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As Abla Sa’adat is Liberated, Join the Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat during Toufan al-Ahrar

In the early dawn hours of 20 January 2025, Abla Rimawi Abdel-Rasoul Sa’adat, the wife of Ahmad Sa’adat, imprisoned Palestinian national leader and General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was liberated in the first day of the first stage of the Flood of the Free/Toufan al-Ahrar, the prisoner exchange achieved by the Palestinian Resistance as part of the ceasefire agreement to the genocidal Zionist aggression on Gaza. She had been imprisoned without charge or trial under “administrative detention” — along with over 3,000 fellow Palestinian prisoners — since September 2024, and her detention had just been extended days before her liberation.

The 90 women and youth prisoners released late Sunday/early Monday were subjected to severe abuse and mistreatment; multiple women were dragged by their hair after being held in an extremely cold bus with the air conditioning blasting (in mid-January), beaten and strip-searched. Amid this situation, Abla was told that her name was not on the list, requiring urgent intervention to ensure that she was released and the terms of the exchange upheld. As a Jerusalemite, she was released separately like other Palestinians from Jerusalem, many of whom were subjected to threats and home invasions by occupation forces to prevent their release from being celebrated openly.

The release of Abla Sa’adat is part of the victories of the resistance achieved through their heroism, bravery and steadfastness through 470 days of genocidal aggression on Gaza, and comes amid this year’s Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian Prisoners.

This year’s week is especially important amid the Flood of the Free exchange. Prisoners like Ahmad Sa’adat, and his fellow Resistance leaders like Marwan Barghouti, Abdullah Barghouti, Hassan Salameh, Anas Jaradat, Ibrahim Hamed and Abbas al-Sayyed will potentially be liberated in the second stage of the exchange, part of the second stage of the ceasefire. Therefore, it is particularly urgent to publicize their names and cases — to highlight the prisoners with lengthy sentences and support the resistance’s demand for their liberation, while celebrating the exceptional accomplishments of the Flood of the Free and the Resistance on a daily basis. 

Endorsers of the Week of Action in 2025 include:

>> Click here to Endorse the Week of Action (Organizational Endorsements) <<

Some of the upcoming events for the Week of Action include:

NEW YORK CITY:

Teach-In & Art Build:Tuesday, Jan. 21 | 5-7pm | Sign-up link: bit.ly/saadatnyc

Protest & Rally: Wednesday, Jan. 22 | 3-5pm | The comprador “Palestinian Authority” Mission to the UN (115 E 65th St, New York, NY 10065).

23 years after his arrest, it is long past time for freedom for Ahmad Sa’adat, his fellow Resistance leaders and all Palestinian Prisoners in Zionist, imperialist, reactionary and Palestinian Authority jails.

Learn more, take action, and amplify the call!

PARIS:

On Wednesday, January 22, at 5 pm, at the Place de la Sorbonne, organized by the Student General Assembly and the Unitary Campaign for the Liberation of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, rally to free Georges Abdallah and Ahmad Sa’adat:

As the Week of Action launched, Mohammed Khatib, coordinator of Samidoun in Europe, appeared on Salaamedia in South Africa to discuss the campaign to liberate Palestinian prisoners:

In Marseille, France, on 19 January, Jeunes Communistes 13 rallied to free Georges Abdallah, the Lebanese struggler for Palestine whose liberation has been ordered by the French courts pending a decision on 20 February, and Ahmad Sa’adat:

In Zurich, participants in an event organized in solidarity with Palestine and Lebanon, featuring the Collectif Palestine Vaincra and Mohammed Khatib of Samidoun, expressed their solidarity for Ahmad Sa’adat and Georges Abdallah:

In Barcelona, Catalonia, on 19 January, Mohammed Khatib of Samidoun spoke on a panel with multiple other activists and organizations, including the Collectif Palestine Vaincra, which included the call to action to free Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian prisoners:

In Charleroi, Belgium, the Plate-Forme Charleroi-Palestine, Vie Feminine and other organization participated in the week of action, gathering to call for freedom for Abdallah, Sa’adat and all Palestinian prisoners, and to salute the Palestinian Resistance:

Earlier, members of Vie Feminine stood to show their solidarity in Charleroi:

Postering campaigns throughout Charleroi highlighted the call to action:

Meanwhile, in Paris, Samidoun Paris Banlieue highlighted collages of large posters and banners throughout the 20th arrondisement, highlighting the week of action and the campaign to free Georges Abdallah:

Posters appeared in various cities, including in Paterson, New Jersey, US:

and Vancouver, Canada:

In Toronto, members of the Palestine solidarity community put up a display in the centre of the city to highlight the Week of Action:

In Toulouse, France, the Collectif Palestine Vaincra postered calling for Sa’adat’s liberation in popular neighbourhoods:

Meanwhile, amid the announcement of the ceasefire, the Collectif Palestine Vaincra spoke, emphasizing the importance of continuing the struggle for the liberation of Palestinian prisoners:


In Rotterdam, the Netherlands, the student movement organized an educational event on Ahmad Sa’adat and the Palestinian prisoners:

In Madrid, Spain, the Masar Badil, Alkarama, Alyudur and Samidoun Spain rallied to end PA repression in Jenin — the same type of collaboration with the Zionist colonizer that imprisoned Sa’adat and his comrades between 2002 and 2006:

The Dismantle Damon campaign for Palestinian women prisoners joined the week of action, highlighting the imprisonment of both Abla and Ahmad Sa’adat:

Join the Week of Action: 

We call for an international week of actions from January 15th to January 22nd, calling for the liberation of Ahmad Sa’adat and his fellow resistance leaders, supporting the resistance’s achievements and demands, a prisoner exchange and an end to the genocide in Gaza and throughout occupied Palestine, and highlighting the malevolent role of the “Palestinian Authority” in the Palestinian liberation struggle. Take action to escalate against the zionist genocidal colonial entity, organise for justice in Palestine!

What can you do at you local level?

  • Endorse the Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian Prisoners.
  • Educate through your networks: organise a discussion on Resistance leaders and political prisoners, share resources about Ahmad Sa’adat and Palestinian prisoners on social media and in your community
  • Organise or join a protest or demonstration against the ongoing Zionist-imperialist genocide in Palestine with a contingent, signs or banners for Ahmad Sa’adat and the Palestinian prisoners
  • Organise a demonstration at a PA embassy or similar location to demand an end to the Palestinian Authority’s offensives in Jenin Camp and throughout the West Bank against the People and the Resistance.
  • Organise an event, protest, teach-in stand or letter-writing meeting for the Week of Action.
  • Organise events, actions and protests to demand freedom for Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian Prisoners. Protest in public spaces, campuses and community spaces.
  • Join the social media campaign. Post a photo or a video message calling for freedom for Ahmad Sa’adat and his fellow Palestinian prisoners.
  • Support the liberation of Abla Sa’adat, Ahmad’s wife, imprisoned since September 2024.
  • Use the hashtags #freeallpalestinianprisoners, #freeahmadsaadat

“The Palestinian struggle for national liberation is part and parcel of the international movement of peoples for national liberation, international racial and economic justice, and an end to occupation, colonialism and imperialism.” – Ahmad Sa’adat

Palestine will be free, from the river to the sea! 

Zionist occupation orders 85 Palestinians to detention without charge or trial

On 20 January 2025, one day after the start of the Toufan al-Ahrar prisoner exchange which saw the liberation of 90 Palestinian women and youth, often held without charge, the Zionist occupation issued 85 orders of administrative detention. This form of imprisonment does not require evidence, charges or trial and is indefinitely renewable in six month periods. The illegitimate Zionist entity routinely detains Palestinians for years – some as young as 12 years old – without providing a release date or reason for detention.

Over 3,300 administrative detainees, including children, journalists, youth and women organisers, educators and students only make up a part of the more than 10,000 Palestinian political prisoners, excluding an undisclosed number of Gazan detainees facing torture, sexual abuse and starvation in Zionist prison camps. The occupation uses administrative detention in an attempt to demoralise, brutalise and isolate the Palestinian people, its communities, its political and social fabric and its honourable resistance. The arbitrary detentions constitute not only a blatant violation of international law but also psychological torture and collective punishment against the detainees, their families and communities.

As hundreds of Palestinians – administrative detainees as well as many serving decades-long sentences – are set over the coming weeks to be liberated by the Palestinian resistance, Samidoun emphasises the need to escalate the struggle internationally for the liberation of all Palestinian political prisoners in Zionist, PA and imperialist jails. The following is the list of those 85 who were issued orders of administrative detention, as published by the Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club:

