Palestinian mother Anhar al-Deek will be released today, Thursday, 2 September, from Damon prison to house arrest in her family home in Kafr Nima, near Ramallah in occupied Palestine, Palestinian lawyers announced. Anhar, 25, is in her ninth month of pregnancy and due to give birth at any time, for which she requires a Caesarean section. A widespread Palestinian, Arab and international outcry preceded the decision for her release, which still imposes significant conditions and unjust penalties upon her, indicating the power of massive pressure on the Israeli occupation to release Palestinian detainees. The Israeli military and civil courts provide no justice for Palestinians — it is only through action and mobilization that Palestinian prisoners may obtain their liberation.
Palestinian lawyer Akram Samara, who represents al-Deek, said that she was ordered released by the Ofer military court. Her family must pay a financial bail of 40,000 NIS ($12,500 USD) and she will be held under house arrest in her family home. Thousands of Palestinians, Arabs and international supporters of Palestine protested and raised her case on social media and to government officials, especially after her letter was released from Israeli prison. In her letter, al-Deek wrote about the conditions she would face after birth, isolated and imprisoned with her newborn son, without her husband and her mother:
I miss Julia, my beloved daughter, so deeply. My heart cries for her, wishing I can hug her and hold her in my heart. The pain in my heart cannot be expressed.
What can I do if I have to give birth away from you, shackled? You know what it is like to go through a Caesarean delivery outside of prison. How will it be to go through it chained inside the prison?
I am so tired and have severe pain…I do not know how I will take my first steps after the surgery, when the jailer holds my arm with disgust…How can I protect the baby from the terrifying jailers?
I ask all free and honorable people of conscience to act, even by raising a word!…
Al-Deek was seized by Israeli occupation forces on 8 March 2021 — International Women’s Day — when she was four months pregnant. With only a small fruit knife in her possession, she was accused of attempting to stab an Israeli illegal settler.
Throughout her imprisonment and her pregnancy, she has experienced severe physical and mental health symptoms and was diagnosed with bipolar depression. Rather than receiving the support and medical care that she needs and the presence of her loved ones, she was thrown into the Israeli military legal system. During her imprisonment, the Israeli occupation did not permit al-Deek family visits with her husband and baby daughter, Julia. Her husband was able to see her three months ago during the military court, and her brother said that he saw his sister five months ago in another military court hearing.
Anhar is currently among 40 fellow Palestinian women prisoners held in Israeli jails, out of a total of 4,750 Palestinian political prisoners. Eleven of the detained women are mothers separated from their children by the Israeli occupation; just last month, Palestinian political leader and feminist Khalida Jarrar was denied early release or even the opportunity to see her daughter’s body after the untimely death of her daughter, Palestinian activist and human rights defender Suha Jarrar.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network joins Anhar al-Deek’s family, loved ones, the Palestinian people and people of conscience around the world in welcoming her and her beloved child home. At the same time, we warn of the need to continue to monitor her case closely, especially given that she has not yet arrived home with her loved ones. She has experienced an extremely traumatic pregnancy, while the Israeli occupation continues to impose unjust and onerous conditions upon her.
Her case also highlights the importance of Palestinian, Arab and international mobilization to highlight the daily injustices of Israeli political imprisonment and the steadfastness and resistance of Palestinian political prisoners. Freedom for all Palestinian prisoners, and all of Palestine, from the river to the sea!
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is an endorser of the following open letter, calling for a comprehensive two-way arms embargo on the Israeli occupation — prohibiting the sale of arms to Israel or the purchase of arms from Israel, often “battle-tested” on Palestinians and Arabs throughout occupied Palestine and in Lebanon and Syria. Read the full letter below:
Open Letter to the States Parties to the Arms Trade Treaty on the Need to Impose a Comprehensive Two-Way Arms Embargo on Israel
We, the undersigned global coalition of leaders –from civil society to academia, art, media, business, politics, indigenous and faith communities, and people of conscience around the world– call upon the States Parties to the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) to act decisively to put an end to Israel’s notorious use of arms and military equipment for the commission of serious violations of international humanitarian law and human rights against Palestinian civilians by immediately imposing a comprehensive two-way arms embargo on Israel.
