|
| (04/10/2005) |
Zuheir and the men in blue |
 |
|
|
|
Zuheir Tahaa, a long-time activist and
member of the Ale-Yarok Board of Directors,
is being detained at the "Nitzan" prison
facility for almost two months.
|
During this period the party has not held large events, hoping for his quick release, at least to house-arrest.
After Zuheir joined the management, many people from Kfar Kassem joined the party. The General Assembly even held a meeting there.
30 police and border-policemen arrived at Zuheir's home on September 10. The police are charging Zuheir with assaulting officers and other charges regarding the arrest itself. Zuheir claims that the police is the one who attacked him. The judges are extending his detainment/arrest time after time since Zuheir has a "history".
Zuheir does have a history. During the 16th elections for the Knesset, Zuheir joined the party and headed the Ale-Yarok branch at Kfar-Kassem. Within days, security forces tore down his house claiming it was built illegally. Zuheir was arrested and charged with assaulting police officers. In addition, we believe that the judges are not ignoring the fact that Zuheir was in the past, and still is, an Arab.
The four free members of the Ale-Yarok management (true to the time these lines are being written), with Zuheir's consent, have decided that there is no point in waiting for his release and that the party must continue to function. In addition, since a public and media campaign by Ale-Yarok for him might have negative results, we have decided not to campaign for his cause. This decision was very hard for us, since we believe he has been greatly wronged. We believe the party has been wronged. We believe that the political forces in power are using the police in order to hurt our electoral power.
Aside from the desert convention which has been cancelled, we will return to implement the rest of our plans in the near future. For now, we have decided to leave Zuheir's cause to his lawyer. Though, the last act in this story has yet to be played out.
|
|
