For over six months, activists from one of ALLMEP’s member organizations, the Gaza Youth Committee (GYC), were illegally detained by Hamas. Their “crime” was to participate in a Zoom video conference that included Israelis. ALLMEP’s local and international teams led efforts– working with human rights groups, key governments, lawyers, and partners– to secure the release of Rami Aman, the Gaza Youth Committee’s leader, along with his colleagues, most of whom were gradually released over the summer.

That’s why we were delighted to speak to Rami, free and surrounded by loved ones at his family home in Gaza.

On October 26th, Gaza’s Permanent Military Court issued a decision to release Rami and one of his colleagues, suspending their sentences, along with with that of a third activist who had already been released on bail. Please see here for the Palestinian Center for Human Rights’ analysis of the legal case, as well as here for the New York Times’ coverage of the release.

We are so pleased that Rami and his colleagues are with their families. Yet they should have never been arrested in the first place. As our video makes clear: their activities are time-proven conflict resolution tools that are protected under international law, and we will continue to defend their legitimacy and efficacy, and our members’ right to engage in them freely, without intimidation or censure.