LOS ANGELES (July 23)-- Less than twenty-four hours after, the Hamas leaders made an unprecedented public call for a cease-fire with Israel, Prime Minister Sharon responded by sending an F-16 fighter plane on a bombing spree in Gaza, killing 15 including 9 children.

Los Angles Jews for Just Peace (LA-JJP) and their supporters will peacefully protest yesterday's bombing of a Gaza neighborhood by the Israeli government and will construct a street theater "check-point" outside the local Israeli consulate.

"Like the F-16 air strikes that killed more than a dozen innocents in Gaza yesterday, the checkpoints that Israel has used to divide and conquer the Palestinian territories are all funded by our tax dollars," said Barry Trachtenberg, a spokesperson for LA-JJP. "As Jews who believe in a peaceful solution to this crisis and as people living in the US, we must loudly protest such actions."

"As a daughter of a Jewish family that survived the holocaust, I believe that it is my duty to voice my dissent to the actions of the Israel," said Yael Korin an Israeli-born LA-JJP organizer. "We are constructing the checkpoint to draw attention to the daily humiliations that Israel inflicts on the over three million Palestinians under its control in the occupied territories and appeal to the American public, to pressure the American government to stop military aid to Israel."

WHEN: 4:30-6:00 PM Thursday, July 25, 2002

WHERE: Israeli Consulate 6380 Wilshire

(between La Cienega & Crescent Heights)

WHAT: Picket and Street Theater "Checkpoint" Outside Israeli Consulate

WHO: Los Angeles Jews for a Just Peace and their supporters

(formerly: Not in Our Name- Jewish Voices for Peace)

For more info. contact: khesed-ve-din@lycos.com or 323-769-5282

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