Monthly Archives: May 2016

Make your voice heard: Free Dareen Tatour

21 Saturday May 2016

Posted by in Dareen Tatour, Human Rights, Political Detention

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Letter to supporters of detained poet Dareen Tatour

Dear Friends,

Greetings!

Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour is still under house detention as her trial is expected to continue for a log period…

We need more solidarity and pressure in the near future

I write this letter to put you all on the same page.

Dareen_in_Nazareth_Demo

Dareen Tatour: Freedom of expression for everybody – Image from Haaretz by Rami Shlush

The last court session was held on Sunday, May 8. There was one witness for the prosecution – a policeman – Salman Amer – the one that got the material from Dareen’s computer and smartphone.  Before the hearing we held a successful vigil outside the court. Probably the judge was pressed from the multitude of Dareen’s supporters – so she decided to hold the hearing behind closed doors.

You can read about the 8/5 vigil and hearing my reports (Hebrew and English) , a report by Jack Khouri in Haaretz (Hebrew and English)  and a later report in “Local Call” (in Hebrew only) with more details from the courts protocol and about solidarity activities.

The court set a new schedule: the next hearing will be held only in 17/7 – and there are 5 more witnesses for the prosecution. Another hearing was scheduled for September 6 – so the defense case will not start until that date and is unlikely to end then. By that schedule Dareen is expected to stay in her detention and exile for more than a year even before the case will be decided…

This schedule forces us to concentrate now on an effort to, at least, “improve” the harsh conditions imposed on Dareen. Her lawyer, Abed Fahoum, promised that a special request to the court to bring back Dareen to Reineh – even if under house detention – will be placed with the Nazareth court early next week. When we get a date for the hearing I will publish it on the Free Dareen Tatour Facebook Page. But the best chance to get some relief for Dareen is in case that there will be concrete pressure on the prosecution – mostly by international public opinion and human rights organization.

I also wanted to mention that Dareen’s brother and his fiancée, which were appointed by the court to “guard” Dareen at her exile/detention in Tel Aviv, were forced to hire a special apartment for this purpose and had to stop their studies (both were post-graduate students of medical professions) and adjust their work schedule – with huge costs and disruption to their personal lives. Dareen is even more concerned to relieve them than to go back to her home.

Publicity and Solidarity

Dareen’s case received huge publicity in the Palestinian press – she became a symbol for hundreds of Palestinians that are arrested and persecuted for expressing their views on social media. Her case was prominently mentioned by Muhammad Barake, the head of the “Arab follow up committee”, in front of thousands of protesters in the “March of Return”, the commemoration of the Palestinian Nakba that was held this year in Wadi Al-Zubale, in Bir A-Sabe’ (Naqab) region, on May 12.

The general association of Palestinian writers issued a special declaration (in Arabic, May 15) in solidarity with Dareen, calling for her immediate release. The declaration calls for “solidarity action and the mobilization of all possible energies to pressure the occupation machine and force it to release the poet”. Sami Muhana, head of the association of Palestinian Arab writers in the 48 territories, also issued a denunciation in behalf of this association. Herak Haifa held a special poetry reading event on May 5, in solidarity with Dareen Tatour, with the participation of five young Palestinian poets.

In the Israeli press we succeeded to get about as far as one can go with a comprehensive article by Gideon Levy and Alex Levac in Haaretz (in Hebrew and English). But till now, in spite of repeated efforts, no Israeli writer, nor any Israeli Human Rights organization, showed any interest in this case. Please correct me if I missed something – I will be more than happy to publish any expression of solidarity from any side.

The “ArabLit” site, which writes (in English) about Arab literature, made great work in translating some of Dareen’s poems, including the one she was arrested for – “Resist, My People, Resist Them” – as well as “How Old I Am?” and “I will not leave my country”.

Activists of “Jewish Voice for Peace” held special protest in solidarity with Dareen in front of the Israeli consulates in New York and Philadelphia before the court hearing on May 8.

Pen International, in a declaration from April 25, condemning the arrest of Palestinian journalist Omar Nazzal, related to Dareen’s case, saying: “PEN International is also concerned at reports that Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour is currently on trial for alleged ‘incitement to violence’.  The organization is currently assessing the content of a poem and Facebook posts the poet, who is from Nazareth in Israel, wrote which are the basis of the charge.”

Sarah Shulman, and American novelist and academic, sent the following message of solidarity: “I am honored to offer open-hearted solidarity to the Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour and hope others will join me in supporting her quest for freedom to live and write according to her conscience.”

It is time that more poets, writers and all freedom loving people will make their voice heard for the freedom of Dareen Tatour, for freedom of the arts and freedom of expression, for the freedom of the Palestinian people and all the people in this small world.

