NYC pro-Palestinian demo

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Mon Dec 3 17:53:36 PST 2001


Date: Mon, 03 Dec 2001 20:27:05 -0500 From: Bilal El-Amine <belamine at digitas.com>

Al-Awda/ The Palestine Right to Return Coaltion of New York City will

hold an

Emergency Demonstration

Tuesday, December 4 @ 5:00 P. M.

At the Israeli Consulate

42ND STREET AND 2ND AVENUE

*Speak out against Israel's war on Palestine

*Speak out against Israeli occupation of Palestine

For updates

www.electronicintifada.org

Israel steps up air strikes

(Filed: 03/12/2001)

ISRAELI jets attacked the West Bank town of Jenin this evening, hours

after air strikes on Yasser Arafat's Gaza City headquarters. Rocket

attacks were also launched on Bethlehem.

Missiles struck the Palestinian leader's helicopter compound in the

Gaza Strip this afternoon in retaliation for the weekend's suicide

bombings by Islamic militants.

Smoke rises from the area near Yasser Arafat's Gaza office

The attack, close to his offices and official residence, came despite

the arrests of 110 militants by Arafat's forces. Seventeen people were

injured.

Palestinian security staff fled the area under as eight helicopters

hovered over the city, themselves under fire from machine guns on the

ground.

An Israeli source said the strikes were "only the start" of its

response to the suicide attacks. Arafat himself was in the West Bank

city of Ramallah at the time the missiles struck.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who returned to Israel this

morning after cutting short a US visit, held emergency talks with his

ministers.

Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said he had asked the United

States to force Israel to halt the bombardment. He said that Israeli

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon "should know that bloodshed breeds

bloodshed".

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said: "Obviously Israel has the

right to defend itself and the president understands that clearly." He

said the burden was now on Arafat to show the will to stop such

attacks.

An Israeli official said the strikes were a message to Yasser Arafat

to fight terrorism. "Either Arafat will fight terrorism or we will

have to do it," said Raanan Gissin, a spokesman for Sharon.

"It was not an attack on the home or the compound of Mr Arafat but on

the helicopter and helicopter landing pad," he said.

The Palestinian Authority said a number of Israeli tanks and armoured

vehicles have moved into Palestinian areas in the West Bank.

Sharon vows revenge

2 December 2001

Palestine Media Center - PMC

http://www.palestine-pmc.com

Israeli occupation authorities declared during the afternoon hours of

2 December, that all Palestinian civilians would be barred from

exiting or entering Palestinian-controlled areas. According to the

Israeli media,Palestinian traffic is not to leave any

Palestinian-controlled area (area A)or travel between area A and

villages in areas B and C throughout the West Bank.

The move effectively turns every Palestinian population center, no

matter how large or small, into a prison. Israeli media purports that

the Israeli occupation authorities have stated that travel exemptions

would be permitted "in humanitarian cases only". However, such claims

or announcements have been proven false on the ground on numerous

occasions, often leading to deaths and health complications of

Palestinian civilians in need of medical attention.

The Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem has previously

condemned the Israeli occupation army for obstructing Palestinian

patients' passage to hospitals. According to various Palestinian

sources, these draconian

measures, which contravene international humanitarian law, have lead

to at least thirty-three deaths of kidney patients. They have also

caused at least twenty-two cases of miscarriages and labor at the

various Israeli military

checkpoints, in the West Bank alone. On 16 October, B'Tselem stated,

"The [Israeli occupation forces]spokesperson has repeatedly stated

that: The [Israeli occupation forces] has regulations whose purpose is

to ensure the passage of urgent medical cases at roadblocks. The

regulations may exist, but the soldiers at the roadblocks have

apparently not heard about them".

Earlier in the morning, Israeli occupation authorities sealed off all

passages, including the international crossing points between the West

Bank and Jordan as well as between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.

www.palestine-pmc.com

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