Chicago Sister Cities Head Refuses to Discuss Israel’s Guantanamo – Petach Tikva
Chicago Sister Cities head refuses to discuss Israel’s Guantanamo
Chicago, IL, November 16, 2009 – Five activists with the Palestine Solidarity Group-Chicago (PSG) were removed by security from the office of Leroy Allala, Executive Director of the Chicago Sister Cities International Program, where they demanded a meeting regarding Chicago’s Sister City relationship with Petach Tikva, Israel.
Five months prior, PSG sent a letter to the Chicago Sister Cities International board of directors calling on the committee to drop its relationship with Petach Tikva in support of the Palestinian civil society call for boycott, disinvestment and sanctions on Israel until it ceases its violations of Palestinians’ rights. Repeated attempts to schedule a meeting to highlight PSG’s concerns were ignored.
The first Jewish-only settlement in historic Palestine, part of Petach Tikva’s municipality is located on the lands of Fajja village, ethnically cleansed and destroyed in 1948, when more than 750,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homeland. The city is also the site of a major Israeli military detention center where Palestinians are routinely tortured and detained indefinitely without charge — not unlike the conditions at Guantanamo.
Allala immediately acknowledged that the committee had received the group’s letter and stated that the committee’s board of directors was “very happy” with its relationship with Petach Tikva, and said that there would be no severing of ties with the city. Furthermore, Allala said he was unwilling to listen to PSG’s concerns and would not have or schedule a meeting.
After a robust exchange between Allala and PSG activists, Allala returned to his office and called security to have the five individuals escorted out of the building. On the way out a PSG activist slid a copy of the memo detailing human rights abuses connected to Petach Tikva under his door.
Since January 2009, during Israel’s massacre of Gaza, PSG has embarked on a campaign calling on Chicago Sister City International to drop Petach Tikva from its program. The campaign has been endorsed by social justice and community organizations such as the 8th Day Center for Justice, Jewish Voice for Peace, CCAWR, Students for Justice in Palestine-DePaul chapter, and the US Palestine Community Network.