Today Archbishop Desmond Tutu released a statement regarding Abdallah Abu Rahmah’s arrest and indictment:
Statement from Desmond Tutu on Bil’in activist Abdallah Abu Rahma
24 December 2009
Elders’ chair, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, has expressed his deep concern about the arrest and indictment of Abdallah Abu Ramah of Bil’in and has called for his unconditional release.
Abu Rahma is a school teacher and coordinator of the Bil’in Popular Committee against the Wall and Settlements, which has carried out a five year campaign of non-violent protest and legal challenge against the wall that separates Israel from the West Bank.
“My fellow Elders and I met Abu Rahma and his colleague Mohammad Khatib in August when we visited Bil’in,” said Desmond Tutu. “We were impressed by their commitment to peaceful political action, and their success in challenging the wall that unjustly separates the people of Bil’in from their land and their olive trees. I call on Israeli officials to release Abu Rahma immediately and unconditionally.”
Abu Rahma was arrested by Israeli soldiers at 2 a.m. on 10 December 2009 and indicted on 22 December 2009 on several counts stemming from his leadership role in the Popular Committee. On 15 September Mohammad Khatib was severely beaten during a raid attempting to arrest Abu Rahma. Since 23 June 2009, 31 residents of Bil’in have been arrested.
“Abu Rahma’s arrest and indictment is part of an escalation by the Israeli military to try to break the spirit of the people of Bil’in,” said Tutu. “But they must realize that they cannot break the spirit of those who fight for freedom and justice.”
Abu Rahma met six members of The Elders on 27 August 2009. The Elders visited the site of Bil’in’s weekly demonstrations near the separation barrier and also saw the memorial site paying tribute to Abu Rahma’s cousin Bassem Abu Rahma who was killed when he was hit in the chest by a tear gas canister during one of the demonstrations. (see photo)
The Elders who visited Bil’in were Desmond Tutu, Ela Bhatt, Gro Brundtland, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Jimmy Carter and Mary Robinson. For more information go to www.theElders.org/middle-east
I’m half expecting yonira to show up with photos proving that atrocities against South Africans under the apartheid never happened. It’s the next logical step in her rabid defense of Operation Judenreich, after all.
Didn’t you know Chaos? they’re all anti-Semites – Tutu, Mandela, Carter … even Ghandi.
I think Chaos you have all the skills needed now to have a PHD on Judenreich. ;-)
Hey guys, can you write a letter to your church ask them to join BDS? the churches of Jerusalem announced that they join the calls of BDS.
I just wish it were a purely theoretical field of study. :P You know actually, organizing one’s church to join BDS by putting them in touch with calls for BDS from the churches of Jerusalem is fantastic idea, aparisian. Any chance you might have a link handy to a news article or, even better, some sort of official statement that might have been posted on the internet directly by said churches?
Karios, the Palestinians Christians representation released what they called a moment of truth, read point 4.6 on link to kairospalestine.ps
I am going to send this letter to all the church of Paris, i think the idea rocks, if we can get churches to join BDS calls.
“4.2.6 Palestinian civil organizations, as well as international organizations, NGOs
and certain religious institutions call on individuals, companies and states to engage in
divestment and in an economic and commercial boycott of everything produced by the
occupation. We understand this to integrate the logic of peaceful resistance. These
advocacy campaigns must be carried out with courage, openly sincerely proclaiming that
their object is not revenge but rather to put an end to the existing evil, liberating both the
perpetrators and the victims of injustice. The aim is to free both peoples from extremist
positions of the different Israeli governments, bringing both to justice and reconciliation.
In this spirit and with this dedication we will eventually reach the longed-for resolution to
our problems, as indeed happened in South Africa and with many other liberation
movements in the world.”
Did you see this on Muzzlewatch?
I don’t know how to embed links here, so I’ll just link the article:
$7 million muzzling shocker- Canadian government cuts off funds for church group it calls anti-Semitic:
link to muzzlewatch.com
OOps, but you know Sammy the Canadian gov can be sued, because calling them anti-Semitism is abusive and its an insult. KAIROS is not in contradiction with the International laws.
sorry to get you all worked up tonight girlfriend.
Out of curiosity, when you cross your legs, can people actually hear the icicles crack and break off?
Here’s an item by item summary interview review of the Palestinian approach to peace often addressed in friction fragments on this blog:
link to 1r1f.wordpress.com
Silent night, holy night…
So this is Christmas?
link to youtube.com
I recently read somewhere its the first time in 2000 years of Christianity that there will be a wall between Bethlehem and Jerusalem.
Thats Israel for you :(
CHRISTMAS WALL
Actually the Junderich business never stops, you can now buy doves sculpted from the actual pieces of Qassam rockets that landed in Sderot, guess the price? 1000$
source: link to sderotdove.com
Come on Yonira and witty send your dollars to Sderot!!!
btw i forgot to tell you that its Tax free
What is this Junderich everyone is talking about here?
Good question BSD. Maybe Chaos can explain it, it seems to be his new favorite word.
