Let us do what we can NOW - the Occupation forces continue their assault on the people of Jayyous as you read this.

- Email a message of support:  campaign@scottishpsc.org.uk
- Get your group/organisation to make a public statement
- Do all you can to get media attention on what is happening in Jayyous
- Pass a motion at your trade union branch and ask your trade unions and international committees to send messages of solidarity and to urge Israel to end the raids and interrogations
- Please let us know of your actions and activities in response to this appeal: the students and the people of Jayyous need to know they are not alone and that we are together with them in their struggle

Jayyous students appeal:

Dear friends and colleagues,

The efforts and initiatives that you have undertaken on campuses across the UK and all over the world are greatly appreciated by all the Palestinian people, and your voices are truly able to make a difference. We, the students of Jayyous now appeal to you to struggle with us against occupation and oppression.

In the latest and most serious incursion in recent years in our village, Occupation forces rampaged through the West Bank village of Jayyous in the early hours of the morning on February 18th, conducting violent house-to-house raids and carrying out mass arrests. In total, over 75 people were arrested over the course of the day, with the vast majority of them being university students.

The Occupation forces converted a village school into a makeshift interrogation centre, as some of the youth were held there for as long as 15 hours. Many were forcibly masked during the interrogations, and at least 7 of them were transferred from the village to a military camp at Huwwara, where they are being detained indefinitely.

Almost the entire youth committee of the Stop the Wall Campaign, which does much of the mobilizing for Jayyous’ weekly demonstrations, was arrested. The fact that students and youth were the primary target of the mass arrests is a clear indication that the soldiers wanted to remove the most active and capable segment of the population from the village.

For several months now, Jayyous has been one of the most active villages in the West Bank in undertaking sustained resistance efforts against the occupation. Weekly demonstrations against the Wall, led by students and youth, have taken place, and have managed to mobilize not only the village of Jayyous, but also the people from surrounding areas. In recent weeks, the Occupation has been increasingly repressive in its efforts to put down the mobilization, culminating in this latest rampage.

The Wall in Jayyous will completely isolate and or destroy 5,585 dunums of village land. It will isolate four artesian wells upon which the village depends for water, and will destroy hundreds of olive trees, which are a vital source of income for the villagers.

This is yet another reason to call for the academic boycott of Israel. The students of Jayyous are being denied their right to education, and are having their basic freedoms stolen from them. They are being arrested and abused for no other reason than they are actively resisting the brutal occupation in their village.

In light of these events, we call upon you, the student populations who have been so supportive in standing with the Palestinian people, to stand up in solidarity with the students and youth of Jayyous in your actions on campus NOW. Use your awareness-raising activities to spread the word about the situation in Jayyous, and demand that the rights of Palestinian students be upheld.

Jayyous Students

For more information and to read the media alerts:
 http://stopthewall.org/latestnews/1857.shtml