The International Movement for a Just World (JUST) joins hands with Churches in Palestine and Israel and other faith-based institutions and organizations everywhere in observing the World Week for Peace in Palestine and Israel (WWPPI) from 21 to 27 September 2014.
The theme for this year “Let My People Go” carries a poignancy of its own. It has special meaning for the thousands languishing in Israeli jails.
The imprisonment of political dissidents anywhere in the world is a terrible injustice. When these dissidents are incarcerated in the prisons of an occupier, the injustice becomes an even more unconscionable act of oppression.
We know that among the thousands who are enduring the pain and agony of incarceration are women and children. Women have been humiliated and harassed in Israeli jails. The children will bear the deep emotional and psychological scars of their imprisonment for a long time to come.
JUST calls for the immediate release of all women and children from Israeli prisons. Their release should be unconditional.
Male prisoners should also be set free.
Freedom for all Palestinian prisoners by itself will not end occupation. But it is a vital step that should be taken now.
JUST, a multi-religious organization with a global reach, prays that justice — the plea of all the prophets through the ages — will triumph in the land of the prophets.
Dr. Chandra Muzaffar,
President,
International Movement for a Just World (JUST).
Malaysia.
27 August 2014.