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Monday, May 5, 2025
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International 1 May actions call for liberation of Palestine, freedom for Georges Abdallah

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network chapters and members participated in a wide range of global activities, demonstrations and mobilizations marking 1 May, International Workers’ Day, as did many advocates for justice and liberation for Palestine and for Palestinian political prisoners. The flag of Palestine and banners of liberation were raised at many international demonstrations, calling for freedom for the prisoners and liberation for Palestine from the river to the sea.

Samidoun Deutschland members took to the streets in Frankfurt, Dusseldorf, and Berlin, among other cities in Germany. In Frankfurt, Samidoun was part of a coalition with various organizations for Proletarian 1 May, marching with revolutionary and leftist organizations for liberation in Palestine and confrontation of capitalism and imperialism.

In Berlin, Samidoun members joined many other organizations in a broad Palestine/Internationalist Bloc at the Revolutionary 1 May demonstration. Activists and organizers from a wide range of organizations, including Palästina Spricht Palestine Speaks, Jewish Antifa Berlin, Migrantifa Berlin and many other groups organized a march through the streets of Berlin, which also faced police repression, as has been the case for many past 1 May demonstrations.

The Revolutionary 1 May demonstration, starting off from Hermannplatz, gathered at least 20,000 participants and was marching through Sonnenallee and Karl-Marx-Strasse in Neukolln, with the internationalist block (including the Palestine Bloc) toward the front of the march when a massive formation of police cut off the march.

Just as nearly every year in Berlin, police violence against the Revolutionary 1 May demonstration prevented it from following its route and over 50 people were arrested.

Samidoun Deutschland members also participated in the 1 May demonstration in Dusseldorf. More Palestine organizations and Palestinian community groups protested in Kassel, Freiburg and elsewhere.

https://twitter.com/PalestinSpricht/status/1388485773666750464

In Madrid, Samidoun España, Alkarama Palestinian Women’s Mobilization and the Alternative Palestinian Path (Masar Badil) marched in the main 1 May demonstration and delivered a speech calling for action and mobilization to support the Palestinian people and their liberation struggle.

In Murcia, Samidoun España and Palestina Libre organized a demonstration one day earlier, 30 April, in support of Juani Rishmawi (Juani Sanchez Ruiz), a Spanish aid worker in occupied Palestine imprisoned and under interrogation by the Israeli occupation forces since 12 April.

https://twitter.com/LibreRegion/status/1388193348759003138

This action joined multiple demonstrations organized by many groups and campaigns across Spain, Catalonia, Galiza, and the Basque country in support of Juani, and demanding her immediate release.

https://twitter.com/USTECSTEs/status/1387871752273989636

In Rotterdam, Netherlands, Samidoun Nederland, Revolutionaire Eenheid and others joined an internationalist 1 May demonstration in support of liberation movements — and freedom for political prisoners — from Palestine to the Philippines.

In Gothenburg, Sweden, Samidoun Göteborg posted stickers and posters throughout the city in support of Palestine as part of 1 May actions. They prepared the following message for 1 May demonstrations:

“Down with Swedish colonial violence – in Palestine, Mali and Sápmi!

Long live May 1, day of celebration for the international working class, for proletarian internationalism and for the struggle against imperialism, colonialism and fascism!

As Samidoun Gothenburg, we continuously uphold solidarity with the Palestinian liberation struggle, and especially solidarity with one of the vanguards of the liberations struggle, the Palestinian prisoners. They struggle and lead the struggle against Israeli apartheid, occupation and settler colonialism, and specifically on the international day of the working class we must highlight the big Israeli labor federation Histadrut as a pillar of the oppression and exploitation of Palestinians. Another burning front of struggle is the area Sheikh Jarrah in Jerusalem, where tens of Palestinian families, hundreds of Palestinians, are threatened by evictions, home demolitions and forced displacement by the occupation. Aside from the occupation itself, the Palestinian resistance is struggling against international reactionary and imperialist accomplices, among others Sweden.

Sweden participates in imperialist and colonial crimes all over the world. In this very moment, Sweden participates in the colonial military adventures of France in Mali, where as late as last week three Swedish soldiers were wounded. The Swedish Armed Forces decline to comment on what Swedish soldiers are doing in Mali, but history speaks for itself. Meanwhile, Swedish colonial politics are waged in Sápmi, where the Sámi people and their allies in mainly the environmental and climate movement are putting their lives on the line for the forests, for the land and for the future.

On this day of internationalism, of struggle against imperialism, fascism and colonialism, knowing that no one is free until all are free, we conclude with the following:

Down with Swedish colonial violence i Palestine, in Mali, in Sápmi!
Boycott Israel and the occupation of Palestine!
Boycott the Zionist labor federation Histadrut!
Free all Palestinian and revolutionary prisoners!
Long live Palestine!”

In Toulouse, France, the Collectif Palestine Vaincra joined thousands of people at the 1 May march in Toulouse, France. They hung flags and banners and a massive banner over the street calling for the freedom of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, the revolutionary Arab Communist struggler for Palestine imprisoned in France for nearly 37 years.

They distributed thousands of flyers and collected hundreds of signatures in support of the immediate release of Georges Abdallah.

The Collectif also issued an appeal from CGT trade unionists, members of France’s largest labor federation, calling for the boycott of the Histadrut:

In many cities and towns in France, activists for Palestine highlighted the campaign to win Georges Abdallah’s freedom at 1 May mobilizations.

In Paris, the Unitary Campaign for the Liberation of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah mobilized a strong block in the 1 May demonstration with Palestinian flags, banners and placards demanding Abdallah’s immediate release.

In Auch, participants in the demonstration of 1,000 people distributed signs, stickers and materials calling for Abdallah’s liberation.

The Collectif Libérons Georges 33 in Bordeaux carried banners and signs highlighting Georges Abdallah’s case, while in Marseille, the ANC marched with a banner for his freedom:

In Annecy, activists for Palestine distributed cards for Georges Abdallah, while in Tarbes, they collected signatures and displayed banners highlighting the case.

In Guingamp, organizers carried posters and signs for Georges Abdallah throughout the mobilization.

In Belgium, the Plate-forme Charleroi-Palestine joined the 1 May mobilization, carrying the Palestinian flag and Palestine’s red banner- the flag of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, given to the Plate-forme’s delegation to the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon in 2019.