1. Ahmed Odeh Mohammed Odeh / Tulkarem – 6 months

2. Ahmed Alaan Ahmed Neirat / Maythalun – 4 months

3. Mahmoud Zaki Qazah / Tulkarem – 6 months

4. Amr Basam Ali Shreim / Qalqilya – 5 months

5. Abdul Hafiz Ghazi Abu Muslim / Balata Camp – 5 months

6. Saqr Fawzi Aref Zakarnah / Jenin – 4 months

7. Izz Ad-Din Mohammed Hussein Assaf / Qabatiya – 6 months

8. Mohammed Nasser Mohammed Yousef / Tulkarm – 6 months

9. Qassam Ahmed Abdallah Awadah – 6 months

10. Suhayb Nizar Fayez Ma’ali / Jenin – 6 months

11. Amer Al-Mukhtar Mohammed Ghawanmeh / Al-Jalazone camp – 6 months

12. Wissam Hussein Abdulmanan Zaid – Qalqilya – 4 months

13. Salah Mohammed Musa Farah / Dheisheh camp – 4 months

14. Ibrahim Abdallah Hussein Yousef – 6 months

15. Mumin Ahmed Al-Qadr Obeid / Tulkarem – 6 months

16. Yousef Saeed Yousef Abed Rabbo / Tulkarem camp – 6 months

17. Ismail Issam Mohammed Odeh / Tulkarem – 4 months

18. Ala’a Ad-Din Mohammed Ali Harfoush / 4 months

19. Masid Suleiman Abed Salah / Al-Khader – 4 months

20. Ahmed Mazen Salim Basta / Jenin – 6 months

21. Mohammed Salah Mahmoud Hubbal / Kharbata Al-Misbah – 4 months

22. Ahmed Musa Daoud Sa’eed / Al-Baqa’a – 4 months

23. Ahmed Alaan Ahmed Neirat / Maythalun – 4 months

24. Wissam Faisal Bedawi Masalma / Anata – 6 months

25. Rafat Mahmoud Mohammed Harb / Balata camp – 3 months

26. Mohammed Kamal Ahmed Zakarnah / Qabatiya – 6 months

27. Adham Mahmoud Al-Sa’adi / Jenin – 6 months

28. Yamin Kamal Ibsi / Qibya – 6 months

29. Yassin Musa Yassin Hussein / Qibya – 6 months

30. Imran Abdel Fatah Hassan Hijazi – 4 months

31. Shadi Nayif Fathi Abu Sharkh / Nablus – 4 months

32. Wael Mustafa Mansour Awda / Tammun – 6 months

33. Rami Ratib Mustafa Dik / Kafr Ad-Dik – 6 months

34. Adam Jamal Ahmed Shtayyeh / Salem – 3 months

35. Iyad Lotfy Yousef Abd Salah / Tulkarm – 3 months

36. Abdallah Kamal Saleh Al-Sheikh / Biddu – 4 months

37. Abdul Rahman Mohammed Hussein Abu Eid / Biddu – 4 months

38. Mohammed Amer Ahmed Shami / Qabatiya – 4 months

39. Salah Mohammed Saleh Sheikh / Biddu – 4 months

40. Humood Abdul Latif Mahmoud Daraghmeh / Tubas – 6 months

41. Ahmed Ali Saeed Wahdan / Jenin – 3 months

42. Hussein Mohammed Ali Wardan / Betlehem – 3 months

43. Eid Mohammed Eid Hammour / Jenin – 6 months

44. Fares Rayid Mohammed Salim Abu Rajab / Nimrah – 6 months

45. Mohammed Nizar Nu’man Mustahib / Al-Khalil – 6 months

46. Motaz Muaffaq Izhaq Zugheir / Al-Khalil – 6 months

47. Iyad Ahmed Rawhi Akka / Khalat Al-Amoud – 6 months

48.Ala’a Suleiman Mohammed Farah / Balata camp – 4 months

49. Walid Amer Ahmed Dweikat / Rafidiya – 4 months

50. Khaled Walid Ahmed Qawasmeh / Al-Khalil – 6 months

51. Saher Burhan Hussein Daraghmeh / Tawas – 3 months

52. Mumin Khaled Mohammed Mansour / Qalqilya – 6 months

53. Ibrahim Mohammed Mahmoud Al-Sarahneh / Abu Dis – 4 months

54. Anas Ashraf Abdul Wahhab Assila / Al-Khalil – 6 months

55. Qusay Odeh Jumu’ah Odeh / Wadi Burqin – 6 months

56. Mohammed Nader Mohammed Jawdat Natsheh / Al-Khalil

57. Mohammed Ayman Abdul Wahhab Al-Esseily / Silwad – 6 months

58. Mohammed Mahmoud Khalil Al-Tarada / Al-Bireh – 4 months

59. Mu’tassim Kamal Ezzat Jabri / Jenin – 4 months

60. Rafiq Mohammed Saeed Zakarnah / Qabatiya – 3 months

61. Bashar Fawaz Salah Neirat / Maythalun – 6 months

62. Amr Abdul Rahman Ismail Abu Shoushah / Askar camp – 6 months

63. Majid Hafez Mohammed Neirat / Maythalun – 6 months

64. Amir Bassem Nayef Khader/ Maythalun – 6 months

65. Lutfi Khaled Lutfi Suleiman / Al-Baqa’a – 6 months

66. Rakan Basel Amr Abed Rabbo / Nablus – 6 months

67. Sadiq Monther Ibrahim Awri / Ramallah – 6 months

68. Mohammed Khalil Ibrahim Warni / Betlehem – 6 months

69. Sami Abdul Jabar Atiya Al-Hasanat / Dheisheh camp – 6 months

70. Thaer Nader Khalif Ahmed / Dheisheh camp – 6 months

71. Mohammed Fares Sahil Fararjeh / Dheisheh camp – 4 months

72. Ibrahim Zuhayr Ibrahim Al-Zuhayri / Burham – 6 months

73. Bilal Khaled Abdul Kareem Hamed / Silwad – 4 months

74. Ahmed Nasser Ahmed Sharwaneh / Deir Samet – 6 months

75. Montasser Billah Saeed Hussein Mutair / Qalandiya camp – 6 months

76. Khaled Saeed Abdallah Hoshiya / Yamoun – 6 months

77. Omran Mohammed Kamal Tayeh / Nablus – 4 months

78. Issam Nabil Jumu’ah Al-Abed / Kobar – 4 months

79. Jihad Ziad Mohammed Hamadeh / Deir Qadis – 6 months

80. Saleh Ahmed Nasser Abu Adwan / Qalqilya – 6 months

81. Yousef Hussein Mohammed Dar Abu ‘Adi / Kafr Ni’ma – 6 months

82. Yazan Atef Ata Rajabi / Al-Khalil – 6 months

83. Mohammed Hosam Adnan Hanini / Kafr Ni’ma – 6 months

84. Nur Al-Din Naji Qassem Izz Al-Din / Jenin – 6 months

85. Marwan Mohammed Rafiq Khalil / Ariha – 6 months

Resistance announces plans for next phase of the Toufan al-Ahrar exchange on 25 January

UPDATED following clarification/update from the Prisoners’ Media Office.

The Prisoners’ Media office published the following important update in preparation for the next phase of the first stage of the Flood of the Free/Toufan al-Ahrar exchange, which will take place this coming Saturday, 25 January 2025.

Nahed Al-Fakhouri, the media official in the Office of Martyrs, Wounded and Prisoners in Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement, said that the second part of the first phase of the Flood of the Free exchange, according to the ceasefire agreement between the Palestinian resistance and the Zionist occupation, will begin implementation next Saturday, 25 January 2025.

Al-Fakhouri confirmed that the resistance will present next Saturday the names of the occupation prisoners held by the resistance who will be released, and in return the occupation will present a list of the names of the Palestinian prisoners who will be released, followed by the actual exchange.

The agreement stipulates that every female soldier of the occupation soldiers will be exchanged for 30 Palestinian prisoners with life sentences and 20 prisoners with long sentences, noting that if the resistance hands over four female soldiers, the total number of prisoners released will be 120 prisoners with life sentences and 80 prisoners with long sentences for a total of 200, according to the list whose names were agreed upon in advance.

Al-Fakhouri clarified out that if the number of female soldiers to be exchanged by the resistance decreases, the number of Palestinian prisoners who will be released will decrease as well. Some of the prisoners with life sentences will be deported outside Palestine; al-Fakhouri stated that the Arab Republic of Egypt will be one of the destinations for the immediate step of the prisoners’ liberation.

UPDATE, 21 January: “Notice issued by the Prisoners’ Media Office regarding the date of the second phase of the first stage of the prisoner exchange

We would like to confirm that the date for implementing the second batch of prisoner exchanges is Saturday, January 25. According to the text of the agreement: ‘On the seventh day of the release of the first batch, the second batch will be released.’

The interpretation differed, as it was considered that the counting of days begins from the day immediately following the launch of the first batch, which makes the seventh day coincide with Sunday. 

In contrast, the first day was counted from the date the first batch was released, making Saturday the seventh day.”

**

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes all of the liberated prisoners and the Resistance whose achievements have made their liberation possible. We urge everyone, around the world, to join with the Palestinian people in Gaza and everywhere, to celebrate the achievements of the Resistance and the humiliation of the occupier, and to celebrate and welcome each liberated prisoner as the heroes of our global movement that they are, in public events, with posters and public education, with actions and events exposing Zionism and imperialism everywhere.

The Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian Prisoners is continuing amid the Flood of the Free — this is an excellent opportunity to highlight the prisoners with lengthy sentences and support the resistance’s demand for their liberation, while celebrating the exceptional accomplishments of the Flood of the Free on a daily basis. 

We urge all supporters of Palestine and Palestinian and Arab communities to receive and honour the prisoners virtually and symbolically — and pledge to continue the movement until all of them are free, and all of Palestine is free, from the river to the sea.

90 Palestinian prisoners liberated by the Resistance on the first day of the Flood of the Free

In the early morning hours of Monday, 20 January, 90 Palestinian prisoners were liberated from the jails of the Zionist occupation regime in the first day of the Flood of the Free (Toufan al-Ahrar) prisoner exchange, achieved by the Palestinian Resistance as part of the first stage of the ceasefire agreement imposed upon the occupier. Despite hours and hours of delays created by the occupation, repeated invasions of Jerusalemite Palestinian prisoners’ family homes in an attempt to prevent them from celebrating, and the firing of tear gas and rubber-coated metal bullets on the crowds awaiting the prisoners’ release in Beitunia, the Palestinian people celebrated and received their beloved, liberated prisoners and the Resistance and sacrifices of the people of Gaza that obtained their freedom.

The captives — 70 women and 20 male youth — liberated in the first day of the exchange were:

  1. Nawal Fatiha, 23, Jerusalem
  2. Aseel Osama Shehada, 18, Qalandiya, Jerusalem
  3. Tamara Abu Laban, 24, Jerusalem
  4. Jenin Mohammed Amr, 22, al-Khalil
  5. Nafisa Rashid Farid Zourba, 37, Jericho
  6. Khalida Kanaan Jarrar, 61, Ramallah/al-Bireh
  7. Yasmine Abdel-Rahman Abu Srour, 26, Bethlehem Aida Camp
  8. Fatima Nimr al-Rimawi, 52, Jericho
  9. Dalal Mohammed Suleiman Khasib (al-Arouri), 53, Ramallah
  10. Fatima Mohammed Suleiman Saqr (al-Arouri), 48, Aroura
  11. Rana Jamal Mohammed Darbas, 35, al-Bireh
  12. Zahra Wahib Abdel-Fattah Khadraj, 52, Qalqilya
  13. Balqis Issa Ali Zawahra, 33, Bethlehem
  14. Duha Azzam Ahmad al-Wahsh, 29, al-Taamra, Bethlehem
  15. Halima Fayeq Suleiman Abu Amara, 22, Nablus
  16. Mona Ahmed Qasim Abu Hussein, 46, Abboud
  17. Bushra Jamal Mohammed al-Tawil, 31, al-Bireh
  18. Raeda Ghanem Mohammed Abdel-Majeed Barghouti, 46, Abboud
  19. Murjana Mohammed Mustafa Hreish, 32, Beitunia
  20. Walaa Khaled Tanji, 28, Tulkarem camp
  21. Rawda Musa al-Akhras (Abu Ajamiyeh), 47, Dheisheh Camp
  22. Rula Ibrahim Abdel-Rahim Hassanein, 30, Bethlehem
  23. Ahmed Bashar Jumaa Abu Aliya, 18, Ramallah
  24. Saja Zuhair al-Muaddi, 27, Kufr Malek
  25. Shaimaa Mohammed Abdel-Jalil Rawajbeh, 25, Nablus
  26. Salwa Attiya Mahmoud Hamdan, 45, Dheisheh Camp
  27. Rose Yousef Mohammed Khweis, 17, Jerusalem
  28. Fatima Youssef Mustafa Salha, 36, Deir Jarir
  29. Haneen Akram al-Masaed, 30, Aida camp, Bethlehem
  30. Jihad Ghazi Ahmed Joudeh, 36, Jericho
  31. Nidaa Ali Ahmad Salah (al-Zughaibi), 37, Kufr Dan, Jenin
  32. Amal Ziyad Omar Shujaia, 21, Deir Jarir
  33. Lubna Mazen Salim Talalweh, 46, Arraba, Jenin
  34. Ola Mahmoud Qasim Azher (Jouda), 22, Kabalan, Nablus
  35. Ayat Yousef Saleh Mahfouz, 33, al-Khalil
  36. Hadeel Mohammed Hussein Hijaz (Shatara), 32, Mazraa al-Sharqiya
  37. Wafa Ahmed Abdullah Nimr, 21, Kharbatha Bani Harith
  38. Rasha Ghassan Mohammed Hijjawi, 40, Tulkarem
  39. Zeina Majd Mohammed Barbar, Silwan, Jerusalem
  40. Israa Khader Ahmed Ghneimat (Lafi), 40, Surif, al-Khalil
  41. Tahani Jamal Abed Ashour, 49, al-Khalil
  42. Aya Omar Youssef Ramadan, 23, Tal, Nablus
  43. Shaimaa Omar Youssef Ramadan, 19, Tal, Nablus
  44. Dunia Shtayyeh Marouf Shtayyeh, 20, Salem, Nablus
  45. Alaa Jad Nabhan Shaheen, 37, Beitunia
  46. Nahil Kamal Mustafa Masalmeh, 37, Dura, al-Khalil
  47. Khitam Arif Hassan Habaybeh, 50, Jenin
  48. Aseel Mohammed Adnan Eid al-Yassini, 20, Jerusalem
  49. Alaa Samir Harb Abu Rahima, 27, Beit Rima
  50. Baraa Hatem Hafez Fuqaha, 25, Tulkarem
  51. Shatha Nawaf Jarabaa, 23, Bittin
  52. Dania Saqr Mohammed Hanatsheh, 22, Ramallah
  53. Saja Imad Saad Daraghmeh, 19, Tubas
  54. Al-Yamama Ibrahim Hassan Hreinat, 21, Yatta, al-Khalil
  55. Raghad Walid Mahmoud Amr, 24, Dura, al-Khalil
  56. Hanan Ammar Bilal Ma’alawani, 23, Nablus
  57. Raghad Khader Deeb Mubarak, 23, al-Khalil
  58. Ashwaq Mohammed Ayyad Awad, 23, Beit Amr, al-Khalil
  59. Iman Ibrahim Ahmed Zaid, 40, Beitunia
  60. Tahrir Badran Badr Jaber, 44, Beitunia
  61. Abla Mohammed Othman Abdel-Rasoul (Sa’adat), 68, Ramallah
  62. Israr Abdel-Fattah Mohammed al-Lahham, 42, Bethlehem
  63. Myassar Mohammed Saeed al-Faqih, 60, Nablus
  64. Abeer Mohammed Hamdan Ba’ara, 33, Nablus
  65. Samah Bilal Abdel-Rahman Souf (Hijjawi), 25, Qalqilya
  66. Margaret Mohammed Mahmoud al-Ra’i, 53, Qalqilya
  67. Latifa Khaled Ramadan Mashasha, 34, Jerusalem
  68. Israa Mustafa Mohammed Berri, 54, Jenin
  69. Alaa Khaled Mohammed Saqr al-Arouri, 21, Ramallah
  70. Lana Farouk Naeem Fawalha, 25, Sinjil, Ramallah
  71. Jamal Kaabneh, 18, al-Khalil
  72. Adam Hadara, 18, Jerusalem
  73. Mouadh Omar Abdullah al-Haj, 17, Ain Sultan Camp
  74. Ibrahim Sultan Ibrahim Zumour, 17, Askar camp
  75. Abdel-Rahman Jamil Khudeir, 18, Beita
  76. Saeed Mizyed Saeed Salim, 18, Azzoun
  77. Mohammed Aman Fawzi Bishkar, 18, Askar camp
  78. Issam Mamoun Abu Diab, 18, Jerusalem
  79. Thaer Ayoub Rashid Abu Sarah, 17, Jerusalem
  80. Fahmi Mohammed Fahmi Faroukh, 17 Silwan, Jerusalem
  81. Qasim Iyad Mohammed Jaafreh, 17, Jabel al Mukaber, Jerusalem
  82. Youssef Jamal Ayyad al-Hreimi, Bethlehem
  83. Firas Jihad Ahmed al-Maqdisi, 18, Silwan, Jerusalem
  84. Abdel-Aziz Mohammed Atawneh, 19, al-Jiftik, Jericho
  85. Fadi Bassam Mohammed Hindi, 17, Jenin
  86. Osama Nasser Jibran Abed Ataya, 18, Kifr Nimah
  87. Ayham Ali Issa Jaradat, Sair, al-Khalil, 18
  88. Mahmoud Mohammed Daoud Aleiwat, 15, Silwad, Jerusalem
  89. Laith Mohammed Naji Kamil, 17, Qabatiya, Jenin
  90. Ahmed Walid Mohammed Khashan, 18, Arraba, Jenin

