SHARON ANSWERS ARAB SUMMIT PROPOSAL WITH ALL-OUT WAR AGAINST PALESTINIANS
March 29, 2002
Anti-War Coalition Condemns “U.S.-Israeli War”
CALLS FOR MASS PROTEST DEMONSTRATION AT WHITE HOUSE IN WASHINGTON ON APRIL 20 AND 22 AND & IN SAN FRANCISCO ON APRIL 20
National Mobilization Against the Butcher Sharon April 22, 2002 - Washington, DC
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon gave his answer to the Arab League’s peace proposal today — a massive assault on Palestinian cities, towns and refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza. The compound of Palestinian Authority President Yassir Arafat in Ramallah has been invaded and largely destroyed. Many Palestinians have been killed, wounded and rounded-up. Israel has called up 20,000 reservists in preparation for even wider attacks.
“This latest assault is part of a clear pattern of action on Sharon’s part,” said Larry Holmes, Co-Director of the International Action Center and a member of International A.N.S.W.E.R., which stands for Act Now to Stop War and End Racism. A.N.S.W.E.R. is organizing major anti-war demonstrations in Washington D.C. and San Francisco on April 20, 2002.
“These attacks on civilian areas are being carried out with U.S. weaponry — F-16s, Apache helicopters, armored personnel carriers and much more,” said Holmes. “The U.S. has supplied more high-tech weaponry to Israel than to any other country. What we are witnessing today is, from any objective point of view, a joint U.S-Israeli war against the Palestinian people,” Holmes continued.
“While the Bush administration and the big media here regularly blame the Palestinians for the failure of negotiations to move forward, the reality is that the Sharon regime has responded to every initiative with extremely provocative actions,” Holmes stated. “Back in November, Secretary of State Powell’s announcement that Gen. Zinni was being sent as a U.S. envoy to the Middle East was followed three days later by the assassination of a top leader of the Hamas organization and the killing of five young boys from the same family in Gaza.
“In late February, Sharon responded to the Saudi plan put forward by Crown Prince Abdullah by launching an offensive unprecedented since the 1967 war on refugee camps and cities across the West Bank and Gaza. More than 200 Palestinians were killed in a two-week period and thousands more seriously wounded and made homeless — the overwhelming majority of the casualties being civilians,” said Holmes.
“But the corporate media considers Israeli casualties far more significant that those on the Palestinian side, despite the fact that the latter has suffered four times the deaths — more than 1,300 killed — and more than six times the number of wounded as have the Israelis,” said Mara Verheyden-Hilliard of the Partnership for Civil Justice LDEF and the A.N.S.W.E.R. national steering committee.
“The bottom line is this: Sharon is part of the leadership grouping in Israel which has resisted, since the establishment of their state, giving up one square foot of historic Palestine,” stated Verheyden-Hilliard. “For 50 years they have worked tirelessly, with the support of U.S. leaders and media, to make it appear that it is the Palestinians and Arabs who are responsible for the ongoing hostilities.”
“The reality of the situation is that there will be no peace in the Middle East until there is real justice and self-determination for the Palestinians,” Verheyden-Hilliard concluded.
The International A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition is calling on people from across the country to join our mass anti-war and anti-racist protests in Washington, DC and San Francisco on April 20 to demand an end to U.S. support for Israel’s occupation and justice for the Palestinian people.
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email: iacenter@action-mail.org
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