In Copenhagen, Denmark, the Internationalt Forum joined May Day events, while the Autonom Infoservice put out a call for the freedom of revolutionary political prisoners on 1 May, highlighting the cases of Mumia Abu-Jamal and Leonard Peltier in the US, Kurdish prisoner Nudem Durak, Dimitris Koufodinas in Greece and Ahmad Sa’adat in occupied Palestine. Sa’adat is the imprisoned Palestinian national leader and General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Samidoun also organized a webinar on the Arab and international dimensions of the Palestinian cause, together with the Masar Badil (Alternative Palestinian Path.) This event, in English, Arabic and Spanish, included talks by Charlotte Kates, international coordinator of Samidoun, and Aimen Remida, member of the Preparatory Committee for the Alternative Palestinian Path Conference and Samidoun Deutschland.

**

On 1 May 2021, International Workers’ Day, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network stands with the working class and popular classes of Palestine and the world on this day of struggle for liberation from exploitation, capitalism, imperialism, racism and Zionism. Samidoun organizers are taking to the streets today with their comrades in cities around the world to celebrate and advance our collective struggle.

As we march and organize for the global liberation of workers — including the workers of Palestine — we urge all international workers’ movements to join the struggle for Palestinian liberation, including by participating in the Week of Palestinian Struggle, 15-22 May 2021, marking 73 years of ongoing Nakba and 73 years of Palestinian resistance and revolutionary struggle….

We urge workers’ organizations around the world to continue to build and grow this solidarity with Palestinian workers, the leaders of the Palestinian liberation struggle. At the same time, we also express our solidarity with the struggling workers of the world, including the imprisoned labor union and workers’ movement leaders who are held behind bars or face death threats and repression for their role in defending oppressed workers. From India to the Philippines to France, from Colombia to Egypt and Morocco, we stand with these labor movements targeted for repression. We salute the imprisoned Turkish and Kurdish strugglers, not only in Turkish jails but also in European ones, often targeted for their role in workers’ organizations or even for defending them in court. The liberation of Palestine is fundamentally linked to the liberation of all from imperialism, exploitation and capitalism.

On International Workers’ Day, these struggles must become an occasion to escalate our work to support Palestinian workers, free the prisoners, and liberate Palestine, from the river to the sea. Labor action for Palestine, including the boycott of the Histadrut and of Israeli bonds, is one clear way for organized workers around the world to stand together with Palestinian workers in a collective struggle for liberation that confronts settler colonialism, Zionism, apartheid, capitalism, exploitation and oppression in all forms.

Join us on 15-22 May 2021 — the liberation of Palestine is part and parcel of the liberation of the working class of the world! 

International Workers’ Day: Palestinian workers on the front lines of resistance

Palestinian poster for 1 May. Artist: Hafez Omar

On 1 May 2021, International Workers’ Day, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network stands with the working class and popular classes of Palestine and the world on this day of struggle for liberation from exploitation, capitalism, imperialism, racism and Zionism. Samidoun organizers are taking to the streets today with their comrades in cities around the world to celebrate and advance our collective struggle.

As we march and organize for the global liberation of workers — including the workers of Palestine — we urge all international workers’ movements to join the struggle for Palestinian liberation, including by participating in the Week of Palestinian Struggle, 15-22 May 2021, marking 73 years of ongoing Nakba and 73 years of Palestinian resistance and revolutionary struggle. 

Within Palestine, 1 May is a day of struggle highlighting the leading role of Palestinian workers in the liberation movement. The prisoners’ movement is no exception; indeed, the vast majority of Palestinian prisoners come from the working and popular classes, the refugee camps and the villages, and it is these workers who put their bodies and lives on the line for freedom.

As imprisoned Palestinian leader Kamil Abu Hanish wrote in 2017, “The sons and daughters of the popular classes of Palestine, the workers, the farmers in the villages, the refugees of the camps, have always been the leaders and the driving force of our Palestinian national liberation movement. The Palestinian popular classes have been the freedom fighters, the strugglers and the resisters on the front lines, confronting the occupation and Zionist colonization in Palestine. And so it is the case that the popular classes of Palestine fill the ranks of the Israeli prisons, the builders of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement continuing on the front lines of resistance, building the ongoing Palestinian revolution.”

 

Classic Palestinian revolutionary poster for 1 May. Artist Marc Rudin

General strikes have always been a key mechanism of Palestinian resistance, from the earliest revolts of the Palestinian people against British and then Zionist colonialism. In the 1936 revolution, Palestinian workers’ six-month general strike was at that time the longest in the world. This continued over the years, as Palestinian workers in exile built the Palestinian liberation movement and its organizations, and as Palestinian workers and labor unions led in the organizing of the first intifada. UNRWA workers and others in the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon paved the way for the modern revolution, as revolutionary leaders like Abu Maher al-Yamani organized refugees for liberation and return on the basis of their trade union work before the Nakba in Palestine.

In the 1950s, Palestinian labor organizers in occupied Palestine ’48 were jailed as they attempted to keep their organizations intact under martial law. At least seven Palestinian trade union leaders were deported from the West Bank between 1969 and 1979. These attacks happened as Palestinians inside Israeli jails fought to end forced labor, a victory that was achieved only through great sacrifice. Omar Shalabi, a Syrian prisoner, was killed under torture in October 1973 during the protests against Israeli forced labor.

Palestinian workers are regularly subject to colonial forms of imprisonment, from the political targeting of workers’ organizations to the mass criminalization of Palestinians seeking employment inside occupied Palestine ’48. Palestinian workers are frequently arrested for “entering Israel without a permit,” despite the fact that many of these same workers are Palestinian refugees denied their right to return to their original homes and lands for the past 71 years. The systematic siege and subjugation of the Palestinian economy, from the texts of the Paris Protocols to the latest attacks by the U.S. government under Donald Trump, has forced thousands of Palestinians to seek work with or without permits as day laborers, often in construction.

Classic Palestinian revolutionary poster for 1 May. Artist Marc Rudin

At any given time, there are approximately 1000 Palestinians arrested, detained or fined for seeking to work in their own homeland; they are not classified in the Israeli colonial system as “security” prisoners and are thus missing from the statistics related to Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails. However, it is clear that everything about these workers’ situation is deeply political – they are imprisoned for their Palestinian existence on Palestinian land, specifically as Palestinian workers.