In the spring of 2021, the world once again watched in horror as Israeli occupying forces attacked defenceless Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and inside Israel. Palestinian civilians peacefully protesting against colonisation of their land were assaulted with live fire, rubber-coated steel bullets, sound bombs, tear gas and skunk water. Israel’s deadly military aggression against the Palestinian civilian population in the Gaza Strip was the fourth in a decade. Over 11 days, 248 Palestinians were killed, including 66 children. Thousands were wounded, and the reverberating effects of the use of explosive weapons on hospitals, schools, food security, water, electricity and shelter continue to affect millions.
This systematic brutality, perpetrated throughout the past seven decades of Israel’s colonialism, apartheid, pro-longed illegal belligerent occupation, persecution, and closure, is only possible because of the complicity of some governments and corporations around the world.
Symbolic statements of condemnation alone will not put an end to this suffering. In accordance with the relevant rules of the ATT, States Parties have legal obligations to put an end to irresponsible and often complicit trade of conventional arms that undermines international peace and security, facilitates commission of egregious crimes, and threatens the international legal order.
Under Article 6(3) of the ATT, States Parties undertook not to authorise any transfer of conventional arms if they have knowledge at the time of authorisation that arms or items would be used in the commission of genocide, crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the Geneva conventions of 1949, attacks directed against civilian objects or civilians protected as such, or other war crimes as defined by international agreements to which they are a Party.
Under Articles 7 and 11, they undertook not to authorise any export of conventional arms, munitions, parts and components that would, inter alia, undermine peace and security or be used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law.
It is clear that arms exports to Israel are inconsistent with these obligations. Invariably, Israel has shown that it uses arms to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity, as documented by countless United Nations bodies and civil society organisations worldwide. Military exports to Israel also clearly enabled, facilitated and maintained Israel’s decades-long settler-colonial and apartheid regime imposed over the Palestinian people as a whole.
Similarly, arms imports from Israel are wholly inconsistent with obligations under the ATT. Israeli military and industry sources openly boast that their weapons and technologies are “combat proven” – in other words, field-tested on Palestinian civilians “human test subjects”. When States import Israeli arms, they are encouraging it to keep bombing Palestinian civilians and persist in its unlawful practices. No one –neither Israel, nor arms manufacturers in ATT States parties– should be allowed to profit from the killing or maiming of Palestinian civilians.
It is thus abundantly clear that imposing a two-way arms embargo on Israel is both a legal and a moral obligation. ATT States Parties must immediately terminate any current, and prohibit any future transfers of conventional arms, munitions, parts and components referred to in Article 2(1), Article 3 or Article 4 of the ATT to Israel, until it ends its illegal belligerent occupation of the occupied Palestinian territory and complies fully with its obligations under international law. Pending such an embargo, all States must immediately suspend all transfers of military equipment, assistance and munitions to Israel.
A failure to take these actions entails a heavy responsibility for the grave suffering of civilians – more deaths, more suffering, as thousands of Palestinian men, women and children continue to bear the brutality of a colonial belligerent occupying force– which would result in discrediting the ATT itself. It also renders States parties complicit in internationally wrongful acts through the aiding or abetting of international crimes. A failure in taking action could also result in invoking the individual criminal responsibility of individuals of these States for aiding and abetting the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity in accordance with Article 25(3)(c) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
Justice will remain elusive so long as Israel’s unlawful occupation, settler-colonialism, apartheid regime, and persecution and institutionalised oppression of the Palestinian people are allowed to continue, and so long as States continue to be complicit in the occupying Power’s crimes by trading weapons with it.
In conclusion, we believe that the ATT can make a difference in the Palestinian civilians’ lives. It has the potential, if implemented in good faith, to spare countless protected persons from suffering. If our call to stop leaving the Palestinian people behind when it comes to implementation of the ATT is ignored, the raison d’être of the ATT will be shattered.
Joining organisations:
Action Sécurité Ethique Républicaines
Adalah Justice Project
Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association
AFPS 63
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights
Aldameer Association for Human Rights
Al-Haq, Law in the Service of Man
Alrowwad Cultural and Arts Society
American Muslims for Palestine
Anglican Pacifist Fellowship
Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem (ARIJ)
Arab Canadian Lawyers Association
Arab Organization for Human Rights
Argenteuil Solidarité Palestine
Asociación Americana de Juristas
Association Belgo-Palestinienne WB
Association femmes plurielles
Association France Palestine Solidarité (AFPS)
AssoPacePalestina
Australia Palestine Advocacy Network
Australian Centre for International Justice
Australians For Palestine
Badayl
BDS Australia
Begian Campaign for Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
Campagne BDS France
Canadian BDS Coalition
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME)
Center for Constitutional Rights
Center for International Policy
Centro Interdisciplinario de Estudios Estratégicos para la Seguridad y el Desarrollo Social CIESED A.C.
