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Thursday, April 17, 2025
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August 2, NYC: Palestine Revolutionary Study Group with Samidoun

Join us this Friday August 2 at Mayday Space, 176 St Nicholas Ave Brooklyn @ 7pm as we continue our series of group study events exploring and discussing an important scientific analysis of the Palestinian Revolution: “Strategy for the Liberation of Palestine”

🗓️ Date: August 2
⏰ Time: 7 pm
📍 Place: Mayday Space, 176 St Nicholas Ave, Brooklyn
📕Chapters: From “Forces of Revolution” to “Organization and Mobilization” p 41-67
✨ RSVP: bit.ly/RSVPLiberationStudy

“Strategy for the Liberation of Palestine” PDF: bit.ly/PFLPLiberation

To learn more about Samidoun NY/NJ, follow the Telegram:
T.me/Samidoun_nynj

 

Venezuela wins, Palestine wins: Samidoun congratulates Venezuelan people and President Nicolas Maduro on successful elections

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes the people of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela on a successful, fair and transparent election, and congratulates President Nicolas Maduro on his re-election with 51.2% of the vote, announced shortly after midnight by the Consejo Nacional Electoral (CNE), the Venezuelan election authority. The victory of President Maduro is a victory for the Bolivarian revolution, the people of Venezuela, the Palestinian people, and everyone struggling against imperialism everywhere in the world.

Mohammed Khatib, the Europe coordinator of Samidoun, is currently in Venezuela representing Samidoun as a part of approximately 1000 international solidarity delegates and election observers to witness the presidential elections, which were conducted on July 28, 2024. “The victory of President Maduro in this election is a victory for Venezuela, for Palestine, for the Bolivarian revolution and for everyone confronting imperialism,” Khatib said.

“Throughout the day and our entire delegation, the vibrancy and depth of Venezuelan political life was abundantly apparent. In popular neighbourhoods, people entered the streets to raise the Venezuelan flag and cheer for President Maduro and the Bolivarian promise. There was tremendous participation by women and youth in the electoral process, and a powerful presence of working-class struggle everywhere we went,” Khatib noted.

After a busy day of polling, in which international observers viewed an orderly, transparent and well-run election system at polling places throughout Caracas and nationwide, the eagerly awaited election results were announced shortly after midnight on July 29. President Maduro won with 51.2% of the vote, followed by his primary opposition challenger Edmundo Gonzales, with 44.2% of the vote, with an overall turnout of 59% of the 21.3 million-person voter base.

As expected, US-backed opposition figures, far-right figures from across Latin America from Mauricio Macri to Ivan Duque to Javier Milei have weighed in attempting to undermine the democratic process in Venezuela for no reason other than that they, and their sponsor in the United States, are unhappy with the election results. The people of Venezuela have spoken again, as they have repeatedly over the past 25 years, and again on this July 28 — Hugo Chavez’ birthday — for the Bolivarian process and for socialism.

Maduro, representing the Socialist Unity Party of Venezuela (PSUV) ran as the Chavista candidate, continuing the process begun by Hugo Chavez of the Bolivarian Revolution. Under Chavez, Venezuela cut all ties with “Israel” in 2009, amid the “Operation Cast Lead” aggression against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Chavez’s willingness to confront U.S. imperialism openly in a wide range of international arenas, alongside his commitment to the Bolivarian socialist project in Venezuela, won him strong support globally, including from Palestinians and Arabs.

In 2018, Ahmad Sa’adat, imprisoned General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and a prominent leader of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement, wrote:

The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has been a stalwart friend of the Palestinian people. In all international arenas and forums and through practical support and material solidarity, the Venezuelan people and state have stood with the Palestinian people, confronting imperialism and Zionism. Venezuela’s rejection of diplomatic ties with the Israeli colonial regime stands as an example in the world of principled solidarity and boycott, especially as the Palestinian movement, including the Palestinian prisoners’ movement, urges international boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel… We know well the words and actions of Hugo Chavez in support of the Palestinian people and his clear condemnations of the Zionist attacks on the Palestinian people. ‘The State of Israel has become a murderous lackey at the service of imperialism…It’s a genocidal government. I condemn that Zionist government that persecutes the heroic Palestinian people,’ Chavez said. His words on Palestine and in support of the struggle of our people have bolstered the strength and resolve of Palestinians everywhere.

On the other hand, the Venezuelan opposition, backed by the United States, imperialist powers including the European Union and Canada, and an array of global far-right forces aligned with imperialism, has sought out an alliance with the genocidal Zionist regime. Maria Corina Machado, the leader of the Venezuelan opposition — for which Gonzales was selected as a replacement, as she was barred from running due to her repeated involvement in subverting democracy in Venezuela, including her role in promoting Juan Guaido as “interim president” in 2019 in a failed coup attempt. She was involved in prior coup attempts in 2002 and 2014, and promised to privatize 90% of state industries in Venezuela, bring an end to free health care, cut social programs and otherwise devastate the Chavista program. While this won her accolades from far-right libertarian Javier Milei of Argentina, it is no surprise that this failed to find an echo in the popular neighbourhoods of Venezuela.

Of course, Machado also sought an alliance with Zionism. In 2018, Machado wrote a letter to the infamous war criminal, genocidaire and Prime Minister of the zionist entity, Benjamin Netanyahu, requesting the occupation’s participation in a military intervention in Venezuela, through a document published on her X social media account. She gave interviews to Zionist TV, not only pledging to reestablish diplomatic ties with “Israel” but to establish a Venezuelan embassy in occupied Jerusalem. 

Therefore, it comes as no surprise that as the people of Venezuela celebrate the victory of their Bolivarian Revolution in the streets of Caracas, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken — best-known for his fervent support for the continuation of “Israeli” genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza — appeared in Japan to fan the flames of discredited assertions by far-right opposition figures that, somehow, despite the presence of their own observers at the polls and the highly transparent and regulated election system in Venezuela, the results “do not reflect the will of the Venezuelan people.” It is clear, instead, that the results do not reflect the will of U.S. imperialism. The Venezuelan people will not allow themselves to be manipulated by media smear campaigns or a campaign of hybrid and economic warfae against their country and will instead choose the path of sovereignty, independent development and resistance to imperialism.

As the ffact-finding mission to Venezuela of the International People’s Tribunal on US Imperialism, in which Samidoun participated one year ago, wrote: “From Palestine to Venezuela, imperialist crimes can never be stopped through concessions to its demands: It is RESISTANCE that wins. It is clear, more than ever, that the U.S. empire is not able to achieve its ends by committing these crimes, and that we are witnessing a brutal attempt to maintain U.S. hegemony amid an emerging pluripolar world.”

US imperialism has waged an intense hybrid war upon the Bolivarian revolution and the Venezuelan people, including sanctions, blockades, attempts to foment a coup, attempts to destroy the Venezuelan economy and impoverish the people of Venezuela into ‘regime change,’ theft of Venezuelan assets and the ongoing subversion of Venezuelan democracy. As we confront the US-Zionist genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza, the attack on Venezuela is part and parcel of the same imperialist regime of plunder and devastation. We stand firmly against any attempts to undermine the Venezuelan people’s democratic electoral process by the United States, the European Union, Canada, Britain or their allies.

