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News
Catholic Charities Helps Palestinian Peace Activist
Gain Asylum
NEWARK, N.J. —Thanks to Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Newark (CCAN), Zaher, a 28-year-old Palestinian musician and peace activist, now has a chance to escape the violence of the Middle East and begin a new life in the United States. Staff from CCAN’s Immigration Assistance Program recently defended Zaher from deportation and helped him gain asylum.
“Zaher, who grew up in a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, survived Intifadas at home after he, two fellow Palestinians, and four Israeli musicians formed a band and tried to promote peace through their music,” explained CCAN attorney Thomas Mungoven. “We knew he would be in great peril if he returned.”
A self-taught violinist who has always found solace in music and poetry, Zaher earned a degree in special education from the Red Crescent University. For a time, he worked with disabled children and spent a year working for the Special Olympics in Rafah.
In 1999, a friend approached Zaher about joining some musicians from the “other side” in a collaborative peace effort sponsored by the Windows Peace and Friendship Center in Tel Aviv. He jumped at the chance and traveled to Israel to help found White Flag — a band dedicated to promoting peace by advocating a complete end to violence on both sides. The band’s mission soon attracted the attention of a Swiss television station, which began filming a documentary about White Flag and its role in the peace process.
The band played several shows — the biggest of which was at Israel’s Bereshit Festival in September 2000. Two days before the show, the Al Aksars Intifada broke out. Despite the growing violence, the band decided to go ahead and play the festival, which was broadcast on Israeli television. In several interviews with media covering the event, Zaher called for both sides to lay down their arms and reject calls to violence. After the show, all permits allowing him to remain in Israel were cancelled, and he returned to work in his family’s grocery store in the Gaza Strip. He then began to receive threats from members of Fatah and Hamas, who warned him that he would be killed if he and White Flag continued advocating for peace.
Earlier this year, Zaher visited his sister in the United States. While here, he heard from the Swiss television station, which invited the members of White Flag to come to Switzerland to finish the documentary. Zaher secured a visa to travel to Switzerland, and the band reunited to play several large festivals, record a CD, and finish the documentary.
“When the project was over and Zaher attempted to return to the United States, he was detained by immigration officials at J.F.K. Airport,” said Mungoven. “Authorities initiated removal proceedings in an attempt to return him to Palestine. Fearing for his life, he asked for political asylum and was placed in the D.H.S. detention center in Elizabeth, New Jersey.”
“Catholic Charities soon heard about Zaher’s plight,” said Mungoven, “and after we interviewed him and learned about the dangers he would face by returning home, the agency agreed to represent him pro bono in his asylum case.”
Initially, the immigration judge granted Zaher “withholding of removal,” a preliminary form of relief. However, believing that this did not afford his client adequate protection, Mungoven went back to the judge and requested that the case be reopened.
“Two days later, the judge agreed to reopen the case,” said Mungoven. “When she then granted Zaher political asylum in the United States, he was ecstatic. And so were we.”
Zaher will be eligible to apply for permanent residence in the United States in a year. Free from fear, he plans to resume his musical career and his peace advocacy with White Flag.
Serving northern New Jersey for more than a century, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Newark is one of the state’s oldest and largest community-service agencies. Catholic Charities, which operates programs throughout Essex, Hudson, Union, and Bergen counties, shelters men, women, and children without homes; counsels families in crisis; provides day care and socialization activities for older adults; builds families through adoption; teaches job skills; educates students with special needs; and helps people with HIV/AIDS. Catholic Charities also assists “the stranger among us” through programs for immigrants, refugees, and victims of human trafficking. More information is available online at www.ccsnewark.org.
To learn more or to schedule a consultation with CCAN’s Immigration Assistance Program, call (973) 733-3516.
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