Call for action: Israeli military order against a Staff member of the EJ YMCA

6^th, February 2012

Israeli military order against a Staff member of the East Jerusalem YMCA Rehabilitation program in Beit Sahour

On Tuesday the 31^st of January 2012, an Israeli security official called Rasim Obeidat, a senior staff of the East Jerusalem YMCA Rehabilitation Program in Beit Sahour to the security headquarters in Jerusalem and handed him a military order preventing him from entering the occupied territories of West Bank areas for six months! Rasim was also given a map showing places in East Jerusalem that he can access!

The order was issued by Avi Mizrahi, the head of the Israeli Occupation forces in the West Bank, who claims that Rasim is a threat to "the National Security of Israel".

In Addition to violating the human right of Rasim to free movement, this Military order will seriously affect the work of the EJ YMCA Rehabilitation program in Beit Sahour, especially that he runs the Human Resource department of the Rehabilitation Program.

Rasim stated that, besides affecting his job and consequently his family living conditions, this unjust order violates his basic human rights that international conventions secure. .

The East Jerusalem of YMCA Rehabilitation Program and the Joint Advocacy Initiative call you, our partners and friends around the world, as well as human rights organizations to take whatever measures protesting against this Israeli military order and exerting pressure on the Israeli government in order to cancel the order and stop such measures which violate the basic human rights.

Letter of protest against this Israeli measure could be sent to the Israeli Ambassador to your countries and to the Israeli Minister of Defense Ehud Barak at:
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Note. Please inform us of your reactions and cc us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Update:

Dear friends and supporters,

First and foremost we at the JAI would like to thank you, on both our behalf and that of Mr. Rasim Obeidat, for your ardent support to his cause and the actions you’ve taken to show your solidarity with him.

We would like to let you know that Mr. Obeidat appealed his sentence at the higher court in Israel and received a modification for the military order. The map he was given was "adjusted" to include the route he follows to go to his work in Beit Sahour in the occupied West Bank. He is still prohibited however from having access to the rest of the West Bank and some parts of his city, East Jerusalem. Mr. Obeidat is sure that this modification came as a direct result of the pressure your protest letters and those of many others that were sent to the Israeli Minister of Defense and/or the Israeli ambassador in your respective countries.

His struggle is not over yet, as he is still deprived of his basic human right of freedom of movement, but one should always acknowledge the small steps toward success. He is currently in consultation with some legal advisers discussing the following steps of this process.

Thank you for your support.