translated from the German by Phil Butland (Germany)
16 April 2009
By Karin Leukefeld
PLEASE JOIN THE FB GROUP "Solidarity with Samieh Jabbarin" and Sign the Petition!
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?saved&&suggest¬e_id=91333739207#/group.php?gid=71220796879&ref=mf
Representatives of the Israeli peace and human rights movement are honoured with prizes in Germany, and invited to lectures. Others [i.e. Germans (PB)] can thus let them criticize the occupation power of Germany, without running the risk of being defamed as “anti-semitic”. But Israeli peace activists incur a bigger risk, as the theatre director Samieh Jabbarin (41) must now experience. The Israeli Prosecution Service have imposed house arrest for an unlimited time period against him, because his commitment to peace and justice was obviously too much for the security forces.
Samieh Jabbarin was born in Um Al-Fahm, the second largest Arab city in Israel, and he has Israeli citizenship. He studied theatre and film direction in Germany, where he was an active member of the anti-globalization organization ATTAC. After his return to Jaffa, Jabbarin did not give up his political commitment. With non-violent protest actions, he was active against the expulsion of Arab-Palestinian residents, for the right to return of the Palestinians expelled in 1948, and for a secular democratic state of Israel in which all citizens have the same rights. During the Israeli assault on the Gaza strip in December 2008 and January 2009, Jabbarin and like-minded people organized rallies and protests against the war. In January, he was warned by the Israeli security forces: if he didn’t give up his activities, they would find ways and means of punishing him.
When on 10 February during the general election, a group of right-wing extremists wanted to monitor the vote in his home city of Um Al-Fahm, the film maker took part in a protest action that was quickly dispersed by the police. Jabbarin was jailed with others, the court served a summary proceedings against him because of an alleged “assault on Uri Mor-Yossef, the Border Patrol Commander for the Northern border”. Apart from the statements of the concerned border official, no evidence was brought, and the Prosecution Service “forgot” to hand over the bill of indictment to Samieh Jabbarin and his solicitor. He was detained in the Kishon jail for 17 days, before he was placed under arrest in the house of his parents. Now the theatre worker may only leave the house accompanied by two family members, and an electronic foot chain has been attached to him. These measures should remain in force until the legal action is over. The next hearing date has been set for 27 April. An appeal from Jabbarin’s friends says that these measures serve to intimidate peace activists. The freedom of speech and assembly should apply to all Israeli citizens, be they Jews or Arabas.
Israeli democracy is a “tripartite hierarchy”, according to the editor of “Aron’s Israel Peace Weblog”. “For Jews, Israel is a reasonably democratic society – for the Arab citizens of Israel, not so. The Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza are subject to totalitarian rule”, writes Aron Trauring in his Internet diary. He does not agree with all of Samieh Jabbarin’s political views, but freedom of opinion is the “hallmark of a true democracy”.
The intimidation of Samieh Jabbarin makes it clear how the actions of an occupying power are mirrored in domestic politics. Gideon Levy, fearless critic of the Israeli occupation politics is regularly abused for his columns in the liberal-leaning daily paper Ha’aretz, and receives death threats. Ilan Pappé, who unmasked the official Israeli historiography with his book “The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine”, left the county because his children were ostracized for the work of their father in academia and society. The women from Machsom Watch, who record the humiliating behaviour of Israeli soldiers at the control posts on a daily basis, are defamed as “traitors” and Jeff Halper from the “Israeli committee against the destruction of houses” has ended up in an Israeli jail more than once for his activity for the Palestinians. At least for Jeff Halper there will soon be some consolation. On 9 May, he, together with the Brazilian bishop of Barra, Dom Luiz Cappio, will be presented with the “Immanuel Kant World Citizen Prize” in Freiburg, because of his “exemplary dedication for human rights”.
Internet campaign für Samieh Jabbarin: www.atzuma.co.il/petition/friendsofsamieh/1
No comments:
Post a Comment