Today, after President Maduro cast his vote, he said: “Viva Palestina Libre!” In 2022, he noted: “The Axis of Resistance exists throughout the world; it exists in Africa, in Asia, in the Middle East, in Latin America and in the Caribbean. The Resistance also belongs to the people who are fighting against neoliberalism, racism and various forms of colonization…The 21st century is our century. It is the century of the unity of the people. It is the century in which people will be liberated. It is the century of justice and truth. Empires are in decline, and people’s projects for well-being, development and greatness have just begun. This century is our century.”

Indeed, this century is our century: of the fall of Zionism and imperialism, and the victory of the people, from Venezuela to Palestine and beyond. On this historic election day, we once again congratulate the people of Venezuela, President Nicolas Maduro, and all of the participants in the great Bolivarian Revolution. We are certain that our victory, to end the genocide and to liberate Palestine from the river to the sea, is made closer with every victory over imperialism around the world.

Take Action August 3: Join the International Day of Action for Gaza and the Prisoners

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network joins the calls from Palestine to make 3 August — the 300th day of the ongoing genocide in Palestine — an international day of action for Gaza and the prisoners. We urge all Palestinian and Arab communities and organizations in exile and diaspora, and all internationalist organizations and activists for Palestine, to take action on Saturday, August 3 for the liberation of over 9,700 Palestinian prisoners in occupation prisons, an end to the ongoing Zionist genocide in Gaza, in support of the heroic Palestinian and regional resistance, and for the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea! 

Organize mass marches, direct actions, popular demonstrations and political events for Gaza, for the prisoners, and for the liberation of the land and people of Palestine. Escalate actions everywhere to impose the popular pressure of the peoples of the world to end the genocide and free the prisoners and to confront Zionism and imperialism.

Submit your events and actions here! 

  • Note, we will share the Canva template for posters that you can use for your city if you register your action by using the form! 

The Prisoners and Al-Aqsa Flood: The Cause of Liberation

Today, there are at least 9,700 Palestinian prisoners in Zionist jails, being subjected to the worst conditions of torture, abuse, systemic starvation, sexual assault, forced amputations, denial of medical care and medical abuse. These numbers are almost certainly low, as they do not include thousands of Palestinians from Gaza held captive in torture and detention camps (such as the infamous Sde Teman), whose numbers and identities have not been disclosed. Indeed, in one document, the head of the occupation security agency the Shin Bet stated that 21,000 Palestinian prisoners are being held in Zionist jails, warning of “overcrowding.”

The Zionist prisons are presided over by the notorious fascist Itamar Ben-Gvir, who said on 1 July that Palestinian prisoners “should be killed with a shot to the head, and the bill to execute Palestinian prisoners must be passed in the third reading in the Knesset…Until then, we will give them minimal food to survive.” The testimonies and images of released prisoners shock the conscience of the world — from bodybuilder Muazzaz Abaiyat, released emaciated and unable to walk, to the numerous detainees from Gaza who have returned to speak of their horrific experiences of sexual violence, medical abuse and severe torture.

The conditions under which these thousands of Palestinian hostages are held — including nearly 4,000 held without charge or trial under administrative detention — speak to why the Palestinian people and their armed resistance have been so committed to take action and bear tremendous sacrifices under the aggression of the genocidal Zionist entity in order to win their liberation. In addition, however, the Palestinian prisoners’ movement continues to be, as it has always been, central to the leadership of the resistance, a vanguard of struggle that confronts the occupier on a daily basis with their bodies and lives on the line, writing, organizing themselves, and resisting for their own liberation and the liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea.

Join many organizations in Palestine and internationally that have already called for August 3 to stand for the prisoners and their liberation! Submit your events and actions here! 

Break the Siege — End the Genocide in Gaza Now

August 3 marks 300 days since the Zionist occupier, in full alliance with the United States, Britain, Germany, France, Canada and other imperialist powers, launched its genocidal aggression against the Palestinian people in Gaza. The depravity and destructiveness of the occupation on full display in Gaza, combined with the clear and obvious intent to genocide expressed by “Israeli” officials, have made clear the reality that has always been the nature of Zionism: a racist, colonial, illegitimate settler project built upon the genocide of the Palestinian people. The attack on Gaza, we must be clear, is being waged on a population who are already a majority refugees, who have been displaced again and again and denied their fundamental and inalienable right to return to their homes and lands since 1948.

In Gaza, the Zionist regime has targeted, largely with US- and German-made bombs, missiles and tank artillery, schools, mosques, churches, hospitals, universities, refugee camps and residential buildings. It has systematically sought to wipe out the Palestinian health system and has destroyed every university in Gaza. It has blown up water wells, aid distributions and water treatment plants and has carried out a policy designed to induce starvation and famine throughout the Strip. This comes atop the over 39,000 lives taken by the occupation military, with death toll estimates expected to reach 168,000, according to the respected medical journal, The Lancet. Over 95% of the 2.2 million people in the Gaza Strip have been displaced. Hundreds of thousands have been wounded, often severely. The assault is so severe and well-documented that even the International Court of Justice has ruled there is a plausible case of genocide and the International Criminal Court is seeking arrest warrants against war criminals Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant.

The US has been attempting to promote various international imperialist and reactionary Arab regime-led “days after” for Gaza, while arming and funding the occupier. Come out on August 3 to affirm that Gaza, and all of Palestine, from the river to the sea, is, will be and will always remain Palestinian and sovereign, free of Zionism, colonialism and occupation.

Let us be clear: this genocide is a US-Zionist genocide, and a project of all of the imperialist states that back the “Israeli” regime. It is armed and funded by weapons manufacturers like Elbit Systems and Boeing, and supported by corporations ranging from McDonald’s and Carrefour to Scotiabank to Indigo Books. The mass murder of children, the use of starvation as a weapon of war, the bombings of tents full of refugees and of schoolyards where children play: this is the face of Zionism, this is the face of imperialism, this is the face of genocide.

Join us on August 3 to renew our call and escalate our collective action and confrontation to bring this genocide to an end, break the siege on Gaza once and for all, and hold its perpetrators accountable! Submit your events and actions here! 

From Palestine to Yemen to Lebanon, Victory to the Resistance

In the face of this genocide, the heroic actions of the armed Palestinian resistance in defense of their people and for the liberation of Palestine have held back the war criminals, destroyed their tanks and imposed a severe cost upon the war machine. The red triangle has become a symbol of hope and liberation to the world. October 7, the Al-Aqsa Flood, has changed the world. On that day and ever since, it was and has remained clear that the future of Palestine is one free of Zionist colonialism, and the future for the entire Arab and Iranian region is one free of imperialist domination and hegemony. The enemies of humanity are clear: the US-led imperialist powers that continue to arm and fund genocide and play a full role in its execution. And it is also clear who defends humanity. The fighters of the Al-Qassam Brigades, Saraya al-Quds, the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades and all of the Resistance forces are forging unity and liberation as they defend their people and homeland from genocide, and as they sacrifice for a future for humanity.

Every day, the Palestinian resistance writes new epics of heroism and of sacrifice to win justice, freedom and liberation. The resistance is also blossoming in the West Bank, just as the settler regime government and its paramilitary agents launch pogroms against Palestinians and attempt to steal ever more land, funded by settler charities abroad and put up for sale in “real estate” events to recruit settlers from Toronto, New York, Los Angeles and London. Despite the complicity and collaboration of the Palestinian Authority carrying out “security coordination” with the Zionist regime to target the resistance, the refugee camps, villages and cities of the West Bank are rising.

