CONGRESSMAN CALLS FOR ETHNIC CLEANSING OF PALESTINIANS
Muslims urged to contact congressman to demands retraction, apology
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 5/2/2002) - CAIR is calling on all people of conscience
to contact House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-TX) to demand that he
retract his call for ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people. Last night
on MSNBC's "Hardball," host Chris Matthews had the following dialogue with
Rep. Armey:
ARMEY: I'm content to have Israel grab the entire West Bank.
MATTHEWS: Well, where do you put the Palestinian state, in Norway? Once the
Israelis take back the West Bank permanently and annex it, there's no place
else for the Palestinians to have a state.
ARMEY: No, no, that's not--that's not at all true. There are many Arab
nations that have many hundreds of thousands of acres of land and--and soil
and property and opportunity to create a Palestinian state.
MATTHEWS: So you would transport--you would transport the Palestinians from
Palestine to somewhere else and call it their state?
ARMEY: I would be perfectly content to have a homeland, just as--most of...
MATTHEWS: But not in Palestine?
ARMEY: Most of the people who now populate Israel were transported from all
over the world to that land and they made it their home. The Palestinians
can do the same, and we're per--perfectly content to work with the
Palestinians in doing that...
MATTHEWS: Right, no. No, that's not the question and that's not your
answer. The question here is: What is the future of the Palestinians who
are fighting Israel right now? You say there future is somewhere besides
Palestine. That runs in the way of US policy going back to 1948. It
runs--it runs completely against the president's policy and every policy
I've heard a president take, which is that Israel has to give up its
settlements on the West Bank and give it back to the Arabs in exchange for
peace. You say the deal should be the Palestinians leave?
ARMEY: That's right...I happened to believe that the Palestinians should leave.
MATTHEWS: Have you ever told George Bush, the president from your home
state of Texas, that you think the Palestinians should get up and go and
leave Palestine and that's the solution?
ARMEY: I'm probably telling him that right now.
MATTHEWS: Well, just to repeat, you believe that the Palestinians who are
now living on the West Bank should get out of there?
ARMEY: Yes.
"It is beyond belief that Representative Armey would openly call for the
ethnic cleansing of the entire Muslim and Christian Palestinian population,
something that violates every norm of international law and human rights.
Even the most extreme Israelis are reluctant to publicly advocate such an
insane policy," said CAIR Governmental Affairs Director Jason Erb.
Erb demanded an immediate retraction and apology from Armey. He said CAIR
has received many complaints about Armey's remarks.
IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUESTED: (As always, be POLITE.)
Contact Rep. Armey to ask that he retract his call for ethnic cleansing and
that he apologize for advocating a policy that would violate all norms of
international law and human rights.
CONTACT:(A personal call is best, followed by a fax, followed by an e-mail
message. Inform CAIR of what you are told, or how you are treated, by
Armey's staff.)
Congressman Dick Armey
301 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-4326
TEL: (202) 225-7772 or 202-225-4000
Fax: (202) 226-8100
(District Office)
9901 East Valley Ranch Parkway, Suite 3050
Irving, TX 75063
TEL: (972) 556-2500
ONLINE: http://capwiz.com/cair/home/
E-MAIL: [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask]
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