[E-rundbrief] Info 191 - Intl. Delegation to Mordechai Vanunu/ Israel
Matthias Reichl
mareichl at ping.at
So Jan 23 18:57:38 CET 2005
E-Rundbrief - Info 191 - International Delegation to visit Mordechai Vanunu
in Israel in April 2005; Mordechai Vanunu elected as rector of Glasgow
University (UK) in absence.
Bad Ischl, 23.1.2005
Begegnungszentrum für aktive Gewaltlosigkeit
www.begegnungszentrum.at
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Free Mordechai Vanunu - Info & Action Alert #46 - January 20, 2005
From the U.S. Campaign to Free Mordechai Vanunu http://www.vanunu.com and
http://www.nonviolence.org/vanunu/
International Delegation to Israel in April
International delegation to go to Israel in April 2005 to support nuclear
whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu's demand for full freedom and his call for
nuclear abolition
In 2004 an international delegation travelled to Israel to welcome
Mordechai Vanunu to freedom on April 21. After spending 18 years in
Ashkelon Prison for blowing the whistle on Israel's "secret" nuclear
arsenal, Vanunu was finally released after serving his entire
sentence. But upon his release, Israel imposed severe restrictions,
including forbidding his contact with foreigners, controlling his movements
inside Israel, and forbidding him to leave Israel. With these
restrictions, Israel has created a special prison just for Mordechai Vanunu.
In July 2004, the Israeli Supreme Court rejected an appeal of the
restrictions, and at a 6-month review in October, the restrictions were
renewed. On November 1, armed police stormed the church compound in East
Jerusalem where Vanunu's been living and re-arrested him, seizing his
computer, cell phone and other belongings, and questioning him about
interviews with foreign press before releasing him to a week of house
arrest. He was also detained on Christmas Eve while attempting to go to
Bethlehem.
The next review of the restrictions is scheduled for the first anniversary
of Vanunu's release from prison, April 21. The U.S. and U.K. Campaigns to
Free Mordechai Vanunu will again be organizing an international delegation
to be present in Israel for several days at the time of the one-year
anniversary of Vanunu's release. The delegation will participate in
activities such as vigils and demonstrations at sites related to the
restrictions and to Vanunu's continued call for the abolition of nuclear
weapons in Israel and around the world. On April 22 (the day after the one
year anniversary of Mordechai's release), if the restrictions are lifted as
they should be, the delegation will be there to celebrate with Mordechai
and support his next steps to leave Israel. If they are renewed the
delegation will be prepared to engage in nonviolent protest.
If you would like more information about the delegation to Israel, please
contact the U.K. or U.S. Campaign. The Campaign to Free Vanunu and for a
Nuclear Free Middle East at <campaign at vanunu.freeserve.co.uk>,
44-20-7378-9324 The U.S. Campaign to Free Mordechai Vanunu at
<freevanunu at mindspring.com>, 520-323-8697
If the restrictions aren't lifted, there will also be peaceful
demonstrations at Israeli embassies, consulates and other locations in
cities around the world, either on April 21 or shortly thereafter. Please
contact the campaigns if you would plan one in your city.
Visit the websites for more information and updates about the case, and to
send a much-needed donation (including to help sponsor members of the
delegation) - http://www.nonviolence.org/vanunu/ and
http://www.vanunu.freeserve.co.uk
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Mordechai Vanunu elected as rector of Glasgow University (UK) in absence.
Glasgow University students seized the opportunity to elect a champion of
human rights, Mordechai Vanunu as their rector, and have sent a message to
the suffering people of Palestine and Iraq.
Contrary to the hypocritical and violent message sent to the people of the
Middle East by Blair and Bush, we have made clear our opposition to all
WMDs (Weapons of Mass Distruction) and a commitment to human rights for the
Palestinian people. While Bush and Blair invented an arsenal of WMDs to
justify their invasion of Iraq, Mordechai Vanunu has suffered for revealing
the existence of the Israel's very real nuclear WMDs, an illegal arsenal
which the USA and Britain protect.
