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From Berlin to Palestine, solidarity with Ahmad Sa’adat and all prisoners in Zionist jails

As part of the International Week of Action in solidarity with Ahmad Sa’adat, launched by Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, the network organized multiple media events, political seminars and solidarity meetings highlighting the case of Ahmad Sa’adat and the Palestinian prisoners’ movement. These events have highlighted the case of the over 4,500 Palestinian prisoners jailed in Zionist prisons as well as that of Georges Abdallah, Lebanese Arab struggler imprisoned in imperialist French prisons for over 36 years.

Today, a group of young people from the Samidoun Network in Berlin, Germany, posted posters, stickers and other media actions in the streets and popular neighborhoods in Berlin, especially in the Arab and Palestinian communities of the city.

A member of Samidoun in Berlin said, “We organized this activity as Samidoun Deutschland in Berlin, as part of the international week of solidarity with Ahmad Sa’adat and with the Palestinian prisoners’ national movement, as well as among the activities for the launch of Samidoun Deutschland. We stand for the right to complete and unconditional liberation for all political prisoners and detainees in the prisons of occupied Palestine and in reactionary and imperialist jails. We recognize the important of hard work and struggle to free the prisoners from Zionist jails.”

The Samidoun organizer continued, “The Palestinian prisoners are an integral part of the global resistance to colonialism. From the prisons of occupied Palestine to France, where Georges Abdallah is held, to our detained Turkish and Kurdish comrades, to our comrades in Europe, in the United States and in the Philippines, as well as in the prisons of the Arab regimes, let us send a clear message: Freedom is definitely coming!”

“From Berlin, as Palestinian and Arab youth in diaspora and in countries of exile, we affirm that it is important to work together today and organize collectively to take up the cause of Palestine and to struggle together, until the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea and until our return to Palestine.”

This week’s activities will continue in cities around the world through 23 January. The event and actions of this year focus on Ahmad Sa’adat’s commitment to steadfastness and resistance and vision of a Palestinian unified front to continue the liberation struggle until return to Palestine.

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On 15-23 January 2021, join Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network in a collective call for the freedom of Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian prisoners, with action and global solidarity to escalate the boycott of Israel, end aid and support to Israel, organize for justice in Palestine and resist imperialism and colonialism.

Upcoming Events

Join these events and actions for the Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat and send your events to us at samidoun@samidoun.net!

Monday, 18 January — Online Event – Launch of 2021 – Year to Confront Normalization. 3 am Pacific – 6 am Eastern – 12 noon central Europe – 1 pm Palestine. The global campaign to return to Palestine: https://www.facebook.com/ReturnToPalestine.net

Wednesday, 20 January – Amsterdam, Netherlands — Stop the U.S. War Machine! Protest. 7 pm, U.S. Consulate, Museumplein 19, Amsterdam, Netherlands. Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1657962144376515/

Saturday, 23 January – Online Event – Liberation vs Dependency: Strategies to Defeat Neoliberalism and Colonialism in Algeria, South Africa, and Palestine. 11 am Pacific – 2 pm Eastern – 9 pm Palestine. Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/722789698392609/

Sunday, 24 January – Paris, France – Protest to free Ahmad Sa’adat, Georges Abdallah, and all Palestinian prisoners! 3:00 pm, Place Jean Ferrat – Metro L2 Menilmontant, Paris, France
More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/1135211573605908

 

Samidoun Sweden photo campaign for Ahmad Sa’adat’s freedom

Read the original Swedish article at Samidoun Sweden.

Ahmad Sa’adat has been imprisoned since 2002, the year after he was elected General Secretary of the PFLP. Together with progressives and antiimperialists around the world, Samidoun Gothenburg and Stockholm are participating in the international week of action in demand of his freedom. During the week actions, leaflet handouts, demonstrations and hunger strikes are organized in Palestine, the Netherlands, France, Ireland, the USA and Sweden, to name a few.

Do you wish to participate in the campaign? Write a sign in support of Ahmad Sa’adat and the Palestinian political prisoners and post it on social media with the hashtag #FreeAhmadSaadat.

Read more about the campaign and Ahmad Sa’adat.

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On 15-23 January 2021, join Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network in a collective call for the freedom of Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian prisoners, with action and global solidarity to escalate the boycott of Israel, end aid and support to Israel, organize for justice in Palestine and resist imperialism and colonialism.