They included multiple liberated prisoners who had earlier been released by the resistance in the first prisoner exchange of Al-Aqsa Flood, in November 2023, only to be targeted for re-abduction by the occupation, including Wala’a Tanja, Ahmed al-Khashan, Haneen al-Masaed, Rawda Abu Ajamiyeh, and Samah Hijjawi, as well as several well-known, leading prisoners, such as Khalida Jarrar, the prominent Palestinian feminist, leftist and scholar; Abla Sa’adat, the wife of Ahmad Sa’adat, the imprisoned general secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and writer Zahra Khadraj of Qalqilya; journalists like Israa Lafi, Bushra al-Tawil, and Rula Hassanein; students like Jenin Amr, Raghad Amr, Shaima Rawajbeh, Tamara Abu Laban, Duha al-Wahsh, Amal Shujaia, Ola Jouda, Dunia Shtayyeh, Aseel Eid al-Yassini, Baraa Fuqaha, Shatha Jarabaa, Dania Hanatsheh, Raghad Mubarak, sisters Shaima and Alaa Ramadan, and Al-Yamama Hreinat; educators like Hadeel Shatara and Fatima al-Rimawi; and three members of the Al-Arouri family, targeted and imprisoned because of their relation to the assassinated martyred Hamas leader, Salah al-Arouri: Dalal al-Arouri, Fatima al-Arouri, and Fatima’s daughter, Alaa Saqr.

For both Duha al-Wahsh and Wala’a Tanja, both learned that their brothers had been martyred during their imprisonment, a reality that had been kept from both of them due to the blockade on news and information imposed upon the prisoners. Duha, a medical student, learned that her brother Ahmad, a doctor, had been martyred following her arrest, only upon the moment of her liberation; so, too, did Wala’a Tanja, whose joy at liberation was met with the news that her beloved brother Ayman had been martyred during her imprisonment.

Ahmad al-Khashan, from Bir al-Basha, south of Jenin, was abducted by the occupation on 25 January 2024, the same day his brother, Wissam, also a liberated prisoner, was martyred by the occupation’s bullets, and his brother Mohammed injured in the leg. He had previously been liberated in the November 2023 exchang.

Imprisoned Palestinian scholar and leader Khalida Jarrar liberated in Toufan al-Ahrar after over 5 months in solitary confinement
Imprisoned Palestinian scholar and leader Khalida Jarrar liberated in Toufan al-Ahrar after over 5 months in solitary confinement

Several of the women prisoners required immediate health care, and the clear signs of medical neglect and abuse stood in sharp contrast to the health of the three Zionist captives who had been released by the Resistance earlier in the day, despite their circumstances under a genocidal bombing and siege in Gaza. Khalida Jarrar emerged from prison with the signs of her mistreatment — including five months and one week held in solitary confinement with only a small slit with which to breathe the air — evident on her face and body, while Margaret al-Rai emerged from the bus with a broken hand, injured by the assault of occupation prison guards. Many of the prisoners had lost tens of pounds during their imprisonment due to the occupation’s starvation policy directed against the prisoners.

 

Dunia Shtayyeh, the 20-year-old student at the Faculty of Sharia at An-Najah University, was awaited by her grandmother, the famous Hajja Mahfouz Shtayyeh, who became an iconic symbol of Palestinian connection to the land as she hugged her olive trees as they were cut and burned by settlers.

In fact, the women prisoners were subjected to abuse on the day of their release, as related by Jerusalemite liberated prisoner Latifa Mashasha in interviews; after being transferred from Damon to Ofer prison, the women were dragged by their hair, thrown on the ground while dogs barked at them. Several women were beaten, shortly before they were finally delivered to the ICRC for the exchange. Meanwhile, occupation forces were imposing terror upon the homes of the Jerusalemite prisoners, repeatedly invading their family homes, summoning family members to the notorious Moskobiyeh interrogation center, and warning of any kind of celebration of the release of their beloved prisoners. Meanwhile, in Beitunia, occupation forces attempted to dispel the growing crowds awaiting the liberated prisoners, injuring 6 as they fired upon them, and forcing the prisoners’ families to wait long into the early morning hours. However, none of these efforts quelled the celebration of the Palestinian people, who joyously welcomed the liberated prisoners, waving the flags of the resistance and Palestinian flags and chanting for the victorious resistance in Gaza, al-Qassam Brigades, Saraya al-Quds, and the prisoners’ liberation.

Unanimously, the prisoners expressed their love and solidarity for the people of Gaza. “Our feelings go to our people in Gaza. Our concern in prison, despite the torture and abuse, is for the war on Gaza to stop. Our message and thanks to them… We will never forget what they have done for us us until the Day of Judgment,” said liberated medical student Bara’a Fuqaha.

The buses of freedom arrive in Beitunia
The buses of freedom arrive in Beitunia

The 90 liberations are only the first of a series of exchanges that will see approximately 1,737 Palestinians liberated in the first stage of the Flood of the Free/Toufan al-Ahrar by the Palestinian Resistance. This is only the first stage, with the second stage of prisoner exchanges targeting the leaders of the Resistance, including Marwan Barghouti, Ahmad Sa’adat, Abdullah Barghouti, Ibrahim Hamed, Abbas al-Sayyed and Hassan Salameh, that the occupation has refused to release. Once again, as throughout the history of prisoner exchanges, it has been made clear that it is the resistance that brings liberation, to the prisoners, the land and the people of Palestine, a resistance that stretches from the heart of Gaza, throughout Palestine, to Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq and Iran, and to the people of the world.

We urge everyone, around the world, to join with the Palestinian people in Gaza and everywhere, to celebrate the achievements of the Resistance and the humiliation of the occupier, and to celebrate and welcome each liberated prisoner as the heroes of our global movement that they are, in public events, with posters and public education, with actions and events exposing Zionism and imperialism everywhere.

The Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian Prisoners is continuing amid the Flood of the Free — this is an excellent opportunity to highlight the prisoners with lengthy sentences and support the resistance’s demand for their liberation, while celebrating the exceptional accomplishments of the Flood of the Free on a daily basis. 

We urge all supporters of Palestine and Palestinian and Arab communities to receive and honour the prisoners virtually and symbolically — and pledge to continue the movement until all of them are free, and all of Palestine is free, from the river to the sea.

Palestinian student prisoner Dania Hanatsheh, liberated by the Resistance in Toufan al-Ahrar exchange
Palestinian student prisoner Dania Hanatsheh, liberated by the Resistance in Toufan al-Ahrar exchange
Palestinian educator and activist Hadeel Shatara, liberated by the Resistance in Toufan al-Ahrar exchange
Palestinian educator and activist Hadeel Shatara, liberated by the Resistance in Toufan al-Ahrar exchange
Palestinian graduate Lana Fawalha, liberated by the Resistance in Toufan al-Ahrar exchange
Palestinian graduate Lana Fawalha, liberated by the Resistance in Toufan al-Ahrar exchange
Palestinian liberated student, Halima Abu Amara, celebrates her liberation in the Flood of the Free with her family
Palestinian liberated student, Halima Abu Amara, celebrates her liberation in the Flood of the Free with her family
Liberated Palestinian prisoner, Rasha Hijjawi, joyously reunites with her family in Tulkarem
Liberated Palestinian prisoner, Rasha Hijjawi, joyously reunites with her family in Tulkarem
Palestinian liberated prisoner Nihal al-Masalma calls for the liberation of her brother, Anas al-Masalma, serving a life sentence
Palestinian liberated prisoner Nihal al-Masalma calls for the liberation of her brother, Anas al-Masalma, serving a life sentence
Liberated Red Crescent worker Margaret al-Rai, with a broken hand after she was assaulted by occupation forces
Liberated Red Crescent worker Margaret al-Rai, with a broken hand after she was assaulted by occupation forces
Liberated Palestinian prisoner, Birzeit graduate Zeina Barbar, reunites with her mother after her release in the Flood of the Free
Liberated Palestinian prisoner, Birzeit graduate Zeina Barbar, reunites with her mother after her release in the Flood of the Free
Liberated prisoner Nidaa Saleh al-Zughaibi embraces her family in Kufr Dan upon her release in Toufan al-Ahrar
Liberated prisoner Nidaa Saleh al-Zughaibi embraces her family in Kufr Dan upon her release in Toufan al-Ahrar
Jerusalemite liberated prisoner Latifa Mashasha reunites with her family after her release in the Flood of the Free
Jerusalemite liberated prisoner Latifa Mashasha reunites with her family after her release in the Flood of the Free
Palestinian liberated journalist Rula Hassanein -- separated from her infant daughter Elia by the occupation -- raises the victory sign
Palestinian liberated journalist Rula Hassanein — separated from her infant daughter Elia by the occupation — raises the victory sign
Liberated Palestinian journalist Bushra al-Tawil embraces her younger sister after her liberation from her seventh imprisonment in Toufan al-Ahrar
Liberated Palestinian journalist Bushra al-Tawil embraces her younger sister after her liberation from her seventh imprisonment in Toufan al-Ahrar
Liberated Birzeit University students Amal Shujaiya, Wafa Nimr and Shatha Jarabaa celebrate their liberation in the Flood of the Free
Liberated Birzeit University students Amal Shujaiya, Wafa Nimr and Shatha Jarabaa celebrate their liberation in the Flood of the Free
17-year-old Jerusalemite liberated prisoner Rose Khweis, who suffered severe heart disease in prison, reunites with her father
17-year-old Jerusalemite liberated prisoner Rose Khweis, who suffered severe heart disease in prison, reunites with her father

Statement from Zaher Jabarin on the first day of Toufan al-Ahrar on the martyrs, the wounded and the prisoners

Samidoun Network is republishing the following statement, released today, Sunday, 19 January, by Zaher Jabarin, the head of the Office of Martyrs, Wounded, and Prisoners in Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement:

In the name of God, the most gracious, the most merciful…

Statement issued by the Office of Martyrs, Wounded and Prisoners in the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas

In these historic moments, we stand with pride before the sacrifices of our great Palestinian people, who have proven once again their ability to withstand and challenge the most powerful forces of tyranny. What our people in Gaza have offered in terms of patience and steadfastness represents a new page in the chronicles of Palestinian glory, as they carried the trust of the homeland and faced the aggression with bravery and courage that did not know submission or surrender.