The regional resistance alliance is also stronger and more powerful than ever before. In the north of occupied Palestine, the occupation is unable to deal with the ongoing operations by Hezbollah, emptying the settlements and military bases near southern Lebanon; they are now seeking to falsely blame the Lebanese resistance for a bombing in Majdal Shams in order to manufacture consent to attack Lebanon and to smear the image of Hezbollah — another failing effort. Every week, the people of Yemen come out in their millions to fill the streets for Palestine, supporting and demanding yet more action and escalation by their government and armed forces, which has now reached the “fifth stage” of escalation after the Yafa drone sent to occupied Tel Aviv. From Iraq, where the Resistance plans joint operations with Yemen and confronts the remaining US occupiers, to Syria, to Iran, the alliance of resistance forces is unified to confront the genocide, Zionism and imperialism.

Come out on August 3 to stand with the Resistance and to demand an end to the designation of the Resistance organizations as “terrorists.” Imperialism and Zionism create terror; resistance is a right and a duty! Submit your events and actions here!  

Free Palestine from the River to the Sea

The Palestinian struggle did not begin 300 days ago; for 76 years, the Palestinian people have been resisting Zionist occupation and genocide, and resisting British colonization for over 100 years. There is no “two-state solution” for Palestine: only its liberation from the river to the sea, from Zionism and imperialism, led by the Resistance on the front lines of struggle, including the Palestinian prisoners’ movement and its heroic leaders, from Ahmad Sa’adat to Abdullah Barghouthi to Marwan Barghouthi to Khalida Jarrar.

We urge all organizations, movements, groups and activists to organize and act on August 3, to flood the streets, cities and capitals of the world for a free Palestine. Over the past 10 months we have participated in, organized and witnessed unprecedented expressions of popular support for Palestinian liberation, of outrage at the genocide, of deep solidarity with the prisoners, with Gaza, with Palestine. The floods of demonstrators, the direct actions shutting down arms factories, the student intifada of encampments and actions, have all demonstrated the power of popular mobilization in the heart of the imperial core. These actions have met with such harsh repression, including police violence, thousands of arrests, the banning of organizations (like Samidoun in Germany), the political bans on speakers and events, the surveillance and intimidation and doxing, because this movement does present a real, meaningful challenge and confrontation of the imperialist-Zionist alliance.

This August 3, let us redouble our efforts. Stand up for the martyrs, and for the imprisoned martyrs that the occupation continues to jail after death, and witness for them. Stand up for the wounded, for the health care workers fighting to save lives under the bombs. Stand up for the heroic resistance fighting every day for a free Palestine. Stand up for the prisoners, confronting the occupier daily behind bars, holding fast to freedom. Let us organize, mobilize, escalate and act. We know that freedom is coming, and we know that victory is nearer than it has ever been before, despite the devastation caused by the genocidal occupier. Together, we can make this day one of unity and action, for Gaza and the prisoners, for Palestine and for collective liberation.

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

Victory to Palestine! Long live the Resistance! 

Submit your events and actions here! 

Submit your August 3 Action or Event

  • Please include your event details, such as location, social media or web link, date, time, RSVP or registration link (if applicable), organizing groups.

    Feel free to tell us more about your event here!

 

São Paulo demonstration in support of Gaza and Palestinian prisoners

The Frente Palestina Livre, together with Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network – Brasil, Jewish Voices for Liberation and several more groups, parties and movements, organized a demonstration in support of the Palestinian people and the Palestinian resistance on Sunday, July 28, 2024, on Paulista Avenue in São Paulo, Brazil.

Rawa Alsagheer, the coordinator of the Samidoun Network in Brazil, spoke at the demonstration, highlighting the importance of freeing all Palestinian prisoners from the prisons of the Zionist occupation and gave an overview of the torture and barbarity of the Zionists inside “Israeli” jails.

 

20 Years Of Struggle: Free the Holy Land 5, Palestinian political prisoners in US jails!

FREE THE HOLY LAND 5! FREE ALL PALESTINIAN PRISONERS!

Today, July 27th, 2024, marks 20 years since FBI agents raided the homes of Mufid Abdulqader, Ghassan Elashi, Shukri Abu Baker, and Abdulrahman Odeh, kidnapped them, terrorized their families, charged them with crimes they did not commit, and held them for ten days before allowing them to return home. Four years later, in May 2008, they were sentenced and convicted on false charges of material support to terrorist organizations on the basis of their charitable activity through the Holy Land Foundation, then the largest Muslim and Palestinian charity in the United States.

Samidoun Network strongly condemns the continued and unjust imprisonment of Shukri Abu Baker, Ghassan Elashi, and Mufid Abdulqader. We stand in solidarity with the Holy Land 5 and their families, and we will not stop fighting until they, and all Palestinian political prisoners, are free.

We encourage all supporters of justice for Palestine to join us in including Shukri Abu Baker, Ghassan Elashi and Mufid Abdulqader in organizing for the liberation of Palestinian political prisoners, as part and parcel of the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea!

Please read and share the new article by Salma al-Nour in Mondoweiss: 20 Years of Struggle: Renewing our commitment to liberation for the Holy Land 5

“Today, July 27, marks 20 years since the charges against the Holy Land Foundation were initially filed, all five men had their homes raided by police. Join Samidoun Network as they call for all friends and supporters to join the campaign to free the Holy Land 5!

In May of 2024 Samidoun launched a Week of Action to free the Holy Land 5 to commemorate 15 years since their sentencing and conviction. The Week of Action signified a renewed commitment and a critical piece of an ongoing campaign, including teach-ins and other events to educate communities in the U.S. and internationally about the horrific injustice of the case of the Holy Land 5. Samidoun Network, along with friends and supporters in the U.S. and internationally, will not stop until they see the release of Shukri Abu Baker and Ghassan Elashi, two founders of the Holy Land Foundation, who are both serving 65 year sentences, the longest of the five Holy Land Foundation founders who were imprisoned in 2008.” Read the full article here!

Toolkit and Call to Action

Take Action!

  • Bring posters, info sheets, and calls to #FreetheHLF5 to your demonstration, encampment, or any event calling for the liberation of Palestine!
  • Post campaign materials on social media, using the hashtag #FreetheHLF5
  • Organize your own event, film screening, or rally to defend the Holy Land 5 and all political prisoners
  • Write to Shukri, Ghassan and Mufid using the instructions and addresses listed below

HLF5 Campaign Flyer

Download, print and distribute the following flyer at your actions and in your community:

DOWNLOAD HERE

HL5 Flier Final

Who Are the Holy Land Foundation 5?