Upcoming Events

Join these events and actions for the Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat and send your events to us at samidoun@samidoun.net!

Sunday, 17 January – Manchester, Britain: Street Stall – Free all Palestinian prisoners! Free Issam Hijjawi! 12 Noon,  Outside Morrisons, Wilbraham Road,  Chorlton, Manchester M21 0UA. More info: https://samidoun.net/event/manchester-street-stall-free-all-palestinian-prisoners-free-issam-hijjawi/

Saturday, 23 January – Online Event – Liberation vs Dependency: Strategies to Defeat Neoliberalism and Colonialism in Algeria, South Africa, and Palestine. 11 am Pacific – 2 pm Eastern – 9 pm Palestine. Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/722789698392609/

Sunday, 24 January – Paris, France – Protest to free Ahmad Sa’adat, Georges Abdallah, and all Palestinian prisoners! 3:00 pm, Place Jean Ferrat – Metro L2 Menilmontant, Paris, France
More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/1135211573605908

Hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza rally to free Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian prisoners

On Sunday, 17 January, hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza rallied outside the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza City to demand freedom for Ahmad Sa’adat, the imprisoned General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The protest, organized by the PFLP, marked the 19th anniversary of the Palestinian Authority security services’ abduction of Ahmad Sa’adat, the under the Oslo accords’ PA “security coordination” with Israel.

It comes amid the Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian Prisoners, a global mobilization for actions and organizing to highlight Sa’adat’s case and the struggle of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement behind bars, advocating for liberation for Sa’adat and his fellow 4,500 Palestinians jailed by the Zionist state.

Awad al-Sultan, a member of the PFLP’s Central Committee, spoke at the protest, noting that Sa’adat was then detained with his comrades at the PA presidential compound, the Muqata’, subjected to a hastily arranged and farcical military hearing and then transferred to Jericho prison, where they were detained under U.S. and British guards in an agreement with the Israeli occupation. After four years, on 14 March 2006, occupation forces violently stormed the prison and kidnapped Sa’adat and his comrades. He is currently serving a 30-year sentence imposed by the Israeli military courts, which Sa’adat consistently boycotted throughout his military trial, which was delayed for years.

Sa’adat’s abduction by the PA “reflected a clear targeting of the path of resistance represented by the leader Ahmad Sa’adat and his comrades and underlines the importance of confronting the policy of PA political detention and pursuit of resistance fighters and ending the Oslo accords and their political, economic and security obligations. This was a national crime…that has not and will not be forgotten,” Sultan said. He affirmed that it was impossible to reach Palestinian national unity so long as the Oslo accords and security coordination with Israel remain in place.

Protesters also emphasized the situation of the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, noting that the prisoners’ movement is facing a policy of “slow death,” including the medical neglect of the prisoners’ health during the coronavirus pandemic and the denial of the vaccine to imprisoned Palestinians. They emphasized the need to fight back to defend the prisoners’ movement against this ongoing attack.

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On 15-23 January 2021, join Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network in a collective call for the freedom of Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian prisoners, with action and global solidarity to escalate the boycott of Israel, end aid and support to Israel, organize for justice in Palestine and resist imperialism and colonialism.

Upcoming Events

Join these events and actions for the Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat and send your events to us at samidoun@samidoun.net!

Sunday, 17 January – Manchester, Britain: Street Stall – Free all Palestinian prisoners! Free Issam Hijjawi! 12 Noon,  Outside Morrisons, Wilbraham Road,  Chorlton, Manchester M21 0UA. More info: https://samidoun.net/event/manchester-street-stall-free-all-palestinian-prisoners-free-issam-hijjawi/

Saturday, 23 January – Online Event – Liberation vs Dependency: Strategies to Defeat Neoliberalism and Colonialism in Algeria, South Africa, and Palestine. 11 am Pacific – 2 pm Eastern – 9 pm Palestine. Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/722789698392609/

Sunday, 24 January – Paris, France – Protest to free Ahmad Sa’adat, Georges Abdallah, and all Palestinian prisoners! 3:00 pm, Place Jean Ferrat – Metro L2 Menilmontant, Paris, France
More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/1135211573605908

Toulouse, France: Palestine stand calls for freedom for Ahmad Sa’adat

The following report is largely translated from the original French at Collectif Palestine Vaincra: 

On Saturday, 16 January 2021, a dozen members and supporters of the Collectif Palestine Vaincra organized a Palestine Stand at the exit of the Capitole metro station in Toulouse, France, calling for freedom for Ahmad Sa’adat, the general secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, imprisoned in Israeli jails. The event came as part of the International Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian prisoners, organized by the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network from 15 through 23 January 2021.

