RALLY

19 December 1996 -- Today, at 10:00am Birzeit Student Council held a brief rally on the new campus to protest "political arrest" of Palestinians, in the wake of last Wednesday's attack on a settler vehicle near Ramallah. Speakers from the student council and the employees' union condemned the arrests in the presence of many members of the Palestinian media.

EMPLOYEES' UNION STATEMENT

Jammil Abu Sa'ada (left), President of the Employees Union, made the following statement:

"The Israeli government continues to abuse Palestinians at an enormous level.

Our lands are still being confiscated, our people are being killed and tortured. We are being abused by people that do not care about world opinion or international laws or human rights. And yet Palestinians are asked to arrest each other and to kill each other. It is time to stop and think.

A child was beaten to death by a settler near Bethlehem recently, a worker was killed and 5 others injured in cold blood in Ashkelon last week, a youth was murdered by another settler in Hebron a few days ago? What did we do? How did we respond? What are we expected to do...to arrest and kill each other and ignore what they say? It is time we work together."

Abu Sa'ada also stressed that the Employees' Union believes that:

• Dialogue is critical.
• There is a need for an adequate judical system.
• The Palestinian Media should concentrate on real issues rather than petty issues.
• The good of the country should supercede all other considerations.
• All political prisoners should be released from Palestinian jails.

STUDENT COUNCIL STATEMENT

The Student Council statement, read aloud by President Khalid Walid (right).

"During this very difficult part of our life when Israeli settlements are confiscating our lands, during an era when Israel continues to turn Jerusalem into a Jewish city only and obliterating its Arab nature, national unity is needed more than ever to confront these Israeli attacks.

During the past few days certain security units from the Palestinian Authority conducted a campaign of arrests aginst Palestinian citizens. During this campaign, security forces broke into houses, conducted brutal searches and arrests and issued severe life sentences to three prisoners, one of which is a university student, Abdul Nasser Al-Quesi. Abdul Nasser was expected to graduate from the university next semester to become a “normal citizen” who will try to build his future and live safely in his homeland as a normal human being. Instead, he was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment within few days of his arrest by what is called “The National Security Court”, simply because he was an activist and nothing more.

In response to this situation, the student movement at Birzeit University issues the following statements and demands:

1. The denunciation of the recent arrests and all political arrests, and the denunciation of all torture and interrogation methods. Some of the prisoners were severely physically abused during the latest wave of arrests.
   
   
2. The denunciation of waves of arrests because they are political arrests which violate freedom, pluralism and democracy.
   
   
3. We demand the immediate release of all prisoners that were arrested by the Palestinian security forces and an end to the arrests and harassment.
   
   
4. The denunciation of the so-called “National Security Court” which was used against the latest prisoners, one of which is our student Abdul Nasser Al-Quesi. We demand a stop to using this illegitimate court which does not abide by international laws.
   
   
5. We ask the Authority to take those who were responsible for torture, abusing women and using different threats to a court of justice.
   
   
6. We ask the Authority to become involved in issues related to the people and to fight Israeli abuses rather than concentrate on arresting and harrasing our people."

After listening to the statements broadcast across the campus through loudspeakers, students dispersed to classes. Posters around the campus read "Is it the proper response to the [Israeli] policy of settlement, postponing [redeployment from Hebron] and neglecting [Palestinian rights], to arrest and torture?"

Another poster read, "Palestinian blood for [Israeli courts] means paying a one agora fine. [Israel] blood for Arafat's [Authority's courts] means life sentences," a comment on a recent trial where four Israeli soldiers were fined the sum of 1 argora (i.e. a cent) for killing Palestinians.

The Ramallah affiliates of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine are reported to be holding a demonstration in the town at 4:00pm.

RELATED LINKS*

• Closure of Ramallah after attack on settlers - A Personal Diary of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (December 1996 entries) , http://www.birzeit.edu/diary/961211.html
• Settlement expansion - CNN Report (13 December 1996), http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9612/13/israel.settlements/index.html
• Beit El settlement - A Personal Diary of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict by Nigel Parry (December 1995 entries), http://www.birzeit.edu/diary/betel.html
• Settlement Newsletter - Foundation for Middle East Peace homepage, http://www2.ari.net/fmep/

Statement translation by Marwan Tarazi. Poster translation by Kifah Al-Fani and Mustafa Abu Khaizaran. Webpage and digital photographs by Nigel Parry. * Related links not necessarily endorsed by Birzeit University.