August 5-6 Days of Actions to demand U.S. OUT OF THE MIDDLE EAST!

The expansion of U.S.-backed Israeli aggression in the Middle East and the widespread campaign of demonization against Hezbollah and Hamas, the movements of national resistance in Lebanon and Palestine, makes it urgent for those of us opposed to war and injustice to clarify for the people of the U.S. the reality--that the problems of the Middle East are not rooted in a struggle between religions, but in the drive by greedy imperialist policymakers in the U.S., like Bush and his super rich friends, to dominate, colonize, exploit and rob the natural resources (especially oil) of the people of the Middle East. We must explain that the obstacles to peace in the Middle East are not Hezbollah, Hamas, Syria or Iran, but the U.S. government and its client, the Israeli settler state.

Republicans and Democrats alike have united to back the expansionist Israeli war against Palestine and Lebanon, a war that is really an extension of the U.S. war and occupation of Iraq. The Bush administration has given the Zionist rulers in Tel Aviv the green light to wage all-out war in Lebanon and Palestine, with full diplomatic, political and military support of Washington. Israeli soldiers and bomber pilots may be doing the killing in Lebanon, but this is fundamentally a U.S. war, and the Israeli army is a criminal surrogate for the Pentagon. Furthermore, Bush and Co. are dangerously laying the basis for a wider war against Syria and Iran and are ready to crush--by war, shock and awe, torture, mass murder, repression and terror--the dreams of the masses of the Middle East for self-determination and freedom from occupation and colonialism.

Together, we must intensify the struggle to get U.S. imperialism out of the Middle East and to free the thousands of Palestinian, Lebanese and Iraqi prisoners held in U.S. and Israeli jails, because this would serve the cause of peace and justice in that region and worldwide. We join with all the peace-loving people and organizations that are organizing locally, nationally and internationally around this struggle. Along with all the other important protests, we encourage everyone to make the weekend of August 5th days of action around the theme “No Justice, No Peace: U.S. Out of the Middle East.” We must support all local and emergency actions against this criminal war, along with the August 12 mobilization in Washington, D.C.

In organizing around the issue of justice and peace in the Middle East, we encourage activists to make the connections to other struggles. The racist nature of the U.S. war in the Middle East is part of the same racism behind the treatment of the primarily African American victims and survivors of Hurricane Katrina, and the racism behind the attacks on immigrant rights.

Now, more than ever, it’s vitally necessary for all of us in the U.S. who genuinely believe in peace and justice--whether we be Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Atheist, Black, Latin@, Native, Arab, Asian or White--to fully embrace the Palestinian freedom struggle and to forge new bonds of solidarity with all the peoples of the Middle East, so that all the world will know that Bush’s war is not our war. No Justice, No Peace! U.S. out of the Middle East!

Please endorse the August 5th weekend of actions and plan local actions focusing on the U.S. role in the Middle East and full solidarity with the Palestinian and Lebanese people.

Endorse List Activity Download Flyer Donate

World Wide Protests Aug. 5 - Qana Massacre--Made in the U.S.

No Justice - No Peace

U.S. Out of the Middle East!

August 5

Support the Palestinian and Lebanese Peoples' Right to Resist!

End the Occupation of IRAQ, PALESTINE and LEBANON

Support the Palestinian People's Right to Return

U.S./Israeli Troops Out Now

No More Fighting and Dying for Oil Profits

STOP U.S. Aid to Israel

DONATE to help with organizing expenses http://www.troopsoutnow.org/donate.html

In the past few days, the horrific crimes committed against the people of Lebanon and Palestine by the U.S.-backed Israeli regime have inspired outrage and protest across the globe. What has become clear to many watching the criminal invasion of Lebanon and the ongoing brutality against the people of Palestine is the role of the U.S. as the initiator, supplier, and funder of Israel's crimes.

The Qana Massacre: Made in the U.S

Ever since Israel launched its criminal attack against the people of Lebanon, the U.S. government has been rushing shipments of precision missiles to Israel--the same sort of weapons that were used against Qana.

From 2001-2005, Israel received $10.5 billion in Foreign Military Financing -- the Pentagon's biggest military aid program -- and $6.3 billion in U.S. arms deliveries

The U.S. has resisted and blocked every call for a ceasefire in order to allow the Israeli Defense Forces time to complete its campaign of terror against the people of Lebanon.

