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Monday, November 18, 2002

The Latest from Palestine
On November 16, Colin Powell, U.S. Secretary of State, issued this statement. It reads in part: "The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms the shocking and reprehensible attack on Jewish worshipers on Friday. The fact that these worshipers and Israeli security personnel who came to their rescue were gunned down on the way back from Sabbath prayers only adds to the horror of this attack." Since then it has been revealed that Israeli officials lied about worshippers being killed on their way back from prayer. In fact, the 12 men killed were soldiers, border patrolmen or armed settlers. No unarmed civilians were killed or wounded.
Call or email Secretary of State Powell and urge him to issue a clarification on two points:
1) Hebron is not in Israel. The city is recognized by the United States and the international community as being under an illegal Israeli military occupation. Secretary Powell himself has called on several occasions for an end to the occupation.

2) Israeli military officials have admitted that no unarmed civilian worshippers were killed or wounded. The 12 men killed and the 15 wounded were soldiers, border patrolmen or armed settlers.

3) Finally, encourage Secretary Powell to demonstrate that the United States places equal value on all human life. It is inappropriate for the United States to only condemn the deaths of Israeli civilians while remaining silent as Palestinian civilians are killed on a daily basis.
In the past week alone, Israeli forces killed three Palestinian children: two-year-old Nafez Mashal; three-year-old Hamed al Masri; and nine-year-old Mohammad Abu al-Naja. Over the past four months, 80% of Palestinians killed by Israeli soldiers enforcing curfews in Palestinian cities have been children under the age of 16. (B'Tselem, Lethal Curfew) Send an email

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