We salute with all reverence and respect the martyrs of our righteous people who rose while defending the dignity of the nation and its just cause. Their pure blood will remain a beacon illuminating the path of liberation for us. We also express our great pride in our heroic wounded, who with their pain engraved the medal of sacrifice upon the body of the homeland. We affirm that their steadfastness represents proof of our firm belief in our right to freedom and dignity.

O, our noble people..
Gaza, which stood firm in the face of the brutal genocide and bore the burden of the battle, showed the world the strength of our national will and our ability to challenge injustice and break the back of the occupation. You endured the wounds, lost loved ones, and faced the aggression with steadfast hearts. Your steadfastness was an impregnable dam against the displacement and genocide projects of the enemy, so you foiled its plans and demonstrated its impotence.

At this moment, we affirm that the prisoners will remain at the heart of our priorities, and that what has been accomplished today is part of our national commitment to our heroic prisoners, who were and are at the forefront of the struggle and resistance.

The national exchange deal that was extracted reflects the insistence of our people and their resistance to liberate the prisoners from the shackles of unjust confinement, and confirms that our prisoners are not alone, but behind them are a people and a resistance that will not tire or grow weary until the last prisoner, male or female, is liberated from the occupation’s prisons.

The liberation of the prisoners through this honorable deal is not only a victory for the resistance, but it is a victory for the entire Palestinian people, and reflects our loyalty to our martyrs, female prisoners, and prisoners who sacrificed their lives for the homeland.

On this occasion, we emphasize:

1. We salute the most honorable of us all, the martyrs of our people who rose in defense of our land and our holy places, and their souls will remain a beacon guiding our path toward freedom.

2. We express our pride and appreciation for our heroic wounded who embodied the highest meanings of steadfastness and sacrifice.

3. We affirm that the issue of prisoners is a constant commitment in our struggle, and that their liberation represents a permanent priority. We will not rest until every prisoner obtains his full freedom, and the current deal is nothing but a practical application of the truth of our words.

4. We call on all our people to strengthen solidarity and national unity, and to stand as one in confronting the occupation and its plans.

5. We call on the international community to assume its responsibilities towards our people, support reconstruction efforts, and provide everything necessary to heal Gaza’s wounds.

O our great people..
History will record your steadfastness and perseverance in letters of light, and the world will learn from you how peoples create their freedom with their blood and patience. You are the people of glory and pride, and we will remain loyal to your sacrifices until the comprehensive liberation of our stolen homeland is achieved.

Mercy for the martyrs, healing for the wounded, freedom for the prisoners, and victory for our great people.

Zaher Jabarin
Head of the Office of Martyrs, Wounded and Prisoners
Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas

January 19, 2025

List of names: 90 women and youth prisoners to be liberated Sunday, 19 January in the Flood of the Free

Below is the initial list of names, released by the Prisoners’ Media Office, of the 90 Palestinian prisoners, women and youth, to be liberated today by the Resistance in the first day of Toufan al-Ahrar, the Flood of the Free, Exchange:

  1. Nawal Fatiha, 23, Jerusalem
  2. Jamal Kaabneh, 18, al-Khalil
  3. Adam Hadara, 18, Jerusalem
  4. Mouadh Omar Abdullah al-Haj, 17, Ain Sultan Camp
  5. Ibrahim Sultan Ibrahim Zumour, 17, Askar camp
  6. Abdel-Rahman Jamil Khudeir, 18, Beita
  7. Saeed Mizyed Saeed Salim, 18, Azzoun
  8. Mohammed Aman Fawzi Bishkar, 18, Askar camp
  9. Issam Mamoun Abu Diab, 18, Jerusalem
  10. Thaer Ayoub Rashid Abu Sarah, 17, Jerusalem
  11. Fahmi Mohammed Fahmi Faroukh, 17 Silwan, Jerusalem
  12. Qasim Iyad Mohammed Jaafreh, 17, Jabel al Mukaber, Jerusalem
  13. Youssef Jamal Ayyad al-Hreimi, Bethlehem
  14. Firas Jihad Ahmed al-Maqdisi, 18, Silwan, Jerusalem
  15. Abdel-Aziz Mohammed Atawneh, 19, al-Jiftik, Jericho
  16. Fadi Bassam Mohammed Hindi, 17, Jenin
  17. Osama Nasser Jibran Abed Ataya, 18, Kifr Nimah
  18. Ayham Ali Issa Jaradat, Sair, al-Khalil, 18
  19. Aseel Osama Shehada, 18, Qalandiya, Jerusalem
  20. Tamara Abu Laban, 24, Jerusalem
  21. Mahmoud Mohammed Daoud Aleiwat, 15, Silwad, Jerusalem
  22. Laith Mohammed Naji Kamil, 17, Qabatiya, Jenin
  23. Jenin Mohammed Amr, 22, al-Khalil
  24. Nafisa Rashid Farid Zourba, 37, Jericho
  25. Khalida Kanaan Jarrar, 61, Ramallah/al-Bireh
  26. Yasmine Abdel-Rahman Abu Srour, 26, Bethlehem Aida Camp
  27. Fatima Nimr al-Rimawi, 52, Jericho
  28. Dalal Mohammed Suleiman Khasib (al-Arouri), 53, Ramallah
  29. Fatima Mohammed Suleiman Saqr (al-Arouri), 48, Aroura
  30. Rana Jamal Mohammed Darbas, 35, al-Bireh
  31. Ahmed Walid Mohammed Khashan, 18, Arraba, Jenin
  32. Zahra Wahib Abdel-Fattah Khadraj, 52, Qalqilya
  33. Balqis Issa Ali Zawahra, 33, Bethlehem
  34. Duha Azzam Ahmad al-Wahsh, 29, al-Taamra, Bethlehem
  35. Halima Fayeq Suleiman Abu Amara, 22, Nablus
  36. Mona Ahmed Qasim Abu Hussein, 46, Abboud
  37. Bushra Jamal Mohammed al-Tawil, 31, al-Bireh
  38. Raeda Ghanem Mohammed Abdel-Majeed Barghouti, 46, Abboud
  39. Murjana Mohammed Mustafa Hreish, 32, Beitunia
  40. Walaa Khaled Tanji, 28, Tulkarem camp
  41. Rawda Musa al-Akhras (Abu Ajamiyeh), 47, Dheisheh Camp
  42. Rula Ibrahim Abdel-Rahim Hassanein, 30, Bethlehem
  43. Ahmed Bashar Jumaa Abu Aliya, 18, Ramallah
  44. Saja Zuhair al-Muadi, 27, Kufr Malek
  45. Shaimaa Mohammed Abdel-Jalil Rawajbeh, 25, Nablus
  46. Salwa Attiya Mahmoud Hamdan, 45, Dheisheh Camp
  47. Rose Yousef Mohammed Khweis, 17, Jerusalem
  48. Fatima Youssef Mustafa Salha, 36, Deir Jarir
  49. Haneen Akram al-Masaed, 30, Aida camp, Bethlehem
  50. Jihad Ghazi Ahmed Joudeh, 36, Jericho
  51. Nidaa Ali Ahmad Salah (al-Zughaibi), 37, Kufr Dan, Jenin
  52. Amal Ziyad Omar Shujaia, 21, Deir Jarir
  53. Lubna Mazen Salim Talalweh, 46, Arraba, Jenin
  54. Ola Mahmoud Qasim Azher (Jouda), 22, Kabalan, Nablus
  55. Ayat Yousef Saleh Mahfouz, 33, al-Khalil
  56. Hadeel Mohammed Hussein Hijaz (Shatara), 32, Mazraa al-Sharqiya
  57. Wafa Ahmed Abdullah Nimr, 21, Kharbatha Bani Harith
  58. Rasha Ghassan Mohammed Hijjawi, 40, Tulkarem
  59. Zeina Majd Mohammed Barbar, Silwan, Jerusalem
  60. Israa Khader Ahmed Ghneimat (Lafi), 40, Surif, al-Khalil
  61. Tahani Jamal Abed Ashour, 49, al-Khalil
  62. Aya Omar Youssef Ramadan, 23, Tal, Nablus
  63. Shaimaa Omar Youssef Ramadan, 19, Tal, Nablus
  64. Dunia Shtayyeh Marouf Shtayyeh, 20, Salem, Nablus
  65. Alaa Jad Nabhan Shaheen, 37, Beitunia
  66. Nahil Kamal Mustafa Masalmeh, 37, Dura, al-Khalil
  67. Khitam Arif Hassan Habaybeh, 50, Jenin
  68. Aseel Mohammed Adnan Eid al-Yassini, 20, Jerusalem
  69. Alaa Samir Harb Abu Rahima, 27, Beit Rima
  70. Baraa Hatem Hafez Fuqaha, 25, Tulkarem
  71. Shatha Nawaf Jaraba, 23, Bittin
  72. Dania Saqr Mohammed Hanatsheh, 22, Ramallah
  73. Saja Imad Saad Daraghmeh, 19, Tubas
  74. Al-Yamama Ibrahim Hassan Hreinat, 21, Yatta, al-Khalil
  75. Raghad Walid Mahmoud Amr, 24, Dura, al-Khalil
  76. Hanan Ammar Bilal Ma’alawani, 23, Nablus
  77. Raghad Khader Deeb Mubarak, 23, al-Khalil
  78. Ashwaq Mohammed Ayyad Awad, 23, Beit Amr, al-Khalil
  79. Iman Ibrahim Ahmed Zaid, 40, Beitunia
  80. Tahrir Badran Badr Jaber, 44, Beitunia
  81. Abla Mohammed Othman Abdel-Rasoul (Sa’adat), 68, Ramallah
  82. Israr Abdel-Fattah Mohammed al-Lahham, 42, Bethlehem
  83. Myassar Mohammed Saeed al-Faqih, 60, Nablus
  84. Abeer Mohammed Hamdan Ba’ara, 33, Nablus
  85. Samah Bilal Abdel-Rahman Souf (Hijjawi), 25, Qalqilya
  86. Margaret Mohammed Mahmoud al-Ra’i, 53, Qalqilya
  87. Latifa Khaled Ramadan Mashasha, 34, Jerusalem
  88. Israa Mustafa Mohammed Berri, 54, Jenin
  89. Alaa Khaled Mohammed Saqr al-Arouri, 21, Ramallah
  90. Lana Farouk Naeem Fawalha, 25, Sinjil, Ramallah

Download the list in Arabic:

الدفعة الاولى

The Flood of the Free: The march to liberation

Please note: All names and numbers below are subject to further clarification as official statements are released by the Palestinian Resistance and the Prisoners’ Media Office, the only authoritative source of information on the releasees of the Flood of the Free.

