1. Address by Musa Al-Hindi for Al-Awda at S24 demo in DC

Sisters and Brothers,

It is an honor to be with you on this historic day.

As you know, there were attempts to exclude Palestine from today's events,
even though the role played by Israel and its US-based functionaries in the
destruction of Iraq is well known.

The developments of the past few months in Palestine had made the
understanding of the Palestinian Arab-Zionist conflict difficult. This
difficulty was made worse by the lack of clarity in the discourse of some in
the anti-war movement, especially those who insist on defining the conflict
with Israel in terms of its occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, to the
exclusion of other components of the Palestinian national struggle, namely:

1. The struggle by Palestinians in 1948 Palestine to assert their national
Arab identity in the face of attempts to "Israelize" them. Their resolute
efforts to preserve their organic unity with the reminder with their
brethrens in exile are an integral part of the Palestinian national movement
for liberation.

2. The struggle by Palestinian refugees to return to their original towns
and villages in areas of Arab Palestine occupied in 1948. It is of utmost
importance to keep in mind that while our people in the West Bank and Gaza
are the vanguards of the Palestinian national movement, the refugee camps in
exile are its strategic depth. It was the refugees who nourished the seeds
of the modern Palestinian Revolution with their tears and blood. It was the
refugees who turned their wretched camps and bodies in Jordan and Lebanon
into barriers to protect the national movement whenever it came under
attack.

Palestine is the refugees and the refugees are Palestine.

These are not mere slogans. Rather, they are principles that ought to guide
our work, both as Arab as well as solidarity activists. Our work ought to be
based on an analysis that simultaneously addresses all components of the
Palestinian struggle rather than parts of it.

Our discourse and analysis ought to be consistent with the Palestinian
narrative, rather than on a selective reading of it. Only when the Zionist
State is exposed for what it actually is (a settler-colonial entity that
came into being as a result of a systematic campaign of murder and ethnic
cleansing) would we be able to move forward.

Simultaneously, we ought to advance a progressive and humanist vision of a
democratic, secular state over the entirety of Palestine in which all enjoy
equality of rights and duties.

The establishment of such a state would not only allow for the repatriation
of the Palestinian refugees and free the 1948 Palestinians from the
tentacles of occupation and Apartheid, but would also ensure a lasting peace
in the region. Anything less is destined to be temporary and short-lived.
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2. Speech by Dr. Jess Ghannam for Al-Awda - S24 in San Francisco

From Baghdad to New Orleans

We are facing an important historical moment and this moment must be
confronted with clarity, vision, and purposeful action. Events in the world
are rapidly changing and our ability to put them in a political context is
critical. This political context and analysis must allow us to make
connections among events that, on the surface, appear not to be connected.
The occupation of Iraq and the devastation in New Orleans, for example, are
deeply linked and unless we understand these connections we will be lost.

We must confront the ugly reality that we all live in a society and under a
system that is willing to spend 300 billion dollars to occupy and destroy
Iraq and kill thousands of Iraqis and at the same time ignore its own
citizens, leaving them to drown to death, forcibly expelling and dislocating
them, and essentially ethnically cleansing the gulf coast of its
African-American population.

And I ask you: who is the real terrorist here?

We must confront the ugly reality that our government is willing to invest
its massive economic and military resources in the colonial exploitation and
imperial thievery of indigenous people of color all over the world and
continue its profound neglect, disregard, and subjugation of people of color
and people without resources here in the United States.

And I ask you: who is real looter?

Is than black brother taking milk and diapers for his family the looter? I
imagine the media someday showing a picture of George Bush in Iraq with the
caption: "Savage looter in Iraq stealing the natural resources of the people
of Iraq".

How do we confront the ugly reality that our government is willing
underwrite and pay a quarter of a million US dollars to each of 8000 illegal
Israeli settlers who left land that was stolen and colonized 40 years ago
from Palestine, yet they refuse to give a penny to US citizens who have lost
everything and have been forcibly displaced from their own land on the Gulf
Coast.

And I ask you: who is real criminal here?

The so-called war on terror and occupations of Iraq, Afghanistan and
Palestine are in reality a racist war against Arabs, Muslims, Latinos,
Blacks, Asians and all oppressed people and it is having a devastating
effect on our communities here and in our home countries. Wealth and
resources are being consolidated into the hands of the few and oppressed
people are being displaced, dislocated, and disconnected by the brutal
colonizing juggernaut called "American Democracy".

