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<b>For Immediate Release<br>
August 15, 2005<br>
<br>
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee – San Francisco Chapter<br>
Press Contacts: Jess Ghannam, Ramiz Rafeedie – 415-861-7444<br>
</b> <br>
<div align="center"><b>"Gaza Disengagement will not end the
suffering of Palestinians"<br>
</b></div>
<br>
Israel has a unilateral obligation to withdraw its troops and settlers
and end its occupation of Gaza as well as of the other Palestinian lands
under international law. <br>
<br>
But the Gaza "disengagement" is not designed to, and will not
result in an end to occupation. Prime Minister Sharon has stressed
that Israel will never give up major West Bank settlement blocs, with the
apparent blessing of the Bush administration.<br>
<br>
The “disengagement” plan seems to be more of a way to tighten the grip on
West Bank and carry out more land confiscation in and around
Jerusalem. The Israel Lands Administration, a government agency
last month, released a tender inviting bids for the purchase of 22 plots
for building single-family homes in the West Bank settlement of Maale
Adumim, near Jerusalem<br>
<br>
Further the “Gaza Disengagement” will make things worse for Palestinians
considering the following:<br>
<br>
** The "disengagement" will leave Gazans worse off
economically, socially and politically than they are now, isolating the
1.2 million Palestinians in a besieged prison surrounded and controlled
on all sides by Israel.<br>
<br>
** Sharon's goal is to maximize the chaos and televised scenes of Israeli
pain and division, so he can refuse any international demands that he
withdraw from the West Bank and Jerusalem, claiming that the price Israel
is paying is too high to go further. "Gaza first" will become
Gaza last.<br>
<br>
** The construction of Israel's Wall continues despite the rulings of the
International Court of Justice finding it illegal; it will soon be
completed, locking West Bank Palestinians into tiny cantons separated
from each other and from their own land.<br>
<br>
** All Israeli settlements - from tiny "outposts" to the
largest settlement cities such as Ma'ale Adumim and Ariel - are illegal,
violating the Fourth Geneva Convention's prohibition against moving any
population from the occupying country into the occupied
territory.<br><br>
<br>
</font><div align="center"><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3><b>
Gaza Disengagement Talking Points – ADC-SF<?xml:namespace prefix = o
ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><br><br>
</b></div>
<ul>
<li><b>The Gaza disengagement plan does not mean an end to the
occupation. </b>
<ul>
<li>While Israel is dismantling the settlements in Gaza, it is actually
building more settlements in the West Bank.</font>
<li><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>Under the plan, Israel
will retain complete control over Gaza’s borders, airspace, seaports,
airports, and water.</font>
<li><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>The plan will effectively
turn Gaza into a prison for the Palestinians. Israel will retain complete
control over who enters or leaves the Gaza Strip.</font>
<li><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>Israel will retain control
over imports and exports to and from Gaza.
<li>Under the plan, Israel has the unilateral right to invade the Gaza
Strip whenever it chooses. This means continued land confiscation, home
demolitions, and assassinations.</font>
</ul>
</ul><br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>
<ul>
<li><b>While Israel pulls out of the Gaza, it tightens the noose on the
West Bank.</b></font>
<ul>
<li><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>Under the disengagement
plan, large portions of the West Bank will be annexed into Israel.</font>
<li><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>Israel will continue to
build illegal, Jewish-only settlements in the West Bank.</font>
<li><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>Israel will continue to
expropriate water resources away from Palestinians in order to feed it
into its settlements.
<li>The plan gives Israel diplomatic coverage necessary to continue its
settlement activity in the West Bank.</font>
</ul>
</ul><br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>
<ul>
<li><b>Israel will continue to build the Apartheid Wall.</b></font>
<ul>
<li><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>Under the plan, Israel
will continue to build its Apartheid Wall in the West Bank, thus
separating Palestinian children from their schools, workers from their
jobs and farms, and the sick from access to hospitals and health
care.</font>
<li><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>The Wall imprisons
Palestinian within several disjointed Bantustans and acts as a barrier
preventing Palestinians from accessing their jobs, schools and hospitals
and other essentials. </font>
<li><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>Israel will continue to
manipulate and re-draw the borders of the West Bank.</font>
</ul>
</ul><br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>
<ul>
<li><b>The disengagement plan disregards the issues that are at the core
of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict.</b></font>
<ul>
<li><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>The rights of the 1.5
million Palestinians living within Israel continue to be ignored.</font>
<li><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>Under the plan, the
6,000,000 Palestinian refugees will still be unable to return
home.</font>
<li><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>Israel still continues its
illegal occupation of Jerusalem.</font>
<li><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>The theft of Palestinian
land and Israel apartheid system continue unabated.</font>
</ul>
</ul> <br>
<br><br>
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