30 March, Amsterdam: The Struggle of Palestinian Political Prisoners

Thursday, 30 March
7:00 pm
De Verrekijker
De Boelelaan 1085
1081 HV Amsterdam, Netherlands
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/987416864691777/

March 30th SJP Amsterdam invite you to an event on the stuggle of Palestinian political prisoners. We are joined by speakers Charlotte Kates, international coordinator of Samidoun, and Deniz Ekram, active for Turkish and Dutch political prisoners.
This event is free but registration is recommended (see link for tickets), donations are welcome on the night. It will begin at 7pm in De Verrekijker (on the VU campus, De Boelelaan 1105).

There is an estimated 7,000 Palestinian political prisoners, of which over 300 are children, held in Israeli jails – sentenced in military courts with 99.7% conviction rates, rounded up in night-time raids, often held under administrative detention (without charge or trial) on the basis of “secret evidence”. Since 1967, around 750,000 Palestinians have been in custody. Palestinian political prisoners represent all sectors of Palestinian society – men, women, children, elders, students, teachers, farmers, workers, artists, organizers and strugglers for freedom. Indeed, dozens of Palestinian student activists and student union representatives are currently imprisoned in Israeli jails. There are 750 Palestinians held without charge or trial under administrative detention.The massive use of imprisonment in Palestine is a key weapon of settler colonialism as it attempts to suppress and eliminate Palestinian resistance.

Charlotte Kates is the International Coordinator of Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network. This network of organizers work to build solidarity with Palestinian prisoners in their struggle for freedom. Samidoun developed out of the September-October 2011 hunger strike of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, seeing a need for a dedicated network to support Palestinian prisoners. Samidoun works to raise awareness and provide resources about Palestinian political prisoners, their conditions, their demands, and their work for freedom for themselves, their fellow prisoners, and their homeland. Charlotte will speak about Palestinian prisoners and the treatment they face in Israeli jails (including torture), EU complicity in Israeli occupation, the case for a HP boycott and attacks on the BDS* movement. She will also highlight the recent assasination of Basil Al-Araj, a Palestinian intellect and youth leader in the resistance.

Ekrem Deniz is active for political prisoners in Turkey and against police repression in the Netherlands and Turkey. He was among other things involved with the case of Ihsan Gürz, who was killed in a Dutch prison in 2011. He will speak about the history and current state of political prisoners in Turkey, torture in Kurdistan and the cases of Turkish and Kurdish political prisonors in Europe.

*Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) is a Palestinian-led movement for freedom, justice and equality. BDS upholds the simple principle that Palestinians are entitled to the same rights as the rest of humanity.

Israel is occupying and colonising Palestinian land, discriminating against Palestinian citizens of Israel and denying Palestinian refugees the right to return to their homes. Inspired by the South African anti-apartheid movement, the BDS call urges action to pressure Israel to comply with international law.

BDS is now a vibrant global movement made up of unions, academic associations, churches and grassroots movements across the world. Eleven years since its launch, BDS is having a major impact and is effectively challenging international support for Israeli apartheid and settler-colonialism.

See you on Thursday!

SJP Amsterdam