This morning, Sunday, 19 January, as the sun rises in Gaza, as the people of the north return home without anyone searching or interrogating them, in preparation for a greater march home to all of occupied Palestine and their original homes and lands, as Jabalia and Nuseirat camps are filled with its people and families, from the heroic resistance fighters that made the camp a death trap for the genocidal enemy until its last moment, as the doctors, nurses and health workers reopen the hospitals, as the Palestinian police, interior ministry and civil defense — so heavily targeted by the occupier — fan out throughout Gaza, as the Qassam Brigades march in public, welcomed by the people, throughout Gaza; Palestinian prisoners inside the occupation jails are awaiting their liberation in the exchange agreement, Toufan al-Ahrar, the Flood of the Free — liberated by the Palestinian resistance and the great sacrifices of Gaza, accompanied by those throughout Palestine, of Lebanon, Yemen, Iran and Iraq.

The Zionist entity attempted to undermine the ceasefire, outraged by the Palestinian exultation of the achievements of the resistance and their own clear defeat, in the earliest moments, taking another 10 martyrs, claiming that the Resistance had not turned  over the list of three prisoners held by the resistance to be released today (despite the fact that such lists were not part of the agreement). However, the people continued their return. In the words of Palestinian writer Ali Abunimah, “Enemy is still bombing, shelling in Gaza, but people are still celebrating and streaming home, civil authorities getting back to work and the mayor of Rafah held a press conference. This too is defiance and resistance. People aren’t going to let the enemy spoil their ceasefire.”

These names were then publicly announced by the spokesperson of the Izz el-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Obeida, as the Palestinian people and the world await the list of names of the Palestinian detainees held in the dungeons of the occupier who will be liberated today by the Resistance.

The occupation has released an overall list of names of the prisoners to be liberated within the first stage of the agreement, a process that will take place over 42 days. The occupation does not release these lists in order to provide information to or facilitate the preparation of Palestinians; rather, it is a requirement of internal occupation law to allow Zionists to object to the liberation of these captives.

This list and even the full group of prisoners to be freed in the first stage is not the entire reach of the Flood of the Free; especially as many of the leadership prisoners and those with high sentences are expected to be demanded to be released in the second stage of the exchange, in return for high-ranking Zionist captives held by the resistance.

The names on the list published by the occupation are exciting and inspiring, including so many of the great leaders of the Palestinian liberation struggle; three of the heroes of the Freedom Tunnel; Nael Barghouthi, the longest-held Palestinian prisoner; Mohammed Abu Warda, with 45 life sentences; Khalida Jarrar, the leading Palestinian academic and leftist; Ammar al-Zaben, the first Palestinian prisoner to conceive a child through “smuggled sperm;” Dirar al-Sisi, the Palestinian engineer kidnapped from Ukraine in 2011; Hadeel Shatara, the Palestinian educator and activist; Iyad Jaradat, who endured years in solitary confinement; Wael Jaghoub, the Palestinian leader and writer behind bars; Bushra al-Taweel, the tireless chronicler of the Palestinian prisoners’ cause; the ill strugglers like Moatassem Raddad and Mansour Muqtada; Abla Sa’adat, the wife of Ahmad Sa’adat — and so many more.

However, we also know that the exchange will be completed in stages and throughout the 42 days, and that the Resistance — the great Resistance that achieved their liberation — is the only trustworthy source of information, and will be coordinating the release of the lists of names of prisoners to be exchanged each day of the releases.

We are committed to provide immediate translations and information as soon as they are available on an ongoing basis.

1,737 male and female prisoners will be released from Israeli occupation prisons by the Resistance as part of the FIRST PHASE ONLY of the Flood of the Free.

We urge everyone, around the world, to join with the Palestinian people in Gaza and everywhere, to celebrate the achievements of the Resistance and the humiliation of the occupier, and to celebrate and welcome each liberated prisoner as the heroes of our global movement that they are, in public events, with posters and public education, with actions and events exposing Zionism and imperialism everywhere.

The Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian Prisoners is continuing amid the Flood of the Free — this is an excellent opportunity to highlight the prisoners with lengthy sentences and support the resistance’s demand for their liberation, while celebrating the exceptional accomplishments of the Flood of the Free on a daily basis. 

We urge all supporters of Palestine and Palestinian and Arab communities to receive and honour the prisoners virtually and symbolically — and pledge to continue the movement until all of them are free, and all of Palestine is free, from the river to the sea.

Gaza: The Resistance Lives, The Prison Doors Open – On the Road to Liberation and Return

The Palestinian people in Gaza have filled the streets, celebrating, defying the Zionist drones and bombs that continued overhead, upon the announcement of a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement in Doha, Qatar. With every shout, every cheer, every waving Palestinian flag and every firework in the air, it was more clear than ever that amid all of the horrific, genocidal destruction and the tens of thousands of martyrs’ lives taken by the Zionist regime and its imperialist sponsors, backers and directors, it has utterly failed in its goals, and that it is the people and their resistance who remain, strong, honourable, and promising a future in which the genocidal Zionist project is fully defeated throughout Palestine, the Arab nation and the region. Throughout this great struggle against genocide, the prisoners have been at the heart of the cause and the resistance, with the Palestinian people committed to achieving the freedom of the prisoners and continuing to struggle in the most horrendous of circumstances.

Gaza and the Prisoners: At the Heart of Struggle

While the full details of the ceasefire agreement and the prisoner exchange have yet to be fully released, many of the clauses are very clear, including the full withdrawal of all Zionist forces from Gaza, the reopening of the Rafah crossing, the entry of trucks of aid and reconstruction supplies, and the exit of wounded Palestinians for treatment, after an aggression that particularly targeted hospitals and the Palestinian health system. And, alongside the people of Gaza, who have resisted the most extreme form of genocidal assault for the past 465 days, the Palestinian prisoners, living under severe torture, are also at the heart of this agreement, with the Resistance securing the release of all women and youth under the age of 19, hundreds of Palestinian prisoners with life sentences, and many more hundreds of prisoners with life sentences in the upcoming second phase of the exchange, as well as ending the repressive system in the prisons that has been instituted since October 2023. The most oppressed, marginalized and tortured sectors of the Palestinian people are at the center of this agreement, and at the center of the priorities of the resistance.

US Imperialism: Director of Zionist Genocide

It is very clear, given the role of the United States and incoming President Donald Trump in seeking to actually achieve a ceasefire prior to the presidential inauguration on January 20, 2025, for the first time since October 2023, that the US, as the leading imperialist power, directs the Zionist entity. Not only did the US never attempt to achieve a ceasefire, it was the primary director of the escalated genocidal assault on the Palestinian people, alongside the Zionist colony implanted in Palestine. Of course, it was joined in this aggression – on the Palestinian people, the Arab nation, the entire region, and indeed, all of humanity, by its fellow imperialist powers – Canada, Britain, Australia, Germany, France and other European Union members – but it has been apparent to all, as the US ships billions of dollars in deadly weaponry to the Zionist regime and implanted a faux “aid pier” only to support an attack killing hundreds of Palestinians in Nuseirat camp, that the US ordered the genocide and could stop it at any time.

Of course, the US is not acting now to preserve Palestinian lives, but for domestic political concerns and to focus its attention on imperial interests elsewhere. But the fundamental nature of this assault as an imperialist-zionist genocide, carried out with US weapons and intelligence, is not only etched firmly into history, so too is the reputation of “Genocide Joe” Biden, “Killer Kamala” Harris and the Democratic Party, in presiding over the incineration of tens of thousands of precious Palestinian lives and the destruction of every university and hospital in Gaza.

The Armed Resistance Defends the People and the Land

However, it is equally clear to all that it is due to the glorious resistance of the Palestinian people, particularly in Gaza, that the bombs will no longer be raining down upon them. Amid the most unimaginably difficult conditions, amid the most dire circumstances, the Palestinian resistance – led by the Izz el-Din al-Qassam Brigades of Hamas, joined with Saraya al-Quds of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and together with multiple resistance forces including the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades of the PFLP, the National Resistance Brigades of the DFLP, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades of the resisting sectors of Fatah, and their fellow resistance fighters in Palestine – continued to fight and to strike severe blows against the Zionist soldiers, the genocidal occupiers, until the last moment. Jabalia camp, the spark of the great popular Intifada of 1987, remained full of the fire of the resistance despite the genocidal destruction of the US/Zionist war machine, bringing down their tanks and soldiers with unparalleled courage, creativity and brilliant strategy.

From Gaza to Lebanon to Yemen and Beyond

And, of course, the Palestinian resistance has fought throughout alongside the brilliant and heroic resistance of Lebanon, led by Hezbollah, which has repeatedly defended and liberated the land of Lebanon from the occupiers – and the northern settlers remain dissuaded from returning to the land the occupy in northern Palestine to this day, and of Yemen, its people, government, armed forces and Ansarallah movement, which shut down the supply lines of genocide in the Red Sea, denied the path to US aircraft carriers, and continued to fire its missiles into the heart of the occupation’s “Tel Aviv,” and making clear that the bombs, sanctions, attacks and threats of the Zionist and imperialist forces would never dissuade them from standing with Palestine. The Yemeni example illustrated very clearly the unity of popular action – as the streets filled with millions every Friday in the greatest marches for Palestine in the world – with firm armed resistance and military action. And of course, they were joined by all of the forces of resistance in the region, stretching from Iraq to Iran, and the world, against the genocidal enemy.

The resistance, with the greatest honour, dedication and love of Palestine, has fought tirelessly to defend the Palestinian people — and indeed, humanity itself — from the genocidal Zionist/imperialist forces. This resistance has held the most oppressed in Gaza under siege, in the prisons under torture, at the center, and its achievements, its persistence, its refusal to back down despite everything, defeated the genocidal billions of dollars of weapons deployed against its people at the behest of imperialism and zionism.

Zionism Exposed Before the World

No one will ever again have illusions that the zionist regime is anything other than what it is, a colonial genocidal entity implanted in the region and in the heart of Palestine, a regime that is and will come to an end. The undefeated resistance that defeats the occupier, its great martyrs, its living leaders, its heroic fighters, are the great heroes of humanity. Despite the vast destruction and theft of human life that the Zionist/imperialist forces have caused, despite their war crimes, crimes against humanity and ongoing genocide, they failed to achieve even one of their military objectives. But they have never, and will never, crush the resistance, from the rubble in Jabalia to the torture rooms in their colonial prisons. Throughout all of their destruction, their aggression and genocide, they were unable to achieve their goal of separating the resistance from the Palestinian people. Instead, it only became ever more clear how deeply rooted the resistance is in the people, a relationship of thought and blood and bone. The armed resistance forces continued to recruit throughout the battle, with the al-Qassam Brigades and Saraya al-Quds replenishing their ranks with new fighters burning the tanks of the occupier.

Al-Aqsa Flood Changed the World

October 7, the great crossing, the Al-Aqsa Flood, changed the world. It became clear on that date that the Palestinian people and their resistance were capable of liberating Palestine, and that despite its technological and military resources, the Zionist regime had nothing but racism and imperialist interests to hold it together; and, indeed, that the regional forces of resistance were capable of liberating the Arab nation and the entire region from US imperialism. The imperialist forces and the Zionist colony were unwilling to accept this new reality, and met it with the only strategy they have – mass killing and genocidal destruction. As we have witnessed throughout the decades and centuries in Asia, Africa, Latin America and in the region, with Palestine at its heart, these forces have never refrained from mass murder in order to continue their theft of land, resources and indeed, the future of the peoples of the world. However, despite their vast destructive forces, they were unable to subjugate Algeria, Vietnam, Zimbabwe; they are unable to subjugate Cuba, Venezuela and Iran; and they are unable to defeat the glorious resistance in Palestine, Lebanon and Yemen. Instead, their military objectives have shattered on the rocks of the resistance.

