Dear Friends:
I am writing you in my recently assumed capacity as the head of the Public Committee for Defense of Ameer Makhoul. Ameer is my former colleague and outstanding human rights campaigner on behalf of our community, the Palestinian citizens of Israel. Please read the attached file, circulate it widely and
consider in what ways you can act to bring about his release. Here are two links to appeals that have been launched on Ameer's behalf as examples:
http://www.civicus.org/component/content/article/1551-civil-society-calls-on-the-israeli-government-to-release-ameer-makhoul
http://nlginternational.org/freepalestine/?p=89
Despite the extreme seriousness and the high significance of Ameer's case for the entire Palestinian community in Israel and to all public figures from this community, or perhaps because of it, I find it appropriate to refer you to a tongue-in-cheek piece by Sayed Kashua in the Friday issue of Haaretz. It
reflects in full measure the inner musings of Palestinian citizens of Israel when meeting someone for the first time: Every new contact could be construed by the Israeli secret service as a plot against the state.
http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/magazine/daddy-what-s-a-revolution-1.316618
Also, you may be interested in a relevant piece on my blog regarding one court session in Ameer's case which I attended:
http://a-doctor-in-galilee.blogspot.com/2010/07/ameer-makhouls-day-in-court.html
I would like to end by asking all of you to assist us in our effort to engender maximum awareness of this clear case of political imprisonment and suppression of thought and public activism.
Sincerely
Hatim Kanaaneh, MD, MPH
Author of 'A Doctor in Galilee: the Life and Struggle of a Palestinian in Israel', Pluto Press, 2008
Active Blog: http://a-doctor-in-galilee.blogspot.com/
THE TRIAL OF AMEER MAKHOUL ENTERS A NEW PHASE
A Call for Support
Recent Developments
The campaign to free Ameer Makhoul, a Palestinian citizen of Israel and political and human rights activist falsely accused of espionage, has achieved significant advances. Makhoul’s attorneys challenged the legality of the circumstances of his arrest and undermined the prosecution’s core allegations against him on September 16th in the Haifa District Court. State Prosecutors admitted that no evidence of espionage had been found in any of the computers and cellular phones seized from Makhoul’s home and office. Nor was any evidence of espionage found, they admitted, in the transcripts of thirty thousand wiretapped telephone conversations.
Makhoul’s lawyers further secured a ruling from the Nazareth District Court, September 14th, upholding Makhoul’s right to direct and confidential access to counsel. Makhoul’s right to counsel as a citizen of Israel had been routinely violated by prison authorities, who had been officially and conspicuously wire-tapping his conversations, conducted across glass barriers via telephone, with his lawyers.
Background
Sixteen members of Israel Security Agency, commonly known in English as the Shin Bet, abducted Mr. Makhoul from his home at 3:00 am on May 6th, 2010. They searched his home and office, seizing personal items belonging to Makhoul and his family, as well as office equipment, documents and databases. Makhoul was detained incommunicado. A sweeping “gag order” was placed on the case forbidding publication by Israeli media of any information relating to the interrogation and the arrest. For twelve days he was subjected to torturous interrogation techniques including excessively prolonged sleep deprivation—a technique Makhoul’s interrogators have openly stated they used. When Makhoul complained of being in excruciating pain, the Shin Bet interrogators cuffed his legs to a chair with shortened legs and threatened that he would be permanently crippled from the interrogation.
Three weeks after his detention, Makhoul was charged with espionage, assistance to the enemy in a time of war, contact with a foreign agent, and other trumped up security charges. When he finally appeared in open court, Makhoul categorically denied the relevance of all charges against him.
On June 14th, State Prosecutors announced their possessing of 'Secret Evidence' against Makhoul. That evidence, they stated, would not be disclosed to his legal defense team for security reasons. Meanwhile, Makhoul’s repeated requests for a medical exam and blood test by an independent doctor from the Association of Physicians for Human Rights were continually postponed. Makhoul was unable to discuss these matters with his lawyers without having his conversations wiretapped.
