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Thursday, August 14, 2025
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Jenin: The Guns of the Camps

Samidoun Network Special Report from Occupied Palestine

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

Introduction: The Continuous Confrontation

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

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

“Protecting the Homeland”: Destroying the Camp 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Martyr Shatha al-Sabagh, 2024

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Conclusion

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

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

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

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

Free Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian Prisoners! Week of Action January 15-22, 2025

15 January 2025 marks the 23rd anniversary of the detention of Ahmad Sa’adat – Palestinian national and leftist leader, and the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – by the so-called “Palestinian Authority,” as part of its “security coordination” with the zionist occupation. Since then (23 years!), he has been detained, first in the PA jails. Later, he was abducted by the zionist entity on March 14th, 2006.

Join us to take action on 15-22 January 2025 for the Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian Prisoners!

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

This annual call to action is particularly urgent this year for two reasons:

1) The collaboration of the treacherous Palestinian Authority, which inflicts repression on the Palestinian people to maintain its own position of privilege and collaboration with the zionist entity. With the funding and support of the imperialist powers, this has accelerated in a particularly dangerous manner amid the ongoing genocide. Since 7 October 2023, the PA has taken the lives of 18 Palestinian martyrs and is currently waging an ongoing siege against the resistance in Jenin camp. It continues to imprison dozens of Palestinian political prisoners, including Palestinian students, while firing on the resistance forces defending Palestinian land.

2) This is an urgent moment for the potential prisoners exchange sought by the Palestinian Resistance. Contrary to zionist and imperialist propaganda, the Resistance is the primary force seeking a meaningful prisoner exchange combined with the complete withdrawal of the genocidal zionist forces from the Gaza Strip. One of the highest priorities of the prisoner exchange is releasing the leaders of the resistance held in Zionist jails, with high sentences, that the regime has refused to release in past exchanges, including Ahmad Sa’adat, Marwan Barghouti, Abdullah Barghouti, Abbas al-Sayyed, Hassan Salameh, Ibrahim Hamed, Mahmoud al-Ardah, and others.

Palestinian prisoners are Resistance leaders, on the front lines for justice and liberation, enduring hunger strikes and struggling relentlessly with an unbreakable will toward freedom amid the most dire conditions of torture, abuse, medical neglect and deliberate killing. Since October 2023, they are facing exponential violence from the zionists, a violence that led to the martyrdom of over 50 Palestinian prisoners, with extreme violence particularly directed against the undisclosed number of Palestinians from Gaza abducted by the occupation and held in notorious torture camps like Sde Teiman.

Ahmad Sa’adat is a leader in the Palestinian prisoners’ movement and the Palestinian national liberation movement and a Palestinian, Arab and international symbol of resistance to Zionism, capitalism, racism, apartheid and colonization. Targeted for his political role and clarity of vision, he remains unsilenced and unbroken, despite the oppression imposed upon him and thousands of fellow Palestinian political prisoners.

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

32 years after Oslo, it is long past time to expose the so-called Palestinian Authority and bring down its  “security coordination” and treachery against the Palestinian people, in Jenin camp and everywhere. 

76 years after al-Nakba, it is long past time for the liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea!

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

What can you do at you local level?

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

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

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

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Statements and Writings by Ahmad Sa’adat

Resources and Articles on Ahmad Sa’adat

Mohammed Walid Ali al-Aref martyred in Zionist prisons one week after his re-arrest

On Wednesday evening, 4 December 2024, Palestinian prisoners’ organizations announced the martyrdom of re-arrested liberated prisoner Mohammed Walid Hussein Ali (al-Aref), 45, of Nour Shams camp in Tulkarem inside the Zionist occupation prisons. He was abducted along with three other men from Nour Shams camp on 28 November 2024, when the invasion of occupation soldiers into the camp was met with a fierce response from the Resistance.

He was only in the occupation prisons for one week and was held in the notorious interrogation cells at the time of his martyrdom. Before his abduction by the occupation forces, he was healthy and well; he is married and the father of one child, and his wife is currently pregnant awaiting the birth of their second child. Given the circumstances of his martyrdom, it is clear that the attack on him is essentially an assassination behind bars, under torture in interrogation.

