Way to go Israel!

[2pac Shakur]

Dear Friends,

The Labor Art and Mural Project's delegation to Palestine/Israel is facing
a grave challenge: This morning, four cars of Israeli authorities - the
IDF, the Civil Administration, and the police department arrived at the
work camp in East Jerusalem where LaMP activists are helping to Construct a
peace center in memory of Rachel Corrie. The authorities issued a 'stop
work' order and confiscated building materials. They also announced that
the building and mural - both scheduled for completion on Thursday - would
shortly be demolished.

Israeli and Palestinian activists are massing to spend the night in the
building, or arranging to be at the site at 4:30 tomorrow morning in an
attempt to stall or prevent the demolition. Some activists will carry out
civil disobedience. Your messages of protest are crucial as well.

The building, called the Beit Arabia Peace Center, is the project of the
Israeli Committee against House Demolitions. As an act of resistance to the
occupation, ICAHD is holding a work camp to rebuild on the site of the home
of Arabia and Salim Shawamreh of Anata. The Israeli authorities have
demolished the Shawamreh home four times. In addition to memorializing
Rachel Corrie, the center will memorialize the death of Nuha Makadma
Sweidan, a pregnant Palestinian woman killed in Gaza in March 2003 when an
Israeli bulldozer demolished her home on top of her. The center will house
a permanent exhibit of the ongoing tragedy of house demolitions, and will
also serve as a center for educational activities, study tours, activist
events and peace-building between Palestinians and Israelis. It is
poignantly located across a valley from a new Israeli police and
interrogation center.

The mural being painted by U.S. labor muralist Mike Alewitz is anchored by
an image of broken bulldozers and war equipment. In the sky float images of
Corrie and Sweidan. A railroad track runs to the horizon, reminding viewers
of the collective dreams of radical Jewish and Arab unionists in the
mandate period who fought for joint organizing of the Haifa rail workshops.
It is this kind of vision - of Jews and Arabs fighting for socialist future
where the interests of working people will be central - that the Israeli
authorities hope to bury in their escalating demolitions of rebuilt houses
and structures.

Please protest this outrage by contacting the U.S. State Department, your
representatives in the Senate and Congress, and the U.S. Consulate General,
Jerusalem, at 18 Agron Road, Jerusalem 94190 / 27 Nablus Road, Jerusalem
94190;PHONE: 972-2-6227230 /972-2-6253288;FAX: 972-2-6259270.

The following Israeli authorities should hear your protest as well:

Coordinator of Activities in Judea and Samaria General Yaakov Orr Ministry
of Defense Ha-Kirya Tel Aviv, Israel Phone: 972-3-697-5351 Fax:
972-3-697-6306;

Spokesperson: Mr. Shlomo Dror Mobile: 972 2 50-398-652

http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2003/08/270324.shtml