25 Sept: demo for the Palestinian and Iraqi resistance in Cologne, Germany

20/09/2004

Protest affiliated with the int`l day of action

Demonstration in Cologne: Saturday, September 25, 2004
Day of action: Fourth Anniversary of the Palestinian Intifada
1 p.m., cathedral (near main station)

End the Occupation in Palestine and Iraq!

Tanks and helicopter gunships against the civilian population, massacres in residential areas, collective punishment of families, prison murder and torture. The occupation of Palestine by Israel and the occupation of Iraq by the USA represent not only the erosion of international legal norms, the disdain of elementary rights to national self-determination, but also the Washington and Tel Aviv governments` inhumane plans of reorganisation.

In the name of the "war on terror" the government of Israel has intensified its policy of expulsion of the Palestinian population. By building its wall on occupied territory, the Palestinian population is being fenced in: farmers are cut off by their fields, workers from their jobs, injured and pregnant cannot reach a hospital. 50 per cent of the West Bank is being annexed by the course taken by this Israeli wall of apartheid. Even the "Gaza withdrawal plan" being presently discussed, is a unilateral Israeli manoeuvre, turning the Gaza Strip into a locked down internment camp while simultaneously developing lucrative settlements on the West Bank.

Stop the apartheid wall in Palestine!
Stop the Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank! Evacuate all settlements!
For the right to a sovereign Palestinian state! For the Right of Return of refugees!

The new "Iraqi sovereignty" is as valid as the lie about the "threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction". Iraqi authorities have no veto rights over measures taken by the occupation forces and Iraq is still occupied by more than 155,000 foreign troops. The real government resides in the new U.S. embassy in Baghdad, the U.S.` greatest "diplomatic" mission abroad. The potential riches of Iraq are being squandered to U.S. firms. But with the increase of the terror of occupation, the political and military resistance is growing. The people of Iraq want the occupation forces to leave.

Immediate withdrawal of the US occupation forces and its allies from Iraq!
Compensation to Iraq for two wars and twelve years of UN-embargo!

The difficulties confronting the USA in Iraq have prevented the "war on terror" from being extended to other countries of the near and middle East. The Iraqi population, which opposes US Occupation, are thus also thwarting Israeli war intentions.

The German government supports the war efforts of both the USA and Israel. Germany is, even today, the main turnstile for US weapons and troop shipments to Iraq. Israel receives weapons from Germany. EU decisions critical of Israel are repeatedly blocked by Germany.

Of the German Federal Government and the European Union, we demand:
Halt all arms exports to Israel! Sanctions against the Israeli apartheid policies!
No support of the neo-colonial oppression of the Iraqi people!
Shutdown of U.S. bases and German airspace for use in the war against Iraq!

Equal rights to all peoples in the Middle East!

Supporters (September 12, 2004)

ADHK-ADHF (Föderation für demokratische Rechte in Deutschland/Europa), ATIK-ATIF (Föderation
der Arbeiter aus der Türkei in Europa/Deutschland), BiR-KAR (Plattform für die Einheit der Arbeiter und die Freundschaft der Völker), Bonner Friedensbündnis, Deutscher Freidenkerverband Landesverband NRW & Ortsverband Bonn & Ortsverband Köln, Freunde der PFLP in Europa, Friedensforum Duisburg, HDR/Organisation für Würde und Rechte des Menschen, HÖC, Initiativ e.V., ILPS (Int. League of Peoples Struggle), IPPNW (Ärzte für Soziale Verantwortung) Gruppe Leverkusen-Bergisch Gladbach-Köln, JUMP UP Schallplattenversand (Bremen), KPD/ML-Roter Stern, Liberal Republican Party (Iraq), Palästinensische Gemeinde Deutschland-Bonn e.V., Palästinensische Kampagne gegen
die Apartheid-Mauer, PDS-Dortmund, Redaktion Kommunisten-online, Sedunia - Initiative für Internationale Politik, Sosyalist Barikat, TÜDAY e.V. (Menschenrechtsverein Türkei/Deutschland), wissenschaftlich-humanitäres komitee (whk) Regionalgruppe Ruhr, YDG (Neue Demokratische Jugend)