[Ppnews] Palestinian civil society leader targeted by Israel: Addameer Chairperson receives ban

[Political Prisoner News]

  Yet another Palestinian civil society leader targeted by Israel:
  Addameer Chairperson Abdullatif Ghaith receives ban from leaving the
  country

/9 August 2012/

http://www.addameer.org/etemplate.php?id=507

*/Joint Statement/*

As organizations dedicated to the promotion and protection of human 
rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), the Palestinian 
Council of Human Rights Organizations (PCHRO), expresses its utmost 
dismay at the recent Israeli decision to ban Addameer Prisoner Support 
and Human Rights Association Chairperson Abdullatif Ghaith from 
travelling abroad. Mr. Ghaith, a 71-year-old East Jerusalem resident, is 
one of the founders of Addameer and has been serving on its Board for 
the past 20 years. He is also a well-known public figure resulting from 
his long history of human rights activism in Jerusalem and the rest of 
the OPT, in addition to his prominent political activism including his 
run for Palestinian Legislative Council elections in 2006.
On 2 August 2012, Mr. Ghaith received a phone call from Israeli 
intelligence representatives requesting that he present himself 
immediately to Moskobiyyeh interrogation center in Jerusalem. Upon 
presenting himself the following day, Mr. Ghaith was ordered to sign an 
order banning him from travelling abroad. The ban, which is signed by 
Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai, will remain in place until 31 
January 2013. The order claims that Mr. Ghaith constitutes a threat to 
"state security", although no evidence is given to support such claim.
This is not the first time Mr. Ghaith has been targeted by Israel for 
his human rights activism. The current order banning him from travelling 
abroad is in addition to an existing ban that prevents him from entering 
the West Bank (as defined by Israel). This West Bank ban originally came 
into effect on 10 October 2011 for a duration of six months, although it 
was subsequently extended for an additional six months in April 2012 and 
is now due to expire in September 2012. Furthermore, since becoming 
Chairperson of Addameer, Mr. Ghaith has been held without charge or 
trial in Israeli prison under administrative detention on three separate 
occasions, lasting for six months on each occasion. His most recent 
administrative detention lasted from June 2004 to January 2005.
The continued targeting of Mr. Ghaith cannot be viewed in isolation but 
must rather be viewed within a much broader context of a systematic 
attempt by Israel to suppress Palestinian civil society and stifle 
Palestinian development, while strengthening Israel's occupation. 
Evidence of this repression can be seen in the increasing number of 
Palestinian civil society organizations that have been ordered to close, 
particularly in East Jerusalem, and the targeting of human rights 
defenders throughout the OPT. Other prominent members of Palestinian 
civil society have also been targeted in the same manner by Israel, such 
as the director of human rights organization Al-Haq, Shawan Jabarin, who 
has been banned from travelling abroad since 2006, with two exceptions 
this year in which his travel was highly restricted.
Human rights defenders are formally defined as persons who work, 
peacefully, for any or all of the rights enshrined in the Universal 
Declaration of Human Rights. Mr. Ghaith's life's work on behalf of 
political prisoners---inspired by his own experience as a 
prisoner---clearly falls within the category of a human rights defender, 
in that his activities are peaceful in nature and aimed at the promotion 
of human rights. According to Mr. Ghaith, "Israel considers every 
activity that tackles Israeli violations of human rights as a threat to 
state security. Israel wants its occupation to proceed without any 
accountability. This is not an issue of an individual; it involves all 
Palestinians."
The PCHRO strongly condemns the travel ban imposed on Mr. Ghaith and 
continued Israeli attempts to silence Palestinian civil society. The ban 
on Mr. Ghaith not only violates his fundamental human rights, namely his 
right to freedom of movement, but also disregards the special 
protections afforded to him as a human rights defender according to the 
United Nations General Assembly Declaration on human rights defenders.
The PCHRO therefore calls on the international community to intervene 
immediately with the Israeli authorities to lift all bans restricting 
Mr. Ghaith's freedom of movement so that he may continue to carry out 
his human rights work unimpeded. In particular, the PCHRO calls on the 
United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights 
Defenders to intervene with Israel and raise the case of Mr. Ghaith and 
other Palestinian human rights defenders, such as Mr. Jabarin. The PCHRO 
also urges the European Union, especially the EU High Representative for 
Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, to act in accordance with its 
decision to "throw its full weight behind advocates of liberty, 
democracy and human rights throughout the world" by consistently 
bringing up with Israel its continued infringements of the special 
protections afforded to Palestinian human rights defenders, as well as 
calling for the lifting of the travel bans imposed on Mr. Ghaith and Mr. 
Jabarin.
*The Palestinian Council of Human Rights Organizations:*
Adameer <http://www.alhaq.org/images/stories/Images/2012/Adameer.png> 
*Addameer Prisoners' Support and Human Rights Association
*Sahar Francis
General Director 	aaldameer 
<http://www.alhaq.org/images/stories/Images/2012/aaldameer.png> 
*Aldameer Association for Human Rights*
Khalil Abu Shammala
General Director
Al-Haq-Small 
<http://www.alhaq.org/images/stories/Images/Al-Haq-Small.png> 	*Al-Haq*
Shawan Jabarin
General Director 	Mezan 
<http://www.alhaq.org/images/stories/Images/2012/Mezan.jpg> 	*Al Mezan 
Center for Human Rights
*Issam Younis
General Director
Badil 	*Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights*
Najwa Darwish
General Director 	DCI 	*Defence for Children International*
*Palestine Section*
Rifat Kassis
General Director
Ensan <http://www.alhaq.org/images/stories/Images/2012/Ensan.jpg> 
*Ensan Center for Human Rights and Democracy*
Shawqi Issa
General Director 	Hurryyat 
<http://www.alhaq.org/images/stories/Images/2012/Hurryyat.png> 
*Hurryyat - Centre for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights*
Helmi Al-araj
General Director
JLAC <http://www.alhaq.org/images/stories/Images/2012/JLAC.jpg> 
*Jerusalem Center for Legal Aid and Human Rights*
Issam Aruri
General Director 	PCHRS 	*Ramallah Center for Human Rights Studies*
Iyad Barghouti
General Director
wclac2 <http://www.alhaq.org/images/stories/Images/2012/wclac2.png> 
*Women's Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling*
Maha Abu Dayyeh
General Director

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