NEW YORK, October 16, 2009 (WAFA) – New York human rights advocates will gather tomorrow at the Madison Avenue jewelry store of Lev Leviev to demand that Israel release jailed Palestinian boycott activist Mohammad Othman, Adalah-NY: The Coalition for Justice in the Middle East said Friday.
Othman, held without charges and in solitary confinement since September 22nd, is from Jayyous, a West Bank village where Leviev’s company Leader is building the Israeli settlement of Zufim in violation of international law.
New York protesters will also call for an end to the Israeli wave of arrests against Palestinian activists from Bil’in, another West Bank village campaigning against the construction of settlement homes by another Leviev company, Africa-Israel, said Adalah-NY.
Mohammad Othman is believed to be the first person to be arrested by Israel specifically for advocating for the growing international movement to boycott companies, including Leviev’s, that support Israeli human rights abuses. The protest will be the 13th held in front of Leviev New York opposing his companies’ settlement construction since the store opened in November, 2007.
The New York demonstration is one of fourteen events to be held worldwide on October 16th and 17th calling for Mohammad Othman’s immediate release. Calls to free Othman have been highlighted by The Nation, in letter campaigns by the US organizations Jewish Voice for Peace and Grassroots International, as well as in an international petition. Adalah-NY added.
Thirty-three year-old Mohammad Othman, known internationally for his Palestinian rights advocacy, was detained as he crossed the Allenby bridge from Jordan, returning home to the West Bank following a trip to Norway. In Norway, Othman’s advocacy efforts on behalf of the growing international movement for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel contributed to the Norwegian government’s decision to divest from its pension funding holdings in Elbit Systems.
Elbit provided equipment used in the construction of Israel’s wall on Palestinian land in West Bank villages like Jayyous. Norway has also been asked by a coalition of eleven organizations and the villages of Jayyous and Bil’in to divest from Leviev’s company Africa-Israel. Israel’s wall was built deep within the West Bank, cutting off the vital agricultural land of villages like Jayyous and Bil’in, in order to facilitate the expansion of settlements like those built by Leviev’s companies Africa-Israel and Leader. According to the Israeli organization Peace Now, settlement construction in the Zufim (Tzofim) and Mattityahu settlements, on Jayyous and Bil’in’s land, continues.
The villages of Jayyous and Bil’in have both been targeted with arrests and repression due to their multi-year nonviolent campaigns of protests, legal suits, boycott advocacy, and media activism. Twenty-eight Bil'in activists have been arrested by Israel since June when Bil'in's lawsuit against Israeli settlement construction on village land was heard in Canadian court. Bil’in nonviolent activist Mohammed Khatib was jailed by Israeli forces for 15 days just weeks after he testified in Canada. Khatib was released on bail until a November hearing. Bil'in protester Adeeb Abu Rahme and seventeen others are still being held in Israeli jails, and Bil’in protest organizer Abdullah Abu Rahme is 'wanted' by the Israeli army for his nonviolent activism.
The international campaign to boycott Leviev due to his settlement construction and involvement in abusive business practices in the diamond industry in Angola and Namibia has achieved a string of successes. In March, following an international campaign, the government of the United Kingdom decided to drop plans to move its Tel Aviv embassy into a building owned by Africa-Israel. Leviev has also been renounced by UNICEF and Oxfam, while major Hollywood stars have quietly distanced themselves from the settlement-builder. In late August, the investment giant BlackRock confirmed that it had divested from Africa-Israel. Although BlackRock denied that settlements were the reason for their divestment, the move followed expressions of concern about settlements to BlackRock by three Scandinavian client banks. The international movement to for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel has gained momentum, particularly in the wake of Israel's attack on Gaza, which killed approximately 1400 Palestinians.
