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#FreeIssam: Join the social media action 2 December + attend virtual court to support British-held Palestinian political prisoner

#FreeIssam Social Media Storm

Thursday, 2 December 2021

10 am Pacific – 1 pm Eastern – 6 pm British time – 7 pm central Europe – 8 pm Palestine

Dr. Issam Hijjawi Bassalat is a Palestinian activist and doctor who was arrested by the British authorities in August 2020 on trumped-up charges stemming from an infiltrator sent to spy on political meetings. On Friday, 3 December, Dr. Issam will appear in the High Court as he and his attorneys appeal the latest denial of his bail application.

Dr. Issam is in a very poor health condition. He has suffered a heart attack and gone through surgery already behind bars. Despite this, British authorities have refused to release him on bail, even though he has now been imprisoned for over a year and there is no indication that his case will soon come to trial.

Join us in a hashtag campaign/Twitterstorm #FreeIssam for the release of Dr. Issam Hijjawi Bassalat on Thursday, 2 December (the day before the hearing) at 8:00 pm occupied Jerusalem time (6:00 pm London time, 7:00 pm central Europe, 10:00 am Pacific time, 1:00 pm Eastern time)

On 3 December at 12 noon British time (7 am Eastern time, 1 pm in central Europe, 2 pm in Palestine), Issam’s bail application will be heard. Just like when political prisoners go to court in person, it is important for people to show up in court to show their support and solidarity and make it clear that this case is the subject of national and international scrutiny.

Please write to us at samidoun@samidoun.net to receive the link to attend the virtual court hearing on Friday, 3 December. Note that during the court hearing, please keep your sound off and display your name, and do not make an audio or video recording of the hearing. Let’s make our voices heard on 2 December and virtually show up in court for the release of Dr. Issam Hijjawi Bassalat! 

Who is Dr. Issam Hijjawi Bassalat?

Dr. Issam Hijjawi Bassalat is a Palestinian political prisoner in British jails. He has been targeted for his commitment to international solidarity and as a political means of repressing both the Palestinian and Irish movements.

Alongside his fellow detainees, the Saoradh 9, he was detained in “Operation Arbacia,” a series of political arrests carried out by British authorities. Today, he remains jailed in the Maghaberry high security prison, in the British-occupied north of Ireland. We call for the immediate release of Dr. Issam Hijjawi Bassalat and all political prisoners in British jails.

He was targeted by an MI5 infiltrator, Dennis McFadden, to attend a bugged meeting with members of Saoradh, an Irish republican socialist political party that advocates for an end to British colonialism and a united Ireland. He was detained on 22 August at Heathrow Airport on the same day that nine members of Saoradh were also arrested by British forces. Throughout the past year, his bail applications have been repeatedly denied, despite serious health issues and the damaging effects of incarceration on his and his fellow detainees’ well-being.

Dr. Hijjawi Bassalat, 62, came to the UK in 1995 to work as a doctor, and he is a well-known, respected member of the Palestinian community in Scotland and the father of four. He previously served as chair of the Association of Palestinian Communities in Scotland (today, the Scottish Palestinian Society) and has been active throughout Europe in advocating for Palestinian rights to return, freedom and justice, speaking frequently at meetings, conferences and events.

Infiltration and MI5 Attacks

“Operation Arbacia” sprang from the decades-long infiltration of Irish republican movements by MI5 agent Dennis McFadden, detailed in a Channel 4 News report. Issam was entrapped into a meeting with McFadden on false pretenses after he was told by British officials that he had to pick up his daughter’s passport renewal in Belfast instead of Glasgow. There, he was invited to what was presented to him as a Saoradh meeting to discuss international solidarity and the Palestinian cause; he had previously spoken to a Saoradh Ard Fheis (annual meeting) about Palestine, an open, public event.

Under the emergency laws still in effect in the north of Ireland, his case will be heard by a judge without a jury.

He is charged with “preparatory acts of terrorism” under the 2006 Terrorism Act, based on his attendance at this meeting engineered by MI5. Issam’s solicitor, Gavin Booth, has seen the transcript of the meeting Issam was compelled to attend, noting that “Everything that’s contained within the transcripts and the recordings is about Palestine, is about peaceful and democratic change. There’s nothing in the transcripts from Dr Bassalat that would support violence in any way.” Despite these facts and the presumption of innocence that is supposed to apply, he has been held on remand for a full year.

