Palestinian organizer and former prisoner Ghassan Zawahreh seized by Israeli occupation forces

20 August 2021

Ghassan Zawahreh, Palestinian former prisoner and longtime struggler for justice, was seized from his home in Dheisheh refugee camp by Israeli occupation forces in the pre-dawn hours of 19 August 2021. Zawahreh has been repeatedly detained since 2002, when he was only 14 years old. He was last released from Israeli occupation prisons on 4 March 2021 after 28 months jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention. Almost every time he is released, he may spend only a few months with his family and community before being ripped away once again for arbitrary imprisonment with no charge or trial.

During his last detention, Zawahreh highlighted the injustice of administrative detention, announcing his boycott of the military courts: “Administrative detention is a heinous crime for the ages. What is even more criminal is the occupation’s attempts to mislead through mock courts and charades where the executioner and the ruler, dressed up in military suits, represent the Occupation and its crimes.”

He has spent nearly 16 years in total in Israeli prisons; his brother Moataz Zawahreh was murdered by Israeli occupation forces as he participated in a popular protest in Bethlehem in 2015. Moataz had actually returned home to Palestine from where he was studying in France to support Ghassan, who was engaged in a long-term hunger strike against his imprisonment without charge or trial. He won his release in December 2015, only to be seized again by occupation forces seven months later.

*Ghassan Zawahreh mourns his brother after his release in 2015*

He was in his last year of studies in social work at the Open University of Jerusalem when he was arrested in 2008, and has been prevented from completing his studies through multiple arrests.

He is well-known in the camp as a community activist and volunteer in popular programs that provide social services to people in the camp. He worked as a taxi driver in order to support his family, on the Bethlehem-Ramallah road.

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 550 Palestinians jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention, out of 4,750 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. There are currently nine Palestinians on hunger strike to end administrative detention without charge or trial.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network demands the immediate release of Ghassan Zawahreh, dedicated struggler for Palestine and leading political prisoner repeatedly attacked by Israeli occupation forces, and all of his fellow Palestinian political prisoners. We are committed to organize, struggle and work to achieve the liberation of Palestinian prisoners, and the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea.

Two Palestinian detainees suspend hunger strikes; nine continue battle against administrative detention

20 August 2021

There are nine Palestinian prisoners jailed without charge or trial continuing their hunger strikes for freedom inside Israeli occupation prisons. Two of the detainees conducting long-term strikes suspended their strikes after achieving an agreement to end their detention and obtain their freedom. Yousef al-Amar suspended his strike on Thursday, 19 August after 22 days after an agreement to end his detention without renewal; he has been jailed without charge or trial since June 2020. On Friday, 20 August, Raafat Darawish suspended his strike after 36 days, with a stipulation that he will be released on 7 December 2021.

Two more Palestinian detainees have joined the strike: Hisham Ismail Abu Hawash of Dura, al-Khalil, on strike for four days against his administrative detention; and Omar Kamel al-Jabari, 32, from al-Yamoun, Jenin, on hunger strike for three days. The hunger strikers are facing severe repression, especially those whose health have been most severely affected and are held in the Ramle prison clinic, Salem Zeidat and Mujahid Hamed. All of the detainees are held in solitary confinement or isolation, denied family visits, stripped of their possessions and frequently delayed or denied access to their lawyers in an attempt to force them to end their strikes.

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 550 Palestinians jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention, out of 4,750 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.

Who Are the Hunger Strikers?

1. Salem Zeidat: from Bani Neim – Hebron, started the strike 40 days ago. Salem Zeidat is 40 years old and has been jailed without charge or trial since 22 February 2020; he is married and the father of 5 children, held in the Negev Prison.

2. Mujahed Hamed: from Silwad – Ramallah, started the strike 38 days ago. He has been detained since 22 September 2020 and married with a son, who was only one month old when he was seized from his home; he is held in the Negev prison.