And this is the beautiful vision of democracy that we are imposing on the
people of the Arab World and beyond.

We are all complicit in this travesty of justice and we must share some of
the responsibility. We cannot rely on platitudes and slogans as the sole
form of our activism and resistance to these injustices.

Seeing bumper stickers that say "Anybody but Bush" are very disturbing
because they simplify the analysis of very complex problems to a single
person. Are Cheney, Rumsfeld, Perle, or Wolfowitz really better that Bush?
The feckless Democrats are no better; they do not have the spine or the will
to stand clearly against the brutalities of occupation in Baghdad or New
Orleans.

I would argue that Bush is not the problem. Bush is the symptom. Bush is a
symptom of a larger, deeper, systemic problem rooted in a system that
believes in the domination and control of people, resources, and markets. It
is a system believes in profits and not in justice and equality for all
people. The occupation of Iraq and lack of response in New Orleans have
lifted the veil to vastness of the lies, racism and contradictions of our
society and so-called democracy. We need a deeper and more complex political
analysis and goes beyond the platitude of the day and that can make the
connections between Iraq and Louisiana.

So when we say, "Bring the Troops Home Now", we also mean "Bring Haliburton
Home Now", "Bring Kellogg, Brown and Root Home Now", and "Bring the IMF and
the World Bank Home Now".

When we say "End the occupation of Iraq", we are also saying, "End all
occupations-- end the occupation of Afghanistan, of Palestine, of Haiti, of
the Philippines, and end the economic occupations of Cuba, Venezuela and
Latin America". We are also saying end the occupation of Bayview Hunters
Point, Oakland and New Orleans because they are occupied too.

When we say "Collage Not Combat", we are also saying "Jobs Not Combat",
"Healthcare Not Combat", "Justice Not Combat", "Dignity and Respect, Not
Combat" and "Freedom Not Combat"

And when we say "Free Palestine", we are demanding freedom for all oppressed
and occupied people, where ever they may be. When we demand the right of
return for all Palestinian refugees, we are also demanding the right of
return for all displaced and dislocated people of Louisiana, Mississippi,
and the Gulf Coast.

Finally, unless the people of Iraq, Palestine, BayView and New Orleans are
free, no one is free.
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3. Speech by Mahmud Ahmad for Al-Awda at Los Angeles Demo



Sisters and brothers; friends and comrades;

We are here today to deliver a message.

It is a message that unites us with people around the world in our global
pursuit of true peace and justice.

We must deliver our message loudly, clearly and without contradictions.

Without the contradictions that allow this reigning son-of-a-bush to speak
of liberation yet deliver occupation.

Without the contradictions of justifying war with the promise of peace;
speaking of democracy yet practicing regime change as a foreign policy.

Regime change needs to be our domestic policy!

The contradictions of speaking of liberty while silencing dissent and
calling the least patriotic legislation in our history.the patriot act!!

The contradiction of using the acts of 9-11 as the basis to declare a war
that has nothing to do with 9-11!!

Shamelessly exploiting fear and security; while failing to secure the lives
of those who needlessly suffered and died in the towers and in New Orleans.

They wouldn't have been sacrificed to Katrina if it weren't for class and
color!!!

The contradictions of a constantly vacationing, eternally bumbling commander
in chief who has the audacity to tacitly salute our sisters and brothers;
our mothers and fathers after pushing them into harms way!

He never chose such a risk for himself or for his children!

They must answer for the criminal murder of the Iraqi people and the growing
death toll of young black, brown and poor white Americans who find
themselves killing or dying on the battle fields;

Never allowed opportunity in the educational fields!

What contradictions that steal billions of dollars every year from our
children's schools and our healthcare to fund Israeli warfare. Who decided
on our behalf to sacrifice our children's education to fund the horrors of
the Zionist occupation?

They speak of a Palestinian state yet combat the most fundamental individual
and collective right; The right to return for more than 6 million
Palestinian refugees who continue to live in the most horrid conditions for
nearly 6 decades; exiled from their own lands.

Of course; American support for this no big shock to the Native Americans
now exiled to reservations; or to those called illegal for crossing the
manufactured border separating California from the rest of Mexico!

