<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Occupied Palestine | فلسطين]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[occupiedpalestine]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/author/hajarhajar/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[DON’T ALLOW THE USA TO BECOME A&nbsp;DICTATORSHIP]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p class="byline">Posted  			by desertpeace			at PS.HADNEWS.COM on Friday, 			February 25, 			2011 			at 1:35 pm.</p>
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<h1 style="text-align:center;"><strong><span style="font-size:medium;font-family:Verdana;">You have the RIGHT to hear the truth about Israel….. </span></strong></h1>
<h1 style="text-align:center;"><strong><span style="font-size:medium;font-family:Verdana;">PRESERVE THAT RIGHT!</span></strong></h1>
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<div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><a href="http://desertpeace.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/boycott_israel_-_the_palestinian_campaign_for_boycott_divestment_sanctions_against_israel.jpg"><img loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-21769" title="Boycott_Israel_-_The_Palestinian_Campaign_for_Boycott_Divestment_Sanctions_Against_Israel" src="https://desertpeace.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/boycott_israel_-_the_palestinian_campaign_for_boycott_divestment_sanctions_against_israel.jpg?w=200&#038;h=324" alt="" width="200" height="324" /></a><br />
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<div><span style="font-size:medium;font-family:Verdana;">Omar  Barghouti is a key leader of the global movement for Boycott,  Divestment, and Sanctions against Israel’s government. Few people  anywhere are better able to convey the power and promise of this  nonviolent force for a just resolution to the Israeli/Palestinian  conflict based on human rights and equality.<br />
And whatever your position, he has a right to speak as a matter of principle. </span></div>
<div><span style="font-size:medium;font-family:Verdana;">Which is why it’s so critical that he be heard here in the United States.</span></div>
<div><span style="font-size:medium;font-family:Verdana;">Barghouti –  who has advanced academic degrees from US institutions, who lived here  for 11 years, whose daughter attends school here- has been inexplicably  denied a visa to come to the US in April for a long-planned tour to talk  about his new book, Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: The Global Struggle  for Palestinian Rights, published by Haymarket Books. A book Archbishop  Desmond Tutu called  “lucid and morally compelling… perfectly timed to  make a major contribution to this urgently needed global campaign for  justice, freedom and peace.” </span></div>
<div><span style="font-size:medium;font-family:Verdana;">Barghouti  has invitations to speak in New York City, Harvard, Yale, Brown,  Brandeis University, Washington DC, and Philadelphia. But all that may  be over if the US doesn’t issue a visa.</span></div>
<div><span style="font-size:medium;font-family:Verdana;">But we still have some time. </span></div>
<div><span style="font-size:medium;font-family:Verdana;">That’s why  Haymarket Books and Omar Barghouti have asked for your help. If the US  Consulate gets enough emails and calls from concerned US citizens, they  could reverse their decision and grant him a visa.</span></div>
<div><span style="font-size:medium;font-family:Verdana;">At a time  when the United States has been forced to recognize the democratic  revolution in Egypt after long supporting its dictator Hosni Mubarak, we  hope the US government will not violate the freedom of speech of a  visiting author and leader for the struggle for democracy for  Palestinians. </span></div>
<div><span style="font-size:medium;font-family:Verdana;">We hope the  US is not denying its own citizens the right to hear different ideas and  learn from Omar Barghouti’s hopeful example. </span></div>
<div><span style="font-size:medium;font-family:Verdana;">Some critics  of U.S. foreign policy hoped that President Barack Obama would end  George Bush’s policy of “ideological exclusion”–denying people the right  to visit the United States because they are critical of its policies.   But if the U.S. denies Barghouti a visa for political reasons, it would  instead be continuing the worst traditions of Obama’s predecessor and  cold-war style suppression of ideas.<br />
Please tell the Israeli consulate and State Department: let Omar Barghouti speak! </span></div>
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<h1><span style="font-size:medium;color:#808000;font-family:Verdana;">Tell US Consulate: Let Omar Barghouti speak to us</span></h1>
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<p><span style="font-size:medium;font-family:Verdana;">Effectively  canceling a planned speaking tour, the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem has  inexplicably delayed the granting of a visa for Omar Barghouti, founding  member of the Palestinian Civil Society Boycott, Divestment, Sanction  (BDS) campaign, due to tour the United States this April for the release  of his new book, </span><a href="http://www.haymarketbooks.org/pb/Boycott-Divestment-Sanctions"><span style="color:#074d8f;font-family:arial;"><em><span style="font-size:medium;font-family:Verdana;">Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights</span></em></span></a><span style="font-size:medium;font-family:Verdana;">;</span></p>
<p>Contact the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem and the Department of State to ask them to fulfill the <a href="http://www.aclu.org/national-security/ideological-exclusion-state-department-letter"><span style="font-size:medium;color:#cb4d26;font-family:Verdana;">promise</span></a><span style="font-size:medium;font-family:Verdana;"> from  the Obama Administration of “promoting the global marketplace of ideas”  and grant Barghouti’s visa immediately. Demand your right to hear this  key leader in the nonviolent struggle for a just resolution to the  Israeli-Palestinian conflict. </span></p>
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<div class="formRow"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-size:medium;"><label for="Subject5943">Subject:</label> </span></span><span style="font-size:medium;font-family:Verdana;"> </span></div>
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<div id="Content_div5943" class="letterContent"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-size:medium;"><label for="Content5943">Your Letter:</label> </span></span><textarea cols="45" rows="15" name="Content5943">Omar  Barghouti – who has advanced academic degrees from US institutions, who  lived here for 11 years, whose daughter attends school here- has been  inexplicably denied a visa to come to the US in April for a long-planned  tour to talk about his new book, “Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: The  Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights,” published by Haymarket Books. A  book Archbishop Desmond Tutu called  “lucid and morally compelling…  perfectly timed to make a major contribution to this urgently needed  global campaign for justice, freedom and peace.”    Barghouti has  invitations to speak in New York City, Harvard, Yale, Brown, Brandeis  University, Washington DC, and Philadelphia, and should be allowed to  visit.  At a time when the United States has been forced to recognize  the democratic revolution of Egypt after long supporting its dictator  Hosni Mubarak, I hope the US government is not violating the freedom of  speech of a visiting author and leader for the struggle for democracy  for Palestinians.   I demand the right to hear Omar Barghouti speak. He  is an important participant in the debate and a key leader in the search  for a just resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on  human rights and equality. </textarea><span style="font-size:medium;font-family:Verdana;"> </span></div>
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<h2 class="name"><span style="font-size:medium;font-family:Verdana;">Daniel Rubinstein</span></h2>
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<div class="address"><span style="font-size:medium;font-family:Verdana;">Consul General, US Consulate, Jerusalem</span></div>
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<div class="recipient"><span style="font-size:medium;font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-size:small;font-family:Arial Black;">Sponsored <a href="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&amp;c=Z6GzUOtrQJyI16hF%2BVhx5j3djrX5KaHx">BY</a></span> </span></div>
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<p><a href="http://ps.hadnews.com/don%e2%80%99t-allow-the-usa-to-become-a-dictatorship.htm">DON’T ALLOW THE USA TO BECOME A DICTATORSHIP at PS.HADNEWS.COM</a>.</p>
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