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CONTACT: Ateqah Khaki, Riptide Communications, 212-260-5000, ateqah@riptideonline.com

 

 

From the Burlington Free Press:

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080108/NEWS/80108017/-1/NEWS05

 

Wednesday, January 16, 2008, Burlington, VT

 

 

 

Published: Tuesday, January 8, 2008

 

Two representatives of the Palestinian-Israeli organization Combatants for Peace will speak at Ohavi Zedek

Synagogue in Burlington at 2 p.m. on Jan. 20.

 

Bassam Aramin, 39, spent seven years in the Israeli occupation jails from 198501992, beginning when

he was 17. A founding member of Combatants for Peace, Aramin is head of Al Quds Association for

Democracy and Dialogue in Jerusalem. He is also director at the Palestine National Archives in Ramallah.

 

Yonatan Sapira, 35, was a captain in the Israel Air Force reserves. He is also a military refuser. Yonatan

joined the Israel Defense Force in 1991 and graduated from the Israel Air Force flight course in 1993.

He served as a regular in the Air Force until 1999, flying primarily as a rescue helicopter pilot. In 2003,

he and 26 other pilots signed a declaration refusing to participate in attacks in the Occupied Palestinian

Territories because of the belief that the attacks are illegal, immoral and do not serve the security of Israel.

 

The synagogue is at 188 North Prospect St., Burlington, VT 05401 (802) 864-0218.

 

 

 

FORMER ISRAELI AND PALESTINIAN FIGHTERS EMBARK ON SPEAKING TOUR OF U.S.

 

Combatants for Peace Mark First Anniversary of Death of 10-Year-Old Palestinian Child,

Daughter of Founding Member

 

January 14, 2008, New York, NY – On Wednesday, January 16, Bassam Aramin and Yonatan Shapira,

founding members of the Jerusalem-based Combatants for Peace (C4P), will launch a U.S. speaking tour

aimed at educating Americans about the Israeli occupation and advocating for a non-violent resolution to the

conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people. Combatants for Peace is a group of former Israeli soldiers

and former Palestinian fighters who have joined in solidarity to end the violence which has engulfed

Israel/Palestine for generations. They have dedicated their lives to ending the occupation and seeking peace

through non-violent means. They have also rallied in pursuit of justice following the killing of Abir Aramin,

the ten-year-old daughter of Bassam.

 

Mr. Aramin is a former Fatah fighter, who served seven years in jail from the age of seventeen for planning

an attack against Israeli soldiers.  Mr. Shapira served as a Captain in the Israeli Air Force and later authored

the 2003 “Pilot’s Letter” refusing to serve in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

 

Exactly one year ago, on January 16^th 2007, Abir was shot in the head by Israeli border police as she left school

in Anata, near East Jerusalem. The soldiers said they were fighting with children who they claimed were

throwing rocks. They said that Abir had been attacking them, but witnesses and an independent autopsy

demonstrate clearly that she was shot with a rubber bullet in the back of the head while running away.

 

According to the Israeli Human Rights group B’Tselem, 864 Palestinian minors have been killed since 2000

and not one case has been brought to justice.

 

Despite the death of his child and the additional pain caused by the allegations of the soldiers involved,

Mr. Aramin continues his quest for peace supported by his Israeli and Palestinian comrades.

“I'm not going to lose my common sense, my direction, only because I've lost my heart, my child.

I will do all I can to protect her friends, both Palestinian and Israeli. They are all our children.”

The tour begins in New York City and continues on to Vermont and Washington DC.  For the West Coast

leg of the tour, Bassam will be joined by another founding member of C4P, Elik Elhanan, a former IDF

soldier whose young sister was killed in a suicide bombing attack.  They will also be raising funds for 

Abir’s Garden, a project designed to memorialize Abir and to provide a safe place for her classmates

and community to gather, play and heal.

 

The tour is sponsored by The Rebuilding Alliance, a non-profit organization that rebuilds homes and

communities in regions of war and occupation, as well as advocating for government policies in these

regions based on human rights and international law. 

 

Full Tour schedule: http://ourspeakingtour.pbwiki.com/Agenda

 

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