Facebook Instagram Mail RSS Telegram Twitter Youtube
Thursday, August 14, 2025
Home Blog Page 102

Five Palestinian student leaders at Birzeit University seized by Israeli occupation forces

UPDATE as of 10 am Pacific time, 10 January: Abdel-Hafez Sharabati and Waleed Harazneh were released; Mohammed Khatib, Ismail Barghouthi and Qassem Nakhleh remain imprisoned. Free all Palestinian students! 

Israeli occupation forces arrested five Palestinian student leaders outside the East Gate of the Birzeit University campus on Monday, 10 January 2022, sparking protest and outrage at the ongoing attacks on Palestinian student life. Occupation special forces violently stormed the campus with a combined force of undercover/disguised units carrying handguns and fully armed soldiers, opening fire on Palestinian students with live ammunition. Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges student organizations and supporters of Palestine everywhere to organize, take action and campaign to free these five students and the hundreds of Palestinian students jailed by the Israeli occupation.

They seized five student leaders: Ismail Barghouthi, coordinator of the Islamic Bloc; Waleed Harazneh, coordinator of the Student Unity Bloc; Abdel-Hafez Sharabati, coordinator of the Progressive Student Union; Mohammed Khatib, representing the Progressive Democratic Student Pole (al Qutob); and Qassem Nakhleh, also of the Islamic Bloc.

Occupation forces came up behind the students as they were arriving at the university and opened fire on them before shoving them to the ground. The disguised soldiers drove what appeared to be a van delivering goods, while soldiers in full gear were concealed in the rear of the van. Ismail Barghouthi was shot in the thigh and taken to the hospital, and Qassem Nakhleh and Abdel-Hafez Sharabati were also injured by the colonialist soldiers’ violent assault.

All five student leaders have been part of the ongoing student mobilizations and protests challenging the university administration over its investigation and sanctioning of Palestinian student leaders and organizations for organizing and participating in campus events in December 2021 in support of the Palestinian resistance.

The university was closed for classes today due to the ongoing student protests demanding changes from the university administration and an end to policies of subservience to the demands of the Israeli occupation and the Palestinian Authority — via “security coordination” — to clamp down on student activism and organizing on campus.

All five of the arrested students are part of the leadership of the student movement. Today, they were specifically heading to campus in order to meet with the Workers’ Union at Birzeit University to discuss the ongoing protests and calls for action. Instead of holding this meeting between the student blocs and the university workers, the student leaders were fired on with live ammunition, injured and seized by Israeli occupation forces.

They traveled together to the university as they had just departed from the solidarity sit-in in Ramallah in support of Palestinian prisoner Nasser Abu Hamid, currently in a coma due to advanced cancer and dying in an Israeli occupation hospital.

The arrests of the five student leaders have sparked outrage at the ongoing policy of the Israeli occupation to attack and suppress Palestinian student organizing, and also at the Birzeit University administration and the Palestinian Authority. The PA’s role in “security coordination” with the Israeli occupation has included widespread recent arrests of Palestinian students, during which they were subjected to torture and questioned about their role in the student movement at Birzeit.

By sanctioning student leaders and bringing them before a special committee for potential discipline after the organizing of Palestinian national events on campus, Birzeit University administration has also been complicit in the criminalization and repression of the students, noted Palestinian student blocs following the arrests. While the university condemned the attack on its campus, the comments below its statement on social media repeatedly noted that the university had failed in its obligation to protect the students and support their rights.

Student blocs demanded that the university implement the demands of the student movement to support Palestinian national organizing on campus and to stop the investigatory committees against student leaders in order to take a clear position against these occupation attacks. The Islamic Bloc noted that the student movement is committed to standing firm against all attempts to weaken the university as a site of Palestinian struggle, by the occupation itself and by those acting in subordination to the demands of the Israeli regime.

Students are currently demonstrating outside the gates of the university and have called for a protest on Tuesday, 11 January in support of the student movement and to free the imprisoned student leaders.

Hundreds of Palestinian university students are detained by the Israeli occupation. At Birzeit University alone, 55 students were arrested in 2021 and there are 66 students currently held in Israeli occupation prisons, including 8 held without charge or trial under administrative detention. They are among over 4,500 total Palestinian political prisoners jailed by the Israeli occupation regime.