Public Committee for the Defense of Ameer Makhoul Established
The Committee for the Defense of Ameer Makhoul was established in a public meeting held at the headquarters of the Galilee Society for Health Research and Services in Shafa Amr on September 8th. Participating in the meeting were 47 representatives of grassroots networks and professional associations, as well as concerned Jewish and Arab public figures. At this meeting, the Committee and those it represents assumed collective responsibility for the defense of Ameer Makhoul. It took such a step for the following reasons.
Ameer Makhoul was not arrested as an individual. He was not arrested due to any serious contention that he conducted illegal activities--let alone espionage. Makhoul was arrested to send a message to Palestinian citizens of Israel. That message was formulated by extreme right wing parties in the current Israeli government. They are targeting Makhoul because he is a legal, legitimate, and effective voice of a politically disadvantaged group –Israel’s Palestinian Arab citizens.
Makhoul has been a voice of this disadvantaged group of Israeli citizens in numerous public meetings around the world. He is internationally recognized as a human rights defender and as a member of international coalitions and networks of international and regional organizations. In his capacities as Chairman of the Public Committee for the Protection of Political Freedoms in Israel and as General Director of Ittijah --a network of Arab NGOs in Israel with consultative status in the United Nations Economic and Social Council —Makhoul regularly encounters and talks to citizens of foreign countries—including Arab countries. Simply talking to another Arab does not constitute espionage in the legal framework of Israel or any other country. But contacting an Arab colleague seems to be the core of the espionage charges against Makhoul.
In 2009, the Shin Bet promised Ameer Makhoul that they would “tailor a file for his disappearance and prolonged separation from his family” if he would not tone down his political and human rights activism. They were incensed by his legal, outspoken statements against Israel’s 2009 invasion of Gaza and his repeated reference to Israel’s use of phosphorus bombs against civilian populations in Gaza --including a majority of children. Spurious charges of espionage, the use of illegal interrogation techniques, and fabricated claims of evidence that evaporate in the open air seem to fulfill that threat to disappear Makhoul. Amnesty International has called his arrest and continued detention “pure harassment designed to hinder his human rights work.”
The Tasks at Hand for All of Us
The Committee for the Defense of Ameer Makhoul faces two urgent tasks. But first, we want to note what has already been achieved—despite all of the obstacles. A gag order against discussion of Makhoul’s case crumbled – thanks to appeals by the defense, community protest and solidarity and Israeli and foreign bloggers who ignored the order and opened the way to public pressure. The legal team has won important victories. Illegal practices of prison authorities that violated citizens’ right to counsel have been waylaid.
The obstacle presented by state prosecutors’ invocation of “secret evidence” to silence activists remains to be challenged and ultimately undermined. The incrimination of talking to foreigners must be challenged as well. Already, it has become a tiny bit harder, we hope, for Israel to lock up intellectuals and activists under vague charges of “contact with a foreign agent” in the global village of the internet era.
Now, we have urgent and specific tasks at hand. The Committee for the Defense of Ameer Makhoul is working to mobilize legal and medical international observers for the trial of Ameer Makhoul and to raise funds to cover lawyer fees and related expenses for Makhoul’s defense. We have launched local publicity and fundraising campaigns to achieve those goals. We need your help to make our efforts even more effective.
We reach out to the friends of Ameer and supporters of his work on behalf of Palestinian citizens of Israel and human rights victims everywhere. At this critical moment, we ask for your direct involvement in the campaign for his freedom. Ameer’s trial is scheduled to proceed Tuesday October 5th. The time is now for you to get involved.
All interested individuals and groups are invited to contact the Chairman of the Committee for the Defense of Ameer Makhoul: Dr. Hatim Kanaaneh, Phone- 972-(0)522-414 126. email:kanaaneh@hotmail.com,
Checks can be made out to The Committee for Defense of Ameer Makhoul
Account details for direct bank transfers are as follows:
Bank: Arab Israel Bank- ltd.
