Israeli occupation forces invaded the home of imprisoned Palestinian leader Ahmad Sa’adat in Ramallah in the pre-dawn hours of 5 January 2022, rifling through personal papers and taking photographs of the home. Ahmad Sa’adat is the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, imprisoned since 2006 by Israel (and since 2002 by the Palestinian Authority) for his leadership in the Palestinian liberation movement.
Abla Sa’adat, Sa’adat’s wife, said that the occupation forces searched throughout the home and shot heavily in the area outside the home in an attempt to terrorize the family.
Further, this attack aimed not only to continue the policy of collective punishment and attempted intimidation against the loved ones of Palestinian leaders and the prisoners’ movement, but also to continue the Israeli policy of attempting to confiscate the Jerusalem IDs of Palestinians and further the ethnic cleansing of Jerusalem.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network expresses its strongest condemnation of this latest attack. We urge all friends of Palestine and supporters of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement to join us in taking action between 15 and 22 January 2022 for the International Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian Prisoners.
Palestinian Jerusalemites, like Abla Sa’adat, face a constant policy of attacks designed to erase the Palestinian and Arab character of the capital of Palestine and to eradicate the Palestinian presence in Jerusalem. One of the mechanisms used to pursue Palestinian Jerusalemites is the attempt to remove or seize Jerusalem ID cards so as to exclude them from the city. Palestinian Jerusalemites are accused of no longer having Jerusalem as their “center of life” if they live outside Jerusalem for a length of time; they face obstacles in travel and even marriage as living outside Jerusalem can always be used as a mechanism of racist oppression by the Israeli regime.
Abla Sa’adat, who lives in Kufr Aqab in Jerusalem, told Palestinian media sources that the occupation forces stormed into the home in Ramallah, where she was visiting her children, at 2:30 am, as if they had waited to disrupt their family visit. They photographed personal items in the home as well as the water and electricity bills.
She said that the Israeli occupation forces are attempting to find an excuse to confiscate her Jerusalem ID by claiming that she lives in Ramallah rather than Kufr Aqab (5 minutes away). In May 2021, the Israeli occupation cut off her national and health insurance, a frequent tactic used when targeting Palestinian Jerusalemites and attempting to confiscate their rights to their home city.
This incident is not only an attack on the Sa’adat family, it reflects two clear policies of targeting: the attack on the Palestinian identity and the Palestinian people of Jerusalem, and the unceasing collective punishment directed at the families and loved ones of Palestinian prisoners, including raids, summonses to interrogation, confiscation of Jerusalem IDs and home demolitions.
Palestinian prisoners are resistance leaders, on the front lines for justice and liberation, enduring hunger strikes and struggling relentlessly with an unbreakable will toward freedom. Join Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network and organizers for justice and liberation in Palestine around the world for the International Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian Prisoners, 15 January to 22 January 2022.
- Click here to endorse the week of action!
- Download posters/graphics in English, French, Farsi, Dutch, German, Spanish, Swedish, Portuguese and Danish
TAKE ACTION:
- Organize events, actions and protests to demand freedom for Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian prisoners! Protest in public squares, campuses and community spaces. Organize a Palestine Stand or a letter writing event to write to Sa’adat and his fellow Palestinian prisoners. These dates also mark the anniversary of Israel’s bloody “Cast Lead” attack on Gaza in 2008-2009. Email us at [email protected] to inform us about your events or actions.
- Screen the film “Fedayin”, on the life and struggle of Georges Abdallah. Ahmad Sa’adat and Georges Abdallah are comrades who constantly salute each others’ struggles and maintain a political correspondence despite miles of distance and prison walls. To organize a screening, email [email protected] and [email protected]
- #ShutElbitDown: Palestine Action won an important victory against British repression of the courageous activists who have confronted Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems with red paint and creative direct action. The next trial – in Crown Court – is coming up in January. Help support the campaign by organizing actions to #ShutElbitDown in your area. Learn more at https://palestineaction.com/
- Join the social media campaign. Post a photo or a video with a message calling for freedom for Ahmad Sa’adat and his fellow Palestinian prisoners and the hashtag #FreeAhmadSaadat. You can use the posters below. Send us your photo by emailing us at [email protected] or contacting us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
- Boycott Israel! Ahmad Sa’adat says: “I call on all forces of progress, freedom and democracy to stand by the struggle of our people through all forms of boycott: political, economic, academic and cultural of the occupation state and the creation of a real economic cost for its industries of colonization and settlement and escalating the global campaigns for boycott of all corporations that support and invest in the occupation militarily and economically.” Don’t buy Israeli goods, and campaign to end investments in corporations that profit from the occupation. Join direct actions to challenge war profiteers and boycott complicit corporations like Puma and HP.