CNAPD – Coordination Nationale d’Action pour la Paix et la Démocratie
Coalition for Justice and Peace in Palestine
Collectif 69 de Soutien au Peuple Palestinien
Collectif BDS 57
Collectif Judéo Arabe et Citoyen pour la Palestine
Colombian Campaign to Ban Landmines
Columban missionaries Britain
Columbia Law Students for Palestine
Combatants for Peace
Comitato BDS Campania
Comité de Solidaridad con la Causa Árabe
Comité pour une Paix Juste au Proche-Orient asbl
Community Action Center – Al-Quds University
Confederación Intersindical Gallega (CIG)
Cultura è Libertà, una campagna per la Palestina
Dagropass
De Palestijnse gemeenschap in Nederland
Defense for Children -Palestine (DCI-Palestine)
Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN)
docP – BDS Netherlands
Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights
European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine (ECCP)
European Legal Support Center
Femmes Unies pour la Paix dans la région des Grands Lacs
FILEF Sydney Federation of Italian Migrant Workers
Finnish-Arab Friendship Society
Friends of Palestine Tasmania Inc
Gaza Action Ireland
Gesellschaft Schweiz Palästina GSP/ASP
Global Kairos Asia Pacific Solidarity For Palestine (GKAPS)
Good Shepherd Collective
Housing and Land Rights Network
Human Rights and Democratic Participation Center “SHAMS”
Human Rights Network Nigeria
ICAHD Finland
ICAHD UK
Independent Jewish Voices Canada
Indian Writers Forum
Indo Palestine Solidarity Forum
International Organization for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (EAFORD)
International Women’s Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific
Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Jewish Voice For Peace
Jews for Palestinian Right of Return
Just Peace Advocates/Mouvement Pour Une Paix Juste
Karapatan
Kenya Human Rights Commission
Labor for Palestine
Manushya Foundation
National Association of Democratic Lawyers (South Africa)
National Justice & Peace Network (NJPN)
National Lawyers Guild, Palestine Subcommittee
Nederlands Palestina Komitee
Newweapons research group
Niagara Movement for Justice in Palestine-Israel (NMJPI)
Six Palestinian political prisoners are continuing their hunger strikes against their imprisonment without charge or trial in Israeli occupation prisons. Akram al-Fasfous suspended his hunger strike on 27 August, while Raik Sadeq Bisharat launched a hunger strike on 22 August, demanding his liberation from administrative detention. Kayed al-Fasfous, Miqdad al-Qawasmeh, Ahmad Hamamra, Alaa al-Araj and Hisham Abu Hawash are all continuing their strikes for freedom.
Akram al-Fasfous concluded his strike with an agreement for his release on 14 December as well as to fix the date of release for his brother, Mahmoud al-Fasfous, who had earlier been on hunger strike until the serious deterioration of his medical condition prevented him from continuing. Kayed al-Fasfous, also the brother of Akram and Mahmoud, is continuing his strike.
All of the hunger striking detainees face ongoing repression in an attempt to break their strikes. They are held in solitary confinement or isolation, denied family visits and often denied access to their lawyers. Alaa al-Araj, currently on his 23rd day of hunger strike, is experiencing a sharp deterioration in his medical condition. He has lost a significant amount of weight and is suffering from weakness throughout his body, Palestinian lawyers reported. Meanwhile, lawyers for detained university student Miqdad Qawasmeh have submitted another appeal on his behalf, seeking his freedom from detention without charge or trial. Qawasmeh has been on hunger strike for 40 days.
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?
Kayed Fasfous: from Dura – Hebron, started the strike 47 days ago. He is 36 years old, detained without charge or trial since October 2020, and held in Ramon prison.
2. Miqdad Qawasmeh: from Hebron, started 40 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.
3. Ahmad Hamamra: from Beit Sahour, started the strike 31 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. His administrative detention order was renewed while on hunger strike.