Dr. Issam’s Health Crisis

Dr. Issam Hijjawi Bassalat, Palestinian political prisoner in British jails and a medical doctor, suffered a heart attack inside Maghaberry prison on 9 October, only days before his most recent scheduled hearing on an application for bail. Despite his increasingly dire medical circumstances, he remains imprisoned. In fact, the judge hearing his case said that this was not an indication of “changed circumstances,” despite the risk to his life and well-being.

These delays have added yet more time behind bars to a process in which Dr. Bassalat’s lawyer already declared that the evidence will take him at least 63 weeks to review before a trial could be possible. He already experienced surgery while imprisoned after a hunger strike and repeated protests to spur medical treatment for his injured spine. He did not receive adequate space and time for exercise and physical therapy after his surgery, due to his continued imprisonment.

As he appealed for human rights groups to address his case, Dr. Bassalat said in a statement that “all the might of the British Government” has been used against him, “a single individual [who] dared to challenge the British historic role in creating the Palestinian plight through the Balfour Declaration and the 30 years of the British Mandate in Palestine ending in al Nakba – the catastrophe of the Palestinians in 1948.”

Targeting Issam’s Bank Account and Medical License

In addition to his ongoing, unjust imprisonment, pre-trial detention and denied bail, Dr. Hijjawi Bassalat has suffered further injustice. During his detention, his medical care was initially delayed, and then after he finally received necessary surgery, he was denied pain relief and proper therapy. Despite his condition, he continued to be denied bail.

His bank account was frozen, denying him access to funds and creating even more inconvenience and trauma for his family — again, all while he ostensibly retains the presumption of innocence. Issam’s licence to practise medicine was suspended by the General Medical Council (GMC) on 26 October 2020 after the charges filed against him, despite the fact that he has been convicted of nothing and that the charges in no way relate to his fitness to practise medicine or his treatment of his patients.

Issam is being targeted as a Palestinian in an attempt to justify the MI5 infiltration of public political parties and to smear both the Palestinian and Irish struggles through entrapment and misrepresentation. The presumption of innocence is being cast aside for political gamesmanship. We urge the immediate release of Dr. Issam Hijjawi Bassalat and all political prisoners, including the Saoradh 9, detained in British jails.

#FreeThemAll: Palestinian prisoners striking for justice and liberation – join the social media storm!

Today, join National Students for Justice in Palestine, the Palestinian Youth Movement, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network and IDOC Watch for a day of action to free all Palestinian political prisoners and support those on hunger strike for freedom from administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial.

CALL TO ACTION: December 1st at 10:00 PT/12:00 CT/1:00 ET/ 8:00 Palestine

HOW YOU CAN TAKE PART:

  1. Join the social media day of action on December 1st! Start Tweeting and posting on Instagram with the hashtag #FreeThemAll #Strike4Freedom at 10 am Pacific, 1 pm Eastern, 7 pm central Europe, 8 pm Palestine. CLICK HERE FOR THE SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLKIT (You can also download the graphics here!)
  2. Take the salt water challenge! Gather with your comrades, organizations, colleagues and friends to sip salt and water (symbolizing the salt and water Palestinian hunger strikers rely on) together. You can even do it alone and post the video on your social media — or gather together for a protest action. CLICK HERE FOR A SAMPLE SCRIPT IN ENGLISH, ARABIC, SPANISH AND ITALIAN

Hisham Abu Hawash, 39, has continued his hunger strike for 106 days. He is jailed without charge or trial under Israel’s “administrative detention,” a systematic policy of imprisonment of Palestinians on the basis of “secret evidence.” Even their lawyers are denied access to allegations against them. 

Administrative detention is one of Israel’s colonial weapons against the Palestinian people. Palestinians like Hisham are forced to fight back with their bodies and empty stomachs, putting their lives on the line in hunger strikes for freedom. We call for freedom for Palestinians on hunger strike — and an end to the systems of administrative detention, military imprisonment and colonialism in Palestine. We also call for an end to colonial incarceration from the US to Palestine 

Administrative detention was first used in Palestine by the British colonial mandate and then adopted by the Zionist regime; it is now used routinely to target Palestinians, especially community leaders, activists, and influential people in their towns, camps and villages.

