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From: "Voices in the Wilderness" info@vitw.org |
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Dear Friends, The United Nations Security Council members attended a hastily-called meeting on Sunday night to discuss Israel's refusal to grant entry to a UN fact-finding team intent on investigating events in the Jenin refugee camp. Are we to expect that the UN will impose economic sanctions on Israel for its refusal to comply with a UN inspection? Jeff Guntzel and I accompanied several peace activists with whom we've worked closely over the past years on a recent trip to the West Bank. We returned from the Jenin camp with ample evidence that the Israeli Government ordered Israeli Occupying Forces to commit crimes against humanity by attacking and destroying a civilian neighborhood in the Jenin refugee camp. We would never want to see a single civilian in Israel punished because of their government's actions. Yet we must ask why the United Nations continues to uphold a dangerous and repugnant double standard by imposing lethal punishment on Iraqi civilians ostensibly because of their government's refusal to comply with UN demands for weapon inspections. Available to speak about their experiences in the Jenin Refugee Camp, Ramallah and other parts of the West Bank are: Jeff Guntzel and Kathy Kelly, Chicago; Rev. Jerry Zawada, OFM, Cedar Rapids, IN; Audrey Stewart and Grace Ritter, Ithaca, NY; Scott Schaeffer-Duffy, Worcester, MA. Please let us know if we could assist you in setting up speaking engagements, distributing photos and/or video footage, or in supplying information such as the accounts posted on our website (updates and additions section). We also look forward to being closely in touch with all who are interested in formation of and participation in an Iraq Peace Team. This project envisions a large delegation (100+) of peace activists living in Baghdad in advance of a massive US assault against Iraq. On May 6, a joint US/UK VitW delegation, linked with an Iraq Water Project team, will leave the US for a ten-day visit to Iraq. We'll keep you posted as they report back to us. With all good wishes,
Kathy Kelly |