Subject: ACTION ALERT: Free Su'ad Ghazal
Date: Fri, 26 Jan 2001 06:03:20 -0500


ACTION ALERT: FREE SU'AD GHAZAL

*STOP ISRAELI ABUSES OF CHILDREN

January 26, 2001

On January 21, Su'ad Ghazal a 17-year old Palestinian girl from Sebastia
village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank was sentenced by an Israeli
court to six and a half years in prison allegedly for attempting to stab
an Israeli settler.

The extreme injustice of this sentence is underscored by the fact that on
the very same day another Israeli court allowed Nahum Korman, the settler
who pistol-whipped and kicked to death 11-year old Hilmi Shusheh in 1996,
to walk free with only a fine and six months of community service. An
unrepentant Korman told the media "I take no responsibility for the boy's
death...I admit to nothing, and I continue to regard myself as innocent."

These two sentences, along with countless other grave violations of
Palestinian children's rights once again highlight the urgent need for
international intervention and protection for Palestinians living under
Israeli military occupation.

WE URGE YOU TO WRITE LETTERS TO THE U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE, TO THE
U.N. HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, TO THE EUROPEAN UNION OR THE
GOVERNMENT WHERE YOU LIVE, ASKING THEM TO HOLD ISRAEL TO ACCOUNT AND
DEMAND THE RELEASE SU'AD GHAZAL:

TALKING POINTS:

*Su'ad Ghazal, who was arrested when she was only 15, has spent most of
the past two years in an Israeli prison.

*During her detention, Su'ad has suffered severe physical and
psychological abuse; and the violation of most of her rights under the
Fourth Geneva Conventions and the United Nations Convention on the Rights
of the Child.

*The abuses include physical and psychological abuse; detention without
trial for an extended period; denial of education; detention of a minor
with adults; and illegal transfer from, and detention outside the Occupied
Territories.

*Palestinians cannot get justice in the Israeli legal system, as
documented by numerous human rights organizations, and again underlined by
the fact that Nahum Korman an Israeli settler who beat to death an 11-year
old Palestinian child was just freed with only fine and community service.

WE CALL ON:

*All governments to demand that Israel release Su'ad Ghazal and hold
Israel to account for abuses of human rights;

*Ms. Mary Robinson, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to
immediately intervene in the case of Su'ad Ghazal and investigate Israel's
systematic abuses of the rights of Palestinian children.

PLEASE SEND YOUR EMAILS TO:

*U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell
Email: secretary-AT-state.gov
Fax: 202-261-8577

*Ms. Mary Robinson
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Emails: webmaster-AT-unhcr.ch AND areca-AT-unhcr.ch

*Mr. Romano Prodi
President of the European Union
Email: romano.prodi-AT-cec.eu.int

Please cc your letters to: child_rights-AT-mail.com

Information provided by Defence for Children International/Palestine
Section and LAW--The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human
Rights and the Environment was used to prepare this action alert.
***************************************************************************
Action alert prepared by:
Ali Abunimah, USA
Arjan El Fassed, Netherlands
Zahi Damuni, USA







http://al-awda.org



















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