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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
December 16, 2009

Activists Call for An End to Occupation and Oppression
At American Israel Public Affairs Dinner

(San Francisco) Activists with the women’s peace group CODEPINK took their message of no war and occupation to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) gala dinner at the Hilton Towers Hotel in San Francisco on December 15th.

As the AIPAC Executive Director, Howard Kohr, gave a national briefing, he had indicated that AIPAC is ready to come to the negotiating table with the Palestinians. Nancy Mancias and Victoria Quevedo rose up out of their seats and said “How can the Palestinians come to table if they live under constant oppression and occupation.” While chanting “No War, No Occupation, Free Palestine” private security immediately lifted Mancias and Quevedo up from beneath their arms and ejected them from the ballroom. The two were handed over to the San Francisco Police who then handcuffed, searched, arrested and transferred them to the Tenderloin Police station where they were cited and released.

Mancias and Quevedo are scheduled to appear in court for “disrupting an assembly” in late January.

While AIPAC claims to represent the U.S. Jewish community, its wholesale support of the Israel government goes against the majority opinions of the Jewish Americans. According to a recent survey by the Jewish lobby group J Street, 76 percent of American Jews support a two-state solution, 69 percent support negotiating with a Fatah-Hamas unity government, and 59 percent felt the Gaza invasion did not improve Israel’s security.

from this release: http://www.codepinkalert.org/article.php?id=4857

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