JERUSALEM, December 19, 2002 -- In a decision described as "embarassing" by Israeli human rights observers, Palestinian worker Jihad Abu Id was denied bail today in Tel Aviv District Court.

Judge Michal Rubinstein ruled that Abu Id, who has been in detention for six months while waiting for deportation to Jordan, will remain in custody until the Israeli Supreme Court rules on his status as a Palestinian. The Interior Ministry in Israel is arguing that Abu Id has forfeited his status as a Palestinian because he's married to a Jordanian.

Rubinstein reasoned that Abu Id might flee to Palestine if released on bail.

Abu Id's lawyer, Leah Tsemel, called his case "a typical Palestinian story" and vows to appeal the decision.

Meanwhile, Israeli human rights lawyer Shamai Leibowitz pointed out that individuals accused of bribery, fraud and even manslaughter are regularly granted bail, while Abu Id, who was only caught working in Israel without a permit, and has not been even been charged with any crime, has now been detained for half-a-year.

Leibowitz scoffs, "Any legal student knows there is no basis for unlimited detention. This is beyond reason."

Abu Id waits for his Supreme Court hearing in Maasiyahu Prison in Israel.

-- reported by Jaggi Singh in East Jerusalem

[For more info about the case of Jihad Abu Id and other Palestinian deportees, please contact Shamai Leibowitz in Tel Aviv at +972 3 670 4170. Jaggi Singh (jaggi@tao.ca) is a member of the International Soldarity Movement (ISM): www.palsolidarity.org. He is a writer and an anarchist social justice activist based in Montreal, as well as a member of the No One Is Illegal campaign, an immigrant and refugee rights movement in Canada (nooneisillegal@tao.ca).]