April 17 marks Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, the annual international day dedicated to the struggle for and liberation of Palestinian prisoners. To mark this occasion, among others, an impressive evening event took place in Brussels and an action was organized in the center of Charleroi.
A delegation from the Plate-Forme Charleroi-Palestine attended the excellent public meeting, “Palestinian Prisoners – Current Issues and Prospects for Release” on Friday, April 18.
We are publishing here the testimony that a friend from Brussels sent us, which perfectly reflects our feelings. Thanks to him:
“On April 18, I participated in the conference organized by Samidoun and other collectives in Brussels (Pianofabriek – Saint-Gilles) on the occasion of Palestinian Political Prisoners’ Day.
It was a very high-level evening, both in substance and in form. There were over 100 participants, 95% of whom were young people and 80% of whom were motivated young women. It was a remarkable and hopeful turnout.
The two comrades who hosted the evening are young Palestinian women studying at the VUB, one from Gaza and the other from the Ain al-Helweh refugee camp (Saida, Lebanon). They were fluent in French and English (as well as Arabic and Dutch) and led the discussion excellently, focusing on the central themes of resistance and the struggle for the liberation of Palestine.
Five people were invited to speak: Hadeel Shatara and Fadia Barghouti, two Palestinians freed by the resistance in the Toufan al Ahrar exchange; Adel, a comrade from Samidoun Paris Banlieue; Nathan, a comrade active within the Université Populaire de Bruxelles (the student occupation of the ULB in spring 2024); as well as a comrade from the Getting the Voice Out collective, which fights against the imprisonment of undocumented migrants, to highlight the convergence of struggles.
The former prisoners, who joined us on Zoom, denounced the repression and described the misery in prison. But their words were neither complaints nor lamentations; their testimonies were full of dignity and illustrated the will and strength of an entire people, which can be characterized by the term ‘sumud’.
The speech by the comrade from Samidoun Paris was very interesting. He explained the immense political importance of the prisoners’ struggle, their central role in the liberation struggle (“prisoners are our compass”), and how their existence and actions accompany us in our struggles beyond the prison walls. In particular, he mentioned Georges Ibrahim Abdallah and Walid Daqqah (and the latter’s work, an example of the importance of literature produced by prisoners in understanding the colonial prison system). He also recalled the place of Toufan al Aqsa (October 7) in a context where the liberation of prisoners is at the heart of the Palestinian struggle. Finally, he spoke of all these other struggles, to remind us of the strength of peoples when they rise up against the oppressor, from Haiti (a people of enslaved prisoners who wrested their freedom from the French colonial power 200 years ago) to Algeria. This slogan illustrates it: Haiti has won, Vietnam has won, Algeria has won, Palestine will win too.
The comrade who participated in the ULB encampment/occupation for Palestine explained how he and his comrades held in-depth discussions and developed an anti-colonial political position, which was not limited to “liberating Palestine”,“stopping the genocide” and achieving a “ceasefire”, but supported the struggle, including armed struggle, of the Palestinians to regain the integrity of their homeland. Therefore, this occupation went much further than the courageous occupation of Ghent.
The comrade from the Getting the Voice Out collective , which defends detained undocumented immigrants, testified to how these defenseless people are humiliated and isolated without any prospect of finding the freedom and protection they sought in our country.
The evening ended with the call from liberated prisoner Hadeel Shatara :
“Let us continue to weaken the Zionist entity and its imperialist backers, wherever and however we can.”
Action in Charleroi city center
The following day, Saturday, April 19, a team from the Platform set up camp at Place Verte in Charleroi. An arbor was erected, decorated with photos of Palestinian prisoners and martyred prisoners, as well as banners for the release of Georges Abdallah, Ahmad Sa’adat, and all Palestinian prisoners. Palestinian flags flew in the square, and passersby also discovered messages against the ongoing genocide, for the boycott of Israel, and in support of Palestinian resistance.
At the stand, passersby found scarves and bracelets in support of Palestine, T-shirts and books, and could also send cards to Palestinian prisoners.
Two participants read a text written by several Palestinian resistance fighters who had experienced Zionist jails.
They wrote this text on November 25th in support of their imprisoned sisters. Since then, some of them have been released thanks to the exchange agreement reached by the Resistance and the people of Gaza at the beginning of this year .
Currently, 29 Palestinian women prisoners remain incarcerated. This text was sent to us by the Dismantle Damon campaign.
Here is the text:
Dear comrades,
From Palestine, I write to you with my voice, with the voice of all the oppressed prisoners in Damon Prison, with the voice of Khalida Jarrar from her solitary confinement cell, and with the voice of all the women of Palestine, who constantly suffer various forms of oppression and violence – whether at the hands of the so-called local “Palestinian Authority” or the Zionist colonial army.
They are targeted on several levels: first because they are Palestinian, second because they are women. Their bodies then become instruments of pressure and violence—a constant reality that will only end with
total and complete liberation.
In a sealed, freezing iron box, without food, without treatment for illnesses, without clothing or blankets, Damon’s daughters are suffering today. There are now nearly a hundred of them. In these harsh and inhumane conditions, each one is deprived of her children, her mother, or her loved one: these are all stories the world must hear.
One of the most difficult aspects of their detention is the separation from their families, the complete lack of contact with the outside world, and the neglect of institutions and lawyers, who act like merchants in this war. Another crucial point is the lack of any privacy, with the jailers monitoring the prisoners 24 hours a day.
Although the women prisoners describe Damon as a graveyard for the living, they resist with patience and resilience, knowing with certainty that one day they will be free. They do not let the occupation, with all its tools (explicit or implicit), break their souls. Political prisons were designed to break us, but we transform them into
learning spaces where we become stronger.
Today, the masks are falling: all colonizers and oppressors identify with Israel, and all the colonized and oppressed identify with Palestine. The oppressors believe their voice is the loudest, but ours, that of the people, is more powerful.
Many countries are complicit in the genocide: they continue to support Israel not only financially, but also militarily. These same countries that claim to be defenders of human rights and international law revealed their double standards and double standards by reacting to the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court against two brutal Zionist criminals, even though the matter was to enforce equal rights and international law.
The world continues to ignore the lives of two million people in Gaza. We witness the violence of colonialism in the West Bank every day, with no accountability or accountability. The number of Palestinian captives in Israeli prisons is growing rapidly, particularly those under administrative detention.
Palestinians in Zionist prisons face deliberate starvation, disease and epidemics.
We promise not to leave our women alone with Damon! We will never bow
to oppression, ethnic cleansing, or genocide!
To abusive governments and regimes, we say: Your violence will not silence our voices. We
will not be on the wrong side of history!
As Khalida Jarrar said,
“They are trying to silence our voices, but they will not succeed, and we will continue to
raise their voices loud and clear.”
Free our women from Damon Prison and all women victims of enforced disappearance by the Zionist state.
Free our beloved fathers, brothers, and husbands from all Israeli colonial prisons.
And remember: where there is oppression, resistance is a duty.
Generation after generation, until total liberation!
Join us at our next Place Verte event: Saturday, May 17, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Source: Charleroi for Palestine
Discover more from Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
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