Mohammed Walid Ali al-Aref is a former prisoner who served 19 years inside the colonial Zionist prisons. During his time in prison, he was a leader in the prisoners’ movement and held several organizational positions, including representative of the Hamas prisoners in the Naqab desert prison and played an active role in struggles behind bars to defend the rights and achievements of imprisoned Palestinians.

He was released on 12 December 2021 in a celebration bringing together his family, loved ones, comrades and brothers in Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement.

 

The celebration of his release was attacked by Palestinian Authority “security forces” acting in “security coordination” with the Zionist regime, an attack condemned by — among others — the martyr Sheikh Khader Adnan, who was present for the welcoming occasion.

The martytdom of Mohammed Walid Hussein Ali al-Aref, held in Zionist prisons for only one week before he was martyred under interrogation, is part and parcel of the Zionist genocidal war on the Palestinian people and the Palestinian prisoners. He is now at least the 48th martyr of the prisoners’ movement since 7 October 2023, including 29 Palestinian prisoners from Gaza. It is clear that this number is incomplete, as at least dozens of Palestinians from Gaza were martyred under severe torture in the occupation prisons and detention camps, and the occupation has refused to release information about their names and the date of their martyrdom.

There are currently over 10,200 Palestinian prisoners held in Zionist prisons, although this number does not include all of the prisoners from Gaza, hundreds or thousands of whom have been subjected to enforced disappearance and whose names, locations, medical status and very life or death continue to be concealed by the occupation. There are at least 3443 Palestinians held under administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial (first brought to Palestine by the British colonial mandate and since enthusiastically adopted by the Zionist regime), 90 women prisoners and 270 imprisoned children, among this number.

All Palestinian prisoners are being subjected to medical abuse, extreme violence and deliberate starvation. The occupation regime recognizes that the Palestinian prisoners’ movement is a keystone of the Palestinian liberation struggle and is seeking to destroy it by all means, including the assassination of the prisoners. Palestinian prisoners from Gaza in particular have been subjected to systematic severe torture, gang rape, and extreme abuse, particularly in the notorious prison camps run specifically to torture Palestinians from Gaza without any kind of external observation.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network mourns Mohammed Walid Hussein Ali al-Aref and extends its condolences to his family, his fellow strugglers, and the Palestinian people. We pledge to redouble our efforts to organize to end the genocide, to stand with the resistance, to liberate the prisoners and for a free Palestine, from the river to the sea.

Glory to the martyr!
Freedom for all Palestinian prisoners and for all of Palestine, from the river to the sea!

Wounded Palestinian Ayman Ghanem abducted from hospital by occupation forces

Zionist occupation special forces — who arrived and departed partially disguised as a yellow taxi van — invaded the Arab Specialized Hospital in Nablus on the evening of Wednesday, 4 December, and abducted Ayman Ghanem, who had been wounded the day prior in the occupation’s bombing of a vehicle near the village of Aqaba in the Tubas governorate of the West Bank of occupied Palestine.

This cowardly assassination attack targeted the martyrs, the resistance fighters of the Al-Qassam Brigades, Karam Abu Ara and Mohammed Ghannam. The occupation forces then imposed a siege on the Turkish Governmental Hospital, detaining doctors and health workers in an attempt to confiscate the bodies of the martyrs and locate and abduct the wounded Ghanem.

The images of Ghanem’s hospital bed clearly indicate where he was bleeding as he was abducted and forcibly removed from IVs and other treatment. Ayman is being taken to join his fellow 10,200 Palestinians inside Zionist jails, where they are systematically denied medical care and where, at the same time, Mohammed Walid Hussein Ali al-Aref was martyred after only one week in the occupation’s interrogation cells.

Freedom for Ayman Ghanem and all Palestinian prisoners!

Haneen Jaber, mother of the martyrs Abu Shujaa and Mahmoud Jaber, abducted by occupation forces

On the evening of Wednesday, 4 December Zionist occupation forces abducted Haneen Jaber, the mother of the martyrs Mohammed Jaber (Abu Shujaa) and Mahmoud Jaber, at the entrance to Qalqilya city, occupied Palestine; she was then transferred to the Jalameh interrogation center, where she currently is being held captive.

