Israel’s September 2007 decision to cut fuel and electricity supplies to the Gaza Strip, home to 1.5 million Palestinians living under military occupation, compounded with the catastrophic effects of Israel’s brutal siege of that area, have produced a humanitarian crisis of devastating proportions. This humanitarian crisis continues today and remains largely unreported in the U.S. media.

Andrew Whitley is Director of the Representative Office of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East.  He has worked as a reporter for the BBC, the Financial Times and other organizations and has taught at NYU.  Mr. Whitley was a reporter in Iran during the 1979 revolution and has worked in Kosovo. 

Barbara Lubin is Executive Director of the Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA), an organization that supports children and families in Palestine, Lebanon and Iraq through humanitarian aid, education and community-based projects.  All the proceeds from this event were donated to MECA to assist in their work in the Gaza strip.

Recorded Saturday, April 12, 2008 at Northwestern University - Hughes Auditorium.