5/20 at 12:15, SF Press Conference About Rafah

For Immediate Release



What: American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee – SF Press Conference

Where: San Francisco Federal Building – 450 Golden Gate

When: Thursday, May 20 at 12:15 PM

Press Contacts: Jess Ghannam, 415 726 3951/ Rayan Elamine 415-572-8088

"Demand an End to Israeli War Crimes"

Israeli war crimes continue today when at least 23 Palestinians, most of them said
to be school children, were killed Wednesday afternoon when Israeli Defense Forces
helicopter gunships and tanks fired missiles and shells into a peaceful crowd in the
Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip. Yesterday 20 Palestinians including 2
children were killed and dozens of homes had been demolished as a result of one of
the biggest Israeli military incursion into the Gaza Strip. This latest attack on
the Palestinian people is a continuation of a process of ethnic cleansing that
Israel has been accelerating under the Sharon government with explicit approval from
the Bush administration. The killing and home demolitions perpetuated by the
Israeli government in Rafah refugee camp in Gaza is being described by many as "war
crimes"


Amnesty International has said the demolition and destruction are ``grave breaches
of the Fourth Geneva Convention and are war crimes,'' calling on Israel to halt the
practices immediately. Amnesty also said the house demolitions are linked to Israeli
intentions to take over West Bank and Gaza land.



* In the first 10 days of May 2004, Israel's demolition of 131 residential
buildings in Gaza left 1,100 Palestinians homeless.

* On 11 May 2004, Israel killed 15 Palestinians in the al-Zaytoun neighborhood of
Gaza City, including 4 children, and injured at least 200 others, including 35
children.

* On 13 May 2004, Israel killed 12 Palestinians in Rafah, including a child, and
injured at least 20 others.

* On 15 May 2004, 14 Palestinian civilians were killed and 30 injured in Rafah,
with 80 homes destroyed, leaving 880 Palestinians homeless.

* Rafah continues to experience ongoing Israeli military operations at the time of
publishing this alert.



We call on all people of conscious to stage sit-ins at congressional district
offices in whatever city you may reside and demand that the U.S. Government demand
Israel to stop the destruction and ethnic cleansing in Gaza and take concrete steps
to deter Israel from carrying out these crimes against humanity.



The sit-ins are part of a national call and will take place in many cities. In the
Bay Area, there will be a Protest and Sit-In this Friday, May 21 at 10 AM at Nancy
Pelosi's office in San Francisco. There will also be an Emergency Protest at the
Berkeley Downtown Bart Station at 5 PM on Friday. We urge each city to organize
actions and demand that our government is held accountable to atrocities being
committed with our tax dollars and with this administration's consent.