CEMENTING OUR SOLIDARITY WITH THE PEOPLE OF GAZA
 

The Free Gaza Movement calls on communities, schools, hospitals, trade unions and families across Ireland and the world to sponsor bags of cement and school supplies to send to Gaza. They will be loaded onto our Irish cargo ship, the MV Rachel Corrie, as part of an international flotilla of ships sailing to Gaza in May.

Just €5 will pay for a bag of cement to help the people of Gaza rebuild, supporting the Palestinian people and their refusal to be broken despite a devastating siege and Occupation. €5 for a bag of cement (or €10 for two bags, €20 for four bags, €100 for 20 bags) or €10 for a school/sports bag.

Israel’s blockade of Gaza is in its third year, and virtually no reconstruction materials have been allowed into the Gaza Strip, which is still in ruins after Israel's massive onslaught in Dec/Jan 2009 which killed over 1,400 Palestinians, almost 400 of them children.

At least 11,000 houses, 105 factories, 20 hospitals and clinics, 159 schools, universities, playschools and technical institutions were either damaged or destroyed and are still in ruins. Over 20,000 people were driven from their homes – many still living in tents.

Israel has also banned books, paper, pens and school supplies, and we plan to deliver them along with messages of solidarity to the children of Gaza. For €10, you can sponsor  a school bag filled with school supplies to support children struggling to study under siege.                                                 

John Ging, the Director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency told reporters in March 2010:    ‘I have no cement or steel or iron.  We can't get in one bag of cement, one pane of glass… to actually begin that reconstruction.’

This May, The Free Gaza Movement is answering the call for help by sending a flotilla of boats carrying building supplies, humanitarian relief, and human rights defenders from across the world to Gaza.

The flotilla is made up of a coalition of organisations- from Turkey, Greece, Malaysia, Belgium, Sweden, Indonesia and Ireland, and will set sail in mid May to challenge the illegality of the siege of Gaza and devastating occupation of Palestine. Help us support the Palestinians' right to rebuild their lives. We have only three weeks left to raise funds to purchaseover 700 tonnes of cement before the Irish cargo ship sets sail and every donation helps.

You can wire your donations to:
 
Bank of Ireland,
32 South Mall,
Cork,
Republic of Ireland,
 
Acct #41818255,
 
Sort Code 902768,
 
IBAN # IE58BOFI90276841818255
 
BIC# BOFIIE2D
 
Or, make a donation through Pay-Pal through our web-site on www.freegaza.org

For questions, or if you have medical equipment or medicines that can be sourced and donated by the end of April, please email:  sahara78@hotmail.uk or freegazaireland@gmail.com

Cement Bag Appeal