Bank no.: 34.
Branch no.: 001 Haifa.
Beneficiary Name: The Committee for Defense of Ameer Makhoul- Haifa.
Account Humber IBAN= IL 890340010000000818780 (8187/80)
Swift Code: Lumiilittlv- 794 Branch
Online Donations through Pay pal can be made at:
CHECK OUT PICS OF AMEER MAKHOUL:
http://www.google.be/images?q=AMEER+MAKHOUL&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=6ieqTOz_AsKSjAfw5PW9DA&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CDkQsAQwAw&biw=1280&bih=809
Audio: "They persecuted Ameer to keep us silent"
Hyun Lee writing from Haifa, Live from Palestine, 16 September 2010
The trial of Palestinian citizen of Israel and civil society leader Ameer Makhoul resumes today in Haifa. Charged with espionage and other trumped-up security allegations, Makhoul denies the charges and maintains that "evidence" gathered by the state was obtained through coercion. Last month The Electronic Intifada contributor Hyun Lee interviewed Makhoul's wife, activist Janan Abdu, and Gabrielle Rubin, media coordinator with Adalah: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel about Makhoul's case.
Download MP3 of the interview (6.9 MB)
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| Janan Abdu (Ben White) |
Hyun Lee: First, tell us: who is Ameer Makhoul?
Janan Abdu: Ameer is the leader of Ittijah, the Union of Arab Community Associations. He is also a political activist. A long time ago, he was the chairman of the Arab student movement. And that's how we met. Ameer, as part of his work, participated in international and local conferences and meetings with people from abroad, from the Arab world. His opinion was that the Arab world is not our enemy. He was writing about the right of return of Palestinian [refugees] and about the one-state solution.
HL: And recently, the GSS, the General Security Services of Israel, the equivalent of the FBI in the United States, raided your home. Tell us what happened.
JA: One and half years ago, the GSS interrogated him about his activities. They said to him, "We can disappear you. We are building a case against you. And the next time we invite you to come to us, you can say goodbye for a long time to your family."
And this is exactly what happened. On 6 May, three months ago, at 3am, we had been sleeping, and we heard a very hard knock at the door. Someone [was] calling Ameer, "Open the door!" We opened the door and saw a huge group of policemen and people from the GSS. And they entered our home. My daughter told me there were 16 people -- 15 men and one woman. And directly as they entered our home, they caught Ameer, and they said to him, "You are under arrest." And the director of the group came to me and said, "We are arresting your husband and we are searching your home." I attempted to see if he has any [court] order to identify [himself], but he refused. He just said to me, "Keep silent. Sit down." I said, "No, you are violating our rights. I don't trust you. You are like a thief coming to my home at this time and terrifying my two daughters, [aged] 12 and 17."
I refused to let them continue the search, but they continued. They took all the computers -- mine, my daughters', not just Ameer's things. They took my tape recorder and a lot of things. I argued with [the commander] and he started laughing and said, "Who's the man here! Who's the man here!" and he said, "Shut up and sit. Otherwise, we can use violence and we can arrest you." He caught my hand and tried to force me to sit. All of this was in front of my two daughters. I continued to say, "I know the law. I know my rights. What you are doing now is violent and a violation of our rights," but he didn't want to hear anything. They continued to search and take things, and after about half an hour, they took Ameer away with them. And I [came to] know later that they took him to the Ittijah office and they did the same thing at the Ittijah office. They took the computers, a lot of papers, a lot of things, and they made a mess there.
For longer than two hours, they kept us as prisoners at our home. In the middle of the search, I heard the phone ringing and I wanted to answer, and I said, "I ask you to let me answer. My mother is in a bad situation in the hospital." And later, one month later, she died in the hospital. But they didn't let me answer. And another thing, just one note -- when I attempted to see if they have any permission to do the search, I saw that they had one and it was written on 22 April. So the judge signed the order on 22 April. That means they had two weeks of opportunity to come to our home or to his office and [they did] not [have] to choose to come in the middle of the night.
