Call for Nakba Commemorations to highlight Rasmea Odeh’s case

On or around
Thursday, May 15th, 2014
the commemoration of Al Nakba: Call attention to the “I Support Rasmea” campaign.
The United States Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) and the Committee to Stop FBI Repression (CSFR) are calling on groups across the country to commemorate Al-Nakba on or around May 15th, with events highlighting the “I Support Rasmea” campaign.

Rasmea Odeh, a U.S. citizen who was born in Lifta, Palestine, just outside Jerusalem, was exiled along with her family in 1948, when Lifta was forcibly depopulated and ethnically cleansed along with over 400 other towns and villages, to make room for the settler colonialist state of Israel—what Palestinians call “Al Nakba,” the Catastrophe. Last October, she was arrested and indicted for allegedly falsifying information on her immigration application from 20 years ago, a ridiculous claim that is nothing but pretext for another legal and political attack on another Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim leader in the U.S.

In 1947-8, over 750,000 Palestinians like Rasmea were driven from their homes by European Jewish gangs and militias that eventually became the Israeli state’s armed forces. These Palestinians and their descendants make up the largest refugee population in the world, close to 5 million people; and although the Universal Declaration of Human Rights generally, and UN General Assembly Resolution 194 specifically, guarantee their Right to Return to the homes and lands from which they were exiled, Israel and the U.S. have blocked its implementation for 66 years.

When Israel became a state on 78% of historical Palestine on May 15^th, 1948, the settler colonialists who declared it owned a mere 6% of the land. The military occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, and Jerusalem, in 1967, gave Israel control of the entirety of Palestine and its people. All of Israel sits on stolen land. All of Palestine is illegally occupied. This is the essence of the Palestinian struggle for freedom, self-determination, and Return.

Rasmea is the Associate Director of the Arab American Action Network and won the “Outstanding Community Leader Award” from the Chicago Cultural Alliance in 2013 for her work with the Arab Women’s Committee and other groups. She also recently completed a Master’s degree in Criminal Justice from Governors State University. She overcame vicious torture by Israeli Military authorities while imprisoned in Palestine in the 70s, and is a legend to millions of Palestinians who continue to organize for their rights of liberation, equality, and return.

Rasmea is scheduled to go on trial on June 10^th in Detroit, where she originally entered the U.S. We are campaigning for these outrageous charges to be dropped and will be asking all friends and supporters to join us in packing the courtroom every day of her trial.

Like so many Palestinian elders, Rasmea is a living embodiment of Al Nakba, a heroic woman who is still standing after being kicked off her land and oppressed for decades by the Israelis, and now facing similar criminalization in the U.S. For this reason, we are asking groups to organize events on or around Thursday, May 15^th, 2014, the commemoration of Al Nakba, calling attention to the “I Support Rasmea” campaign. And for those many cities and organizations that already have Nakba Day activities planned, we are asking you to highlight Rasmea’s case as well.

“I Support Palestine! I Support Women! I Support Rasmea!”

Sign the Rasmea Odeh petition at ://www.stopfbi.net/ and visit ://www.uspcn.org.