The drive to exclude Palestinian workers has always been part of the Zionist colonial project. This has been reflected in the founding principles and continued operation of the Israeli Histadrut, a trade union federation founded with the explicit purpose of promoting Zionist colonization of Palestinian land and excluding Palestinian labor. Despite having a fraternal relationship with the AFL-CIO and other major labor unions worldwide, it actually exploits Palestinian workers inside Israel by deducting fees from their salaries while denying them benefits. Its role predates the Nakba and continues to reflect this colonial relationship, which is why Palestinian workers and labor union solidarity activists have urged a boycott of the Histadrut by international labor federations.

Palestinian workers in exile also continue to struggle against exploitation and oppression. In Lebanon, Palestinian refugees continue to be denied access to over 70 professions, leading to massive unemployment and frequent despair among the working class. Palestinian refugees forced to flee to Europe, North America and elsewhere from Lebanon, Syria and occupied Palestine confront racist, repressive policies that inhibit their right to work and threaten them with deportation, detention and exclusion.

Classic Palestinian revolutionary poster for 1 May.

They confront the racism of “Fortress Europe” and criminalization of refugee workers alongside fellow migrants and workers seeking safety and refuge from the military, social, environmental and economic disasters forced upon their home countries by the very imperialist states that then deny their rights. They face severe exploitation in black market labor. Still, these workers continue to struggle despite all odds not only to confront racism and exclusion in the imperialist countries but also to organize to confront imperialism and win their liberation.

Israeli occupation and oppression reflects the sharpest edge of capitalist exploitation for the Palestinian working class, backed up fully by the most powerful and dangerous imperialist powers, especially the United States. However, they also face Arab reactionary regimes that are complicit with the exploitation and marginalization of Palestinian workers even as they pursue normalization with the Israeli state. They also confront Palestinian capitalists and the Palestinian Authority, formed as a security subcontractor to the Israeli occupation. The Jordanian monarchy acted in the 1970s and 1980s to repress union organizing in the interests of Palestinian capitalists, while ultra-wealthy Palestinian capitalists like Bashar al-Masri are on the first lines promoting normalization and undermining the boycott of Israel.

Classic Palestinian revolutionary poster for 1 May. Artist Marc Rudin

Imperialism is on the attack around the world, using its military might and its weapons of siege and sanctions against peoples around the world. As always, it is workers and the impoverished classes who bear the heaviest brunt of these assaults, such as in Venezuela, where the people continue to resist imperialist attacks despite repeated coup attempts, the confiscation of the Venezuelan people’s resources, military threats from the United States and devastating, exploitative sanctions. Fighting back against imperialism, including U.S., Canadian and EU sanctions on Venezuela, Iran, Syria and indeed, nearly one-third of the world, in addition to its military interventions, warmongering and ongoing violent attacks on all forms of resistance to imperial domination, is essential to building the movement for Palestine.

On International Workers’ Day, we once again amplify the words of Kamil Abu Hanish, speaking from Israeli prison, urging the escalation of the boycott of Israel: “Today, we call upon you, the fighters for freedom and justice in the world, the workers’ movements, the strugglers for socialism, the movements of revolution, to escalate your support for our struggle, for the Palestinian people and for the Palestinian prisoners. We urge you to act to isolate the occupation state, to hold it accountable for 70 years of crimes against the Palestinian people…The workers’ movements, the movements of the popular classes, the movements of the oppressed, can and must take part in this battle around the world, as part and parcel of the struggle against racism, imperialism and capitalism.”

We urge workers’ organizations around the world to continue to build and grow this solidarity with Palestinian workers, the leaders of the Palestinian liberation struggle. At the same time, we also express our solidarity with the struggling workers of the world, including the imprisoned labor union and workers’ movement leaders who are held behind bars or face death threats and repression for their role in defending oppressed workers. From India to the Philippines to France, from Colombia to Egypt and Morocco, we stand with these labor movements targeted for repression. We salute the imprisoned Turkish and Kurdish strugglers, not only in Turkish jails but also in European ones, often targeted for their role in workers’ organizations or even for defending them in court. The liberation of Palestine is fundamentally linked to the liberation of all from imperialism, exploitation and capitalism.

On International Workers’ Day, these struggles must become an occasion to escalate our work to support Palestinian workers, free the prisoners, and liberate Palestine, from the river to the sea. Labor action for Palestine, including the boycott of the Histadrut and of Israeli bonds, is one clear way for organized workers around the world to stand together with Palestinian workers in a collective struggle for liberation that confronts settler colonialism, Zionism, apartheid, capitalism, exploitation and oppression in all forms.

Join us on 15-22 May 2021 — the liberation of Palestine is part and parcel of the liberation of the working class of the world! 

* Note: Much of the statement above is republished from our earlier statement on 1 May. 

Defend Jerusalem, Rally for Return and Liberation: Take Action for the Week of Palestinian Struggle 15-22 May

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges organizations, activists, social movements and friends of Palestine everywhere to take action to defend Jerusalem, rally for Palestinians’ right to return, and act for justice and liberation for all of Palestine. We join in the call for the Week of Action for Palestinian Struggle, 15-22 May 2021: take action, march, rally, protest, organize and struggle for Palestine! 

As we approach the 73rd anniversary of the Nakba, the Zionist colonization of Palestine and the forced expulsion of Palestinians, the Nakba is continuing. This is apparent everywhere in Palestine, but perhaps is most clear in the heart of Jerusalem, Palestine’s capital: in Sheikh Jarrah, where Palestinian families are being threatened with imminent expulsion from their homes by the Israeli regime and its colonial settlers. 

As we mark 73 years of Nakba, we also celebrate 73 years of resistance. Palestinians in Jerusalem are holding steadfast to their land, homes and lives despite all attempts at Zionist “ethnic cleansing.” And they are making clear, as the Palestinian liberation movement has throughout its history, that resistance is fruitful. 

Many events have already been announced as Palestinians and friends of Palestine mark these dates: Join us on 15 May in Berlin, on 15 May in New York and 16 May in New Jersey, 15 May in Athens, with more events being organized in Madrid, San Francisco and many more to come! 

