PPRC Friday rally and march to focus on Palestinian solidarity, confronts the "Road Map" with the reality of three decades of brutal occupation.

Event: PPRC Rally and March for Peace
Date: Friday, June 6th, 2003
Time: 5:00 p.m.
Place: Pioneer Courthouse Square

The Portland Peaceful Response Coalition Friday 5:00 p.m. rally and march at Pioneer Courthouse Square will again return to the Israel/Palestine conflict to mark the 36th anniversary of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem. "In flagrant violation of UN resolutions, Israel continues to control the land and the lives of the Palestinian people," said Will Seaman, a volunteer with PPRC and member of Jews for Global Justice. "The Israeli military has Palestinians hemmed in by check-points, arbitrary closures and curfews, a �settler-only� road system, massive and expanding illegal settlements, and now a huge wall that has turned the occupied territories into a massive prison." Peter Miller of Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights (AUPHR) reports that unemployment in the territories is at around 70%, and that malnutition and anemia is becoming common among Palestinian children.

"June 5th marks the 36th anniversary of the occupation, over three and a half decades of brutal military repression, massive expropriation of land, destruction of agricultural lands including olive groves that are hundreds of years old," said Seaman. "And paying for all those crimes are the US taxpayers."

AUPHR�s Peter Miller will speak about his recent experiences in Palestine at the Friday rally. "I saw the checkpoints, the closures, the settlement building and the construction of Israel�s wall of separation which is appropriating Palestinian lands farms, orchards, water resources, and economically devastating entire villages and towns," said Miller. He said that he was shocked to see the situation first hand. "The goals of the Sharon regime and the settlers are clear: take as much land as possible and make impossible a real Palestinian state," said Miller. "The wall that Israel is building is unbelievable. The way the Israelis are going about it shows a complete lack of human compassion and belies the true goals of the wall which is obviously the appropriation of yet more Palestinian lands under the guise of security." The PPRC will also be promoting a War Resisters League action against Rose Festival militarization, set for Saturday at 12:30 p.m., at the Salmon Street Fountain.

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