HL: After your husband was arrested, he was held for 12 days and tortured. He didn't have access to lawyers or communication with anyone on the outside. What was going through your mind during that time?
JA: All the 12 days, I kept thinking about if they could do what they have done to a woman and two daughters, what can they do to Ameer when they kidnap him, with nobody knowing about what's going on? There was a gag order, no permission for an objective doctor to see him, no permission for lawyers to see him. After 12 days, when the lawyers were allowed to see him, I heard about the torture, I heard about the violations.
I think it was a message to our community, [as if to say] "We can hold you. We are above the law." And we can see that [the GSS is] controlling all the procedures. They're controlling the court hearings. They can control even the medical treatment. The doctor who came to Ameer's prison was a doctor paid by the prison, and Ameer cannot see his own medical report.
It's obvious that it's part of the persecution of Arab activists and political leaders. It's a message to all of us, to keep us silent, to make us afraid. [Israel is] supposed to be the only democratic state in the area, [but] you can see that all the laws, even the racist procedures, are all controlled by the GSS. When you are talking about the security of Israel, everything [the GSS does] is legal, everything [the GSS does] is accepted, and every Arab is a suspect. It's so hard. It's unfair. But we have no other choice. We have one choice -- to believe in Ameer, to believe in his right to be free. This is the only solution that we have -- to continue -- and this is also what Ameer believes and needs.
HL: Where is he detained and have you gone to see him?
JA: [Ameer is detained at] Gilboa jail, near the border with Jordan. Last Monday, we were there. We arrived at about 10:30am. We were supposed to see him in half an hour, maximum one hour. We waited there about four hours on a very hot day. It's a way of making us feel frustrated, to discourage us from coming to visit. But you know, they're trying to make it harder, but when we feel this, we get more courage and the power to continue.
HL: What are the charges against Ameer?
Gabrielle Rubin: If I remember correctly, it's three counts -- there's espionage and aggravated espionage, which are two separate counts, and assisting a foreign agent in a time of war.
HL: Many Palestinians who are in the Israeli prison system for asserting their rights as Palestinians are classified by the Israeli government as "security prisoners." How are they treated differently by the prison and the court system?
GR: We call them political prisoners, because [it is overwhelmingly] Palestinians who are indicted and imprisoned for political actions ... Israel calls this blanket [category] "acts against the security of the state." What this means in practice while you're in prison is that beyond the fact that you're jailed, there are many so-called privileges that you are not provided. One of the main things is this whole issue of physical contact during visits. Security prisoners are prevented from having physical contact during visits. It's like what you see in the movies; it's through a glass window, through a phone. There's also the issue -- and this is something that was experienced by Ameer -- it's known that the conversations are recorded, because of "security reasons." And [there are] also a lot of other limitations -- limitation on the kinds of books, the number of books you can have, what you can study, how you can study.
I also want to give more background on the first 12 days when Ameer was prevented from meeting with any attorneys and this sweeping gag order which prevented any [publicity] about his case. There's a process where a person is arrested and he's banned from meeting with a lawyer, and every few days, a judge needs to authorize the continuation of his arrest. This process is done ex parte, which means that Ameer, because he's banned from meeting with his lawyers, is not present in the courtroom. He's present in the structure of the court in case the judge wants to ask him anything. The evidence that is provided by the GSS and the state is secret evidence, meaning that the only person who gets to see them is the judge. Obviously the lawyer representing Ameer is not allowed to see this evidence. And once you talk about "security offenses," it's this blanket over-broad definition, and I dare say that judges are rubber-stamping these decisions and don't really look into the merits of the case.
