BREAK THE SIEGE ON THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE

For immediate release
June 30, 2006

Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition, condemns in the
strongest possible terms the Israeli war crimes committed against the
Palestinian people, including the comprehensive siege imposed on the West
Bank and Gaza Strip. We call upon the international community to take up
their responsibility in protecting the Palestinian people from this
aggression, and terminating the continuing Israeli policy of collective
punishment.

Since Tuesday, June 27, 2006, Israel destroyed vital bridges, water and
electricity stations. As a consequence more than two-thirds of the people
have been denied access to water and electricity. Children, the sick and
elderly are the first to be affected.

Israel also arrested more than 64 elected Palestinian Legislative Council
members, city mayors, cabinet ministers and lawmakers.

Israel, the US and European Union governments have put the Palestinian
people under siege for the past few months as collective punishment because
they did not approve of the results of the democratic elections Palestinians
held. Palestinians understood that the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza
Strip which took place this past year was meant to turn it into the largest
prison with the largest population of prisoners in the world. The
acquiescence of world governments to this indicates complicity in these war
crimes.

Nothing justifies the Israeli savagery, including the elimination of water
and electricity access to hundreds of thousands of people. Racist media
coverage in North America has been trying to minimize the importance of
these war crimes.

Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, calls upon all people who
support the Palestinian struggle for self determination and return, to
demand of their representatives, the media and their governments to ensure
that the genocidal Zionist State of Israel ends its siege and fully
compensates for the destruction of life and infrastructure that it has
visited upon the Palestinian people. The potential future cost to human life
the destruction of the water and power supply may cause cannot yet be
determined.

Al-Awda calls upon the international community, Palestine solidarity
activists and groups, Arab community organizations including community
centers, mosques and churches, to demand:

- Ending the siege imposed on the Palestinian people in the West Bank and
Gaza Strip
- The protection of civilian lives and property, as stipulated in
International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law.
- The immediate release of all political prisoners, including all elected
representatives of the Palestinian people.
- To provide Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip and West Bank with
financial and material support, and to Demand the implementation of their
inalienable right to return to their homes and lands from which they have
been dispossessed since the imposition of the Zionist state in 1948 and
thereafter.
- An end to all Zionist occupation, Apartheid and all other war crimes
- An end to all U.S. aid to Israel which supports the continuing occupation
- Immediate reparations and compensation for all destruction carried out
by the Israeli military in the Gaza Strip and elsewhere.

To find out about a demonstration in your area to protest the siege, please
visit the messages posted at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-News/messages


Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition
PO Box 131352
Carlsbad, CA 92013, USA
Tel.: 760-685-3243 or 415-678-6220
Fax: 360-933-3568
E-mail: info@al-awda.org
WWW: http://al-awda.org