The Samidoun Network in occupied Palestine organized a series of events at Bir Zeit University on Wednesday, 25 October, working together with a number of student blocs and organizations. The events, in solidarity with the imprisoned Lebanese Arab struggler Georges Ibrahim Abdallah and longtime Palestinian prisoner in Israeli jails Samir Abu Naameh, were part of an international week of solidarity with Georges Abdallah as he enters his 34th year in French prisons.
The events began with a seminar with Dr. Abdel-Rahim Sheikh and lawyer Wael Abu Naameh, the brother of Samir, where they spoke about the situation of Palestinian prisoners. The event was convened in the Martyr Kamal Nasser hall, and participants discussed the political, social and cultural terror practiced by the Israeli occupation and imperialist forces. They emphasized the colonialist nature of imprisonment and the importance of the role of young people in working to free Palestinian political prisoners, as the backbone of the Palestinian national liberation movement.
With the upcoming anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, the speakers noted that 100 years of colonization and imprisonment have failed to defeat the resistance of the Palestinian people.
The program also included discussions of the lives of both Abdallah and Abu Naameh, followed by a solidarity vigil held in the courtyard of the university, in which students spoke about the importance of mobilizing to free the prisoners throughout Palestinian universities, where many of the prisoners and martyrs were students and are part of the prisoners’ movement, the front line of resistance to colonization.
The event also included the creation of a number of murals with the participation of students by the “Mitras Youth Group,” presented on the university campus and highlighting Georges Abdallah, Samir Abu Naameh and the struggle of Palestinian prisoners. The mural honoring Abu Naameh was presented to his family.
The events at Bir Zeit came alongside a series of international events, including actions and programs in Lannemezan – where Abdallah is imprisoned – Bordeaux, Athens, Toulouse, New York, Brussels, Villeneuve, Manchester, Marseille, The Hague, Tunis, Dublin, Barcelona, Berlin, Baalbek, Beirut, Ramallah, Lyon, Geneva and Shatila camp. They were part of an international week of action organized between 14 and 24 October as Abdallah, the Lebanese Communist struggler for Palestine, entered his 34th year in French prison.
The event also commemorated the case of Samir Abu Naameh, one of the longest-held Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prison, who entered his 32nd year in Israeli prisons on 20 October 1986. A Jerusalemite prisoner, he was involved in the Palestinian resistance with Fateh in the 1980s. His brother Wael noted that he has been excluded from all of the prisoner exchanges as well as other long-term prisoners held for over 30 years in Israeli prisons.
