The *FREE ARAB VOICE*
October 10, 2000

Dear Readers of the Free Arab Voice,

The following news digest and action alert is devoted to the activities
of the Jordanian Popular Committees for the Support of Iraq and the
Jordanian National Hall.  Considered the most active Jordanian
grassroots movement for the cause of lifting the siege and stopping the
aggression on Iraq, the Popular Committees and the National Hall in
Jordan have been making waves in the right direction.  They do not
attempt to dilute or mystify the issue of the siege in humanitarian
rhetoric, but view it in its real context as part of the POLITICAL siege
on Palestine, the Arab people, and the people of the Third world.  Read
below about some of their activities and news.

The Free Arab Voice
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1) A Popular Jordanian Flight to Iraq, and a Week of Solidarity with
Iraq in Amman

On October 8th, the Popular Committees for the Support of Iraq (PCSI)
held a meeting at Yahya Ayaash Hall, on the second floor of the Union of
Professional Associations in Amman with all grassroots and trade-union
groups in Jordan involved in local campaigns to lift the siege and stop
the aggression on Iraq.  The meeting resolved to:

1) Charter a flight to Iraq.  On board will be a delegation representing
all Jordanian trade unions and the Popular Committees for the Support of
Iraq.  The Engineer's Union announced its readiness to pay for the cost
of renting the plane in full.   A letter of notification has been sent
out to that effect to the prime minister carrying the signatures of the
Engineer's Union, the Agronomists Union, and the Popular Committees for
the support of Iraq.   Basically this would be a Jordanian popular
effort to make flying planes from Jordan to Iraq more than a seasonal
symbolic gesture.  Earlier, the PCSI and the Unions have put on the
table a demand to run regular flights to Iraq, and to break other forms
of the siege, not just the air embargo.

2) Organize a week of solidarity with Iraq.  This will take place
between November eleventh and November sixteenth.  A rally, a forum by
activists and intellectuals, documentaries, photo exhibits, poetry
readings, and concerts by Arab and Iraqi participants are planned for
the week.  There are also plans to invite Arab and international figures
to partake in the proposed activities.  At the end of the week, a MARCH
to call for a total lift of the siege on Iraq is planned.   A committee
to organize the events of the week has been set up, and is meeting on
regular basis.

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2)An Appeal to Qaddafi to Continue from Amman to Baghdad

Upon his visit to Jordan, Libyan leader Mouamar Qaddafi received an open
appeal on October 7th from the Popular Committees for the Support of
Iraq to fly from Amman, Jordan, to Baghdad.  The appeal said: "As an
expression of our absolute belief in the importance of lifting the
unjust Arab siege on Iraq, and in the need to continue with launching
Arab initiatives that would break that siege, we call upon your
excellency to fly to Baghdad.   Such an initiative would represent the
true beginning of the end of the unjust siege in the Arab range".

Unfortunately, Colonel Qaddafi did not respond to the appeal!

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3)An Appeal to Save an Iraqi Child from the Jordanian National Hall

As part of the hospitals program initiated recently by the Popular
Committees to Support Iraq, we received from the Iraqi Embassy in Amman
an urgent case for an Iraqi four-year old girl who required open  heart
surgery.  We contacted the hospitals and the doctors who had agreed to
participate in our program.  Consequently, a doctor volunteered to
operate for free.  A hospital agreed to let us use the operating room
and donated a hospital room for the child.  However, there still remains
the cost of medical supplies.  And even though we're not being charged
for the use of the operating room by the hospital, there is still about
five hundred Jordanian Dinars ( about $750) of operating costs that need
to be secured.

This is our first case in the hospitals program and we need your help.

If you can help, please contact Dr. Aida Dabbass:
aida@nets.com.jo

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4) The communiqué of The Popular Committees for the Support of Iraq
(PCFSI) Regarding the latest uprising in Jerusalem

 Just as the thirty power aggression against Iraq and the subsequently
imposed siege were a prelude to agreements of humiliation and submission
forced on Arab countries, so the latest Zionist aggression against the
Aqsa, the West Bank, Gaza, and the Galilee proves that Arab
fragmentation and disintegration is a prerequisite to such aggression
and a fundamental condition of the continued presence of the Zionist
enemy in Palestine.

 The siege on Iraq and the sanctions imposed on Libya and Sudan further
tilt the balance of power in favor of external hegemony forces, and
allow the Zionist enemy to expand its aggression and to avoid
punishment. Those Arab regimes that restrain their masses and suppress
popular initiatives are the same regimes that have not moved to hold an
Arab summit and therefore must bear responsibility towards the current
events in Palestine.  These are also the same regimes that have
neglected to call for an Arab summit on Iraq for ten years and therefore
must bear responsibility towards the continuing destruction of Iraq and
its people.

For while these regimes were implementing the siege on Iraq, they were
also fostering ties with the Zionist enemy, and extending diplomatic and
economic relations with them. And while the Zionist enemy was
confiscating lands, building more settlements, and expanding winding
roads, these regimes were receiving the enemy's representatives and
exchanging visits with them. These 'regimes of fragmentation continue
today to maintain mutual diplomatic relations with the Zionist enemy,
despite the enemy's latest round of atrocities in Palestine. They
continue to implement the siege on Iraq, although the blockade is not
restricted to air embargo (which in any case is not lifted by arranging
a seasonal flight to Iraq.).

 The issue of Jerusalem and Palestine is a Jordanian issue as well as a
Palestinian issue. It is an issue of Arab and Islamic nations and
supporters of justice worldwide, just like the issue of the siege on
Iraq.  Therefore, we call upon all parties concerned to focus on this
side of the issue in their slogans and manifestos, and to adopt the
latest uprising (Intifada) within the framework of a united
Jordanian-Palestinian struggle. As for the Jordanian government, the
demands of the protests should be oriented towards severing diplomatic
relations with the Zionist enemy, repealing the Wadi Araba Agreement,
and lifting all forms of siege on Iraq.

 Long live the brave uprising of our people in Palestine.
 Long live the united Jordanian-Palestinian  struggle.
 Long live popular Arab unity on the road to ultimate liberation.

 Popular Committees
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To read about the street battles of Amman, please go to the following
two links:

http://www.freearabvoice.org/reportFromTheStreetBattlesOfAmman.htm

http://www.freearabvoice.org/arabRegimeOppressionRearsItsUglyHead.htm

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