The Bush/Sharon piece plan; and that's ie as in piece by piece plan seeks to
institutionalize and legalize the economic, diplomatic, and military
occupation of Palestine; attempting to redefine Palestine as a few non
contiguous Bantustans and reservations while sweeping away the core of the
problem and what must be the core of any solution, the right to return for
all refugees and exiles.

The blood of all these innocent people stains the hands of Sharon and his
war mongering neo-con buddies in the white house who shamelessly sacrifice
the lives of the people they are supposed to represent for the sake of
Halliburton profits and expansion of empire.

Let it be crystal clear, there can be no peace without justice! Justice is
to immediately bring the refugees home, to their homes in Palestine!
Justice is to bring our troops home now! We don't want them carrying arms;
we want them home and in our arms!!

We want justice and we want it now,

We demand bush be impeached and tried for war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan
and for criminal negligence and crimes against humanity in New Orleans!

To that end we say, from Fallujah to Jenin to New Orleans stop the US war
machine!!!

Bring the troops home now!!

Free Free Palestine!!
___________________________________ ___________

4- Speech by Jamal Kanj at September 24 Anti-War Rally in San Diego

After 9-11, there was a question, why do they hate us? And Bush came up with a na?ve answer because ?they hate our freedom and democracy.? As you know, freedom is not an exclusive right and democracy is not a special privilege. Or how do we explain this:

Wasn?t Hitler brought to us by German democracy?

Wasn?t S. Africa a Democracy? I mean a white democracy.

Isn?t the state of Israel a democracy? I mean, isn?t Israel a Jewish democracy?

Wasn?t George Bush brought to us by our democracy? Sorry, or was it the Supreme Court?

From time immemorial, democracy was never an absolute virtue. Democracy can be used to advance human rights, and justice, or democracy can be tailored to advance-selected group of people at the expense of other human beings. Just as did the German democracy that brought us the Nazi, like the white democracy in S. Africa, like the Jewish democracy in the middle east, and like today?s Halliburton democracy in Iraq.

Do you also remember Bush?s pontificated statement: ?if you are not with us, you are against us? ?

Allow me to paraphrase this statement back to you: if you are not with us, you need to have democracy, and you must comply with UN resolutions.

If you are with us, you don?t have to comply with UN resolutions or human rights like Israel does; if you are with us, democracy is not vital to your people such as our friends in Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan, our liberated Kuwait and our new friend Gadafi in Libya.

Did you hear recently that President Bush congratulated Mubarak for the democratic election in Egypt? Mubarak has been president for 24 years, and now was elected for another 6 years, even kings don?t last this long!

But if you are not with us, then you must comply with UN resolutions, and democracy is vital for your people.

Double standards is what people hate, it is the hypocrisy, not democracy. I have a long list of our government hypocrisy, I have time to mention just a few:

After the Nazi holocaust, the Zionist slogan was never again! The Zionist teamed up with the former Nazi collaborators in Europe to help solve ?the Jewish problem? in Europe. For the Zionist they wanted to establish an exclusive Jewish homeland at any cost to other people; for the Europeans, it was the advance stage for solving the Jewish ?problem? in Europe.

To accomplish the Zionist illusion and European delusion, in 1948 more than 800,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes. With support from our government, the UN issued resolution 194 that called for the return of refugees to their homes.

And when I talk about the 1948 Palestinian refugees, I am not talking about a third party, I am talking about a real life experience; I am talking about my own Father and Mother who were among the refugees who were forced to leave their homes by Jewish terrorists in 1948.

I am talking about a young man who was forced to leave his own blind and handicap mother on the side of the road to save his life from Jewish terrorists. When he dared to come back days later looking for his mother, he found out that she was eaten by animals. This is just one story out of 800,000 stories.

It?s 57 years later and my mom and dad?s only wish is to go back and die in their land. For 57 years, Israel has refused to comply with this UN resolution. Why you ask? Our government refuses to enforce UN resolutions against Israel.

In 1967 Israel completed the occupation of historical Palestine. Israel justification for the war of 1967, that it was a preemptive attack. It is interesting that Israel men in Washington used the same theory to attack and occupy Iraq, preemptively?

Months after the 1967 Israel ?pre emptive? war, our government supported UN resolution 242, which calls for Israel to withdraw from new occupied land. That resolution was reaffirmed again in 1973 with UN resolution 338. It is 38 years later and Israel has yet to comply. Thanks to our Government that would not enforce UN resolutions against Israel.

