The *FREE ARAB VOICE*
August 6, 2000

In this issue of the Free Arab Voice (FAV) we present:

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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