Ghassan Elashi was born in Gaza City, and lived there until age 14. He and his family then moved to Cairo, Egypt, where he eventually got his Bachelor’s degree in accounting from Ain Shams University in 1975. He lived in Saudi Arabia and London for a couple of years before finally migrating to the United States in 1978. He lived in Ohio for several months and then moved to Florida, where he got his Master’s degree in accounting from the University of Miami in 1981. Soon afterwards, Mr. Elashi began working in a company that created the world’s first Arabic computer. In 1985, Mr. Elashi married Majida and moved to Culver City, Calif. near Los Angeles. They lived there for about seven years before moving to Richardson, Texas near Dallas in 1992. There, he worked at a family-owned computer business and served as a chairman and volunteer for the HLF. Mr. Elashi and Majida have six children: Noor, Huda, Asma, Mohammad, Osama and Omar.  “I do not apologize for feeding orphans and needy families. I know what the government’s goal was, it was to make an example of me. But they failed, because I felt a love from my community that I couldn’t imagine,” he said.

Shukri Abu Baker, of Palestinian and Brazilian heritage, was born in Brazil in 1959. At age 6, he and his family moved to Silwad, Palestine, where they lived for a couple of years. In 1967, the family left to Kuwait and lived there for about a decade. Mr. Abu-Baker migrated to the United States in 1980, where he got his Bachelor’s degree in business administration from Orlando College. During that time, he also helped launch the first mosque in central Florida. After marrying Wejdan in 1982, Mr. Abu-Baker moved to Indianapolis, Indiana. There, he worked as an office manager for the Muslim Arab Youth Association. In 1990, they relocated to Culver City, California, near Los Angeles where he and a few friends opened the Holy Land Foundation. Then in 1992, the family moved to Dallas and the HLF moved with them. He and Wejdan have four American-born daughters: Zaira, Sanabel, Nida and Shurook. You can read Shukri’s Notes from Prison on his blog: https://notesfromshukri.wordpress.com/

Mufid Abdelqader was born in Silwad, Palestine in 1959, and lived much of his young adult life in Kuwait. In 1980, he migrated to the United States to receive a college education. He lived in Irving, Texas for a few months before moving to two Oklahoma cities, first Claremore, then Stillwater. To fund his tuition at Oklahoma State University, Mr. Abdelqader briefly worked as a dishwasher at an Italian Restaurant and a cashier at Wendys. He received his Bachelor’s of Science degree in Civil Engineering in 1984. In 1985, he married Diane. He received his Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering from Oklahoma State University in 1994. The family lived in Oklahoma City for several years before finally moving to Richardson, Texas in 1996. He and Diane have three daughters. Since 1996, Mr. Abdelqader worked for the city of Dallas as a Senior Project Manager in the public works and transportation departments. Mufid is a singer, served as a volunteer counselor in his community, and volunteered for the HLF.

The Holy Land 5 Case

The Holy Land Foundation was repeatedly targeted by Zionist organizations in a series of reports and investigations because of its effective work in providing support to occupied Palestine. The HLF was a large charity that raised millions of dollars for impoverished people in occupied Palestine, providing much-needed support and blunting the effects of the occupation on the Palestinian people. Leaders of the Foundation were placed under surveillance by the FBI since 1993 while notorious Islamophobic, racist and Zionist commentators like Steven Emerson repeatedly attacked the Foundation.

The situation of the Foundation was made more precarious in the post-Oslo era, with the adoption of first financial sanctions and then criminal law creating a list of “Foreign Terrorist Organizations,” a list that was explicitly created in order to criminalize and repress opposition to the “Middle East peace process,” which was in reality a process for the liquidation of the Palestinian cause. While the Elashi brothers’ business, INFOCOM, was raided by the FBI on allegations of selling computer technology to people in Libya, Syria and occupied Palestine, in early September 2001, the post-September 11 climate of intensified racism and “War on Terror” propaganda further propelled the attack on the Holy Land Foundation. Using the extremely broad powers of the Treasury Department, the HLF’s funds were frozen, offices raided, and it was declared a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” organization.

It was in 2004 that the homes of the Holy Land Foundation Five — Ghassan Elashi, Shukri Abu Baker, Mufid Abdelqader, Mohammed el-Mezain and Abdulrahman Odeh — were raided and the men arrested and not until 2007 that their trial began. Despite the admission of anonymous testimony from Israeli intelligence agents in court — who could not be properly subject to cross-examination by the defense — the first trial ended in a mistrial, with initially all 12 jurors voting for acquittal and then one changing his mind at the last minute.

As Within Our Lifetime notes, “One of the jurors noted that the case seemed ‘strung together with macaroni noodles. There was so little evidence.’ The jury issued not-guilty verdicts on nearly every one of the 197 charges until one of the jurors suddenly changed their mind and claimed they never agreed to those verdicts. Later, evidence came out to suggest that this juror was improperly influenced by those who sought to see the HLF5 imprisoned.”

While the HLF5, their families, and supporters for justice in Palestine celebrated, the government refused to accept defeat and once again brought the HLF5 before the court in Dallas, again exhibiting sensationalist, unproven and unrelated testimony from Israeli occupation intelligence agents. Noor Elashi, the daughter of Ghassan Elashi, said, “It was the only time in the history of the United States that a witness inside a courtroom was allowed to remain anonymous, so the defense couldn’t cross-examine him.” There was one prior similar incident, however — the case of Abdelhaleem Ashqar and Mohammed Saleh in Chicago, Palestinians charged on more dubious “terror” allegations, once again facing occupation agents in court granted a veil of anonymity. The Holy Land Foundation Five’s family members’ political affiliations were cited as a form of even more dubious “evidence” against them.

In the end, the HLF5 were convicted and granted extraordinarily long sentences. “Shukri Abu Baker and Ghassan Elashi were given 65-year sentences each. Abdulrahman Odeh, Mohammed El-Mezain, and Mufid Abdulqader were sentenced to 15 to 20 years each. Two of Ghassan Elashi’s brothers, Bayan and Basman Elashi, were tried and convicted seperately of charges stemming from InfoCom and the Holy Land Foundation. The brothers were arrested in 2002, spent two years in solitary confinement, and went to trial in 2004. They each received 84-month sentences, and were released from prison in 2009 before being deported to Gaza.”

Abdulrahman Odeh and Mohammed el-Mezain were finally released in 2020 and 2022. When El-Mezain was released, he was detained by ICE — US immigration agent — and then deported to Turkey. Shukri Abu Baker, Ghassan Elashi and Mufid Abdelqader remain behind bars — while Abdelqader is scheduled for release in 2025, Elashi and Abu Baker are sentenced to 45 more years in US prisons. They earlier spent many years behind bars, including a number of years in ultra-repressive, maximum security “Communications Management Units.” All of their legal appeals have so far been exhausted, which is why it is so critical to engage in the political and popular struggle for their liberation.

The struggle to free the Holy Land 5 is part and parcel of the struggle for the liberation of all Palestinian prisoners and the liberation of Palestine. As we march and organize to confront U.S. imperialism in occupied Palestine and the Arab region and U.S. responsibility for Zionist genocide in Gaza, we also call for the liberation of these Palestinian political prisoners in U.S. jails. 

Write The Holy Land 5

Writing to prisoners is an important part of showing solidarity and building morale. Whether you are writing to Palestinian prisoners in Zionist jails, Georges Abdallah in France, or the Holy Land 5 and other political prisoners in the U.S., your letters show these imprisoned strugglers that they are not forgotten, abandoned or isolated despite all attempts to do so, and they also show the jailers that these prisoners have external support.

Please remember that any letters sent to the HLF5 are liable to be opened and read by prison staff. Avoid writing anything sensitive that could be read into by guards and prison officials. Make sure to include both their name and their register number on the envelope.