Genocide is Inherent in Zionism and Imperialism

This does not mean the danger is over. From Syria, to Lebanon, to Palestine and beyond, it is apparent that the United States seeks to control the future of the region and will not refrain from genocide in order to do so. It will seek to shuffle the cards to hinder the resistance once again and to use its sanctions, sieges, unilateral coercive measures and “terrorist designations” in order to achieve its goals through a politics of starvation and deprivation. Therefore, this moment must drive us to build a broader, stronger, movement against imperialism that is capable of standing beside the resistance forces of the region to confront and challenge imperialist genocide. We are aware that imperialist and Zionist forces will escalate their repression domestically as well; the banning and/or designation of Samidoun by Germany, Canada and the United States is but one example. However, we are also aware that we must be prepared to fight repression, defend those attacked, and build a stronger movement that can significantly hinder the imperialist assault.

Of course, the genocide in Palestine did not begin in October 2023, and it will not end with the implementation of this agreement. Genocide is the nature of Zionism; it is the weapon of imperialism. Since 1948 – and indeed, since the Balfour declaration and British colonialism in Palestine – Palestinians have been resisting genocide. This is, however, a new stage of struggle against the ongoing Zionist genocide, organized, directed and backed by the imperialist powers – as illustrated by their colonial bombardment of Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank as the ceasefire agreement was being announced.

Honouring the Martyrs

As we mark this moment, it is with honour to the great martyrs; every father, mother and child, every sister, brother and loved one taken by the imperialist-zionist genocidal force; the doctors, nurses, journalists, health workers, teachers, municipal workers, police, and aid workers targeted by the occupation regime as they worked to wipe out all of the systems of sustenance of Palestinian life and steadfastness. We salute the 55 martyrs of the prisoners’ movement in the dungeons of the occupier, amid reportedly hundreds or thousands more martyred in the torture camps such as Sde Teiman, after being abducted from Gaza by the occupation regime.

And of course, the great leaders of the Resistance, whose unparalleled legacy of struggle, sacrifice and commitment lives on in every struggling resistance fighter and in every hope for the future of a liberated Palestine, a truly sovereign Lebanon, a proud Yemen. Saleh al-Arouri, the great Palestinian fighter; Ismail Haniyeh, the icon of Palestinian national unity and self-determination; Yahya Sinwar, the legendary fighter and liberated prisoner who fought to liberate the prisoners, Gaza and all of Palestine; Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the great Arab leader and icon of decades of resistance, the maker of victory over the Zionists; Sayyed Hashem Safieddine, the heroic strategist of resistance; Ibrahim Aqil, Fouad Shukr, Ali Karaki; Abdel Aziz Minawi, the Political Bureau member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement assassinated in Damascus, and many more yet to be fully named and honoured.

As we join with the Palestinian people in celebrating this moment, we are fully aware that Zionism and imperialism cannot be trusted, and neither can reactionary Arab regimes working in concert with them. Time and time again, the Zionist entity violates its agreements and breaks its commitments, a lesson that is quite clear to the Palestinian resistance, the prisoners’ movement, and all resistance forces. It will be up to the people and the resistance – as always – to protect the people; and it is up to us, around the world, to meet the challenge to do everything possible to defeat all of the schemes of imperialism and Zionism to impose a “Pax Americana” on Palestine and the region. The Zionist regime is itself a genocidal project – the only way to truly bring an end to genocide in Palestine is to bring the Zionist colony “Israel” to its end.

The International Popular Cradle of the Resistance

At the international level, this is a critical moment not to step back and to de-escalate, but to intensify and deepen our efforts to build the international popular cradle of the resistance. Millions of people filled the streets, in the heart of the imperialist core, to demand an end to the genocide and justice and liberation for Palestine. It is clear to everyone around the world that the Zionist regime is a genocidal threat to humanity. The resistance surmounted the lies and smear campaigns waged against them in an attempt to justify genocide and stand tall today as true heroes of humanity. The Palestinian and Arab people in exile and diaspora rose up everywhere to organize, come together, and play their role in the struggle for Palestine’s liberation. Direct actions like those of Palestine Action, confronting the war machine, have shut down weapons factories and offices of Israeli arms dealers. Students changed the picture of campus life everywhere as they rose up in a global intifada. The growing popular and grassroots boycott illustrated international popular revulsion and refusal of complicity in genocide. And yet, we also have key lessons to learn: We cannot have a successful movement or serve as a partner to the resistance without being clear on the role of imperialism, and equally clear on the centrality of the resistance forces. We cannot allow our movement to be taken down the road of imperialist party politics, competing over who is in charge of the theft of Palestinian lives.

Accountability must be imposed upon all those responsible for the genocidal assault on Gaza, and upon the people of Palestine and the region. Their crimes will neither be forgotten nor forgiven; from the engineers and architects of genocide in the halls of power to the occupation soldiers who broadcast their torture and abuse on social media to the propagandists who lied to the world to market a genocidal regime, we must work at all levels to impose true accountability and justice upon the perpetrators of these horrendous crimes.

Just as the power of resistance was made clear to all, so too were the weaknesses of the movement more broadly: the effective silencing of the Arab masses throughout much of the region, through reactionary regimes armed and funded by US imperialism, the continued role of the Egyptian regime in maintaining the siege on Gaza, the arrests of strugglers and activists in Jordan and Morocco, not to mention the continuing normalization of the United Arab Emirates. Within the international context, this must become a moment where we organize, consolidate and deepen our organizations. We must not have a “short breath” for what is inherently a long-term struggle in order to truly play our role as an international framework of resistance.

Unity and the Necessity of Anti-Imperialism

Our strength and our unity comes from standing together against repression, and for liberation, not in allowing our enemies to cut us off from one another through a politics that seeks accommodation within genocidal imperialism, self-censorship and subordination. It is, at the core, the armed resistance, the Palestinian prisoners, and of course, the people of Gaza, who exposed Zionism and imperialism and brought down all of their military objectives, who are opening the doors of freedom for the heroic prisoners of the cause of Palestine, and who promise a Palestinian future that will be determined only by the people and not by its occupiers, invaders and enemies. This is an indelible stamp and a historical moment upon the road to liberation and return for all of Palestine, brought ever closer.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes the Palestinian people and their Resistance and commits to continuing, intensifying and the struggle for liberation.

Glory and victory to the resistance, from Palestine to Lebanon and Yemen and everywhere in the region. The final defeat of Zionism and imperialism is coming. And Palestine will be free, from the river to the sea.

The Case of Ahmad Sa’adat: Resistance Without Compromise

Special Commentary by Abu Riad

Join the Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat, January 15-22, 2025

Martyred Leader Ismail Haniyeh with a portrait of Ahmad Sa’adat during the Great March of Return. Jabalia, Gaza. April, 20, 2018.

January 15th of this year will mark 23 years since Ahmad Sa’adat’s abduction by the Palestinian Authority, the start of his continued detention in occupation jails. He is a man at the center of many things: a story of PA treachery, the Palestinian prisoners’ movement, and of course, the political affairs of the PFLP. Despite his cruel conditions, such as long periods of solitary confinement and lack of visits from family, his will has never broken and he remains committed to the people of Palestine and the cause of resistance. He has been a consistent leader of the movement of Palestinian political prisoners, participating in multiple hunger strikes in 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2019. Despite being sold out by the PA, forced through sham trials and frame ups, he has remained a committed leader of the political prisoner movement and the PFLP. Through his struggle, he represents the living, fighting spirit of the Palestinian people and its Resistance.

This anniversary comes at an especially important time in light of the genocide in Gaza and the PA’s brazen treachery across the West Bank. Ahmad Sa’adat was sold out by the PA to the arms of the occupation, an important example of the true nature of the Palestinian Authority, which sacrifices popular and patriotic Palestinians to the occupation in order to cynically maintain its own power. As ‘Abu Ghassan’ said in 2014, “Two decades on, the results of the negotiations have conclusively demonstrated that it is futile to continue the process according to the Oslo frameworks.”

The Palestinian Authority was established in the wake of the 1993 Oslo Accords with the ostensible goal of being the government by which the new “Palestinian State,” set to be established on less than a third of historic Palestine, would be administered. Oslo marked the ultimate triumph in the PLO of the more “pragmatic” faction of Fatah (Palestinian National Liberation Movement) led by Yasser Arafat, which since 1974 had demanded for the creation of a Palestinian government on any territory liberated by the Resistance. In word, this was to be one step on the road to the liberation of all of historic Palestine, but as Oslo showed, it meant capitulation. It is worth noting that since the inception of the concept of a “Palestinian authority” in the wake of the conquest of the West Bank and Gaza during the Zionist entity’s 1967 aggression, the PFLP vehemently opposed such schemes. In 1971, 22 years before Oslo, martyred PFLP spokesman Ghassan Kanafani defined any type of Palestinian “state” founded through peace negotiations as “one instigated, overseen and dominated by Israel.” Its existence would herald surrender of Palestinian resistance forces, with its purpose being to “develop the victor’s [Israel’s] military, political and economic superiority, and to engender a profound advance towards its strategic objectives.”

22 years later, the former forces of the Resistance led by Arafat were to help create such a reality for Palestine in the halls of Western capitals and on the lawn of the White House. Forsaking claims on all of historic Palestine, the right of refugees to return, and giving up on armed struggle, Fatah and allied entities, under the tutelage of the United States and Zionist occupation, established the Palestinian Authority which was to nominally govern the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem. From the very onset, this government agreed to flagrant violations of Palestinian sovereignty, including the ceding of control of Palestinian resources to Israel, allowing Israel to oversee and control the finances of the PA, allowing Israel to control the borders of the territories, and agreeing to divide the West Bank into different zones of control. Israel was able to create an illusion of nominal Palestinian control of the occupied territories while ultimately having the Palestinian Authority do its bidding.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the “Security Cooperation” agreements between the PA and the occupation. From Oslo onwards, the main repressive arm of the PA has been the Palestinian National Security Forces (PNSF) which was formed with direct US & European aid and supervision in the 1990s.

with the purpose of securing the Oslo Framework and cracking down on Resistance groups like Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the PFLP who rejected the agreement and continued armed struggle against the occupation. Between 1993 and the start of the Second Intifada in 2000, the PA arrested hundreds of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, PFLP, and DFLP members who rejected the “peace process”, accusing their legitimate acts of resistance to be extremism and terrorism. Ironically, those who called out Oslo for the betrayal it was were accused by the PA of hurting the Palestinian cause. With almost no break, security cooperation has persisted from Oslo till today.

The occupations incessant violations of Palestinian rights throughout the post-Oslo period and the PA’s inability to confront them led to mass outrage amongst the Palestinian people, culminating in the Second Intifada which began in September of 2000. As armed struggle against the occupation commenced, all Palestinian factions begun conducting operations all over historic Palestine, breaking down the artificially imposed barriers Oslo sought to impose on the Resistance. Notably, even members of Fatah, including members of the PNSF who became disillusioned with the “peace process”, took up arms against the occupation. A couple of months into the uprising, PFLP secretary-general Abu Ali Mustafa outlined its importance due to the fact it unified the Palestinian people and Resistance, as well as rendering bankrupt the view that the cause could ever persist through peace negotiations with Israel and the United States. Due to the efforts of Abu Ali and his comrades, the Front was able to reorganize its military wing and conduct over a hundred operations across Gaza, the West Bank, and the Occupied 1948 territories between the outbreak of the Intifada in September 2000 and August 2001 when the secretary-general was martyred.

On August 27, 2001, Abu Ali Mustafa was martyred in an Israeli airstrike on his office in al-Bireh. His killing was one of the first major assassinations conducted by the occupation during the Second Intifada, due to the threat he posed to the colonial project. In the aftermath of his martyrdom, Ahmad Sa’adat, a lifelong revolutionary and militant of the PFLP was elected to take his place. Ahmad Sa’adat was born in 1953 in al-Bireh, Palestine. In 1967, he joined the student league of the PFLP and officially joined the group in 1969. He was arrested for his militancy first in 1969, followed by arrests in 1970, 1973, 1975, 1976, 1989, and 1992. Most of those arrests led to arbitrary detention without any trial. He stated his experiences in prison to be formative times for his revolutionary and political convictions. He was elected to the Central Committee of the PFLP in 1981 and then to the Politburo in 1993, but the Palestinian Authority arrested him in 1995 and 1996, following the security coordination framework of Oslo.