The #FreePalestinianStudents campaign mobilizes over 300 organizations around the world to defend Palestinian students from political imprisonment and demand their freedom.

We join together to call for action and support for Palestinian students behind bars, including: 

  • Boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel, including Israeli academic institutions, which are fully complicit in the systematic deprivation of Palestinian rights.
  • Ending all military and economic aid, military transactions, joint projects and direct funding to the Israeli occupation regime by governments around the world.
  • Challenging “normalization” programs that aim to legitimize Israeli occupation — this is an attempt to legitimize the criminalization and targeting of Palestinian students.
  • Organizing to build direct links of solidarity with Palestinian students and the Palestinian student movement, to ensure that they will not be isolated from their global community of support despite all attempts by the Israeli occupation.

#ShutElbitDown Victory: Israeli arms maker sells off Oldham facilities

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes Palestine Action and all the campaigners who have bravely taken direct action to confront Elbit in Oldham, who have brought about this victory and ensured that this Israeli arms factory will no longer be manufacturing weapons of death in Oldham.

This victory speaks to the successful nature of strong direct action to impose a meaningful and material cost upon the profiteers of the colonization of Palestine and Israeli war crimes against the Palestinian people. Palestine Action has pledged to continue and escalate the actions to #ShutElbitDown, and this victory can and must inspire people around the world to intensify our actions to boycott Israel and shut down the merchants of death marketing weaponry “battle-tested” on Palestinians. 

We are republishing the full statement of Palestine Action below:

After 18 months of sustained direct action taken at the Elbit Ferranti site in Oldham, Greater Manchester, with 36 people arrested, Elbit have now sold Ferranti technologies, with its continued operation in Oldham appearing unfeasible. Activists have occupied, blockaded, smashed, disrupted, and protested regularly at the site, ultimately succeeding in ending the factory’s production of specialist military technologies for Israel’s fleet of combat drones.

In December 2021, anonymous sources revealed to Palestine Action that mass redundancy notices had been issued to staff working at the factory, and that premises were being cleared in preparation for Elbit leaving the site. Today, it was publicised that Ferranti has indeed been sold to TT Electronics, a British electronics firm. This major restructuring – selling a subsidiary which Elbit has consistently promoted as a success and which has helped Elbit to land multi-million pound contracts with the British government – suggests that Elbit is under significant pressure to tighten its UK operations. This is most likely due to the impossibility of continuing at the often-occupied site, the massive financial impact of occupations, and an attempt to avoid more bad publicity.

Early in 2021, Elbit attempted to make the Oldham factory a viable production site by improving security. Elbit increased spending massively for round-the-clock security, and also benefitted from a rapid police response for protestor removal. Neither of these measures succeeded in keeping out activists, with the site continuing to be targetted regularly.

The first action taken in Oldham by Palestine Action, in late August 2020, involved spraying premises in blood-red paint, symbolising the Palestinian bloodshed made possible with Elbit Ferranti technologies. Following this, actions accelerated. Windows were smashed in an occupation in November 2020, while an action taken in collaboration with XR North in February 2021 caused over £20,000 in damages. In April 2021, activists not only occupied the site but gained entry to the factoy, smashing the roof, windows, air vents, and undermining future operations by covering equipment and computers in red paint – over £100,000 of damages were caused, and the site remained shut for well over a week. On July 5th, three activists gained entry to the site, allegedly causing £500,000 of damage and closing the factory for a number of weeks. More recently, in August of this year, activists blockaded the factory – blocking roads with vehcles and locking onto gates – and occupied the factory itself again. There have been a number of other actions taken at the Oldham site, with the factory forced to closed for a significant number of weeks in total due to damage caused.

The site has also been subject to regular protests called by Oldham Peace and Justice and Manchester Palestine Action, with large crowds gathering outside the factory on a weekly basis since the massive and brutal bombardments of Gaza by Israel in May. Sustained pressure, through both protests and an extended campaign of effective direct action, has generated immense challenges for Elbit, who have now sold the subsidiary and left the site.

