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Chicago Protest scheduled for 5 p.m. Monday at Tribune Plaza

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Roger Alexander

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Oct 2, 2000, 3:00:00 AM10/2/00
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ARAB AMERICAN ACTION NETWORK--MEDIA RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 2, 2000

ARAB AMERICANS PROTEST ISRAELI PERPETRATED MASSACRE

CHICAGO--Chicago's Palestinian community will protest the Israeli
army's killing of more than 30 Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied
West Bank and Gaza Strip in recent days. More than 1,000 others have
been injured by anti-tank missiles, live ammunition, rubber-coated
steel bullets and tear gas.

Protestors will rally at Tribune Plaza (435 N. Michigan Avenue) at
5PM, and then march across Michigan Avenue bridge to the Israeli
consulate at 111 E. Wacker.

Community leaders today expressed outrage at the Israeli perpetrated
violence and called for the United States to pressure Israel to halt the

attacks. Rafiq Jaber, President of the Islamic Association for Palestine

said, "Many of our people have family members in the line of fire. We
are
shocked and angered at the loss of innocent life and the extreme
brutality
used by the occupation forces. We feel that Israel's assault on the
Islamic Holy Places in Jerusalem was a deliberate provocation to test
the
will of the Palestinian people."

Ali Abunimah, vice president of the Arab American Action Network said,
"We hope that if Illinois Governor George Ryan goes forward with his
planned trip to Israel in February, he will voice the outrage of the
people of Illinois at the gross abuses of human rights perpetrated by
Israel."

BACKGROUND

The bloodshed began on Thursday, September 28, after Israeli General
Ariel Sharon forced his way into the Haram Al-Sharif, Islam's holiest
site in Jerusalem, accompanied by 1,000 heavily armed troops.
Palestinians protesting this provocation have been brutally suppressed
by the Israeli army. In October 1990, occupation forces massacred 17
worshippers at the Haram Al-Sharif, and again stormed the compound in
September 1996, killing three.

*In one of the most horrifying scenes shown on world television,
12-year old Muhammad Al-Dura was shot dead in cold blood by an Israeli
sniper, while his father, Jamal, was trying to protect him from the
hail of Israeli bullets. A Palestinian ambulance driver who attempted
to rescue the two was also shot dead by the Israeli sniper. Jamal
Al-Dura remains critically injured in hospital.

*Ariel Sharon was the mastermind behind Israel's 1982 invasion of
Lebanon, which claimed more than 20,000 Palestinian and Lebanese
lives, and the notorious massacres of thousands of Palestinian men,
women and children at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Lebanon,
the same year.

*There are approximately 150,000 Arabs living in the Chicago area, of
whom 80,000 are Palestinian.

Co-sponsored by: Arab American Action Network, Al-Awda Chicago,
Al-Mahjar, Arab American Institute, Arab American View Newspaper,
Al-Qods TV, Committee for a Democratic Palestine, Friday Magazine,
Friday Radio, Islamic Association for Palestine, Guild of Palestinian
Writers and Journalists in North America, United Arab Networking,
American Friends Service Committee, Eighth Day Center for Justice,
Hammerhard Mediaworks, Southwest Youth Collaborative, (list in
formation).

Arab American Action Network
3148 W. 63rd Street
Chicago, Illinois,
60629 (773) 436-6060
aa...@aaan.org

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sun, 1 Oct 2000 23:37:46 -0600 (MDT)
From: Muhammad Deeb <md...@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca>
To: Arabic-Info
<owner-ar...@Dartmouth.EDU>

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