South African women chain themselves to UN office PSC Media Release 10/4/2002 Women chain themselves to UN offices in protest at UN inaction in Palestine
As women in South Africa we cannot bear to watch - minute after minute, hour after hour, day after day, week after week - as women and children are massacred, murdered, maimed and mutilated in Palestine by the brutal Israeli occupation forces. It has gone on too much and for too long. Our sisters in Palestine have had to endure 54 years of a catastrophe and it has to stop!!! Today, we - South African Women For Palestine - are chaining ourselves to the entrance to the offices of the building housing six United Nations offices - including the United Nations High Commission for Refugees - to draw the attention of the world to the plight of the women and children of Palestine. We have chosen this day for our act of protest especially because today is the 54th anniversary of the massacre at the Palestinian village of Deir Yassin where women and children were butchered, including pregnant women who were murdered and stuffed down the village well. The massacres currently under way are worse! We are also undertaking this action to protest against the inaction of the United Nations. In the past week, the UN Security Council took two resolutions which called on Israel to withdraw from Palestinian areas that it has violently occupied. Israel - and its war criminal prime minister, Ariel Sharon - simply snubbed its nose at the international community and continued with the occupation. Yesterday another town, Dora, was occupied. And each day that the occupation continues, more women and more children are killed. The most heart-rending scenes have been of the Jenin refugee camp and of Nablus which were bombed indiscriminately: shells, firing from helicopter gunships, etc. And the world just watches. We cannot watch any longer!! We call on the UN to implement its resolutions. We demand that the UN send a multi-national protection force to protect innocent Palestinian civilians that are suffering at the guns of this madness. We invite all women in South Africa to join us in protesting against the brutal occupation and massacres. Join us to support the women and children of Palestine. Issued by: South African Women for Palestine If you wish to interview any of the women that have chained themselves to the doors of the UN offices, call 082 747 6134 or 082 653 8179.
