ACTION ALERT

For Immediate Release
14 May 2004

PALESTINE REFUGEE RIGHTS GROUP DEMANDS FULL EXPOSURE OF ZIONIST CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY

CALLS TORTURE OF PALESTINIAN CIVILIANS UNDER ZIONIST OCCUPATION A TEMPLATE FOR US AGGRESSION AGAINST IRAQ

Decades of torture, humiliation and physical abuse endured by the people of Palestine under Zionist occupation have served as a template for the tragedy the US has created in Iraq and all of the Arab world . In addition, land theft, home demolitions and the depletion of the Palestinian social structure defies every tenet of international humanitarian law.

Al-Awda, The Palestine Right of Return Coalition joins the Arab peoples in the world-wide condemnation of the United States occupation of the sovereign nation of Iraq, which flaunts all international rules of law. We also condemn the use of mercenaries in Iraq ("sub-contractors") in its attempts to privatize war in an effort to remove it from the glare of public scrutiny.

US actions in Iraq are now being held up to a mirror for all the world to see. We demand no less for the people of Palestine:

• A full accounting of the crimes against humanity perpetrated upon the Palestinian people since the imposition of the Zionist state, to be overseen by The International Criminal Court.
  
  
• That the United States be held accountable to all international laws regarding its complicity in the maintenance of the years long Zionist occupation of Palestine.
  
  
• Along with calls for holding responsible all aggressors involved in the preemptive and illegal war against the people of Iraq, we demand the same hold true for all parties responsible for the condition of the Palestinian people, based on laws governing the Geneva conventions prohibiting the use of torture, cruelty and other forms of mistreatment.
  
  
• In addition, the distortion and outright defiance of all UN resolutions regarding the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to return to their homes and lands (since 1947 until today) must be seriously addressed by international bodies.



• While what continues to be a humanitarian disaster of epic proportion for the Palestinian people, it must be understood that the war against Iraq has its roots in the imposition of the Jewish Only state in the Middle East, since 1947. Only when the Palestinian refugees return to the homes and land they were uprooted from, can stability return to the region.

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.