Defend Jerusalem

Palestinian youth in Jerusalem won the “battle of the checkpoints,” forcing the dismantling of Israeli occupation checkpoints imposed on the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem as Palestinians celebrate Ramadan. They faced racist, Zionist mobs proudly displaying their attempts to remove Palestinians from Palestine, rampaging through Jerusalem and chanting “death to Arabs,” hand in hand with the attacks of the Israeli “official” occupation forces on youth raising the Palestinian flag. The resistance of these Palestinian youth must inspire us and ignite our organizing to #SaveSheikhJarrah and liberate Palestine!  

Palestinians in Jerusalem are under attack on multiple levels, defending their land, city and identity from erasure and colonialism for 73 years. They face the stripping of their identity and residence — even from their place of birth — severe repression, land confiscations, home demolitions and ongoing Zionist attempts to erase the Palestinian and Arab presence and nature of the city. In Sheikh Jarrah, Palestinian families — refugees of the Nakba in 1948 — are once again being threatened with imminent expulsion from their homes and lands, as they refuse to concede their lives to racist Zionist colonialism. 

Palestinians in Jerusalem — and throughout occupied Palestine and in exile — continue to resist and to prove that the Palestinian struggle continues and that organizing and resistance is the road to liberation. 

On the Week of Palestinian Struggle, join us to defend Jerusalem, #SaveSheikhJarrah and continue on their path of resistance, steadfastness and solidarity. 

Freedom for the Prisoners

There are nearly 4,500 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails: women and men, children and elders, teachers and students, workers and farmers, community organizers and freedom fighters. They are imprisoned because they reflect the resistance and true leadership of the Palestinian people, continuing through 73 years of ongoing Nakba and over 100 years of colonialism. 

Every day, Palestinian prisoners put their bodies and lives on the line, standing on the front lines of confrontation with the jailers. They face severe torture under interrogation, ongoing medical neglect and abuse, and indefinite arbitrary imprisonment without charge or trial under administrative detention. 

Standing with Palestinian prisoners is standing with the Palestinian resistance. It also means standing for the liberation of prisoners for Palestine jailed in Arab reactionary regime prisons, from Egypt to Saudi Arabia, and in imperialist jails, like the Holy Land Five, Issam Hijjawi Bassalat, and the Arab struggler and revolutionary Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, jailed for nearly 37 years in France.

On the Week of Palestinian Struggle, join us to demand freedom for all Palestinian prisoners and all revolutionary prisoners struggling for justice and liberation.

Resistance Toward Victory

The Zionist project — backed to the hilt by British colonialism, U.S. imperialism and their partners in Europe, Canada and elsewhere — has attempted to subjugate Palestine and the Arab region for over 73 years. Despite its force of arms and military strength, the Palestinian people have continued to resist, revolt, rise up in intifada after intifada, and build a revolutionary movement for the liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea. The Zionist project is fundamentally racist, colonialist and must be defeated.

Palestinians have the right to resist occupation and oppression by any means necessary. This includes popular organizing, grassroots resistance, mass action and armed struggle. The so-called “peace process” of Oslo and Madrid has been an attempt to defeat the Palestinian people — an effort that has been resisted and blocked through unending struggle. Despite a brutal siege on Gaza, harsh repression, imprisonment and killing, Palestinians continue to defend their land, people and liberated future with resistance. 

Palestinian resistance and revolution remains an inspiration for the people of the world seeking justice and liberation everywhere. On the Week of Palestinian Struggle, we uphold and affirm the Palestinian resistance toward victory for Palestine. 

Return and Liberation

At the heart of the Palestinian struggle is the right of Palestinian refugees — the majority of the Palestinian population — to return to their homes, lands and properties. Despite 73 years of Nakba, Palestinians in the refugee camps and everywhere in exile and in diaspora have held fast to their keys, their identities, and the promise of victory and return. 

Even as Palestinian refugees are denied their right to return home, they continue to face repression, discrimination and surveillance in exile and diaspora — facing unjust laws and criminalization, denial of refugee rights and racist attacks in countries throughout Europe. On the Week of Palestinian struggle, we fight for the right to remain and the right to return! 

Every victory that is achieved for people’s struggles around the world is a victory for Palestine, and every attack on those movements – such as the attempts to foment a coup in Venezuela or blockade Cuba – is also an attack on the Palestinian people. This struggle for return and liberation has meant that Palestinians have been on the front lines fighting imperialism for over 72 years, fighting alongside comrades in Ireland, the Philippines, Turkey, South Africa, the indigenous Americas and elsewhere. This week of Palestinian struggle is also a week of struggle against imperialism and its attack on the people of the region and the world.

The right to return for Palestinian refugees and the defeat of imperialism are keys to the liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea. Everywhere in Palestine — in occupied Palestine ’48, in Jerusalem, in the West Bank, in the Gaza Strip — and in exile and diaspora, from the refugee camps to the cities of the world — Palestinians struggle for victory and liberation.

Join us 15-22 May 2021 in the Week of Palestinian Struggle — defend Jerusalem, take action for return and liberation!

TAKE ACTION: 

Please join us in taking action of the Week of Palestinian Struggle! Here are a few action items you can take. Please share your actions with us at samidoun@samidoun.net.

1. Demonstrations, rallies and street actions – defend Jerusalem, march for return, rally for liberation!

Have a protest or action to mark the 73rd anniversary of the Nakba, support Palestinian resistance, defend Jerusalem or uphold the right to return. Organize a mass rally if you can do so in your area, but if conditions prevent it, there are still important ways to get out on the streets – check out the Stand Palestine for Jerusalem being organized on 30 April by Collectif Palestine Vaincra in Toulouse, France; the Iftar and Speak-Out for Jerusalem organized on 30 April in New York by Within Our Lifetime, or the outdoor informational gatherings in Frankfurt, Germany, organized by Samidoun Deutschland for the Week of Action for Palestinian Prisoners. 

You can also check out the civil disobedience actions organized against Elbit, the arms manufacturer, by Palestine Action in the UK for direct actions targeting the apartheid war machine.

2. Boycott Israel! — including the boycott of Israeli Dates! 

Join the campaign to cut off Israel’s international support and markets by building the boycott of Israel and the international isolation of Zionism. This Ramadan, as Israel is attempting to force Palestinians from Jerusalem, demolish homes, and imprisons thousands more, it markets dates from stolen Palestinian land around the world. Build a boycott campaign — work to get your union, church or university to stop buying HP products or employing G4S security contractors; both companies profit from the imprisonment of Palestinians. 