So this went on for 12 days, but if I remember correctly, on day ten, the legal defense team decided to do something that was very extraordinary. They said, "We're not going to continue with this farce, and the next time there's a detention extension, if Ameer is not there and we're not allowed to meet with him, we're just not going to appear and participate in this game." And it worked, because basically, on the same day, the ban was lifted and for the first time, Ameer was allowed to meet with his lawyers.
And this is something that is not extraordinary with Palestinian detainees in Israel, and of course the occupied territories. There, [Palestinians are tried in] military courts and of course this happens all the time, this very problematic use of denying people the right to meet with their attorneys, the gag order preventing the media from reporting on it, and the use of secret evidence that the lawyer of the defendant doesn't have any access to and isn't allowed to review.
HL: And what is the current status of Ameer's case now?
JA: The next hearing is in the middle of September and by then, Ameer is supposed to be read his charges and is supposed to meet with his lawyers but until now the lawyers still cannot see him.
HL: And how's Ameer's health?
JA: He's getting better. Two months passed since he was tortured. We know that he suffered from head pain and back pain.
GR: He's had issues with deterioration of his vision.
HL: Is there support for Ameer from the Jewish public?
JA: In the solidarity movement, there are a lot of Jewish people from Israel and outside [supporting Ameer]. And it's so important to say that, because the Israeli media and the GSS are always trying to deal with these issues like the Arabs are the enemy of the Jews, and it's not like that. The problem is with Zionism and not with the Jews. And we have the solidarity of professors and academics in Israel. They wrote [letters] and participated in demonstrations in Petach Tikva [where Ameer was initially detained and tortured] and Haifa and they continue to believe that it's not only an "Arab problem" or "Palestinian problem." It's a problem of the undemocratic state. Maybe Arabs pay the price, but it's a problem of all of the citizens of Israel.
Based in New York City, Hyun Lee is a member of Nodutdol for Korean Community Development, which fights against US war and militarism on the Korean peninsula. She traveled to Palestine in August 2010 as part of a delegation organized by the Palestine Solidarity Group-Chicago.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11523.shtml
"Solidarity tastes different inside prison"
Ameer Makhoul writing from Gilboa prison, Live from Palestine, 30 August 2010
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| Ameer Makhoul (Adri Nieuwhof) |
The following is an edited excerpt from a 7 August 2010 letter written by Ameer Makhoul from Israeli prison. A human rights defender, the director of the Arab nongovernmental organization network Ittijah, a leading voice of the Palestinian boycott, divestment and sanctions movement and a Palestinian citizen of Israel, Makhoul was arrested during a raid of his family home in Haifa in the early morning hours of 6 May. For the following eleven days Makhoul was held in isolation, denied access to a lawyer, and subjected to torture. Rights groups have condemned his political persecution and the criminal proceedings launched against him.
My trail is still somehow stuck. The system is structurally and politically Shabak-oriented, not justice-oriented. My human dignity, basic human rights and constitutional rights are suffering from basic violations. I still have no permit to meet my lawyers without being recorded. The ruling of the three judges is to justify the decision of the attorney general of Israel and the Shabak to ban free meeting with my lawyers in prison. The judges insist that such a meeting should be done through the glass separation wall and through a telephone in order to ensure recording of the whole conversation.
On its face the process as well as the procedures look fair, but essentially, systematic, structural and political violations of my basic right to fair procedure are practiced. The role of the attorney general is to criminalize me, not to seek truth.
In Gilboa prison there are approximately 600 Palestinian and Arab prisoners of freedom distributed into sections/branches. The distribution of prisoners is geopolitically oriented: prisoners of the West Bank, prisoners of 1948 (including occupied East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights) are together, while in the prisons located in the Naqab [Negev], prisoners of the West Bank are separated from those from Gaza. And prisoners from Gaza are separated along affiliation to Fatah or Hamas. The borders on the ground of the occupation based on the Apartheid Wall are valid in the prison demographic policy of distribution. It is the nature of imposed fragmentation in order to undermine the struggle against one of the biggest systematic colonial crimes and to weaken the collective struggle by destructing its structure of continuity and interaction.
