August 8, 2006
For Immediate Release

NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD URGES ALL TO ORGANIZE AND PARTICIPATE IN AUGUST 12 NATIONAL EMERGENCY DEMONSTRATIONS OPPOSING THE U.S.-ISRAELI WAR AGAINST LEBANON AND PALESTINE

Contacts:
National: Heidi Boghosian, NLG Executive Director, 212-679-5100, ext. 11,
Marjorie Cohn, NLG President-Elect, 619-297-9700, x1516

East Coast: Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, NLG Mass Defense, 202-789-4330;
Ranya Ghuma, NLG United People of Color Caucus, 410-370-4743

West Coast: Jim Lafferty, NLG-Los Angeles Executive Director, 323-653-4510;
Nancy Hormachea, NLG Mid-East Sub Committee, 510-849-0996

The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) has endorsed the August 12 National Emergency March on Washington, D.C., taking place at 12 noon at the White House, and its sister actions in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle. NLG members will be attending the demonstration and others will be providing legal support, including as Legal Observers. The war against the people of Palestine and Lebanon is an extension of the Bush administration's war against the people of Iraq. It is a war for domination and the re-colonization of the Middle East and the destruction of national sovereignty and any resistance to the U.S. government's imperial goals.

The recent massacre in Qana is but one horrific war crime in a daily assault that has made nearly one quarter of Lebanon's entire population, 800,000 people, refugees in their own country. Hundreds of people, children and families, have been killed and maimed by this U.S.-Israeli war. It is imperative for all people of conscience to take a stand in solidarity with our Palestinian and Lebanese brothers and sisters in their struggle against Israeli and U.S. occupation, aggression and imperialism. It is also imperative that we continue to fight for an end to the U.S. occupation in Iraq.

NLG Executive Director Heidi Boghosian said, “The charade of U.S. diplomacy, which is simply acting as a tactical military support operation, makes it all the more important for the people's voices in the United States to be heard. The so-called "cease-fire" resolution (which does not even call for a cease-fire) that has been authored by the United States and France is a measure for public consumption to try to convince people in the United States that the government is doing something for peace. In reality, it only requires that those that are resisting the invasion in Lebanon cease firing, allows the Israeli military to continue its assault, and does not even require the invading Israeli army to leave Lebanon.”

August 12 will be the day of national mass action in the United States. The NLG urges all its members and supporters to come out and be counted. It is imperative that we act to bring an end to this widening war and oppose the crimes being committed by the United States and Israel. The August 12th March was initiated by the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) the National Council of Arab Americans and the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation and has been endorsed by hundreds of organizations. For information on transportation, location and logistics, and how you can get involved, go to www.ANSWERCoalition.org .

Founded in 1937 as the first racially integrated national bar association, the National Lawyers Guild is the oldest and largest public interest/human rights bar organization with over 200 chapters in the United States. Volunteer lawyers, law students, legal workers and jailhouse lawyers work together “in the service of the people, to the end that human rights shall be regarded as more sacred than property interests,” as members of the National Lawyers Guild.