A Palestine Action spokesperson has stated:

“The sale of Ferranti and the closure of the Oldham factory is a huge victory for the movement. So far, our actions have undermined and disrupted operations – but this news vindicates our long-term strategy. Direct action works – the brave individuals who occupied the factory over the past year can proudly say that drone technologies are no longer in production in Oldham. But its not enough that just one of these death-factories shuts down. We want to see Elbit itself shut down for good, and all of their businesses forced out of Britain – we will keep escalating our actions until that happens.”

This site had been targetted due to the crimes committed against Palestinian civilians using Elbit Ferranti products. The Oldham factory was used for the manufacture of specialist military products and technology, including the SkEyepersistent surveillance system aboard Elbit’s Hermes 450 and 900 drones. Ferranti also manufacture the SpectroXR ultra long-range imaging system for Hermes drones. Hermes drones have been used extensively by Israel in bombardments of Gaza, notably during Operation Protective Edge in 2014 in which over 2,200 Palestinians were killed, including 526 children. The site was also used for the production of IronVision helmets for use in battle tanks such as the Carmel – specficially designed for operations in densely built urban areas, such as Gaza.

 

Samidoun marches in Rosa Luxemburg/Karl Liebknecht memorial demonstration in Berlin

On 9 January 2022, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network marched in the Luxemburg-Liebknecht demonstration in Berlin (also known as the Liebknecht-Luxemburg-Lenin Demo). The annual march brings together revolutionary leftists throughout Germany and parts of Europe to commemorate the assassination of communist revolutionary leaders Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht 103 years ago.

Photo: Redmediakollektiv

Samidoun marched in a bloc of dozens of participants with comrades in the Freedom Network for Political Prisoners and Grup Yorum, calling for solidarity and liberation for all revolutionary prisoners around the world and showing solidarity with Grup Yorum, facing persecution and repression for their music of struggle. The bloc further stood with the Palestinian people in the struggle against Zionism, imperialism and reactionary forces.

Around 2,400 people from many different political organizations participated in the march, which proceeds to the cemetery where Luxemburg and Liebknecht are buried, and red flowers are laid on their graves. The annual event is highly internationalist, with widespread participation from German, European, Turkish, Kurdish and other international communist organizations and parties.

The Samidoun contingent carried Palestinian flags, Samidoun banners and a large banner reading “Boycott Israel: Free Palestine from the river to the sea.” They also invited attendees to participate in an upcoming screening of “Fedayin: Georges Abdallah’s Fight,” the film focusing on the life in struggle of Lebanese Arab Communist Georges Abdallah, jailed in France for over 37 years.

The Samidoun statement for the demonstration follows:

We stand today in honor of the workers in struggle throughout the years, who carried the banners of revolution in their era, and in honor of those who suffered and struggled inside the prisons and miserable cells, for the martyrs of the cause of justice everywhere. We carry the message of over 5,000 Palestinian prisoners who are paying the price for the end of colonialism, our prisoners who sleep on the ground of the cells and make their ceilings a sky of freedom. From Palestine and from the harsh refugee camps to here in Germany, we carry forward our dream of revolution and liberation.

We stand with those who struggle for freedom against reactionary forces, imperialism, Zionism and colonialism. We direct our message to them and to the whole world that our common struggle against imperialism is the recipe for inevitable victory; our united revolutionary cause is the path to liberation and return.

Our hope for a liberated world and a clear sky of freedom today places us in the position to take joint action. Imperialism attacks the people around the world and Zionism confiscates our lives in an attempt to kill the hope of revolution inside us. A hundred years have passed, and the Palestinian people are still fighting and willing to sacrifice for freedom. We believe in the inevitability of victory and return to Palestine from the river to the sea, and there can be no just peace in the world without our victory, our return and the defeat of colonialism.

Photo: Redmediakollektiv

There is no freedom without a united confrontation everywhere against forces of reaction, imperialism and colonialism. The freedom of the peoples is all of our duty, and unless we unite our ranks today, the journey of our revolution will be much longer.

Freedom for Palestine! Freedom for all revolutionary prisoners!

Toulouse city council opposition denounces Toulouse town hall’s attempt to censor solidarity with Palestine

For several years, the municipal majority in Toulouse has been escalating  its positions in support of Israeli apartheid. In this context, the mayor of Toulouse, Jean-Luc Moudenc, has made multiple attacks on the activities of the Collectif Palestine Vaincra, asking for the ban of our Palestine Stands or gatherings organized alongside many associations for justice in Palestine. The Collectif Palestine Vaincra is a member organization of the Samidoun Network.