SHUKRI ABU BAKER 32589-177
USP BEAUMONT
U.S. PENITENTIARY
P.O. BOX 26030
BEAUMONT, TX 77720

GHASSAN ELASHI 29687-177
USP MCCREARY
U.S. PENITENTIARY
P.O. BOX 3000
PINE KNOT, KY 42635

MUFID ABDULQADER 32590-177
FCI SEAGOVILLE
FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION
P.O. BOX 9000
SEAGOVILLE, TX 75159

Download and use these posters

Free the Holy Land 5 (Download PDF)

Free Ghassan Elashi (Download PDF)

Free Shukri Abu Baker (Download PDF)

Free Mufid Abdelqader (Download PDF)


Further Resources

Here are some resources you can use to organize for the Holy Land Five:

Paris poster campaign calls to free Georges Abdallah and all Palestinian prisoners

As the Olympic Games opened in Paris — amid widespread protests demanding that the Zionist regime be excluded from the Games for its ongoing genocide in occupied Palestine — Samidoun Paris Banlieue posted new posters in the streets of Ménilmontant on Friday, 26 July to demand the release of Georges Abdallah, the Lebanese Arab communist struggler for Palestine detained in France since 1984, although he has been eligible for release since 1999.

The poster campaign also highlighted the ongoing genocide in Gaza, calling for widespread support and solidarity with the Palestinian people, and expressed solidarity with Ahmad Sa’adat, general secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, imprisoned since 2006 by the Zionist state and sentenced to 30 years in prison, and all of the over 9,700 Palestinian prisoners in occupation jails. Sa’adat, along with other leading prisoners with lengthy sentences, such as Marwan Barghouthi, Abdullah Barghouthi, Ibrahim Hamed and Abbas al-Sayyed, is one of the most prominent detained Palestinians that the Zionist regime has attempted to avoid releasing in a prisoner exchange with the Palestinian resistance. 

These posters were especially apt on 26 July, as Ahmad Sa’adat and his comrades were first imprisoned by the PA before being imprisoned by the colonial occupation forces. This policy of betrayal continues to the present day, as took place on 26 July in Tulkarem where the Palestinian Authority “security forces” tried to arrest the leader of the Tulkarem Brigades, Abu Shujaa, before being chased away by the Palestinian masses, who know well which guns protect them: those of the resistance, and who collaborates and betrays: the “Palestinian Authority” of Oslo.

The poster campaign also expressed solidarity with the Kanak independence struggle in Kanaky/New Caledonia, and called for the freedom of Kanak political prisoners in French prisons.

Samidoun Paris Banlieue regularly participates in poster campaigns, demonstrations, political education and actions throughout the Paris area in support of Palestinian prisoners and the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea. Follow their work on Telegram at https://t.me/samidounparisbanlieue

Video: Samidoun Toronto speaks in Vancouver — “Prisoners are the frontline of our struggle!”

A comrade from Samidoun Toronto spoke at the Vancouver rally for Palestine on Wednesday, 24 July 2024, organized to confront Zionist war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu’s infamous address to the US Congress, where he was met with dozens of standing ovations as he celebrated genocide and demanded even more advanced weaponry. The Vancouver demonstration came alongside many throughout North America and internationally, as well as a mass mobilization of many thousands outside the Capitol.

To learn more about Samidoun Toronto, follow SamidounTO on Telegram!

Watch the video:

Text of the speech:

Militant greetings, comrades! As my comrade said, I’m a member of Samidoun’s newly formed Toronto chapter. Thank you for having me here today. We have mobilized today to rebuke and denounce Benjamin “war criminal” Netanyahu’s address to the US Congress, which happened just a few hours ago in DC. Shame!

It is shameful to invite chief genocidaire Netanyahu to speak in Congress, but it is not surprising. It should be expected from the imperialist war machine that is the United States of America, and it is shameful for this so called country, Canada, and its genocidal leader Justin Trudeau to not even utter a single condemnation of this address. But it too should be expected because Canada is just the imperialist lapdog of America.

Canada and the United States are both settler colonies that require the same settler logics and brutalities as “Israel”. We must not be surprised at each and every move of consolidation and friendship between the US, “Israel” and Canada. We must accept this as our current reality and then we must accept what must be done.

To change this reality we must mobilize and organize. The Zionist entity desperately clings to western powers for political and financial support. It is an entity in collapse that is hanging by its last thread, because of the power of the axis of resistance. From the united Palestinian factions to the heroic Yemeni armed forces, to the bravery of Hezbollah, the resistance continues to take the Zionist entity apart piece by piece.

Shortly after Netanyahu’s address earlier today, Hamas released a statement about this: “Netanyahu’s speech reflects the depth of his military, security and international crisis. He tried to publicly cover it with the philosophy of defeats suffered by his army in Gaza, promoting imaginary victories by liberating a number of captives, forgetting the horrific massacres he committed against civilians in Rafah and Nusseirat.”

They continue to say: “Netanyahu’s attack on the axis of resistance reflects the depth of his military and security crisis due to the open fronts which call for more efforts from all arenas and all fronts to inflict defeats on this Zionist entity.”

I say again, just as the Islamic resistance does, “Israel” is a colony on the brink of collapse. The resistance through waging popular and armed struggle has brought the Palestinian liberation struggle and the global struggle against imperialism forward tenfold through Al Aqsa Flood Battle!

As my comrade mentioned earlier, we are just days past the heroic operation carried out by the Yemeni armed forces,  in which the Palestinian-named and Iranian-designed drone, Yafa, flew undetected by the Zionist enemy’s interceptors and radars for miles. The Yemeni Armed Forces have declared Yafa, what the colonizers call Tel Aviv, an unsafe area. The imperialist war mongers will call it terrorism, but we know this is anti-imperialist resistance.

So long as occupation continues, resistance will too. Despite attempts at stifling organized dissent,  the resistance is stronger and more united than ever before. As a prisoner solidarity network, Samidoun sees how colonized and oppressed masses of the world are opening up the prison doors. From Gaza on October 7th to right now in Dhaka,  as students storm the prisons to free their comrades, prisoners are the frontline of our struggle, because prisons are a tool to lock away our freedom fighters from our movements.

The enemy will remove our most militant comrades from the struggle, the ones who are most willing to put their body and lives on the line for liberation. These are our leaders. We see this here in so called BC with Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief Dza Heil, who has been sentenced to days of house arrest for defending his land from colonial extraction. We see this with Al-Qassam’s Abdullah Barghouthi, who has the longest prison sentence in history – 5,200 years! It was recently revealed that Zionist dungeon guards, also known of the guards of the “Israel Prison Service,” have been torturing him.

Leaders of the Popular Front, Ahmad Sa’adat and Khalida Jarrar, are also incarcerated right now. In occupied Palestine, thousands of Palestinians are currently incarcerated in Zionist jails. We must remember that these comrades on the inside are those who are experiencing the most heightened contradictions of imperialism. We must not leave them behind. They are our leaders!

It is prisons and prisoners that connect our movements globally because they are the number 1 tool used by our imperialist enemies to crush us. But prisoners persist inside Zionist occupation prisons. There’s writing and studying and organizing happening every day, unbeknownst to the enemy, and in colonial prisons across Turtle Island, prisoners are organizing for better working conditions. Reading,  writing, they are striking, rioting and partaking in hunger strikes.