Upon his election, he promised to avenge the killing by adhering to the line of “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and a head for a head”. On October 17th, 2001, with precise planning and execution, Majdi al-Rimawi, Hamdi Qu’ran, Basil al-Asmar, and Ahed Abu Ghoulmeh, leaders and fighters of the newly renamed Martyr Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, executed the people’s ruling. At the Regency Hotel in “Tel Aviv”, fascist Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Ze’evi was executed as revenge for Abu Ali’s killing. Across Palestine and the refugee camps where the diaspora lives, the masses celebrated. The operation was historic as it marked the highest level Israeli official ever taken out by the resistance.

However, the Palestinian Authority’s reaction was characteristically out of touch with that of the Palestinian people. Immediately in the wake of the operation, the PA conducted a ferocious arrest campaign targeted at PFLP members throughout the West Bank and Gaza. By November 3rd, 2001, over 60 PFLP members had been arrested on unjust grounds by the PNSF. Treacherously, on January 15th of 2002, under the pretext of negotiating an end to the mass arrests of PFLP members, the PNSF lured Ahmad Sa’adat out of hiding and arrested him. He was then taken to the presidential compound of the PA in Ramallah where he was held in detention for over 2 months alongside Rimawi, Qu’ran, al- Asmar, and Abu Ghoulmeh until Arafat cynically acceded to US-Israeli pressure to place them in prison.

In May of 2002, the PA transferred Sa’adat, Rimawi, Qu’ran, al-Asmar, and Abu Ghoulmeh to Jericho prison where they were held under the de facto control of American and British guards, nominally there to observe the PNSF’s performance. They were not the only resisters who the PA repressed during the Second Intifada however. Alongside the PFLP, large numbers of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades members were arrested throughout this period for resisting. At times, the PA even arrested members of its own security forces who fought back against the Israelis. Despite security cooperation continuing to an extent during the Intifada, Israeli and American leadership under Sharon and Bush respectively started to lose faith in Yasser Arafat, looking for a more amicable successor to replace him.

Their choice was Mahmoud Abbas, a veteran of Fatah’s international relations department and an architect of the Oslo Accords. He was appointed in March 2003 due to US-Israeli pressure on Arafat. He was vehemently opposed to any type of armed resistance and immediately began calls for an end to Palestinian militancy. Throughout the rest of the Intifada, he gave humiliating speeches denouncing what he called the “militarization of the intifada” like his remarks at the Aqaba “peace” summit in June of 2003. With Arafat’s death in 2004, he was elected leader of Fatah, and he won the 2005 PA presidential elections due to the fact Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the PFLP boycotted it. Alongside his rise to leadership of the PA came the restructuring and reorganization of the PNSF which had been shaken up during the 2nd Intifada. In order to maximize the efficiency of security cooperation and reduce any possible defections of more patriotic minded officers to the camp of resistance, the United States military was brought in to train the PNSF.

With the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in 2005 due to the efforts of the Resistance during the Intifada, the US sought to bolster PA presence there as well as the West Bank. To that effect, they had American generals William Ward and Keith Dayton coordinate with the occupation to facilitate training and weapons transfers for the PNSF. Mahmoud Abbas’s own presidential guard which has been recently used in raids across the West Bank was directly trained by the US. One particular figure for US-Israeli designs on Gaza was Mohammed Dahlan, the head of the PNSF in Gaza who gained infamy for his corruption and ruthless torture of Resistance members and supporters in the Strip. Throughout his leadership, he oversaw the mass arrests of scores of patriotic Gazans and instilled a veritable reign of terror sanctioned by the US and occupation. However, the victory of Hamas in the 2006 Palestinian elections greatly upset the designs of the imperialist backers of the PA. One of the key promises the new Hamas led government made was to free Ahmad Sa’adat and the four Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades leaders and fighters held with him in Jericho Prison, as well as scores of more Palestinian prisoners held in PA jails.

The Israeli occupation and United States quickly moved into action on March 14, 2006 when the IDF laid siege to Jericho prison with up to 1000 troops, artillery, attack helicopters, and tanks. The siege lasted for over 10 hours, most of the PA guards surrendered as it began. Despite the overwhelming odds stacked against them, Ahmad Sa’adat, Majdi al-Rimawi, Hamdi Qu’ran, Basil al-Asmar, Ahed Abu Ghoulmeh, and the 200 other prisoners at Jericho stood their ground to the very end and refused to surrender as the Israelis took them into custody. The Palestinian people across the occupied lands and diaspora rose up in revolt and protest to the blatant kidnapping of the secretary-general and his fellow inmates. Across the spectrum of the Resistance, denunciations poured out from all factions who refused to put up with a status quo that allowed the occupation to detain Palestinian leaders at will. In December of 2008, Ahmad Sa’adat was sentenced to 30 years in prison in an occupation court due to his leadership of the PFLP and role in the October 17th operation. At his trial (which was held in 1948 occupied Palestine) he stated “I do not stand to defend myself in front of your court… I stand to defend my people and their legitimate right to national independence and self-determination and return.”

Around the time of the Jericho prison raid, an American-Israeli conspiracy to remove Hamas from power was brewing in the shadows. The US, stunned by the victory of Hamas in the free and fair elections of 2006, feared that a renewed bout of Palestinian radicalism would threaten Israel and its reactionary allies in the region. To this effect, the US ordered the PA to dissolve the government led by Haniyeh and Hamas and instead appoint an “emergency government” that would act to marginalize the Resistance. In Gaza, they prepared Mohammed Dahlan and PNSF men loyal to him for a putsch, in which they were to furnish his forces with arms transmitted through Egypt and Jordan, alongside training to forcibly expel Hamas from power. However, getting wind of this coup attempt, Hamas swiftly crushed the PA’s forces in confrontations across Gaza that lasted from the 10th to 15th of June in 2007. In response, Mahmoud Abbas cemented his dictatorial rule in the West Bank and the PA received further US-Israeli support to entrench itself vis-a-vis the Resistance. This order in the West Bank has lasted until this day, as Abbas has trampled on numerous national unity agreements to secure his own power.

On the other hand, the victory of Hamas in Gaza has allowed all factions of the Resistance to exponentially grow their strategic capabilities. Despite the brutal siege imposed on Gaza, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the PFLP, DFLP, Popular Resistance Committees, and other factions have been able to creatively confront the occupation, ranging from the vast tunnel system under Gaza to the domestically made weapons used to neutralize Israeli armor. One of the most important tactics utilized by the Resistance has been the prisoner exchange. Dating back to the early days of the Palestinian Revolution in the 1960s and 1970s, the Resistance has taken occupation soldiers prisoner with the goal of freeing Palestinian prisoners. In 1985, the Resistance was able to free over 1,100 prisoners by exchanging 3 captured soldiers in the Jibril Agreement. In June of 2006, the Resistance in Gaza captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in Operation Dispersive Illusions. Holding him for 5 years, they were able to negotiate an exchange deal in 2011 which led to the release of over 1000 prisoners, including the martyred commander Yahya Sinwar. Notably, Israel refused to release Ahmad Sa’adat in this deal, showing how much they fear his role in Palestinian politics.

The Gilad Shalit deal led to the strengthening of the Resistance in Gaza, and paved the way for Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7th, 2023. In this historic operation led by Hamas and participated in by all Palestinian factions, the Resistance breached the Gaza “security envelope”, dealt devastating losses on the Occupation army, and managed to capture over 200 prisoners of war. One of the central objectives of this operation is the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners held in Zionist jails.

Among the list of captives demanded to be released are Ahmad Sa’adat, Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti, former Hamas commander in the West Bank Abdullah Barghouti, and Lebanese struggler Georges Abdallah currently held in France. While a recent event, this operation marks one of the most important moments in the history of the Palestinian struggle, and will certainly merit historic gains for the Resistance.

At the same time as the camp of Resistance in Palestine and regionally has demonstrated its capabilities to confront the occupier, the PA has increased its repression in the West Bank. In March of 2024, the Fatah movement denounced the operation, claiming it had brought catastrophe and ruin to Gaza and the Palestinian quest for statehood. Since October 7th, 2023, the PA has detained over 1,800 Palestinians in the West Bank on charges of supporting or aiding the Resistance, or simply criticizing the PA’s rule.

Journalists documenting their brutality have been repressed in manners similar to the occupations genocidal actions in Gaza, such as in the case of Shatha al-Sabbagh, a journalist martyred in late December 2024 in Jenin Camp by PA sniper fire. Throughout 2024, numerous PA raids occurred at centers of resistance, like in Nour Shams Camp in Tulkarm or the December 2024 Jenin Camp siege.

The PA’s activity is directly tied to the American-Israeli designed “Fenzel Plan”, named after general Michael Fenzel, one of the senior architects of US-PNSF collaboration. This plan entails the bolstering of PNSF forces so that they can quash armed Resistance in the West Bank, and ultimately pave way for a plan of unopposed Zionist control of the West Bank. The anti-popular character of the PA shows itself every day; no government representing the Palestinian people would claim that its most patriotic and daring youth are “terrorists” or foreign agents. The current violence in the West Bank is a desperate attempt to quell the swelling volcano and will surely fail just as the plans to liquidate Gaza’s Resistance in 2007 fell flat on their face. With every passing day the PA and its rotten security cooperation agreements are closer to being incinerated by the fire of Resistance. With every passing day the prisoners of occupation and PA jails are closer to their freedom.

Alongside over 9000 Palestinian prisoners, Ahmad Sa’adat stands in front of the occupier boldly and defiantly. Despite all the occupation has put him and his co-inmates through, they stand steadfastly and weather the storm. The Israeli occupation has tried all they could to break him, from martyring his younger brother Muhammad in a targeted assassination attempt in Ramallah in 2002 to arresting his wife Abla in September of 2024, but he has stood steadfast. His story, along with the countless stories of Palestinian strugglers in Zionist jails should serve as a call to action for all free people in the world to fight for not just their release from Zionist prison, but for the liberation of the whole Palestinian people and nation from the prison called Zionism which has been forcibly established on their land since 1948.

“Prison Cells Scare us not. O Abu Ghassan, we are ready. For your eyes, O Palestine, We Will Assault Death Itself!”

Jenin: The Guns of the Camps

Samidoun Network Special Report from Occupied Palestine

“Stop the Palesrinian Authority’s Attack on Jenin Camp ” from the Black September posters, original poster by artist Mark Rudin (Jihad Mansour), 1980, from the Palestine Poster Archive.

Introduction: The Continuous Confrontation

Twenty years after the Second Intifada, the enemy did not imagine that the special forces unit that would storm Jenin to assassinate Jamil Al-Amouri and his companion in June 2021 would serve as an unwitting tool of history. That event sparked the mobilization of hundreds of rifles that appeared on the same day to announce the beginning of the stage of liberation of the West Bank.

Following Jamil Al-Amouri’s assassination, the enemy repeated its mistake many times in announcing destructive military campaigns that turned the streets of the northern West Bank into fertile ground for planting explosive devices, the most recent of which was the “Summer Camps” operation, in which the leader Abu Shujaa was martyred. This operation was confronted with fierce resistance, termed “The Terror of the Camps.” The aggression began at 2:00 AM on Wednesday, August 28, 2024. By dawn there were 10 martyrs by aerial bombardment, including fighters from Jenin and Tubas. Zakaria Zubeidi notes in his master’s thesis “The Hunter and the Dragon: Pursuit in the Palestinian Experience 1968-2018” that the enemy intentionally names its operations in order to undermine the morale of the Palestinian people. During the period of the Second Intifada, for example, it gave names to its military attacks on Jenin such as: “Garbage Collection,” “Hunting the Black Rat,” “House of Cards,” “Collapse of the Pyramid,” “Tears of the Dragon,” and even “A Colorful Journey” when Ramallah was bombed in 2002—these came after the “Defensive Shield” operation. Only a few months after “The Terror of the Camps,” the Palestinian Authority launched its security campaign titled “Homeland Protection” to destroy Jenin Refugee Camp.