Faced with these attacks on the rights to demonstrate and freedom of expression, several officials from the municipal opposition parties expressed their indignation at the threats of the Toulouse municipality against Palestine activism in the city.

In a press release published on 4 January, the Groupe Alternative pour une Métropole Citoyenne – Ville Toulouse affirmed:  “Article 100 of the Constitution provides that ‘freedom of expression, including the right to obtain, retain and to distribute information and to express opinions, is guaranteed to all.’ This is why we are contesting the Toulouse town hall’s right to set itself up as a censor.” It goes on to note: “The boycott of a state is a mode of action that has borne fruit, as was the case with South Africa during apartheid. “ This opposition group brings together elected representatives Agathe Roby, Maxime Le Texier, Aymeric Deheurles, Jamal El Arch, Caroline Honvault, Odile Maurin and François Piquemal.

In addition, the opposition municipal councillor Odile Maurin published a tweet on 21 December declaring: “Let’s boycott Israel as we once did South Africa, while denouncing and fighting against anti-Semitism: let’s not mix everything up!”

For his part, the elected city councillor Jamal El Arch also published a supportive tweet denouncing the attacks on freedom of expression on the part of the municipal majority, recalling that “Maxime Boyer [deputy mayor of Toulouse] seems to forget freedom of expression in attacking the Collectif Palestine Vaincra. For the AMC Group, this principle is one of the fundamentals of legally guaranteed democracy. Boycotting a state is a mode of action against apartheid.”

The Collectif Palestine Vaincra welcomes these positions in defense of freedom of expression and the right to boycott Israel and confront colonialism, racism and apartheid.

Source: Collectif Palestine Vaincra

#Palestine2022 campaign aims to bring Palestine into the French presidential campaign

In the 2022 French presidential election campaign, Palestine is largely absent from the mainstream discussion, despite the fact that it should be a central issue in addressing France’s foreign policy. French governments have always actively supported Israel, a colonial and racist state. France plays a key role in the oppression of the Palestinian people, including through its decisive support for Israel’s acquisition of nuclear weapons, imprisoning struggler for Palestine Georges Abdallah, free trade agreements and criminalization of solidarity.

Collectif Palestine Vaincra is launching the #Palestine2022 campaign to bring Palestine into the debate and demand an end to French cooperation with Israeli apartheid during the French presidential election campaign!

Join the mobilization
Sign the petition on www.palestine2022.com

Platform points of the #Palestine2022 campaign:

Denounce the criminalization of support for Palestine

  • Defend the right to boycott Israel: repeal the Alliot-Marie, Mercier and Dupond-Moretti circulars (to prosecute boycott, divestment and sanctions activity)
  • Reject the IHRA’s definition of anti-Semitism, which conflates anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism
  • Denounce the criminalization of Palestinian organizations and the Palestinian solidarity movement
  • Support Salah Hamouri, French-Palestinian lawyer threatened with expulsion from Jerusalem where he was born
  • Demand the removal of Palestinian organizations from the list of “terrorist organizations” of the European Union

Stop economic and cultural cooperation with Israel

  • End the free trade agreements between Israel and France, in particular within the framework of the EUROMED agreements
  • Exclude Israel from the Horizon Europe agreement for innovation and research
  • Stop investments by French companies in Israel, especially in illegal West Bank settlements
  • End twinning between French towns and Israeli towns

Stop all forms of military cooperation

  • Impose a military embargo against Israel
  • Stop collaboration with Israeli military companies
  • Stop the incorporation of French citizens and dual citizens into the Israeli army
  • Stop the funding of the Israeli army by French associations

Demand the release of Georges Abdallah
Lebanese communist and struggler for Palestine, he has been imprisoned in France since 1984 despite being eligible for release since 1999. He is one of the 5,000 Palestinian political prisoners who are detained not only by the Israeli occupation but also by its allies such as France, the United States or Saudi Arabia.

Supporting the struggle of the Palestinian people here also means fighting against France’s complicity with Israeli apartheid. It is therefore essential to join the collectives and associations organizing to strengthen this solidarity and anti-colonialist mobilization.