4. Alaa al-Araj: from Tulkarem, launched his strike 23 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.
5. Hisham Ismail Abu Hawash, 39, from Dura, al-Khalil, has been on hunger strike for 9 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 and the father of four children; his youngest child suffers from kidney failure.
6. Raik Sadeq Bisharat, 44, from Tubas, has been jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention since July 2021. He is an injured former prisoner and has spent 9 years in Israeli prison. His hand was amputated and his wife was martyred by the Israeli occupation.
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!
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!
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!
Organizers set up a display of photos and calls to action highlighting imprisoned Palestinian students and calling for their liberation. There are hundreds of Palestinian university students imprisoned in Israeli jails, and students are routinely and specifically targeted for Israeli colonial imprisonment and repression for their student activism, organizing student events and participation in student elections and other political and social activities on campus.
Passers-by were invited to write letters to Palestinian prisoners to express their support and solidarity. The letters collected by Samidoun Deutschland will be sent directly to the prisoners as well as to Samidoun Palestine for sharing with the family members and lawyers of the detainees.
People who came to the stand were encouraged to write letters to Anhar al-Deek, the Palestinian pregnant mother imprisoned in Israeli jails, and to Israa Jaabis, the imprisoned Palestinian woman who is being denied appropriate medical care for her serious injuries, including the amputation of eight of her fingers. Large posters calling for freedom for all Palestinian prisoners, Palestinian flags and Samidoun banners adorned the area, drawing attention to the stand and the situation of detained Palestinians.
The displays also highlighted the hunger strikes of six Palestinians jailed without charge or trial by Israel. 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.
Visitors to the stand expressed their solidarity with Palestine and called for freedom for Palestinian political prisoners. Samidoun Deutschland organizes actions and events for a liberated Palestine, from the river to the sea, in Frankfurt, Berlin, Hamburg, and elsewhere in Germany. Contact the Samidoun Network to find out more about how you can get involved.
Give Israel the Red Card! Boycott the World Cup football qualifier between Denmark and Israel on Tuesday, 7 September at 8:45 pm!
Demonstration at 7 pm with music, speeches, flyers and banners
Speakers:
Dalia – Stop Annexation of Palestine/Internationalt Forum Copenhagen
Jan Mathisen – 3F Palestine Network
Maher Khatib – Palestinian Democratic Union in Denmark
Irene and Johnna – Boykot Israel Campaign
Music:
Nassim – CHIEF, Fri Galaxe
MCs:
Tove Jensen, Demos
Maher Khatib, Palestinian Democratic Union in Denmark
We only carry Palestinian flags.
Israel is an occupying power that colonizes Palestinian land. Israel exposes Palestinians to daily racism and apartheid reminiscent of South African apartheid. Playing against the Israeli national football team in the Park legitimizes Israel’s occupation and apartheid policies.
Israel violates FIFA’s rules banning racism and apartheid. Israel is harassing Palestinian football players and restricting their freedom of movement. They are denied access to training and tournaments. The Israeli state has destroyed several stadiums and is preventing spectators and supporters from watching matches.
Israel is deliberately using sports and culture to cover up and launder its crimes against the Palestinian people.
Cancel the football match!
Boycott Israel – Free Palestine!
Organizers: Boykot Israel Kampagnen, Internationalt Forum København, Stop Annekteringen af Palæstina, Internationalt Forum Nordsjælland, Palæstinensisk Demokratisk Forbund i Danmark, Palæstinensisk Nationalforsamling i Danmark, Global Aktion, Demos.
GIV ISRAEL DET RØDE KORT!
NB DEMONSTRATIONEN ER FLYTTET TIL: VIBENSHUS RUNDDEL METROSTATION!
JAGTVEJ 180, 2100 KØBENHAVN Ø
Boykot fodbold VM kvalifikationskampen Danmark-Israel i Parken tirsdag den 7. september kl. 20.45
Demonstration kl. 19.00 med musik, taler, flyers og bannere
Sted: Vibenshus Runddel Metrostation (Jagtvej 180, 2100 København Ø)
Talere:
Dalia – Stop Annekteringen af Palæstina/IF København; Jan Mathisen – 3 F Palæstina Netværk;
Maher Khatib – Palæstinensisk Demokratisk Forbund i Danmark; Johnna & Irene, Boykot Israel Kampagnen
Musik:
Nassim, CHIEF, Fri Galaxe..,
Dirigenter:
Tove Jensen, Demos
Maher Khatib, Palæstinensisk Demokratisk Forbund i Danmark
Vi medbringer kun palæstinensiske flag.
