Urgent Appeal: Israeli Anarchists Against the Wall

Dear friends,
The Israeli Anarchists Against the Wall have issued an urgent appeal for funds (see below) to help them defray the legal costs that their membership and their Palestinian partners are incurring due to their courageous stand against the Aparthied Wall and the illegal Israeli occupation.

The members of AATW regularly put their bodies on the line to stand in solidarity with Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, who are facing the every day brutality of the Israel occupation forces. Many of their members have been seriously injured, including a number of their members deliberately shot by the Israeli occupation forces (see video below).

This, however, has not deterred AATW (including Lymor Goldstine and others, who continue to take an active part in the struggle against their government's apartheid and occupation policies).

For more information on AATW visit their website at http://www.awalls.org/ (or click on the link in the links section of this blog).

Also read an earlier blog from Live from Occupied Palestine: Brothers and Sisters in Struggle - the joint struggle against Israeli apartheid and occupation
http://livefromoccupiedpalestine.blogspot.com/2007/12/brothers-and-sisters-in-struggle-joint.html

And about the joint Israeli-Palestinian non-violent struggle against the occupation and the wall: A victory for the joint, popular struggle by Basel Mansour, The Electronic Intifada, 19 September 2007
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article8998.shtml

In solidarity, Kim

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The shooting of Lymor Goldstine, 11 August, 2006

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URGENT APPEAL FROM ANARCHISTS AGAINST THE WALL

Dear friend,

The mounting legal costs of the joint Palestinian-Israeli struggle against the occupation, and the heightening legal persecution of Palestinian activists, are forcing us to send this urgent appeal for funds. We are asking for your support to continue the work of the Israeli group Anarchists Against the Wall (AATW), and perhaps even more importantly, to allow us to expand our legal fund in an attempt to also covers the legal costs of Palestinians arrested at demonstrations.

Since 2003, the group has supported the Palestinian struggle against Israeli occupation and specifically against Israel's segregation wall. Week after week, AATW joins the Palestinian popular resistance against the wall, in diverse areas of the West Bank, including the villages of al-Ma'asara, south of Bethlehem, Beit Ummar, north of Hebron, Bil'in and recently, almost on a daily basis, Ni'ilin (http://www.awalls.org/topics/niilin) west of Ramallah. There, the army is taking extreme steps to suppress the demonstrations, such as occasionally firing live ammunition and imposing siege and curfew.

Hundreds if not thousands of activists have been arrested and dozens indicted for their participation in the struggle. Fortunately, the group is represented by a dedicated lawyer, Adv. Gaby Lasky. Adv. Lasky has tirelessly worked to defend activists arrested at demonstrations or direct actions in the West Bank and in Israel. Though the legal defense she provides AATW is almost a full-time job, she has agreed to be paid only a token fee. However, even despite a successful fundraising campaign last year, AATW still owes Adv. Lasky approximately $15,.

Recently, we have seen an increase in the legal persecution of our Palestinian partners. In solidarity we are now fundraising to expand AATW's existing legal fund to also cover defense costs for Palestinian arrestees. This is in addition to covering the existing aforementioned debt, and operational expenses such as communications and transportation.

We urge you to read this article in The Nation (http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080804/gordon) about the recent struggle in Ni'ilin, and to please make a donation that will enable us to continue this struggle.

In appreciation and solidarity.
Anarchists Against the Wall

For more information about AATW, our actions and how to make a donation, visit our website: www.awalls.org/donations or contact us at donate@awalls.org.