Fairplay for Palestine - Vigil at Israeli Embassy

by redjade Sat Mar 26, 2005 16:26

{ photos by redjade } ©

by Feice Sat Mar 26, 2005 18:22

Prominent International Delegation Calls on Israel to Cancel the Restrictions,
Let Vanunu Go Free

The cancellation of a Knesset committee debate about the severe restrictions on nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu's liberty and human rights was roundly condemned today at a Jerusalem press conference. Prominent international observers of the Vanunu case who had come to address the Constitution, Law and Judiciary Committee also spoke out, and called for Vanunu's full freedom.

Rayna Moss, an Israeli with the International Campaign to Free Vanunu, explained that Knesset Member Issam Makhoul (Hadash) had requested weeks ago that the Committee convene to discuss the grave situation regarding Vanunu, which was agreed to by Committee Chairman Michael Eitan and scheduled for March 16. Makhoul continues to push the Committee to convene on this issue.

Moss said, "The cancellation means that one month before the restrictions are renewed or cancelled, not one government official has voiced a position. The attorney general has not addressed the issue. Security forces have not made any public statement and the Israeli Parliament has refused to take responsibility over this issue. This is coupled with a frivolous statement by three Israeli politicians who spent two hours at the Dimona reactor and announced that it was safe. Through both of these events the Israeli government is treating the Israeli public as children who can be told fairytales. Mordechai Vanunu is ultimately portrayed as the big bad wolf who needs to be isolated from society or as the little boy who cries the king has no clothes. We refuse to accept fairytales, we refuse to be silenced, and we demand Vanunu's freedom."

Mordechai Vanunu spoke about the restrictions that forbid him from leaving Israel and rebuilding his life, even though he served his complete 18 year prison sentence and there are no new charges against him.

Vanunu said, "I have no more secrets to tell and have not set foot in Dimona for more than 18 years. I have been out of prison, although not free, for one year. Despite the illegal restrictions on my speech, I have again and again spoken out against the use of nuclear weapons anywhere and by any nation. I have given away no sensitive secrets because I have none. I have not acted against the interests of Israel nor do I wish to. I have been investigated by the police again and again, and re-arrested twice, but they have found nothing. I have done nothing but speak for peace and world safety from a nuclear disaster...

"I did not seek to harm Israel, but rather to warn of an enormous danger. I do not seek to harm Israel now. I want to work for world peace and the abolition of nuclear weapons. I want the human race to survive."

Vanunu also said, "I'd like to address world leaders here for the Holocaust Museum ceremony. They have come to commemorate the Jewish holocaust which took place 60 years ago but they must acknowledge that the threat of a future holocaust is the nuclear holocaust."

Also speaking at the press conference were Daniel Ellsberg (U.S.A.), author and former Pentagon employee who in 1971 leaked the Pentagon Papers; attorney Jennifer Harbury (U.S.A.), author and director of the U.U.S.C. STOP Torture Campaign; and attorney Fredrik S. Heffermehl (Norway), author and Vice President of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms.

The three had travelled to Israel from the United States and Norway on the basis of the understanding that they would testify today at the hearing of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Judiciary Committee, only to arrive in Israel and learn that it had been cancelled.

Daniel Ellsberg explained that he and Vanunu were both the first people in their countries to be prosecuted for giving secret information to the press. He said, "Mordechai Vanunu has no secret information. He has one huge secret which he revealed on April 21 last year - That after 18 years of imprisonment and solitary confinement and mistreatment a person can still come out sane, articulate, compassionate. This is the secret that no regime wants its citizens to know." He added, "Mordechai is a prophet, and the scriptures say that prophets are never appreciated in their own country."

In speaking of the need to lift the restrictions against Vanunu, Ellsberg stated, "At the time of the American revolution, when we freed ourselves from the British empire, we didn't retain any of their laws and regulations. The time has come for the state of Israel to also free itself from the State of Emergency regulations of the British Empire."

Citing several articles of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, U.S. human rights attorney Jennifer Harbury concluded that "the restrictions that have been placed upon Mordechai Vanunu represent extraordinary infringements of his rights".

Harbury stated, "For the last several years of his imprisonment, Mr. Vanunu was permitted to mingle with other prisoners. In addition, he has now been out of prison for nearly a year, and despite the restrictions, has courageously spoken publicly again and again for nuclear abolition and human rights. If he possessed any additional information, or if he wished to harm Israel in any way, he has had numerous opportunities to do so. Yet he has not. Time itself has proven the government claims of security risks are frivolous. Keeping him here does not change the equation....

