ABOUT SAMAR AND JAWAD

Samar and Jawad each came to live in Britain in the mid-1980s. They studied here, worked here and both have family here. They met in 1990 through their shared involvement in Palestinian and student politics and became good friends soon after.

Jawad Botmeh

JAWAD is Palestinian. He was born in 1967 in Bethlehem in the Israeli occupied West Bank. He is the eldest of five children. JawadÕs mother is a recently-retired high school teacher and his father is a bank manager.

Jawad comes from an educated and respected family who are known throughout Palestine and have contributed much to the development of their town. His grandfather is famous in the region for his voluntary works and is the author of several books on community development. JawadÕs uncle was an MP for Bethlehem in the Jordanian Parliament, before the area came under Israeli military occupation in 1967. He was also the Governor of the Ramallah province of Palestine in the period pre-1967, and before that he was Governor of Hebron.

Jawad came to England in 1985 when he was 17, having graduated with Honours from Ecole des Freres, the private school he attended in Bethlehem. In England, Jawad did his A-levels at a college in Loughborough and then went to Leicester University where he obtained a BSc in Electric and Electronic Engineering in 1991. He also studied for an MSc in Electronic Engineering at KingÕs College, London. He is married to Elizabeth, an English woman. Her father is a retired police officer and she has a child.

Jawad grew up in Battir, a village near Bethlehem. Whilst living there he had constant experience of the brutal and illegal Israeli military occupation. Beatings, detention without trial, torture, the destruction of homes by Israeli soldiers and other forms of collective punishment were common. One of his cousins was shot dead by a soldier as she was getting off a bus on her way to university in Bethlehem. No action was taken against the soldier responsible. Another of JawadÕs cousins, his best friend, was shot by an Israeli soldier while he was taking part in a demonstration against the military occupation during the Intifada. He died because he was not allowed through an army checkpoint to get to a hospital.

So it is not surprising that in Britain Jawad has been involved in trying to help the Palestinian struggle against the occupation. He set up, and became the president of, the Palestinian Society at Leicester University. He was also on the national executive of GUPS, the General Union of Palestinian Students, and he used to organise events, conferences and seminars for the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Jawad was involved with the National Union of Students as well as with Leicester University's students union, where he held the position of vice president. Jawad was often used as a peacemaker with the Israeli students, even when trouble flared. He was also involved with the anti-apartheid movement and the National Black Students Alliance.

Speaking of his contribution, Jawad said, "We were involved in that process no matter how little our contribution meant to the result. But under no circumstances would we put that at risk because it fundamentally goes against our ideology, policy and practices. It would be self-harm. Or else why would I, or Samar, ever get involved in student politics and NGOs and spend years campaigning peacefully if what we really wanted to do was use violence against Israelis in London?...They [the bombings] are totally counter-productive."

Jawad was just 29 years old when he was convicted. He is now a high security 'Category A'prisoner in Frankland prison in Durham.