PHA-Exchange> Palestine appeal

[Aviva]

URGENT APPEAL FROM GRASSROOTS INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION FOR PALESTINIANS
(GIPP)

28 September 2002

Grassroots International Protection for the Palestinian People (GIPP) is
urgently asking internationals to come to the Occupied Palestinian
Territories to help protect the Palestinian people as the situation in the
region deteriorates rapidly.

Ongoing sieges, closures and curfews have strangled the Palestinian
population, leaving them unable to engage in normal economic activity,
attend school, visit their families or even walk in their streets.

A number of Palestinian civil society organizations said that they are in
desperate need of internationals concerned with the plight of the
Palestinian people to mobilize resources on the ground and come to their
defense They added that Palestinian children are desperate to continue their
education in defiance of the current repression and that having
international activists with them in their schools is one of the most
effective ways to ensure that they can continue to learn - despite the
Israeli-imposed curfews.

GIPP is concerned that serious human rights violations in the Occupied
Palestinian Territories will continue, unless there is immediate support
from the international community. These fears have only escalated as
discussions continue regarding a possible strike against Iraq.

The group stressed that any attack on Iraq could have serious repercussions
for the Palestinian people, who may find themselves facing internal
transfers or ethnic cleansing at the hands of a government intent on denying
them their basic right to self-determination, freedom of movement and to
live in dignity.

"It is time for all those who reject the subjugation of the Palestinian
people to take the crucial step of joining the struggle here on the ground -
we are at a crossroads and need your support so that we can move decisively
in the direction of a just peace for all," said representatives of GIPP.


THE URGENCY IS NOW.

Please come to Palestine and help protect the Palestinian people.

For further information please contact us at: pngonet at p-ol.com, or visit the
website: www.pngo.net/GIPP