


"Like for the other Palestinian human rights defenders in Israeli jails, there was never a case in the courtroom. Not a single charge has been put forth. The reason for my arrest was purely political – an attempt to crush Stop the Wall and the popular committees against the Wall. Therefore, the reasons for my release are also outside the courtroom: The impressive support of international civil society has moved governments and used the media to an extent that made our imprisonment too uncomfortable. This international solidarity has given our popular struggle against the Wall further strength. We are deeply thankful for all the efforts. Yet, the latest arrests and continuous repression show that we have not yet defeated the Israeli policy as such, as Israel remains determined to silence Palestinian human rights defenders by all means. We therefore need to ensure that the campaign for the freedom of all anti-wall activists and Palestinian political prisoners continues to grow. We have to combine our energies to ensure that the root cause – the Wall – will be torn down and the occupation will be brought to an end."In a sense, our work has been doubly affirmed by the Israeli political-military apparatus. Jamal, Mohammad, Abdallah, and others have been targeted not only for their role in spearheading Palestinian nonviolent resistance but also because of their leadership in promoting international campaigns of boycott, divestment, and sanctions. As the international campaign grows, so does Israeli repression...but so does the pressure on that repressive system, making repression much more difficult to sustain. Here's Jesse Rosenfeld at The Daily Nuisance, writing of Mohammad's release:
"Stop the Wall, a Palestinian movement based on grassroots popular resistance to Israel’s wall in the West Bank, has faced increased military pressure as it strengthens its connection to the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement....However, the same international attention and connection to a global movement that is landing activists in prisons, is one of the few factors providing some refuge from the relentless Israeli campaign to break them."It's worth noting that Mohammad was arrested as he attempted to return from Norway, where he had spoken to the Norwegian government pension fund's ethics board about divestment from Israeli weapons contractor and Apartheid Wall-builder Elbit Systems. This is the kind of international solidarity that prison walls can't contain. In a brief interview with Rosenfeld, the Stop the Wall organizer notes that the Israeli authorities considered him a threat even while imprisoned:
"I’m still in shock about being free, but am so happy and relieved,” the youth coordinator from the Stop the Wall campaign told me on the phone while riding with his brother to see his family in the West Bank for the first time in months. “We were constantly under surveillance in the jail; the Israelis were always trying to get information to incriminate us with. I was in a cell with other people, but couldn’t trust talking politics with anyone."And what of Abdallah Abu Rahmah, still stuck in Israeli jail? The Bil'in resistance leader speaks for himself, in a statement passed to his lawyers from his prison cell:
T"I know that Israel’s military campaign to imprison the leadership of the Palestinian popular struggle shows that our non-violent struggle is effective....This year, the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee will expand on the achievements of 2009, a year in which you amplified our popular demonstrations in Palestine with international boycott campaigns and international legal actions under universal jurisdiction."
