ACTION ALERT

For Immediate Release
16 August 2004

Al-Awda Solidarity Statement with Palestinian Prisoners' Strike

To our sisters and brothers in the jails of occupation and oppression,
To the valiant heroes of the Captive National Movement in Palestine,
To every mother and father, wife and sister, son and daughter of every Palestinian prisoner of freedom,

On behalf of Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition in North America, we salute you and your decision to begin the battle for the dignity of the Palestinian prisoner, demanding that your basic human rights are respected. We know that your decision to commence an open-ended hunger strike was taken after careful deliberation and after exhausting all other means aimed at restoring your freedom and dignity. We are fully cognizant of your determination to withstand and defeat all the savage measures which the Zionists had threatened to unleash against you in an effort to fracture your collective will and to shatter your resolve.

Dear sons and daughters of Beit Lahem, Jerusalem, el-Am'ari, Haifa, Imm el-Fahm, Southern Lebanon, Jabalya, Nablus and all Palestinian towns, cities and camps, your sisters and brothers of Al-Awda in North America hail your insistence on undertaking this crucial battle despite the cruel conditions under which you have been suffering for years and decades.

We, members of the Palestinian, Arab and solidarity communities in North America, bow in respect and humility to your bravery and devotion to Palestine and its people, both inside and outside of our beloved homeland.

Al-Awda assures you that we will heed your call on all segments of the Palestinian people to organize activities and events in support of your struggle. We pledge to each and every one of you that we will do our utmost to ensure that your voice is heard in every major North American city.

Long live the Captive National Movement in Palestine
Freedom to the Prisoners of Freedom in Zionist jails

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.