Under a bright winter sun, the Palestine Stand was very visible and received a warm welcome from passers-by in the city center of Toulouse. The stand near the metro station exit was decorated with Palestinian flags and various banners, calling for the boycott of Israel, highlighting the history of the colonization of Palestine, and calling for freedom for Ahmad Sa’adat and Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, the Lebanese Arab Communist struggler for Palestine imprisoned in France for over 36 years.

Over more than two hours, participants distributed hundreds of flyers and held rich and lively discussions with many people about the case of Ahmad Sa’adat and the vision and principles he represents. Many passers-by learned more about the imprisonment of over 4,500 Palestinian political prisoners, including 450 jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention and approximately 180 children, by reviewing the mini-exhibition highlighting their conditions and situation in Israeli jails.

In addition, the organizers distributed many leaflets calling for the boycott of Israeli products, which provide a list of different brands to boycott in supermarkets for those who do not wish to financially support Israeli apartheid and its crimes. Many people provided words of encouragement, urging the organizers to continue their efforts to support the Palestinian people. Several representatives of different groups came to participate in the stand, including members of the Popular Front of Turkey and the Friends of Palestine Against Imperialism and Zionism.

Dozens of people joined in the solidarity campaign by taking photos calling for the liberation of Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian prisoners:

The stand came to a conclusion with a group photo of solidarity to affirm support for various campaigns for Palestine facing attacks, defamation and attempted criminalization from the pro-Israel far right, including the Anti Zionism is Not Antisemitism campaign in Italy, Palästina Antikolonial in Munster, Germany, and the French Jewish Union for Peace. We will not give in — instead, we will build solidarity with the Palestinian people and their legitimate resistance against colonialism!

Collectif Palestine Vaincra invites interested people to contact them to get involved in future activities in Toulouse. Palestine will win!

Video: Steadfastness and Resistance – the Palestinian prisoners’ movement and the case of Ahmad Sa’adat

On Saturday, 16 January, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network organized a webinar as part of the Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian prisoners. The webinar, “Steadfastness and Resistance: The Palestinian prisoners’ movement and the case of Ahmad Sa’adat,” focused on the imprisonment of Palestinian leader Ahmad Sa’adat and the revolutionary legacy and ongoing struggle of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement. The video is also available on YouTube and Facebook.

Samidoun international coordinator Charlotte Kates introduced the program, which included simultaneous French translation for online attendees, provided by Collectif Palestine Vaincra, with a brief introduction to Sa’adat’s case.

The General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Sa’adat is currently serving a 30-year sentence in Israeli prisons; he was kidnapped in a violent attack by occupation forces on the Palestinian Authority prison where he was held under “security coordination” with the Israeli occupation, with the involvement of U.S., British, Canadian and Turkish guards. Therefore, his case reflects the devastating role of the Palestinian Authority and the Oslo process for the Palestinian cause, as well as the direct involvement of imperialism in the subjugation and repression of the Palestinian people.

Hadeel Shatara, the coordinator of Samidoun Network in Occupied Palestine, spoke first on the program, addressing the ongoing reality of PA security coordination with Israel and how this is reflected in political repression and imprisonment directed at Palestinian resisters and activists, including student organizers, women’s movement organizers and community leaders. She addressed the types of charges  levied by the PA in political cases, including false allegations of “sectarian practices” and fomenting social division, or defamation of political officials and those in high positions. She emphasized that these repressive practices were directly tied to the PA’s role as an intercessor for Israeli colonialism and Zionist domination, tied to the Israeli security forces and directly sharing information about Palestinian organizers and resistance movements.

She was followed by Lena Meari, noted Palestinian scholar of decolonization, resistance and political captivity, and the author of “Sumud: A Palestinian Philosophy of Confrontation in Israeli Prisons.” An assistant professor of Anthropology at the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences and the Institute of Women’s Studies at Birzeit University, she was born in Haifa to a refugee family from Al-Birweh village.