In 2002, after the Israeli massacre in Jenin?s refugee camp, the UN passed a resolution to send a fact-finding team to investigate the massacre. Israel did not like the team?s makeup, so they refused to allow the team free access to Israeli officers. Our government, refused to allow the Security Council to take any further steps to enforce its resolution.

Recently, the International Court determined that the apartheid wall around the West Bank and Jerusalem to be illegal. Our government would not allow the UN to enforce the finding of the International Court.

UN resolutions are not to be enforced when it is our allies that are the culprits. If you are with us, you don?t have to abide by the rule of law.

But when it comes to Arab or Muslim nations, then our government has a different scale.

In 1990 Iraq was given less than 4 months to comply with the UN resolution and leave Kuwait, or else!

This last year Syria was given less than 6 months to comply with UN resolution and leave Lebanon, or else!

Do you see the double standards that people must hate? People don?t hate democracy; people hate hypocrisy!

Many of you must remember US Senator Cranston; he authored an amendment to the foreign aid bill. The bill states in part that no US tax money shall be provided to any country that doesn?t ratify the nuclear non-proliferation agreement. Israel, the largest foreign recipient of our tax money, refuses till today to ratify the nuclear non-proliferation agreement.

Yet Israel continues to receive more than $5 billion of our tax money per year. Mind you that Israeli per capita exceeds that of Spain. Just imagine if Spain was the largest recipient of our foreign aid.

Do you know that in addition to the more than $5 billion of our tax money per year, Israel just requested a special package of $2.2 billion from our Government to compensate the settlers for up to $400,000 per family for stealing land from Palestinians in Gaza?

How many of our fellow taxpayers who are now refugees as a result of Katrina, have received $400,000? Actually our President is asking our citizens to mortgage their homes if they want to build new homes in New Orleans and Biloxi.

Recently, our media made a big deal about the made for TV evacuation of illegal settlers from Gaza. As Israel moved 8500 settlers from Gaza, Israel added 12,800 new illegal settlers in the West Bank; 50% more settlers that were removed.

Meanwhile Gaza? airspace and sea lines are still occupied by Israel, the same for any connection with Palestinians in the West Bank.

Israel called the pull out as a unilateral redeployment, and not withdrawal, for Sharon this is a military redeployment that represents an end by itself. On October 6, 2004, Dov Weisglass, an advisor to Prime Minister Sharon was quoted as saying ?The significance of the disengagement plan is the freezing of the peace process. And when you freeze that process, you prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, and you prevent a discussion of the refugees, the borders, and Jerusalem.?

Let?s talk about the Israeli settler movement. Israeli Settlers in Gaza are a prototype of the overall settler movement in all Palestinian land. Do you know that the 8500 illegal Jewish settlers represented less than 0.6% of the population in Gaza, yet they controlled 25% of all usable land, and 40% of the fresh water. The same privilege is reserved to Jewish settlers in the West Bank.

Did you know that during the apartheid regime in South Africa, even whites did not enjoy the level of privileges reserved to illegal Jewish settlers in Palestine?

I realize it is not easy to talk about Israel racist policies toward the Palestinians, especially since Israel was supposedly created for victims of racism. While the truth about Israel racist policies might be painful, continued ignorance is the mother of all pain.

As the saying goes, if it walks like a duck, and talk like a duck, Israel must be a racist duck!

Peace must come with justice, if there is no justice, there will be no peace.

Israel is building an apartheid wall on Palestinian lands; the wall meant to stop Palestinians from going to their farms, their businesses, their holly places, it meant to further humiliate the Palestinians, this is unjust.

Palestinian refugees must be able to exercise their basic human right and return to their homes.

Israel must stop demolishing homes for Palestinians, while building exclusive homes for Israeli Jews. Israel must remove all illegal exclusive Jewish settlement from the West Bank and Jerusalem.

Gaza must be free from becoming a large prison, air and see occupation must end!

To sum it up:

1. It is the double standards that people hate, it is not democracy, it is hypocrisy people hate.

2. That our law-abiding citizens in Louisiana and Mississippi deserve compensation, not illegal Israeli settlers.

3. And when there is no justice, there will be no peace.

THE END...