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ACTION ALERT
19 June 2004
For Immediate Release
NO TO RACISM! SUPPORT THE RIGHT TO RETURN!
In an interview published in the Ha'aretz newspaper on Friday 18 June 2004,
President of the Palestinian Authority Mr. Yasser Arafat reportedly
announced his willingness to conclude a final agreement that would recognize
and ensure "Israel's Jewish character" at the expense of the rights of
Palestinian refugees to return and restitution of all confiscated
and destroyed property. Equally, the President's statement affords
legitimacy to Zionist efforts to further undermine the rights of the
Palestinian population living in areas of Palestine occupied in 1948.
Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, once more calls on
President Arafat to uphold the Palestinian refugees' right to return to
their original homes and lands in accordance with the provisions of the
Palestinian National Charter adopted by the Palestinian National Council in
1968, International Law and pertinent United Nations resolutions.
Al-Awda also calls on all Palestinians and their allies to raise
their voices in unison in support of the rights of Palestinian refugees.
It is time for us to assert once more:
NO TO RACISM! YES TO THE RIGHT TO RETURN!
We urge all to contact President Arafat by phone, fax and email stressing the
following points:
-
It is outrageous that President Arafat would support
maintaining the religious-centric character of Israel.
Maintaining such a character at the expense of the
rights of the Palestinian people, including the refugees'
right to return, is totally unacceptable racist discrimination
and a denial of basic fundamental and inalienable human
rights.
- The Palestinian refugees'
right to return is an inalienable individual and collective
right guaranteed by clear legal and historical
claims, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, The
Geneva Conventions, and supported by UN Resolution 194.
- According to international
law, no agreement, negotiations or parties which purport
to trade away the right to return or any other inalienable
rights can have any legal basis and cannot bind or
compel the Palestinian people to end the struggle for
the fulfillment of their rights.
- Any attempt to abrogate the rights of Palestinian
refugees would set a disastrous precedent in international
human rights law. It will send a clear signal that
ethnic cleansers who expel civilians from their homes,
steal their property and prevent them returning for
long enough can expect to have their illegal territorial
conquests blessed with international legitimacy.
PLEASE
CONTACT PRESIDENT ARAFAT BY:
Email: ppo@alami.net;
ppok@mama.com
Phone: 972 7 822366/5
Fax: 972 7 829451/2
OR
c/o PNA Office in Washington, D.C. by:
Email: palwash1@aol.com
Phone: 1-202-974-6360
Fax: 1-202-785-1596
Fax: 1-202-887-5337
c/o PNA Mission at the United Nations, New York
Email: plomission1@aol.com
Phone: 1-212-288-8500
Fax: 1-212-517-2377
c/o PNA Office in Ontario Canada
Email: baker1234@cyberus.ca
Phone: 1-613-736-0053
Fax: 1-613-736-0535
Letters in the US may be faxed online via: http://www.tpc.int/sendfax.html
Please cc your correspondence to: Al-Awda-Alerts@mail.com
For background and other information on Palestinian refugee
rights,
please see: http://www.al-awda.org/facts.html and http://www.al-awda.org/faq-refugees.html
Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return
Coalition
PO Box 131352
Carlsbad, CA 92013, USA
Tel: 760-685-3243
Fax: 360-933-3568
E-mail: info@al-awda.org
WWW: http://al-awda.org
Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return
Coalition (PRRC) is the largest network of grassroots activists
and students dedicated to Palestinian human rights. We are
a not for profit tax-exempt educational and charitable 501(c)(3)
organization as defined by the Internal Revenue Service
(IRS) of the United States of America. Under IRS guidelines,
your donations to PRRC
are tax-deductible. |
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