In her incisive presentation, Lena Meari addressed the resistance, self-organization and anti-colonial struggle of Palestinian political prisoners and detainees, highlighting the history, development and present situation of Palestinian hunger strikes, resistance to interrogation and refusal to confess as part of the practice of sumud within Israeli prisons and under interrogation. She emphasized the political and anti-colonial leadership of Palestinian prisoners, emphasizing that solidarity campaigns must not represent these strugglers as victims in need of aid, but as freedom fighters in a liberation movement.

The concluding speaker was Mohammed Khatib, coordinator of Samidoun in Europe, who spoke about the importance of supporting Palestinian resistance and upholding Palestinians’ right to resist, return and liberate their land. He read a statement issued by Ahmad Sa’adat about the case of Omar Nayef Zayed, emphasizing once again the connections between Israel, the Palestinian Authority and imperialist powers in repressing Palestinian struggle. He noted the importance of Palestinian organization and pursuit of an alternative path of resistance for liberation, calling for a boycott of the PA elections earlier called for by PA president Mahmoud Abbas.

The engaging and wide-ranging discussion addressed a number of topics, including the growing call to return to the full boycott of the Knesset elections in the Israeli colonial project, scheduled for March 2021, the need to center the right to return and the right to resist in boycott campaigns, and the history of the Palestinian revolutionary movement alongside anti-colonial and anti-imperialist movements, especially those in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Lena Meari concluded the event with a stirring call for “radical solidarity” that embraces resistance and revolutionary politics, emphasizing that “solidarity with the Palestinian cause is also solidarity with yourself,” against all forms of exploitation and oppression.

**

On 15-23 January 2021, join Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network in a collective call for the freedom of Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian prisoners, with action and global solidarity to escalate the boycott of Israel, end aid and support to Israel, organize for justice in Palestine and resist imperialism and colonialism.

Upcoming Events

Join these events and actions for the Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat and send your events to us at samidoun@samidoun.net!

Sunday, 17 January – Manchester, Britain: Street Stall – Free all Palestinian prisoners! Free Issam Hijjawi! 12 Noon,  Outside Morrisons, Wilbraham Road,  Chorlton, Manchester M21 0UA. More info: https://samidoun.net/event/manchester-street-stall-free-all-palestinian-prisoners-free-issam-hijjawi/

Saturday, 23 January – Online Event – Liberation vs Dependency: Strategies to Defeat Neoliberalism and Colonialism in Algeria, South Africa, and Palestine. 11 am Pacific – 2 pm Eastern – 9 pm Palestine. Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/722789698392609/

Sunday, 24 January – Paris, France – Protest to free Ahmad Sa’adat, Georges Abdallah, and all Palestinian prisoners! 3:00 pm, Place Jean Ferrat – Metro L2 Menilmontant, Paris, France
More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/1135211573605908

The Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat launches today! Upcoming actions and events

The Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian Prisoners kicked off on 15 January with photos, events and announcements in cities around the world. 

In Toulouse, Collectif Palestine Vaincra posted banners and posters across the city, demanding freedom for Sa’adat and his fellow 4,500 Palestinians held behind Israeli bars, including 160 children and nearly 450 jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention.

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In Brussels, activists gathered to protest outside the Israeli embassy to Belgium on 8 January 2021, including the Plate-forme Charleroi-Palestine and Association Belgo-Palestine, took pictures of solidarity for the Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian prisoners.

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Meanwhile, Anti-Imperialist Action Ireland announced that members of Macradh-ISR Youth’s Slua Áth Cliath were launching in a seven day solidarity fast, with a different comrade taking part each day, to demand freedom for Sa’adat and his fellow political prisoners. Declaring, “From Ireland to Palestine- One Struggle Against Imperialism!” AIA also posted solidarity posters around Dublin, Ireland.

Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) at Queen’s University in Canada launched a week of action and publicity, highlighting the cases of Palestinian political prisoners, including Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, Tareq Mattar, Khalida Jarrar, Khitam Saafin and Mays Abu Ghosh.

Ahmad Sa’adat is the imprisoned General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a Palestinian national liberation movement leader and a symbol of the international left and revolutionary movements. He was sentenced to 30 years in Israeli prison on 25 December 2008 after being violently abducted from the Palestinian Authority’s Jericho prison in 2006, where he had been held under U.S. and British guard.