The arrest and targeting of the mothers — and fellow relatives — of martyrs and resistance fighters is a common practice of the occupation regime in Palestine. It is frequently used in an attempt to force people to turn themselves in, or as a form of collective punishment in an attempt to deter future resistance fighters from confronting the occupation. For example, Tahani Masoud Mona, the mother of the martyr Jaafar Mona, is currently being held in administrative detention without charge or trial under a 4-month order. She is one of 27 Palestinian women prisoners jailed under administrative detention on the basis of a so-called “secret file” out of 3428 total administrative detainees, among over 10,000 Palestinian prisoners in Zionist jails.

Haneen’s son, the martyr Mohammed Jaber, Abu Shujaa, became a legendary resistance fighter and a leader of the Tulkarem Brigades with Saraya al-Quds of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, martyred at the age of 26. He was abducted for the first time by the Zionist regime when he was 17 years old and spent 5 years in occupation prisons through multiple arrests, where he was imprisoned alongside leaders of the resistance.

He was assassinated by the occupation regime on 29 August 2024 after multiple assassination attempts, and battled with the occupation until the last moment alongside his fellow strugglers, Hamouda al-Awfi and Majd Daoud. All three of their bodies were kidnapped by the occupation as part of the ongoing policy of the abduction of the bodies of martyrs as a form of collective punishment and in order to hold them hostage.

Watch his interview with Al-Mayadeen before his assassination (subtitled in English):


Nine months earlier, in December 2023, his brother, Mahmoud Jaber, was martyred in the Nour Shams camp, killed by the occupation forces during one of their attacks on the camp’s people. He was one of five Palestinians martyred that day in the camp as they confronted the invading occupation forces.

Haneen has two living sons, Ahmad and Uday; Ahmad is currently imprisoned by the occupation, while Uday is a liberated prisoner who was released in 2019.

 

Arrests, repression and fascism: The attack on Palestinians in occupied Palestine ’48

The Zionist occupation regime has carried out a concerted effort of repression against Palestinians in occupied Palestine ’48 to prevent the emergence of a clear front of protest, resistance and disruption to confront the genocide in Gaza and throughout occupied Palestine.

The regime’s criminal racist leaders, from Ben Gvir to Smotrich to Netanyahu, openly proclaim their plans to suppress the Palestinians of occupied Palestine ’48, with the latest attack being an order to silence the call to prayer from mosques throughout Palestine.

Colonial imprisonment is used as a weapon to attempt to prevent the Palestinian people living in ’48 from organizing into clear political organizations and resistance movements confronting Zionism head-on, despite the heroism of Palestinian resisters like Rami Natour, who used his truck to carry out a resistance operation near an occupation military base at Glilot, near “Tel Aviv” on 27 October 2024.

In fear of the development of a collective resistance, the occupation passes even more repressive “apartheid” laws targeting families of resistance fighters from occupied Palestine ’48, vowing to strip them of their imposed “Israeli” citizenship and expel them from Palestine.

Indeed, the occupation is still imprisoning activists from the 2021 uprising during the Battle of Seif al-Quds/the Unity Intifada, when Palestinians in occupied Palestine ’48 mobilized together with those in Gaza, the West Bank and exile to confront the Zionist assault.

The use of colonial imprisonment has also included a series of attacks against Palestinians for posting on social media in support of Gaza and the Palestinian people, arresting them and imprisoning them for “incitement.” Palestinian women especially have been targeted in this way.

The occupation regime continues to imprison the body of the martyr, the Palestinian freedom fighter, intellectual and author Walid Daqqa, who was martyred behind bars after the occupation denied him appropriate medical care or release.

In many cases, the repression of Palestinians is rendered less visible through the use of “house arrest.” Palestinians under house arrest are often denied access to the internet, must have another family member with them to guard them, and often are held outside their hometown via forced expulsion.

While Palestinians under “house arrest” are free of the extreme torture, beatings, starvation and medical neglect imposed upon Palestinians in the Zionist jails, they are also kept away from the Palestinian prisoners’ movement and collective mobilization of the Palestinian people, serving the efforts of the Zionist regime to separate Palestinians in ’48 from their people.

