I want to commend you and thank you so much for publishing not only the information regarding David Schermerhorn’s courageous involvement with the ongoing effort to end the Israeli blockade of Gaza, but for publishing the link to the Free Gaza Movement website.
It is close to impossible to get truthful information in most of the mainstream media about the illegal and brutal Israeli military occupation of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. That is one of the reasons that human rights activists like David feel the need to take actions such as this latest non-violent attempt to break the blockade and get relief supplies to the besieged and de-humanized residents of Gaza.
I know firsthand how the lives, hopes and dreams of generations of Palestinians have been destroyed over the past several decades by the deliberate attempt of the Israeli government, closely associated with and heavily influenced by militant and overtly violent settlers, to rid the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem of its remaining Palestinian inhabitants. I spent half a year living with Palestinians in the West Bank in 1989 and went back for three weeks in 2002, going both times for the same reason David is now putting his life on the line. Our American tax dollars are paying for the brutal repression and systemized degradation of an entire people and we feel that we must do all we can to counter these actions of our own government.
I hope with all my heart that David is safe and that these latest courageous actions taken by individuals from all over the world will be a factor in the first step needed, which is the immediate end to the Israeli blockade of Gaza and then an end to the entire Israeli military occupation of what remains of Palestine. Ending the occupation is the only real solution to the so-called “Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
I encourage your readers to look past the spin of the mainstream media on this issue and to do some research. Watch the youtube video of David’s open letter to President Obama and go from there. The truth is more within reach these days than it ever has been.
Thank you again for covering David’s involvement and the link to the Free Gaza Movement.
With hope for justice.
Jackie Wolf
Lopez Island
