Jewish-Arab Demo to defend democracy - tomorrow in Jerusalem

[otherisr at actcom.co.il]

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Gush Shalom infoteam 
 
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     Gush Shalom
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Jan 6, 2003 - a grim beginning of the new year

International release


1) Jewish-Arab  Demo: Defend democracy, stop rampaging Apartheid!
2) Another painful and terrible proof that there is no milliary solution


1) Jewish-Arab  Demo: Defend democracy, stop rampaging Apartheid!

No to the expulsion of arab citizens from the Knesset!

Gush Shalom calls upon the public to join a big Jewish-Arab rally

taking place tomorrow, Tuesday, Jan. 3, at 12.00 noon

outside the Supreme Court Building, Jerusalem

during the appeals against the expulsion from the Knesset of

Knesset Members Tibi and Bishara, and the Balad Party

No to racism, yes to democracy!

Is Israel the state of all its racists?

Expelling the Arabs is expelling democracy!

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All the peace and human rights movements - among them Gush Shalom, Peace Now, 
Ta'ayush, Bat Shalom, Women's Peace Coalition and many others - share in this initiative, 
together with the Arab Monitoring Committee and all the Arab parties.

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No to an Apartheid regime in Israel!

A joint Jewish-arab demonstration will take place tomorrow, Tuesday Jan. 7, at 12.oo noon, 
outside the Supreme Court building in Jerusalem, during the appeal proceedings against the 
disqualification  of KM's Tibi and Bishara and of the Balad (National Democratic Assembly) 
Party.

No to an Apartheid regime in Israel! No to the disqualification of Tibi, Bishara and Balad! No to 
the disqualification of democracy! 
The representatives of the right wing are pushing the Palestinian citizens of Israel outside the 
boundaries of Israeli democracy. Denial of the right to be elected and to choose between 
legitimate alternatives to vote for is undermining the very foundations of the democratic system.
By pushing the Arabs out of the parliament, the right-wingers try to entrench their own position. 
They have exposed their own racism by their open support of the Kahanist Baruch Marzel, are 
not worried about particular utterances of the Arab representatives. What does worry them is 
the political power of the Palestinian citizens of Israel, and their political convictions which ar
e 
contrary to those of the Right, and which support the achievement of a political compromise 
between the two peoples. 
We, Jews and Arabs, call upon everyone who cares about democracy to lay aside all divisions. 
In face of the attempt to set up a de-facto apartheid regime in Israel, we must struggle together 
in defence of the human, democratic and political rights of all citizens of Israel. 
No to the disqualification of Tibi, Bashara and Balad! No to the disaqualification of democracy!

Signatory organizations:

The Galilee Association
Ata'ja
Bat Shalom
Giv'at Habiba
Gush Shalom
Courage to Refuse
The Fifth Mother
Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions
The Anti-Racist Campaign
Arab Center for Planning
Negev Forum for Coexistance 
HaKav HaYarok
Hkkeshet Hademocratit Hamizrahit
Arab Education Monitoring Committee
Yesh Gvul
Khian
Mehuyavut (Commitment to Peace and Social Justice)
Machsom Watch
Alam Center
Musawa Center
Women Against Violence
Sikkuy - Association to Promote Civil Equality
Adallah
Social Workers for Peace
Alaktza Association
Almizan
New Profile 
The Two's Coalition for Peace
Another Voice in Galile
The Campus is Not Silent
Peace Now
Ta'ayush

Transportation:

8.00 AM  Karmiel (new central bush station) 050-737683
8.40 Acre (Near the Central Bus Station)
9.30 Haifa (Solel Boneh Sq.) 052-887185
9.30 Nazareth (At the spring) 06-4557767
10.00 Tel-Aviv (Arlozorov St. Railway Station, near the El Al Terminal) 03-5221732
10.00 Be'er Sheba (Main entrance to Ben Gurion University) 058-655737
10.15 Afula (Heichal Ha'tarbut)

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2) Another painful and terrible proof that there is no milliary solution


Gush Shalom statement, 6.1.2003

The terrible assault on random civilians in south Tel-Aviv, which deserves full and unqualified 
condemnation, once again gices a painful proof theater there is no military solution to the 
conflict between the state of Israel and the Palestinians rebelling against its miltary rule. 
In April 2002, during the so-called "Operation Defensive Shield", then Army Chief-of-Staff Mofaz 
who is now Minister of Defence claimed confidently that two months of unrestricted Israeli 
control over the Palestinian cities would suffice to "root out terrorism". Since then the armed 
forces of Israel have had more than half a year of complete control over the Palestinian cities, 
and an unhindered freedom to "take preventive action".  The generals were able to maintain 
prolonged closures, sieges and curfews, driving hundreds of thousands to the edge of 
starvation; they conducted raids night by night, dragging off thousands to detention in crowded 
camps, more than a thousand of them held under "administrative detention" without trial; they 
demolished hundreds of homes, throwing thousands of people off into the street; they killed 
hundreds of Palestinians - "suspected terrorists" who were the target of repeated "targeted 
killings" or were killed "while trying to escape" as well as completely innocent civilians - babies
 
and children, pregnant women and octogenarians, all killed in the course of an endless series 
of "regrettable accidents" and "collateral damages". All of these measures - which Sharon, 
Mofaz and Netanyahu now vow to further extend - did not break the Palestinian resistance. On 
the contrary: they sowed greater and greater hatred, facilitating the mobilization of yet more 
suicide bombers, motivated by anger and despair to sow further random death and destruction. 
Only the resumption of a genuine negotiating process, giving Palestinians an tangible hope for 
an end to the occupation, could dry up the the well-springs from which the dark stream of 
suicide bombers issues. 

Many of the victims of yesterday's despicable attack are migrant workers living in the slums of 
South Tel-Aviv. Rumanians, Bulgaians and Ghanaians were killed, and citizen of many other 
impoverished countries were wounded. Many of them feared to approach the hospitals and get 
treatment, for fear of being picked up by the notorious Immigration Police and being deported. It 
is a tragedy and irony that these people, themselves the victims of daily racism in the Israeli 
society and of daily exploitation by ruthless employers, have also become the target of 
Palestinian suicide bombers.    


---
The film 'Jenin Jenin' with Hebrew subtitles can be purchased from Yael Lerer.
To get a copy, send a check for NIS 100. and mail it to:
Andalus
P.O. Box 53036
Tel Aviv 61530
andalus at andalus.co.il
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