A Canadian group is lobbying its government to immediately freeze all funding earmarked for the Palestinian Authority until an Arab policeman and his family are freed.

Canada has provided the Palestinian Authority (PA) with $300 million in aid on condition that the money serves "to build security, governance and prosperity."

However, according to the Canadian Legal Forum for Israel (CLFI), the PA has plainly violated its commitment to assist Israel in counter-terrorism; it has even actively sought out and executed those PA residents who have assisted Israel in fighting terrorism. The CLFI has asked the Canadian government to immediately freeze all aid dollars Ottawa is slated to send to the PA.

The group is asking people to pressure Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Foreign Affairs Minister David Emerson and local MPs to freeze PA funding, until there is confirmation that the PA has freed family members jailed for assisting Israel in its counter-terrorism operations.

Free Imad Sa'ad and Family from PA Jail

The original case revolves around 25-year-old Imad Sa'ad, a young PA Arab police officer who was sentenced to death by firing squad for notifying Israel of a group of terrorists that the PA chose not to arrest, despite its official promise to fight terrorism.

In the months following Sa'ad's sentencing on April 28, 2008, several other members of his family were arrested as well, each charged with being part of an espionage ring.

Samih Staidi, PA military commander of Hevron, said in a statement, "Let [the arrests] be an example to those who sell their homeland and their people."

Former Soviet Prisoner of Zion Ida Nudel and her attorney, Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, director of the Israel Law Center (Shurat HaDin) human rights organization led a public campaign in Israel to pressure the government to take action to rescue Sa'ad.

The Israel Law Center announced on June 12 that it had been informed by Israel government sources that "the Palestinian Authority (PA) has made formal assurances that it will not carry out a planned execution of a suspected Israeli agent handed down by a military tribunal…"

However, although Sa'ad's sentence has not been carried out, CLFI coordinator Yehudit Shier Weisberg maintains, "As long as anyone is in prison, their lives are in danger."