Prisoners are the compass of our struggle and we must follow and support them and understand that, as believers in the liberatory power of resistance, we are all potentially future prisoners. Malcolm X reminds us that we are not outnumbered, we are just out organised. We must go beyond mobilization. I ask that you join an organization – Samidoun, or another anti-imperialist or prison solidarity group. Organize yourself to resist. Be part of this global resistance. Long live Yemen’s steadfast resistance and the glorious and united Palestinian resistance,  from Hamas to the Popular Front to Hezbollah and beyond, victory is imminent!

Thank you.

Abu Shujaa emerges victorious: The popular cradle of the Resistance confronts the Palestinian Authority in Tulkarem

On Friday, 26 July, in a dramatic illustration of the importance of the popular cradle of the resistance, the Palestinian masses of Tulkarem liberated Mohammed Jaber, Abu Shujaa, from an attempted arrest or assassination by Palestinian Authority “security forces” that besieged and invaded Martyr Thabet Thabet hospital. Abu Shujaa, a commander in the Tulkarem Brigade of Saraya al-Quds, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement.

Abu Shujaa, 26 years old, previously survived multiple assassination attempts and is being pursued both by the Zionist occupation forces as well as by the Palestinian Authority forces, carrying out the mandate of “security coordination” with the Zionist regime. PA forces entered the hospital, throwing tear gas canisters at Palestinian civilians coming to protect Abu Shujaa, but the mass popular presence at the hospital safely escorted Abu Shujaa to safety, carrying him on their shoulders and chanting for him and the resistance. The people of Tulkarem, mobilized around the hospital in massive numbers, with masses of Palestinian women and men shouting and confronting the PA forces directly and protecting Abu Shujaa, a beloved resistance leader, in a march led by the mothers of the martyrs.

Abu Shujaa defies the assassin

In March 2023, PA forces opened fire at a group of resistance fighters, including Abu Shujaa, in one assassination attempt. One month later, in April 2023, occupation forces declared that they had successfully assassinated Abu Shujaa in a drone strike, only for him to re-emerge several days later at a funeral for the 14 martyrs the Zionist regime had killed in the battle in Nour Shams refugee camp in Tulkarem, a center of the burgeoning armed resistance in the West Bank of occupied Palestine.

“Our message is that we have challenged the occupation and here we are still alive. We are walking on the path of the martyrs, no matter how many of us they assassinate, this situation will not end, God willing. We are on the path of the martyrs, until victory……I send a salute and a message to all the children and all the fighters in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and the diaspora, that we will not let you down God willing, we will stay at the best of your expectations. We hope from all the honorable ones to not let us down and to remain on the path of the martyrs, our martyrs. We thank all the regions in the West Bank and its camps: Jenin camp, Balata camp, Far’a, Dheisheh, Bethlehem. We will remain at the best of their expectations, God willing,” Abu Shujaa said after his legendary re-emergence.

Abu Shujaa has been detained and imprisoned on multiple occasions by the Palestinian Authority and “Israel” since the age of 17; his younger brother, Mahmoud, was martyred when he was killed by Zionist forces invading the Nour Shams refugee camp.

The Al-Qassam Brigades of Tulkarem, Hamas’ armed wing, issued a statement, warning the PA forces to leave Tulkarem and end their attacks on the resistance. “We are fighting against two occupations: the Palestinian Authority and the occupation forces…Any attempt to capture our fighters by the [Palestinian] Authority forces from Tulkarem to Jenin will be met with a severe response. Any attempt to defuse a planted explosive for the occupation forces will be met with a response. This means you are collaborating with the occupation.”

The attack on Abu Shujaa, defeated by the unity of the Palestinian masses and the armed resistance, came only months after Ahmad Abu al-Ful and Motasim al-Arif, two leaders in the Tulkarem Brigade, were assassinated by PA security coordination forces. Indeed, al-Arif was martyred as the PA attempted to kidnap Abu Shujaa on 3 April.

From Tulkarem to Tubas

It was also followed shortly thereafter by PA security coordination forces storming the city of Tubas in order to kidnap or assassinate Omar Meselmani, a fighter with the Tubas Brigade of Saraya al-Quds who is also pursued by the occupation forces. They opened fire on Meselmani and his companions, failing to capture Omar, but detaining his brother, Hamed Maselmani, a former Palestinian prisoner who served seven years in occupation prisons. He was released later in the evening after being beaten by PA forces.

Today’s popular victory in Tulkarem only underlines the unity of the Palestinian masses and the armed resistance and the ways in which the resistance is fostered and nurtured by the masses, what is often referred to as the popular cradle of the resistance. It also underlines the reality of what the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank represents, only weeks after PA officials, including PA President Mahmoud Abbas, blamed the Palestinian resistance for the Zionist massacres and genocide in Gaza.

Rising resistance vs. “security coordination” Authority

At a time when the armed resistance in the West Bank is escalating the struggle, while the Zionist forces are conducting a genocide in Gaza resisted by the strength of the Palestinian armed resistance, Palestinian unity should be more essential than ever. Since the beginning of Al-Aqsa Flood and the Zionist genocide on 7 October 2023, Palestinian resistance forces in the West Bank have carried out 1,533 shooting operations, 678 explosive operations, 33 stabbing operations and 19 run-over operations targeting settlers and soldiers.

While the unity of the people and the resistance was strikingly visible in Tulkarem and Tubas today, and in Bethlehem, where youth marched to confront the PA, the Authority itself continues to represent a narrow sector of the Palestinian bourgeoisie that seeks to cement its marginal privileges through service to and collaboration with the Zionist regime and US imperialism.

“Security coordination” with the Zionist occupation is built into the Oslo accords; the Palestinian Authority has existed only to suppress the Palestinian resistance and act as an agent of the occupation, not to confront the occupation. For decades now, members of the PA security forces who are loyal to the Palestinian people have turned away from their orders to engage in security coordination and instead joined the Resistance to fight for liberation.

PA imprisonment and the road to liberation

The Palestinian Authority prisons are themselves a revolving door, where resistance fighters, leaders and strugglers are pursued by PA forces and invading occupiers, released from one imprisonment only to be abducted into another. Case after case illustrate this: that of Basil al-Araj and his comrades, abducted and imprisoned by the Palestinian Authority and then by the occupation forces, the engaged intellectual and the resistance fighter who fought until the moment of his martyrdom. That of Ahmad Sa’adat and his comrades, leaders of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, imprisoned by the Palestinian Authority under US and British guard, until they were abducted by the Zionist regime in a violent assault. That of Nizar Banat, the tireless fighter against corruption and for a principled, unified resistance, assassinated by PA forces in 2021. That of Mahmoud Tawalbeh, one of the leaders of the 2002 Battle of Jenin, arrested by the PA at the orders of the occupation, who then planned and failed to assassinate him by bombing the prison. That of Musab Shtayyeh, the 30-year-old Palestinian resistance fighter of the Lion’s Den and the Al-Qassam Brigades, kidnapped one year ago today and held by the PA forces as a political prisoner despite three orders for his release, and his fellow political prisoners in PA prisons, brothers and sisters in arms with the nearly 10,000 Palestinians jailed in the dungeons of the occupier.

