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March 29, 2007

Stop the deportations of stateless Palestinian refugees!

PLEASE FORWARD FAR & WIDE!
DIFFUSEZ SVP!

(Français ci-dessous)

STATELESS & DEPORTED....

Bi-Weekly Picket in Solidarity with Palestinian Refugees Facing Deportation

THURSDAY MARCH 29th, 4 pm -> 6 pm
Citizenship & Immigration Canada
1010 St. Antoine W. [corner of Peel]
[metro Bonaventure]

REFUGEE CAMPS ARE NO ONE'S HOME!
STOP THE DEPORTATIONS OF STATELESS PALESTINIAN REFUGEES!

After more than FIVE YEARS of organizing and fighting back, hundreds of Palestinian refugees in Montreal and across Canada continue to face imminent deportation to the Occupied Territories and to the refugee camps of Lebanon.

Based on this continued and urgent situation, the Coalition Against the Deportation of Palestinian Refugees calls on supporters to participate in the re-launch of bi-weekly solidarity pickets, in front of Immigration Canada, to demand:

- An END TO THE DEPORTATIONS, and
- An IMMEDIATE REGULARIZATION of all Palestinian refugees in Canada.

Over the past few months, integral members of the Coalition Against the Deportation of Palestinian Refugees have received final rejections of their cases and await deportation dates back to the Occupied Territories and to the refugee camps in Lebanon.

An elderly Palestinian couple are also fighting against their deportation back to the refugee camp of Sabra in Lebanon, where Farouk Za'atar has lived since he was forced to flee Palestine as a child in 1948. The elderly couple will be forcibly separated from their three children and five grandchildren in Montreal, all of whom are Canadian citizens or permanent residents. Once again, the Coalition is faced with fighting a situation where some family members refugee claims have been accepted, while other's have been refused. The Za'atar's son was granted refugee status in Montreal years ago, while the parents, though based on the same sequence of events, were later rejected by a different refugee board member.

Conditions for Palestinians in both the Occupied Territories and in Lebanon are horrific and are worsening daily.

Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are systematically prevented from owning property, working in over 70 professions, receiving proper health care, and moving and traveling freely. The intensified mistreatment of Palestinian refugees inside the camps has left their lives in real and immediate peril.

If deported, those Palestinians who had escaped the dire situation in the Occupied Territories, would face daily terror at the hands of the Israeli state which continues to enforce a deadly and illegal military occupation. Palestinian refugees from the Occupied Territories have fled from the killings, extra-judicial assassinations, house demolitions, illegal arrests, trials without evidence, torture, land confiscation, and constant humiliations.

We must stand united, in support of the long and courageous fight against deportations waged by the Palestinian refugees in Montreal.

Your support, solidarity and participation are needed....!

REFUGEE CAMPS ARE NO ONE'S HOME! STOP THE DEPORTATIONS OF STATELESS PALESTINIAN REFUGEES!

In Solidarity.
the Coalition Against the Deportation of Palestinian Refugees

refugees.resist.ca / refugees@riseup.net

APATRIDES ET MENACÉS DE DÉPORTATION

Piquetage bimensuel de solidarité avec les réfugiés palestiniens menacés de déportation.

JEUDI le 29 MARS de 16 à 18 heures environ
Citoyenneté et Immigration Canada
1010, rue St-Antoine O. [coin Peel]
[métro Bonaventure]

LES CAMPS DE RÉFUGIÉS NE SONT UN FOYER POUR PERSONNE !
METTONS FIN AUX EXPULSIONS DE RÉFUGIÉS PALESTINIENS APATRIDES !

Après plus de CINQ ANS de lutte structurée, des douzaines de réfugiés palestiniens de Montréal et de partout au pays continuent d¹être menacés d¹expulsion immédiate vers les Territoires occupés et les camps de réfugiés du Liban qui existent depuis 58 ans.

Vu cette situation urgente et qui persiste, la Coalition contre la déportation des réfugiés palestiniens lance un appel aux personne qui la soutiennent pour participer au relancement des piquetages bimensuels de solidarité, devant les locaux d¹Immigration Canada, afin de demander :

- la FIN DES EXPULSIONS, et
- la RÉGULARISATION IMMÉDIATE de la situation de tous les réfugiés palestiniens au Canada.

Au cours des derniers mois, des membres à part entière de la Coalition contre la déportation des réfugiés palestiniens ont reçu des avis de rejet définitif de leur demande et attendent la date de leur expulsion vers les Territoires occupés et les camps de réfugiés du Liban.

