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>Israeli army to demolish Rachel Corrie Peace Center
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Wednesday, 20
>August 2003 by Jason Email:  jiveonion@yahoo.com
>
>Dear Friends,
>
>The Labor Art and Mural Project's delegation to Palestine/Israel is facing
>a grave challenge: This morning, four cars of Israeli authorities - the
>IDF, the Civil Administration, and the police department arrived at the
>work camp in East Jerusalem where LaMP activists are helping to construct a
>peace center in memory of Rachel Corrie. The authorities issued a 'stop
>work' order and confiscated building materials. They also announced that
>the building and mural - both scheduled for completion on Thursday - would
>shortly be demolished.
>
>Israeli and Palestinian activists are massing to spend the night in the
>building, or arranging to be at the site at 4:30 tomorrow morning in an
>attempt to stall or prevent the demolition. Some activists will carry out
>civil disobedience. Your messages of protest are crucial as well.
>
>The building, called the Beit Arabia Peace Center, is the project of the
>Israeli Committee against House Demolitions. As an act of resistance to the
>occupation, ICAHD is holding a work camp to rebuild on the site of the home
>of Arabia and Salim Shawamreh of Anata. The Israeli authorities have
>demolished the Shawamreh home four times. In addition to memorializing
>Rachel Corrie, the center will memorialize the death of Nuha Makadma
>Sweidan, a pregnant Palestinian woman killed in Gaza in March 2003 when an
>Israeli bulldozer demolished her home on top of her. The center will house
>a permanent exhibit of the ongoing tragedy of house demolitions, and will
>also serve as a center for educational activities, study tours, activist
>events and peace-building between Palestinians and Israelis. It is
>poignantly located across a valley from a new Israeli police and
>interrogation center.
>
>The mural being painted by U.S. labor muralist Mike Alewitz is anchored by
>an image of broken bulldozers and war equipment. In the sky float images of
>Corrie and Sweidan. A railroad track runs to the horizon, reminding viewers
>of the collective dreams of radical Jewish and Arab unionists in the
>mandate period who fought for joint organizing of the Haifa rail workshops.
>It is this kind of vision - of Jews and Arabs fighting for socialist future
>where the interests of working people will be central - that the Israeli
>authorities hope to bury in their escalating demolitions of rebuilt houses
>and structures.
>
>Please protest this outrage by contacting the U.S. State Department, your
>representatives in the Senate and Congress, and the U.S. Consulate General,
>Jerusalem, at 18 Agron Road, Jerusalem 94190 / 27 Nablus Road, Jerusalem
>94190;PHONE: 972-2-6227230 /972-2-6253288;FAX: 972-2-6259270.
>
>The following Israeli authorities should hear your protest as well:
>
>Coordinator of Activities in Judea and Samaria General Yaakov Orr Ministry
>of Defense Ha-Kirya Tel Aviv, Israel Phone: 972-3-697-5351 Fax:
>972-3-697-6306;
>
>Spokesperson: Mr. Shlomo Dror Mobile: 972 2 50-398-652
>
>DC Indymedia:  http://dc.indymedia.org/
|
homepage: 
phone: 972 2 50-398-652
