Israel's suppression of non-violent protest
www.popularstruggle.org/content/bilins-abdallah-abu-rahmah-cleared-stone-throwing-convicted-incitement
Dear Mr McCully,

Mindful of your expressed opinion on the usefulness of dialogue in bringing influence to bear upon Israel regarding its failure to abide by its international obligations, the Palestine Human Rights Campaign requests that you approach the Israeli Ambassador in Wellington over the case of Palestinian West Bank resident Abdallah Abu Rahmah. Rahmah is one of the leaders of the West Bank village of Bil'in and has just been convicted by an Israeli military Occupation court. He has already been in gaol for more than eight months, despite the fact that even the military court has acknowledged that he has never committed any act of violence.

Abdallah's conviction is based only upon the forced testimony of minors who were taken from their beds in the middle of the night. Not a single piece of material evidence was presented during the entire trial and he is now awaiting sentence. The circumstances of his arrest are disturbing. On Thursday, 10 December 2009, at 2am, seven military occupation Jeeps surrounded his house while Israeli soldiers broke down the front door, took Abdallah from his bed and, in the presence of his wife, Majida, and their three young children, blindfolded him and took him away.

This man has been engaged in a five-year unarmed struggle to save his village land from both Israel's illegal Wall and its growing (also illegal) settlements. Abdallah has represented the village of Bil'in around the world and, in June 2009, attended the precedent-setting legal case in Montreal against two Canadian companies illegally building settlements on Bil'in village land. Last summer Abdallah was standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Nobel Peace laureates and internationally-renowned human rights activists, discussing Bil'in's grass-roots campaign for justice. An independent group of eminent global leaders, brought together by Nelson Mandela, fully supports the struggle of the villagers of Bil'in. www.theelders.org/

Israel says it is facing Palestinian violence yet it continues to suppress every expression of non-violent local Palestinian protest. While Israel continues to violate international law in territories it belligerently occupies, it behoves the representatives of governments such as New Zealand's to express their condemnation and make clear their commitment to the United Nations Charter, the Fourth Geneva Convention and hard-fought-for human rights. Please seize this opportunity.

Leslie Bravery,
for Palestine Human Rights Campaign (PHRC)
www.palestine.org.nz

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