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FEBRUARY 14, 2002. In the midst of the brutal Israeli-Palestinian butchery, a Jerusalem gay couple will spend Valentine's Day desperately fighting to remain together. The two men, an Israeli and a Palestinian, have lived together in that city since 1999. But the Israeli authorities are threatening to deport the Palestinian partner, to whom they refuse to grant a resident's visa. The Israeli partner could land in prison for "assisting an illegal alien."

The two men are reluctant to even leave their apartment, fearing arrest and separation. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is their only hope now. They have directly appealed to him, hoping for a humanitarian gesture.

"Let us live together in Jerusalem. It's so simple, it should have been obvious — that two loving individuals should be with each other," the two men told Sharon in a letter. "We hope that Mr. Ariel Sharon will allow us to realize our right to love. Perhaps that will give hope not just to the two of us, but to Palestinians and Israelis everywhere, caught like us in this terrible time of fear and violence."

Jerusalem Open House, the city's gay center, which considers this an "urgent humanitarian case," is asking people of good will everywhere to ask Sharon to help the Israeli-Palestinian gay couple. Their names have not been released; only their initials: F.M. and E.Y.N.

Write to Sharon right now and tell him that Valentine's Day is when we should be smitten by the arrows of love, not shafted by hate.

Mr. Ariel Sharon
Prime Minister of Israel
rohm@pmo.gov.il
pniot@pmo.gov.il

Jerusalem Open House
joh@gay.org.il

Related Links

For Jerusalem Open House, the city's gay community center.

For a bonanza of Middle East and Israeli links from The Jerusalem Post.

For Amnesty International's report on Israel and the Occupied Territories: State Assassinations and Other Unlawful Killings.