Palestinian women in adminsitrative detention

Honestly I'm not sure how effective letters are but I think Addameer is an incredible organization and these women, like all Palestinian political prisoners, need international support. Please check Addameer's website for more information about administrative detention and their international campaign to stop it.

Addameer has also put together profiles of the two women illegally held by Israel that are mentioned below. These profiles thoughtfully done and are also easy to print out for education and to encourage more people to support the campaign. I don't know how to attach them and can't find them on Addameer's website so email me and I'll send them.

Dear Friends,

Please read the urgent appeal on behalf of two women who are currently held in administrative detention.

Majeda Fidda is an elected member of Nablus municipality Council. She was arrested from the family home in Nablus. A few minutes passed midnight on 6 August 2008 Israeli soldiers stormed her house and proceeded to a search. Five months later, on 31 December 2008 she was acquitted of all charges and subsequently placed under administrative detention. Her order is expected to end on 30 June 2009. Please write to the Israeli government, military and legal authorities and demand that Ms Majeda Fidda be released immediately and that her administrative detention not be renewed.

Siham Al Heh is a social worker from Sourif in Hebron. Siham was arrested from her family home at 1:30 am on 26 March 2009. A few days following her arrest, Siham was informed that she would be detained for a 3 month period in administrative detention, without charge or trial. Her potential – but by no means certain – release is now expected on 25 June 2009. Please write to the Israeli government, military and legal authorities and demand that Siham Al-Heh be released immediately and that her administrative detention not be renewed.

For more information on administrative detention and Addameer’s campaign please check our website: www.addameer.info or get in touch with us directly at: info@addameer.ps

Thank you for your support.

Best wishes,
Addameer

In Occupied Palestine, Loving the Children is the Easy Part

Barbara Lubin was 22 years old in 1967 when she walked into the Philadelphia military induction center along with 250 young men-and was told to strip. A dedicated and unusually daring draft counselor, Lubin had dressed in drag and hidden her hair in preparation for infiltrating an entry point into the U.S. military. As she peeled off her clothing, leaflets opposing the Vietnam War spilled from her undergarments. Her memories of that success are still vivid: "The sergeants were so enraged that they marched me out with bayonets and arrested me, but not before I was able to pass out hundreds of leaflets."

Children’s champion: On a visit to Gaza in January, Barbara Lubin of Berkeley’s Middle East Children’s Alliance poses with a family. (Photos by Sharon Wallace)

Over the subsequent 40 years-35 of them spent in Berkeley-Lubin's activism has spanned the globe: from the disability rights movement in Berkeley, to the anti-apartheid struggle centered at U.C. Berkeley, to the Bay Area Committee to Support the People of El Salvador. But since co-founding the Middle East Children's Alliance (MECA) in 1988, she has focused her formidable energies on directing the work of this small Berkeley nonprofit dedicated to a better quality of life for Palestinian, Iraqi, and Lebanese families and children.

Read the rest of Micky Duxbury's profile of Barbara and MECA here.