Friends,
Please take a moment now to call your U.S. Congressional Representative to ask him or her to sign on to two "Dear Colleague Letters" that address the siege of Gaza--the McDermott/Ellison letter to President Obama about the ongoing blockade of Gaza, and the Moran/Inglis letter to Secretary of State Clinton about movement of students between Gaza and the West Bank.  (See further information below.)  These letters are open for signatures this week. 

Craig and I were on Capitol Hill last week where it's a hectic time.  It's likely that only a groundswell of emails and calls will bring these two letters about Gaza to the attention of busy Congressional Offices and your Representatives. 

It is extremely important that there are as many Congressional signatories to these letters as possible--and that members of Congress who have drafted them (in response to our calls for action) see that we can generate the constituent support to get other members to step up and sign on, as well.  Please help make this happen by calling your own Representative and by spreading the word to supporters across the country.

Thank you!
Cindy Corrie

TAKE ACTION!

We are approaching the one-year anniversary of Israel's three-week assault on the occupied Gaza Strip, which reportedly killed more than 1,400 Palestinians, injured and displaced thousands more, and caused billions of dollars of damage to Palestinian civilian infrastructure.

Before Congress goes on its winter recess, scheduled for Friday, December 18, Representatives Jim McDermott and Keith Ellison are seeking signatures on a "Dear Colleague" letter to President Obama. This letter states that Israel's blockade of Gaza is a "de facto collective punishment" leading to the "unabated suffering of Gazan civilians". Click here to read letter.

Representatives Jim Moran and Bob Inglis are seeking signatures on a "Dear Colleague" letter to Secretary of State Clinton, urging her to "press the Israeli government to end the ban on students travel from Gaza to the West Bank". Click here to read letter. 

Please Call today and ask your Representative to sign the McDermott/Ellison "Support Improvements in Gaza Humanitarian Conditions" letter, and the Moran/Inglis "Support Higher Education Opportunities for Gazan Students in the West Bank" letter.  Call the House switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask to be transferred to your Representative, or find out who your Member of Congress is by clicking here. 

  Please ask your Representative to sign these two "Dear Colleague" letters in support of the human rights of the Palestinian people.

These letters will close for signatures this week, so please call now.  Find out who your Member of Congress is by clicking here.

While supporting these letters, it is also important to continue to advocate for an end to Israel's blockade of the occupied Gaza Strip, an illegal act of collective punishment.

Don't forget to call TODAY and ask your Representative to sign these two "Dear Colleague" letters.

More homes are under construction per inhabitant in the occupied West Bank than inside Israel despite recent curbs on construction, says Peace Now.

The rights group said 1,167 homes were being built for every 100,000 West Bank settlers, compared to just 836 for the same number of Israeli residents.

The Palestinians have refused to return to peace talks without a total halt to building in settlements.

Settlers are beginning to arrive at a protest against the construction pause.

[Note: We received this email via our web site.  Columbia Sportswear should be applauded for taking this issue seriously and acting in a responsible way! - AUPHR]

Thank you and your readers for bringing this advertisement to our attention and for voicing your concerns to us via this site and numerous e-mails.

We investigated and determined that neither the original Hebrew text of the ad created by our independent Israeli distributor, nor the erroneous English translation supplied by the newspaper, was submitted to or approved by Columbia Sportswear as called for by our standard practices.

Columbia Sportswear and our Israeli distributor have agreed to immediately and permanently discontinue the ad, as well as to reinforce our standard pre-approval practices pertaining to all marketing materials in order to avoid such unfortunate errors in the future.
 
We take all customer feedback seriously and sincerely regret the offense inadvertently created by this ad.

Ron Parham
Sr. Director Investor Relations & Corporate Communications
Columbia Sportswear Company