#Free_Dareen_Tatour

Nazareth vigil supporting poet Dareen Tatour and the court hides behind closed doors

09 Monday May 2016

Posted by in Dareen Tatour, Political Detention, Uncategorized

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It is almost 7 months since Dareen Tatour, a Palestinian poet from Al-Reineh (near Nazareth), fell into the black hole of persecution by Israel’s oppression apparatus. The case was rarely noticed before the first hearing of the court on April 13 (see reports in Arabic and Hebrew), when it was published that the main accusation against her is posting a poem on youtube and Facebook calling for resistance to the occupation. Apparently Israel expects all Palestinian poets to devote their poems to pour praise and show love for their torturers.

Dareen_1_We_started

We started at 12:00

The new “Free Dareen Tatour” Facebook page called for a vigil in front of the Nazareth court before the second hearing of the prosecution witnesses today, May 8 2016. By 12:00, the designated time, there was already a dedicated group of activists waiting in the sun in front of the court building. They received gleefully Dareen that had to travel a hundred kilometers from her exile and home-detention in a suburb of Tel Aviv. Many of the activists (and some of her family members) didn’t see Dareen since her detention, and it was a very warm meeting.

Dareen_3_We grew

Then more people came

There were signs in Arabic, Hebrew and English, all calling for the freedom of Dareen Tatour, freedom to Palestinian arts, free speech and freedom to the people. People kept coming and we kept writing new signs to let them all show their solidarity. Many Palestinian journalists and a team from Haaretz were busy taking photos and making interviews, as can be seem from the multitude of news items about the event that were published today.

Dareen_4_Group of students

A group of high school students joined

Finally a group of high-school students that came to visit the court as part of their “citizenship” class joined the demonstration. They were taking pictures of themselves, proving in practice that this time they really learned something about democracy and freedom of expression and the need to struggle for them.

At 13:15 we packed the vigil and some 50 of Dareen’s supporters entered the court’s building in

Dareen_5_And Grew

I had to go to to far end of the yard to photo them all

order to attend the hearing, filling all the waiting halls in the second floor. We had to wait more than an hour before the previous (closed) hearing finished. But as we gathered to enter the courtroom we were blocked by the guards. They announced that the hearing will be held behind closed doors.

With no legal grounds, Judge Adi Bambiliya decided that it will be more pleasant and efficient to shut out Dareen’s family and supporters, including Knesset members Haneen Zoabi and Basel Ghattas. After some time Dareen’s father, alone, was allowed in. Only at 16:55, after almost all the supporting public went away in despair, the ten of us that still hanged around were allowed in.

Dareen_6_Waiting for the court to start

We filled the court’s waiting halls

All that the court achieved today was hearing one more policeman witness for the prosecution, named Salman ‘Amer. He is the guy that inspected Dareen’s smartphone and computer. From his words in court he seems not to be much of a computer expert, just like the policemen translator of Dareen’s poem, who witnessed in the previous hearing, had no qualifications in poetry or translation.

What we did learn about was the police’s racist viewpoint that stands behind the whole persecution of Dareen, like thousands of more Palestinians:

Dareen_7_Closed doors

How easier it is to make injustice behind closed doors

  • The witness mentioned many times that he had found in Dareen’s smartphone and computer “a picture of the ‘Mekhabelet’ from Afula”. ‘Mekhabel’ is a special Hebrew word for Palestinian resistance fighters, designated to de-humanize them. But Israa Abed, the women that was shot in Afula central station, was harmless and defenseless. Luckily she survived her cold-blood shooting – and was not accused by the Israeli police of any security offences.
  • One special ‘accusation’ against Dareen, coming up in Amer’s written testimony, was that she read a poem in “Woman’s Day” in Nazareth. My feminist friends commented that educated women are really a great danger to the regime.
  • Another proof of Dareen’s criminality, according to Amer, was that she participated in commemorating the Kafr Qasim massacre. On October 29, 1956, the Israeli army declared a curfew in Kafr Qasim near Tel Aviv, and killed 49 innocent Palestinians, mostly coming back from their fields or work and not knowing that they are in breach of the army’s orders. To the question of Abed Fahoum, the defense lawyer, what is wrong about commemorating this massacre Amer replied that it is “politics” and “goes against state security”!

Before we dispersed the judge tried to convince the parties to negotiate an agreed settlement. She told the defense lawyer that he should forget about abolishing the indictment. But she also pressed the prosecution to notice that they have some deep flaws in their case. The super-motivated prosecution lawyer, Elina Hardak, who doesn’t spare any effort to make life harder for Dareen, said that she can’t give ground. She claimed that the State Prosecutor and the Attorney General stand behind the case.

The hearing finished at 18:00. There are 5 more witnesses for the prosecution, and the next hearing was set for July 17, at 16:00. Another hearing was set for September 6. By this schedule Dareen will be denied her basic freedoms for more than a year before her case will be decided.

(This post was published also in Hebrew)