I am doing a lot of efforts to bring hope and steadfastness to freedom prisoners. It is one of my missions inside prison. I have to keep in contact with Ittijah and the community and all solidarity movements, groups and persons, but most of all I have to correspond intensively as much as possible with my daughters Hind and Huda, who have become mature fighters for freedom, justice and dignity and mostly bringing back the happiness of life which was highjacked on 6 May at 2:30am. My wife Janan is leading in a heroic way the whole campaign as well as facing huge tasks at home.
Your letters are needed; the taste of solidarity is different in prison than being outside. The taste reflects the great solidarity, support and empowering acts.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11496.shtml
A LETTER OF AN ACTIVIST FROM AUSTRIA:
Dear Brother Ameer,
I do not know, but I just guess the feelings you encounter in one of the innumerable jails of the Israeli state and its staff who ignore everything about human dignity, to a point that one will ask if the majority of the Israeli jewish citizens have not been deeply perverted by the seventy years of brutality and cynicism practiced by the former terrorists who became their leaders, as a form of mass sequestration.
I would like to share with you a moment, because we are related by our need of justice and dignity, expressed through the solidarity with the Palestinian People.
You did an enormous work in your life, as a Palestinian human rights defender, and I can imagine this mountain of work. Of course, for the Israeli rulers, you are more dangerous than the handicraft rockets falling to a small Israeli community, which never endangered their lifes, because you defend something which the Israeli people would like to defend, but they cannot, because they are caught in the oppression of prisons, walls and checkpoints. They are caught in an endless nightmare of a “special people” instead of enjoying free feelings and looking around for the enrichment of cultures. How can a normal Israeli jewish citizen accept that thousands of jews coming from all over the world by waves of immigration to settle into a stolen land and the original inhabitants are denied the most fundamental rights of life? How can the world accept such a monstrous crime being happen in our days without daily mass demonstrations all over the world?
I do not know, how the situation in Palestine (I take the name of the two thousand year region and not the 62 year region, which is far to short for the history of humanity) will evolve, but the weight of justice and dignity is now a necessary factor in our human existence, as we know so well, as never before, that we cannot accept oppression nowhere without degrading our life in a common world of disdain, hypocrisy and ugliness.
People hanker for freedom, justice and dignity and not for morbidity.
I am sorry, I tell you things that you are feeling very deeply since longtime.
Thank you for your strength. As we know here outside (of Israel) too, the Shabak is a political instrument of oppression and in no way there is justice. There is no justice in Israel as long as their rulers exert oppression and land robbery as a state ruling and their institutions are compromised with a Mafiosi system.
Since the rulers of Israel need to imprison people like you, for your human rights work and peaceful protests against illegal activities, which are the basis of a democratic state, they have lost legitimacy. Unfortunately they do not recognize their blindness and took the path to international isolation.
We, the civil society, are aware of the necessity of fighting until justice is given to the Palestinians. We cannot stop on the half way. There will be one state of all citizens, with equal rights for all of them, Palestinians and Israeli Jews etc… This is the struggle of the international civil society. This long lasting injustice exerted by “the only democratic state in the Middle East” is not bearable for us, especially because of the long lasting lies and myths about Israel in the western mass media. We can not accept being a manipulated mass for the very doubtful interests of some fools handling too much power and too much money.
I send you a lot of thanks, to your wife Janan and your daughters Hind and Huda for their work of information and steadfastness. This is very necessary for all of us.
With all my love and appreciation
Frigga Karl
human rights activist
--
“They have succeeded in dominating us more
through ignorance, than through force”.
Simon Bolivar
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." Voltaire
Balfour Declaration is a day that will be written for ever in the history of Palestine and its people. In November the 2nd each year we remember this black day. This year is 93rd anniversary of the Balfour Declaration. We shall remember it with actions not only words.
