JUNE 5: Protest Massacres in Rafah

MASS MARCH ON JUNE 5

Protest the Massacre in Rafah

May 20, 2004

Palestinians marching in protest yesterday in the Rafah refugee camp were attacked by Israeli forces with helicopter-fired missiles, tank shells, and machine gun fire. A large number were killed and wounded, including may children. More than 36 Palestinians have been murdered in less than 72 hours as the Sharon government - with the full backing of the Bush administration - has waged a new full scale assault against the people.

Yesterday in Iraq, in the early morning hours, U.S. aircraft killed more than 40 Iraqis who were attending a wedding celebration in the northern part of the country. Reporters described the gruesome spectacle of vehicles transporting the bodies of many children from the scene.

The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition urgently calls on people to join the mass mobilization on June 5 and to support the emergency protest actions throughout the United States in the coming days in solidarity with the Palestinian people. Thousands of people will be demonstrating on June 5 in Washington, DC, in San Francisco, and in Los Angeles (assemble 12 Noon at Olympic and Broadway). This mass mobilization is an urgent response by the people of the United States to the criminal actions of the Bush administration in Iraq and Palestine.

As the U.S. colonial occupation of Iraq also reaches new and qualitative levels of destruction against the Iraqi people, mirroring in its own way the brutal Israeli occupation of Palestine, it is a critical time for the people of the United States to stand against all colonial occupations and in support of the Right of Return of the Palestinian people, who are being dispossessed once again.

In the deliberate and systematic military policy of erasing entire neighborhoods and villages from existence by destroying large numbers of homes, killing in the process a great many and sending thousands of families into exile once again, the Israeli government is continuing the atrocities and massacres that began decades ago that amount to ethnic cleansing. There are today 5.5 million Palestinian refugees struggling for their right to return, while the West Bank and the Gaza Strip are being walled into collective prisons and turned into disjointed Apartheid-style Bantustans.

We are also demonstrating on June 5 in support of the Haitian people who are confronted daily with state violence, backed by U.S. Marines.

Yesterday, 10,000 demonstrators, who poured out of the working class and poor neighborhoods demanding the return of Haiti's democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, were violently attacked.

The Israeli assault on the refugee camp of Rafah in Palestine; the U.S. attacks on Fallujah, Najaf, and Karbala in Iraq; the ongoing occupation of Afghanistan; and the systematic violence inflicted on the Haitian people at the hands of U.S.-supported thugs, are all part of the violence of an expanding empire that also reaches Korea, Colombia, Cuba, the Philippines and beyond. The humiliating torture, killings, home destruction and sending into exile peoples throughout the world are the norm of an expanding racist war machine that must be stopped.

If you are organizing a bus, van or car caravan to be in DC, SF or LA, fill out the Transportation Form on the ANSWER website:

www.ANSWERcoalition.org.

Help spread the word about June 5! Flyers for Washington DC, San Francisco and Los Angeles can be found on the Downloads page on the ANSWER website:

www.ANSWERcoalition.org. LA flyers can also be found at www.answerla.org.

A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism) www.ANSWERcoalition.org www.answerla.org answerla@answerla.org Los Angeles: 323-464-1636 Washington DC: 202-544-3389 San Francisco: 415-821-6545 New York: 212-633-6646

Locally, ANSWER LA's office is at . . .

1800 N. Argyle Ave., #410

Los Angeles 90028

(1 blk. N. of Hlywd. Blvd., corner of Argyle and Yucca)

323-464-1636

answerla@answerla.org

www.answerla.org

Activist meetings on Tues. at 7 p.m. Parking available.

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A.N.S.W.E.R. COALITION LA (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism)

TO DONATE CALL 323-464-1636. YOU CAN USE MC/VISA OVER THE TELEPHONE OR MAIL CHECK TO: ANSWER LA, 1800 N. ARGYLE AVE, #410, LA, CA 90028

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