"By refusing to let Mr. Vanunu go in peace to start a new life after so much suffering, Israel casts itself as both cruel and vindictive. He is not safe here and the authorities have contributed to this problem by vilifying him unjustly. Moreover, Israel does not come to this matter with clean hands. Mr. Vanunu was illegally kidnapped, battered, drugged and then subjected to extraordinary psychological torture for over 11 years. There has been no justice for any of these wrongs. The time has come for the government, too, to set its house straight by showing reason and balance here."

Fredrik Heffermehl said, "Avoiding discourse and discussion does not remove the problems - openness and discussion can help us find ways out. That was the idea behind Vanunu´s action. The time is ripe for the Israeli public to consider why so many people all over the world consider Vanunu as the leading Israeli in the worldwide political struggle against nuclear extinction."

The restrictions that were imposed on Vanunu (prohibiting him from traveling abroad, contacting foreign citizens and media, and controlling his movement inside Israel) severely curtail his civil and human rights. They are based on the 1945 State of Emergency Regulations, first introduced in Mandatory Palestine by the British Mandate and since then they have been continually renewed by the Israeli Parliament (Knesset). The State of Emergency Regulations enable the State to penalize people without trial, and can be renewed indefinitely. In July 2004 Israel's Supreme Court rejected Vanunu's appeal of the restrictions.

The restrictions will next be reviewed on April 21, the one year anniversary of Vanunu's release. At that time, an international delegation organized by the International Campaign to Free Mordechai Vanunu will come to Israel to call for lifting the restrictions and allowing Mordechai Vanunu to leave Israel, as he wishes.

Contact information:

In Israel: Rayna Moss: Tel. 972-50 -7368236, email:
[email protected]
In the USA: Felice Cohen-Joppa, Tel/Fax 520-323-8697, email:
[email protected]
In Britain: Ernest Rodker, Tel. +44-20-8672-9698, e-mail:
[email protected]
In Norway: Fredrik Heffermehl, Tel. +47-2244 8003 Fax: +47-2244 7616 email: [email protected]

by Jack Thu Mar 31, 2005 10:45

Both vital goals scored by Israel in the last two matches scored by Israeli Arabs
both Heroes
long live a one state!

by avi15 Fri Apr 01, 2005 16:33

Answer: None, because the Palestinians, so called, do not allow Jews to live in their midst: they just murder them.

Oh dear: this piece of information does not fit with the 'anti-war' conception of the Palestinians as nice people horribly oppressed by nasty Jews. Let's just either deny it's true or simply ignore it, then...

by Dagda Fri Apr 01, 2005 18:38

I guess the Palestinians will get around to allowing non-Muslim minorities minorities to play on their national football team when they actually have a state to call their own. In the meantime those lovely people from the IDF are happy to play with them in games of chicken played by the Israelis in tanks and D9 bulldozers. Alternately they offer the Palestinians games of target practice where the Palestinians act as targets for the latest in IDF or settler weaponry. So you see they do play together after all, they just haven't got round to football yet, although the IDF did make a start on a football pitch in the middle of what used to be the center of Jenin.

by Devil Dog Fri Apr 01, 2005 18:57

a game of the old "will I get blown to shit if I go to a pizza parlour or night club tonight?" though, it's always a favourite.

by avi15 Fri Apr 01, 2005 18:58

"I guess the Palestinians will get around to allowing non-Muslim minorities minorities to play on their national football team when they actually have a state to call their own."

What makes you think that? What evidence do you base this supposition on? It certainly can't be the past or present behaviour of the Arabs.

Moreover, your characterisation of the Jews as thugs is quite wrong: consider just this fact: the IDF, with its incredible firepower, could easily have driven all the Arabs from East of the Jordan in a few days. That we don't, even though they murder us at random, is a measure of our humanity; although some might say naivity.

by Frank Adam Fri Apr 01, 2005 23:15 frrankADAM at aOL dot com 0161 773 3796

The Arab - Israel conflict is actually the Israeli War of Independence FROM the Arabs who objected and object to Israel's existence.

The problem of the independence of the Palestine Arabs from Israel depends on the entire Arab World and the Palestinian Arabs particularly letting Israel be itself : Jewishly self determined - within a negotiated frontier - something that has never been talked through by the only parties that matter namely the PA Arabs and Israel.

Remember that in Sep 2000 the militants and terrorists opened war on Israel that was talking at the time and the Independent and the Guardian then spent eighteen months gleefully reporting how [a restrained] Israel had no answer to the violence and how Palestine Arabs would push her back to the Green Line if not - according to the various jihadis - into the sea.

