Dear Friends,
My name is Shaul Ganon and I am a volunteer at the ŗAguda˛, the national Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender rights organization of Israel based in Tel-Aviv.
My volunteer work at the Aguda is as the coordinator of Palestinian affairs and, among other things, we work to organize social gatherings and parties for Arabic speakers (Jewish and Arab), distribute AIDS prevention and other materials in Arabic, obtain counseling for troubled youth from the Arab sector in Israel and assist Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza who are in hiding in Israel because of exposure of their sexual identity. My biggest responsibility is assisting the Palestinian individuals who are hiding here. It can be very dangerous for them if they are exposed as gay in the Palestinian territories and in many cases they cannot return home and must remain illegally in Israel or try and escape the region to another country.
I am writing to you about a particular case like this we have of a couple in hiding in Israel, and ask you to please help us if you can. All of you in this initial mailing are either personal friends with the couple or have been in touch with us at the Aguda regarding their situation after a story was published about them in English on 7 September, 2001 in the national Israeli newspaper HašAretz. And those of you from the San Francisco Federation met the American on your visit to Israel in April, 2001.
I want to give a brief summary of their case as it stands now and here we'll call them "Sami and Brian" to protect their identity (please do not reveal their real names publicly, or their location if you know it).
Sami and Brian were living in Sami's native village in the West Bank, when, in July 2001 they were exposed as a gay couple. One of Sami's brothers began threatening them, attacked them and notified local religious authorities of the situation thus placing their lives in great danger. Sami and Brian them fled into Israel and went into hiding. We assisted them with places to stay and began calling on international human rights and gay rights organizations to help find a solution to get Sami out of Israel and to a country to ask for asylum protection..
And as most of you know,
unfortunately, still no solution has been found for their situation and the
couple was even attacked at our offices in Tel-Aviv in November 2001. We assisted in getting them out of the
city and into complete hiding at that point and they have remained there until
now suffering this trauma each day.
The case to remove Sami and Brian safely from Israel is still being worked on, and a solution may be forth coming, but even with the help of international human rights groups and some politicians, exactly when this will happen is impossible to tell. It could be next week it could be next year. The limited number of legal options available to get Sami to a safe country have constantly been mired down in bureaucracy or delayed for political reasons and it is now one year since this nightmare began for the couple. Palestinians are required to obtain entrance visašs to all countries, but Sami does not qualify for this (and no embassy will issue him a visa knowing he will request asylum protection when he gets to their country), Israel wonšt grant him asylum protection for the obvious political reasons (even though his security record is 100% clean), the United Nations office for refugees in Israel cannot accept applications for refugee status by Palestinians and therefore cannot re-settle himthe list goes on and on.
Last month Sami was diagnosed with congenital cataracts in both eyes and, despite our attempts, we have been unable to find a doctor or humanitarian medical group in Israel to operate on his eyes voluntarily. Hešs now considered legally blind in his left eye and the cataract in the right eye is also progressing.
This couple simply wants to remain together and live in a place legally, in safety and build their lives again after one full year of constant trauma. It is a ridiculous situation that in the year 2002 we have two young men hiding illegally in Israel in fear of their lives simply because they are a gay couple-one a Palestinian who can never return to his home territory for fear of persecution, the other an American who has no rights to sponsor his boyfriend for immigration to the U.S. And so they remain trapped here with growing emotional and physical problems from all the stress.
We at the Aguda and a group of the couplešs friends have decided to begin to try and raise funds for the couple and we ask you to please help us out.
Since they were moved in November last year to their new hiding place they have managed to scrape by each month, even gaining back some of the 12-15 kilo (25-30 lbs.) lost by each of them during the worst period last year. But if they continue to remain in Israel long term we fear their location may be discovered and they will once again be in imminent danger. Wešd like to see them have a financial base to fall back on if they have to re-locate again. And obviously we also want to try and have at least one of Samišs eyes operated on.
If the problem to get them out of Israel is solved, it will mean at least another 6-18 months of bureaucracy and hardship for the couple before a final re-settlement in a new home country will be complete and they will be free to live their lives normally. In this case we want to be able to send them off knowing they will get by financially week to week until they are on firm ground.
Ericca Werner, a friend for 17 years of Brian in the states has set up a bank account and address in California where any donations can be sent, and she will administer funds to the couple as necessary and copy all monthly bank statements and transactions to us at the Aguda for review. The Aguda also has a tax-deductible account in Washington D.C., but we prefer you donate to the private account so the couple get all the money and without delay if they are to leave Israel. The information for the private account is below, as well as all contact information for the Aguda in Tel-Aviv.
Thank you for taking time out to read this and we urge you to please help us support Sami and Brian any way you can. Wešve stood behind this couple from the beginning, and in these troubling times of conflict and strife we understand even more how important it is to continue to help them and see them as the innocent, persecuted individuals that they are.
Thank you again for your time! Please feel free to reply to my personal yahoo e-mail (Išm trying to save our already over-worked administrative assistant at the Aguda some time).
Sincerely,
Shaul Ganon
Coordinator,Aguda
Palestinian Affairs Dept.
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Please send donations to: c/o Sami and Brian 256 Esther Street Costa Mesa, CA
92627 U.S.A. Make checks payable to Ericca Werner. |
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Contact the Aguda: Aguda 10 Nachalat Binyamin Street POB 29523 Tel-Aviv 61290 ISRAEL Tel: + 972 3 516 7234 Fax: + 972 3 516 7724 E-Mail: sppr@netvision.net.il Please cc: shaulganon@yahoo.com |