On the recordDecember 9, 2010
My colleagues, it is time to call on our allies in the State of Israel to stop shooting children. Since March of this year, 17 children have been shot by Israeli snipers near the border of Gaza, shot for the crime of picking up small pieces of rock to use for aggregate because the Israeli blockade is preventing construction materials from coming into Gaza. Seventy percent of these children were shot while doing this activity beyond the 300-meter unilaterally imposed security zone. Young children and adults are picking up small pieces of gravel because they cannot import concrete to rebuild schools, hospitals, clinics and water treatment facilities without it. Let us call upon our allies in the State of Israel to stop shooting children, to prosecute those who have shot children, and to lift the blockade to allow raw materials in and economic prosperity to succeed. On this Human Rights Day it's the least we can do.