3. Kayed Fasfous: from Dura – Hebron, started the strike 33 days ago. He is 36 years old, detained without charge or trial since October 2020, and held in Ramon prison.

4. Miqdad Qawasmeh: from Hebron, started 30 days ago. Miqdad Qawasmeh is a Palestinian university student, 24 years old. He has been jailed without charge or trial since January 2021 and is held in Ofer prison.

5. Ahmad Hamamra: from Beit Sahour, started the strike 21 days ago. He has been imprisoned without charge or trial since 17 August 2020 and previously participated in the 2017 collective hunger strike while detained.

6. Akram Fasfous: from Dura, al-Khalil (Hebron), launched his strike 16 days ago. He is the brother of Kayed Fasfous, on hunger strike for 28 days, and of Mahmoud Fasfous, who was previously on strike before suspending due to severe heatlh deterioration. He has been jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention since October 2020. He is 38 years old, married and the father of four children.

7. Alaa al-Araj: from Tulkarem, launched his strike 13 days ago. He has been jailed since 30 June without charge or trial under administrative detention and is held in Megiddo prison. He is 34 years old.

8. Hisham Ismail Abu Hawash, 39, from Dura, al-Khalil, has been on hunger strike for 4 days. He has been jailed without charge or trial since October 2020 under Israeli administrative detention. Over multiple arrests, he has spent eight years in Israeli prisons. He is married ahd the father of four children; his youngest child suffers from kidney failure.

9. Omar Kamel al-Jabari, 32, from al-Yamoun, Jenin, has been on hunger strike for 3 days against his administrative detention. He has been detained without charge or trial in Ofer prison since January 2021.

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!

Download these signs for use in your campaigns:

TAKE ACTION:

Sign the petition!

Independent grassroots international activists have launched a petition in support of the hunger strikers and to end administrative detention. Show your support by signing on – in addition to taking action in person! Sign here: change.org/NoChargeNoTrialNoJail

Protest at the Israeli Embassy or Consulate in Your Country!

Join the many protests taking place around the world — confront, isolate and besiege the Israeli embassy or consulate in your city or country of residence. Make it clear that the people are with Palestine! Send us your events at samidoun@samidoun.net.

Take to the streets: Organize a protest in solidarity with Palestine!

Take to the streets and join the actions on our full list of events, which is constantly being updated as new actions are announced! Organize your own if there is none in your area, and send us your events at samidoun@samidoun.net.

Boycott Israel!

The international, Arab and Palestinian campaign to boycott Israel can play an important role at this critical time. Local boycott groups can protest and label Israeli produce and groceries, while many complicit corporations – including HP, G4S, Puma, Teva and others, profit from their role in support Zionist colonialism throughout occupied Palestine. By participating in the boycott of Israel, you can directly help to throw a wrench in the economy of settler colonialism.

Demand Your Government Sanction Israel!

The racist, settler colonial state of Israel and its war crimes against the Palestinian people are enabled and backed extensively by the over $3.8 billion each year given to Israel by the United States — targeted directly to support the Israeli occupation military killing children, women, men and elders throughout occupied Palestine. From Canada to Australia to the European Union, Western governments and imperialist powers provide ongoing diplomatic, political and economic support to Israel as well as selling billions of dollars of weaponry to the settler-colonial state. Meanwhile, they also purchase billions of dollars in weaponry from the Israeli state. Governments in league with imperialist powers, such as in the Philippines, Brazil, India and elsewhere, also buy weapons and “security” services — all “battle-tested” on the Palestinian population. Call your representatives, MPs, political officials and demand your government sanction Israel now, cut off all aid, expel its ambassadors, and stop buying and selling weapons!