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 capitalism, racism, apartheid and colonization. Targeted for his political role and clarity of vision, he remains unable to be silenced despite the oppression imposed upon him and 4,500 fellow Palestinian political prisoners.

On 15-23 January 2021, join Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network in a collective call for the freedom of Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian prisoners, with action and global solidarity to escalate the boycott of Israel, end aid and support to Israel, organize for justice in Palestine and resist imperialism and colonialism.

Upcoming Events

Join these events and actions for the Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat and send your events to us at samidoun@samidoun.net!

Saturday, 16 January – Toulouse, France – Stand Palestine: Freedom for Ahmad Sa’adat! De 11H à 13H,  Métro Capitole – Toulouse,
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/events/2912430855703129/

Saturday, 16 January – Online Event – Steadfastness and Resistance – The Palestinian Prisoners’ Movement and the Case of Ahmad Sa’adat with Lena Meari. 10 am Pacific – 1 pm Eastern – 6 pm UTC – 7 pm central Europe – 8 pm Palestine,  Register online: https://bit.ly/freesaadat

Sunday, 17 January – Manchester, Britain: Street Stall – Free all Palestinian prisoners! Free Issam Hijjawi! 12 Noon,  Outside Morrisons, Wilbraham Road,  Chorlton, Manchester M21 0UA. More info: https://samidoun.net/event/manchester-street-stall-free-all-palestinian-prisoners-free-issam-hijjawi/

Saturday, 23 January – Online Event – Liberation vs Dependency: Strategies to Defeat Neoliberalism and Colonialism in Algeria, South Africa, and Palestine. 11 am Pacific – 2 pm Eastern – 9 pm Palestine. Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/722789698392609/

Sunday, 24 January – Paris, France – Protest to free Ahmad Sa’adat, Georges Abdallah, and all Palestinian prisoners! 3:00 pm, Place Jean Ferrat – Metro L2 Menilmontant, Paris, France
More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/1135211573605908

Samidoun posted the following series of images to our Instagram as part of the campaign launch. We invite you to share this introduction to Ahmad Sa’adat:

16 January, Toulouse: Palestine Stand – Freedom for Ahmad Sa’adat!

Saturday, 16 January
11 am to 1 pm 
Métro Capitole
Toulouse, France
Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/2912430855703129/

During the Week of Actions to Free Ahmad Sa’adat, Collectif Palestine Vaincra will organize a Palestine Stand on Saturday, 16 January from 11 am to 1 pm at Metro Capitole in Toulouse.

This Palestine Stand is an occasion for us to come together, participate and display information about Palestinian prisoners while discussing with passers-by. The stand will also include solidarity photos, stickers and materials, calendar sales and more.

Ahmad Sa’adat is the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. On 25 December 2008, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison by the Israeli occupation, accused of leading a “terrorist” organization, an allegation that Israel directs at most Palestinian organizations. We call for the liberation of all Palestinian prisoners!

This event is registered with the prefecture and will respect all health measures and guidelines (masks, sanitizer, etc.)

Video: Join the Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat, 15 to 23 January 2021

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network released a new video calling on supporters of Palestine around the world to join the Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian Prisoners, taking place from 15 to 23 January, 2021. The video is also available on YouTube and Facebook.

Ahmad Sa’adat is the imprisoned General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a Palestinian national liberation movement leader and a symbol of the international left and revolutionary movements. He was sentenced to 30 years in Israeli prison on 25 December 2008 after being violently abducted from the Palestinian Authority’s Jericho prison in 2006, accused of leading a prohibited organization and “incitement.” The PFLP, like all Palestinian political parties and resistance organizations, is labeled a “prohibited organization” by the Israeli occupation authorities.

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 capitalism, racism, apartheid and colonization. Targeted for his political role and clarity of vision, he remains unable to be silenced despite the oppression imposed upon him and 4,500 fellow Palestinian political prisoners.

On 15-23 January 2021, join our collective call for the freedom of Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian prisoners, with action and global solidarity to escalate the boycott of Israel, end aid and support to Israel, organize for justice in Palestine and resist imperialism and colonialism. 

Visit the Action Hub for the Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat for graphics in 11 languages, downloadable and printable materials and more: https://samidoun.net/2020/12/15-23-january-2021-international-week-of-action-to-free-ahmad-saadat-and-all-palestinian-prisoners/

Join these events and actions for the Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat and send your events to us at samidoun@samidoun.net!

