Free Palestinian political prisoner Abdallah Abu Rahmah!

Friday, December 18th 12h00
Indigo Bookstore
corner of St. Catherine & McGill college
(metro McGill)
Montreal, Canada

A call for a solidarity rally with Bil’in village in Palestine to all in Montreal; an appeal to free Palestinian political prisoner Abdallah Abu Rahmah.

In June 2009 representatives from the Bil’in Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements visited Canada to attend hearings in Montreal for a lawsuit launched by Bil’in village against two Quebec-based companies currently constructing Israeli colonies on Bil’in village land.

Representatives from Bil’in village, including Mohammed Khatib, Abu Nizar and Abdallah Abu Rahmah, visited Montreal, and toured across Canada along with Israeli activist and lawyer Emily Schaeffer, addressing hundreds of people across the country.

Since launching the lawsuit in Canada, Bil’in village has been subjected to consistent nighttime raids by the Israeli military and politically targeted arrests that have zoned-in on key Palestinian community activists in Bil’in, including all those who toured Canada.

Israeli military forces arrested Abdallah Abu Rahmah on December 10th in Ramallah, Palestine, and continue to hold Abu Rahmah—a high school teacher and community organizer—in prison.

Abu Rahmah is a coordinator of the Bil’in Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements and a teacher at the Latin Patriarchate school in Birzeit, Palestine.

Abu Rahmah’s arrest is a part of an Israeli military strategy that aims to intimidate leaders of the non-violent resistance movement against Israeli apartheid and to break the spirits of those in Bil’in who struggle against Israeli encroachment on their lands.

Recently, progressive Israeli lawyer Gaby Lasky, who often represents Bil’in at trial, was informed by Israeli military officials that the army intends to use political arrests in their attempts to end the popular demonstrations in Bil’in.

“Abdallah Abu Rahmah’s arrest is another blatant illustration of the Israeli authorities’ application of legal procedures for the political persecution of Bil’in residents,” outlines Gaby Lasky, “Bil’in demonstrators are being systematically targeted while it is the State that is in contempt of a High Court of Justice ruling; a ruling which affirmed that the protesters have justice on their side and instructed 2 years ago that the route of the Wall in the area be changed.”

To date, this ruling has not yet been implemented.

Since June 2009, 31 residents of Bil’in have been detained by the military. They have often faced violent beatings by army officials, and imprisonment without charge. Israeli military forces have actively pursued Palestinian community activists in Bil’in, but all activists have been eventually released for lack of evidence.

Israeli military forces are clearly targeting Bil’in village, enforcing policies of military repression against the popular struggle waged by Bil’in that has drawn international attention and solidarity.

The village of Bil’in needs your support and solidarity at this time. Bil’in’s popular protests have been an inspiration to many across the world, and have sparked other Palestinian villages to wage similar protests. Now is the time to express our solidarity with this besieged community.

information

Bil’in Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements
www.bilin-village.org

Tadamon! Montreal
tel: 514 664 1036
email: info(at)tadamon.ca