Un couple de Palestiniens âgés lutte également contre son expulsion vers le camp de réfugiés de Sabra, au Liban, où Farouk Za'atar a vécu depuis qu¹il a été contraint de fuir la Palestine en 1948 alors qu¹il était enfant. Ce couple âgé sera séparé de force de ses trois enfants et de ses cinq petits-enfants qui sont tous citoyens canadiens ou résidents permanents et vivent à Montréal. Une fois encore, la Coalition se trouve aux prises avec un cas dans lequel les demandes de statut de réfugié de certains membres de la famille ont été acceptées, tandis que d¹autres ont été rejetées. Le fils des Za'atar a obtenu le statut de réfugié il y a des années à Montréal, tandis que ses parents, bien qu¹ayant vécu les mêmes événements, ont vu leur demande rejetée ultérieurement par un autre membre de la Commission de l¹immigration et du statut de réfugié du Canada.

Les réfugiés palestiniens au Liban se voient systématiquement refusés de détenir une propriété, d'exercer plus de 70 professions, de recevoir des services de santé adéquats, de se déplacer et de voyager librement. Les mauvais traitements des Palestiniens à l'intérieur des camps se sont accrus, mettant en danger immédiat et réel la vie de ces personnes.

Les Palestiniens qui ont échappé à la situation désastreuse qui règne dans les Territoires occupés, sont soumis à la terreur quotidienne que leur fait subir Israël, qui continue d¹imposer une occupation militaire illégale et meurtrière. Les réfugiés palestiniens des Territoires occupés ont fui les tueries, les assassinats extrajudiciaires, les démolitions de maisons, les arrestations illégales, les procès sans preuve, la torture, la confiscation de leurs terres et les humiliations continuelles.

Nous devons rester unis pour soutenir la longue et courageuse lutte des réfugiés palestiniens de Montréal contre les expulsions.

Nous avons besoin de votre soutien, de votre solidarité et de votre participation !

LES CAMPS DE RÉFUGIÉS NE SONT UN FOYER POUR PERSONNE ! METTONS FIN AUX EXPULSIONS DE RÉFUGIÉS PALESTINIENS APATRIDES !

Solidairement,
La Coalition contre la déportation des réfugiés palestiniens
refugees.resist.ca / refugees@riseup.net

March 20, 2007

URGENT: SAVE SAMI AL-ARIAN'S LIFE, DEMAND HIS IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, calls on all people of conscience to demand that Dr. Sami Al-Arian is immediately freed from his political imprisonment. Dr. Al-Arian is a Palestinian former University of Florida professor who is currently on his 58th day of a water-only hunger strike. He is protesting his maltreatment by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) which violated an earlier plea agreement that absolved Dr. Al-Arian from any further cooperation with the government. According to his lawyer, the DOJ wanted Dr. Al-Arian to testify before a grand jury in Virginia. When he refused, citing his plea agreement, he was sentenced up to 18 months in jail.

Dr. Al-Arian is currently being held at a medical facility in North Carolina. Family members who recently visited him reported that he had lost 53 pounds, equivalent to more than 25 percent of his body weight. He is no longer able to walk or stand on his own.

More information on Dr. Al-Arian's ordeal can be found in the transcript of a recent interview with his wife, Nahla Al-Arian. See: http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/03/16/1410255

ACTION

We ask all people of conscience to demand the immediate release and end to Dr. Al- Arian's suffering.

Call, Email and Write:

1- Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
Department of Justice
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
Fax Number: (202) 307-6777
Email: AskDOJ@usdoj.gov

2- The Honorable John Conyers, Jr
2426 Rayburn Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-5126
(202) 225-0072 Fax
John.Conyers@mail.house. gov

3- Senator Patrick Leahy
433 Russell Senate Office Building
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
(299029)224- 4242
senator_leahy@leahy.senate.gov

4- Honorable Judge Gerald Lee
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
401 Courthouse Square, Alexandria, VA 22314

Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition
PO Box 131352
Carlsbad, CA 92013, USA
Tel: 760-685-3243
Fax: 360-933-3568
E-mail: info@al-awda.org
http://www.al-awda.org/

New Jersey Solidarity - Activists for the Liberation of Palestine
http://www.newjerseysolidarity.org/
info@newjerseysolidarity.org
973-954-2521

Generation After Generation Until Total Liberation - FREE PALESTINE!

Don't forget to sign the Rutgers University Divest from israeli Apartheid Petition at: http://www.rutgersdivest.org

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