September, 14 2010, 12:45pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167
Nobel Laureate on Mideast
WASHINGTON
Talks resume today between the U.S., Israel and the Palestinian
Authority in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh in the Sinai
Desert.
Reuters is reporting:
"The U.S. envoy to the U.N. atomic watchdog urged Arab states on Monday
to withdraw a resolution calling on Israel to sign an anti-nuclear arms
treaty, warning it would send a negative signal to Middle East peace
talks."
MAIREAD MAGUIRE
also via Barbara Faibish
Available for a limited number of interviews, Irish Nobel Peace Laureate Maguire
is calling for the immediate release of Palestinian human rights
activist Abdallah Abu Rahmah. He was convicted of "incitement" and
"organizing illegal marches" by an Israeli military court in late
August. Another stage of his trial begins Wednesday. See: Free Abdallah
In a statement on the webpage of the Nobel Women's Initiative,
which meets in New York City this week, Maguire called the conviction
an "example of the ongoing repression of Palestinian peace activists by
Israel. Rahmah is the coordinator of the Bil'in Popular Committee, which
organizes weekly, non-violent demonstrations against Israeli
settlements and the separation wall."
Said Maguire:
"I know Abdullah Rahmah and many of villagers of Bil'in and Nil'in and
have walked in peaceful human rights marches in both villages, all of
which have ended up being violently attacked by Israeli soldiers. I am
in admiration of Rahmah and the Palestinian villagers commitment to
nonviolence and justice as they carried out their rightful resistance to
Israeli annexation of their villages' land, building of this illegal
wall, and West Bank settlements."
Maguire has also called for the release of and an end to the
harassment of Mordechai Vanunu, who exposed Israel's nuclear weapons
arsenal in 1986; he was imprisoned for 18 years and continues to be
periodically arrested by the Israeli government. See: "Israeli Nuclear Whistleblower Vanunu on Mideast Nukes"
In 2007, the Israeli military shot Maguire at a protest in the West Bank.
ROBERT NAIMAN
Naiman is policy director of Just Foreign Policy. He recently wrote the piece "'Palestinian Gandhi' Convicted for Protesting; U.S. Silent" about Rahmah.
A nationwide consortium, the Institute for Public Accuracy (IPA) represents an unprecedented effort to bring other voices to the mass-media table often dominated by a few major think tanks. IPA works to broaden public discourse in mainstream media, while building communication with alternative media outlets and grassroots activists.
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