Students petition, organize for Quran’s release
View a letter from the editor on this piece here.
Fadi Quran ‘10, a Palestinian Stanford graduate from the West Bank and U.S. citizen, was arrested Friday in Hebron, West Bank, for allegedly pushing an Israeli soldier, according to tweets from journalists and activists in Palestine. Visit the original article on his arrest here.
Fadi Quran ’10, president of Stanford Students for Palestinian Equal Rights (SPER) during the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 academic years, is still being held by Israeli security forces. Quran is in good health, according to Assaf Sharon, an organizer of the Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity Movement, a “grassroots organization working towards civil equality within Israel and an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine.”
“I’m in Jerusalem and in touch with Fadi’s lawyer,” Sharon wrote to the SPER mailing list on Friday. “He is indeed held in Ofer jail, which is the military jail where Palestinians are imprisoned. He should be brought to court on Sunday, charged with battering a soldier. We hope he will be released then.”
Sharon added that there is “no apparent course of action” that could impact the court’s decision, but encouraged the group to mobilize the Stanford community to spread the story of Fadi’s arrest and of the larger conflict in Palestine.
Imran Akbar ‘07, a co-founder of SPER, wrote to the group late Saturday morning that the American consulate is now aware of Quran’s detainment and will act soon.
“I’ve spoken to the American consulate in Jerusalem,” Akbar wrote. “I gave them Fadi’s information, told them what happened and asked for a consular officer to visit him in prison and ensure that he’s safe and has access to his lawyer. The duty officer said he’d pass the information along to the consular tomorrow and get back to me.”
Akbar said in an email to The Daily that the consulate cannot give him more information about the case, because he is not a family member. The American consulate was closed and unavailable for comment at the time of publication.
Quran was arrested yesterday during a protest against the Israeli-enforced closure of Shuhada Street. Shuhada Street is the main thoroughfare in Hebron and has been closed to Palestinians since the 1994 Ibrahimi Mosque Massacre, in which an Israeli gunman killed 29 Palestinian Muslims and injured 125.
According to the website for the International Solidarity Movement - a Palestinian-led movement committed to, “resisting the Israeli apartheid in Palestine by using nonviolent, direct-action methods and principles” – Quran was protesting with the “Youth Against Settlements” movement.
Youth Against Settlements is a Hebron-based movement that is, “a national Palestinian non-partisan activist group which seeks to end Israeli colonization activities in Palestine (building and expanding settlements) through non-violent popular struggle and civil disobedience,” according to its website.
On Saturday afternoon, Stanford graduate Lila Kalaf ‘10 drafted a petition to the Israeli government to release Quran from prison.
“Fadi should not be detained for an indefinite period of time on false charges,” the petition reads. “It is imperative that the Israeli government release Fadi so that he may continue to speak for his people and PEACEFULLY push for basic human rights.”
Current ASSU undergraduate senators are working on legislation to mobilize community support for Quran.
According to an email sent to the SPER mailing list by senator and SPER member Samar Alqatari ‘14, ASSU senators will meet at 9:30 p.m. Saturday to work on the bill.
Kristian Davis Bailey signed a SPER petition this year calling for Stanford divestment from eight companies operating in Israeli settlements.