Palestinian law student Israr Maarouf imprisoned without charge or trial

20 August 2021

Israr Maarouf, 22, a law student at Bir Zeit University, was seized by Israeli occupation forces that invaded his family home in Ein Qinya near Ramallah, occupied Palestine, on 10 August 2021. He was detained only 70 days after his most recent release from Israeli imprisonment; the soldiers that abducted him from his home beat him all over his body with batons and rifle butts, leaving him with severe bruising all over his body. On Friday, 20 August, the Israeli occupation military courts ordered him detained without charge or trial under administrative detention.

Even before his most recent arrest, Maarouf, who is diabetic, suffered from severe knee and back pain. When Maarouf was detained in 2019, he was subjected to torture and severe abuse during 70 days of interrogation. He was deliberately and systematically deprived of sleep, interrogated most of the day and then interrupted with loud music. He was threatened with the arrest of his family and forced into stress positions during his interrogation, forcing him to fall to the ground. He fainted several times while under interrogation due to the extreme pain he was in and was forced to use a wheelchair for several days during his interrogation because he was unable to walk due to his injuries from torture.

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 550 Palestinians jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention, out of 4,750 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.

Dozens of Palestinian prisoners have launched hunger strikes — including nine currently continuing their strikes — against administrative detention in 2021.

Israr Maarouf is also among hundreds of Palestinian students imprisoned by the Israeli occupation. At Bir Zeit University alone, approximately 74 students were detained by occupation soldiers during the 2019-2020 academic year. The work of student organizing, from holding book fairs to organizing events and participating in student elections, is criminalized by the Israeli occupation. Still more students are detained for joining demonstrations or posting on their social media profiles.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network demands the immediate release of Israr Maarouf and all detained Palestinian students and urges all friends of justice in Palestine to join the #FreePalestinianStudents campaign. This campaign brings organizations together in a global call to urge the immediate freedom of imprisoned Palestinian students and the protection of Palestinian students’ right to education, right to political expression and involvement and right to determine their own futures. The Israeli occupation has targeted Palestinian students and, specifically, the Palestinian student movement and Palestinian student organizations for harsh repression and political detention and imprisonment.

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.

For the full campaign statement, resources, posters, photos and more, including translations in eight languages, please visit: https://freepalestinianstudents.org/

Add your organization’s name to this statement: http://bit.ly/palstudentsignon

23 August, NPA summer university (France): Screening of “Fedayin: The Struggle of Georges Abdallah”

20 August 2021

Monday, 23 August
9 pm
Special evening organized for the NPA Summer University, with special guest Jean-Marc Rouillan
In the summer village of Rives-des-Corbières at Port-Leucate, close to Perpignan.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/4012426608879885/

FEDAYIN, THE STRUGGLE OF GEORGES ABDALLAH
A documentary by Vacarme(s) Films

France / Palestine / Lebanon • 2020 • 1h21m

For more than 35 years, Georges Ibrahim Abdallah has been locked behind bars. This documentary retraces the journey of this Lebanese communist resistance fighter who struggled side by side with the Palestinian resistance. For this, the film returns to the origins of Georges Abdallah’s activism and to the complex geopolitical context of the time. It thus takes us to Lebanon, and to the Palestinian refugee camps where Abdallah forged himself politically. We follow his involvement in the Palestinian resistance and then against the Israeli occupation within the LARF (Lebanese Revolutionary Armed Fractions), an engagement which will lead him to France during the 1980s where he was convicted for complicity in assassination. Through a series of interviews with his family, his lawyer, his relatives, his supporters and his comrades, we meet those who know him and retrace a life of resistance to imperialism and colonialism.

Do not hesitate to contact Vacarme (s) Films if you wish to organize a screening or for more information by email to vacarmesfilms@gmail.com. The film is available in English, French, German, Arabic, Italian and Spanish (with subtitles).