Israel er en besættelsesmagt der koloniserer palæstinensernes jord. Israel udsætter palæstinenserne for daglig racisme og apartheid, der minder om den sydafrikanske apartheid. At spille kamp imod det israelske fodboldlandshold i Parken vil være at legitimere Israels besættelses- og apartheidpolitik.
Israel bryder FIFA’s regler der forbyder racisme og apartheid. Israel chikanerer palæstinensiske fodboldspillere og begrænser deres bevægelsesfrihed. De nægtes adgang til træning og turneringer. Den israelske stat har ødelagt flere stadions og forhindrer tilskuere og tilhængere i at overvære kampe.
Israel bruger bevidst sport og kultur til at dække over og hvidvaske sine forbrydelser mod palæstinenserne.
Drop fodboldkampen!
Boykot Israel – Frit Palæstina!
Arrangører:
Boykot Israel Kampagnen, Internationalt Forum København, Stop Annekteringen af Palæstina, Internationalt Forum Nordsjælland, Palæstinensisk Demokratisk Forbund i Danmark, Palæstinensisk Nationalforsamling i Danmark, Global Aktion, Demos.
Anbefalere:
Autonom
Infoservice, Fredsvagten v. Christiansborg, APK-Arbejderpartiet Kommunisterne, BJMFs (Bygge-, Jord-og Miljøarbejdernes Fagforening) Internationale Udvalg, Konfront, KP-Kommunistisk Parti, Dansk Cubansk Forening, FMN-Folkebevægelsen Mod Nazisme, Revolutionære Antifascister, KPID-Kommunistisk Parti i Danmark, Migrante, TID TIL FRED – aktiv mod krig,,…
(Opdateres)
Boykot PUMA, som er sponsor for det israelske fodboldforbund IF
ALL OUT THIS SUNDAY IN GRAND CENTRAL: FREE OUR MARTYRS: DIE-IN & SPEAK OUT FOR PALESTINE
When: Sunday August 29th @ 4:30 pm Where: Grand Central Terminal (New York, NY 10017). Meet inside by the clock. Dress respectfully. Wear a keffiyeh.
As the numbers of martyrs continues to rise by the day, including 15 year old Emad Hashash from Balata Camp in the West Bank who was shot and killed by occupation forces on August 24th and 32 year old Osama Deaih from Jabalia in Gaza who died on August 25th after being shot four days earlier, we must stand against this genocide, honor our martyrs and demand the return of Palestinian martyrs bodies who are being held hostage by the zionist entity.
Between August 27-29 Palestinians will be mobilizing to demand the right to bury our children and to practice one of the most fundamental aspects of the human condition: the right to mourn. 254 Palestinian martyrs are buried in israeli military patrolled grave sites, 81 are in police morgues and 68 are disappeared. Denying dignity to the dead is one of the gravest violations of human rights, and yet israel continues to act with impunity.
We will not forget, we will not forgive, and we will never stop fighting for Palestine until all of the land is liberated from the river to the sea.
Organized by Within Our Lifetime – United for Palestine
On Friday, 27 August, activists and supporters of the Collectif Palestine Vaincra, a member organization of the Samidoun Network, organized a Palestine Stand near the Bagatelle market in Toulouse, France. The stand denounced the unjust and inhumane siege imposed upon the Gaza Strip, occupied Palestine, by the Israeli occupation with the active collusion of the Egyptian regime and Western imperialist powers.
Photo credit: Corine Janeau
Today, the 2 million Palestinian inhabitants of Gaza face a catastrophic humanitarian situation, which was further exacerbated by the last Zionist military assault in May 2021. However, the Palestinian people continue to confront the siege and resist for the liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea, despite the colonial violence that once again targeted the recent protests against the siege in southern Gaza for violent repression.
