Nine Months for Israeli Graffiti

Adam Keller, editor of The Other Israel (newsletter of the Israeli Council for Israeli-Palestinian Peace) was arrested April 15 while on reserve duty in Israel. According to the May-June issue of the newsletter, he is accused of painting slogans opposing military service in the occupied territories on 117 military vehicles (tanks, armored personnel carriers, and trucks) and of posting “Stop the Occupation” stickers and distributing leaflets in the military base. On May 11 Keller was found guilty of “insubordination and of publication and distribution of written propaganda liable to undermine army discipline.” He was sentenced to 9 months imprisonment, fined, and demoted from corporal to private.

The interim editor of The Other Israel contrasts Keller’s sentence with the much lighter sentences given to the few Israeli soldiers brought to trial for beating and torturing Palestinians. The soldiers found guilty of attempting to bury alive four Palestinians in a village in the occupied territories were given four to five month sentences which were quickly appealed and reduced to two to two and a half months.

For more information, contact: The Other Israel, PO box 956, Tel Aviv, 61008 Israel, or: The America-Israel Council for Israeli-Palestinian Peace (AICIPP), 4816 Cornell Ave., Downers Grove, IL 60515.