Contacts:
Portland Peaceful Response Coalition
(503) 344-5078
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www.pprc-news.org
Friday rally calls for cease-fire in Gaza, builds support for anti-war
mobilization marking five years of Iraq war and occupation.
The regular Portland Peaceful Response Coalition 5:00PM Friday rally and
march at Pioneer Courthouse Square continues to drum up support for next
week's anti-war mobilization set for Saturday, March 15th, at the South Park
Blocks. This week's rally turns the spotlight on the increase in violence
in the Palestine-Israel conflict. "As expected, as grimly predictable as it
was, we see that the murderous attacks on Gaza which killed upwards of 130
Palestinians, over half of them civilians, have led to only further
murderous attacks, this time on a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem, killing at
least eight civilian Israelis, some as young as fifteen years old," said
William Seaman, a volunteer with PPRC ("At Least 7 Dead in Attack on
Jerusalem School", New York Times online, March 6, 2008, AP). "What is it
about a cease-fire, which has the support of a majority of Israelis and has
been on offer from Hamas, that is so unacceptable to the Israeli government
and its Bush administration patrons?" Echoing the calls of Jewish
organizations such as Brit Tzedek v'Shalom and Jewish Voice for Peace, PPRC
is calling on the US Congress to pressure the Israeli government and the
Bush Administration to agree to a ceasefire with Hamas.
"Each of those helicopter gunships, each jet fighter and all the missiles
and bombs that are fired or dropped in Gaza and end up killing and injuring
dozens of Palestinian children and other innocent civilians, each is
purchased by US taxpayers," said Seaman. "We have to take responsibility
for our country's role in prolonging and worsening this deadly conflict, we
have to pressure the Israeli government to end its occupation of Palestinian
land, to remove the illegal settlements in the West Bank, end the siege on
Gaza, and recognize the right to self-determination of the Palestinian
people."
This week, Vanity Fair published a powerful exposé detailing the Bush
Administration's role in "touching off a bloody civil war in Gaza and
leaving Hamas stronger than ever"(The Gaza Bombshell, David Rose, Vanity
Fair, April 2008).
LINK: www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/04/gaza200804
"The facts revealed in this Vanity Fair article have been known and
discussed within the Palestinian community for many months now, and it is
gratifying to finally see this coming to the attention of a much wider
audience here in the US," said Seaman. "Sadly, this latest scandal is
all-too-typical of the US policy, under both Republicans and Democrats, when
it comes to this conflict; the consequences are more deaths and more
injuries, mostly among the innocent Palestinians, but as we saw in Jerusalem
and along the border with Gaza, also among Israeli civilians."
“PPRC unequivocally condemns all attacks on civilian noncombatants, and that
condemnation applies equally to the Israeli government for attacks which
reflect utter disregard for the innocent Palestinian civilians killed or
injured and to the Palestinian militants who fire rockets into civilian
Israeli communities or plan and launch attacks on civilian targets like
yesterday’s massacre in Jerusalem,” said Seaman. “And we have to hold
ourselves responsible also for our government’s role in perpetuating and
escalating this tragic conflict, providing military and financial and
diplomatic support for an illegal occupation that has to end.”
The March 15th mobilization, marking five years of the US war and occupation
in Iraq, will include an "Action Tent" that provides a glimpse into some of
the history of the Palestine-Israel conflict. The Action Tent, titled
"Palestine: 40 Years of Occupation and 60 Years of Dispossession", will
include historic photographs from 1948, revealing the Palestinian
experience, Al Nakba (Arabic for "the catastrophe"), when hundreds of
thousands of Palestinians were driven into exile from their homes. PPRC
will be co-hosting a Constitutional Rights action tent focused on the
struggle to defend the Bill of Rights against the Bush administration's 'war
on terror' policies of torture, detention without due process, extraordinary
rendition, warrantless wiretaps and the range of abuses embodied in the
PATRIOT Act. Amnesty International will also be represented in this action
tent. Action tents will be open from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM on Saturday, March
15th, at the South Park Blocks. The rally is scheduled for 2:00 PM, and the
peace march is expected to start at 2:30 PM.
For more information or to volunteer, please call the PPRC voicemail line at
503-344-5078.
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