Posted on 05/17/2002 6:00:08 PM PDT by Shermy
A college student who joined armed Palestinians in Bethlehem's besieged Church of the Nativity remains jailed in Israel, fighting his deportation to America, federal officials said.
Nauman Zaidi, 27, of Rancho Cucamonga, was among 10 foreign activists removed from the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, West Bank, on May 10 as the standoff between armed Palestinians and Israeli soldiers ended after 39 days. Zaidi and others were carrying food to troops holed up inside the church.
A State Department official in Washington, D.C., said Thursday that Zaidi is one of five Americans moved to Massiyahu Prison earlier this week after they protested their expulsion to the United States.
"The Israeli government wishes to deport them and they are appealing their deportation," a State Department official said. "If they agreed to be deported, they would be deported immediately."
The five detainees have retained an attorney in Israel to handle their appeals, the official said.
It was not immediately known how long such an appeal could take.
Nasim Zaidi said he spoke briefly with his son by telephone Thursday morning.
"He said he is doing fine and they are being fed and treated nicely," he said.
Nauman Zaidi wants to be returned to Cairo, Egypt, where he has a few weeks left to finish his religious studies classes, his father said.
The Israelis agreed to send Nauman Zaidi to Cairo if his parents paid for the airline ticket. But the student has refused, according to the State Department.
"We want to resolve it one way or another," said the elder Zaidi. "If they want to deport him, do it, but don't make us pay for it."
Zaidi attends the University of California, Riverside, where he is a biological studies major. He is part of the International Solidarity Movement, which describes itself as a nonviolent, pro-Palestinian activist organization. Its members ran into the church believed to be Jesus' birthplace to give food to the Palestinian soldiers.
UC officials say they are reviewing Zaidi's actions to determine whether he violated a code of conduct for students studying overseas. Such a violation could cause his expulsion from the UC system.
Let him stay in an Israeli gray-bar hotel. They'll fix his wagon.
I suspect, at the end of their deliberations, they'll name a building after him and offer him a tenured position.
And can you imagine the nerve? The idiot would rather sit in jail than spring for a damned plane ticket to the destination of his choice. I say let him sit there. And let his lawyer's meter keep running in the meantime.
Biological studies? I hope this is just a liberal arts greenie program and not a serious biological sciences course. I don't think he's bright enough to handle biochemistry and he might foul something up.
I reckon he must like being a prison-wench for the local Arabs in an Israeli jail.
Zaidi attends the University of California, Riverside, where he is a biological studies major
What's wrong with this picture?
//sarcasm/ for those who do not work in a drug free workplace.
Put a "Jerusalem belongs to Jews" T-shirt on him, put a gag on his mouth, bind his hands, and paint a star of David on him, then drop him into the crowded middle of Jenin.
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