GUEST BLOG: Martin and Lois Griffiths – ARREST THAT CLOWN!
April 17 was Palestinian Prisoners day.
There are around 7,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons, around 700 of whom are under administrative detention. Administrative detention means no charge, no lawyers. Around 300 Palestinian children, at any one time, are incarcerated by Israel.
Many stories could be told; Palestinians are people not numbers. But Israeli abuse of justice is so widespread and has been going on for so long that the West’s media prefers to ignore most cases. Yet sometimes a story catches the world’s attention.
On 14 December of last year , a Palestinian clown, 24 year-old Mohammad Faisal Abu Sakha, was detained at a checkpoint as he travelled from his home in Jenin to on his way to the Palestinian Circus School in Bir Zeit, not far from Ramallah. Mr Sakha specialises in teaching children with learning disabilities, who make up 10 per cent of the students at the Circus School.
Since his arrest, he has been detained without charge in an Israeli prison. His family have not been allowed to see him .
Amnesty International and a number of Palestinian rights organisations are calling for his release. Abu Sakha is well known by European circus groups as he has performed in circus exchanges with them. Circus clowns around the world are holding ‘red nose’ protests.
His only crime, according to the European Commission-funded Circus School, is “making children happy”.
Noam Chomsky has said,“Israel’s policies of administrative detention have been an international scandal for decades.” For how many more decades will the West look the other way?
[Lois and her husband Martin are retired teachers who share a lifelong interest in international humanitarian concerns . They focus especially on the cause of the Palestinians, having been to that part of the world several times, meeting Palestinians and Israeli human rights activists to who are desperate for the outside world to hear their narrative.]
So this is tolerated obviously. Where is the public condemnation in NZ.
Relative silence. Why?
You may wonder why I chose this particular example of administrative detention. There is so much that should be said: about Israel’s war on Palestinian journalists..which I have called to Radio NZ’s attention but they have shown no interest, about Israel’s arrests of Palestinian MPs including the human rights activist Khalida Jarrar..I’ve told NZ women MPs about her but no interest, much needs to be exposed about Israel’s war on children , Defence of Children International’s report No Way to Treat a Child.
Anyway I decided to focus on just one incident, the arrest of clown-teacher Mohammad Faisal Abu Sakha. I think it epitomizes Israel’s ongoing determination to destroy Palestinians, economically and psychologically. Israel is particularly determined to deny Palestinian children a childhood. They , the IDF and settlers destroy playgrounds, and schools. They hope the circus school will have to close.