If you can not take it, do not dish it out in the first place. I am quite sure that next time Israel will not wait eighteen months should a new campaign of rockets and kamikazes appear. There is also a limit to her self restraint from judicious use of her artillery to reply to rockets.

by tomas Fri Apr 01, 2005 23:46

well palestinains are also proving very good pole vauleters, well considering they have to cross a 8 meter wall everyday to get to school what do you expect?

by Poll vaulting for Palestine Sat Apr 02, 2005 01:23

"well palestinains are also proving very good pole vauleters, well considering they have to cross a 8 meter wall everyday to get to school what do you expect"

Gotta give the palestinians credit. it's not easy poll vaulting with a back pack full of explosives...

by Dagda Sat Apr 02, 2005 16:19

Well it might just be because the Palestinians managed to live in peace with their Christian and other neighbours in peace for thousands of years. BTW the Palestinians continue to live side by side with their own Christian minority as we speak. In addition some potential for cooperation in sporting circles and on the football field is shown by the presence of Muslim Israelis whose brothers in the occupied territories you complain about in the Israeli national and regional teams. After all if they can play with the Israelis who stole their land in 1948, there is every reason to believe that with the passage of time their oppressed brothers will be able to paly football with their oppressors in the future.

by Dhimmitude Sat Apr 02, 2005 21:35

"Well it might just be because the Palestinians managed to live in peace with their Christian and other neighbours in peace for thousands of years. BTW the Palestinians continue to live side by side with their own Christian minority as we speak."

Arab mythology. Accepting institutionalized Apartheid, Dhimmitude was the only way to live in "peace" with Moslem neighbors. If the Dhimmi failed to pay his protection tax, well...
The majority of Christian Arabs have left "palestinians" controlled areas, due to discrimination and terrorism. When the PLO invaded Lebanon, thousands of unarmed Christian Arabs were massacred.
Kafir aren't as lucky as Christians and jews...

by avi15 Mon Apr 04, 2005 11:28

1) The Palestinians haven't even been around for thousands of years. Up to the 1950s, term 'Palestinian' was used to refer to the Jews in the area. Before that time, the Arabs referred to the area as 'Southern Syria' and themselves as simply 'Arabs'. They would move freely between the surrounding countries and that area all the time and thought nothing of it. In other words, historically Arabs never, until Arafat invented it as a propaganda ploy, identified themselves as originating from that area. Moreover, the Arab population only increased as that of the Jews increased, because the industrial revolution in the Jewish areas provided them with jobs that couldn't get in the poverty-stricken Arab countries.

2) It is a propaganda myth that muslims have treated Jews well down through the ages. Hundreds of thousands of dead and oppressed Jews were the result. It is another myth that Christians were treated well by the muslims. Moreover, they are currently treated very badly in the Palestinian areas and there is a major exodus of Christian populations underway right now, not just from there, but also from the rest of the Arab world.

by Dagda Mon Apr 04, 2005 14:35

http://www.sedos.org/english/bouwen.htm

As a whole, I think that we can affirm that the relations between Christians and Muslims in the Palestinian people are traditionally good. We can even add that, in general, they are better than in many other Arab Muslim countries. One of the main reasons seems to be that this country, which for many centuries has been called Palestine, has been, throughout history, a crossroads and a crucible for a long list of peoples who passed trough it and settled in it at different periods of time. This country is also open to the Mediterranean Sea and, beyond it, to the larger world. Therefore a certain form of diversity and pluralism is an essential part of the history and the constitution of Palestine and the Palestinian people.

http://www.comeandsee.co.il/article.php?sid=553

Atallah Mansour asserts that Christians and Muslims can coexist in peace clarifying that a community divided by religious divisions can be united by national and cultural elements in addition to a good economy that will encourage young Christians to stay in their homelands.

