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Arresting
Vanunu While Burying Arafat
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They
stormed St Georges early in the morning
just
like it was Ramallah
and
the Ghost of some other plot the base of their desire<
Machine
guns poised ready to fire
How
many agents do you think it takes
to
intimidate Anglican Bishop Riah?
How
many agents needed to crash a cathedral gate
How
many agents to dash past clergy and Pax Ecclesiae
How
many agents to frighten the Christian pilgrims
and
seize the unarmed Mordechai?
Mr
Vanunu remained calm.
They
took him away with a utomatic weapons and hostility
Later they returned him without harm but missing
his technology
towards
sacred place, circle, temple, mosque or church
how
many security agents DOES it take to represent a
fascist state?
MLR
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Mary La Rosa • 15 November 2004
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On
November 10 2004, Fredrik Heffermehl, Norwegian
author of the book "Peace Is Possible" and spokesperson
for the International Free Vanunu Campaign distributed
an online report and analysis concerning the ongoing
and active campaign for full human and civil rights
for Israeli nuclear whistle blower Mordechai Vanunu. Mr
Vanunu is currently living with the ambiguity
of not quite full freedom. While it appears that
he was physically released from one Israeli styled
prison six months ago, he is seemingly further
punished and being held prisoner by being forced
to remain under court restrictions that prevent
him from leaving the country that does not really
want him, but also does not really want him to
be free. The overt theme of Israel's continued
restrictions over Mr Vanunu's civil rights and
liberties is one that claims security , not vengeance,
to be at the core paranoia about Mr Vanunu's twenty
year old memory of such "secrets" now known and
published throughout the free world.
Fredrik
Heffermehl, who is also a lawyer and Vice President
of the International Peace Bureau had only just
presented the newly proposed legal strategy based
upon review of Mordechai's situation and the progress
of the campaign thus far. Due to various aspects
of Mr Vanunu's unique case re: its legality, civil
rights, environmental concerns, an international
awareness and interest in the case has been growing.
Mr. Heffermehl's report welcomed a larger international
presence including special interest groups that
support Mordechai and umbrella together in support
of the abolition of nuclear proliferation. Another
lawyer and activist, Jennifer Harbury joins Mr
Heffermehl in Lawyers For Full Freedom For Vanunu
. She is currently working on a project that exposes
the various use and users of torture and she brings
to the Vanunu campaign her expertise in championing
political prisoners and human rights causes.
Less
than one day after Mr Heffermehl posted his report
to an international community of supporters, Mordechai
Vanunu was taken away in a fanfare of commando
style mobbing. If indeed this event took place
to contrast the event of Yasser Arafat's death
and funeral, why did Israeli security still deem
it so necessary to utilize such armed force against
unarmed Christian clergy and pilgrims.? Some witnesses
reported as many as thirty security agents arriving
in various kinds of vehicles brandishing weapons
across the threshold of the sanctity of the Church
grounds, and against the much outraged indignation
of the Right Reverend Bishop Riah Abu El-Assal.
Bishop
Riah is the Christian leader of the Anglican community
at the Cathedral of St George in Jerusalem where
Vanunu has been living in sanctuary from those
who wish to do him physical harm. This is not
the first time Bishop Riah has been rudely approached
by security police with regards to Mordechai Vanunu.
Since offering Mordechai Vanunu the hospitality
and protection of the Church, Bishop
Riah has been stopped and detained at Tel
Aviv airport. There he was subjected to a body
search and he was interrogated by the Shin Bet.
Bishop
Riah , as a Palestinian Christian, has experienced
most of his life living under Occupation. Considering
his past and present status in the Anglican community
this recent incursion is a great disrespect and
an affront to all Churches. Since this inappropriate
incident and armed visit that included Mordechai's
arrest, the Anglican Church and the Compass
Rose Society have featured Bishop Riah's letter
and reaction to this latest assault. He remains
Mordechai's loyal friend and spiritual adviser.
The
motivation behind making the dramatic kind of
arrest at St George's that befitted some dangerous
kingpin with some equally armed entourage, is
unclear at this time, except that it has provided
the Vanunu campaign with further vitality in the
medias. Mr Vanunu remained calm and the other
guests and clergy, after expressing their initial
shock and dismay, are now expressing their outrage.
It has been alarming to notice how an established
religious leader at his center and consecrated
ground, is treated by an over active police force
thus setting further example for those "unofficial"
and self proclaimed police gangs known for acting
out racist hatred and violence near illegal settlements.
Other religious leaders, pilgrims and concerned
travelers must consider if this incident is part
of a current trend by the Israeli government to
single out certain types of Jesus followers, especially
those involved in human rights issues and/or unpopular
causes.
