MASS DEMONSTRATION & MARCH FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 2002, AT 5 P.M. – TIMES SQUARE
Stop The Bush/Sharon War Against The Palestinian People! END THE OCCUPATION — STOP U.S. AID TO ISRAEL!
Join the Al-Awda Coalition, the International Action Center, IFCO/Pastors for Peace, Arab & Muslim groups and civil rights organizations for tomorrow's all-important demonstration against Bush & Sharon's all-out war against the Palestinian people.
Hundreds of thousands of people are marching for Palestine, and the eyes of the world are on the U.S., with people wanting to know if U.S. citizens are with the Palestinians or not. We have a police permit for our rally on Broadway between 41st and 42nd street, so COME OUT! A strong rally will also help build the April 20 March on Washington.
The following is the ANSWER Coalition press release about Friday's demonstration, including a response to GW Bush's statements today (Thursday, April 4, 2002).
"Tomorrow night’s mass rally and march at 5 p.m., at 42 Street and Broadway, will launch the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition’s national Palestine solidarity campaign, the high point of which will be the convergence at the White House of tens of thousands on Saturday, April 20, to oppose the U.S./Israel war on Palestinians.
Friday’s Times Square rally — endorsed by a wide spectrum of organizations, including Arab and Muslim groups, anti-globalization activists, students, and civil rights organizations (see below for endorsers) — will culminate a week in which hundreds of thousands demonstrating overseas in support of Palestine have been joined in the U.S. by rallies in Los Angeles, Boston, San Francisco, Philadelphia and at mosques and campuses.
“As Israel’s principle backer and supplier of its monstrous military capacity, the U.S. can’t be the solution to the invasion of Ramallah or anywhere else,” said Larry Holmes, co-director of the International Action Center, which is part of A.N.S.W.E.R., which stands for Act Now to Stop War and End Racism. “President Bush’s blame-the-victim statements today showed that very clearly.”
"In a display of supreme arrogance, Bush continued his demands that the Palestinian Authority (PA) 'stop inciting violence,' at a time when all the major cities and towns of the West Bank are suffering under unprecedented harsh forms of occupation," Holmes continued.
"The Palestinian people, including elected Palestinian Authority President Yasir Arafat, are enduring abominable and inhuman conditions imposed by a 100,000-strong Israeli occupation army. The number of killed and wounded is not known. The occupying army has added to the death toll by preventing ambulances from doing their work."
"The Israeli military has deliberately destroyed water mains and sewage lines, electric power and phone systems, and shut down virtually all trade. A 24-hour curfew has been imposed and much of the West Bank declared a closed military area, further limiting information about the dire situation facing the civilian population," said Becker. "In his speech today, President Bush justified the Israeli occupation and blamed the Palestinians, saying that PA President Arafat had 'betrayed the hopes of the people he's supposed to lead. Given his failure, the Israeli government feels it must strike at terrorist networks that are killing its citizens.'
"Bush's one-sided and patronizing speech has triggered angry responses from all over the Middle East and beyond. The president's decision to dispatch Secretary of State Powell has little to do with finding a truly just solution and much to do with trying to calm that anger," Holmes stated. "It is really an attempt to extend a lifeline to the pro-U.S. regimes in Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, which are under growing pressure from their own peoples. It is also an attempt to rescue Sharon and his government, which despite its unrestrained brutality are falling deeper into crisis every day."
"Bush's repeatedly expressed sympathy for one side in the conflict, Israel, and the massive funding and supplying of the same side, makes it abundantly clear why the U.S. can not be regarded as any kind of 'honest broker' in the conflict," Holmes pointed out.
“The only hope is for the movement that has risen up here in the U.S. against war, racial profiling and attacks on civil liberties to join the worldwide movement for Palestinian liberation and demand unequivocally that the U.S. end its support of the Israeli occupation.” Holmes said. “Mass sentiment for the Palestinians is getting stronger every day. Many people in the U.S., especially in African American, Latino and Arab communities, know what it is to have their homes invaded by police, to have their streets blocked off, and to be subject to mass arrests, detentions, and racist shootings.”
Partial list of endorsers – Al-Awda Palestine Right to Return Coalition, NY, NJ • American Muslim Alliance, NY • Arab American Civic Organization • Arab Muslim American Federation • Bayan - USA • Committee for Justice to Defend Palestinian Rights • Committee in Support of Iraqi People • IFCO/Pastors for Peace • International Action Center • Islamic Association for Palestine • Kensington Welfare Rights Union • Korea Truth Commission • Mexico Solidarity Network • Middle East Children’s Alliance • Muslim Students at NYU • Muslims Against Racism, Racial and Religious Profiling and War • Nicaragua Network • Organization of Iraqi Students in New York City • Partnership for Civil Justice--Legal Defense & Education Fund • Peace and Justice Foundation • School for International Public Affairs Working Group, Columbia U. • Students for International Peace & Justice
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