An E-mail From Well-Known Palestinian Journalist Khalid Amayreh

Contributed by Fatima

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"Hebron, Israeli-occupied West Bank

23 February, 2008

The Palestinian Authority (PA) Mukhabarat or General Intelligence has summoned Palestinian journalist and writer Khalid Amayreh for interrogation, probably in connection to his work.

Amayreh is a veteran Palestinian journalist and a vocal critic of the current “peace process” between the American-backed regime in Ramallah and Israel.

Amayreh said he received a written notification asking him to go to the Mukhabarat headquarters in Hebron for questioning pertaining to an undisclosed issue.

He is among a few Palestinian journalists who write in English to a global audience. His articles and columns are published on numerous websites, especially those critical of the Israeli apartheid regime and US policy toward the Palestinian plight.

The 50-year-old journalist obtained a BA degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma and a Master degree in the same field from the University of Southern Illinois at Carbondale in the United States.

Amayreh lately drafted a proposed truce between Israel and the Gaza-based Palestinian government in cooperation with Rabbi Menachem Froman.

According to the draft truce agreement, Israel would lift its 20-month blockade on the Gaza Strip and put an end to all assassinations and attacks, including artillery and aerial bombings of targets in Gaza in return for a total stoppage of the firing of homemade rockets and other projectiles on Israeli territory.

Israel has effectively rejected the truce initiative.

Similarly, some PA officials have voiced consternation about it, arguing that lifting the blockade on Gaza and stopping Israeli attacks would strengthen Hamas vis-à-vis the Ramallah-based regime."

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My Comment:

This development is a cause of deep concern in light of the repeated news of illegal arrests, torture and execution of political activists and outspoken individuals by the thugs in the Ramallah Green Zone. Only yesterday Imam Barghouthi (42-years old) died at the hands of the Mukhabarat torturers in Ramallah after seven days of torture including savage beating and around the clock suspension from a ceiling or a window. Please see more details posted a few posts below about Imam Barghouthi.

Khalid Amayreh has been courageous and outspoken in his denunciations of both the brutal IOF occupation and the collaboration of the PA with this occupation. He has been one brave and loud voice that should not be silenced.

We should be very worried about the fact that he has been summoned by the Mukhabarat thugs. Will he also be tortured? Will he be silenced? Anything is possible in the West Bank under the joint terror of the IOF and the goons of the PA with the direction of US "security coordinator" Keith Dayton.

The Palestinians dare not speak the truth or else.