An
unpopular cause, besides Mordechai Vanunu's
complete freedom, appears to be any overt defense
of the Palestinian people's basic human rights
and needs. Christians involved in using their
presence in order to protect Palestinians from
settler violence have been physically attacked
while walking as a protective presence with
school children. The Christian Peacemaker Team
in Hebron has reported on such settler
violence for some time now. Israeli and
Christian groups report that the rate of incidence has increased
but with little or no real policing of the hate
crimes.
Recently
tensions in Jerusalem involving chronic abuse
of Christian clergy by orthodox students culminated
when a Jewish orthodox student spat
at an archbishop during a procession from
Jerusalem's Armenian Quarter to the Church of
the Holy Sepulcher, the site that comemorates
the crucifixion and burial of Jesus. The student
in this particular incident was arrested, after
ripping the cross from the neck of the cleric.
The Armenian Christians reported that the spitting
is an ongoing and continuous problem and one
that comes from adult men and women , as well
teens.
The
Presbyterian Church has been recently featured
in alternative and some mainstream medias for
its latest strategy and decision to do something
positive on behalf of the existing and continuing
suffering of the Palestinian people living under
occupation. Tired of waiting for yet another
official UN veto to stop "even" investigation
of human rights violations in the Occupied Territories,
the Presbyterian Church has decided to take
direct action against illegal settlements and
the illegal targeting of human rights activists
in the Occupied Territories.
By
making such brave and courageous commitment
to peace in the name of values directly associated
with the life and teachings of Jesus, the Presbyterians,
have come under attack. As a pro active commitment
to peace and justice, the Presbyterian Church
announced it would target specific companies
and businesses that operate on occupied land,
and or companies that support illegal settlements,
build barriers and make business with organizations
that support violence against the Palestinian
people. The Church further explained that all
Companies can balance their past bad business
practices by protesting the occupation, helping
victims, contributing to a viable economy for
an independent Palestinian state, or employing
Israeli Arabs or Palestinians.
"The
goal is not to divest but persuade organizations
to change their behavior," said Jerry Van Marter,
director of the Presbyterian News Service.
This
statement and statements like this have inspired
bullying and threats from violent Jewish
extremist groups operating in the US and
abroad. Tensions have risen with the most recent
arson threats that have been directed
specifically towards Presbyterian churches all
around the United States. Threats of arson were
sent to individual Churches and included swatiska
signs condeming each Church and the Presbyterian
organization as a whole, for its human rights
efforts against illegal settlements, that either
promote or inflict apartheid style racism or
that defiantly stand as obstacles to peace.
Mr.
Vanunu, who is a Christian and who claims his
faith profoundly directed and sustained him
during the worse of his imprisonment, gives
much credit to the spiritual teachings of Jesus
Christ. Throughout his hardship and the loneliness
of solitary confinement, Mordechai held strong
to his Christian beliefs. If eighteen and a
half years did not break him of those beliefs,
thirty men with weapons will not succeed either.
Afterall, the universal message of Christ is
one of peace and love and is still held in "some"
popular esteem at his birthplace and elsewhere
around the world, more than two thousand years
later.
This
year Mr Vanunu was once again nominated for
the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize. Had he won
he would have had to have made his acceptance
speech from inside Israel while under restrictions
for doing that which put him in prison eighteen
and a half years ago which in turn led him to
be nominated. He was recently honored at the
United Nations along with Seymour Hersch as
recipient of the Lennon Ono Peace
Award and also because of his restrictions
he could not attend. Instead , his adoptive
parents, Nick and Mary Eoloff accepted for him
and gave his speech for him
in absentia.
The
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
recently made a tribute by naming its national
headquarters in London after him.
In
October, Mordechai Vanunu celebrated his 50th
birthday . Because of the court restrictions
he could not share his cake and toast with all
his friends, but supporters from all around
the world celebrated his special day . Shortly
after, David Frost contacted him and he answered
David's questions in interview format . This
interview was considered a defiance of the restrictions
placed on him upon his release. However, if
David Frost calls Mordechai Vanunu how is it
possible to comply with such restrictions and
still be a man free to answer the door or pick
up the phone?
Among
his last words to David Frost:
"I
tried to inform the world and to try to stop
this nuclear proliferation" Mordechai Vanunu
Mary
La Rosa is an artist and librarian living close
to NYC, where she worries that her beautiful
HereNow is about to be destroyed by someone
else's HereAfter
http://www.peaceispossible.info
www.nonviolence.org/vanunu
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All
censorships exist to prevent any one from challenging
current conceptions and existing institutions. All progress
is initiated by challenging current conceptions, and
executed by supplanting existing institutions. Consequently
the first condition of progress is the removal of censorships.
- George Bernard Shaw
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