As we noted previously: The only true road to Palestinian national unity comes through resistance and confrontation, led by those who fight for Palestinian liberation, and it cannot include those who imprison, assassinate and betray the people and the resistance for the benefit of the occupiers and imperialists.

The crimes of the Palestinian Authority are not simply independent “human rights violations” or “political detention” targeting rival forces. They are carried out as part and parcel of the Oslo framework that created the PA as a subcontractor for the occupation; and the current demands to attack the rising resistance in the West Bank and throughout Palestine from the river to the sea as part and parcel of the US-Zionist genocide in Gaza. These attacks are the responsibility of Israel, the United States, Canada, the European Union and all parties involved in creating, sustaining and propping up the “security coordination” framework, which benefits only the occupier and colonizer at the expense of the Palestinian people.

The PA and its funders and trainers must be held accountable for its ongoing betrayal of the Palestinian people and its collaboration with the occupation regime and Zionist colonialism. The Oslo project is backed by Zionism, imperialism and reactionary regimes – and it must and will fall on the road to the liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea, led by the unity of the people and the resistance. 

Further, the popular cradle of the resistance, as witnessed so vividly today in Tulkarem, in Gaza, in south Lebanon, in the millions who pour into the streets weekly in Yemen to demand even greater escalation, reflects the unity and deep alliance of the masses and the Resistance, a fundamental necessity for people’s war and for victory over the occupier. At this moment, it is critical for those of us in the international movement for Palestine to build the international popular cradle of the Resistance, to escalate our movement, reject all efforts to label and criminalize the resistance as “terrorist” and unify to confront repression, genocide, Zionism and imperialism.

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

Palestinian students speak for the Resistance

We republish below a joint statement issued today by the student movement at Birzeit University, translated by the Resistance News Network. The statement was signed by all of the student blocs except the supporters of Fateh:

The Student Movement at Birzeit University:

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

“People of the university of martyrs, O all the masses of our people.”

We send our greetings to our steadfast people in Gaza, to the heroes of the tunnels who write our glory every day, to the makers of our dignity and honor, to those who endured and challenged the prison and the jailer, our brave prisoners. To our fighters in the West Bank, Al-Quds, and the occupied lands, to those who adhere to the path of resistance and revolution, to the bravest among us all, the hero of the Brigade, Abu Shujaa [“Father of the Brave”].

On the 293rd day of the genocide against the Palestinian people, the Security Forces of the [Palestinian] Authority continue to participate in our extermination, oppression, and repression. As the martyr Basil Al-Araj said, “The Palestinian Authority participates in our extermination.” In light of what happened today, we affirm the following:

First: Since October 7th, the Security Forces of the [Palestinian] Authority continue to practice the most heinous forms of submission and normalization with the zionst entity and align with its vision. Those who demanded accountability and honored the tunnel fighters after what happened on October 7 were met with suppressed marches, and many fighters were killed at their hands, some handed over to the cowardly entity and others tortured.

Second: We condemn this disgraceful behavior and salute the courage of our people in Tulkarem who rose to prevent the Security Forces from arresting Commander Abu Shujaa, who has survived several times under showers of bullets and today survives with a human shield led by the mothers of the martyrs and supported by the people, after being besieged in Thabet Thabet Hospital.

Third: All the forces and activities of our people, and all the honorable members and affiliates of the Authority and its Security Forces, are called today to unite in rejection of the conspiracy against our people and to confront the plans that the zionists, Americans, and their allies are weaving to break the resistance with Palestinian hands, unfortunately. There is no excuse today for those who choose to continue betting on the absurd and treacherous path of negotiations.

For we, from the heart of the university of martyrs, the university of prisoners, call on the members of the Security Forces to align with the true direction with the compass of the people. Our choice is resistance and the exclusion of those who do not believe in it. Be among the sons of Abu Jandal* and follow the path of resistance and nothing else. Those who detach from their people today will regret it tomorrow.

* Abu Jandal, Yousef Ahmad Raihan, was a patriotic PA security officer who was one of the leaders of the 2002 Battle of Jenin and has become a symbol of those who reject “security coordination” with the occupier.

From Cuba to Palestine, victory to the revolution! On the 71st anniversary of the 26 July Movement

On the 71st anniversary of the launch of the great Cuban revolution, the storming of the Moncada Barracks on 26 July 1953, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes the Cuban people, their continuing revolution, and the ongoing alliance between the people of Cuba and of Palestine to confront Zionism, imperialism and reaction.

In 1953, the Cuban revolutionaries launched their attack on the Moncada Barracks, one year after Cuban military general Fulgencio Batista, dedicated to the interests of U.S. imperialism, seized power on the island, banning trade unions and socialist groups, cutting ties with the Soviet Union and fostering even closer ties with the United States. Cuban revolutionaries, including Fidel Castro and Raúl Castro, launched their attack on that day, and while they were unable to defeat the US-backed Cuban regime on that day, they created the 26th of July Movement, which would grow to encompass Ernesto Che Guevara, Camilo Cienfuegos and many more revolutionaries that would achieve victory in 1959.

Before the 26th July operation, Fidel Castro said:  “In a few hours you will be victorious or defeated, but regardless of the outcome – listen well, friends – this Movement will triumph. If you win tomorrow, the aspirations of Martí will be fulfilled sooner. If we fail, our action will nevertheless set an example for the Cuban people, and from the people will arise fresh new men willing to die for Cuba. They will pick up our banner and move forward … The people will back us in Oriente and in the whole island. As in ’68 and ’92, here in Oriente we will give the first cry of Liberty or Death!”

Fidel Castro himself was held as a political prisoner for two years before he joined his fellow revolutionaries in the Sierra Maestra, to build the revolutionary movement that would expel US imperialism from Cuba and usher in a new era for Latin America, on the front lines of confrontation of imperialism in the region and around the world. Indeed, his speech, “History Will Absolve Me,” made before the court that sentenced him, became the manifesto of the 26th of July Movement. The Cuban revolution embraced revolutionary internationalism, supporting movements around the world, fighting for liberation in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and building ties with struggling movements in the heart of the imperial core. The Cuban revolutionary cause unified with the Black Liberation movement in the United States, an alliance that remains in place to the present day.

Havana, Cuba, launched the Tricontinental Conference in 1966, which led to the development of OSPAAAL (Organization of Solidarity with the People of Asia, Africa and Latin America), whose posters for the Palestinian revolution — and other anti-imperialist struggles — have remained indelible symbols of the common cause of justice.

Through this revolutionary struggle, the deep alliance between the Cuban and Palestinian revolutions was born. Cuba has consistently supported the Palestinian liberation struggle on multiple levels, and the Palestinian and Cuban flags have risen as twin banners of liberation everywhere in the world, reflecting the common confrontation of imperialism, Zionism and their reactionary agents everywhere. In Palestine, the Cuban revolution has always had particular resonance. Che Guevara visited Gaza in 1959, shortly after the victory of the revolution, as part of the Non-Aligned Movement and the alliance of anti-colonial forces. According to Palestinian scholar Salman Abu Sitta, Guevara urged the Palestinians to develop their training camps, weapons production and people’s mobilization centres. Today, in 2024, viewing the strength of the resistance, their capacity for weapons production amid siege and genocide, and the steadfast popular cradle of the people, it is clear that the Palestinian revolutionary movement has fully implemented such proposals beyond what could have been imagined in 1959.