Labor unionists here can take a stand: boycott the Histadrut! The Zionist labor federation is part and parcel of the attack on Palestinians for 73 years. Join with Palestinian trade unionists to boycott the Histadrut and exclude this racist organization from international labor bodies.

Boycott Israeli dates — spread the word in your community, go to stores to educate consumers and sticker the products of Zionism and colonialism. Contact us via email at samidoun@samidoun.net or via WhatsApp at +32466904397 to let us know about your boycott actions. 

3. Creative Actions

Creative actions are a wonderful way to highlight the Palestinian struggle – even when you are engaging in physical distancing and health precautions. The banner hung by Samidoun España in Madrid at the University metro station highlighted the struggle of Palestinian students, while the campaign to symbolically rename streets after Georges Abdallah internationally commemorated his birthday and amplified the demand for his liberation.

These actions only require one, two or a few people. You can even simply poster and sticker around your neighbourhood. Contact us via email at samidoun@samidoun.net or via WhatsApp at +32466904397 to let us know about your boycott actions.

4. Online/Virtual Events and Webinars

We still have plenty to share with each other via online events and webinars, which can enable us to connect easily and freely across borders and barriers. Host a webinar or event — or a cultural gathering with poetry and music — highlighting the Palestinian right to return and the ongoing liberation struggle.

Please note: Samidoun has speakers that can participate in your webinars in Arabic, English, French, German, Dutch, Spanish and other languages. Contact us via email at samidoun@samidoun.net or via WhatsApp at +32466904397 to inquire about a Samidoun speaker! 

1 May, Online Event: The Liberation of Palestine, Towards an Arab and Internationalist Vision

Saturday, 1 May
11 am Pacific – 2 pm Eastern – 8 pm central Europe – 9 pm Palestine
Join on Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87340050132
Join on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/507170580285099

Long live the first of May: a day of struggle against exploitation, colonization and zionism

Join Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network and the Alternative Palestinian Path (Masar Badil) for a public symposium on International Workers’ Day: The Liberation of Palestine and the Alternative Revolutionary Path – towards an Arab and internationalist vision.

With speakers:

Charlotte Kates, international Coordinator, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network

Ayman Rumeida, local organizing committee, Alternative Palestinian Path Conference / Germany

English, Arabic and Spanish translation will be available

عاش الأول من أيار: يَوماً للنضال ضد الاستغلال والاستعمار والصهيونية.

يدعوكم المسار الفلسطيني البديل وشبكة صامدون للمشاركة في الندوة الجماهيرية العامة بمناسبة يوم الأول من أيار عيد العمال العالمي، بعنوان: (فلسطين والمسار الثوري البديل: نحو رؤية عربية وأممية)

شارلوت كييتس: المُنسقة الدولية لِشبكة صامدون للدفاع عن الأسرى الفلسطينيين
أيمن رميدة: عضو اللجنة المحلية لمؤتمر المسار الفلسطيني البديل – المانيا.

السبت 1 – 5 – 2021 الساعة 9 مساءً بتوقيت فلسطين المحتلة.
عبر منصة زووم من خلال الرابط الآتي: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87340050132
ملاحظة: ستتوفر الترجمة الإنجليزية والعربية والاسبانية

Viva el primero de mayo: día de lucha contra la explotación, el colonialismo y el sionismo.

La Ruta Palestina Alternativa y la Red Samidoun les invitan a participar en el simposio público con motivo del Día Internacional del Trabajo del 1 de mayo, titulado: (Palestina y la ruta revolucionaria alternativa: hacia una visión árabe e internacional)

Charlotte Kates es la coordinadora internacional de Samidoun Network para la defensa de los prisioneros palestinos.
Ayman Rumeida: Miembro del comité local de la Conferencia Ruta Palestina Alternativa en Alemania.

Sábado 1-5-2021 a las 9 pm hora de Palestina ocupada.
En la plataforma Zoom a través del siguiente enlace: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87340050132
Nota: disponible traducción simultánea en inglés, árabe y español

Palestinian Prisoners’ Action Week 2021: Global action report and growing solidarity

Organizations and activists around the world demanded freedom for Palestinian political prisoners as part of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Week of Action between 17 and 23 April. Every year, since 1974, Palestinians, Arabs and internationalists commemorate a day of action on 17 April, Palestinian Prisoners’ Day. This week of action involves protests, boycott actions, mobilization and education to demand freedom for all Palestinian prisoners jailed by Israel, expose the complicity of imperialist and reactionary regimes and stand with the Palestinian people and the Palestinian resistance.

The Week of Action also comes to a close as Palestinians in Jerusalem and throughout Palestine are resisting escalating attacks by the Israeli occupation, including racist Zionist mobs roaming the streets of occupied Jerusalem and the threatened expulsion of Palestinian families from the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, both manifestations of the ongoing Nakba carried out by the Israeli regime against the Palestinian people. We urge all friends and supporters of Palestine to continue to take action and stand with the Palestinian people and their heroic resistance, confronting colonial incarceration, land theft, home demolition, siege on Gaza, denial of the right to return, military occupation, extrajudicial executions, apartheid and colonialism. Join in the Week of Action for Palestinian Struggle, 15-22 May 2021 – read the call from the Masar Badil (Alternative Palestinian Path) and take action in your community. Protests are already being organized in Berlin, New York, Athens and more: Organize for Palestine’s liberation, from the river to the sea!

Events and Actions for the Palestinian Prisoners’ Week of Action

During the Week of Action, Samidoun launched the Communicating despite the jailer – Letters to our prisoners in occupation’s jails campaign, soliciting online messages and letters to Palestinian prisoners from people around the world. Hundreds of letters have already been submitted. These letters will be translated to Arabic and read over radio programs by Samidoun Palestine, reaching the prisoners directly inside occupation prisons. Many will also be posted on the Samidoun website in the coming days and weeks. Add your letter (form available in English, Arabic, German, Spanish and French: https://samidoun.net/letters )

Palestine

Samidoun Network in occupied Palestine organized two events on 17 April and 18 April in support of Palestinian prisoners. On Saturday, 17 April — Palestinian Prisoners’ Day — Samidoun joined together with the youth committee in Beit Ummar, al-Khalil, occupied Palestine, to visit with prisoners’ families and extend support and collective commitment to see all 4,500 Palestinian prisoners liberated from Israeli occupation prisons.

