Action Alert: Stop the Israel Wall !

Action Alert: Stop the Wall !

Yesterday, on the first day of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) hearings on Israel's Apartheid Wall, Palestinians, Israelis and internationals joined in massive, popular protests against the Wall throughout major West Bank cities - Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Nablus, Qalqilya, Jenin, Tulkarem, Ramallah, and even in smaller heavily affected villages such as Budrus, Mas'ha, Jayyous, Deir al-Ghosoon, and others in an attempt to send a clear message here in Palestine, to Israelis and the international community that the Apartheid Wall is sealing the fate of the Palestinian people and must be torn down.

In solidarity with these protests, we call on people from around the world to act locally by demanding that their governments act immediately to stop Israel's Apartheid Wall.

Around the world people are recognizing that the wall is a tool for Apartheid, land seizure, collective punishment and the denial of fundamental human rights. As a result, the past days have shown an unprecedented outpouring of criticism of the Wall in the world's press (see examples from the English press below).

Make sure these messages are heard by your politicians. Contact representatives from your government (see contact info below) and urge them to:

a.. Stop the Wall because it violates Palestinian human rights and international law; and b.. Support fully the International Court of Justice hearings. c.. For Americans, contact your Senators and Congressional Representatives and demand that they reject Senator Hillary Clinton's letter asking Kofi Annan not to support the ICJ hearings ( http://www.aipac.org/UN%20ICJ%20letter.pdf) And send them a copy of one of the articles below.

Articles in the US Media

Huwaida Arraf, Co-Founder of the International Solidarity Movement, "Tear it Down, It's an Oppressive Grab of Palestinian Land", The Detroit Free Press

http://www.freep.com/voices/editorials/earraf23_20040223.htm

David Bloom, Co-editor WorldWar3 Report, "Letter from Jayyous", the Nation

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i_0040308&s_loom

Noam Chomsky, Professor and Activist, "A Wall as a Weapon, The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/23/opinion/23CHOM.html

Marda Dunskly, Professor, "Build Bridges, Not Walls", The Chicago Tribune

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/perspective/chi-0402220392feb22,1,6343181.story

Gary Fields, Professor, "Build Bridges not Walls, The Chicago Tribune

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/perspective/chi-0402220391feb22,1,5949964.story

Jeff Halper, Coordinator of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolition, "America is Complicit in Illegal Wall", The Boston Globe

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/02/21/america_is_complicit_in_illegal_wall/

Jamal Juma', Coordinator of the Campaign to Stop the Wall, "A Noose Around the Necks of Palestinians", The Miami Herald

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/8007056.htm

Shamai Leibowitz and David Nir, human rights lawyer and physicist and activists, "Wall that Must Fall to Save Israel from Itself", The Houston Chronicle

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/editorial/outlook/2413330

Jessica Montell, Executive Director, B'Tselem, "Crossing the Line", The Baltimore Sun

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.court23feb23,0,3978374.story?coll_al-oped-headlines

Iltezam Morrar, 15 Year Old Student from Budrus, "It Exists not for Security but for Apartheid", The Philadelphia Inquirer

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/editorial/7994868.htm

Sharif Omar, Jayyous Farmer and Community Leader, Alternet (Forthcoming)

www.alternet.com

Ma'arouf Zahran, Mayor of Qalqilya, Build Bridges, Not Walls, The Chicago Tribune

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/perspective/chi-0402220390feb22,1,5556747.story

To Contact the US Government

Phone and fax numbers for your Members of Congress: http://www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?list

To send an email to your Members of Congress, visit: http://www.cflweb.org/congress_merge_.htm

White House: phone 202-456-1111, fax 202-456-2461, president@whitehouse.gov

State Department: phone 202-647-6575, http://contact-us.state.gov/ask_form_cat/ask_form_secretary.htm

to Contact the Israeli Government

• Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon Office of the Prime Minister 3 Kaplan Street, PO Box 187 Kiryat Ben-Gurion Jerusalem 91919 Fax: +972 2 651-2631

Email: sar@pmo.gov.il or webmaster@pmo.gov.il

• Defense Minister, Shaul Mofaz Fax: +972 3 696-2757, +972 3 691-6940, +972 3 691-7915

• Foreign Minister, Silvan Shalom Fax: +972 2 530-3704, +972 2 530-3506 Email: sar@mofa.gov.il

3. United Nations

• Office for the Spokesman for the Secretary General United Nations, S-378 New York, NY 10017 Phone: (212) 963-7162

• Fax:(212) 963-7055

• Secretary General of the UN, Mr. Kofi Annan Phone: (212) 963-5012 Fax: (212) 963-4879

• Acting United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr. Bertrand Ramcharan Email: Webadmin.hchr@unog.ch

• Representative of the UN in Palestine, Mr. Terie Rod Larsen Phone: +972 8 282-2914 Fax: +972 8 282-0966 unsco@palnet.com

4. European Parliament Email: civis@europarl.eu.int Individual members of the EU Parliament: http://wwwdb.europarl.eu.int/ep5/owa/p_meps.short_list?ilg N&ictry

5. United Kingdom

• Prime Minister, Tony Blair 10 Downing Street London

• EMAIL: http://www.number10.gov.uk/output/Page848.asp

fax 020 7925 0918. >From outside the UK, the FAX is +442079250918

The Foreign Secretary Rt. Hon Jack Straw MP Downing Street West London SW1A 2AL Ph: +44 20 7270 2059 :: Fax: +44 20 7839 2417 :: Email private.office@fco.gov.uk

• Your MP at House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA

Find your MP at http://www.parliament.uk/about_commons/about_commons.cfm

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