Groups protest settlement fundraiser at New York hotel

Saturday, November 15, 2008 : Eight groups representing tens of thousands of people in the United States, Palestine and Israel have called on the Marriott Marquis hotel in Manhattan to cancel the 17 November dinner for the Brooklyn-based Hebron Fund aiming to raise money for Israeli settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Hebron. In a 7 November letter the groups stated: "The Marriot Marquis will be facilitating activities that directly violate international law and US foreign policy, actively promote racial discrimination, and, at least indirectly, support brutal Israeli settler attacks on Palestinian civilians and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Hebron." The signers of the letter include Adalah-NY, Coalition of Women for Peace, (Israel), Gush Shalom (Israel), Jews Against the Occupation-NYC, Jewish Voice for Peace, Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee, US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, and WESPAC Foundation. Adalah-NY has called for a protest at the hotel on 17 November if the dinner is not cancelled.