There would be no occupation, no bombs dropping on Lebanese and Palestinian children, no tanks destroying homes, no artillery to rain destruction on hospitals without billions of dollars each year that the U.S. government gives to the Israeli government. Since 1949 the U.S. has given Israel a total of $84,854,827,200. We must expose, challenge, and struggle to end the U.S. support for Israel's crimes.

Immediately after the criminal invasion of Lebanon, the International Action Center issued a call to action for August 5, under the slogan, "No justice, no peace--U.S. Out of the Middle East!" Across the U.S., activists are organizing pickets, protests, teach-ins, informational leafleting, and public forums, all directed against the U.S. role in the crimes of war and occupation. Now, more than 200 organizations worldwide have signed on to the call, and protests will take place across the globe, from London to Cairo to Tel Aviv and throughout Latin America.

It is not enough to just say "Bring the troops home from Iraq." We must challenge the Empire everywhere that it is attempting to carve up and recolonize the area, from Afghanistan to Iran to the West Bank. We can no longer look at these struggles as isolated crises--we must unite on the streets to say "U.S. Out of the Middle East!"

Next Step: August 12, Washington DC

Join us this weekend on the streets for emergency international protests. Then, join us for the next step, the August 12th National March on Washington, called by the National Council of Arab Americans, the Answer Coalition, and the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation. Contact us at 212-633-6646 for buses from New York to Washington.

Read Call http://iacenter.org/aug5call.htm
Endorse http://iacenter.org/aug5endorse.shtml
List Activity http://iacenter.org/aug5endorse.shtml
Download Flyer http://iacenter.org/aug5flyer.pdf
Donate http://www.troopsoutnow.org/donate.html

LOCAL ACTIONS

NEW YORK CITY, NY
Sat., Aug. 5 - 4:00 pm Rally at Times Square;
5:30 pm - March to Exxon Mobile
Contact the IAC at 212-633-6646 for more info

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
Sat., Aug. 5, Street Meeting, Education & Outreach Day
1 P.M. at Powell & Market Street
Contact IAC S.F. at 2940 16th St. #207, San Francisco, California 94103
Phone 415-561-9752 Actioncenter-SF@action-mail.org

SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA
Sat., Aug. 5, 6 P.M. to 9 P.M.
Protesters will occupy all four corners of 16th & Broadway
Bring signs, banners and displays

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
Sat., Aug. 5, 2 P.M.
Rally at Westwood Federal Building
March to Occidental Petroleum
call (323) 936-7266
www.iacenterla.org

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA
Join the protest in Los Angeles on August 5th.
For transportation to LA call 619-692-4422
iacsandiego@sbcglobal.net

DETROIT, MICHIGAN
Fri., Aug. 4, 4:30 P.M.
Gather at Detroit/Windsor Tunnel Entrance Randolph & E. Jefferson in
downtown Detroit
March to Grand Circus Park for a 6 P.M. Rally & Teach In
Called by: Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice
(MECAWI)
Phone: 313-680-5508 or 313-869-8383
www.mecawi.org

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

US Out of the Middle East!
No more war, mass murder, and occupation for oil profits!
11 AM - Gather at State + Jackson (Dept. of Homeland Security)
11:30 - Leaflet State St.; promote Aug. 9 forum and Aug. 12 mobilization in DC
12 PM - Picket offices of BP Amoco, Aon Center, 200 E. Randolph
for more information, call (773) 381-5839

BOSTON, MASS
Sat., Aug. 5, 11 A.M.
Israeli Consulate at 20 Park Plaza
March to JFK Federal Bldg
Sponsored by a broad array of community, anti-war and labor groups
(for a full list and for flyers and information contact
www.iacboston.org )
Phone: IAC 617-522-6626
Email: iacboston@iacboston.org
www.iacboston.org

ROCHESTER & BUFFALO, NY
Regional protest in Rochester
Friday, Aug. 4, 4:30 P.M. to 5:30 P.M. at the Federal Building
100 State St., Rochester, NY
Phone: 585-234-9459
In Buffalo: 716-604-9515
iacbuffalo@action-mail.