There are currently over 500 Palestinians jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention, out of 4,650 Palestinian political prisoners. These orders are issued by the military and approved by military courts on the basis of “secret evidence”, denied to both Palestinian detainees and their attorneys. Issued for up to six months at a time, they are indefinitely renewable, and Palestinians — including minor children — can spend years jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention.

Hisham Abu Hawash is on hunger strike for 106 because he is fighting back against this system. Today, we call for justice and liberation for all prisoners of colonialism. 

Join us! Get your sample tweets and instagram posts here: CLICK HERE FOR THE SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLKIT

1 December Call to Action: Support Palestinian Prisoners on Hunger Strike!

On December 1st, 2021, National Students for Justice in Palestine, Samidoun, Palestinian Youth Movement and IDOC Watch call on all institutions and individuals committed to freedom, justice, and equality to take to social media in solidarity with Palestinian political prisoners on hunger strike! 

CALL TO ACTION: December 1st at 10:00 PT/12:00 CT/1:00 ET/ 8:00 Palestine

HOW YOU CAN TAKE PART:

  1. Join the social media day of action on December 1st! Start Tweeting and posting on Instagram with the hashtag #FreeThemAll #Strike4Freedom at 10 am Pacific, 1 pm Eastern, 7 pm central Europe, 8 pm Palestine. CLICK HERE FOR THE SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLKIT
  2. Take the salt water challenge! Gather with your comrades, organizations, colleagues and friends to sip salt and water (symbolizing the salt and water Palestinian hunger strikers rely on) together. You can even do it alone and post the video on your social media — or gather together for a protest action. CLICK HERE FOR A SAMPLE SCRIPT IN ENGLISH AND ARABIC, WITH SPANISH TRANSLATIONS COMING SOON

For more information, please feel free to reach out! See ya on social media. 

In solidarity,

National Students for Justice in Palestine
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
Palestinian Youth Movement
IDOC Watch

 

International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People: Solidarity with the Prisoners and the Resistance until Victory, Return and Liberation

On the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network reaffirms its commitment to solidarity with the Palestinian resistance, solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners, and solidarity with the liberation of the land and people of Palestine, to achieve victory from the river to the sea. 

The International Day of Solidarity, commemorated on 29 November by the United Nations, marks an infamous date in Palestinian history: 29 November 1947, when the United Nations  adopted its Resolution 181, for the partition of Palestine. The partition of Palestine in order to create a Zionist state, over the clear rejection of the indigenous people of Palestine, served only the interests of European settler-colonialism and imperialism. While the UN stated that its own principles included universal human rights, opposition to colonialism, and support for the exercise of self-determination, its support for the partition of Palestine for a colonial project exposed the hypocrisy of such claims. 

Rather than imposing requirements for reparations upon European fascist states and their collaborators responsible for Nazi atrocities, the partition plan instead continued existing policies of colonialism and imperial domination. It sought to partition and divide Palestinian Arab land to create a Zionist settler-colonial state in the region, fundamentally tied to imperialist interests in the United Kingdom, the United States, France and elsewhere. 

From the announcement of the partition plan and before, as they had the Balfour Declaration in the past, the Palestinian people firmly and clearly rejected and resisted colonial plans for their land and people. By adopting this plan for colonial control, the United Nations was part and parcel of the creation of the Nakba, the Zionist assault on Palestine in which over 500 villages were destroyed and over 70% of the Palestinian people forced to flee their homes and lands. Millions of Palestinians remain refugees to this day, denied their right to return home for over 73 years. 

In the years that followed, Arab peoples rose up for freedom from colonialism and Western-imposed kings, with revolutionary movements to control the resources of the region for the people of the region, rather than for imperialist powers and their corporate interests. 

The Palestinian resistance to the Nakba, which was never suppressed or killed, continued to develop into the modern Palestinian revolution and to fight for return to Palestine and liberation of the land. This struggle was part and parcel of the anti-colonial movements sweeping the world, led from Asia, Africa and Latin America and representing a revolutionary vision for a coming victory over oppression and exploitation. 