In the past days, several Palestinians from occupied Palestine ’48 holding imposed “Israeli” citizenship have been sentenced. Nasr Zeitawi, from Zalfa village, was ordered yesterday to 5 years in prison and a fine of 20,000 NIS for his role in the Unity Intifada in 2021. He already served 2 years in prison and has been under “house arrest” since 2023. Now, he will be sent to prison for the remaining 3 years. Ward Zeitawi, also from Zalfa, was sentenced to 250 hours of “community service” and a fine of 3,000 NIS. He has also been under “house arrest” since 2021.

In the past year, around 550 Palestinians from occupied Palestine ’48 have been charged in Zionist courts for participating in 2021 in defense of Palestine. On 14 October, Mohammed Zeitawi was sentenced to 7 yrs and Ahmad Mahameed to 5 yrs (both from Zalfa) in Zionist prison.

On 9 October, Assi Hourani (52) from Akka had charges against him dropped. However, he already served six months in Zionist jails and was severely tortured under interrogation; has been held under “house arrest” since 2023; and has been deported from Akka this entire time.

On the same day, Saleh Majed and Mohammed Hammad from Akka were “convicted” of defending themselves from a settler who attempted to ram Palestinians with his car. Adham Bashir was sentenced in 2022 to 10 years in prison; and Qusay Abbas in 2023 to 17 years in the same incident.

On 4 December, the conditions on activist Mohammed Jabareen from Umm al-Fahm were “eased”; he can now leave the house for 5 hours and return to Umm al-Fahm, rather than the village of Zalfa, where he has been under “house arrest” since June.

Mohammed Jabareen was imprisoned between 19 October and mid-June 2024 in Zionist occupation prisons for participating in a demonstration against the genocide in Gaza (in sharp contrast to the deference shown to the “right to rape” Zionist rioters, who invaded military bases.) He has been in “house arrest” in Zalfa under forced expulsion since that time.

On Monday, 2 December, Mahdi Abu al-Hassan, 22, from Umm al-Fahm began serving a 9-month sentence in Jalameh prison. He was abducted by the occupation from Al-Aqsa Mosque in April 2022 with hundreds of worshipers & sentenced to 11 months in prison; he has already served 60 days.

All of these sentences are meant to create a sense of terror among the Palestinian masses that any participation in protest, confrontation or resistance will be met with a massive attack against not only the individual, but their family and community.

The Palestinian identity is certainly under attack by the Zionist regime, as it has been for over 76 and indeed, for over 100 years; however, even more, there is a concerted attack to prevent organized action, community defense and mobilized resistance.

All of these assaults make clear not only the racist nature of the Zionist regime and its desire to erase Palestinian life and existence, but also its inability to destroy Palestinians’ love for their land and people and willingness to act to defend them in all circumstances.

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

Palestinian Authority escalates “security coordination” through arrests and attacks on Palestinian resistance

Every time there is a serious effort towards Palestinian unity to confront the occupation, in line with the needs of the people — and, therefore, with the Resistance — Palestinian Authority “security coordination” forces, in league with the Zionist occupiers, launch arrests and attacks against the Palestinian resistance.

As Palestinian factions meet in Cairo, ostensibly to defend the Palestinian people in Gaza against the genocide and protect them from the plans of the Zionist regime and imperialist powers to impose their wishes for “the day after” on the besieged Strip, the PA in Ramallah is — as it always has been since its creation under the Oslo accords — arresting Palestinians under “security coordination” with the occupation, shooting at resistance fighters and dismantling resistance weapons.

This policy clearly aims to prevent the resistance in the West Bank from carrying out a large-scale confrontation of the occupation, standing with Gaza and the people throughout Palestine, and from defending their land and people from colonial settlers. Of course, it also aims to prevent Palestinian unity, as it is impossible to have national unity with forces that are actively engaged in an alliance with the occupation regime against the resistance.

In the early hours of 4 December 2024, PA “security” forces abducted Raheeb and Mohammed Daraghmeh after besieging their homes in Al-Jisr neighbourhood in Tubas, part of the PA’s ongoing attacks on the resistance in Tubas and its popular cradle (acting alongside Zionist assassinations and invasions.) This has involved repeatedly dismantling explosive devices created by the resistance in order to confront the invading occupation forces and multiple threats against the resistance.

