Free
Tali Fahima!
Tali Fahima has been
imprisoned
and subject to torture and solitary confinement for eight months now.
After two
months of GSS (General Security Service or "Shabak") interrogation
and three months administrative detention (incarceration without due
process),
she has been indicted on baseless charges.
Tali Fahima is being persecuted for challenging the separation walls
and
checkpoints, for undermining a system of forced separation between
Palestinian
Arabs and Jewish Israelis, for forging relations with Palestinians on
the basis
of solidarity in the struggle against the occupation, and for
developing an
alternative educational-cultural framework in Jenin Refugee Camp.
The next hearings of
Tali's trial
will be held only at the end of July. More hearings were scheduled for
September (!), meaning that Tali Fahima will be imprisoned at least for
a year
and a half (before her verdict) for doing things that many of us
thought, did,
or wanted – but wasn't brave – enough
to do.
On Sunday January 30,
2005, Israeli Supreme Court judge
Elyakim Rubinstein published his decision that will keep Tali Fahima in
prison until
the end of legal proceedings. Rubinstein
writes: “We face the danger of a person who significantly sympathizes
with an
ideological goal, where the border between expressing sympathy and
actually
assisting has been blurred... even if others could have read the
material by
themselves."
A
month before, on
Sunday December 26, 2004, Tali Fahima was indicted in a Tel
Aviv
District Court on the following charges:
"Aiding
and abetting an enemy in wartime; passing information to the enemy and
for the
latter's benefit, contact with a foreign agent, illegal possession of
weapon,
supporting a terrorist organization, and violating a legal order."
These
menacing
charges, which if proven can lead to years in prison, are based on the
suspicion that Tali read and explained the contents of an IDF document
to
activists of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades in the Jenin Refugee Camp.
The
document, left behind by the IDF after a military incursion into the
camp, referred
to an operation aimed at arresting and/or killing the "wanted" men
named in it. "In light of the defendant's explanations," the
indictment reads, "Zakariya Zubeidi [head of the Brigades in Jenin]
ordered the wanted men into hiding until the military operation ended…
and the
wanted men who followed Zubeidi's orders were not arrested." Other,
somewhat less grave accusations in the indictment, charge Fahima with
entering
the Jenin area and meeting with fighters in the camp. One need not be a
military expert to know that wanted men do not need Tali Fahima to
understand
that the army is pursuing them. When one sees this "secret document",
which basically contains the "wanted" photos, it becomes clear that
there was nothing for Tali to translate or explain.
Tali
Fahima, a 28 year old
Israeli activist from a small town in
the south of Israel populated predominantly by North African Jews, was
first
arrested on her way to Jenin on August 9, 2004. She was interrogated
for 28
days by the General Security Services during which she was sexually
harassed,
deprived of sleep, deprived of food, and cuffed too tightly. During
this
"interrogation" the GSS officers tried to "turn Tali into a good
Jew" (in their words), to convince her there is no occupation, and
refused
to tell her what she is suspected of. After her interrogation failed to
garner
incriminating evidence that could stand up in a court of law, she was
placed
under administrative detention (arrest with no due process) for a
period of
four months, during which she was not allowed to have contact with
anyone
except her mother and lawyer. Kept in solitary confinement, she was
denied
cigarettes, shampoo, toothpaste, books, letters, etc. One month before
her administrative
detention was due to end, she was transferred to GSS custody again and
spent
three weeks in "interrogation" during which she was handcuffed to a
chair, deprived of sleep, denied use of the toilet, and denied medical
treatment. At the end of this "interrogation," Tali Fahima was
indicted on the charges outlined above.
For
the past eight
months, various branches of the Israeli legal and "security" systems
have tried to create the impression that Tali Fahima seriously
jeopardized the "security
of the state" by aiding in the planning of military operations and/or
suicide bombings, and that she is a threat to public safety. Finally,
after
protracted arrest, charges were finally pressed that in no way merited
the
incitement and hysteria generated around her.
Tali
Fahima is a political
activist. Out of political and
personal concern, she made contact with members of the Fatah Movement
(Al-Aqsa
Brigades) in the Jenin Refugee Camp. Following an IDF's attempt to
"eliminate" its leader, Tali Fahima publicly announced in early 2004
that she is willing to serve as a human shield for him in protest of
Israel's
policy of extra-judicial killings. She visited the camp on several
occasions,
and in May 2004 began working on a cultural-educational program (a
library and
computer facility) for the children of the camp – a project that was
effectively derailed by her arrest. Tali Fahima's activities in Jenin
were open
and transparent and much of it was documented by the Israeli press at
her own
initiative.
Tali
Fahima's freedom has been
compromised for eight months
because she dared make contact with Palestinians in an act of
solidarity, for
voicing her objection to the occupation loud and clear, and in so doing
"violating" the Israeli policy of forced separation between the
peoples (which makes visiting Jenin an "illegal" act). What is at
stake are Tali Fahima's basic civil rights: freedom of expression,
freedom of
movement, freedom of association, etc.
By letting the Israeli authorities criminalize Tali Fahima, we
are
letting them criminalize our objection to the occupation.
What you can do:
Write
Tali
Tali would like to thank
each and every one of you who has
written to her. Your letters have reached her, except during the GSS
interrogations, and they are very important to her because they are her
sole
contact with the outside world other than her attorney and her mother,
whom she
is allowed to see once every two weeks. Tali prefers not to write back
from
prison (since her letters are read by the prison authorities, censored,
and at
times never sent), and has asked people to continue writing to her
despite her
lack of response. Her mailing address is: Neve Tirza Prison, POBox 297,
Ramleh,
72100, Israel.
Contributions
Tali
Fahima’s legal defense requires a great deal of resources. Any
contribution, no
matter how modest, will be welcome. Please send checks to POBox 1335,
Kfar
Saba, 44113. Israel. Or transfer funds directly to HaPoalim Bank,
Account
Number 119442, Branch 679 (paid to the order of “mate hakoalitzia”).
Please
note that the funds are earmarked for Tali Fahima’s defense.
Solidarity
The identification each
and every one of us expresses with
Tali Fahima, persecuted for objecting to the occupation, is of the
utmost
importance (remember Martin Niemoeller's message: “First they came for
the
communists, and I did not speak out, because I was not a communist…”).
Please
come to every court hearing and let Tali Fahima and the public know
that you
stand with her. For updated information, and to add your name to the
mailing
list, write: http://oznik.com/forms/subscribe_tali_fahima.html
if you live abroad, and
have ideas for helping Tali Fahima
and the campaign for her release, especially ideas for financial help,
please
let us know. write us at: freetalifahima@yahoo.com
More information,
documents, articles, and letters to Tali Fahima in English, Hebrew,
Arabic, and
French: www.FreeTaliFahima.org
No to Separation!
No to Fences and Walls!
No to Administrative Detention!
No to Political
Persecution!
Yes to
Israeli-Palestinian
Solidarity against the Occupation!
www.freetalifahima.org