DIRECTORS

Nancy Murray
President

Donald McInnes
Treasurer

Yale Rabin
Clerk

Maya Carlson

Constance Cutter

J. Timothy Davis

Sara Roy

Hilda Silverman

William D. Slaughter

Ahmad Taha

ADVISORS

Cindy Corrie

Craig Corrie

Jess Ghannam

Ellis Goldberg

David Hall

Elaine Hagopian

John Pirroni

Alice Rothchild

Ted Rynearson

Therese Saliba

David Trimble

November 24, 2007

Dear Friends,

The future of the Gaza Strip has never been so bleak.

While the world stands by, the million and a half residents of the giant prison that Gaza has become are being deprived by the Israeli siege of sufficient fuel, electricity, food, water resources, medicines and other basic necessities, as well as access to adequate medical care, education and a way to make a living.

Gazans are enduring the kind of collective punishment that is considered a war crime under international law. 

A year ago, the Israeli journalist Gideon Levy visited Gaza and met with people "who are terrified, depressed, injured, humiliated, bereaved and bewildered."  He wrote of "thousands of wounded, disabled and shell-shocked people unable to receive any treatment... The shadows of human beings roam the ruins... They only know the Israeli army will return and they know what this will mean for them... more death and destruction in monstrous proportions."

Today their situation is far worse.  Gazans are not just being traumatized by the Israeli siege and military attacks. They also must deal with the agony inflicted by factional infighting under unbearable pressure-cooker conditions.

Dr. Eyad el-Sarraj and his colleagues at the Gaza Community Mental Health Program (GCMHP) have been striving to help the people of Gaza overcome the psychological effects of the violence that surrounds them, and confront the widespread despair and depression in which they live. The GCMHP recently organized an emergency crisis intervention program with the victims of factional fighting, with a special focus on helping women and children.

The GCMHP recognizes that the current state of siege is intensifying the trauma and producing an environment in which extremist ideologies and violence flourish and work for peace is fatally undermined.

In a statement issued on the occasion of World Mental Health Day in October 2007, the GCMHP warned that the strangulation of the Gaza Strip was causing a "severe and dangerous deterioration in mental health among the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip" and "will lead to more political and security deterioration in the region and the world."

Under these circumstances, the GCMHP has launched a humanitarian, international campaign led by civil society to "End the Siege of Gaza."   You can find out more about the campaign by visiting the new website of the Gaza Mental Health Foundation, www.gazamentalhealth.org.

Today, you can help the GCMHP alleviate the psychological suffering of the Palestinian people and break the devastating siege.  The Gaza Mental Health Foundation, Inc. was established in 2001 to raise funds in the United States to support the critically important work being carried out by the Gaza Community Mental Health Program.  Your donations, which are fully tax-deductible to the extent provided by the IRS Code, are forwarded in their entirety to the GCMHP.

Funds provided by the Gaza Mental Health Foundation have over the years been an important source of support for the GCMHP's Rachel Corrie Women's Empowerment Project.  We will continue to support the Women's Empowerment Project in 2008, and will also help the GCMHP carry out its emergency mental health interventions. In addition, your generosity will enable us to advance the work undertaken by GCMHP as part of the "end the siege" campaign.

Please write your tax-deductible check to the Gaza Mental Health Foundation, fill out the form in the accompanying brochure, and send them to us in the enclosed envelope.

Thank you so much for not standing silently by while the people of Gaza are deprived of their dignity, their hopes for the future, and all the basic requirements for a decent life.

Sincerely,

Nancy Murray, President

Gaza Mental Health Foundation, Inc.