These movements, and the states and peoples breaking the chains of colonization, forced the recognition of 29 November as the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. At the same time, however, the United Nations has never truly been held accountable or even officially recognized the crime committed against the Palestinian people not only by the occupation of 1967, the denial of Palestinian refugees’ right to return, the construction of settlements or the torture of Palestinian prisoners, but by the partition plan itself, which worked hand in hand with British imperialism and the Zionist movement to create the conditions for the Nakba of the Palestinian people. 

On this International Day of Solidarity, there are 4,650 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons. Of those, over 500 are jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention. Palestinian prisoners are carrying out hunger strikes, resisting and organizing behind bars; their will to freedom has not been suppressed despite torture, denial of family visits, medical neglect and abuse, the imprisonment of children, and the countless violations imposed upon them by the occupier. Imprisonment is used as a colonial weapon to target Palestinian resistance — but it has failed to succeed in its goals. 

Solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners is part and parcel of solidarity with the Palestinian resistance and the Palestinian people fighting for liberation from the river to the sea. The prisoners are a unifying symbol of leadership that represents a broadly embraced alternative to the so-called Palestinian Authority, the concessionary path of Oslo and the so-called peace process. These campaigns also provide an opportunity to develop mutual solidarity and joint struggle with other justice movements, from the Black liberation movement to struggles in the Philippines, Turkey, and Colombia, building collective struggle based on the leadership and liberation of imprisoned political leaders.

On the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, we join the calls for action of the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement (Masar Badil) in its letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, which highlights both the responsibility of the UN to implement Palestinian rights and the complicity of the unrepresentative Palestinian Authority with Zionist colonialism: 

“The Palestinian Authority leadership is an illegitimate substitute for the actual representatives of the Palestinian people, dominating Palestinian institutions by force through their relationship of dependency on the Zionist occupation system. They represent a corrupt sector that monopolizes political decision-making, tortures detainees in its prisons, targets the Palestinian resistance, the student movement and Palestinians with critical perspectives. All of this takes place within the context of the Palestinian Authority carrying out its “security coordination” with the Zionist occupation, against the will and interests of the Palestinian people.

The United Nations must take meaningful action to redress the wrongs done to the Palestinian people through its actions, particularly the approval of the partition of Palestinian land for the creation of a colonial project. We urge that United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3379, adopted in the 30th General Assembly on 10 November 1975, recognizing Zionism as a form of racism, be re-adopted. This resolution was revoked in 1991 in the context of the Madrid negotiations. As stated, the Madrid negotiations have served solely to undermine rather than implement Palestinian rights. This is very clear 30 years later, as are the catastrophic crimes carried out by the Israeli state in order to implement its racist policies and ideology of Zionism, including settlement construction, the siege on Gaza and the further entrenchment and expansion of apartheid, occupation and colonization. Zionism is indeed a form of racism and racial discrimination and a form of European settler-colonialism that has done great harm to the Palestinian people, the Arab people and the people of the region generally.

Further, we note that on 12 November 1974, apartheid South Africa was suspended from the United Nations. When the United States, United Kingdom and France vetoed the full expulsion of the apartheid regime in the United Nations, the General Assembly took action to prevent the representatives of apartheid from taking seats, over the opposition of these same imperialist powers. It is time for the United Nations as a body to act once again to expel Israel from the United Nations and associated international institutions.

In addition, the racist representative of the Israeli regime, Gilad Erdan, is a war criminal representing an illegitimate apartheid settler-colonial regime. He should be arrested and tried for crimes against the Palestinian people rather than welcomed as an international representative, particularly for his torture of the Palestinian prisoners, repression of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement and international campaigns of harassment and rights violations of Palestinian human rights defenders during his term as Minister of Internal Security, which immediately preceded his post at the United Nations.

On the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, it is time for the crimes against the Palestinian people to come to an end and for the United Nations to take responsibility for its illegitimate attempt to partition Palestinian land in the interests of a colonial, racist project in 1947 and all of the ensuing and ongoing crimes perpetrated against the Palestinian people. Rather than inviting the Palestinian Authority to speak for the Palestinian people, the United Nations must act to implement all of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people from the river to the sea, throughout occupied Palestine. The Palestinian people will not rest in our liberation struggle until justice is obtained.”