The leader of the armed struggle in Gaza in the early 1970s was Mohammed al-Aswad of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine — “Guevara Gaza.” Indeed, Moshe Dayan once said, “We run Gaza by day, and Guevara and his comrades run it at night.” Che Guevara continues to be a unifying symbol not only of the Palestinian Left but of the armed liberation struggle across political lines. Today, as Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif, and all of the heroic fighters of the Al-Qassam Brigades, Saraya al-Quds, the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, and all of the armed forces of the Palestinian resistance lead an unprecedented battle from Gaza, Che’s famous call, “Homeland or death!” echoes in their bravery, faith and love for the people and land of Palestine.

Today, as the Palestinian Resistance leads the liberation struggle in Gaza, aligned with all of the forces of the resistance in the region and the world, it is the fighters in Palestine, in Yemen, in Lebanon, in Iraq, who are ushering in another new era of the defeat of imperialism. Al-Aqsa Flood has marked the turning point for a new generation of revolutionaries, toward a global intifada and a rebirth of the Palestinian and international revolutionary movement, a great flood that will wash away US and European imperialist hegemony in the Arab and Iranian region. This anniversary is even more meaningful as the Palestinian people in Gaza resist genocide and lead the battle for the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea and the total defeat of Zionism and imperialism.

It follows shortly on the anniversary of the founding of the Sandinista National Liberation Front in Nicaragua on 19 July 1961, and the victorious Nicaraguan revolution 18 years later in 1979, as Nicaragua continues to confront US imperialism, and this year, in 2024, we mark the anniversary of the Cuban Revolution as Bolivarian Venezuela prepares for presidential elections on 28 July, facing down US-sponsored sanctions, coercive economic measures, and imperialist intervention aimed to undermine and impose regime change upon the Bolivarian Revolution. Venezuela is holding fast to its sovereignty and its internationalist commitments, including to Palestinian liberation, to determine its own future as part of the global camp of resistance.

Cuba is perhaps one of the paradigmatic examples of defiance and steadfastness in the face of US sanctions, alongside Haiti, Iran, and other nations that have been subjected to imperialist economic and military coercion for decades on end. The US has attempted to impose regime change on Cuba and destroy the Cuban revolution through sanctions, blockades and policies that are designed to starve and impoverish the Cuban people. The blockade on Gaza and the siege on Palestine — and on the Palestinian people everywhere — is akin to that imposed on Cuba, and both represent a form of genocide, a war against the population as a whole, and an attempt to confiscate the wealth of the people of the Global South through fraud and theft, as well-documented by the International People’s Tribunal on US Imperialism.

Cuba is also currently labeled as a “state sponsor of terrorism” by the United States, being designated in a clear attempt to impose political, economic and military pressure on Cuba to give up their sovereign and socialist path of development. This is reminiscent of the case of Palestine, where Palestinian resistance organizations, including Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement; the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement; the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine; Hezbollah, and many other resistance forces, are labeled as “terrorist organizations” by the US, Britain, European Union and Canada in an attempt to undermine the Palestinian people’s justified and legitimate struggle by all means, including and especially armed struggle, to achieve their liberation. “Terrorist” designations aim to divide the peoples of the world from forging alliances, criminalize global solidarity and separate populations in exile and diaspora from their homelands. In Cuba as in Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen and the Philippines, such designations will never succeed in undermining the people’s struggle for justice, dignity and true freedom.

On 26 July 2024, this monumental anniversary, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network extends its salutes and solidarity to the people and leadership of Cuba and emphasizes our confidence in the continued success, development and strength of the Cuban revolution. We also salute and join in the global movement to end the blockade, siege and sanctions on Cuba.

We are confident that the longtime alliance and deep solidarity of the Palestinian and Cuban revolutionary movements and peoples will continue to flourish and development, and that all of the imperialist schemes and targeting of Cuba will fail, breaking the siege and blockade and removing Cuba from the “terror list.”

Further, we look upon this anniversary as a promise for the future of Palestine as well, of the inevitable victory of the people’s struggle for liberation, and the triumph of the Palestinian resistance over Zionism, imperialism and all reactionary agents. Victory is coming, from the tunnels of Gaza, to the camps of resistance in the West Bank, to the Palestinian people fighting for return in exile and diaspora, to the valiant struggle in occupied Palestine ’48, led by the heroic resistance. As Fidel Castro said in 1953, history will indeed absolve us of all of the lies and propaganda campaigns of Zionism and imperialism, and uphold the heroic fighters of Palestine as the defenders of humanity, heralding a new era for all.

Victory for Cuba, victory for Palestine!

Down with imperialism!

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

Just a few of the Cuban posters for Palestine produced by OSPAAAL:

Joint statement: In defense of our comrade Mohammed Khatib

We are republishing the following statement by Classe Contre Classe, Front Rev and the Popular Committee for Palestine in Belgium. Read more about the attempt to target Mohammed Khatib: Samidoun Europe coordinator Mohammed Khatib threatened with revocation of asylum in Belgium: Speak out to defend Palestine! Mohammed, the European coordinator of Samidoun, is currently serving as one of 1,000 international election observers in Venezuela of the upcoming elections on 28 July. 

On 15 April, in close collaboration with the Zionist state and in the midst of genocide, the Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration, Nicole de Moor, initiated a procedure with the aim of withdrawing the political refugee status from our comrade Mohammed Khatib, as well as his right of residence in Belgium. This procedure embodies the imperialist solidarity of the Belgian state with the Israeli colonial state: Mohammed should have his papers withdrawn because his political work with Samidoun, the international Palestinian solidarity political prisoners network, “harms diplomatic relations with Israel”, according to Belgian intelligence.

We are used to saying that the Belgian police work slowly but effectively in their counter-revolutionary work. We note that it can also show zeal and act with speed when it comes to carrying out the dirty work of the imperialist bourgeoisie. It even seems that the whole political-bureaucratic apparatus is ready to sell out its own principles. The few old progressive rags with which the Western metropolitan bourgeoisie used to drape itself are falling to shreds in the light of the ongoing genocide.

Why our comrade? We are not going to repeat what others have said with far more accolade than we have: he was targeted because of Islamophobia, targeted because he was a refugee, attacked because of the political line he represents and hunted down because he was a revolutionary.

We believe that in the eyes of those in power, Mohammed has crossed another red line: practising revolutionary internationalism. Not the kind of internationalism that consists of institutional kowtowing or theatrical displays of solidarity. It’s internationalism from below, genuinely linked to the struggles of our metropolis. In these struggles, shoulder to shoulder, we nourish and enrich each other. An unbearable crime in the eyes of our enemies.

This relentlessness undoubtedly lies in the fact that the Belgian revolutionary left has more to learn from the Palestinian revolutionary movement than vice versa.

Nevertheless, our enemy’s determination to strike our comrade shows us what he fears: revolutionary internationalism.

From now on, we are going to draw inspiration from his way of doing things: we are going to work slowly and methodically in this direction, with Palestine as our compass.

In the meantime, we say to our Palestinian comrades:

Victory for the fighters
Honour to the martyrs
Health for the wounded
Freedom for the prisoners!

Long live international solidarity!

**

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