People of Conscience

Although I have several drafts of opinion and advice about responding to public health and Covid-19 scandals, none are yet ready. I have been writing to government entities about the pandemic and what I consider a monstrous failure of leadership, despite the best efforts of public health and medical staff world wide. These will appear later.

I'd like to note that I have stopped posting on Twitter (X) since its takeover in 2022, and have a new social media account, https://mastodon.green/@odaraia

For now I'm including the letters I've written to my Congressional and Senate representatives this week regarding what can only be called the genocide in Gaza. I am actually sending letters via surface mail to the offices of my representative, Pramila Jayapal, of Washington's 7th district because her email submission rejected my zip code input. She has been under attack by people threatening her home in West Seattle; so I get the need for security, but gone are the days of direct communication with our representatives.

Ceasefire and humanitarian support in Gaza, Palestine

I had written to President Biden, Vice President Harris, Representative Jayapal and Senators Murray and Cantwell on October 18, 2023 to urge ceasefire and diplomacy to resolve the war on Gaza. Following each recent letter, I've posted links to their recent public statements.

Honorable Pramila Jayapal

Thank you for your letter of December 6 last year: I appreciate your support of the HR 786 resolution calling for ceasefire in Gaza, Palestine, and speaking out for Palestinian Protected Status. I am grateful for your emphasis on negotiations and your work over the years to protect people in the US, especially when threatened for their identities. Your policy clarity and tireless efforts toward peace and the pursuit of happiness are welcome in our house.
I am writing again to urge action for people in Gaza. First, advocate with the Biden/Harris Administration to stop the continual weapons supply to the Israeli government in compliance with Section 6201 of the Foreign Assistance Act. The Netanyahu government’s blocking humanitarian aid, including US aid, violates our laws. With regard to international aid, I support continued funding of UNRWA. My husband and I have donated to UNICEF since we were children; we have visited the UN building in New York with the same inspiration we feel in Washington DC monuments, and we believe the US should continue to support critical relief around the world, especially in Gaza. Recently, Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland noted that a leading UNRWA administrator is a 20 year veteran of the US Army and challenged the disinformation that UNRWA staff were involved in the October 7 attacks on Israelis. It is time to overcome the confusion and disruption over these apparent contradictions and save children, vulnerable families in Gaza. I hope in budget reconciliation, you are able to prevail to refund US contributions to UNRWA.
I agree with the call of South African diplomats to declare the Israeli Administration of PM Netanyahu actions against Gazans to be of genocidal nature and the International Criminal Court begin proceedings against those members engaged in these actions. It is a heavy accusation, not without irony, yet the denials of humanitarian aid, including food, water and the destruction of medical centers, the systematic annihilation of cultural and academic institutions, the endless relocating of Gazan residents without basic life support and institutions all confirm genocidal actions. It is my hope that the US will join other nations to recognize the ICC and the moral authority of its decisions.
Toward this end, I urge you to press Congressional leadership and President Biden and Vice President Harris to stop deliveries of weapons and materiel from the US to the Netanyahu government. Open the doors to Gaza and relieve Israeli restrictions on humanitarian operations and with urgency relieve the light of the Palestinian people there.
Yours truly,

Alice Dubiel

Here is a link to Representative Jayapal's response of December 6. https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/popout?ver=13ua4yoq7j89l&q=jayapal&search=query&th=%23thread-f%3A1784569115342991285&cvid=1