Freedom for all Palestinian prisoners; return for all Palestinian refugees! Victory and liberation for Palestine, from the river to the sea! 

Read the full letter to the UN Secretary-General by the Masar Badil:

https://samidoun.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Masar-Badil-Letter-to-UNSG.pdf

3 December, Online Event: Land Defense and Resistance: From Palestine to the Philippines

Friday, 3 December
6 pm Eastern (3 pm Pacific)
Register on Zoom: https://cpso.pw/dec3
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/625606855527451/

REGISTER TO JOIN ON ZOOM: https://cpso.pw/dec3

Please join us this Friday December 3rd at 6pm for a short presentation on the situation of political prisoners in Palestine and the Philippines, followed by a letter writing workshop!

We are hoping to educate each other and attendees about the deeply related settler-colonial and semi-colonial oppression of Palestinian and Filipino people, and the centrality of the fight to free all political prisoners in both of their national-liberation struggles.

The workshop is intended to encourage people to take action in solidarity with these prisoners by writing them with letters of support. We want to show them that they are not alone in their struggles and have support from all around the world. We will provide information on the prisoners we will be writing to and will provide any guidance or support you need to help you write your letters.

We will be specifically focusing on the imprisonment of land defenders in Palestine and the Philippines, which is deeply intertwined with the repression of Indigenous land defenders on whose lands we will be writing on. We recognize the struggle of Indigenous nations to reclaim their lands from so-called “Canada” is deeply interlinked with the struggles for land in Palestine and the Philippines.

This event is being organized by Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, Anakbayan Toronto and Canada Philippines Solidarity Organization (CPSO). We hope for this to be the start of an ongoing series of letter-writing workshops.

REGISTER TO JOIN ON ZOOM: https://cpso.pw/dec3

#AllForPalestine with Palestina Libre – Murcia: Samidoun welcomes our newest network affiliate!

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is honored to welcome our newest affiliate organization, Palestina Libre – Murcia, alongside our comrades in Samidoun España. For decades, Palestina Libre has been organizing and bringing together social organizations, trade unions, progressive movements and activists in the Murcia region of Spain to support the liberation of the land and people of Palestine and to confront imperialism and Zionism. 

On the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, Palestina Libre-Murcia, as part of the campaigns of Samidoun and the Global Campaign to Return to Palestine, produced a video calling for the implementation of all of the rights of the Palestinian people — including freedom for Palestinian prisoners and the liberation of Palestine:

This Thursday, 2 December, Palestina Libre-Murcia, the Global Campaign to Return to Palestine and Samidoun España will screen “Fedayin: Georges Abdallah’s Fight,” the new film about Georges Abdallah, the Lebanese Arab Communist struggler for Palestine imprisoned in France for 37 years. The screening will take place at CCOO Regional at C/Corbalan 4 in Murcia, at 6:30 pm, with free entrance. Jaldia Abubakra, Palestinian activist with Samidoun, Alkarama Palestinian Women’s Mobilization and the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path, will speak after the film screening.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network and our members and affiliates around the world are honored to welcome our comrades in Palestina Libre-Murcia to our growing network. We look forward to continuing to struggle together toward the freedom of all Palestinian prisoners in Israeli, imperialist and reactionary regime prisons and for the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea. 

Samidoun organizes for the liberation of all Palestinian prisoners and prisoners of the Palestinian cause from Israeli jails, Palestinian Authority jails and reactionary and imperialist prisons. If you or your organization are interested in becoming an affiliate organization, joining one of our chapters or affiliates, or launching your own chapter, please contact us at samidoun@samidoun.net.

#AllForPalestine: International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People Social Media Action

On the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People — a day in which we call for the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea and demand an end to the crime committed by the United Nations on this date in 1947, the partition of Palestine for the benefit of the settler-colonial Zionist project — Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network joins with the Global Campaign to Return to Palestine for the #AllForPalestine social media campaign:

On the occasion of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

We call upon all the activists and lovers of Palestine to interact and participate in all solidarity activities in their countries, with the need to participate in the international digital campaign on the hashtag:

#AllForPalestine
November 29, 2021

Please see: the letter of the Masar Badil (Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path) to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, declaring that:

It must be a day for action to implement the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, foremost of which is the right of return for Palestinian refugees, in addition to compensation and restitution of property, as well as the right of the Palestinian people to resist occupation and colonialism by all means, including armed struggle, until our full right to self-determination is exercised across the land of Palestine, from the river to the sea.