The stand, position at the exit of the Bagatelle metro station, was decorated with Palestinian flags as well as a large banner, stating: “From Gaza to Jerusalem: Resistance.” For over two hours, participants distributed over 1,000 flyers on the history of Zionist colonization in Palestine and the importance of supporting the Palestinian resistance.
Photo credit: Corine Janeau
An information table offered a wide range of information on the campaigns organized by the Collectif, especially for the liberation of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, Arab struggler for Palestine imprisoned in France for over 37 years, and for the boycott of Israel. Many passers-by collected free flyers and stickers to raise awareness about Palestine.
Photo credit: Corine Janeau
Showing solidarity, visitors to the stand displayed Palestinian flags as they drove past, donated to the work of the Collectif Palestine Vaincra, or offered bottles of water in the summer heat.
Photo credit: Corine Janeau
During many discussions, people expressed their solidarity and admiration for Gaza’s steadfastness and resistance. To show their support, many people joined in a photo campaign to demand an immediate lifting of the siege and an end to the blockade.
The Collectif Palestine Vaincra organizes actions and initiatives in Toulouse every month to support the Palestinian people and their resistance for the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea. Contact the Collectif to get involved, or reach out to Samidoun Network to get involved in your local area outside of France.
Palestinian student Layan Nasir was released from Israeli prison on Thursday, 26 August, welcomed home by her family, comrades and loved ones.
A 21-year-old fourth-year nutrition student at Bir Zeit University, Nasir has been detained by the Israeli occupation since 7 July 2021, when occupation forces stormed and invaded her family home. Just two days earlier, on 24 August, her military court hearing was postponed until 5 October, but she was ordered released. Her release comes after a surge in worldwide and Palestinian support for her case, with organizations from the Anglican church to French trade unions calling for her freedom.
Nasir is continuing to face charges before an Israeli military court that accuse her of participating in student events and activities on her campus, including events like book fairs and group meals. Specifically, Layan Nasir is being accused of supporting an “unlawful organization,” namely the Progressive Democratic Student Pole, the leftist student bloc at Bir Zeit University. These arbitrary designations of Palestinian organizations as “unlawful” may be issued at any time by an Israeli military commander of occupation forces in the West Bank, and are used as a pretext to round up, detain and violently attack Palestinian organizations and movements.
As a condition of her release, Nasir was required to pay bail and to complete the unjust military trial outside detention. Israeli military courts convict over 99% of the Palestinians brought before them.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes Layan Nasir upon her release. Her case indicates why it is so urgent for people around the world to support Palestinian students — and all Palestinian prisoners — struggling for freedom.
At Bir Zeit University alone, Nasir’s university, approximately 74 students were detained by occupation soldiers during the 2019-2020 academic year. Students are routinely and specifically targeted for Israeli colonial imprisonment and repression for their student activism, organizing student events and participation in student elections and other political and social activities on campus. In July, a UN panel declared that the imprisonment of Palestinian students Layan Kayed, Ruba Assi and Elia Abu Hijleh was unlawful and arbitrary, calling for their release.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network demands the immediate release of Layan Nasir and urges all friends of justice in Palestine to join the #FreePalestinianStudents campaign.
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.
Detained Palestinian mother Anhar al-Deek, 25, is currently in her ninth month of pregnancy, jailed in the Israeli occupation’s Damon prison. Her baby is due in the coming days, and she has already been told that she will receive a Caesarean section to deliver her baby and that she and her baby will be isolated after the delivery, ostensibly because of COVID-19. Rather than receiving the support of her husband and her loved ones, she will be accompanied by Israeli occupation prison guards and jailers only.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network echoes Anhar’s call to the world for action to demand her freedom, joining Palestinians and people of conscience everywhere calling for Anhar to be immediately released.
Anhar al-Deek, from the village of Kafr Ni’ma, west of Ramallah, was seized by Israeli occupation forces on 8 March 2021 — International Women’s Day — when she was four months pregnant. With only a small fruit knife in her possession, she was accused of attempting to stab an Israeli illegal settler.
Throughout her imprisonment and her pregnancy, she has experienced severe physical and mental health symptoms and was diagnosed with bipolar depression. Rather than receiving the support and medical care that she needs and the presence of her loved ones, she has been thrown into the Israeli military legal system, where she continues to await trial and sentencing even as her delivery date approaches. Her military trial has been postponed 7 times; the Israeli military courts convict over 99% of the Palestinians brought before them.
