Press release - Worrying about Hosam

‪#‎CADFA‬ Press Statement 19th February 2015 For immediate release

Free Hosam Oraiba and Yazan Abu Hilal

CADFA are calling for the immediate release from Israeli jail of Hosam Oraiba and Yazan Abu Hilal. These two university students were arrested on Monday 17th February by Israeli soldiers at the peaceful protest camp of Bawabit al-Quds on the land of Abu Dis in the West Bank. We are concerned about Hosam and Yazan whom we know, and also about the Israeli settlement expansion they were protesting and the way the dice are loaded against Palestinians in Israeli military courts. We believe them to be innocent of any crime and yet there is no evidence that they will be released or that they will get a fair trial. Hosam's family have been told that there is not enough evidence to prove him innocent. This is quite the wrong way round and the two need all the support they can get.

Through our work with Abu Dis and in particular Dar Assadaqa Community Centre, we know these young men as peaceful people. In particular, we know Hosam well. He is a hard-working volunteer from Dar Assadaqa, the community centre our charity CADFA supports in Abu Dis. His main work is to support the EVS (European Voluntary Service) volunteers we sent from the UK to Dar Assadaqa to work with local schools, in the university and the community centre to support twinning links and communication to the UK. Hosam has been extremely helpful to the volunteers and has made many friends among them. He also came to London on an Erasmus + funded visit in December, where he met more people through the work of our charity. All of us who know him will attest to his calm, non-aggressive and peaceful approach to life.

Tributes to Hosam and his gentle character are pouring in from CADFA EVS volunteers including this from a volunteer now back in Manchester:  

"Hosam is a good friend of mine, a really gentle, humble guy who went out of his way many times to help me out and make me feel welcome in Palestine. He used to bring me round pizza and his kittens to play with. He's been arrested and there's a good chance he will be being tortured, the stories people have told me about their times in Israeli military prisons are horrifying."

Hosam was on a peaceful protest against land expropriation related to the Israeli E1 project, east of Jerusalem, that the international community has repeatedly rejected. Although in 2005 and 2009, international pressure restrained Israel from going ahead with E1 , in the past few years Israel has prepared for development with new roads, infrastructure and the first buildings. The expanding settlements will join to Jerusalem, and together divide the West Bank in half.

The E1 project defies international law. In 2004, the International Court said clearly that that the settlements violate the fourth Geneva Convention. It also violates Palestinians’ human rights and is grossly racist. The Palestinian population is being transferred and squeezed into confined areas while new Jewish-only settlement areas are built. An EU report has talked of "forced transfers" to describe Israeli policy. A French parliamentary report has called it "a new apartheid". In Abu Dis, the Israeli plan is to seize new tracts of land and house 12000 Bedouin who will be pushed off land they are now on to allow further settlement expansion. The people of Abu Dis built a protest camp, Bawabit al-Quds, on the threatened land - which belongs to them.

Hosam was at the camp for about an hour. We have been given a statement and photographs by an eye-witness who says that "Hosam was by my side for every moment during the day" that Hosam was behaving completely peacefully. At one point, they ran away together to get out of tear gas, then went back to look for friends - and at that point, Hosam was arrested. The eye-witness is adamant that he did not throw stones or do anything aggressive:

"We stayed together on the side of the road, away from the camp and away from the protesters who tried to pass soldiers to reach the camp. Around 14:56 when the first sound grenade was thrown (I have taken a photo of this, photo2), Hosam and I went even further away from the camp and when the first tear gas canister was thrown, we run together towards Bethany and we found shelter in a car wash. Hosam did not leave me alone for a second during these events and took care of me. After this, we went back to the camp to check on our friends and we decided to stay for maximum one hour and then go home. While we were peacefully watching the bulldozers destroying the camp, all of a sudden I noticed two soldiers (I have separate photos of them) rushing towards Hosam and speaking in Hebrew, and I heard Hosam saying I did not throw any stones. The soldiers cornered him and started pushing him around. He looked very scared and the other two volunteers and many local people went near him to defend him. Hosam did not throw stones, he was at all times with me." (eyewitness)

Many of us met Yazan when as a young footballer he came to London on our football youth exchange funded by Youth in Action and organised by CADFA in autumn 2012. The two young men were arrested at the same time and appear to be being dealt with together.

The two were arrested on Monday, and yesterday were called to a military court where a video was examined to see if they were throwing stones. Apparently the videos did not show that they were doing anything aggressive, but the army have said that this is not enough to prove their innocence and they have now been told that they will face a military tribunal in six days’ time.

We are very worried that they will not have a fair trial. The military tribunal will be in a language they do not speak. The judge will be from the Israeli army. If they have anyone to translate, it will also be someone from the army. They do not at this stage know the charges against them.

Critically, they will have no opportunity to call witnesses of any sort. Soldiers will be able to come and present the evidence for any charges, and will be believed no doubt. But those who were with them and saw what happened (including the witness we have spoken to) will not be able to support their case. We are told by local people that they do not trust the military court process to which the Israelis subject Palestinians: they cite case after case that they believe was loaded, mishandled or wrong. We are very scared for our young friends.

CADFA have made a petition and held a street demonstration to collect signatures to support Yazan and Hosam. We are presenting hundreds of them today to the Foreign Secretary. We are calling for further signatures on a petition made by ex- CADFA EVS volunteers who have worked in Abu Dis, and will continue to raise this case very strongly till our friends are released.

ENDS

CADFA is a human rights charity based in Camden that works to promote human rights by bringing people together to understand each other's lives. We organise many exchange visits, volunteering opportunities and twinning projects in particular with women and young people.

Our website is www.camdenabudis.net, facebook CADFA(Camden Abu Dis Friendship Association), Twitter @camdenabudis

Photos available. We have many witnesses to Hosam's character.

The volunteers' petition is at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/free-hosam-and-yazan

More information from contact@camdenabudis.net
‪#‎freeHosam‬ ‪#‎freeYazan‬ ‪#‎palestine‬ ‪#‎humanrights‬