Original source: Collectif Palestine Vaincra

Remembering Chuck Kaufman: A life in anti-imperialist struggle

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network honors the life of Chuck Kaufman, a lifelong anti-imperialist activist, dedicated organizer, and co-founder of the Alliance for Global Justice. AfGJ, in addition to its own distinguished work in defense of people’s rights in the United States and internationally, is the fiscal sponsor for Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network and over 150 other social justice organizations across an array of movements. 

Chuck passed away on 28 December 2021 after a long life in struggle dedicated to advancing liberation movements and anti-imperialist resistance globally. Many of us have known him for decades, and a number of his organizing efforts, including the Campaign for Labor Rights, the Mobilization for Global Justice, and the Latin America Solidarity Coalition, were crucial to our early political development. 

Chuck was on the front lines of Latin America solidarity for decades and a key voice in the anti-war movement in 2001, when he co-founded the ANSWER Coalition, and beyond. He consistently held a principled position on Palestine and always refused to allow Palestine to be excluded from anti-war and progressive movements, or stripped of the political nature of its struggle for freedom and reduced to a humanitarian concern.

Chuck’s advice and support have been invaluable for Samidoun and its growth, as well as our members as we participated in a range of organizations and movements over the years. His anti-imperialist principles will continue to inspire our work as we organize to free Palestinian prisoners and for the liberation of Palestine.

We are sharing the below statement from AfGJ as well as a link to a Zoom memorial for Chuck, which will take place on Sunday, 9 January 2022 at 11 am MST (10 am Pacific, 1 pm Eastern). AfGJ will host a virtual memorial where family members, friends from all over the world, and comrades in general, will also participate. To register, visit bit.ly/chuckpresente.

** 

AFGJ’s work continues without our visionary but with a solid team who have worked alongside him for years to build a better world. AfGJ requests hat people offer gestures of comfort and remembrance of Chuck through their continued support to AFGJ and the causes to which he dedicated his life to. Please visit AfGJ.org for articles or additional materials related to Chuck’s legacy. You may donate to AFGJ here.

Chuck was a true leader, a visionary, a master strategist and above all, a loving and kind comrade and friend. Through his wise stewardship Alliance for Global Justice grew to become a major force in building the capacity of grass roots organizers throughout the Americas to confront imperialism, neoliberalism and oppression in all forms and to strive to curb U.S. violations of human rights, both within and outside its borders.

Chuck has been a leader of the Central and Latin America solidarity movements since joining the staff of the Nicaragua Network in 1987. He gave up his successful advertising business out of disgust at Congress’ cowardice during the Iran-Contra scandal. He went on his first coffee picking brigade to Nicaragua that same year. Chuck has been in the front ranks of the movements to support the right of people in Latin America and the Caribbean to dignity, sovereignty, and self-determination. He has led delegations to Nicaragua, Venezuela, Haiti and Honduras.

Chuck has written and spoken often about US democracy manipulation programs through the National Endowment for Democracy and US Agency for International Development as well as what he calls the need to look to the Abolition Movement as our inspiration to change the culture of US militarism. He was a board member of the Latin America Solidarity Coalition and a leader of the LASC’s effort to build a stronger movement to oppose US militarism and the militarization of relations with Latin America. He was a founder of the Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER) Coalition and has spoken at most of the major Washington, DC anti-war demonstrations. Through AfGJ, he was a founding board member of the Honduras Solidarity Network. He held a B.A. in Government and Politics from George Mason University. His first political activism was as a high school student in 1969 when he organized student walk-out in four county high schools in his native Indiana.

 

Amsterdam demands freedom for Palestinian prisoners, celebrates Abu Hawash victory

Samidoun Nederland took to the streets in West Amsterdam on Thursday, 6 January to celebrate the victory of Palestinian hunger striker Hisham Abu Hawash and to call for freedom for all Palestinian prisoners. The event had been originally called to demand Abu Hawash’s release, but became instead a celebratory occasion. Participants shared information about Abu Hawash’s 141-day hunger strike as well as the ongoing boycott of the Israeli military courts by the 500 Palestinians jailed without charge or trial under “administrative detention.”