Saturday, 16 January – Toulouse, France – Stand Palestine: Freedom for Ahmad Sa’adat! De 11H à 13H,  Métro Capitole – Toulouse,
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/events/2912430855703129/

Saturday, 16 January – Online Event – Steadfastness and Resistance – The Palestinian Prisoners’ Movement and the Case of Ahmad Sa’adat with Lena Meari. 10 am Pacific – 1 pm Eastern – 6 pm UTC – 7 pm central Europe – 8 pm Palestine,  Register online: https://bit.ly/freesaadat

Sunday, 24 January – Paris, France – Protest to free Ahmad Sa’adat, Georges Abdallah, and all Palestinian prisoners! 3:00 pm, Place Jean Ferrat – Metro L2 Menilmontant, Paris, France
More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/1135211573605908

International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN) on the “IHRA Definition of Antisemitism”

The following statement was originally produced in Spanish by IJAN Spain and IJAN Argentina in  September 2020 and translated into English by IJAN in January 2021. Samidoun is sharing this statement on an issue of critical importance to the movement, especially in confronting anti-Palestinian repression globally: 

IJAN’S POSITION REGARDING THE NEW DEFINITION OF “ANTISEMITISM” DRAFTED BY THE INTERNATIONAL HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE ALLIANCE (IHRA)

The State of Israel was founded on racism, discrimination and Jewish exclusivism

INTERNATIONAL JEWISH ANTI-ZIONIST NETWORK – IJAN

The following statement was originally produced in Spanish by IJAN Spain and IJAN Argentina. September 2020

1.- The International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network hereby expresses its repudiation and rejection of the new definition of “antisemitism” that is being promoted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance as we consider it to be a subsidiary instrument of the zionist movement and the State of Israel, with its objectives being:

  1. to reinforce the mythology and the whole set of ideological operations constructed to justify their exclusivist project
  2. to silence any criticism towards zionism and the State of Israel.

2.- The primary goal of the definition proposed by the IHRA is to establish an equivalence between antisemitism and antizionism.

  1. It is a political and semiological operation designed to confuse the public and
  2. muddy the political foundations of criticism towards zionism and the State of Israel

3.-We in IJAN hold that zionism is not representative of the whole of world Jewry  and that in no way, shape or form can criticism of this ideology or of the State of Israel be considered equivalent to “antisemitism”.

4.- What is zionism then and what are the criticisms that can be levelled at it?

  1. It is a movement, an ideology and a project born at the end of the nineteenth century amidst the rise and under the influence of European Judeophobia. It is therefore, not a constitutive part of Judaism.
  2. It represents a settler-colonial project, which has slowly conquered and colonized Palestine, bringing about a process of ethnic cleansing of its native population which goes on to this very day.
  3. It is an exclusivist and racist project, tied to imperialism and anchored in the orientalist prejudice towards Palestinians and Arabs in general. It practices and promotes islamophobia. It relies as well on the support of millions of followers of Christian zionism, in politically right wing and far right organizations.
  4. It set itself up as a form of tribal and ethno-religious nationalism, which aims: to turn the Jewish people, a cultural collective which has always been historically and linguistically diverse, into a national and homogenous entity standing behind a process of conquest and colonization, gather the entirety of the world Jewry with the objective of creating a new community (a nation) in a new State in the Middle East, in the lands of native Palestinians, claiming therein supposed “historical rights”, mobilize the Jewish communities in order to support its project and the State of Israel’s policies.
  5. It denies and repudiates the existence of other Jewish identities: non-nationalist identities, Yiddish cultural identities, and most of all, non-European Jewish identities (Arab Jews, Persian Jews, etc.)
  6. It builds an apartheid regime which denies (with differing degree) the civil and political rights of the Palestinian people that live today in the State of Israel and of those living in occupied Gaza and the West Bank. And it denies, furthermore, the right of return of millions of diasporic Palestinian refugees around the world.
  7. It stands in violation of basic human rights.
  8. It has been in the past, and is currently allied to and a collaborator with authoritarian and anti-popular regimes (especially in matters of security and the military).

5.- What is antizionism?

