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The story of Holy Land Foundation, which started in Richardson, is returning to the city this weekend with an event at the Richardson CivicCenter.
This just four months after the Palestinian charity that operated out of Richardson headquarters and five of its organizers were found guilty of illegally funneling more than $12 million to Hamas, the reputed terrorist group, in the Middle East.
Behind the Saturday program is Richardson-based Free the Holy Land Five, which spokeswoman Noor Elashi wrote in an e-mail last week was “established to keep the plight of the Holy Land political prisoners alive, as well as inform Americans about the international Palestinian struggle.”
Elashi of Richardson is the 23-year-old daughter of Ghassan Elashi, a founder and one of the five HLF officials convicted in November.
The program, starting at 2 p.m. Saturday at the civic center, will feature the documentary film “Arna’s Children”. Plans call for the event to open with an introduction by Jen Marlowe, “award-winning filmmaker,” and include a presentation by Bob Ray Sanders, columnist and senior editor for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.The event “is targeted for local residents who are interested in knowing the true Palestinian story,” said Noor Elashi during a later interview.
She contends the five defendants “were falsely convicted and imprisoned.”
“The Holy Land case affects every American. My dad is in prison for giving charity to poor Palestinian children and widows who have been stripped of their basic human rights for about 60 years. Any generous person could be next.”
The five HLF officials currently are awaiting sentencing on their convictions, with an appeal planned thereafter, according to Noor Elashi.She expects about 200 people to attend the event and “wouldn’t be surprised if there were some protesters,” noting that family and friends have been sending out “a lot of e-mails and posting information online” to generate interest.
“We did want to find somewhere in Richardson [for the event],” she said, “because many people in the Richardson area know about the story.”
Contact Mark Macesich, editor of Richardson/Far North Dallas edition of neighborsgo, at 469-330-5670 or mmacesich@neighborsgo.com.
MORE INFO
- “Arna’s Children” is a documentary about a Jewish woman named Arna Mer Khamis, the theater she established in the Jenin Refugee Camp during the Intifada, or uprising, of 1987 and what later happened to four of her Palestinian students.
- Tickets to the Saturday event are $5. The Richardson Civic Center is located at 411 W. Arapaho Road, just off the North Central Expressway service road.
- For more information on the event, call 972-365-5153 or 972-697-3073.
