[News] Support the Palestinian People!

[Anti-Imperialist News]

NCA

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  Support the Palestinian People!
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   June 29, 2006


Let us get straight to the point. The world has become shamelessly 
accustomed to scenes of Israeli forces at will brutalizing Palestinians.

During this latest case, however, the situation has become that much 
more painful. The attacks are taking place at the peak of a 
US-Israeli imposed international starvation and strangulation 
campaign that not even Arab states dared to challenge. Israeli heavy 
artillery and high explosive missiles have been raining from 
US-fighter jets on bridges, power plants and water supply facilities 
in the Gaza Strip on a population denied even its daily bread and the 
most basic of medications.

To add insult to injury, as of writing this statement, 64 Palestinian 
governmental ministers, democratically- elected members of the 
legislative council (the Palestinian parliament), and mayors of 
various cities have been kidnapped from their homes, with various 
assassinations by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) promised to 
come, including of the Palestinian prime minister himself.

Where else is this travesty allowed to occur?

The Israeli government claims to be "searching" for one occupying 
soldier - what about the nearly 9,000 current Palestinian prisoners 
in Israeli prison camps? Under its illegal occupation, the Israeli 
government continues to imprison over 9,000 Palestinians, all 
systematically jailed, tortured or held hostage - the majority 
without even a farce of a trial. Since 1967 alone, over 650,000 
Palestinians have been detained, amounting to 40% of the male 
population of the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza Strip. Who in the 
international community is searching for them?

The Israeli government, a nuclear power with an unmatched US-supplied 
arsenal, is claiming to seek "security". From whom, we ask? The 
population under attack is the most impoverished in the region. 
Nearly all were made refugees at least once as a result of their 
expulsion by Zionist forces from their homes in 1948, when 75% of the 
Palestinians were made homeless and Zionist colonists occupied 78% of 
Palestine. Many are refugees twice, the second time when they were 
dispossessed in 1967. Some are three and four times refugees, as they 
are made homeless by U.S.-supplied and sanctioned bulldozers time and 
time again, up to this very day as they continue to face the Zionist 
colonial occupation of their land.

The Role of Arab and International Solidarity and the US Peace Movement

The NCA affirms that without Arab depth and without an international 
solidarity movement that squarely realizes the significance of the 
Palestinian struggle and supports their movement for liberation, the 
victimization of the Palestinian Arab people will continue unabated.

Furthermore, the U.S. peace movement has the moral duty to take a 
consistent position in solidarity with the Palestinian people to 
prevent the wanton destruction that is currently taking place with 
the explicit support and reinforcement of the U.S. government. Our 
community should not have to argue for the inclusion of Palestine in 
the anti-war movement, nor should we be subjected to the disgraceful 
removal of Palestinian symbolism from any anti-war protest stage. To 
place Palestine aside to please any of the US political parties is 
morally corrupt and helps to produce the sort of isolation that 
enables such destruction in Palestine to take place.

The Arab American and the Palestinian community cannot stand silent 
as some of our own organizations malign the struggle of the 
Palestinian Arab people and systematically introduce the notions of 
defeat into our young. Such organizations seek an obedient position 
at the doorstep of the US State Department and stand outside the Arab 
consensus. They must not and can not speak on our behalf.

Take Action

The NCA calls on our community to stand together at this difficult 
time. We call on all to join the planned protests in their various 
cities across the US and to express their views in media outlets.

NCA National Office
National Council of Arab Americans (NCA)

email: 
<mailto:nationaloffice at arab-american.net>nationaloffice at arab-american.net
phone: 530.756.5548
web: 
<http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=w4ahswbab.0.qcizvpbab.g4bqvpbab.576&ts=S0187&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.arab-american.net>http://www.arab-american.net 



The Freedom Archives
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San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 863-9977
www.freedomarchives.org 
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