mer om Rajoub og PA.
Hilsen Knut Rognes
(Sender denne på nytt siden subject-feltet falt ut forrige gang)
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BIRZEIT COMMUNITY GRAVELY CONCERNED BY PARTIAL DEMOLITION OF HOME OF
BIRZEIT WEBMASTER NIGEL PARRY (by the PNA)
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____________________________________________________________________________
Source: Direct Submission
Organization: Birzeit University
Email: "Nigel Parry" <NPARRY@admin.birzeit.edu>
Date: Tue, 26 May 1998 02:10:29 GMT + 2
To: msaosu@postbox.acs.ohio-state.edu, msanews@msanews.mynet.net
Title: Urgent Press Release
TEXT:
BIRZEIT UNIVERSITY - PRESS RELEASE - 26 MAY
1998 - 1:30AM (PALESTINIAN TIME)
BIRZEIT COMMUNITY GRAVELY CONCERNED BY PARTIAL
DEMOLITION OF HOME OF BIRZEIT WEBMASTER NIGEL
PARRY
Ramallah - During the late afternoon of 25 May
1998, 20 to 30 men, including members of the
Palestinian Preventive Security force in
Ramallah, proceeded to demolish parts of the
home of Nigel Parry, a British national
employed at Birzeit University's Public
Relations office since 1994 and the Birzeit
Webmaster.
Other occupants of the house include Adli
Daana, another Public Relations employee, Kifah
Al Fani, a student of Birzeit University, and
'Ala Jaradat, a former student and Arabic
Webmaster in training at Birzeit University.
Nigel received a phone call at his office at 5
pm from a friend who had passed by the house
and noticed a crowd of people around the gate.
Nigel and 'Ala came down immediately to find
their belongings in the garden, all windows and
doors smashed open, and the roof and wall of
Nigel's bedroom demolished.
The door and wall of a second room was also
demolished as well as all the windows in the
house. Kifah, who arrived shortly afterwards,
was beaten, kicked, and pushed to the ground by
5-10 people after challenging one of those
involved in the destruction of the house. Kifah
was taken to hospital after the attack and
received 4 stitches to his forehead.
"Every single window in the house was smashed,"
said Nigel, "Computers, camera equipment, were
lying outside. Everything I own had been
thrown into the garden. I've lived in this
house for three years. I intend to stay in
Palestine and was invited by Birzeit University
to come and work for them."
"The reason this happened was that there was a
dispute between us and the landlady, Madihah
Nuseibeh. According to the Palestinian
Authority, there are four hundred such unsolved
cases in Ramallah at the moment. The reason
that I unintentionally made history tonight was
that I am a foreigner."
"The usual way a housing dispute is solved here
is through the payment of something called
"khloo rijil" (lit. "clearing of the foot").
This is otherwise known in the West as "key
money" - a landlord wants to sell, the tenant
is in a bad situation, and so they arrange a
mutually beneficial agreement. The laws are
even more in favour of the tenant in Palestine
than in the West. But, because I am not a
Palestinian and because law isn't respected
here, my landlady assumed that I would not have
the protective community support, which
determines everything here. So, she ordered my
house bulldozed by thugs."
"To see Palestinians beating my Palestinian
friends, to see Palestinians destroying a
Palestinian house, which is old enough under
Palestinian law to be considered a listed
building, is something that affected me to my
core. Usually I expect to see Israelis doing
these things."
Marwan Tarazi, Director of the Computer Center,
commented that, "Before the Palestinian
Authority came to power, there was such a
strong sense of community between Palestinians
that these actions would have been unthinkable.
It is very sad that what happened tonight
reflects the level of apathy that we
Palestinians have reached. We are in a
situation where we can't even find someone who
can protect us and stand for our rights and the
rights of our friends. To see something like
this happen to someone like Nigel who has given
so much for the Palestinian cause and at the
hands of Palestinians is very disheartening."
Hanan Elmasu, coordinator of Birzeit's Human
Rights Action Project, stated that "I believe
this sets a precedent as I have never heard of
Palestinians demolishing an individual's home
in the West Bank, especially not the house of
an international working for a highly respected
Palestinian organisation."
Adam Hanieh, human rights worker for LAW - the
Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human
Rights and the Environment, who arrived shortly
after to witness the situation, commented,
"Today I was looking for pictures of Israeli
house demolitions for a publication. I never
thought I would arrive back in Ramallah, where
I live, to find the Palestinian security forces
destroying a house inhabited by Palestinians
and an international who has worked so much for
the rights of the Palestinian people."
"It is outrageous to find when someone has
spent so long trying to report the truth about
the affairs in the Palestinian areas that the
security forces and other Palestinians would go
to such lengths to stop him from living in
Palestine in his own home. Have the
Palestinians, who are so obviously short of
friends in their current situation, suddenly
decided to attack one of their friends?"
Nigel Parry, the others who live in the house,
and other friends sleep tonight in their
garden. "I never thought," said Nigel, "that I
would say, 'I've seen this on TV happening to
Palestinians and now I am experiencing it
myself. I don't mean this in the sense that I
can somehow live outside the conflict. When you
come to live here and work for the
Palestinians, you assume your life will change."
"You assume that, even though you have an
international passport, you will go through at
least 10 percent of what Palestinians
experience. But to find one of the most
insidious Israeli repressive measures literally
happening in your backyard, perpetrated by
Palestinians, is something really disturbing."
Birzeit University once again underlines the
importance of the rule of law in Palestine.
Please express your concern about these events
to the following people:
(Nigel Parry also would appreciate e-mails of
solidarity: (nparry@admin.birzeit.edu)
President Yasser Arafat
Palestinian Authority Al-Muntada
Gaza, Palestinian Authority
Fax: +972-7-822366
Mr Freih Abu Meddein
Minister of Justice
Ministry of Justice
Abu Khadra Building
Omar al-Mukhtar Street
Gaza, Palestinian Authority
Faxes: + 972-7-867109
Colonel Jibril Rajoub
Head of Preventive Security
Jericho, Palestinian Authority
Faxes: + 972-2-992-1273
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