Jamie Spector Update from Sun 7/18

I spoke with Jamie today at 11am, Pacific time (9pm in
Israel/Palestine.) She sounds good, and dictated to
me the statement below. Jamie has full access to her
luggage, and so is able to read her books and write.

IMPORTANT: Jamie's court date has been moved up one
day (!) to Wednesday, 7/21, 10am, Tel Aviv District
Court. Also, a very famous Israeli human rights
lawyer, Lea Tsemel, is now assisting Jamie's lawyer
Yael Berda with her case.

Jamie would like this statement sent out and published
as widely as possible. Any leads on how to do that
would be great.

Thank you,

Jewish-American activist Jamie Spector, refused entry
to Israel and in her 8th day of detention at the
airport, speaks on the use of secret evidence, and
draws the connections between the US and Israeli
prison systems.

Statement from Jamie Spector (Sunday, 7/18/04)

As I write from the Ben Gurion Immigration Detention
Center, there are approximately 6,000 Palestinian
political prisoners being held both within Israel and
within the Occupied Territories. With two other
fellow activists from the International Solidarity
Movement (ISM), I await my trial to appeal Israel's
deportation order against me.

The Israeli state is taking great pains to try to
criminalize the non-violent work of the ISM. One of
the tactics the Israeli government is using against
the ISM is the tradition of "secret evidence". In
what seems to be a scene from Monty Python, attorneys
from the prosecution (Israeli government) wait until
both the prosecution and the defense have presented
their cases. Then, the prosecuting attorney pulls out
a suitcase of "secret evidence" to reveal to the judge
in private. The defense has no right to see this
“evidence” in order to counter it. The defense can
deny the court access to the “evidence”, but this is
seen as an admission of guilt, and the defendant is
always found guilty. If the defense does not object,
the prosecutor goes to closed chambers with the judge,
and the magic suitcase. The judge returns with a look
of horror in his/her eyes, and finds the defendant
guilty.

In the case of Anne Petter, my cellmate and ISM
comrade, the Tel Aviv District Court found Anne guilty
(she was deemed a security threat to the state of
Israel and her appeal of deportation was denied.)
After she and her attorney refused the admittance of
said “secret evidence,” Anne appealed this decision,
and brought the case to the Supreme Court. The
Supreme Court decided to send the case back to the Tel
Aviv District Court, and mandated that the “secret
evidence” be presented to the judge. Today (Sunday),
the judge looked at the “secret evidence” and will
give their decision on Tuesday.

This is not just a fight for our entry into Israel,
this is a challenge to the Israeli “legal system”
which uses the practice of “secret evidence” to
criminalize Israeli and Palestinian dissent. Of the
6,000 political prisoners, approximately 1,000
Palestinians are being held in “administrative
detention.” This means people can be held without
formal charges, without access to a courtroom to
defend themselves, for up to six months. This can be
extended at the end of six months indefinitely. This
type of detention is illegal under international law,
and is considered a form of collective punishment,
which is explicitly outlawed by the Geneva Convention.

At the time of the Oslo Accords in 1993 between
Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority,
there were approximately 500 political prisoners being
held by the Israeli government. The Oslo Accords
called for the release of these prisoners. Instead of
releasing them, the Israeli State has gotten into the
prison business, like the United States has over the
past 20 years. With 2 million people in prison in the
US today, and thousands more in the US version of
“administrative detention,” the United States has the
highest incarceration rate in the world. It is
noteworthy that over 70% of prisoners in the US are
people of color. In supermax prisons and secret jails
throughout the US, in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, in
Afghanistan and Iraq, the US sets an example for the
Israeli government and legitimizes their system of
imprisonment. In addition, the US government has been
supporting Israel in its defiance of international law
to the amount of $3 billion annually. (This is the
official figure. Unofficially, the figure is much
higher.)

This increasing police state in Israel is not just
criminalizing Palestinians: dissenting Israeli voices
are also being persecuted. From people refusing to
serve in the army if sent to the Occupied Territories
(“Refuseniks”), to peace activists being interrogated
and searched when returning home from travel abroad,
Israeli citizens are coming face-to-face with the
repressive practices of their right-wing government.
But, as in the US, people of conscience are fighting
back. The Israeli legal team representing us are
dedicated civil rights attorneys who defend the civil
rights of Israelis and Palestinians. ADamir Institute
for Human Rights is a Palestinian-led organization
that works every day to defend the rights of
Palestinians being held in prison or “administrative
detention.” In the US, the National Lawyers Guild,
the American Civil Liberties Union, the Arab-American
anti-Discrimination Committee, Critical Resistance,
and the Prison Activist Resource Center are all
working to defend those caught in the web of the
Prison-Industrial Complex, the Patriot Act, and the
Department of Homeland Security.

While the US government is spending billions for its
own prison system, people in both the US and Israel
should support grassroots groups that defend civil
rights, fight the racist prison industry, and work in
solidarity with Palestinians' struggle to be free.

International Solidarity Movement (ISM)
http://www.palsolidarity.org/
ADamir Institute for Human Rights
Refuseniks http://oznik.com/news/021225.html
National Lawyers Guild (NLG) http://www.nlg.org/
Arab-American anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)
http://www.adc.org/
Critical Resistance
http://www.criticalresistance.org/
Prison Activist Resource Center (PARC)
http://www.prisonactivist.org/
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) http://www.aclu.org/