------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the March 6, 2003 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
ARRESTS IN TWO STATES SIGNAL SHIFT: ASHCROFT MOVES AGAINST PALESTINIANS IN U.S. By Leslie Feinberg It's true. There's a cabal in the United States that funnels funds and bombs for terrorists in Palestine. The safe house is a white mansion in Washington, D.C. The weapons cache is controlled at a pentagonal building in nearby Virginia. And the masterminds can be found on Wall Street and in a still-undetermined number of corporate and banking board rooms. But there are no blaring headlines about those who actually fund terrorism to support the Israeli occupation of historic Palestine. Instead, the headlines are about the Feb. 20 FBI arrest of Dr. Sami Al- Arian, a Palestinian professor from the University of South Florida. The same day, government agents also arrested USF Arabic instructor Sameeh Hammoudeh and four men in Chicago, including Ghassan Ballut and Hatem Fariz, who reportedly have close ties to the area Palestinian community. Attorney General John Ashcroft announced the arrests on Feb. 20, charging the men with allegedly "financing, extolling and assisting acts of terrorism." All of those arrested have flatly denied the charges--some of which could result in life sentences. Supporters emphasize that these arrests are part of the Bush administration's racist witch hunt to lay the basis for full-scale Pentagon war in the Middle East. Professor Al-Arian has begun a hunger strike in detention. Those arrested join the unknown numbers of Arab, Muslim and South Asian people who have been snatched up and disappeared by federal police in a round up reminiscent of the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. However, these arrests also mark a shift in this administration's "war on terror"--toward targeting the Palestinian liberation struggle. Secretary of State Colin Powell's speech to the United Nations in which he delivered the U.S. "case" against Iraq was a harbinger of this tactical move. AL-ARIAN: 'IT'S ALL ABOUT POLITICS' Supporters maintain that Al-Arian in particular has been in the government's crosshairs because for many years he has consistently and outspokenly stood up for the Palestinian people's right to live free from occupation. He is also a well-known proponent of civil liberties and civil rights. "He's a political prisoner, right now as we speak," Al-Arian's lawyer, Nicholas Matassini, told the Associated Press. Al-Arian helped establish the Islamic Society of North America and other affiliated organizations. He co-founded the World and Islam Studies Enterprise, a research and academic institution, in 1990. In 1997, he co- founded the National Coalition to Protect Political Freedom; he was later elected its president. The same year, Al-Arian helped found the Tampa Bay Coalition for Justice and Peace, which fought the arrest, imprisonment and deportation of his brother-in-law, Mazen Al-Najjar. Al-Najjar was deported from the United States in 2002 after being held behind bars for almost five years based on "secret evidence." The base of solidarity with Al-Arian has widened since he was placed on forced leave from his tenured teaching job at USF and banned from the campus shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Since then, he and his supporters have fought for his reinstatement. The Executive Council and Delegate Assembly of the Professional Staff Con gress of the City University of New York, Federation of Teachers Local 2334, passed a resolution in support of Al-Arian last April 25. Federation of Teachers President Sandra Feldman sent a letter in support of Al-Arian's rights to USF President Judy Genshaft on June 20. Following the Feb. 20 arrests, Muslim and Arab organizations and communities in the United States began organizing support. The Muslim Student Association held a Florida news conference Feb. 21. MSA Vice President Aliyah O'Keeffe said, "We are concerned that the USF professors were arrested for their political views." The group plans a courthouse protest before Al-Arian's bail hearing in Tampa on Feb. 25. (The Oracle, Feb. 24) Friends, family and activists are rallying for the Chicago men. A Feb. 21 statement by the International ANSWER--Act Now to Stop War & End Racism--coalition affirmed that the anti-war, anti-racist group "joins the organizations and individuals worldwide who are condemning Bush's and Ash croft's political targeting of Dr. Al-Arian." - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. 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