28 August, Online Event: Academic Freedom in Palestine: A Conversation with Imad Barghouthi

19 August 2021

Saturday, August 28
9 am Pacific, 12 pm Eastern, 7 pm Palestine time
Register: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcsdeGgqT8iGtTXTYZuJtkzslCT6uCYnQL3/success?user_id=yY-fvGcSR2yih1ENdAPYIg&timezone_id=Asia%2FJerusalem
Facebook Event: https://fb.me/e/NZxjjkl0

Event organized by Scientists for Palestine

Join Scientists for Palestine, as we speak directly to Imad Barghouthi, renowned Palestinian astrophysicist, father of five and Professor of Plasma Physics at Al Quds university (West Bank) !

Prof. Imad Barghouthi was recently released after nearly a year of administrative detention. After his arrest on July 22nd 2020, he was held in jail for several weeks without charges.

After already spending many weeks in administrative detention, he was eventually charged on the basis of his Facebook posts. Prof. Barghouthi then spent the next several months in administrative detention, away from his students and family, awaiting trial.

Prof. Barghouthi’s arrest came at great cost to him personally, and academically. Happening mere weeks before the semester started, many students were left without a teacher and/or mentor.

Scientists for Palestine’s international campaign demanding Prof. Barghouthi’s release was joined by thousands of scholars worldwide, including Nobel laureates and Fields medalists.

Scientists for Palestine now has the privilege of hosting Prof. Barghouthi’s first interview after his finally being freed. Join us to hear first hand about what it is like to be a professor in Palestine, the infringements of the Israeli occupation on academic freedom and the enduring determination of Palestinian academics to overcome them.

19 August, Online Event: From Black August to Black Liberation: Commemorating the Struggle of Political Prisoners

18 August 2021

Thursday, 19 August
4 pm Pacific/7 pm Eastern
Register online: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_vX6H4wmpSLGjDhzzP6MfiQ

“From Black August to Black Liberation: Commemorating the Struggle of Political Prisoners” is a Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) webinar illuminating the indispensable role of political prisoners in our struggle for Black Liberation. The discussion will focus on the experiences and realities of current and former political prisoners, the efforts of these freedom fighters to convene the Spirit of Mandela International Tribunal, the organizing and grassroots work being done to free political prisoners, the ongoing significance of Black August, and Assata Shakur’s exile as a form of political imprisonment. The panelists also will consider what all of this means in the struggle against imperialism, colonialism, racism and war.

Join us for a Zoom webinar at 7 p.m. ET on Thursday, August 19, 2021.

PANELISTS
Makungu Akinyela
Saudia Durrant
Krystal Strong
Jaribu Hill
Jalil Muntaqim

MODERATOR
Nnamdi Lumumba

This webinar will be livestreamed on BAP’s Facebook page, too: http://facebook.com/blackallianceforpeace

12 September, NYC: Running Down the Walls – Registration now open

17 August 2021

WHAT: Running Down the Walls – 5k Run/Walk/Jog/Bike/Hang
WHEN: 2:00-7:00pm, Sunday, September 12th, 2021
WHERE: Prospect Park– Lincoln Road/East Lake Drive, east of the Terrace Bridge
COST: $10 registration (if COVID permits, will include food/drink afterwards. TBD)

NYC Anarchist Black Cross (NYCABC) is excited to announce Running Down the Walls 2021, COVID permitting. After making the difficult decision to not hold last year’s event in person, we are very much looking forward to gathering as a community for the first time in a long time. Please stay tuned to our website, sign up for our newsletter, and follow us on twitter (@nycabc) for updates.

Every year, prisoners and supporters of political prisoners organize solidarity events with Running Down the Walls. In previous years, we’ve had runs in Albuquerque (NM), Arcata (CA), Ashland (OR), Bellefonte (PA), Boston (MA), Buffalo (NY), Chico (CA), Denver (CO), Elmore (AL), Inez (KY), Los Angeles (CA), Marion (IL), Minneapolis (MN) New York (NY), USP Navosta (TX), Pelican Bay (CA), Phoenix (AZ), Tucson (AZ), Seattle (WA), and Toronto, Ontario. This year we hope to expand the amount of runs in prisons and other cities, as well as increase the amount of funds raised for community projects. NYC ABC‘s goal with this year’s run is $4,000. You can donate online by going to paypal.me/nycabc

To raise our goal of $4,000, we need your support.

