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</font><font face="Verdana" size=4 color="#870000">Support the
Palestinian People!</font><font size=3>
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</font><font face="Verdana" size=2>June 29,
2006</font><font size=3> <br>
<br><br>
</font><font size=2>Let us get straight to the point. The world has
become shamelessly accustomed to scenes of Israeli forces at will
brutalizing Palestinians.<br><br>
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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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
<b>Where else is this travesty allowed to occur? <br><br>
</b>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?<br><br>
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.<br><br>
<b>The Role of Arab and International Solidarity and the US Peace
Movement<br><br>
</b>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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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. <br><br>
<b>Take Action<br><br>
</b>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.<br><br>
NCA National Office <br>
National Council of Arab Americans (NCA) <br>
<br>
email:
<a href="mailto:nationaloffice@arab-american.net">
nationaloffice@arab-american.net</a> <br>
phone: 530.756.5548 <br>
web:
<a href="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</a> <br><br>
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