53 Years of Dispossession

Protest the Continuing Oppression of the Palestinian People

MAY 15th . . . 53 YEARS OF DISPOSSESSION

Sponsored by:Al-Awda DC (Palestine Right to Return Coalition) (www.al-awda.org), American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee DC Chapter(www.adc.org), American Muslims for Jerusalem (www.amjerusalem.org), Birzeit Society, The Cochibamba (Bolivia) Coordinating Committee for the Defense of Water and Life, DC Coalition to Stop the War against Iraq, DC Coalition for Housing and Justice, DC Statehood Green Party, El-BirehSociety DC, Global Spin (www.globalspin.org), Hiroshima-Nagasaki Peace Committee, International Action Center, International Socialist Organization(www.internationalsocialist.org), Jews for Peace in Palestine and Israel (www.jppi.org), Muslim Public Affairs Council (www.mpac.org), Muslim Student Association DC Council, Network of Arab Alumni and Professionals, Nonviolence International, Palestinian American Women’s Association, Peter Maurin Center (Catholic Worker Movement), Ramallah Club DC, SUSTAIN(Stop Us Tax-Funded Aid to Israel Now)(www.sustain-campaign.org), Union of Arab Student Associations (www.angelfire.com/or/uasa/), Washington Peace Center

For further information, please contact Margaret at 202-879-6726.

WHAT: Rally and March to commemorate al-Nakba (The Catastrophe of 1948) and show solidarity with the Palestinian people

WHERE: Rally in Dupont Circle, March to the White House

WHEN: Tuesday, May 15, 2001, 5:00 PM (in Dupont)

The establishment of the State of Israel on May 15, 1948 inflicted an historic injustice upon the Palestinian people. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were driven from their homes into exile. A whole society and way of life were destroyed. To Palestinians, this is known as al-Nakba (The Catastrophe), whose tragic consequences still reverberate today and fuel Palestinian resistance to ongoing Israeli occupation and dispossession.

We are here to commemorate al-Nakba and to demonstrate solidarity with the people of Palestine. We join in their demand for basic rights and call on the United States to bring its policy on Palestine into accord with UN resolutions, international law, and the global consensus: self determination for Palestinians; an end to the Israeli occupation and the dismantlement of settlements; a sovereign, and territorially and economically viable Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, and Israeli recognition of the right of refugees to return to their homes.

NOTE: We willbegin the rallyat Dupont Circle at 5:00 PM, begin our march to the White House at 5:30 PM, and conclude with a rally in LaFayette Park that will end by 7:00 PM

For further information, please contact Margaret at 202-879-6726.