occupation and exploit Palestinians.” Historically, BDS movements have been employed by resistance, academic and consumer groups as a non-violent response to armed struggles and apartheid regimes. The tactic was first used to pressure the South African government to end its apartheid structure and has been tied to billions of dollars in lost revenues for targeted subjects.
On Wednesday, January 3rd, the Portland City Council passed an unanimous resolution calling on President Biden and Maine’s Congressional representatives to demand an immediate ceasefire.
“The Maine Coalition for Palestine said: “We find this unconscionable! Our senators and representatives are partially responsible and entirely complicit. Rather than demanding a stop to the carnage, they have fully supported US participation in Israeli’s brutal war with billions of dollars in US military aid, as well as diplomatically shielding Israel against accountability and censure by the vast majority of United Nations member states.”
For more information, please contact Fatah Azzam, at 401 – 830-4101 or at info@coalitionforpalestine.me
For more information on the city’s adoption of a Resolution on Gaza, please visit post herein dated January 4, 2024.