Thursday, May 27, 2010

Press Conference at Federal Court House in Detroit: WSU Student Denied Entry Into Occupied Palestine

Subject: Action Alert/ WSU student denied joining her classmates to study abroad and sent back home to Michigan from Israel

To all peace with justice advocates- please help!

Send letters and make calls to your respective Congressional representatives regarding this outrageous treatment of an innocent young woman whose education is denied. Here are more details. See contact list attached.

Abeer Afana, Wayne State University student, unlike her seven other classmates, was denied entry into Israel for a study abroad program organized by the Near Eastern and Political Science Departments at Wayne State University.

The Detroit Free Press wrote: “Students in a Wayne State University study-abroad program designed to look at the tensions in the Middle East got a firsthand lesson during the weekend -- even before they walked out of Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel .”

U.S.-born Abeer Afana, 21, was interrogated by Israeli security agents and detained for several hours before she was returned to a plane bringing her back home to Novi , Michigan , because her parents are from Gaza and she once held a Palestinian passport.

Regarding Abeer’s denied entry, the Free Press further wrote that the U.S. State Department warns U.S. citizens of Arab or Muslim origin may face additional questioning "or may even be denied entry into Israel ."

Here is Abeer’s final plea: “I am equally proud of being both Palestinian and American. After months of planning and preparation, I viewed this trip as the opportunity to fulfill my ultimate goal- search for truth and answers for peace. What did I do wrong? Nothing! I’ve always followed the rules. So, where is my help?”

Hasan Newash
Palestine Cultural Office Director
313 945-660

P.S.: Professor Naom Chomsky has recently become an outlaw in Israel . He joins Bishop Desmond Tutu, Former President Jimmy Carter, Professor Richard Falk, Judge Richard Goldstone, and Norman Finkelstein. Who is next? See our website for more information: http://palestineculturaloffice.org/news.php

No comments: