Egypt must open the Rafah crossing. Eyad Al Baba APA images

Civil society organizations and public figures are calling on the world to demand the opening of the Rafah crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.

The signatories to the following urgent call to action include former Robben Island inmate, anti-apartheid icon, and African National Congress (ANC) leader Ahmed Kathrada, former ANC government minister and freedom fighter Ronnie Kasrils, and former vice president of the European Parliament Luisa Morgantini.

They join dozens of Palestinian and international civil society and solidarity organizations in calling on you to “go to your local Egyptian Embassy or consulate and demand the Egyptian government open Rafah crossing immediately and end its complicity with Israel’s genocide of the people of Gaza.”

The full text and list of endorsers of the call to action is included below. For more information email openrafahnow@gmail.com.

Urgent call to action

In response to calls from our fellow human beings and comrades in Gaza who ask that we bring an end to the Egyptian government’s complicity in Israel’s genocide of the people of Gaza:

To all of you who understand the interconnectedness of our many human struggles for justice and dignity, we implore you to act in solidarity with Palestine as Gaza burns and bleeds, gathers and buries the lifeless bodies of her children, and contends with carnage, despair, and loss for which there is no language.

More than 1.8 million human beings have been under a suffocating, deadly siege imposed by Israel and accommodated by the Egyptian government, that severely restricts all movement of people and products.

It is creating in Gaza what has been described as the biggest open air prison in the world, subject to frequent Israeli attacks and used as a laboratory to test and market new Israeli weapons.

The average age in Gaza is 17 years, with half the people under the age of 16. This is a defenseless civilian population, densely packed into this besieged enclave with no place to run or take refuge from Israel’s full-on military onslaught.

The cynical claims that Palestinians are forcing Israel to kill their children lack the basic requirements of logic and minimal vestiges of humanity. No one is forcing Israel to commit genocide or to target infrastructure like hospitals, schools, and the only power plant in Gaza.

Purposefully, of their own volition, Israelis are using the most sophisticated death machines against civilians: children, families, medical facilities and aid workers. Meanwhile Israel maintains a violent and brutal aerial, land and sea siege on Gaza, continuous since 2006.

Despite a call from Egyptian citizens to lift the siege, the Egyptian government which controls one border and has the option to be part of a humanitarian response to the besieged people of Gaza, has instead supported the Israeli plan for return to the status quo of slow genocide.

Many people in Gaza are desperate to avoid slow death by savage siege, hunger and lack of medical care and demand to live like normal human beings, but feel the only option Israel gives them is to die quickly by carpet bombings and wanton mass destruction which Israel now mercilessly executes.

Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shoukry stated that the Rafah Crossing into Egypt is “open.” “We receive injured daily from Gaza, as we pass more than 600 tons of aid through.”

However, between the 10th and 27th of July, the Egyptian government has allowed an average of just nine wounded people a day to cross the border from Gaza to Egypt to receive medical treatment.

Several aid shipments of medical supplies, and even doctors, were denied entry. In light of the actual number of wounded in Gaza, at least 8,265 as of 31 July 2014, the Egyptian government’s allowance is condemnable.

Egypt must help their sisters and brothers in Gaza. The Egyptian government must refuse complicity in Israel’s genocide of a population they hold captive.

Here’s how you can help:

Go to your local Egyptian Embassy or consulate and demand the Egyptian government open Rafah crossing immediately and end its complicity with Israel’s genocide of the people of Gaza.

Flood embassy phone-lines/email with messages of protest. Write letters to print media holding Egypt complicit and similarly deluge radio/TV and Facebook etc.

Raise your concerns with your political representatives.

Please communicate your actions and the Embassy responses to us via email at: openrafahnow@gmail.com.

Endorsed by:

Ahmed Kathrada, Former Robben Island inmate, Anti-Apartheid icon, ANC leader - South Africa

Mr. Ronnie Kasrils Former ANC Minister for Intelligence Services, South Africa

Luisa Morgantini Former Vice President of the European Parliament - Italy

Richard Falk Former United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967

Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) - South Africa

Mosireen - Egypt

Abu Dis Popular Committee - Palestine

Al Eizariya Popular Committee - Palestine

Alternative Information Center - Palestine

Alternative Tourism Group - Palestine

Al Walaja Popular Committee - Palestine

Al Mufakara Popular Committee - Palestine

Al Masara Popular Committee - Palestine

Assopacepalestina - Italy

At Tuwani Popular Committee - Palestine

Australians for Palestine - Australia

Badil - Palestine

BDS Catalunya - Catalunya

BDS Kampagne - Germany

BDS Los Angeles for Justice in Palestine - USA

BDS Madrid - Spain

BDS - Netherlands

BDS - South Africa

Bil’in Popular Committee - Palestine

Boycott Israel Network - UK

British Muslim Initiative - UK

Campagne BDS France - France

CODEPINK - USA

Complicitats que Maten - Catalunya

Diensten Onderzoek Centrum Palestina - Netherlands

European Jews for a Just Peace - Europe

Fourteen Friends of Palestine, Marin - USA

Freedom Flotilla Italia - Italy

Felagid Island - Palestina - Iceland

Global Peace and Justice Auckland (GPJA) - New Zealand

Holy Land Trust - Palestine

International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network - International

International League for Human Rights - Germany

Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign - Ireland

Irish Anti-War Movement - Ireland

IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation - Turkey

International Solidarity Movement Estado Espano - Spain

International Solidarity Movement - Palestine

Izquierda anticapitalista - Spain

Jews for Palestinian Right of Return - USA

Jüdische Stimme für gerechten Frieden in Nahost - Germany

Just Foreign Policy - US

Kenya Palestine Solidarity Committee - Kenya

Kufr Qaddum Popular Committee - Palestine

Labor for Palestine NY - USA

Lluita Internacionalista - Catalunya

Ni’lin Popular Committee - Palestine

Nabi Saleh Popular Committee - Palestine

Occupied Palestine and Syrian Golan Heights Advocacy Initiative

One Democratic State Group - England

Palestine Festival of Literature - Palestine

Palestine Forum in Britain - UK

Palestine Solidarity Alliance - South Africa

Palestine Solidarity Campaign - Scotland

Palestine Solidarity Campaign - South Africa

Palestinian-American Women’s Association of Southern California - USA

Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People - Palestine

Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign (Stop the Wall) - Palestine

Palestinian Union of Social Workers and Psychologists - Palestine

People for Peace, London - Canada

People for Peace London - Canada

The Ahmed Katharda foundation - South Africa

PFB - Friends of Al Aqsa - UK

Plataforma de Solidaridad con Palestina Madrid - Spain

Popular Struggle Coordination Committee - Palestine

Rumbo a Gaza - Spain

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network - Canada

Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign - Scotland

Ship to Gaza - Norway

Ship to Gaza - Sweden

Social Democratic Party - Kenya

Students for Justice in Palestine at Brooklyn College - USA

Students for Justice in Palestine Auckland - New Zealand

Student Senate of Bethlehem University - Palestine

Susya Popular Committee - Palestine

Unite Union - Palestine

Youth Against Settlements - Palestine