Here is my email to Senator Murray, sent yesterday

Honorable Patty Murray

Thank you for February 29, 2024 speech in the Senate, articulating support of Leader Schumer’s position, as well as that of Vice President Harris for ceasefire in Gaza. I appreciate your noting that the Netanyahu administration has violated international law with closing access to humanitarian assistance for Gaza residents.
I wrote to you on October 18, 2023 to urge you to call for ceasefire and humanitarian relief for Gazans, and indicated my support for reparations for Palestinians. I am writing again to urge action for people in Gaza. First, advocate with the Biden/Harris Administration to stop the continual weapons supply to the Israeli government in compliance with Section 6201 of the Foreign Assistance Act. The Netanyahu government’s blocking humanitarian aid, including US aid, violates our laws. With regard to international aid, I support continued funding of UNRWA. My husband and I have donated to UNICEF since we were children; we have visited the UN building in New York with the same inspiration we feel in Washington DC monuments, and we believe the US should continue to support critical relief around the world, especially in Gaza. Recently, Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland noted that a leading UNRWA administrator is a 20 year veteran of the US Army and challenged the disinformation that UNRWA staff were involved in the October 7 attacks on Israelis. It is time to overcome the confusion and disruption over these apparent contradictions and save children, vulnerable families in Gaza. I hope in budget negotiations, you are able to prevail to refund US contributions to UNRWA.
I agree with the call of South African diplomats to declare the Israeli Administration of PM Netanyahu actions against Gazans to be of genocidal nature and the International Criminal Court begin procedings against those members engaged in these actions. It is a heavy accusation, not without irony, yet the denials of humanitarian aid, including food, water and the destruction of medical centers, the systematic annihilation of cultural and academic institutions, the endless relocating of Gazan residents without basic life support and institutions all confirm genocidal actions. It is my hope that the US will join other nations to recognize the ICC and the moral authority of its decisions.
Toward this end, I urge you to press Congressional leadership and President Biden and Vice President Harris to stop deliveries of weapons and materiel from the US to the Netanyahu government. Open the doors to Gaza and relieve Israeli restrictions on humanitarian operations and with urgency relieve the light of the Palestinian people there.

Yours truly,

Alice Dubiel

Here is a link to Senator Murray's speech in the Senate to which I referred above.

In Senate Floor Speech, Murray Calls for Israel to Change Course in Gaza and End Collective Punishment of Civilians; Reiterates Support for Mutually Negotiated Ceasefire and Condemns Far-Right Netanyahu Administration - Senator Patty Murray

Murray has repeatedly pressed for surge in humanitarian aid to Gaza, called for mutually negotiated ceasefire Senator Murray: “I come to the floor as someone who feels very strongly that Israel absolutely must change course—the collective punishment in Gaza has got to stop… I don’t know how you call it targeted when there are babies […]

Senator Patty MurrayNaomi Savin

I sent a similar email without the reference to Senator Murray's speech to Senator Maria Cantwell

Here are other links which have informed my views and response to the inaction, and probable encouragement of the White House to the genocide in Gaza.

Allegations UNRWA collaborated with Hamas are ‘flat-out lies’: Van Hollen

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) ripped into Israel’s allegations that the U.N.’s Palestinian refugee agency, commonly referred to as UNRWA, is a proxy for the Palestinian militant group Hamas, …

The HillNick Robertson

https://www.sanders.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/Letter-to-President-Biden-on-enforcement-of-Section-620I-of-the-Foreign-Assistance-Act3.pdf

https://pressley.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Letter-on-Rights-of-Children-in-Gaza-FINAL-2.pdf

https://www.durbin.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/letter_to_biden_re_tps_or_ded_for_palestinians.pdf

The maps featured in this interview (in 2 parts) are fascinating, indicating to me as a non expert in military strategy, they demonstrate that this assault on the people of Gaza has been years in the planning. I could not help but think about all the treaty violations the US incurred on indigenous nations in North America, and how these tactics reflected the notorious "Trail of Tears" by US President Andrew Jackson.

Architect Eyal Weizman on Mapping Israel’s “Genocidal Campaign”

A new report by the research group Forensic Architecture counters Israel’s argument at the International Court of Justice that it followed humanitarian policies to safeguard civilian life in Gaza. South Africa argued in January before the ICJ that Israel was guilty of genocide during its war on Gaza. The report argues that what Israel says are humanitarian evacuations in Gaza actually amount to the forced displacement of Palestinians, which is a war crime. It found that since October 7, Israel has issued imprecise and sometimes contradictory evacuation orders, attacked people even in so-called safe zones and evacuation routes, and failed to provide the necessities of life for those civilians, all while pushing the population further and further south into areas that are then also attacked or evacuated at a later time. “We cannot see it as anything else but part of the genocidal campaign,” says Forensic Architecture director Eyal Weizman, who accuses Israel of using humanitarian principles as yet another weapon against Palestinians in Gaza. He says Israel’s objective is to “exercise pain on the civilian population” in order to deter “ongoing resistance to the Israeli occupation.”

Democracy Now!

Eyal Weizman on Israel’s Architecture of Occupation, Gaza & Targeting of Pro-Palestinian Jews

Extended conversation with Eyal Weizman, a British Israeli architect born in Haifa who founded Forensic Architecture. He’s the author of several books, including Hollow Land: Israel’s Architecture of Occupation.

Democracy Now!

I am sending similar emails to the President and Vice President.