Here’s the latest on Israel’s body parts theft–apparently, Israel stole eye parts and skin parts from recently dead palestinians (and Israelis) to doctor IDF soldiers:
link to imemc.org
They have a serious shortage of organ donors, apparently even secular Israelis follow the religious superstition of not donating organs. [please correct me if this is wrong, its what I heard from a doctor]
The facts remain — Israel was harvesting organs from Palestinians, and when news of this first broke, the first Israeli reaction was a cover-up.
This needs to be probed to make damn sure this isn’t the tip of the ice berg. Remember how Abu Gharib played out, over the years? “It’s not happening! America doesn’t torture!” “Okay, it was a few bad apples, but that’s all.” “Actually, we just had our client states doing the torture for us, but it wasn’t any American agents doing it.” “Oh… did we forget to mention that the State Department approved ‘enhanced interrogation techniques?’ So we tortured, but we made it legal first, so technically it doesn’t count.”
(Replace State Department with Justice Department, incidentally. :P )
I’m as easily riled as the next person, but I think the whole “harvesting organs” storyline is overdone. They weren’t doing it only to Palestinians so its not that they were “harvesting them” because of some evil Dr Mengele style experimental research. For them it was probably a matter of pragmatism. Less organ donors and plenty of available bodies. I haven’t read that they killed anyone for organs and until I see evidence of that, I’m just going to put it down to expediency.
As somone who works in a lab, I have seen personally how careless people get about stuff like this.
“when news of this first broke, the first Israeli reaction was a cover-up”
Thats SOP
You’d be amazed how little the right hand knows what the left is doing
As I recall, there was a major Israeli scandal in the early years of the decade involving harvesting organs without permission. You can easily find it on the web. I believe Jonathan Cook wrote about it a few months ago when the Swedish story broke. The problem with the Swedish story is that it was re-released when several prominent Jews were arrested for corruption in New Jersey, and there were reports of global organ-selling by one or more of the suspects. The Swedish paper then trotted out this story about events dating from the 1990′s, as if it had new currency because of some sort of Jewish-organ connection. I thought it was bad judgment, but even worse judgment for Israel to adamantly insist that the whole thing was blood libel, when they knew that this had been a legitimate scandal. Now they look foolish, being forced to concede at least some truth in the allegations.
You do know there were people other than just Jews in those concentration camps, right? There were homosexuals, academics, artists and political dissidents in those camps. Does the fact that Nazi Germany was doing this to non-Jewish German citizens as well somehow negate the Holocaust?
I recall there was an autopsy scandal earlier this year, with an IDF soldier.
The thing is, a lot of Jews regard loss of organs and body parts as meaning that their bodies will be marred at resurrection (and where did THAT idea come from?) so autopsy and organ donation are considered desecration – which is why Israel has a shortage of donor organs.
Couple things. Isn’t it kind of wrenching to kill Palestinians resisting the IDF, and then harvest their organs to save IDF Soldiers? Personally, I’d like to be asked before anybody in my family has their organs harvested, especially in behalf somebody treating my family like animals. Also, whether it be because
of religious convictions, or because non-Jewish life (most Israelis are secular Jews) and even their corpses are
less worthy, it’s a fact that around the world, Jewish people donate the least
organs. Do you have an organ donor flag on your ID? If not, sammy, I take
it you won’t mind if we take your organs because that’s expedient and practical, huh?
Kidneys for sale, kidneys for sale,
It’s the capitalistic way,
prey on the poor
that’s like mining gold ore.
Profit’s astronomical
downright anatomical!
And who leads the way?
Oy vey, oy vey!
Word’s that American trailer parks
are the next place to rail organ carts.
Who are you even talking to Chaos, everyone knows that…..
RE: “there were people other than just Jews in those concentration camps” – Chaos4700
FROM WIKIPEDIA: …Some scholars maintain that the definition of the Holocaust should also include the Nazis’ systematic murder of millions of people in other groups, including ethnic Poles, the Romani, Soviet civilians, Soviet prisoners of war, people with disabilities, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and other political and religious opponents.[3] By this definition, the total number of Holocaust victims would be between 11 million and 17 million people…
SOURCE (warning: gruesome images) – link to en.wikipedia.org
I’m a organ donor, so you’re welcome.
But put yourself on the other side. If you needed an organ for yourself or your kids, would you really care where it came from?
Thats for Citizen’s post above
Yeah, you got a point, sammy–and if I was being robbed, I’d feel the same way.
CHRISTMAS UNDER SIEGE IN BETHLEHEM
RE: “But they must realize that they cannot break the spirit of those who fight for freedom and justice.” – Tutu
BUT SEE: “Christmas Eve Freedom Fighters: The Battle of Lake Okeechobee, By WILLIAM LOREN KATZ, 12/24/09
(EXCERPT)…In 1816 General Andrew Jackson, hero of New Orleans and commander of US Armies in Florida, determined to terminate this resistance on the southern flank of the US border. To Jackson and slaveholders who dominated the federal government, Florida’s free Seminole people of color constituted a clear and present danger to the US slave system. They saw these free communities as holding a beacon light that could entice thousands of runaways to bolt Georgia, the Carolinas and Louisiana. Even more, the Seminoles offered escapees a safe haven. Perhaps most important, since Africans played a leadership role in the newly-integrated Seminole Nation, their villages stood as a successful, alternative societies, and refuted white claims that Africans were meant to be slaves…
ENTIRE ARTICLE – link to counterpunch.org