[News] Kate still in jail; demo today at 4

[News at freedomarchives.org]

Kate Raphael, Bay Area lesbian human rights activist, has been denied 
reasonable bond conditions and remains imprisoned in Hadera, Israel today 
with little access to her lawyer and supporters.  Kate was arrested on 
December 31 for videotaping Israeli military attacking Palestinian 
demonstrators in the West Bank.  Israel is trying to expel Kate, but she is 
determined to resist deportation and continue her work in Palestine 
documenting human rights abuses and educating Israelis on the occupation.

Bay Area organizations including ADC-SF (American Arab Anti-Discrimination 
Committee), Al-Awda-SF, Bay Area Coalition Against the Wall, Bay Area 
Palestine Coalition for Justice, Global Exchange, the International 
Solidarity Movement, LAGAI - Queer Insurrection, the National Lawyers 
Guild, Out of Control - Lesbian Committee to Support Women Political 
Prisoners, Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism (QUIT!), and San Francisco 
Women in Black have demanded a meeting with the Israeli consul and are 
calling a

Demonstration today, Tuesday Jan. 6, 4-6 p.m.
Israeli Consulate, 456 Montgomery St. (/California), S.F.

The groups demand that the Israeli government:

-Immediately release Kate, annul her deportation order, and cease all 
actions against her and other human rights workers
-Stop the apartheid wall
-Withdraw from the occupied territories
-Recognize the right of return for all Palestinians

IF YOU CAN'T ATTEND (or even if you can), CALL THE SF CONSULATE GENERAL 
Yossi Amrani at (415)844-7500 and explain the importance of Kate's work in 
Palestine.

Kate was arrested while videotaping at a demonstration in Budrus, a village 
slated to be surrounded and cut off from essential services by the 
Wall.  The IDF opened fire on the unarmed demonstrators resulting in the 
hospitalization of at least ten civilians.  Four internationals were 
arrested and ordered to be deported.  Israel has increasingly sought to 
deny entry to or deport foreign human rights and humanitarian workers. Kate 
has been living in the West Bank as part of the International Women's Peace 
Service (IWPS), which is documenting human rights abuses, and taking 
non-violent actions to oppose land confiscations, home demolitions, and 
other abuses.  She has initiated a project, Neighbor to Neighbor, bringing 
Israelis on reality tours through occupied Palestine and training them to 
share what they have learned about the occupation in their 
communities.  Kate is determined to continue this important work and will 
take her case to remain in Palestine to the Israeli Supreme Court if necessary.
For more information, 510-434-1304; for information on IWPS and Kate's work 
in Palestine 
<http://www.womenspeacepalestine.org/>http://www.womenspeacepalestine.org/; 
Updates on Kate's case: 
<http://www.quitpalestine.org>www.quitpalestine.org; info on the campaign 
against the Wall and the demonstration in Budrus: 
<http://www.stopthewall.org/>http://www.stopthewall.org/.


The Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 863-9977
www.freedomarchives.org 
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