While Blair and Bush arm Israel, even as it carries out its programme of
ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people, Glasgow University students
have taken a stand for the human rights of all, including the brutally
violated people of Palestine.
The vote for Vanunu:
* registered our opposition to a world of war and weapons of mass
destruction
* supported the human rights of the Palestinian people under the
control of Ariel Sharon
* supported a brave whistleblower who stood up for his beliefs and
suffered unimaginably for his action pressurise the Israeli regime to
release a very brave man
* increases pressure on the UK government to give Vanunu asylum
The vote for Vanunu was a vote for the human rights of the Palestinian people.
Mordechai Vanunu is still deprived of his freedom in Israel for
whistleblowiing in the cause of peace, and his opposition to WMD. Vanunu
was a technician at Israel's nuclear weapons production plant. After he
revealed Israel's huge nuclear arms program to the world, he was entrapped
by Israeli Mossad agents in London, kidnapped in Rome and sentenced at a
secret trial to 18 years of jail, 12 of which he served in solitary
confinement. "I refused to be a bolt in the deadly machinery." After his
release from prison, Vanunu was given refuge at St George Cathedral in East
Jerusalem.
In the 70's he supported the cause of the violated Palestinian people, and
lost his job as a result. "Ever since I was a child I have learned to be
open to other views", he says, "to criticize, to be independent, and most
importantly to be faithful to the truth. This is why I have always tried to
serve mankind, by contributing to peace and foremost to justice for the
much-suffering Palestinians."
"I'm being punished for no crime. I'm not allowed to leave the country; I
have to report to the police." Bizarrely, Vanunu is not allowed to talk to
foreigners, or to go near any embassy, border or (air)port, or write
e-mails. He knows that his defiance of these restrictions can land him back
in the Israeli gulag, the vast prison system of abuse and torture of
Palestinians and which so cruelly tortured him for almost two decades
Why can't I speak to foreigners? I repeat all the things that Israel wants
to be kept silent; I remind of Israel's nuclear weapons program, I speak of
the barbaric treatment in Israeli prison, and I express my political views
of the conflict."
"Iraq didn't have any nuclear weapons, I'm sure that neither does Iran. If
Israel wasn't so aggressive with its nuclear arms, none of the other
countries would even need to get them." He concludes that the international
community should intervene and stop the Israeli aggression before it gets
out of hand.
"But what kind of democracy is it now, with all these emergency laws? I am
a living proof that Israel is not a democracy. Just like the Palestinians I
want to have my rights and the freedom to go wherever I want, to do
whatever I please. Israel has to become a secular democratic state; a state
without apartheid and Jewish laws, a state that respects freedom of speech
and other religions.
"I'm waiting for the world to intervene, to deal with Israel." In order to
leave the country Vanunu is trying to cancel his Israeli citizenship, but
for the authorities to approve of it, he needs a foreign one. While he has
applied for Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Irish and even Palestinian
citizenship, his application for British citizenship has yet to receive any
clear response. Yet it was a British newspaper that published his
revelations, and he was trapped by the Mossad on British soil. "I would
rather sit somewhere in peace and quiet, study history and write a book."
Israel attacks Glasgow Rector !!
The Israeli Information Office in Giffnock, Glasgow, has accused Mordechai
Vanunu of facilitating terrorism. Sometimes even Israeli officialdom can
surprise you with their brazen-ness. Full text of this garbage and a
detailed rebuttal can be found on www.vanunu4rector.org.uk in the "Israel's
libels & our rebuttals" page.
Mick Napier
Marion Woolfson
Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign
00-44-131-620-0052 / 00-44-780-32-44-739
www.scottishpsc.org.uk
Robert Fisk on Vanunu:
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/takpoints/the_man_who_knew_too_much_mordechai_vanunu.htm
http://www.counterpunch.org/fisk03262004.html
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Matthias Reichl
Begegnungszentrum für aktive Gewaltlosigkeit
Wolfgangerstr.26
A-4820 BAD ISCHL
AUSTRIA
Tel. +43-6132-24590
e-mail: mareichl at ping.at
http://www.begegnungszentrum.at
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