Portland Friday Rally & March Spotlight United States Shielding Israeli Crimes

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Written by PPRC PPRC
Published: 04 June 2010 04 June 2010
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Media Advisory

For Immediate Release - Friday, June 04, 2010

Friday Rally & March Spotlight United States Shielding Israeli Crimes

EVENT: Rally & March Protesting Israeli Attacks on FREE GAZA Ships
DATE: Friday, June 04, 2010
TIME: 5:00 PM
LOCATION: Pioneer Courthouse Square, SW Yamhill & Broadway, downtown
Portland

Today, Friday, June 04, 2010, at 5:00 PM, Portland Peaceful Response
Coalition, along with Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights and
other local peace and social justice groups, will focus its weekly rally and
march on the unfolding tragedy of the Israeli assault on the humanitarian
ships earlier this week.

"The US continues to be complicit in supporting the most aggressive and
egregious behavior exhibited by Israel," explained Peter Miller, an
organizers with Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights. "The lack of
accountability for each outrageous act only encourages the Israeli
leadership to use ever more force for problems that can only be solved
through honest diplomacy and true respect for the human rights and human
dignity for Palestinians and Israeli Jews alike." The local activists are
calling for phone calls, faxes, e-mail and letters to Oregon and Southwest
Washington representatives in Congress and to the White House calling for
condemnation of the Israeli assault which killed nine people and injured
scores of others.


"Thomas Friedman, AIPAC's man at the New York Times, writes that 'There is
no question that this flotilla was a setup' designed to make the Israeli
government look bad and he dismissed the humanitarian activists as
disingenuous and crafty hypocrites," said William Seaman, a volunteer with
PPRC and a member of Jewish Voice for Peace. "If we accept Friedman's
twisted logic, then the Freedom Rider campaign that challenged segregation
in the south, and the lunch counter sit-ins, these courageous acts were also
just 'setups' designed to discredit the brutal, racist southern mobs and
cops." Seaman said the Israeli government could easily improve its
international image and avoid such 'provocations' by lifting its illegal
blockade of Gaza, and ending its illegal occupation of Palestinian lands in
the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

"And more to the point for those of us living in the United States as
American citizens, we have to put and end to our country's role in financing
and providing diplomatic cover for Israel's crimes," said Seaman. "The
billions in US taxpayer dollars that finance these murderous acts and that
pay for Israel's illegal settlements and Jews-only highways in the West
Bank, this money needs to be put into education, jobs and healthcare rather
than fueling the spiral of violence in the Middle East."

For more information about the Friday rally and march, and other local
actions protesting the Israeli assault on the humanitarian ships, please
call 503-344-5078.

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