The Israeli occupation has not permitted al-Deek family visits with her husband and baby daughter, Julia. Her husband was able to see her three months ago during the military court, and her brother said that he saw his sister five months ago in another military court hearing.
She issued a touching letter from inside Israeli prisons, which sparked a firestorm of outrage on social media, calling for her immediate release:
I miss Julia, my beloved daughter, so deeply. My heart cries for her, wishing I can hug her and hold her in my heart. The pain in my heart cannot be expressed.
What can I do if I have to give birth away from you, shackled? You know what it is like to go through a Caesarean delivery outside of prison. How will it be to go through it chained inside the prison?
I am so tired and have severe pain…I do not know how I will take my first steps after the surgery, when the jailer holds my arm with disgust…How can I protect the baby from the terrifying jailers?
I ask all free and honorable people of conscience to act, even by raising a word!…
Anhar is currently among 40 fellow Palestinian women prisoners held in Israeli jails, out of a total of 4,750 Palestinian political prisoners. Eleven of the detained women are mothers separated from their children by the Israeli occupation; just last month, Palestinian political leader and feminist Khalida Jarrar was denied early release or even the opportunity to see her daughter’s body after the untimely death of her daughter, Palestinian activist and human rights defender Suha Jarrar.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network joins with organizers throughout Palestine and internationally in raising our voices and our words to demand Anhar al-Deek’s immediate release. We urge all supporters of justice in Palestine to join in the campaign to #SaveAnhar and her child. Take action to stand with Anhar al-Deek and urge freedom for Palestinian women, Palestinian children, and all of Palestine, from the river to the sea!
Join the social media campaign!
Thousands of people around the world have already posted about Anhar under the hashtag #SaveAnhar. Use the images on this page to post and call for her immediate release.
Protest at the Israeli Embassy or Consulate in Your Country!
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 struggler and community organizer Ghassan Zawahreh was once again ordered jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention, only days after he was seized by Israeli occupation forces from his home in Dheisheh refugee camp. On Tuesday, 24 August, the Israeli military ordered Zawahreh detained for a four-month period, which is indefinitely renewable.
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. He was once again seized from his home on 19 August, only six months after his last release.
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.
He is well-known in Dheisheh refugee 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.
Palestinian mother Anhar al-Deek will be released today, Thursday, 2 September, from Damon prison to house arrest in her family home in Kafr Nima, near Ramallah in occupied Palestine, Palestinian lawyers announced. Anhar, 25, is in her ninth month of pregnancy and due to give birth at any time, for which she requires a Caesarean section. A widespread Palestinian, Arab and international outcry preceded the decision for her release, which still imposes significant conditions and unjust penalties upon her, indicating the power of massive pressure on the Israeli occupation to release Palestinian detainees. The Israeli military and civil courts provide no justice for Palestinians — it is only through action and mobilization that Palestinian prisoners may obtain their liberation.
Passers-by were invited to write letters to Palestinian prisoners to express their support and solidarity. The 
People who came to the stand were encouraged to write letters to Anhar al-Deek, the Palestinian pregnant mother imprisoned in Israeli jails, and to Israa Jaabis, the imprisoned Palestinian woman who is being denied appropriate medical care for her serious injuries, including the amputation of eight of her fingers. Large posters calling for freedom for all Palestinian prisoners, Palestinian flags and Samidoun banners adorned the area, drawing attention to the stand and the situation of detained Palestinians.
The displays also highlighted the hunger strikes of six Palestinians jailed without charge or trial by Israel. There are currently approximately 550 Palestinians jailed without charge or trial under 
Visitors to the stand expressed their solidarity with Palestine and called for freedom for Palestinian political prisoners. Samidoun Deutschland organizes actions and events for a liberated Palestine, from the river to the sea, in Frankfurt, Berlin, Hamburg, and elsewhere in Germany. Contact the 
Tuesday, 7 September
Palestinian student 
Anhar al-Deek, from the village of Kafr Ni’ma, west of Ramallah, was seized by Israeli occupation forces on 8 March 2021 — 
She issued a touching letter from inside Israeli prisons, which sparked a firestorm of 
Palestinian struggler and community organizer 
He has spent nearly 16 years in total in Israeli prisons; his brother 