In this context, we must make clear that Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority and the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization do not represent the Palestinian people. Instead, they represent a small sector that has repeatedly relinquished Palestinian rights through a series of unlawful and illegitimate “agreements” with Israel, the Zionist colonial project on Palestinian land. The so-called “peace talks” and the Oslo Accords have not served to protect the Palestinian people’s rights to freedom, self-determination, return and liberation from colonialism.

On the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, it is time for the crimes against the Palestinian people to come to an end and for the United Nations to take responsibility for its illegitimate attempt to partition Palestinian land in the interests of a colonial, racist project in 1947 and all of the ensuing and ongoing crimes perpetrated against the Palestinian people. Rather than inviting the Palestinian Authority to speak for the Palestinian people, the United Nations must act to implement all of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people from the river to the sea, throughout occupied Palestine. The Palestinian people will not rest in our liberation struggle until justice is obtained.

Two Palestinian prisoners continue hunger strike for freedom; Louay al-Ashqar suspends strike after 49 days

Palestinian prisoner Louay al-Ashqar suspended his hunger strike after 49 days with an agreement to set a specific date for the end of his administrative detention, Israeli imprisonment without charge or trial. Hisham Abu Hawash, on hunger strike for 104 days, and Nidal Ballout, on hunger strike for 30 days, are continuing to refuse food to demand their freedom and an end to the system of administrative detention.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes Louay al-Ashqar — whose brother Mohammed was previously murdered by Israeli occupation forces in the Negev desert prison in 2007 — on his steadfastness and victory over the jailer. We urge all supporters of Palestine to continue to organize to free the hunger strikers and all Palestinian prisoners subjected to the colonial regime of Israeli occupation. Join us on 1 December 2021 for the Day of Action to Free Palestinian Prisoners on Hunger Strike for in-person and online actions for justice, freedom and liberation!

Al-Ashqar, 45, is from Saida near Tulkarem; he has been jailed without charge or trial since 5 October 2021 and launched his strike immediately after an administrative detention order was imposed upon him. He is paralyzed in his left leg after being tortured by Israeli occupation forces during a previous arrest in 2005, and he is married and the father of eight children. He has spent approximately 8 years in Israeli prison; during his strike, he was transferred to the Jalameh interrogation center as another form of pressure upon him, as it is widely considered one of the worst prisons, with conditions incompatible with human life.

Meanwhile, Hisham Abu Hawash has continued his hunger strike for 103 days. Despite his rapidly deteriorating health condition, occupation forces have contnued to confine him in the notorious Ramle prison clinic, well-known among Palestinian prisoners and their families for medical neglect and mistreatment of detainees. Like his fellow hunger strikers, he has been transferred to outside civilian hospitals on several occasions, only to be returned to the Ramle prison; this process puts further physical and psychological pressure on the hunger striker, in an attempt to force him to end his strike.

Abu Hawash, 39 and from Dura, outside al-Khalil, has been jailed without charge or trial since October 2020. Three consecutive administrative detention orders have been issued against him, the most recent after he had already launched his strike. While the six-month order was reduced to four months, it was explicitly confirmed to be open for renewal, compelling Abu Hawash to continue his strike. He is married and the father of five children.

Nidal Ballout, 27, from Bani Naim in al-Khalil district, has been on hunger strike for 30 days. While he has gone without food for a full month since his detention on 29 October, his lawyer only learned of his hunger strike days ago. Ballout had been prohibited from receiving a legal visit since his arrest; he had been subject to a harsh “military” interrogation during this time. After the Israeli occupation jailers failed to coerce a confession from him despite extending his interrogation for 28 days, his family reported that he had been transferred to administrative detention without charge or trial by an Israeli military court.

He is married and the father of two children; he was previously arrested by the Israeli occupation twice in the past. He was injured in 2013 when he was last arrested and continues to suffer stomach, back and head pain; he is being held in the Israeli occupation Ofer prison.