That evening, following Taraweeh prayers, night prayers performed during Ramadan, Samidoun activists, family members of prisoners and youth in Al-Arroub refugee camp near al-Khalil gathered to recognize Palestinian Prisoners’ Day and call for the liberation of imprisoned Palestinian strugglers.

The following day, Sunday, 18 April, Samidoun Network in occupied Palestine gathered in the village of Kobar, outside Ramallah.

They gathered to salute the Palestinian prisoners, including the longest-held prisoner, Nael Barghouthi, himself from Kobar. They met with the families of prisoners and martyrs, especially Dr. Widad Barghouthi, Bir Zeit University professor, mother of the prisoners Qassam and Karmel Barghouthi, whose home was demolished by the Israeli occupation.

On 21 April, Samidoun Palestine in Yabad, Jenin, Palestine, postered on the walls of the village with images and slogans in support of Palestinian political prisoners, including Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, jailed in France for nearly 37 years.

They followed up on this by meeting with the families of child prisoners throughout Yabad, expressing support and pledging not to leave imprisoned Palestinian children alone.

These events came amid a number of demonstrations and actions throughout occupied Palestine organized by many groups and organizations to mark Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, including protests and marches in Ramallah, Gaza City, Nablus and elsewhere. In Rafah, Gaza, Palestinians protested for the release of all Palestinian prisoners, highlighting the case of Georges Abdallah, imprisoned in France for the past 37 years. They also carried signs for the Collectif Palestine Vaincra, based in Toulouse, France, a member organization of the Samidoun Network.

https://twitter.com/CollectifPV/status/1383849523181543431

France

The Collectif Palestine Vaincra (a member organization of the Samidoun Network) kicked off the Week of Action for Palestinian Prisoners in Toulouse, France with a Palestine Stand on Saturday, 17 April.

For over two hours, the Collectif organized an information booth, distributed hundreds of leaflets on Palestinian prisoners, discussed with passers-by, played Palestinian music and presented several speeches over the loudspeaker explaining how mass incarceration is a colonial weapon in the hands of the Israeli occupation.

Collectif Palestine Vaincra continued their actions throughout the week. On Saturday, 24 April, the collective organized a new Palestine Stand in Toulouse to promote the boycott of Teva, the Israeli pharmaceutical firm:

Later that day, the Collectif joined a large demonstration against Islamophobia, systemic racism and the “separatism law” in Toulouse:

Also on 17 April, the Unitary Campaign for the Liberation of Georges Abdallah marked Palestinian Prisoners Day and international political prisoners’ day in Paris, France, with a rally and action, and will be releasing videos throughout the week in support of Palestinian prisoners and the Palestinian struggle for freedom, as well as the liberation of Georges Abdallah from French prisons after 36 years.

Also in Paris, on 23 April, the Unitary Campaign joined a popular demonstration for social and economic justice, highlighting the case of Georges Abdallah.

On 24 April in Paris, CAPJPO-EuroPalestine organized a demonstration to demand freedom for Palestinian child prisoners. There are approximately 150 Palestinian children currently jailed by the Israeli occupation.

Activists urged the expansion of the campaign to boycott Israel and called for freedom for Georges Abdallah.

In Tarbes, France, the Collectif 65 pour la libération de Georges Abdallah gathered to mark Palestinian Prisoners’ Day on 17 April, displaying signs and banners highlighting the imprisonment of Palestinian leader Ahmad Sa’adat and Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, imprisoned for over 36 years in French prisons.

In Roubaix, France, activists created a mural on the wall on 17 April demanding the release of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah for Palestinian Prisoners’ Day.

In Lyon, France, activists marked Palestinian Prisoners’ Day on 17 April. The Collectif 69 de Soutien au Peuple Palestinien distributed over 500 leaflets calling for the release of Georges Abdallah, and collecting dozens of cards to send to French president Emmanuel Macron demanding his liberation.

In Grenay, France, the Muncipality organized a commemoration of Palestinian Prisoners’ Day on 17 April, highlighting in particular the campaigns for the liberation of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah from French jails and the liberation of Marwan Barghouthi and his fellow political prisoners in Palestine.

On 17 April in Pays de Morlaix, France, the AFPS (Association France-Palestine Solidarite) organized a large display and street theater performance highlighting Palestinian Prisoners’ Day. They displayed a banner demanding freedom for Palestinian prisoners above the town market and read out testimonies from imprisoned Palestinians.

On 19 April, AFPS 63 in Clermont-Ferrand made a presentation to dozens of people at the Comédie hall, part of a protest occupation since 15 March 2021. They highlighted the centrality of the prisoners’ struggle to justice and liberation in Palestine, urged a broad boycott of Israel to free Palestinian prisoners and gathered letters of solidarity in support of Georges Abdallah and imprisoned Palestinian children.

In Saint Girons, France, Couserans-Palestine organized a table at the Market on Saturday, 24 April, highlighting Palestinian prisoners’ struggle for freedom. They distributed information about Palestinian political prisoners, administrative detention without charge or trial and the Israeli apartheid regime in Palestine.

Further organizations in France designed posters and issued solidarity statements for Palestinian political prisoners, as well as organizing actions in cities, towns and communities such as Auch. The Union des Etudiants Communistes created a poster highlighting the hundreds of Palestinian students jailed by the Israeli occupation and demanding their freedom. Communist Youth in Saint-Etienne also produced a report on the situation of Palestinian political prisoners, highlighting the campaign for the Week of Action.

Germany

On 17 April, an enthusiastic march for Palestinian Prisoners’ Day wound through Neukölln, Berlin, Germany, organized by Samidoun Deutschland in partnership with several organizations, including Palästina Spricht Palestine Speaks, FOR-Palestine, Young Struggle Europe, Volksrat der Eelam Tamilen – Deutschland e.V., und Netzwerk Freiheit für alle politischen Gefangenen.

Marking Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, the march progressed from Rathaus Neukölln to Hermannplatz, marching through Sonnenallee, home to many Palestinian and Arab restaurants and businesses in Berlin.

