A Statement on the Tenth Year of Siege on Iraq
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As we enter the eleventh year of sanctions on Iraq, Iraqi children
continue to die by the thousands every month due to malnutrition and
lack of medicine. Iraqi people continue to suffer all kinds of horrors
due to the appalling conditions of the siege imposed by the government
of the United States of America and its allies. Today, Iraqi
generations grow up deprived of life's basic needs as a result of the
many impediments forced by America and its allies in the Contracts
Committee supervising the "oil for food" program. Added to that, the
larger part of Iraqi oil sales is being siphoned off through the United
Nations in the name of paying indemnities. At the same time, execution
of many contracts is delayed, and the importation of many commodities
and equipment necessary to Iraqis is being prohibited under absurdly
false pretexts that they might have 'military applications'.
Consequently, Iraq is prohibited from importing pencils, for example,
and from importing equipment necessary to rehabilitate water treatment
plants, water networks and sanitary disposal systems ravaged by the
war.

American and British bombing on Iraq continues with a rate of three
raids per week since 1998. The dimensions of the American-Zionist
scheme begin to become clear now through news reports, however
filtered, about the amounts of Western money being spent and the
efforts being made to create sectarian drifts in the Iraqi south and
ethnic drifts in the Iraqi north. This, according to the allegations of
Western media, is aimed at shaking the stability of the regime in order
to overthrow it.  However, such practices in Iraq coincide with
similar, albeit less transparent practices throughout the Arab world to
foment sectarian, regional, and ethnic conflicts, from Morocco and
Algeria, to Egypt and Jordan, to Iraq and the Arab Gulf. Attempts to
debilitate the Iraqi State and destroy its institutions through
pauperization, starvation, and blockade are synchronized with similar
attempts to incapacitate the state and disassemble its institutions in
the entire Arab World.  Thus, the siege continues partially to pave the
way for the implementation of a wider "Middle East" project that will
invariably fragment the Arab countries yet again, and spread the
Zionistic political, economical, and cultural hegemony over microscopic
and scattered sectarian and ethnic entities.

To work towards lifting the siege on Iraq, and to raise our voices high
against such an injustice is a humanitarian, Islamic, Arab, and
patriotic duty. This siege, though imposed by American - Zionist
resolution, is actually implemented through Arabic and Islamic hands.
The siege continues while normalization with the Zionist enemy
progresses.   In fact, the siege on Iraq continues in order to
facilitate normalization with Zionists. Debilitating and isolating Iraq
shifts the balance of power further in favor of the Zionist enemy, and
assists in imposing Zionist terms on Arab governments in the so-called
'peace process'.

Therefore, those who seek to resist American pressures to accept the
Zionist "peace" conditions, should first of all work on lifting the
siege on Iraq, in order to restore the balance of power with the
Zionist enemy. This is the first step that must be taken whether Arabs
choose negotiations or war, although we, in fact,  stand against
negotiation with the Zionist enemy as a matter of principle.

The siege on Iraq in actuality is a siege on Jordan and many other Arab
and Islamic States as well.   Jordan, for example, has paid an enormous
price for the sanctions imposed on Iraq, which was once the largest
market for Jordanian exports. Why then should we accept to implement a
siege that besieges us?!   How can we choose to follow an irrational
policy for ten years even though it is wreaking havoc on the regional
Arab economy as much as it does on the Iraqi economy?!

Let us demand that Arab governments and decision-makers  lift the siege
on Iraq immediately, for the sake of their own economies, if not for
the sake of doing their humanitarian, Islamic, Arab, and patriotic
duty.

Let's raise our voices high: YES for lifting the siege on Iraq, NO for
normalization with the Zionist enemy.

Let's raise our voice high: YES for lifting the official Arab  and
Islamic siege on Iraq.

YES for lifting the siege on Iraq for the sake of Palestine.

YES for lifting the siege on Iraq for the sake of preserving our Arab
and Islamic identity.

YES for lifting the siege on Iraq for the sake of preserving our
humanity..

YES for lifting the siege on Iraq so that we may never participate in
the great conspiracy of silence.

YES for lifting the siege on Iraq, for it is a word of truth that has
to be said.
 

The Association against Zionism and Racism (AZAR)
Amman 6/8/2000

The Free Arab Voice (FAV)

Arab-American Democratic Committee

Arab Rennaissance Coalition
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Dear Reader of the Free Arab Voice,

Please make the effort to participate in an event for lifting the siege
on Iraq near you.  Then create a little occasion every day to raise the
issue of the siege on Iraq.  You'll be surprised how little acts can
add up into a general grass-roots movement.

The Free Arab Voice
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