His second contribution relates to his evaluation of the Israeli Jewish-Christian relations during the Israeli reign. As an eyewitness of the 1948 war, Mansour narrates his story illustrating the fate of Arab Christians under the Israeli occupation. According to him, half of the 156,000 Christians living in the Holy land in 1947 lost their homeland by 1949. Only 34,000 Christians were able to become Israeli citizens. Mansour traces the demographic growth of these Israeli Christians in different places describing the injustices done against them by Israeli-Jews.

http://www.bobmay.info/oct102002demolitions.htm

120 homes in Beit Sahour that have been marked for demolition by the Israeli Army. So an Israeli settlement that is internationally recognized as being illegal might cause 120 legally built Palestinian homes to be destroyed! I

Beit Sahour is primarily a Christian town. I mention this just because many of my Christian friends back home are not aware that there are a lot of Christian brothers and sisters in the West Bank. There are several hundred thousand here, and they suffer the same terrible hardships as their Muslim neighbors. The occupation doesn't discriminate based on religion. It's hard on everyone.

http://www.arij.org/paleye/oldcity/

On 27April 1990, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre locked its doors for first time in 800 years, and all other Christian shrines in the country also closed in protest over the presence of Jewish settlers in St. John’s Hospice in Jerusalem. In an expression of Palestinian religious solidarity, the Higher Islamic Council decided to close the doors of Al-Haram al-Sharif (Al-Aqsa Mosque & the Dome of the Rock) compound to foreign visitors and tourists all day Friday 27 April 1990.

Israel has tightened Palestinian residential expansion in the Old City by severely limiting building and renovation licenses, seizing Palestinian houses, and allowing Israeli Jews to settle in the houses. Restrictions are imposed by the Jerusalem Municipality on construction even when building permits are granted. These restrictions are expressed in the following building codes (Kaminker, 1995):

* Palestinians are only allowed to built on 15%, 25%, or 50% of the land plot as floor space, depending on the zoning and area of construction. In contrast, Israeli Jews building in East Jerusalem settlements are allowed to build with a floor space as much as 200% of the land.
* Palestinian buildings in East Jerusalem are confined to one or two stories, whereas Israeli settlements can have buildings up to eight stories.
* Palestinians owning land larger than 0.1 hectare in size are required to divide the land into parcels of a maximum of 0.1 hectare in order to be granted building permits. This law is strictly applied even when the land is only few square meters larger than 0.1 hectares.

by elNo Tue Apr 05, 2005 09:49

In a small temple in Jerusalem tonight, dozens of ultra-orthodox rabbis will hold a meeting to discuss measures to deport the hundreds of Arabs who live in the neighborhoods of northern Jerusalem . Among the rabbis is Shas MK Nissim Zeev.

The meeting is being convened following an invitation from Yad Lachim, and the rabbis of the districts of Neve Yaakov and Pisgat Zeev , who have announced a campaign to expel Arabs on the pretext that they “have started bothering our girls.” The campaign is specifically directed against previous collaborators with Israeli security who live in rented apartments in the district, as part of their rehabilitation program.

“There is a problem with Jewish girls who form relationships with Arabs, because these are neighborhoods that are mostly made up of conservative and ultra-orthodox residents,” Zeev said. “Jewish girls can't go to school with Arabs, and there isn't a single parent here who would like their daughter to go out with an Arab.” Zeev added, “The public will not tolerate the continuation of this phenomenon. With all due respect to the collaborators who helped the state, security authorities must send them to live somewhere else. There must be segregation between Jews and Arabs. I have heard of instances where Arabs wear headgear similar to that of religious Jews in order to befriend Jewish girls.” Yad Lachim officials said, “Security authorities must establish villages specifically for them.”

Head of the Pisgat Hahaim Yeshiva in Pisgat Zeev , Rabbi Yigal Cohen, said that he had received many complaints from parents. “There is a poor girl that went out with an Arab for a long time, until we saved her,” Cohen said. “We have asked Shas, Jerusalem City Council members, and all the rabbis of the city's neighborhoods to attend the conference, along with the treasurers of the temples. We hope that everyone attends and that we find a solution.”

Another neighborhood rabbi added, “We must expel Arabs from the city and not allow them to work at the neighborhood mall. Everywhere we go here we find Arabs.” Yad Lachim officials said that the rabbis are determined to launch a campaign against the Prime Minister in an attempt to expel the collaborators from the neighborhood who are living in apartments rented to them by the government.

by avi15 Tue Apr 05, 2005 12:10

I always take it as a compliment when indymedia editors delete my comments, as it shows they disapprove of my views but don't have the wit to answer them.

Feel free, of course, editors, to delete this comment of mine, just like the last one, if you find it embarassing or unconfortable. Bit odd, though, given the avowed principles of freedom of comment that indymedia trumpets for itself - although these principles do not apply to 'reactionary' views. In practice, of course, this can mean anything the editors want it to mean, so rapidly has freedom turned into tyranny.

by indywatcher Tue Apr 05, 2005 15:22

avi, I'm sure the real reason for your comments being deleted is because they contravene the sites guidelines, not be cause the editors disagree with you.
Do read the guidelines. even you should be clever enough to find them.