(Please read, respond and forward) Two things you can do to help: - Donate to the emergency relief fund for Home Demolition victims (alert below from Al-Awda.org) - Answer the alert from Gush Shalom and write to Caterpiller to ask them to take a stand about use of their equipment for committing war crrimes. Mazin Qumsiyeh __________________________ For Immediate Release 17 January 2002 Al-Awda Emergency Relief Fund For Home Demolition Victims Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, has set up an emergency fund to help the victims of the recent home demolitions in Rafah refugee camp in Gaza. These home demolitions are grievous, immoral, and illegal acts committed on 10 January 2002 by the Israeli occupation forces against a defenseless civilian population of mostly women and children. According to The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC, http://www.icrc.org ) and numerous other sources, they have left approximately 700 men, women and children, homeless in Rafah refugee camp. 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. ACTION REQUESTED Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition calls on all people of conscience to help the recent victims of the Rafah refugee camp demolitions by donating to the Emergency Rafah Fund we have set up. Any amount you donate is important, will be appreciated, and directed to The ICRC for distribution to the victims who need all help to get through the cold winter months, homeless again. Please make checks or money orders payable to "PRRC"; write "Emergency Rafah Fund" in the memo section; and send your payment to: Al-Awda, Palestine Right to Return Coalition P.O. Box 1172 Orange, CT 06477 You may also donate online via PayPal. Just go to http://al-awda.org/rafah_fund.htm For electronic transfers, the PRRC account in Hummelstown, Pennsylvania is with Commerce Bank. Bank Transit # 031301846 for wire transfers. The account # is 513176388. All donations are tax deductible. Al-Awda, Palestine Right to Return Coalition P.O. Box 1172 Orange, CT 06477 Fax: (717) 832-1123 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] WWW: http://al-awda.org Press Room: http://al-awda.org/pressroom.htm __________________________ GUSH SHALOM - pob 3322, Tel-Aviv 61033 - http://www.gush-shalom.org/ ***Something You Can Do Against Bulldozers*** We were approached by Huwaida Arraf <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. She got inside information that the bulldozers the IDF uses to destroy homes are supplied by the Caterpillar Company, based in Peoria, Illinois. A campaign is now being launched to get the Caterpillar Company to condemn the illegal use of bulldozers it supplied. Such an action may have an effect. The Caterpillar Company is not insensitive to its image as may be concluded from its public relations campaign emphasizing it's involvement in efforts to save rainforests. Please, send an email to: ATTN Head spokesman of Caterpillar & Media Rep. For Social Responsibility Benjamin Cordani<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Please, send us a copy [[EMAIL PROTECTED]]. [Sample letter] Dear Mr Benjamin Cordani As Caterpillar's Media Rep. For Social Responsibility I ask your attention for the following. The whole world was shocked a few days ago by the Israeli army's massive house demolition campaign in the Rafah Refugee Camp in the occupied Gaza Strip, robbing 700 Palestinians, young and old, men, women and children of all they had. This action was not the first time that that the Israeli army destroys the homes of occupied Palestinians. Such acts are a manifest violation of the Geneva Conventions It is important that a company such as Caterpillar would publicly condemn this illegal use made of its products. After all, Caterpillar is a company which recognizes its social responsibility and condemnation is the least you can do. It would of course make sense to go a bit further and have such a condemnation imply a stop on further sales of bulldozers and the immediate refusal to supply spare parts to the customer who made the abusive use of the Caterpillar product. I hope that you agree that it is in the interest of Caterpillar to take this initiative before the origin of the bulldozers used in the widely-condemned house demolitions becomes a media issue. Sincerely [your name and address] _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
