RAT artists' appeal

[Mary Ann McGivern <mmcgivern@stlnet.com>]

INTERNATIONAL APPEAL FROM PALESTINIAN ARTISTS -
Please forward.
An Appeal from Palestinian Artists for Solidarity: End the War!.
   October 11, 2000. Ramallah, Palestine.

 We, artists and artistic organizations of Palestine, call on you, our
peers, colleagues, fellow artists, & intellectuals to help stop the war
waged against our people.
 Since this war started 13 days ago, we have been living under total
Israeli siege. Israeli tanks are cordoning off the entrances to our
cities.  Helicopters and snipers are shooting at innocent
demonstrators. The dead have reached a staggering 100. They are of all
ages & walks of life. With the dead, 3,200 wounded. Some whose lives
will be destroyed forever, with their sight lost, or severe motor or
neurological handicaps.
  The Gaza airport has been closed. Israeli settlers are descending
nightly on their neighboring Palestinian villages, refugee camps and
even urban areas, beating up Palestinians, throwing molotov cocktails
inside homes, burning olive groves; and kidnapping people & torturing
them to death, like Issam Judah, in whose funeral procession we marched
yesterday.  Many areas are now organizing  self-defense forces afgainst
these settlers. In schools, children ask about their dead schoolmates.
They talk of death, and draw pictures of death.
  How do we live: City centers are dead quiet. Every morning fresh
pictures of some of the past day's dead are posted on walls. Newspapers
are full of cancellation notices and condolences.
  How do we work: Most of us cannot reach our places of work in
neighboring towns. Concerts, film screenings, plays, rehearsals,
exhibits, lectures, symposia, have been canceled. Our theaters and
concerts halls stand empty, while we swell the ranks of marchers in
funeral processions, visitors to houses of mourning, and hospital
visitors.
 We call on you in America, Asia, and Europe, because we have heard
nothing from Israeli artists & intellectuals: We have not seen
demonstrations, petitions, or protests against this war waged by their
government. As if they agreed with the racist and absurd assertion that
the Palestinian leadership is willingly ordering their children to die,
and that these children are obeying these "orders"..
  We call on you, in the name of our shared humanity, in the name of our
shared work, to show solidarity with us, like the artistic community
around the world did with Sarajevo under siege. We call on you to please
undertake these concrete measures, each according to her/his ability:
1- Please circulate this urgent appeal in your country and outside it,
2- Please hold artistic solidarity events with Palestine, either with
our help, or the help of Palestinian/Arab organizations in your country,

3- Please publish petitions and appeals in your press, &/or march in
demonstrations for the end to this war against the Palestinian people,
4- Write/call your local media against biased reporting/writing,
5- Please call or write your head of government (some Emails provided
below), local representatives, to call on the government of Israel to
end immediately the war against us, lift the siege, stop the killing
incursions of Israeli settlers, & investigate and punish the killers.
  For further action, you may contact us, or a Palestinian organization
related to your line of work:
* Ashtar Theater:  ashtar@p-ol.com.
* The Cinema Production & Distribution Center: cpc@p-ol.com
* The Khalil Sakakini Cultural Centre:(Arts & literature):
sakakini@sakakini.org
* The Popular Arts Center: (Festivals, dance, folklore):
pac@palnet.com..
  -------------------------
Ehud Barak's Office:  barak@pmo.gov.il
White House:  president@whitehouse.gov
State Department:  secretary@state.gov
Hubert Vedrine:  hubert.vedrine@diplomatie.fr