[Reader-list] Dr. Ghazi Falah arrested in Israel

[Atreyee Gupta]

Dr. Ghazi Falah of the Dept of Geography and Planning at University of 
Akron (Ohio) was arrested earlier this month in Israel. Ghazi is a dual 
Israeli-Canadian citizen of Palestinian descent. He has a distinguished 
career as a geographer who has served on the editorial boards of Antipode 
and Political Geography, and is editor in chief of The Arab World 
Geographer. He is also active in the AAG specialty group on the Middle 
East. You can find Dr. Ghazi Falah's CV on: 
http://www3.uakron.edu/geography/faculty_staff/faculty_vitae/falah_vitae.htm 
Ghazi had gone to Israel this summer to be with his mother while she 
underwent brain surgery. While there, he made an excursion at a beach 
resort to take photographs. Like all of us in the academy, Ghazi is always 
trying to expand and update his collection of photos for teaching. He was 
detained while taking photographs - perhaps because the security forces did 
not like his taking photos (of a beach resort?), but it's hard to tell 
since no charges have been filed. Ghazi is currently being held in Israel 
without charges. He has not been allowed to speak to his family since his 
arrest. He was initially denied access to legal counsel. He now has a 
lawyer, but an Israeli judge has imposed a restraining order barring the 
lawyer from speaking about the case. The restraining order also prohibits 
the Israeli press from covering his case, though it has been covered in 
U.S. and Canadian media outlets. Here are two websites with information 
about the case and links to recent coverage. http://www.ghazifalah.com/ 
http://muehlenhaus.com/ghazi/ These sites also contain information about 
how you can help, including a message from Ghazi's department chair at the 
Geography and Planning Department at the University of Akron, Dr. Colin 
Flint, and a draft of a short message you can send to authorities in 
Canada, the US, and Israel who may be able help ensure that Ghazi is given 
fair treatment -- including, at the very least, the opportunity to know 
what the charges are against him and be given the opportunity to respond to 
those charges. Please stand up in Professor Ghazi’s support. His family is 
asking for a massive wave of letters. So please encourage people to write 
and show the authorities that we are not going away! The impression is that 
the judge is aware of the campaign’s pressure.
 Many thanks
Atreyee Gupta
University of Minnesota

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