Dear friends of Birthright Unplugged,
As we recently wrote to you about in our Communiqué,
Mohammad Othman, a 33-year-old Palestinian activist, was arrested in September at
the Allenby Bridge crossing from Jordan into the West Bank. He has
subsequently been imprisoned by the Israeli government, and is currently being
held without charge or trial in what is known as “administrative
detention.” Mohammad was arrested upon his return from a trip to Norway
during which he met with senior Norwegian officials to discuss their recent
divestment from Elbit, an Israeli defense company
that manufactures the monitoring system installed on rural sections of the West
Bank Wall. Mr. Othman was arrested and is being imprisoned because of
his human rights work, and in particular his work on Boycott, Divestment, and
Sanctions against Israel (BDS).
We have recently learned that Jamal Juma’, coordinator
of the Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall campaign, was detained for
interrogation by Israel on December 15th. The following day he was
arrested and imprisoned, and soldiers told his wife as they departed with her
husband that the only way she would see him next would be through a prisoner
exchange. Since the first Intifada, Mr. Juma’, 47, has focused on
grassroots activism. He has addressed numerous civil society and UN
conferences, where he has spoken on the issue of Palestine and the Apartheid
Wall. His articles and interviews are widely disseminated and translated into
several languages.
The arrest of Mr. Juma’ is the latest within an intensifying campaign of
repression of grassroots mobilization against the Wall and the settlements and
the BDS movement. Israel has also targeted members of the Popular Committee
organizing the non-violent resistance movement in Bil’in, including
Mohammad Khatib and Abdallah Abu Rahmeh. Overall, Israel is seeking to
criminalize Palestinian resistance and quash its movement for freedom.
We urge you to get involved with the campaigns being led in
support of Mohammad and Jamal.
Recommended Actions:
•
Encourage your community to join this campaign
through petitions, demonstrations and/or letter writing and phone calling.
Please provide them with contact information and details.
•
Urge your representatives at consular offices in
Tel Aviv and Jerusalem/Ramallah to advocate for the immediate release of Jamal
Juma’, Mohammad Othman and the other non violent activists. A template
letter can be found here: http://stopthewall.org/latestnews/2140.shtml
•
Let the Israeli Embassy in your home country
know that you are campaigning for the release of Jamal Juma’ and the
other anti-Wall prisoners:
http://www.embassiesabroad.com/embassies-in/Israel#11725
•
Bring the case of the anti-Wall prisoners to the
attention of local and national media outlets.
•
Follow the websites, blogs, and Facebook groups
regarding the issue:
http://freejamaljuma.wordpress.com/
http://freemohammadothman.wordpress.com/
Facebook: Free the Anti-Wall
Prisoners
Twitter: http://twitter.com/wallprisoners
There are at least 750 Palestinians in Israeli prisons being
held without charge or trial. To read more about Israel’s use of administrative
detention:
http://www.addameer.org/detention/admin_deten.html
All our best,
Dunya and Heike