Later in the day on Wednesday, 4 December, PA forces abducted two more young men, Abdel-Salam al-Masri and Mutaib Khaled Abu Hamad, from Aqaba in the Tubas district, the same village where the Zionist occupation had abducted multiple people the previous day, as well as bombing a car leading to the martyrdom of two Palestinian resistance fighters and the serious injury of a third Palestinian.

In Nablus, Palestinian Authority forces arrested Mohammed Jawad al-Bari from Jerusalem Street during the day on 4 December. He is a liberated prisoner who was released from the occupation’s prisons less than one month ago. A few hours later, the PA abducted his brother, Mahmoud Jawad in front of his home in Balata.

Later in the day, PA security forces in Bethlehem arrested Salahat Abayat as he was leaving the mosque following noon prayer, part of this ongoing campaign of arrests in cities throughout Palestine.

 

For Palestinian students, the PA prisons are a “revolving door” with the occupation. When released by the occupation, they are detained by the PA; and vice versa. At least five of the students arrested in the past week by the occupation were recently detained in the Palestinian Authority’s notorious jails. On Tuesday, 3 December, the PA “security” abducted Birzeit student Hudhayfa Ammar Abu Zneid from his university dorm.

One day before, the PA intelligence services in al-Khalil abducted Polytechnic University student Muhannad Mahmoud Amr, from Dura, after summoning him for interrogation at the Al-Khalil PA intelligence headquarters.

PA intelligence forces abducted Imad Abu al-Haija, the liberated prisoner, the son of the imprisoned leader Jamal Abu al-Haija, brother of the martyr Hamza Abu al-Haija, and brother of the prisoners Asem and Abdel-Salam Abu al-Haija, on 3 December.

PA “security” forces arrested Palestinian journalist Hammam Attili from his workplace in Attil, north of Tulkarem, at the same time the zionist regime carries out an arrest and assassination campaign against Palestinian journalists.

Only two weeks after he was released from PA detention in Nablus, the PA once again abducted Rami Dweikat on 30 November. He has launched a hunger strike to demand his freedom.

These are only those most recently detained by the “security forces.” Since 7 October 2023, the PA has detained 1,800 Palestinians for “security” reasons — that is, on suspicion of resisting the occupation, being held as political prisoners — while providing absolutely no security to the Palestinian people confronting violent illegal settlers and the occupation army on a daily basis.

At the same time it pursued these arrests on Wednesday, 4 December, the PA “security forces” attacked and opened fire on members of the Tulkarem Brigade of Saraya al-Quds in Tulkarem, who were able to escape, but who clearly stated following the incident that they viewed the attack as an assassination attempt. (The PA’s forces previously assassinated Brigade martyrs Ahmed Abu al-Foul and Moatassem al-Arif.)

Of course, this is nothing new. The Palestinian Authority was created in order to provide security for the colonizer and create a local agent to act in its interests, rather than to protect and liberate the Palestinian people.

From Muhyi al-Din al Sharif to Ahmad Sa’adat to today’s detainees, the treacherous PA imprisoned many leaders of the resistance in order to serve the Zionist occupation and its imperialist backers in the US, EU, Canada, etc. Free all Palestinian prisoners in PA, Zionist & imperialist jails!

Jordanian martyrs for Palestine buried at night amid official complicity with the Zionist regime

The Jordanian regime has continued to serve as a partner of US imperialism and its Zionist colony in Palestine, arresting those who fund and arm the Resistance and serving as a supply line for Zionism, even as the people and armed forces of Yemen do all in their power to cut that line.

The real sentiment of the people of Jordan is seen in the streets, in the masses coming out for Palestine. It is felt materially in the actions of brave resistance fighters from Jordan, like the martyr Maher al-Jazi, the truck driver who shot and killed 3 occupation soldiers at the Karameh crossing on 8 September 2024.