The administrative detainees, whose detention is indefinitely renewable, based on secret evidence, are among 4,500 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Participants in the action carried Palestinian flags and Samidoun banners and distributed material discussing the current situation of Palestinian political prisoners and Palestinians struggling to confront occupation and colonialism.

They also denounced the action of the Dutch government, announced yesterday, to cut funding to the Palestinian organization, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees. Despite the fact that the government’s own report completely exonerated the UAWC of the dubious allegations against it, the Dutch state chose to impose political conditions and repression on Palestinian farmers, in league with the Israeli criminalization of the UAWC and other Palestinian organizations defending people’s rights.

Samidoun Nederland is planning a number of upcoming events and actions to free Palestinian prisoners and support the liberation of Palestine. Contact Samidoun Nederland to find out more details and get involved.

Madrid protest celebrates victory of Abu Hawash, calls for Palestinian prisoners’ liberation

On Tuesday, 4 January, Samidoun España organized a protest in support of Hisham Abu Hawash in the center of Madrid at Plaza del Sol. An enthusiastic crowd of supporters of Palestine attended the event and urged the liberation of Abu Hawash, at the time on his 141st day of hunger strike against his administrative detention, Israeli imprisonment without charge or trial.

Participants carried Palestinian flags and banners calling for the boycott of Israel and calling for the liberation of Palestine, including the banners of the Masar Badil (Alternative Palestinian Revolutionary Path) movement, which convened in Madrid in late 2021.

They brought As the protest continued, participants learned that Abu Hawash had concluded his strike after winning an agreement for his release on 26 February; he will continue to receive medical treatment until his release. Protesters broke out into dabkeh — Palestinian folk dance — in celebration of Abu Hawash’s victory.

Participants emphasized the need for continued protest and organizing to free Palestinian prisoners, especially as over 500 Palestinians jailed without charge or trial are boycotting the Israeli military courts to demand an end to administrative detention. They pledged to continue struggling and mobilizing until Palestine is free from the river to the sea.

To get involved in upcoming actions for Palestinian prisoners and the liberation of Palestine in Madrid, contact Samidoun España.

Sweden solidarity with Palestinian prisoners: Actions in Växjö and Gothenburg

Despite snowy weather and below-freezing temperatures, dozens of people came out in Växjö, Sweden on 5 January to celebrate the victory of Hisham Abu Hawash in his hunger strike and call for the freedom of all Palestinian prisoners.

A 12-year-old Palestinian child, Lara, from Gaza, spoke at the event, recalling the story of Abu Hawash’s hunger strike as well as other recent Palestinian hunger strikers who won their freedom from administrative detention. She declared, “We are gathering in support of all of our prisoners who continue their struggles in different ways, not least of which is the battle of empty stomachs.”

She highlighted the struggle to end administrative detention, Israeli imprisonment without charge or trial currently imposed on approximately 500 of the 4,500 Palestinian political prisoners. She emphasized that Palestinians will continue to struggle for freedom despite all forms of oppression. The protest was organized by the Masar Badil Sweden chapter, Samidoun Sweden and local Palestinian community organizations.

In Gothenburg, Palestine solidarity and community organizations came together on Thursday, 6 January to celebrate the victory of Hisham Abu Hawash and call for freedom for all Palestinian prisoners. Samidoun Göteborg joined fellow Palestine support organizations in the center of Gothenburg with Palestinian flags, banners and information for passers-by.

Organizers plan to continue actions to support Palestinian prisoners and the liberation of Palestine. To get involved with Samidoun in Sweden and join the actions and events to come, please contact Samidoun Sweden.

Israeli occupation forces invade Sa’adat family home: Take action!

Israeli occupation forces invaded the home of imprisoned Palestinian leader Ahmad Sa’adat in Ramallah in the pre-dawn hours of 5 January 2022, rifling through personal papers and taking photographs of the home. Ahmad Sa’adat is the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, imprisoned since 2006 by Israel (and since 2002 by the Palestinian Authority) for his leadership in the Palestinian liberation movement.

Abla Sa’adat, Sa’adat’s wife, said that the occupation forces searched throughout the home and shot heavily in the area outside the home in an attempt to terrorize the family.

