DICHIARAZIONE DEL CONSIGLIO NAZIONALE DEGLI ARABI AMERICANI

IN OCCASIONE DELLE DIMOSTRAZIONI DEL 12 AGOSTO 2006

“L’OCCUPAZIONE E’ UN CRIMINE, DAL LIBANO ALL’IRAQ ALLA PALESTINA”

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Statement of the National Council of Arab-Americans

On the Occasion of the National Demonstrations of August 12, 2006

“Occupation is a Crime, From Lebanon, Iraq, to Palestine”

August 10, 2006

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There are no words to describe the barbaric cruelty being inflicted upon the people of Lebanon, Palestine, and Iraq today. The ongoing onslaught evidenced by the mass killing, maiming, imprisoning, and torturing of thousands of Arabs at the hands of the US-Israeli war machine has become a daily affair, sanitized by the US corporate media as though it were a natural

part of the universal order. The most recent unleashing of premeditated ferocious military

campaigns against the people of Lebanon and Palestine, with their clear targeting of civilian

infrastructure, and their desire to collapse and eradicate democratically elected movements who do

not bend to their will, represents an affront to the values of all civilized humanity. These campaigns are possible only when the lives of Arabs and Muslims are deemed to have no moral equivalency to those of Americans or Israelis. In short, these are war crimes, facilitated by the ugliest forms of racism, and intended to widen US and Zionist hegemonic interests in the region.

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But the Arab people are not merely passive victims in these endeavors. The heroic resistance waged by the organically grown, popular movements in these localities against the most sophisticated military technology in the world is truly inspirational. It represents an affirmation that the Arab people, like all other people in the world, have the right to their lands, homes and resources; that they have the right to self-determination; and, that they have a right to resist a savage colonial occupation that seeks to divide and rule them, whether directly or through collaborating proxy regimes. Ultimately, the forces of injustice and inhumanity will not triumph over those who still hold that there are things in this world more valuable than the profit margins of US oil companies and multinational corporations.

This is precisely why the US government has not only ‘given the green light’ to Israeli state terror, but is actively facilitating this terror by bountifully supplying it with diplomatic immunity, weaponry, and fuel, all paid for by the US taxpayer. These US-equipped campaigns are designed to snuff out the flames of resistance, yet history tells us that these attempts have failed in the past and will fail in the future.

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On August 12, 2006 thousands across America will take a stand to say no to the crime of occupation, and no to US and Zionist designs for the Middle East. They will also gather to say that nothing can hide the blood dripping from the hands of the Republican and Democratic parties, and that this will not be forgotten as we return to our communities and engage in activism through social justice, and later on, at the voting polls. Moreover, it must be noted that those in the US anti-war/ peace movement, who have persistently argued that the question of Palestine, and the nature of Zionism are not worthy issues to be included in its agenda, have indirectly facilitated the atrocities that we are witnessing today.

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Valuable time and energy have been wasted, and Israeli belligerence has thrived as claims that issues of the national liberation of Palestine and the right of return for Palestinian refugees were somehow “different,” “complicated,” or “restrictive.”  Today we see the true face of Israeli terror, and the inseparability of the issue of occupation in Palestine, Lebanon, or Iraq, and the uniformity of the causes and results of such acts. So the time has come for the US and international peace and justice movement to take a clear and unabashed stance against Zionism and the racist, colonialist regime of Israel.  

We stress: Zionism is not compatible with justice, human rights, peace or genuine solidarity.

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Further, it must also be stated that all those who bet against the resistance—including pro-US Arab

regimes and their auxiliary wings amongst Arab-American communities in the US—should also be exposed for their despicable collaborative stances.

Let August 12, 2006, be the day when a new and principled US anti-war movement is born ; a

day when our solidarity with the oppressed is affirmed; when the right to resist is defended; when connections between movements here and abroad for social causes and political justice are forged; and when the forces of racism, colonialism, and imperialism are forthrightly rejected. Only by doing so can we hope to put an end to the intolerable suffering we witness not only in Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq, but also amongst so many of the poor and disenfranchised in America as well.

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Support the People of Lebanon,

Palestine and Iraq!

Support the Right of Return of all Refugees!

Stop US Aid to Israel!

Support Divestment from Israel and Boycott all Israeli Products!

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NCA National Office

National Council of Arab Americans (NCA)

email: nationaloffice@arab-american.net

phone: 530.756.5548

web: http://www.arab-american.net

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