-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: EMAIL ACTION: FREE SUAD GHAZAL
Date: 19-Nov-99 at 13:29
From: INTERNET:postcolonialists.village.virginia.edu, INTERNET:postcolonialists.village.virginia.edu
TO: List Suppressed,INTERNET:zdamunimail.msn.com
EMAIL ACTION ALERT: RELEASE SIXTEEN YEAR OLD SU'AD GHAZAL FROM ISRAELI
PRISON
PLEASE READ, RESPOND AND FORWARD
November 19, 1999
Su'ad Hilmi Ghazal spent her sixteenth birthday in Israel's Ramle prison
this past September 23. She has been held in detention without trial since
December 1998, and for the past two months she has been denied any contact
with her family. Su'ad has been subjected to beatings and physical abuse
during her detention.
In an effort to attract attention to her plight, Su'ad recently began a
hunger strike and is reported to be in poor health.
This action alert is to ask you to use your freedom to demand hers. We
estimate that it will take you about three minutes to read this alert and
about fifteen minutes to perform the three simple actions requested.
WHY IS SU'AD IN PRISON?
Su'ad was an ordinary 15 year-old Palestinian schoolgirl from Sebastia
village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank when she was arrested by Israeli
soldiers on December 13, 1998. A female settler from the illegal Israeli
settlement of Shavei Shomron claimed that Su'ad had tried to stab her.
Following her arrest, Su'ad was taken to the police station in the Kedumim
settlement where she was severely beaten by Israeli settlers, according to
Defence of Children International--Palestine Section (DCI/PS). Su'ad was
then taken to Ramle prison where she was interrogated and tortured. She
was held incommunicado for twenty seven days, seventeen of them in
solitary confinement. Her family finally succeeded in visiting her only
after repeated appeals from the Palestinian Red Crescent and DCI/PS.
Su'ad's lawyer, Khaled Quzmar, last visited her on November 4. He reports
that she has problems with her kidneys and has lost weight. She has been
fasting in protest at her detention for at least a month, accepting only
one meal a day from her captors.
The Israeli authorities have continually delayed Su'ad's case and
postponed her hearings. She is being held in a prison inside Israel and
far away from her family, in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
The US State Department states that "most of the protections afforded by
[Israeli] law are not extended to Palestinian detainees, who fall under
the jurisdiction of military law even if they are detained in Israel."
(Israel and the Occupied Territories Country Report on Human Rights
Practices for 1998,U.S. Department of State, 1999) Nearly one hundred
other Palestinian minors are currently being detained by Israel.
There is seemingly no end in sight for Su'ad's detention.
VIOLENCE AGAINST PALESTINIAN CHILDREN
While Israeli occupation forces and settlers often accuse Palestinian
children of attacking them, in fact it is Palestinian children who are at
grave risk from Israeli soldiers and settlers. Fourteen Palestinian
children were killed and 350 injured by Israeli soldiers and settlers
during 1998, as documented by DCI/PS.
Of the fourteen children killed that year, settlers were responsible for
four of the deaths, while the Israeli occupation forces were responsible
for the remainder.
In one case, a settler who killed a Palestinian child and injured another
in Beitunia, gave himself up to the Israeli police and admitted committing
the murder. However, as is Israel's custom in dealing with settlers'
violence, the man was released shortly afterwards.
The fate of Su'ad and other Palestinian children under Israeli occupation
is a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention and the UN Convention on
the Rights of the Child. All children have an inalienable right to the
protections afforded by these instruments.
WHY WE ASK YOU TO ACT
A few weeks ago we asked you to write in on behalf of Lebanese civilians
being held hostage and tortured by the Israeli occupation forces in
southern Lebanon, and hundreds of people responded. We believe that
cumulative and constant efforts on behalf of those who cannot defend
themselves are necessary to ensure that Israel knows that it cannot
continue to violate human rights in the dark. United States and other
officials, who support Israel to the hilt, also need to be held
accountable for their rhetoric on human rights, which seems to exempt
Israel. While our efforts may not always produce instant results, we
believe it is our responsibility to speak out, and that children and young
people like Su'ad are counting on us to do so.
WHAT WE ASK YOU TO DO: THREE STEPS FOR SU'AD
*STEP ONE: Write to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak AND Justice Minister
Yossi Beilin to demand that Su'ad be released immediately. Use the sample
letter below as a guide.
Prime Minister Ehud Barak:
Email: [log in to unmask] or Fax: +972-2-566-4838
Minister of Justice: Yossi Beilin:
Email: [log in to unmask] or Fax: +972-2-6285-438
***Sample letter to Israeli officials***
Dear Prime Minister Barak/Justice Minister Beilin,
I am writing to ask that Su'ad Hilmi Ghazal, a 16 year-old girl from the
village of Sebastia in the West Bank, be immediately released from Ramle
prison. She has been held without trial and under appalling conditions
since December 1998.
The circumstances of her arrest and interrogation, which included solitary
confinement, beatings and other physical abuse, constitute serious
violations of the Fourth Geneva Conventions and the UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child. Her continued detention without any legal process,
the conditions and place of her detention, the denial of her right to
visits from her family, and the denial of her education for one year
constitute equally grave violations of international human rights
conventions, to which Israel is a signatory.
I hope you will urgently review Su'ad's case and release her forthwith,
and that Israel will henceforth refrain from such unlawful treatment of
minors.
Sincerely,
<your name, state/country>
*STEP TWO: Forward a copy of your note to President Clinton AND Secretary
of State Madeleine Albright and/or your elected representatives. Use the
sample note below as a guide:
President Bill Clinton:
Email: [log in to unmask]
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright:
Email: [log in to unmask]
To find your Members of Congress go to:
http://www.capweb.net/classic/index.morph for US Representatives
http://www.senate.gov/contacting/index.cfm for US Senators
***Sample note to send with your forwarded message***
Dear Mr. President/Madam Secretary/Senator/ Congressman,
I am sending you a copy of a letter I sent to the Prime Minister and
Justice Minister of Israel. I want you to know that I am very concerned
about human rights violations in Israel, a country which receives a
greater share of US taxpayers' money than any other. I hope the United
States will hold Israel to the same human rights standards as other
nations.
Sincerely,
<your name, state>
<APPEND YOUR NOTE TO BARAK/BEILIN HERE>
STEP THREE: PLEASE CC YOUR EMAILS TO: [log in to unmask]
This is in order for us to keep a tally of the number of letters sent.
Neither your letters nor address will be shared with anyone. If you
prefer, just send a note acknowledging that you have sent letters, and to
whom you have sent them.
FOR MAXIMUM IMPACT PLEASE RESPOND TO THIS ACTION ALERT NO LATER THAN
NOVEMBER 29, 1999--THE INTERNATIONAL DAY IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE
PALESTINIAN PEOPLE.
THIS ACTION ALERT SIGNED BY:
Sawsan Abdulrahim, ADC member USA
Nader Abuljebain, ADC member USA
Ali Abunimah, ADC member USA
Miral Assuli, Hanthala, Europe
Zahi Damuni, ADC member USA
Arjan El Fassed, Hanthala, Europe
Hanna Elmasu, Human Rights Action Project, Palestine
Adam Hanieh, Across Borders/Birzeit University, Palestine
Rania Masri, ADC member USA
Fadia Rafeedie, ADC member USA
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From: Zahi Damuni <[log in to unmask]>
To: List Suppressed <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: EMAIL ACTION: FREE SUAD GHAZAL
Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 14:17:41 -0500
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