* Promote – print and distribute flyers to friends and local businesses, your doctor’s office, laundromat, food co-op, wealthy benefactor, et cetera.
* Run/walk/bike/roll in the 5k – We need participants who can run/walk/bike/roll the 5k and are able to collect financial pledges to offer as donations to the run.
* Volunteer for the run – We need folks who are willing to hand out water, bike the route as street medics, and help chalk the route beforehand.
* Donate online at paypal.me
* Donate to the run/sponsor a participant – If you are not able to attend, but want to support this fundraising effort, please mail donations to:
NYC ABC
PO Box 110034
Brooklyn, NY 11211

Your donation of $10 or more entitles you to the celebratory picnic after the event.

Each year, NYC ABC splits proceeds between the Anarchist Black Cross Federation’s Warchest Program and a local organization. This year, local funds are going to New York state political prisoners released within the last year.

The Warchest Program:
The Anarchist Black Cross Federation (ABCF) has initiated a program designed to send monthly checks to those Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War who have been receiving insufficient, little, or no financial support during their imprisonment. The Warchest program was initiated in November 1994. Its purpose is to collect monthly funds from groups and individual supporters, and send that money to Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War (PP/POW) via monthly checks. Over the last twenty five years, the ABCF warchest has dispensed over $100,000 to political prisoners in the United States. Currently, there are 18 imprisoned comrades who receive a monthly stipend as part of the program; they are Abdul Azeez, David Gilbert, Doug Wright, Ed Poindexter, Eric King, Hanif Bey, Jamil Al-Amin, Joseph Bowen, Kamau Sadiki, Leonard Peltier, Malik Smith, Mutulu Shakur, Oso Blanco, Ronald Reed, Ruchell Magee, Sundiata Acoli, Tom Manning, Veronza Bowers, and Xinachtli (FKA Alvaro Luna Hernandez). For more information, visit: abcf.net/warchest-program

We will be starting here.
From the Q train, get off at the Prospect Park stop. Walk to Lincoln Road and turn right into the park. We’ll be about 700 feet away. The event will be one lap around what is known as the Main Loop, and will total five kilometers. (See attached). If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail us at nycabc@riseup.net

Nine Palestinian detainees continue hunger strikes for freedom

16 August 2021

Nine Palestinian political prisoners are continuing their hunger strikes for freedom inside Israeli occupation prisons. Three detainees striking to end their administrative detention – Israeli imprisonment without charge or trial — suspended their hunger strikes after extracting a concession to end their administrative detention and set a final date for their release. Mohammed A’mar, from Tulkarem; Amjad Nammoura, from Dura, near al-Khalil; and Fadi al-Amour, from al-Khalil.

At the same time, Ahmad Hamamra, who has gone without food for 17 days, was ordered once again to another six months in administrative detention by Israeli military officials as his strike continues. He has been detained without charge or trial for over one year, since 17 August 2020. He was previously jailed without charge or trial and participated in the 2017 collective hunger strike of thousands of Palestinian detainees.

Salem Zeidat and Mujahed Hamed have been on hunger strike for 36 and 34 days, respectively; they are held in the notorious Ramle prison clinic after the deterioration of their health. Kayed al-Fasfous has been on hunger strike for 33 days, while his brother, Akram al-Fasfous, has been on hunger strike for 12 days. Akram joined the strike after their third brother, Mahmoud, was forced to end his hunger strike after a serious deterioration in his health.

Rafat Darawish has been on hunger strike for 33 days, and is held in Ohli Kedar prison, while Miqdad Qawasmeh has been on hunger strike for 26 days. Qawasmeh is a university student who has been jailed without charge or trial since January 2021. Yousef al-Amer has been on hunger strike for 19 days, while Alaa al-Araj has gone without food for 9 days.