Khalil Touame, an Arab student leader at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, was sentenced on March 12 to nine months in prison by an Israeli nilitary court. Touame, a member of the Israeli Socialist Organization and secretary of the Arab Students Committee on the campus, was charged with having "harbored a subversive," Ahmed Kalifah. Kalifah was sentenced to two years in prison for "activities endangering the security of Israel."
Maariv, the most widely read evening paper in Israel, recounted the nature of Kalifah's alleged "subversive" activities January 14:
"Kalifah, described by the authorities as the chief theoretician of the terror groups [sic] in Judea and Sameria, is suspected of sowing ferment among the civilian population in the West Bank and writing leaflets advocating noncoopera-
NINE MONTHS BY ISRAELI COURT
tion with the Israeli authorities."
Thus even Kalifah, whom it is a
"crime" to shelter, is accused of a pure-
ly political opposition to the Zionist oc-
cupation -- being a "theoretician," writ-
ing leaflets, “advocating” noncooperation.
Maariv admitted that Khalil Touame
"never concealed his views." They report
that pictures were found in his room of
Marx, Engels, Lenin and Che Guevara.
Yediot Aharonot, a Zionist paper,
reported January 14 that Touame repre-
sented Arab students in a meeting with
Jean-Paul Sartre last year. Touame "does
not deny the 'right of Israel to exist.'"
The Israeli Socialist Organization,
which has both Arab and Jewish members,
has asked for aid to fight this frame-up:
P.O.Box 2092, Jerusalem, Israel.
New York, N.Y. 10010
EDITOR: Joseph Hansen. CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Pierre Frank, Livio Maitan, interpretation of events for publications of the labor, socialist, colonial independence and black liberation movements. Signed articles represent the view of the authors,
du Faubourg Saint-Martin, Paris 10, France.
r