Israel: Free Abdallah Abu Rahmah Now !

One year has since passed since his Human Rights Day arrest, and Abu Rahmah is still being held indefinitely by the Israeli military.

The arrest: these are the people Abdallah Abu Rahmah is dealing with. When a military group is told to view certain human being as 'less', as in the case of the Nazi's or Israelis; terrible cruelty is common. Please support Abdallah Abu Rahmah.

(SALEM, Ore.) - At Burger King you can 'have it your way', but in the eyes of decency that still manage to exist within this mad world, there is only one way to receive your order of humanity.

Abdallah Abu Rahmah

Humanity is actually very boring, perhaps that is why leaders of modern governments like Israel still continue to view it more as a sport and a bargaining chip, that an actual requirement.

When you practice humane behavior, you don't get to choose which specific humans receive this regard. The varietal element is there, but filters are strictly banned.

As a journalist and an American and a human being I am greatly distressed that the US government is not aiding a Palestinian peace activist, leader, father and husband named Abdallah Abu Rahmah.

His name is synonymous with Israeli occupational resistance in Bil'in- a place all people familiar with this struggle know of.

There are many Salem-News.com reports telling this tragic story of how each week, on Friday, activists gather and protest the apartheid wall that looms twenty feet plus into the sky here and throughout the West Bank and Gaza.

The plight of Abdallah Abu Rahmah has gained attention globally with statements from the European Union, The Elders (including former US President Jimmy Carter), Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.

Desmond Tutu, center, placed a stone on a grave in Bilin, site of weekly protests against the Israeli barrier. With him, from left: Gro Brundtland, Jimmy Carter, Ela Bhatt and Abdallah Abu Rahmah. Photo: Rina Castelnuovo for The New York Times

British Foreign Minister, William Hague, met with leading Palestinian grassroots organizers last month in an unprecedented show of support for Palestine in the face of ongoing Israeli repression.

The US on the other hand, rejected the opportunity to support a free Palestine just last week.

Former US president Jimmy Carter said in the Elders’ release that:

"Israeli military prosecutors want to extend Abdallah Abu Rahmah’s sentence as a deterrent to others who may follow his example. The Elders believe that his example of non-violent resistance against the occupation is a model that others should follow".

Everything Israel does with regard to the Palestinians, works against the most elementary principles of decency, proving over and over that it is going to take strong political and military aggression against Israel to eventually take down their criminal government so that the people of Israel can live in peace and not be led by half-blind religious zealots bent on killing and oppressing neighbors rather than taking proactive steps toward peace.

Members of The Elders; Desmond Tutu, Ela Bhatt, Gro Brundtland, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Jimmy Carter and Mary Robinson, met Abu Rahmah last year in the West Bank village of Bil’in. They reported being impressed by Abu Rahmah and praised his wise leadership of effective, non-violent civil action.

One Voice

At least one reporter is posing the question of Abu Rahmah's fate to the United States Undersecretary of State PJ Crowley.

In the video on the right; sent in by our writer and great friend Gilad Atzmon in London, we see a 10 December 2010 State Department Press Briefing, where Associated Press Reporter Matthew Lee asks Undersecretary of State PJ Crowley about Israel's imprisonment of nonviolent protest organizer Abdallah Abu Rahmah from the West Bank village of Bil'in.

He asks week after week and never receives an answer. Keep in mind that Abdallah Abu Rahmah is doing exactly what he is supposed to do; he is speaking out and not using violence as any type of weapon. Israel's arrest of him on Human Rights Day in 2009 and their subsequent refusal to release him at the conclusion of his one-year sentence, illustrate why there is a growing voice in the US, UK and worldwide to bring an end to the maniacal rule of a very dangerous government led by PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

Abu Rahmah was sentenced to one year in Israeli prison on the charge of "incitement" for organizing protests against the confiscation of land and Israel's illegal wall in his West Bank village of Bil'in.

One year has since passed and Abu Rahmah is still being held indefinitely by the Israeli military. As Gilad Atzmon said of Israel's policies, "They can do with a lesson on integrity..."

Please join others and get involved for the sake of Abdallah Abu Rahmah, his wife, Majida Abu Rahmah, their three small children and everything in the world that is right and true.

I've said it so many times; this is not about religion, nobody cares about that. This is about ending the reign of a bad government. Americans are the only hope that exists toward really effectively accomplishing this.

Start by visiting: popularstruggle.org and specifically: popularstruggle.org/freeabdallah

I mentioned earlier that the name Abu Rahmah is well known in this movement. Please also visit this story, the first source listed below, and watch the associated video clips to get a clear picture of the struggle for Bil'in:

Sources:

Apr-02-2010: A Tale of Two Palestinian Brothers... and Israel's Dismissal of Murder - Opinion by Tim King Salem-News.com

Jan-06-2010: Abdallah Abu Rahmah: No army, no prison and no wall can stop us - International Solidarity Movement

Dec-18-2010: U.S. Gov't Responds to Questions about Imprisonment Gilad Atzmon - gilad.co.uk

Dec-07-2010: Abdallah Abu Rahmah — Palestinian Prisoner of Conscience — Carter, Tutu, Robinson - Writing Rights

Nov-02-2010: Budrus hero calls for Abdallah Abu Rahmah’s freedom By Jesse Bacon - theonlydemocracy.org

Tim King: Salem-News.com Editor and Writer

Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 covering the war in Afghanistan, and he was in Iraq over the summer of 2008, reporting from the war while embedded with both the U.S. Army and the Marines.

Tim holds numerous awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing, including the Oregon AP Award for Spot News Photographer of the Year (2004), first place Electronic Media Award in Spot News, Las Vegas, (1998), Oregon AP Cooperation Award (1991); and several others including the 2005 Red Cross Good Neighborhood Award for reporting. Tim has several years of experience in network affiliate news TV stations, having worked as a reporter and photographer at NBC, ABC and FOX stations in Arizona, Nevada and Oregon. Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website. As News Editor, Tim among other things, is responsible for publishing the original content of 65 Salem-News.com writers. He reminds viewers that emails are easily missed and urges those trying to reach him, to please send a second email if the first goes unanswered. You can send Tim an email at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com