The recent Israeli military incursions into the Rafah refugee camp have left 1,240 Palestinians homeless. According to UNRWA, this brings the total number of Palestinians who have been made homeless in Rafah since the beginning of the current Intifada to 7,523. The total for the whole of the Gaza Strip now stands at 11,987. These home demolitions are grievous, immoral, and illegal acts perpetrated by the occupation forces against a defenseless civilian population of mostly women and children. The demolitions are acts of collective punishment and grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention, humanitarian international law, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. According to Amnesty International, such wanton destruction "constitutes a war crime." These horrendous acts are accompanied by similar acts of ethnic cleansing and expulsions in the West Bank.

ACTION REQUESTED

Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition once again calls on all people of conscience to help the victims of the Rafah refugee camp demolitions by donating directly to UNRWA. Donations will be distributed to the victims who need help getting through the cold winter months.

You may donate directly online to UNRWA at www.un.org/unrwa/emergency/donation/index.html

OTHER ACTIONS REQUESTED:

CALL, EMAIL, AND FAX:

Write letters to the editor (150 words or less) or opinion articles (700-800 words). Contact data for newspapers and other media outlets can be found at: www.MrSmithMedia.com/MrSmithNewspaper.html .

Contact elected officials using this link: www.cflweb.org/congress_merge_.htm

And write to:

President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
E-mail: president@whitehouse.gov
Phone: (202) 456-1414
Fax: (202) 456-2461


Secretary of State Colin Powell
E-mail: secretary@state.gov
Phone: (202) 647-4000 (or 202-647-5150 Bureau of Near East Affairs)
Fax: (202) 261-8577

Letters may be faxed online via www.tpc.int/sendfax.html

POINT OUT:

The recent Israeli military incursions into the Rafah refugee camp have left 1,240 Palestinians homeless.

According to UNRWA, this brings the total number of Palestinians who have been made homeless in Rafah since the beginning of the current Intifada to 7,523. The total for the whole of the Gaza Strip now stands at 11,987.

The United States should immediately stop the supply of the very weapons which Israel makes war against defenseless civilian population under occupation.

The United States cannot permit Israel to rampage freely and indefinitely; destroying property, murdering innocent people, building settlements and besieging and impoverishing the entire population.

The United States must oppose Israel's use of terrorist death squads armed with American weapons to carry out extra-judicial murders.

The United States cannot expect Israel's aggression against a defenseless civilian population and the continuing occupation to be in its short or long-term interest.

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