  1. Antizionism is a broad movement, containing within it a variety of standpoints: religious, secular, Marxist, anticolonial and liberal.
  2. The secular and progressive political orientation taken by IJAN follows the logic of human rights and internationalism. It repudiates Judeophobia and any other form of discrimination (Islamophobia, racism against the Roma people, anti-Black racism, etc.). It questions the ideological basis of the Zionist movement and the State of Israel as a colonialist, exclusivist project of conquest and colonization in Palestine, which illegitimately claims to be carried out in the name of the entirety of the world Jewry.

6.- What are the points and arguments IHRA deploys to silence criticisms of Zionism, and                     why are we in disagreement with them?

According to the definition of IHRA,

  1. To accuse Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of the Jews of the world, than to the interests of the countries of their citizenship
  2. To consider Jews responsible for the acts of the State of Israel

Are acts of antisemitism.

IJAN: The elevation of Jewish identity, considered as a national identity above any other form of social or collective grouping, is a central element of Zionist ideology. Its creature, the State of Israel, arrogates to itself the representation of all Jews in the world, seeing them as belonging to the state’s actual or potential population.   

C) Denying Jews the right to self-determination, for example, by claiming that the existence of the State of Israel is a racist endeavour.

IJAN: We do not consider the Zionist movement as a movement of emancipation, nor of national liberation. We do not recognize the Jews of the world as a national collective. The right to self-determination arises and applies to peoples oppressed by colonialism, which is not the case with Judaism. Even if the Jews of the world were thus oppressed, their right to self-determination could in no way be exercised at the expense of another people and in violation of international law.

We maintain that the Zionist movement and the State of Israel are founded on racism, discrimination and Jewish exclusivity. We maintain that a state, as an institution, can never be the object of discrimination, but merely of repudiation and criticism.

7.- Finally, the IHRA’s statement undermines the freedom of expression of those who question the State of Israel and Zionism.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: https://palestinalibre.org/articulo.php?a=76216

CONTACTS: IJAN internacional http://www.ijan.org twitter: @IJAN_network h

IJAN Argentina: http://judiosantisionsistasargentina.blogspot.com/

E-mail: ijanargentinaoficial@gmail.com

IJAN España: https://www.facebook.com/IJAN-España-160908247788078

Twitter: @IJANCastellano

 

 

16 January, Online Event: Steadfastness and Resistance – The Palestinian Prisoners’ Movement and the Case of Ahmad Sa’adat

Saturday, 16 January
10 am Pacific – 1 pm Eastern – 6 pm UTC – 7 pm central Europe – 8 pm Palestine
Register online: https://bit.ly/freesaadat
Facebook Live: https://facebook.com/SamidounPrisonerSolidarity

Join Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network for a webinar launching the international Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian prisoners. The imprisonment of Palestinian national leader Ahmad Sa’adat highlights not only the use of imprisonment as a key colonial weapon of the Israeli occupation but also the complicity of the Palestinian Authority and the direction of imperialist powers like the US, Britain and EU countries.

Noted scholar Lena Meari will speak about the history and present of Palestinian resistance and steadfastness — sumud — behind bars, and the Palestinian prisoners’ movement’s struggle against colonialism and leadership in the liberation struggle. She will be joined by Hadeel Shatara, coordinator of Samidoun Palestine, discussing Palestinian political prisoners detained by the Palestinian Authority amid “security coordination” with the Israeli occupation, and Mohammed Khatib, coordinator of Samidoun in Europe, on the case of Ahmad Sa’adat and the struggle to revive the Palestinian revolution.

Event will take place in English with French translation.

Speaker Bio:

Lena Meari, born in Haifa to a refugee family from Al-Birweh village. Integrated in her academic training and research various disciplines including: Anthropology, Psychology as well as Gender Studies and Development. An assistant professor of Anthropology at the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences and the Institute of Women’s Studies at Birzeit University. Completed her PhD at the University of California, Davis. Her PhD dissertation titled “Sumud: A Philosophy of Confronting Interrogation” investigates the transforming colonial relations in colonized Palestine from the perspective of the interrogation-encounter. Has special interest in the geopolitics of knowledge production, decolonized methodologies, colonial structures and colonial relations, the politics of sumud, revolutionary subjectivity, anti-colonial feminist theory, and critical approaches to the concept of development with emphasis on Palestine and the Arab World.

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