What Is Administrative Detention?

Administrative detention was first used in Palestine by the British colonial mandate and then adopted by the Zionist regime; it is now used routinely to target Palestinians, especially community leaders, activists, and influential people in their towns, camps and villages.

There are currently approximately 520 Palestinians jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention, out of 4,650 Palestinian political prisoners. These orders are issued by the military and approved by military courts on the basis of “secret evidence”, denied to both Palestinian detainees and their attorneys. Issued for up to six months at a time, they are indefinitely renewable, and Palestinians — including minor children — can spend years jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges all supporters of Palestine to take action to support these Palestinian hunger strikers and all Palestinian prisoners struggling for freedom, for their own lives and for the Palestinian people. They are confronting the system of Israeli oppression on the front lines, with their bodies and their lives, to bring the system of administrative detention to an end. Take these actions below to stand with the hunger strikers and the struggle for liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea!

TAKE ACTION: 

  • Join the day of action on 1 December!As Palestinian political prisoners continue their hunger strikes in defiance of their illegitimate imprisonment by the Zionist occupation, National Students for Justice in Palestine, The Palestinian Youth Movement, IDOC Watch and Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network call on all individuals and institutions committed to Palestinian liberation affirm their solidarity with the striking prisoners and demand an end to the colonial systems of administrative detention and military courts!

    Take two actions: 

        • Join the social media day of action on 1 December! Start Tweeting and posting on Instagram with the hashtag #FreeThemAll at 10 am Pacific, 1 pm Eastern, 7 pm central Europe, 8 pm Palestine.
        • Take the salt water challenge! Gather with your comrades, organizations, colleagues and friends to sip salt and water (symbolizing the salt and water Palestinian hunger strikers rely on) together. We’ll provide a script for you to read. You can even do it alone and post the video on your social media — or gather together for a protest action!

Download these signs for use in your campaigns:

10 December, Vancouver: Fight State Terror, Defend People’s Rights! demonstration

Friday, 10 December
5:00 pm
Commercial-Broadway SkyTrain Station
Vancouver, BC
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/320647343216054

On the International Day for Human Rights, join local organizers from the International League of People’s Struggles (ILPS) for a solidarity rally and hear reports from peoples struggles for justice and liberation across Turtle Island, Philippines, Palestine, Chile, India, and beyond. Come out to denounce state violence and UNITE for People’s Rights & Justice!

On a global scale there has been a rise in state sanctioned violence against human rights and land defenders. This violence is being perpetrated in order to maintain oppressive systems of labour exploitation, resource extraction, and corporate profits. Those who resist are violently repressed through red-tagging, militarization, imprisonment, and extrajudicial killings.

While the violent suppression of people’s rights continues, unified peoples’ resistance is also intensifying! Join us in our common struggle against imperialist aggression, capitalist plunder, land theft, and state terror! Defend People’s Rights! Long Live International Solidarity!

2 December, Vancouver: “Fedayin: Georges Abdallah’s Fight” Film Screening

POSTPONED: https://samidoun.net/2021/12/university-of-british-columbia-postpones-fedayin-film-screening-due-to-zionist-pressure/

Thursday, 2 December
7:00 pm
University of British Columbia
Room ANGU098
2053 Main Mall
Vancouver, BC
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/4648781165215313
Register online for free tickets: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/fedayin-georges-abdallah-film-screening-tickets-218193882777

VANCOUVER: Join the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights UBC, and Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, for a public screening of the new and acclaimed film, “Fedayin,” which chronicles the course of a Lebanese communist, imprisoned in 1984 for his involvement in the struggle for the liberation of Palestine — and Lebanon — from Zionist occupation.

From the Palestinian refugee camps that forged his conscience, to the international mobilization for his release, we will discover the man who has become one of the longest-held political prisoners in Europe.

Afterwards, we’ll have a short panel featuring two organizers from the film, Palestinian Khaled Barakat, and Charlotte Kates of Samidoun, to discuss the film and actions that have demanded freedom for Abdallah, such as the global campaign in October.

The film will be screened at UBC in the Sauder building, at ANGU098.

Registration link is included. Masks are required, and light refreshments and snacks will be provided.

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