Middle East Crisis: what can we do?

I suggest that the most important thing we can do is go on the demonstrations on Saturday 22nd July. The main one is in London, but there are others in Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow, Kirkcaldy, Manchester, Newcastle, Norwich, Sheffield, and York.

But I also think it's worth writing to your MP and MEP. It's very easy. Just go to writetothem.com, and as long as you know your own postcode all the details are provided for you. This is the letter I wrote to 8 of the 9 London MEPs (I didn't bother with the UKIP MEP because he won't do anything) on July 14th:

Dear MEP,

I write to you as one of your London constituents. Given the very grave
events currently taking place in the Middle East, I am writing to you to ask you
to use your influence as an MEP to persuade the European Union to take a
constructive role in reversing Israel's actions against its
neighbours.

Up to now the EU has simply seemed to tail the USA in
their quite appalling encouragement of Israel's state terrorism against the
Palestinians. It is vital that the EU plays a more independent role now that
Israel has once again invaded the Lebanon. The EU must call for -

-
the total withdrawal by Israel of all military forces from the Lebanon
- the
ending of the aerial and naval blockade of the Lebanon
- no recurrence of
these attacks
- an end to the blockade of Gaza, and the withholding of
Palestinian revenues

Anything less will do nothing to reduce
the danger of a wider war, and may only increase it.

Thank you for
your time.

Yours sincerely,

Grouchy.

Also, write letters to newspapers. This is my letter to my local newspaper:

Dear Editor,

Walthamstow MP Neil Gerrard made an excellent contribution to a recent
debate in Parliament on the tragic situation in the Middle East.

He said, `No one in this House in any way supports kidnapping or the
firing of rockets into Israel, but...collective punishment is clearly against
international law and has been
regularly and routinely used by Israel over
the years. It is being used again now in Lebanon'.

The Israelis are bombing Lebanon into dust, and have killed over 300
civilians. This has nothing to do with `stopping terrorism'. These are war
crimes against the Lebanese people.
Unfortunately, the British government has
joined the USA in refusing to call for a ceasefire. President Bush only has to
shout `Yo Blair', and Tony comes running like an obedient puppydog for his
orders.

If you think our government should be doing everything it can to help
find a peaceful solution, you can do something about it. For a start you can
contact your MP. It is very easy to send an email via www.writetothem.com . You
only need to know your own postcode.
You can also contact your MEPs about the
European Union's attitude in the same way. I have had some good correspondence
with some of London's 9 MEPs in this way.

Please raise your voice to force the government to take
action.

Yours sincerely,

Grouchy.