Politics of Starvation: the Humanitarian Crisis in Palestine

The Council for National Interest (CNI) presents: Politics of Starvation: The Humanitarian Crisis in Palestine featuring Timothy Rothermel, former UNDP Chief in Jerusalem, and Laila El Haddad, Al-Jazeera International Correspondent.

U.S. Capitol Building
Room SC-6
Friday, June 23, 2006
10:00 AM to 12:00 PM

Described as a “human catastrophe” by the United Nations, the deteriorating humanitarian crisis in the West Bank and Gaza has astounded officials and organizations worldwide. The continuing obstruction of mobility by the IDF, forced upon not only Palestinian civilians but international aid workers as well, has dramatically increased the unemployment rate and prevented food and foreign aid to reach the civilian population in the Palestinian territories. With the poverty rate in Gaza alone now standing at a staggering 67% and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimating that 51% of Palestinians cannot meet their daily food needs, how will the Palestinians survive? Is a policy of starvation and malnutrition in the Occupied Territories a legitimate means of protecting Israel’s security?

Contact: Terry Walz, 202 863-2951

To register, send an e-mail to inform@cnionline.org and include name, organization and email contact address.

Council for the National Interest
1250 4th Street, SW, Ste WG-1
Washington, DC 20024

The Council for the National Interest is a non-profit, non-partisan grassroots organization founded seventeen years ago by former Congressmen Paul Findley (R-IL) and Pete McCloskey (R-CA) to advocate a new direction for U.S. Middle East policy. CNI seeks to encourage and promote a U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East that is consistent with American values, protects our national interests, and contributes to a just solution of the Arab-Israeli conflict, as well as to restore a political environment in America in which voters and their elected officials are free from the undue influence and pressure of a foreign country, namely Israel.