Last Thursday activists and citizens of conscience in Washington, DC held banners at highly trafficked locations throughout the city during morning rush hour in response to the massive escalation of Israeli war crimes. This Thursday, as a continued response to the further increasing Israeli atrocities, and as a build up to the April 22nd demonstration against Ariel Sharon in Washington DC*, The Committee in Solidarity with the People of Palestine** calls on people of conscience across the country to:

PROTEST ISRAELI WAR CRIMES ON THURSDAY MORNINGS

WHAT: Hold a Banner in your city in a highly trafficked area calling
for a stop to US (military) Aid to Israel and/or an End to Israeli Occupation/Apartheid. We are calling on people around the country to hold banners every thursday morning for the 2 weeks leading up to Ariel Sharons arrival in DC. Prime locations for banner holding are highway overpasses, at busy subway stops, at bridges or roads coming into the downtown area, or other highly trafficked locaitons at morning rush hour.
We recommend slogans such as:

"Stop Israeli Atrocities: End Aid to Israel"
"Our Taxes Fund Israeli War Crimes"
"U.S. Aid to Israel Kills Kids"
"Our Taxes Fund Israeli Apartheid"
"Indict Israeli PM Ariel Sharon for War Crimes"
"Confront Ariel Sharon in Washington, DC on April 22nd"

WHEN: Thursday Mornings (April 11th and April 18th) During Morning Rush Hour (7:30am-9am). The weekly banner holdings are designed to steadily increase the amount of people and build momentum for the Sharon protest in DC on April 22nd.
[DC Residents meet at the DC Indymedia Center: 2329 Champlain Street near the corner of Colombia, on Wednesday Night, April 10th at 7pm to make banners]

THE IDEA is to inform the American public (and hopefully get media coverage) that our tax dollars are funding the recent escalation of Israeli war crimes, and that as American tax payers we refuse to fund crimes against humanity, apartheid, and this war declared on the Palestinian civilian population. We also want to express that Ariel Sharon is a war criminal, and let people know that he is coming to DC and will be confronted when he gets here on April 22nd.

THE STRATEGY is that a banner holding campaign at rush hour will reach more people than a rally. It takes only two people to hold a banner, and
one banner will reach thousands in a large city at rush hour. If there are multiple locations covered in a large city, tens and perhaps hundreds of thousands of people can be reached (more people than would be reached even by a full page add in a major newspaper). If we spread our resources out around the city,
we can reach a maximum amount of people. If we spread it out throughout the country, we can reach enormous amounts of people. So, instead of
calling people to DC, we are calling on people to hold a banner in solidarity at the same time in their own cities.

BANNER HOLDING IS COMPLETELY LEGAL. As long as you do not attach it to anything, and as long as you are not blocking any entrances or sidewalks/streets then it is entirely legal to stand on public property holding a sign or banner. Anyone can make a sign or banner easily and hold it. It is very simple and inexpensive.

If you are able to arrange at least one banner holding in your city, please contact us at TBowles106@aol.com so we can keep track and use the information for media work.

THE MESSAGE
We would like to have a very focused message, so if people could stick to one of the above slogans or something very close that would be great.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The Coalition in Solidarity with the People of Palestine supports the human rights of all people. We therefore reject and disassociate ourselves from ANY anti-jewish or otherwise racist sentiments. Racist or anti-Jewish language also discredits the legitimacy of the Palestinian struggle for human
rights and the movement to stop us aid to Israeli for humanitarian reasons.

FOR DC RESIDENTS:
If you are in the DC metro area, please contact Matt at TBowles106@aol.com so that we can coordinate locations. We have already picked out many highly trafficked locations, to which we can assign you. But if you have a specific location at which you wish to stand, just inform us where you will be. If people can make
their own banners, that would be great. If not, we have some made already. For DC residents there will be a meeting wednesday night, april 10th, at the DC indymedia center at 2329 Champlain Street, NW near the corner of Colombia, to make banners.

* For More info on the Weekend of Demonstrations (April 19-22) and to endorse, please visit the SUSTAIN website at www.sustaincampaign.org. Please consider coming to DC for:
Friday, April 19th: Palestine Conference at American University
Saturday, April 20th: Feeder March from AIPAC Conference into the IMF, World Bank and Anti-War Mobilization
Monday, April 22nd: Confront the War Criminal himself as Ariel Sharon arrives in DC to address the anual AIPAC conference.

** The Committee in Solidarity with the People of Palestine is an ad Hoc Committee made up of many groups who support Palestinian human rights to help organize the April 19-April 22 protests in DC and specifically actions against Sharon's speech at the AIPAC Conference an April 22nd.