*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*
May 31, 2010
1:08 PM

*CONTACT: Veterans for Peace <http://www.veteransforpeace.org/> *
Mike Ferner 419-729-7273
Dennis Lane 314-306-0024
Veterans For Peace's Response to Armed Attack on Aid FlotillaVFP member Ret.
Colonel Ann Wright is one of the members of the Flotilla

WASHINGTON - May 31 - The world is reacting in righteous outrage at this
moment to Israel's high seas attack on an international aid flotilla,
reportedly killing up to 20 people escorting tons of humanitarian aid to
Gaza in an effort to break Israel's three-year blockade. "Made in the
U.S.A." is stamped on the weapons commandos used to kill and wound the
international peace activists.

We are saddened and we are angry.  At least one of our own members, retired
Army Col., Ann Wright, is among the 700 people aboard the boats attacked in
the middle of the night.  But we cannot say we are very surprised.
Palestinians die quietly and unnoticed every day in Gaza, the world's
largest open air prison, as a result of Israel's blockade and violent
repression.

Veterans For Peace Board Member, Cherie Eichholz, traveled to Gaza in May
and had this to say about the situation in Gaza, "Surrounded by a massive
wall and a naval blockade, Gazans are imprisoned, suffering without the most
basic of necessities, including enough food and safe drinking water. The
situation on the ground is grave."

Another Board Member, Elliott Adams, also traveled to Gaza in May said, "On
our Memorial Day we veterans are presented with the ugly specter of  US
citizens having their lives threatened and being held captive in an act of
piracy.  Making it more painful, this is being done with US weapons.  While
the people of Gaza cry out for basic humanitarian needs, a neighboring
nation is willing to kill to deny them basic life support."

Many of our 7,000 members in over 100 chapters are already organizing or
will soon join the protests being organized across the U.S.  We urge our
members to use every nonviolent tactic available in the streets and in local
Congressional offices to protest this attack.  At the same time we demand
Congress cut off U.S. military aid to
Israel<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=3F6OkB%2B%2BHqLemY2KajBAu1s304qYhcTZ>
which
has totaled over 32 billion dollars since
1997<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=XADMakTEGbm6c8izlmbDGls304qYhcTZ>
.

For interviews about what life is like in Gaza, please contact Cherie
Eichholz at 206-227-6095 or Elliott Adams at 518-441-2697.



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Veterans For Peace is a national organization founded in 1985. It is
structured around a national office in Saint Louis, MO and comprised of
members across the country organized in chapters or as at-large members. The
organization includes men and women veterans of all eras and duty stations
including from the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), World War II, the Korean,
Vietnam, Gulf and current Iraq wars as well as other conflicts.