We note the treatment of Weam and Ridha Khalid and their family by Israeli soldiers on 20 May 2012 — Israeli soldiers broke into Weam Khalid’s 2 bedroom unit in the nighttime terrorising her five children, smashing her furniture and taking her husband, Ridha Khalid, away to an undisclosed location for an indeterminate period.

Weam’s son in apartment after Israeli soldiers had been there

We note that Mr Khalid is employed by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in the occupied territories which is funded (in part) by the Australian government.

Weam and Ridha Khalid and their children have been deprived the right to be a citizen of any country — they have no country.

We are concerned that:

1. Reports indicate that Ridha is on hunger strike in an Israeli prison
2. Weam has not been able to see Ridha
3. Lawyers have not been permitted to represent him
4. Red Cross have not been able to check on his well-being
5. Ridha’s in-laws in Australia are concerned for his physical and mental state.
6. We are concerned about why the soldiers took Ridha — Israeli soldiers killed his son, do they wish to kill the father?
7. Mr Khalid was tortured in an Israeli prison in 2001.
8. Ridha spent 18 months in detention prior to release.
9. Israeli targeting of refugee camps in Nablus for heavy repression

These all amount to human rights abuses that the Australian foreign minister counts as important in Syria. But why not in occupied Palestine?