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Free Palestine: People Expose Zionism

By VVAW

To expose the massive propaganda campaigns that have been waged through the media to whip up hysteria against the Palestinian people, the Old Westbury chapter of VVAW/WSO on Long Island held a Middle-East forum featuring speakers from the Palestine Liberation Organization, the Iranian Students Association, the Revolutionary Union and VVAW/WSO. Approximately 500 people attended the forum.

The speaker from the PLO outlined the position of the Palestinian people in their opposition to the existence of the Zionist State of Israel. He state, "The struggle for liberation and justice cannot be divided. We all stand united against the twin enemies of Zionism and imperialism" he pointed out that "the Zionist movement from its very inception has been an exclusionist, racist movement because it excluded people on the basis of their religious beliers."

During the speech of a member of the Revolutionary Union, a person from the audience yelled out that it was the Zionists who helped the Jewish people in their struggle against the Nazis in the Warsaw ghetto. The crowd cheered as the RU speaker corrected him, by pointing out that, in fact, it was the Communists who aided the struggle against the Fascists, and the Zionists were collaborating with the Nazis. Many of the Zionist took bribes from the Nazis and free passage to Israel in exchange for information about underground Jewish resistance groups.

During the question and answer period, another individual from the audience asked why there were only pro-Palestinian speakers on the program. The VVAW/WSO moderator state, "Everyday I can pick up a copy of the New York Times or turn on the TV and get the Zionist point of view. This meeting is for the people's point of view."

Several times individuals from the audience attempted to disrupt the forum by chanting abusive remarks. But the overwhelming majority of the audience shouted them down with prolonged applause and chants of "LONG LIVE PALESTINE."

A similar show of support for the struggle of the Palestinian people occurred in Ann Arbor, Michigan on the University of Michigan campus, March 21st as over 200 people disrupted a ceremony conferring an honorary degree on the President of Israel. Storming into the auditorium, the demonstrators, including many Arab people, chanted, "FREE, FREE PALESTINE" and "JEWISH PEOPLE YES, ZIONISM NO!" In a strong show of militant support for the Palestinian people, the multi-national crowd shouted down the Zionist for over thirty minutes making it impossible for him to address his audience.

It is clear that as the situation in the Middle-East becomes more intense, support for the just struggle of the Palestinian people is growing as people all over the world rise up to throw off the shackles of the imperialists.

FREE PALESTINE!!