Further, this attack aimed not only to continue the policy of collective punishment and attempted intimidation against the loved ones of Palestinian leaders and the prisoners’ movement, but also to continue the Israeli policy of attempting to confiscate the Jerusalem IDs of Palestinians and further the ethnic cleansing of Jerusalem.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network expresses its strongest condemnation of this latest attack. We urge all friends of Palestine and supporters of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement to join us in taking action between 15 and 22 January 2022 for the International Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian Prisoners.

Palestinian Jerusalemites, like Abla Sa’adat, face a constant policy of attacks designed to erase the Palestinian and Arab character of the capital of Palestine and to eradicate the Palestinian presence in Jerusalem. One of the mechanisms used to pursue Palestinian Jerusalemites is the attempt to remove or seize Jerusalem ID cards so as to exclude them from the city. Palestinian Jerusalemites are accused of no longer having Jerusalem as their “center of life” if they live outside Jerusalem for a length of time; they face obstacles in travel and even marriage as living outside Jerusalem can always be used as a mechanism of racist oppression by the Israeli regime.

Abla Sa’adat, who lives in Kufr Aqab in Jerusalem, told Palestinian media sources that the occupation forces stormed into the home in Ramallah, where she was visiting her children, at 2:30 am, as if they had waited to disrupt their family visit. They photographed personal items in the home as well as the water and electricity bills.

She said that the Israeli occupation forces are attempting to find an excuse to confiscate her Jerusalem ID by claiming that she lives in Ramallah rather than Kufr Aqab (5 minutes away). In May 2021, the Israeli occupation cut off her national and health insurance, a frequent tactic used when targeting Palestinian Jerusalemites and attempting to confiscate their rights to their home city.

This incident is not only an attack on the Sa’adat family, it reflects two clear policies of targeting: the attack on the Palestinian identity and the Palestinian people of Jerusalem, and the unceasing collective punishment directed at the families and loved ones of Palestinian prisoners, including raids, summonses to interrogation, confiscation of Jerusalem IDs and home demolitions.

Palestinian prisoners are resistance leaders, on the front lines for justice and liberation, enduring hunger strikes and struggling relentlessly with an unbreakable will toward freedom. Join Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network and organizers for justice and liberation in Palestine around the world for the International Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian Prisoners, 15 January to 22 January 2022. 

TAKE ACTION: 

  1. Organize events, actions and protests to demand freedom for Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian prisoners! Protest in public squares, campuses and community spaces. Organize a Palestine Stand or a letter writing event to write to Sa’adat and his fellow Palestinian prisoners. These dates also mark the anniversary of Israel’s bloody “Cast Lead” attack on Gaza in 2008-2009. Email us at samidoun@samidoun.net to inform us about your events or actions.
  2. Screen the film “Fedayin”, on the life and struggle of Georges Abdallah. Ahmad Sa’adat and Georges Abdallah are comrades who constantly salute each others’ struggles and maintain a political correspondence despite miles of distance and prison walls. To organize a screening, email samidoun@samidoun.net and vacarmesfilms@gmail.com
  3. #ShutElbitDown: Palestine Action won an important victory against British repression of the courageous activists who have confronted Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems with red paint and creative direct action. The next trial – in Crown Court – is coming up in January. Help support the campaign by organizing actions to #ShutElbitDown in your area. Learn more at https://palestineaction.com/
  4. Join the social media campaign. Post a photo or a video with a message calling for freedom for Ahmad Sa’adat and his fellow Palestinian prisoners and the hashtag #FreeAhmadSaadat. You can use the posters below. Send us your photo by emailing us at samidoun@samidoun.net or contacting us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
  5. Boycott Israel! Ahmad Sa’adat says: “I call on all forces of progress, freedom and democracy to stand by the struggle of our people through all forms of boycott: political, economic, academic and cultural of the occupation state and the creation of a real economic cost for its industries of colonization and settlement and escalating the global campaigns for boycott of all corporations that support and invest in the occupation militarily and economically.” Don’t buy Israeli goods, and campaign to end investments in corporations that profit from the occupation. Join direct actions to challenge war profiteers and boycott complicit corporations like Puma and HP.
1...101102103...692Page 102 of 692

Follow us on Instagram @samidounnetwork

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
Contact us: samidoun@samidoun.net
Facebook Instagram Mail RSS Telegram Twitter Youtube
Unless otherwise stated, all content by Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. If the image(s) bear our credit, this license also applies to them.