action in solidarity with Mohammad Khatib and all Palestinian political prisoners

FRIDAY AUGUST 14th 12h00
Indigo Bookstore
corner of St. Catherine & McGill college
(metro McGill)
Montreal, Canada

Israel continues to imprison Palestinian community activist Mohammad Khatib from Bil’in village in the West Bank.

Mohammad Khatib, along with over twenty other Palestinians from Bil’in, has been arbitrarily arrested during a recent night-time raid carried out by the Israeli army. The agricultural village of Bil’in has gained international attention for its weekly protests against the Israeli apartheid wall. Bil’in has become a symbol for the Palestinian popular resistance to Israel’s ongoing military occupation.

Mohammad Khatib has now joined an estimated 8,000 Palestinian prisoners currently being detained by Israeli authorities. According to a recent report from Amnesty International, many Palestinian prisoners “face medical negligence, routine beatings, position torture and strip searches by Israeli prison authorities.” The Palestinian prisoner population includes over 400 children and over 100 women detainees.

Today, increasing numbers of Palestinian children, including youth from Bil’in village, are being arrested and detained by Israeli forces. According to the Palestinian section of Defense for Children International, “each year, hundreds of Palestinian children are arrested, interrogated, abused and imprisoned by the Israeli military authorities. In some cases, the abuse amounts to torture.”

Israel is targeting Palestinian community activists from Bil’in in an attempt to silence a popular resistance movement that is gaining international attention and inspiring other Palestinian communities in the West Bank to take-up similar popular protest strategies. Throughout the past year, several other Palestinian villages have also initiated weekly protests against Israel’s apartheid wall.

In June 2009, Mohammed Khatib traveled to Canada for the preliminary hearings of a historic lawsuit launched by Bil’in village against two Quebec-based companies, Green Park International and Green Mount International. Both companies are building illegal Israeli-only settlements on Bil’in’s lands.

At present, Mohammed Khatib, a father to two sons and two daughters, remains in Israeli custody despite the fact that no charges have been brought against Khatib.

Monday’s night-time raid is just one in a series of many carried out by Israeli forces in Bil’in since June 2009. These military raids coincided with the commencement of legal proceedings against Green Park International and Green Mount International in Canada.

We calling on Montrealers to participate in a demonstration this Friday to express solidarity with Mohammad Khatib, Bil’in village and the Palestinian movement against Israeli apartheid and occupation.

for more information visit:
www.bilin-village.org