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Protest Israel's *We have the right to kill you* visa for Gaza, and the brutal and illegal Israeli occupation of Palestine and call for an end to U.S. aid for Israel.
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WHEN: 11:30 AM to 2 PM -Friday, May 16th
WHERE: Outside Israeli Consulate- 6380 Wilshire Blvd. (At La Jolla, between Crescent Heights and San Vicente)
WHY: While the world focused on the war on Iraq, the Sharon government stepped up its campaign of land confiscation, home demolitions, closure and isolation of Palestinian communities, and increased attacks on Palestinian civilians, nonviolent human rights workers and journalists. The Israeli army has been tightening security in Gaza. It has explicitly refused to permit any member or associate of the International Solidarity Movement to enter Gaza and has raided ISM offices and arrested members there and in the West Bank. Israeli authorities announced that they now require outsiders to sign waivers absolving Israel from responsibility should they be killed or injured in the territories. An Amnesty International delegation wanting to go to Gaza has refused to sign and has been barred.
In the last two months:
March 16: Rachel Corrie, a human rights worker with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), was deliberately crushed by an Israeli military bulldozer driver while trying to prevent home demolitions in Rafah, Gaza.
April 5: Brian Avery was shot in the face in Jenin by soldiers in an armored personnel carrier that opened fire on clearly visible, unarmed members of
ISM.
April 12: Tom Hurndall, ISM member was shot in the head by an Israeli soldier on the Rafah border as he attempted to rescue children who were under fire from an Israeli sniper tower.
April 20: Nazeh Darwazeh, Palestinian journalist working for Associated Press assassinated by a gunman from an Israeli tank while attempting to
cover an incursion into Nablus.
May 2: James Miller, award-winning British journalist, was shot dead from an Israeli tank while filming demolition of Palestinian houses in the Gaza
Strip.
These attacks on journalists and non-violent human rights workers focus attention on ongoing Israeli violence against Palestinian civilians. 2000 Palestinians have been killed, and in Rafah alone more than 250 civilians, including 45 children, have died since the beginning of the intifada. Outside observers are now refused entry to Rafah. The Israelis are not fighting a war of defense; they are waging a war of conquest to seize Palestinian land and water and expel the Palestinian people.
Join us to say NO Occupation, and NO to Israel's crimes against humanity.
This event has been organized and endorsed by:
National Lawyers Guild
Palestine Aid Society
Women in Black- Los Angeles
The Writing Empowerment Project
CafÈ Intifada!
International Action Center
Palestinian American Women's Association of Southern California
Coalition for World Peace