They concluded by calling on attendees’ to join and mobilize for the 15 May March for Return and Liberation in Berlin.

In Stuttgart, the Palästinakomitee Stuttgart, together with several organizations, joined in an anti-racist and anti-fascist demonstration on 17 Apri in the city with signs, banners and Palestinian flags to mark Palestinian Prisoners’ Day. The committee drew attention to the campaign to free Palestinian students and highlighted the conditions and unjust detention of Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails.

In Frankfurt, members of Samidoun Deutschland organized a public display on 17 April highlighting the imprisonment of Palestinian students, with large posters and collages of the photos of jailed students in Israeli prisons. They set up a wooden chair to illustrate the stress positions and forms of torture used by Israeli interrogators against Palestinian students and other political prisoners.

Palestinian and Arab community organizations in Germany also organized sit-ins and actions in Köln, Koblenz and elsewhere on 17 April.

On Friday, 23 April, Samidoun Deutschland took to the streets in Frankfurt, displaying slogans in solidarity with Palestinians fighting land confiscation in Sheikh Jarrah, struggling for freedom in occupation prisons, remembering Basil al-Araj and calling for a complete boycott of Israel.

Sweden

In Gothenburg, Sweden, Samidoun Göteborg joined with anti-imperialist organizations for a banner display and public action on Saturday, 17 April, marking Palestinian Prisoners’ Day. They distributed information and displayed banners and posters calling for the liberation of Georges Abdallah, all Palestinian prisoners, and liberation for Palestine.

Also on 17 April, in Stockholm, Sweden, Samidoun Stockholm, together with Aktion Proletär Järva and Rojavakommittéerna Stockholm, organized a public action for Palestinian Prisoners’ Day. They distributed leaflets and information and delivered a speech: “Freedom for Ahmad Sa ‘adat! Freedom for Khitam Safin! Freedom for Khalida Jarrar! And freedom for all political prisoners from Palestine to Ireland and from the US to Morocco!”

Samidoun Malmö and the Sweden Local Preparatory Committee for the Alternative Palestinian Path (Masar Badil) organized an online event over Zoom on Sunday, 18 April. Moderated by former Palestinian political prisoner and poet Dareen Tatour, the event featured a number of released prisoners, including Shatha Hassan, Susan Oweiwi, Hamza Younis and Abu Aseel Asaleh. The Masar Badil also released the following short animated video highlighting Palestinian Prisoners’ Day:

Spain

In Madrid, Spain, Samidoun España, Alkarama, and international associations for political prisoners gathered for a protest outside the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Relations on Saturday, 17 April to demand freedom for Palestinian political prisoners and international revolutionary prisoners.

They carried signs and banners demanding freedom for Palestinians in Zionist, Arab and imperialist jails, including Khitam Saafin, Ahmad Sa’adat, Ramy Shaath, Issam Hijjawi Bassalat, Georges Abdallah and Ghassan Najjar.

For the Week of Action for Palestinian Prisoners, Palestina Libre Murcia and Samidoun in Murcia organized a video reading out the call to action in Spanish and highlighting the posters and images of many Palestinian political prisoners.

Galiza

On 21 April, the Palestine.gal Platform, of which Confederación Intersindical Galega is a part, delivered a letter to the three parliamentary groups of the Galiza Parliament, in Santiago de Compostela, requesting a position condemning the situation of Palestinian prisoners.

Belgium

In Brussels, Belgium, the Palestinian Community In Belgium and Luxembourg, Intal, and many other organizations protested outside the Gare Centrale, the central train station, marking Palestinian Prisoners’ Day and calling for the liberation of detained Palestinians.

Luk Vervaet delivered a speech at the protest, in which he linked the imprisonment of Palestinians with the criminalization of the movement, highlighting the cases of Samidoun, Collectif Palestine Vaincra, CAPJPO-EuroPalestine and Palestine Action and urging collective solidarity.

Britain

On 17 April, Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! and the Revolutionary Communist Group joined a #KillTheBill protest in Manchester, Britain, resisting the unjust, oppressive police legislation. They carried Palestinian flags and signs highlighting Palestinian prisoners’ struggle for freedom.

The following week, on 24 April in London, the Revolutionary Communist Group and Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! organized the Break the Chains! protest for political prisoners, highlighting the birthday of Mumia Abu-Jamal, U.S. political prisoner of the Black Liberation Movement as well as the campaigns to free Palestinian prisoners and all revolutionary prisoners. Both Samidoun and Collectif Palestine Vaincra provided statements read out at the demonstration.

Netherlands

In Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Samidoun Nederland marked Palestinian Prisoners’ Day with postering, displaying signs and images demanding freedom for the hundreds of Palestinian student prisoners inside Israeli jails and the liberation of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah.

Greece

On Sunday, 25 April, the Samidoun Network in Greece and the Anti-Imperialist Front organized a protest in Athens, Greece urging freedom for revolutionary political prisoners, including Palestinian political prisoners and international prisoners, such as Ali Osman Kose and Georges Ibrahim Abdallah. Signs, posters and chants in Turkish, Greek and Arabic accompanied the event.

Lebanon

The Lebanese Democratic Youth Union conducted a public education campaign on the case of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah in the Ruwais neighborhood of Beirut on 17 April, calling for his liberation and highlighting the need for popular struggle to obtain his freedom.

Also on 17 April, the Palestinian Arab Cultural Center in Baddawi Refugee Camp in Lebanon created a solidarity video highlighting Palestinian prisoners’ struggle for liberation:

On 18 April, the Global Campaign to Return to Palestine, with Muhjat al-Quds, organized a program for Palestinian Prisoners Day in Bourj al-Barajneh refugee camp in Lebanon. They displayed photos and played videos highlighting the prisoners’ struggle for liberation, including a message from Samidoun.

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rican former political prisoner Oscar Lopez Rivera issued a new painting highlighting the struggle of Palestinian political prisoners for Palestinian Prisoners’ Day. Oscar was the longest held Puerto Rican political prisoner – 36 years – released in 2017. He remains a committed Independentista – insisting that the US has no right to keep Puerto Rico as a colony and demanding freedom for his people. The poster salutes the The Global Campaign to Return to Palestine.

Ireland

From Ireland, Stephen Murney, the head of the International Department of Saoradh, issued a solidarity statement and message in support of Palestinian political prisoners and the Week of Action, highlighting the deep ties of struggle between the Irish and Palestinian liberation movements.