While the monarchy retains its Wadi Araba deal normalizing relations with the Zionist regime, up to and including the maintenance of economic and full security coordination and pledges to shoot down any missiles shot toward the Zionist regime by forces of resistance in Iraq or from Iran, the people of Jordan were in the streets to celebrate their hero, Maher al-Jazi, and calling for further acts of resistance.

In the early morning hours of 4 December 2024, the occupation forces finally handed over the bodies of the two martyrs: Husam Abu Ghazaleh and Amer Qawas. The two martyrs took up the Resistance, embodying the history of all the fedayeen — the fighters of the Palestinian liberation movement — who crossed the borders from Jordan to confront the colonizer, injuring two Zionist soldiers in the Dead Sea Operation on 18 October 2024.

The Jordanian regime summoned the families of the two martyrs at 1:30 am to Sahab Cemetery, without informing them that the occupation had returned their kidnapped parties. They were buried with the participation of only a few family members, in the middle of the night.

The Zionist regime also engages in this same practice of terror and repression against families in occupied Palestine; often they will return the kidnapped martyrs’ bodies only if they are buried in the darkest night. They want to do the impossible and erase the glory of the martyrs by denying them the farewell they deserve.

Jordan is complicit in this order from the Zionist regime, as it continues its trade and engagement with the genocidal regime while repressing the resistance. It is complicit in the denial of the martyrs their rightful place, when they should be celebrated as national heroes.

Multiple Jordanians are currently imprisoned for working to support the Palestinian people and their resistance, and even facing military/security courts in an effort to shield their cases from scrutiny under the normal judicial system. Pharmacist Ahmed Barakat has been jailed since 9 March, accused of seeking to support the Palestinian resistance, while Ibrahim Jabr, Hudhayfa Jabr and Khaled al-Majdalawi have been imprisoned since mid-2023 — prior to the Al-Aqsa Flood — for allegedly attempting to bring arms to the Palestinian resistance. Between October and November 2023, at least 1,000 Jordanians were arrested for participating in protests against the genocide in Gaza in Amman.

Journalist Hiba Abu Taha was sentenced to a year in prison after she published an article exposing the Jordanian role in collaborating with the US, British and French militaries to shoot down drones and rockets from Iran targeting the Zionist regime and a second article exposing the role of Jordanian corporations in providing goods to the Zionist regime amid the genocide, in order to avoid the blockade imposed by Yemen in the Red Sea.

Yet no matter the repression and the crimes, the borders of occupied Palestine will never be kept “safe” for the occupier, colonizer and genocidaire, from the Palestinian people and the Jordanian people, from the entire nation.

Glory to the martyrs!
Freedom for all prisoners of the Palestinian cause, from Jordan to Palestine!

Occupation forces shoot and kill Palestinian boy in Jerusalem, detain his body

Zionist regime forces shot and killed 15-year-old Palestinian boy, the martyr Omar Hussam Yaqoub Shwaiki in Silwan, occupied Jerusalem, the eternal capital of Palestine, on the night of Tuesday, 3 December 2024. Omar was shot down by occupation forces, then arrested and accused of throwing stones at colonial settler invaders.

They denied him medical care until his martyrdom. Following Omar’s martyrdom, the occupation forces continued to detain his body, alongside hundreds of bodies of Palestinian martyrs held in the freezers, morgues and numbers cemeteries of the occupation. Occupation forces invaded his family home, ransacking it and abducting his father.

After abducting his father and taking him to interrogation at the notorious Moskobiyeh detention center, the occupation forces informed him of his son’s martyrdom in their captivity. He is the 81st martyr from occupied Jerusalem since 7 October 2023.

Palestinian prisoner Hanan Barghouti freed after 9 months in administrative detention

Salutes of freedom to Hanan Saleh Abdullah Barghouti, Umm An’ad, 59, from Kobar village in the Ramallah area, occupied Palestine, freed after nine months in administrative detention, Zionist imprisonment without charge or trial on 3 December 2024.

Hanan had been held in administrative detention since September 2023; she was liberated on 24 November 2023, as part of the prisoner exchange secured by the Palestinian Resistance in Gaza.

