Letter to Newspapers Sent on 12-30-08
Dear Fourth Estate:
I have finally figured out a local angle for this story and it occured to me after reading what is going on for the Shifa Hospital in Gaza in the e-mail below. Please read it and consider covering this angle of the tragedy that is being played out with the billions of military aid - no strings attached- the US has given Israel over the years.
Yesterday at the Cromaine Library in Hartland, I attended a Health Care Community
Discussion organized by volunteers for the Obama-Biden Transition Project. After discussing from 2pm-3:30pm and filling out the survey questions, it occured to me to mention to Pastor Fred who was there taking notes that the biggest impediment to health care not only in this country but around the world is war. I had mentioned earlier in the discussion that we could find the money for universal health care in the United States by voting to take it from the billions that are being spent by the US government on weapons of mass destruction. What we need is a model for health care that is based on actually caring for people, not one based on a business model, offering universal insurance, individual savings accounts, etc. that measures success by statistics and the bottom line. Needless to say, there wasn't a box to check on the survey that mentioned that approach. I was able to add my own box on my own survey-hope the Obama team gets to read it.
To solve the health care crisis in this country will take a discussion that deals with peoples' values-how do they want their time, money, and energy spent-in the service of helping others or just helping ourselves. The reason we don't have universal health care in this country is not because we don't have the money-it's because we don't have the will or the belief that we can help ourselves in the long run by helping others. True health and security is having friends and family and community to weather the power outages, tough economic times, and realizing that you are not alone.
In peace,
Mares
P.S. We still don't have electricity but we have the hope that DTE will find Hartland eventually! The noise from our generator is nothing compared to what the community in Gaza are experiencing (noise wise) from the F16 fighter planes dropping tons of bombs on their small strip of land. And yes, our health care is better. We plan to donate to the Palestinian Aid Society as our taxes have gone to fund the weapons being used to stop their health so I want to do something to provide health care to those who are still alive.
P.S. Maybe this address could be published for those who would like to contribute?
Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 2008 8:06 AM
Subject: FW: Support Shifa Hospital in Gaza
From: Farouq Shafie [mailto:fshafie@comcast.net] Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 2008 1:24 AMTo: farouq r shafieSubject: Support Shifa Hospital in Gaza
Dear Friends,Genocide is being committed in Gaza by the Israeli military in violation of international law, not to mention all sense of decency and proportion. We at the Palestine Aid Society (PAS) have been inundated with calls for action by fellow Americans of all faiths and ethnicities. We feel the pain and the hurt as we watch, with horror, the terrorized children, the dismembered bodies, the wounded crying in pain, the frustrated aid workers, all on our television screens. We also hear in disgust the support for this Israeli-conducted genocide by some of our representatives in Washington DC. At the time of this writing the number of dead has exceeded 345 and the wounded more than 1650, most of them unarmed civilians. And it seems that Israel is intent on carrying this orgy of violence for days to come, proclaiming that the people of Gaza are not Israel's enemies, but that their democratically-elected government is! The need in Gaza for immediate relief is immense. The Shifa Hospital is the major medical facility in Gaza receiving and caring for the majority of the victims and it has been inundated, especially after months of an inhumane and punitive siege that has left it short of medicine and other medical supplies. As a small gesture of solidarity with the people of Gaza and in order to help alleviate a bit of their suffering, PAS is calling on all people of good will in our community to donate what they can to a fund for Shifa Hospital. Your tax-deductible donations (100% of all monies contributed) will be transmitted by PAS to the International Red Cross with instructions to deliver them to Shifa Hospital. Please make your checks payable to PAS, earmarked to Shifa Hospital, and send it to:
Palestine Aid Society of America
P.O.Box 130572
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48113
Tax # 38-2381-291.Peace,Rabia ShafiePalestine Aid Society(734) 668-6430
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