PHILADELPHIA, PA
Friday, Aug. 4
Federal Building at 5th & Market Sts.
4:30 P.M. The demonstration will march to a nearby media outlet--Fox
news as well as other corporate beneficiaries of the expanding war.
215 724-1618
PhillyIAC@action-mail.org

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND
Friday, Aug. 4 Street Outreach and Corner Protest
Gather at the State Office Building Complex at Preston Street
to distribute flyers to State workers between 4 P.M. and 5 P.M.
Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd and Preston St from 5 P.M. to 6 P.M.
Called by: All Peoples Congress
Phone: 410-235-7040
Email: apcbaltimore@pipeline.com

ATLANTA, GEORGIA
Sat. Aug. 5, 12 Noon
Outreach Day, Meet at the IAC office, 1083 Austin Ave., Room 203 (corner
of Euclid & Austin)
Phone: 770-989-2536
Email: AtlantaIAC@aol.com

CLEVELAND, OHIO
Sat., Aug. 5, Protest, 12 Noon
Market Square Park, W 25th & Lorain
Called by the Peoples Fight Back Center
Phone: 216-481-6671
Email: PFcenter@sbcglobal.net

HILTON HEAD, S.C.
Fri., Aug. 4, 4:30 P.M.
Vigil & Protest at Rt 278
Called by: Hilton Head for Peace
Phone: F. Taylor 843-681-4010

Read Call http://iacenter.org/aug5call.htm
Endorse http://iacenter.org/aug5endorse.shtml
List Activity http://iacenter.org/aug5endorse.shtml
Download Flyer http://iacenter.org/aug5flyer.pdf
Donate http://www.troopsoutnow.org/donate.html

Press Release

Partial list of endorsers:

(to add your endorsement, go to http://iacenter.org/aug5endorse.shtml   )

International Action Center
Al-Awda The Palestine Right to Return Coalition
Arab American Muslim Federation
NJ Solidarity - Activists for the Liberation of Palestine
Defend Palestine
AWS, Albuquerque, NM
Proyecto Guerrero Azteca Por La Paz, Escondido, CA
Wael Mosfar, Arab American Muslim Federation
Millions 4 Mumia
Birmingham Interfaith Human Rights Comm, Hoover, AL
Guyanese-American Workers United, New York, NY
Nellie Bailey, Harlem Tenants Council
Chris Silvera, Chair National Teamsters Black Caucus, Sec-Treas. Teamsters 808
Justice 4 Homeless San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Charles Barron, City Council Member, NYC
Martin Luther King, Jr, Bolivarian Circle Of Boston, Boston, MA
Michigan Emergency Committee Against War and Injustice
BAYAN USA
New England Human Rights Organization For Haiti, Boston, MA
Action Center For Justice, Charlotte, NC
Brenda Stokely, Million Worker March East Coast Chair
Million Worker March Movement
Peoples Video Network
Chuck Turner, Boston City Council, District 7, Boston, MA
Tony Van Der Meer, Prof. Africana Studies, U Mass Boston; Co-director,
Boston Rosa Parks Human Rights Day Committee, Boston, MA
Teresa Gutierrez, May 1 Coalition, NYC
All Peoples Congress, Baltimore
NYCHRP - New York Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines
St. Pete For Peace, St. Petersburg, FL
Veterans For Constitutional Respect, Wilcox, PA
Chito-Quijano, Spokesperson Bayan-USA;
FMLN - LA;
Ishmail Kamal, founder Sudanese-American Society;
Javier Rodriguez of March 25th Coalition and May 1st Boycott;
Puerto Rican Alliance;
Rev. Meri Ka Rah Byrd
Howard Guidly, Texas Death Row Activist
KRST Unity Center LA
ANAKBAYAN
Unity Center for African Spirituality
Hilton Head For Peace, Hilton Head, SC
Incarceration In Question, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT
World Homeless Union, Mansfield, PA
Troops Out Now Coalition
Abayomi Azikiwe, Editor, Pan-African News Wire, Detroit, MI
Leslie Feinberg, Author and Co-Chair LGBT Caucus, Nat'l Writers Union/UAW
Mary Lou Finley, Peace And Freedom Party, San Diego, CA
Chuck Mohan, President, Guyanese-American Workers United, New York, NY
Reza Namdar, Dele.Executive Council, Washington/Baltimore Newspaper Guild,
Gloria Rubac, Steward, Houston Federation Of Teachers, Local 2415, Houston, TX
Rev Max Surjadinata, Clergy, United Church Of Christ , New York, NY
The Most Rev. Filipe C Teixeira, Diocesan Bishop, Diocese Of Saint Francis Of Assisi
Juyeon Rhee-Korean Action Network for Unification
Thomas Rockriver, Vets for Peace, NC

Endorse http://iacenter.org/aug5endorse.shtml
List Activity http://iacenter.org/aug5endorse.shtml
Download Flyer http://iacenter.org/aug5flyer.pdf
Donate http://www.iacenter.org/iacdonate.shtml