After four months, she was once again abducted by occupation soldiers invading her home. Upon her release from Zionist prisons, she spoke about the horrific conditions currently facing Palestinian women detained in Damon prison:

“If we want to talk about the condition of the prisoners, and the women prisoners in particular, it is true that they are strong and their morale is high but the prison conditions are very harsh. I don’t want to talk about the lack of food, the poor food quality and the limited types of food. I want to talk about the prison administration, how it suppresses and there are no more red lines. It exceeded them with all the prisoners, whether by beating, humiliating, through solitary isolation, confiscating clothing, strip searching and harassment. Anything you can imagine, they’ve done it to the female prisoners. So, I hope, the message from the women prisoners, the women prisoners’ message to the whole world and to all concerned: True, we are strong, and we do not accept to be used as a pressure card against the resistance. But at what price will the women prisoners be released?  Because the honor that currently exists inside the prisons is being violated, there are no red lines that have not been crossed by the prison administration. On September 25, we experienced major repression. They took the girls out in the yard, handcuffed with their hands behind them, and they were beaten, they were insulted. On 7 October, they took us out and they brought the Yamaz and Keter units, with dogs…On 7 October there were dogs, they beat, humiliated and isolated us. On November 20, they repressed us, it was a major repression. They took us into the yard, handcuffed, with our hands behind our back, blindfolded. We were beaten, they didn’t make exceptions for elderly women. I am 60 years old. I was beaten and insulted. Young girls were also subjected to strip searches by female soldiers. They tried, the prison administration was treating them badly while stripping the prisoners, I can’t say more than that, but all red lines were violated for the women prisoners.”

There are approximately 90 women prisoners out of 10,200 Palestinian prisoners in Zionist jails; note that this number does not include all women from Gaza, many of whom have been subjected to enforced disappearance in the occupation’s torture camps. Of these, approximately 27 are held in administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial. Khalida Jarrar, the prominent Palestinian feminist and leftist scholar, is being held in isolation, away from the women in Damon, in Neve Tirza prison and has been isolated for over 100 days.

Hanan’s husband, Mohammed Barghouti, Abu An’ad, is also held in administrative detention without charge or trial after Zionist occupation soldiers abducted him on 1 August, ordering him to three months in administrative detention on 7 August 2024. His detention was just extended again at the end of October 2024.

Hanan and Mohammed are the parents of three imprisoned sons, Abdullah, Omar and Islam. Their son An’ad was just released from administrative detention on 15 August.

Hanan Barghouti is also the sister of the longest-held Palestinian prisoner, Nael Barghouti, who has been held by the occupation regime for over 44 years. Nael was already one of the longest-held Palestinian prisoners when he was released in the Wafa al-Ahrar exchange, only to be re-abducted three years later.

Hanan and Nael Barghouti are also siblings of Omar Barghouti, Abu ‘Asif, who spent more than 30 years in occupation prisons. Omar was a beloved long-term leader of the prisoners’ movement who spent over 27 years in occupation prisons. He passed away in 2021. Omar’s son Saleh was assassinated by the Zionist regime in 2018 and his son Asem sentenced to four life sentences in occupation prisons.

Upon her liberation from Zionist prisons in the exchange achieved by the Palestinian resistance, Hanan said: “We tell the children of Gaza that we will meet in heaven and victory is yours.”

The re-arrest of Hanan Barghouti is part of an ongoing attack on the women released in the exchange one year ago, as multiple women have been abducted by the occupation again, including Fadwa Hamadeh, Sameh Hijjawi, Walaa Tanja, Dania Hanatsheh, Haneen Masaed, and Aseel Samih Khader.

Hanan Barghouti is a symbol of resistance and steadfastness. Despite multiple medical issues, including high blood pressure and diabetes, she is at the forefront of every demonstration for the release of the prisoners and the liberation of Palestine. The wife, mother, sister and aunt of prisoners and freedom fighters, she has always refused to remain silent even in face of threats of arrest, declaring after her liberation: “The resistance is God’s hand on earth. As long as our resistance is well, we will remain well and we will continue to support the resistance with our children, our souls and our blood.”

For more information about Palestinian women prisoners or to get involved with the independent international campaign for their liberation, please visit Dismantle Damon at https://instagram.com/dismantle_damon or https://t.me/dismantle_damon. 

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