A year after the deadly Israeli war, activists from across the world are going to march to the besieged Gaza Strip, where the repercussions of the war still haunt the 1.6 million people because of Israel’s chocking blockade.
"For the people there, the invasion is still going on," Pam Rasmussen of the International Coalition to End the Illegal Siege of Gaza, the group organizing the Gaza Freedom March, told IslamOnline.net.
"We wanted to do something really dramatic to call attention to the fact that the invasion is still taking place."
A year after the war in which Israeli troops killed 1,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and wounded thousands in three weeks of air, land and sea assaults, nearly 1,300 activists from 42 countries are flocking to Gaza.
"[We] will all convene in Cairo on December 27 and then, on the 29th, we’ll try to go into Gaza," says Rasmussen.
She notes that the number of participants in the march is the largest number of individuals who tried to go into Gaza since 2006.
The march is endorsed by prominent social activists and political figures such as authors Alice Walker and Noam Chomsky, retired US Army colonel and former US diplomat Ann Wright and several Canadian MPs.

The Israeli onslaught wrecked havoc on the Gaza infrastructure, destroying nearly 20,000 homes and thousands of other buildings across the impoverished territory.
"The people of the world have not forgotten and in fact are appalled and want to take action."
Solidarity actions and vigils marking Gaza war are being planned around the world.
The objective of the march is to bring to the limelight the ongoing sufferings of the Gaza people.
"Anyone who has been to Gaza has seen it hasn’t gotten better. The bombings have stopped. But the conditions haven’t gotten better," Rasmussen asserted.
"The world has turned away; there was a lot of media attention during the invasion but now that’s over, everyone has forgotten about it."
The organizers are also targeting the years-long Israeli blockade on Gazans.
"We want the borders to be open; we want the blockade to be open," Rasmussen underlines.
Israel has slapped a chocking siege on the Gaza Strip since Hamas was voted to power in the 2006 parliamentary election.



Out of the 1,300 protesters flocking to Gaza at their own expense are about 70 students.
Jeff Pickert, a student at Beloit College, said they will be meeting Palestinian student organizations to get from them information about their situation under the Israeli occupation and deliver it to students outside Palestine.

Islamonline/Ab