The Assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin

Statement from the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition

The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition shares the sentiment of the Palestinian people and the international community in condemning the assassination of the prominent Palestinian leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. This is a criminal action against not only a political leader, but also the entirety of the Palestinian people and their movement for self-determination and return. The attack was not just on one man or on one group, but was an attack against the Palestinian people, just as Israel has terrorized and killed thousands of Palestinians in an effort to destroy all resistance to the occupation of Palestine.

We regard this assassination as an indication that the Sharon government is preparing an all out assault on the Palestinian people, much in the same context as the attack on Lebanon in June 1982. At that time, Israel, with the full backing of the Reagan Administration, invaded Lebanon, occupied Beirut and heavily bombed Lebanese and Palestinian residential areas for months. The aim was to destroy the Palestinian national liberation movement and turn Lebanon into a virtual colony. Israel's occupation of Lebanese land was ended only in 2000.

Now, the Sharon government is attempting to create desperate conditions and issue what they hope will be a crushing blow to the Palestinian people. Before and following the murder of Sheikh Yassin, the Sharon government has announced that it intends to escalate the killing of Palestinian leaders. Given that these actions will create a firestorm of opposition in the region and within Palestine, it is inconceivable to consider that the Sharon government could have undertaken this action unilaterally and without the approval of the Bush administration.

More than ever before, support for the Palestinian people and their right to return and self-determination is an imperative. It is our duty to raise our voices louder and to organize to call into question the complicity of the United States government in this process.

We must redouble our effort to stop all forms of assistance to Israel, including military, economic, political, and diplomatic support. Israel receives $15 million every day from our taxes, and uses U.S.-made weapons in its war on the Palestinian people. In return, Israel polices the Middle East on behalf of Corporate America. While millions are out of work and tens of millions have no health care, billions of dollars are sent every year to Israel to oppress the Arab people.

As the U.S. continues its colonial occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq, and as it robs the Haitian people of their liberty, the State of Israel continues its attempts to subjugate the Palestinian people by destroying their homes, expropriating their land, assassinating their leaders, and placing them within the confines of an Apartheid wall and in exile.

The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition stands in solidarity with the Palestinian people and with all those fighting colonial occupation.



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A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition:
http://www.InternationalANSWER.org
http://www.VoteNoWar.org
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