Police Raid Palestinian Cultural Summer Camp after Accusations of Incitement by Ittijah - Union of Arab Community Based Assoc 6:07pm Sat Aug 2 '03 ittijah@ittijah.org Press Release 1 August 2003 print article Press Release 1 August 2003 Police Raid Palestinian Cultural Summer Camp after Accusations of Incitement Israeli police stormed a summer camp for Palestinian youth yesterday, and arrested fourteen of the organizers, after the camp had been accused of incitement against Israel in a TV report on Wednesday. The camp was organized by the Al Balad Cultural Association in the Arab village of Kabul in northern Israel, and was due to end this Sunday. At a court hearing today, the police could present no evidence of incitement. The presiding judge declared that four of the arrested should remain in court until Monday, to allow police to find evidence for the case. According to Ibrahim Makkawi, an activist at the summer camp who witnessed the raid, the case started with a television report by Israeli Channel 10 on Wednesday. Channel 10 had filmed the camp and interviewed children on Wednesday, with cooperation from the organizers, who assumed that the TV station would prepare a regular report about the camp. In the report, however, the TV station accused the organizers of the camp of spreading hatred and anti-Israeli propaganda, and promoting anti-Israeli violence and suicide attacks. The story, a cut-and-paste job in which the filmed materials were taken completely out of context, was repeated the following day in the Israeli newspapers “Haaretz” and “Yedioth”. The media attention apparently forced the Israeli government to react, and led to the police action yesterday, when some 30 to 40 police officers raided the camp. Faced with the choice either to shut down the camp voluntarily or to see it forcefully shut down by the police, the organizers decided for the first option. Al Balad strongly rejects the accusation of incitement, and claims that no illegal action was undertaken at the camp. Al Balad has been organizing summer camps of this kind for fifteen years and has never had a problem with police or other officials. The aim of the summer camp is to educate Palestinian children about their cultural heritage and identity, an education that Palestinian children do not receive in the government school system. The summer camps deal with issues such as the violent foundation of the Israeli state, the destruction of Palestinian villages and Palestinian refugees. While disliked by Israeli officials, none of the actions undertaken at the camp are illegal, including the flying of the Palestinian flag (legalized in 1993). Al Balad and Ittijah strongly protest the raid of the camp and the arrest of organizers. We urge the state to halt the investigation and release the remaining four detainees. Al Balad and Ittijah protest the hostile and intentionally misleading coverage by Channel 10, “Haaretz” and “Yedioth”. We demand that these media retract their statement that “the children in the camp are taught about Palestinian terrorists (“martyrs”)... sing songs that praise suicide attacks and express their hope for returning to Jaffa, Ashdod and Haifa and building a Palestinian state from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River.” Ittijah has strong confidence in the morality of its member Al Balad Cultural Association, and stands behind the association without reservation. Ittijah sees the actions of the police and Israeli media as more incitement against Palestinian civil society inside Israel, similar to the arrest and detention of the leaders of the Islamic Movement. Ittijah demands that the Israeli government, the police and the media stop their smear campaign against the representatives of the Palestinian people in Israel. Ittijah - Union of Arab Community Based Associations P.O. Box 9577, Haifa 31095, Israel ittijah@ittijah.org www.ittijah.org www.ittijah.org add your comments

lies and more lies by ben 7:45pm Sat Aug 23 '03 print comment you all need to stop making false accusations on the state of israel. israel is the only county in the world that is completely based on the rules of justice. we were oppressed and we would not commit such things add your comments

Look out the window by AKhalil 8:47am Mon Aug 25 '03 print comment Justice? Look out the window, and if you can turn your head as much as you can. Everything you see you took from someoe else. You either stole it by force from the Palestinians, or took it from the American tax payers. add your comments

I Love Jews! by ME 9:00am Mon Aug 25 '03 print comment the fault is never the individuals. the fault is the governments alone and the interests it is beholden to. do not scapegoat the citizens for the crimes of the politicians. It is a trap that should be avoided at all cost, despite the fact that many politicians would prefer otherwise. What has been done in the name of Jewry is NOT, I repeat NOT the fault of Jews who are Innocent of all Guilt! add your comments

sdd by 9:28am Mon Aug 25 '03 print comment AKhalil has written: everything you see you took from someoe else. You either stole it by force from the Palestinians, or took it from the American tax payers. What a simplistic view of political situations. No one stole anything by force from the Palestinians or took it from american taxpayers. The Palestinians got some of their land taken away in the midst of war, by countries not People. Invasions have occured since time immemorial by those claiming to uphold and defend security. during the era of pirates it was much more straight forward. They took everything and did make any excuses. In the advent of a civilized era, the pirates would not be able to get away with everybodys fortune without providing a benevolent excuse for their tactics. The excuse being more often than not- National Security? add your comments

the scandal by 10:17am Mon Aug 25 '03 print comment Some are not guilty because they may be Jews, some may or may not be guilty for what they've done regardless of their religious preference or in the absence of it. If a nazi is a jew it still does not have absolve him of the complicity in crimes against others. Religion plays no role in this charade outside streeing the attention of the audience in a different direction. add your comments

Response to ssd by AKhalil 7:18pm Tue Aug 26 '03 print comment I don't know if you are actually supporting what I wrote or refuting it. You make both points. However, if your stance is that war justifies everything and what happened to the Palestinians has happened often since time immemorial, then let us take your point to its ultimate conclusion, and then we would come up with the postolate that the Palestinians in particular and the Arabs in general are justified in seeking the destruction of Israel based on historical precedent (it happened many times before), they are justified in fighting it based on the established tradition or resisting occupiers and oppressors, and the fact that they are currently in a state of war and under occupation justifies all Palestinain actions against the Israelis. Apart from your wisdom, this conclusion is sanctioned by history and human norms. add your comments

Add on by AKhalil 7:27pm Tue Aug 26 '03 print comment By the way. I don't have any problem with individual Jews either. I have many friends and do appreciate some of jewish culture (I think "Hava Nagela Hava" came from the Palestinian "Hatha Nadeela Hatha"). I absolutely oppose the racist state of Israel, though, on principle. add your comments

silence is complacency by jessy davka 4:13am Sat Aug 30 '03 print comment As Bad Religion sings, "You are the government." The "government" and the "politicians" are also citizens and the "state", like it or not, is composed of citizens. As long as oppression, war, murder, etc. happens in our country, in our world even, we are all guilty, especially if we give our support by keeping quiet and/or ignoring the situation. The government is not some mythical three-headed beast, it's a body of people, a congress of human biengs, and we are all a part of it. The only way to wash the blood off our hands is to know all we can and dissent. add your comments