“Protecting the Homeland”: Destroying the Camp 

The “Homeland Protection” aggression began on December 9, 2024, and has so far resulted in the martyrdom of journalist Shatha Al-Sabagh , the wanted struggler Yazid Ja’ayseh, Mohammed Al-Jalqamousi and his son Qasem, Mohammed Abu Labda, Majd Zaidan, Ribhi Al-Shalabi, the boy Mohammed Al-Amer, and Sa’ida Abu Bakr. The month-long campaign has relied on imposing a siege on Jenin Refugee Camp, arresting journalists including Obada Tahaineh and Jarrah Khalaf, and detaining 247 young men from Jenin, according to statements by the security services. It also banned Al Jazeera from covering and broadcasting events, deployed snipers on rooftops, stationed armored vehicles, occupied hospitals, terrorized residents with tear gas, cracked down on protests or solidarity movements, launched a smear campaign in the media, silenced dissent, and punished anyone supporting the resistance.

Perhaps the most extraordinary and perplexing aspect is the idea of a Palestinian-imposed siege on a refugee camp—a phenomenon entirely unprecedented in Palestinian history. While Palestinian history is replete with examples of tragic sieges, such as those in Tel Al-Zaatar, Sabra and Shatila, the War of the Camps, and the blockade of Gaza since 1967, as well as repeated sieges of West Bank camps during the 1980s and the battles of the Second Intifada, this is the first instance of a Palestinian siege on a refugee camp. In this aggression against Jenin Refugee Camp, the Palestinian Authority has surpassed itself and assumed the role historically played by the enemies of the Palestinian people.

“Hands Off Jenin Camp” from the legacy of the first Palestinian Intifada, original poster by artist Karim Dabbah, “Hands Off Deheishe Camp” 1980s , from the archives of Birzeit University.

Since the inception of the Palestinian Authority project, the discourse of statehood and citizenship has taken up a significant space in Palestinian society in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. By the late 1990s, university programs were established to teach human rights, law, and democracy, alongside the emergence of organizations and institutions promoting citizenship, freedoms, and human rights, such as the The Independent Commission for Human Rights (1993) and The Coalition for Integrity and Accountability (AMAN) (2000). According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, there are no less than 10,637 practicing lawyers in the West Bank, in addition to hundreds of graduates of law, international law and human rights annually from Palestinian universities.

Despite this, the aggression has shown that the Palestinian Authority has completely dismantled the legal framework, nullifying the concepts of citizenship, the right to life, fair trial, and all agreements against torture, freedom of opinion, and expression. The aggression began under the pretext of targeting “outlaws,” but the actions primarily entrenched a state of chaos and lawlessness imposed by the Authority itself. It besieged thousands of civilian refugees, cutting off electricity, water, fuel, food, freedom of movement, education, and access to healthcare. Violent practices included killings, arbitrary arrests, beatings, humiliation, and house burnings. The Palestinian Authority relied on its popular base, primarily composed of members of the Fateh movement, to push its political agenda accompanying the aggression on Jenin Refugee Camp through intimidating and using violence against people, as seen in An-Najah National University, Birzeit University, and several cities and villages. This was accompanied by displays of violence and threats during Fateh’s anniversary celebrations.

The killing of martyr Rabhi Al-Shalabi, the wanted struggler Yazeed Ja‘aysa, and journalist Shatha Al-Sabagh—who was the sister of Hamas martyr Moatasem Billah Sabagh—revealed the deliberate intent behind premeditated killings and executions as part of the aggression’s objectives to impose control through bloodshed. Although the Palestinian Authority announced in August 2024 its intention to form a delegation to visit Gaza in an attempt to end the genocidal war, its failure to provide any assistance to Gaza and the changes that occurred on the support fronts pushed it to directly participate in the aggression against the Palestinian people rather than lifting the siege imposed upon them. Instead of sending a delegation to Gaza, the Authority’s security apparatus set forth to besiege Jenin Refugee Camp and kill its residents.

In addition, the Palestinian Authority’s discourse can be classified as self-deception toward itself and the Palestinian people, justifying violence that cannot be justified. The Authority’s attempts to contain the resistance in the north have persisted since its emergence in 2021. These efforts peaked when Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announced a visit to Jenin Refugee Camp after the Israeli aggression in July 2023. Although such visits held no practical value in strengthening the camp’s resilience, the Authority deemed combating the resistance as a higher priority—or so it was instructed by the American and Israeli administrations.

The narrative of “outlaws” represents the height of this self-deception. First, what law are we talking about? Why are settlers who burn villages and seize land not considered “outlaws,” and why do the Authority’s armored vehicles not protect the Bedouins of the Jordan Valley or Masafer Yatta? Furthermore, labeling besieged refugees—many of whom are fugitives and relatives of martyrs, prisoners, and the wounded—as “outlaws” aligns with the Israeli narrative against the resistance. This rhetoric distorts symbols of Palestinian society, peaking with the martyrdom of Mohammed Jaber (Abu Shujaa), who was subjected to extensive defamation and propaganda until he was martyred by the Israeli enemy on August 28.

The suppression of journalism—a repressive policy that violates human rights—raises the question: What can journalists in Jenin document during this time? Following the ban on media coverage, many journalists posed this logical question: What do we film? The clear skies despite the smoke rising from nowhere? Or the empty streets for inexplicable reasons? Condemning the resistance in Jenin through the “outlaws” rhetoric contradicts the Palestinian narrative, especially regarding Jenin’s role in Palestinian consciousness. It is on Jenin’s soil where the Syrian Arab revolutionary Izz al-Din al-Qassam and a number of members of his armed group were martyred in 1935 while fighting British colonialism.

Martyr Shatha al-Sabagh, 2024

Stories from the Battalion: “They were youths who believed in their Lord, and We increased them in guidance”

In his master’s thesis, Zakaria Zubeidi noted that the concept of “pursuit” is a permanent fixture in the vocabulary of Palestinian struggle. Pursuit represents rebellion against colonial time and space by betting on life itself. Through tracing biographies and testimonies, Zubeidi concluded that the fugitive as a “living martyr” played a pivotal role in advancing revolutionary movements worldwide throughout history. When Zubeidi, as a fugitive, wrote these words inspired by the legacy of martyrs and freedom fighters, he could not have imagined that only a few years later, his young son Mohammed would become one of the most prominent fugitives, eventually martyred without being embraced by his father.

When a journalist asked martyr Mohammed Shalabi about the resistance fighters’ fierce willingness to engage in battle even if it led to martyrdom, he responded that this ferocity stems from the enemy itself. “The resistance today fights the fiercest enemy in history, equipped with unprecedented destructive capabilities it uses daily against Palestinians in Gaza.” The martyr Mohammed Shalabi, a lawyer from Silat Al-Harthiya, held a bachelor’s degree in law from the University of Jordan and a master’s in international law from the American University in Jenin. He  decided to join the battalion and was martyred on the road to al-Quds on March 3 of this year.

Wissam Khazem, a resistance martyr with Norwegian citizenship, lived in Norway for ten years. He is an engineer, married, with children. He decided to join the resistance under the slogan “Existence is Resistance,” which was engraved on his rifle. He is the cousin of the martyr Raad Khazem, who carried out the Tel Aviv operation on April 7, 2022, and the martyr Nidal Khazem, the commander of the Qassam Brigades, who was assassinated by a special force along with Yousef Shraim on March 16, 2023. Wissam was martyred on August 30, 2024, after his car was targeted in the town of Al-Zababdeh while he was with freed prisoner Maysara Musharqa and Arafat Al-Amer.

Arafat Al-Amer was unparalleled in his loyalty to the martyrs. After the martyrdom of key leaders and founders such as Mohammed Hawashin, Mohammed Zubeidi, Islam Khamaiseh, Ahmed Barakat, Wi’am Hanoun, Aysar and Ayham Al-Amer, some began to feel fear and hesitation in continuing on this path. However, Arafat Al-Amer’s devotion was unmatched. When recalling any memory of a martyr, tears would flow from his eyes, and he eagerly anticipated joining them.

As for the child martyr Lujain Musleh, her last appearance was from the window of her house in Kafr Dan on September 4 when the enemy soldiers shot her in the head at the age of sixteen years old. Her father recalls that, since the age of ten, she always longed for martyrdom. Whenever she saw a funeral procession for a martyr in her town of Kafr Dan, Jenin, or Gaza, she would say, “I wish I could have a procession like that.”

The rural areas that the enemy tried to neutralize served as a supportive environment for the battalion in Jenin Camp. They caused such exhaustion to the enemy that it resorted to using aerial weapons to target martyr Laith Shawahneh in the village of Silat Al-Harthiya. The Tubas Battalion, too, offered its finest fighters as martyrs, including Mohammed Zubeidi, Ahmed Fawaz, Qusay Abdul-Razzaq, Mohammed Abu Zagha (from Jenin Camp), Mohammed Awad, and Mohammed Abu Zeina. Days later, several young fighters from the Sawafteh family followed, including Mohammed Sawafteh, Majd Sawafteh, Yassin Sawafteh, and Qais Sawafteh, who was named after martyr Qais Adwan — one of the fighters of the Qassam Brigades at An-Najah University who was martyred on April 4, 2002.

Talabah Bsharat, a school student, would make explosive devices daily until September 11 when he was martyred when a drone targeted him alongside three young men near Al-Tawheed Mosque in Tubas. As for the martyrs Mohammed Abu Talal (Harboush) and Amjad Al-Qanari, they set up an ambush in the Al-Damj neighborhood in Jenin Camp, killing an invading occupation officer and injuring several others during the “Summer Camps” operation.

“Jenin Camp Will Remain a Symbol of Palestinian Steadfastness” from the legacy of the siege of Tel al-Zaatar camp, original poster issued by the PLO 1976, </span><a href="https://palarchive.org/index.php/Detail/objects/16383"><span>from the Palestinian Museum’s digital archive.
“Jenin Camp Will Remain a Symbol of Palestinian Steadfastness” from the legacy of the siege of Tel al-Zaatar camp, original poster issued by the PLO in 1976, from the Palestinian Museum’s digital archive.

Conclusion

In his book “The Great Battle of Jenin Camp 2002: Living History,” Jamal Huwail presents in his conclusion the idea that the military defeat that occurred at the end of the battle must be read in light of the broader defeat outside the camp, specifically, within the doctrine of the Palestinian Authority’s national project.

Initially, the leadership of the security apparatus did not participate in devising military plans to defend the camp. This responsibility was left to the resistance fighters and some members of the security forces, relying on minimal experience without scientific planning. Regarding armament, the Authority, even at the height of the Second Intifada, did not arm the resistance, to the point that it prevented weapons stockpiled in the headquarters of the security services from reaching the resistance fighters. By the eve of the Zionist invasion of the camp, the resistance had only one RPG shell.

During the battle, and at the height of the resistance’s sense of victory following an ambush that killed 13 Zionist soldiers, calls from some Authority leaders urged surrender, claiming the futility of continued fighting, even participating in psychological warfare. In the end, Abu Jandal was executed on the twelfth day.

The main difference between the 2002 battle and the current Jenin Battalion experience lies in the reality that the resistance is now directly besieged by the Palestinian security apparatus. Not only has the Authority refrained from supporting the resistance, but it has actively worked to besiege it for years, culminating in the ongoing aggression of more than a month, marked by direct military and political siege. As for the second factor, it is the battalion’s decision to confront to the end, which is derived from the resistance forces from Gaza, which draw from a deep legacy and regional power spearheaded by the Yemeni armed forces. Yemen has developed technologies and combat theories capable of confronting the world’s most powerful states.

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