[van-announce] Palestinian Political Prisoners: Vancouver Conference September 27

[Mike Krebs]

PALESTINIAN POLITICAL PRISONERS
At the Frontline of Resistance to the Israeli Occupation

All Day Conference with: Speakers • Films • Live report from Palestine

Saturday September 27th
11am – 4pm
SFU Harbour Centre
515 West Hastings Street

Throughout the decades of Israeli military occupation, Palestinians
from all walks of life have been illegally detained by Israel. Since
1967, more than 650,000 Palestinians have been detained by Israel in
the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. This forms approximately
20% of the total Palestinian population of the Occupied Palestinian
Territories and 40% of the total male population. At present, an
estimated 10,000 Palestinians are in prison because of their refusal
to accept foreign occupation and ongoing Israeli colonization.

>From Canada to Israel, incarceration has been central to the process
of colonization and the dispossession of the indigenous population
from their lands. At the same time, political prisoners remain at the
centre of struggles against occupation and apartheid.

On September 27th the Boycott Israeli Apartheid Campaign will be
hosting a conference on Palestinian prisoners and struggle for
liberation, featuring:

ABLA SA'ADAT, Palestinian activist, former political prisoner, and
partner of Ahmad Sa'adat – General Secretary of the Popular Front for
the Liberation of Palestine, who was kidnapped by the Israeli military
in 2006 and is currently being illegally detained by Israel (Live
report from Palestine).

ADAM HANIEH, organizer with the Toronto Coalition Against Israeli
Apartheid and author of 'Stolen Youth: The Politics of Israel's
Detention of Palestinian Children.'

CHARLOTTE KATES, an organizer and activist with New Jersey
Solidarity-Activists for the Libration of Palestine and Al-Awda, the
Palestinian Right to Return Coalition New York's chapter. She's a
Rutger School of Law graduate admitted to practic in New York & New
Jersey. She currently works at the Centre for Constitutional Rights in
New York City as an Education and Outreach Organizer on its project
representing Guantanamo Detainees. She's Also the Co-Chair of the
Middle East Subcommittee of the National Lawyers Guild.

SOBHI AL-ZOBAIDI, Palestinian filmmaker will be presenting his film
'Light at the End of the Tunnel' that follows six ex-detainees in
Palestine following their release and return to their families and
community.

LYNN HIGHWAY, organizer with John Graham Defense and prison abolition activist.


For more information contact the Boycott Israeli Apartheid Campaign:
boycottapartheid at gmail.com | www.boycottisraeliapartheid.org | 604-220-0451



SOME FACTS ABOUT PALESTINIAN POLITICAL PRISONERS:

• Under current military orders in the West Bank, the following
activities are defined as threats to the security of Israel: putting
up political posters, writing political slogans, participating in
demonstrations and belonging to any political party. What counts as
exercising Charter rights in Canada makes you a "security threat" to
Israel–if you're Palestinian.

• More than 700 of the approximately 10,000 Palestinians currently
held in Israeli prisons are "administrative detainees" meaning that
they are held on secret evidence, have no right to a trial, and are
held for six-month periods that can be renewed indefinitely.

• In addition, all Palestinians detained by the Israeli military can
be barred access to a lawyer for 90 days, and can be held for
"interrogation" without being charged for 188 days. At any given time,
about 40% of Palestinian political prisoners held in Israeli jails
have not been tried and convicted of anything.

• Currently, 316 of the Palestinian political prisoners are children
(under the age of 18). Since September 2000, more than 6,000
Palestinian children have been detained in Israeli jails.

• Since 1967, more than 650,000 Palestinians have been detained by
Israel. This means that almost 40% of all Palestinian males have been
incarcerated in an Israeli jail.

• Palestinian residents of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East
Jerusalem are almost all prosecuted in Israeli military courts, which
fail to meet international standards for a fair trial. Military judges
and prosecutors are not required to have civilian legal training.
Military courts do not publish their decisions, and no justification
is required for "administrative detention" other than a judge stating
that their approval is based on "secret evidence."

• Israeli law allows "physical pressure" during "special"
interrogations. A 2006 study by the Israeli human rights group
B'Tselem found that two-thirds of Palestinian detainees they
interviewed reported serious physical and psychological ill-treatment,
while one-third reported ill-treatment that constitutes torture under
international law. Of more than 500 complaints of torture and
ill-treatment against Israeli interrogators 2001-2006, not one
resulted in a criminal investigation.