In Derry, Ireland, Saoradh activists engaged in banner drops at various locations throughout the city highlighting the struggle of Palestinian prisoners:

Saoradh members from County Cork, Ireland, also took part in the International Week for Palestinian prisoners, while in East Tyrone, Ireland, Saoradh and the Irish Republican Prisoners Welfare Association sent solidarity greetings to Palestinian strugglers.

On 23 April, Saoradh activists gathered outside the historic Kilminhaim Gaol to show support for Palestinian political prisoners and demand the liberation of Dr. Issam Hijjawi Bassalat, jailed alongside Irish Republicans as a political prisoner of Britain:

Saoradh activists in Belfast, Ireland also took part in the Week of Action for Palestinian political prisoners, including an action at the International Wall in West Belfast on 24 April. They also emphasized the importance of escalating the boycott of Israel.

Watch all the Saoradh videos at their Facebook page.

United States

Students for Justice in Palestine in Houston, Texas, organized a banner drop and sign display for Palestinian student prisoners, demanding justice and liberation for all prisoners, from Palestine to Turtle Island.

https://www.instagram.com/p/COB21qXpCER/?igshid=c9jrkdpl7zp9

Online Events and Actions

On the social media front, Addameer organized a social media campaign on April 17 #AgainstMilitaryCourts, calling for people around the world to post selfies and protest photos highlighting the resistance to injustice in occupied Palestine.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, many organizations held online events, actions and social media campaign to highlight the struggle of Palestinian prisoners. The AMED Studies Department at San Francisco State University — subjected to corporate censorship by Facebook — organized #FreeThemAll in collaboration with many groups and organizations, featuring former Palestinian prisoners like Mays Abu Ghosh, Mohammed Kamil and Yacoub Odeh, advocates like Sahar Francis and Ayed Abu Eqtaish, as well as Hank Jones, former US political prisoner and Black Panther. The event was moderated by Dr. Rabab Abdulhadi and Diana Block.

Watch the event video:

In addition to the actions in Paris and elsewhere, the Unitary Campaign for the Liberation of Georges Abdallah gathered a number of videos and statements for Palestinian Prisoners’ Week of Action, releasing them throughout the week of action on the Campaign’s YouTube channel. These videos included texts from Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, former Lebanese political prisoner Anwar Yassin, former Palestinian prisoner Myassar Atyani, current Palestinian prisoner Kamil Abu Hanish, the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network and the Collectif Palestine Vaincra.

On Friday, 16 April, Samidoun Palestine kicked off the Week of Action with an online webinar in Arabic, featuring former Palestinian prisoners Ghassan Zawahreh, Heba al-Labadi, Dr. Widad al-Barghouthi, Dareen Tatour and Rula Abu Duhou:

On Tuesday, 20 April, Samidoun’s international coordinator Charlotte Kates joined Kumi Now for the Sabeel-led organization’s weekly seminar, this time focusing on administrative detention:

On 17 April, Dunya Productions organized an online program: Loved Ones, linking the effects of imprisonment and colonialism from Seattle to Palestine, while AFPS 59/62 held an event (in French, video at the link), highlighting Said Bouamama’s new book, L’Affaire Georges Abdallah.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes all of the organizations and activists supporting Palestinian prisoners’ struggle for liberation and the struggle for the liberation of Palestine. We know that this list of actions is necessarily incomplete, as people around the world continue to come together to organize for Palestine. We urge all to join us on 15-22 May to escalate our protests and organizing, confronting Zionism, imperialism, reactionary forces and marching for return and liberation for Palestine, from the river to the sea.

Samidoun marks Prisoners’ Day in occupied Palestine

Samidoun Network in occupied Palestine organized two events on 17 April and 18 April in support of Palestinian prisoners. On Saturday, 17 April — Palestinian Prisoners’ Day — Samidoun joined together with the youth committee in Beit Ummar, al-Khalil, occupied Palestine, to visit with prisoners’ families and extend support and collective commitment to see all 4,500 Palestinian prisoners liberated from Israeli occupation prisons.

That evening, following Taraweeh prayers, night prayers performed during Ramadan, Samidoun activists, family members of prisoners and youth in Al-Arroub refugee camp near al-Khalil gathered to recognize Palestinian Prisoners’ Day and call for the liberation of imprisoned Palestinian strugglers.

Palestinian youth and even children participated in the event, highlighting the struggles of Palestinian prisoners and calling for their liberation. In the speech by Samidoun members at the gathering, they declared:

“It is our duty today to be the voice of the prisoners to the world and their voice to the Palestinian communities in exile and diaspora everywhere. It is our duty to expose the international inaction and complicity with the crimes against our valiant prisoners. Today, it is our duty to reject the policies of intimidation, threat, revolving doors and trading on the rights of our prisoners. Today, it is our duty to defend all prisoners of freedom and conscience in the prisons of the world. From the heart of Al-Arroub camp, we send a message of freedom to the heroic prisoner Georges Abdallah, who has been detained for 37 years in French prisons, for defending the cause of Palestine and its freedom, and assuring him that his revolutionary approach, resilience and the steadfastness of our prisoners are the daily engine driving us towards freedom.”

The following day, Sunday, 18 April, Samidoun Network in occupied Palestine gathered in the village of Kobar, outside Ramallah.

They gathered to salute the Palestinian prisoners, including the longest-held prisoner, Nael Barghouthi, himself from Kobar. They met with the families of prisoners and martyrs, especially Dr. Widad Barghouthi, Bir Zeit University professor, mother of the prisoners Qassam and Karmel Barghouthi, whose home was demolished by the Israeli occupation.

They laid a wreath at the gravesite of Omar Barghouthi (Abu Asif), who had spent 27 years in Israeli prison, 13 of them in administrative detention without charge or trial.

In the speech by Samidoun members at the event, they emphasized: “Over the years of the struggle, Kobar has given tens of martyrs, hundreds of wounded and prisoners, and hundreds of her children have entered the prisons of the Zionist entity, from all generations and at all periods, so neither time nor occasion will we remember them all, despite the fact that we designed a special poster that includes the names of Kobar’s detainees. We honor all of those who fought and struggled for their people, for freedom, return and liberation, and who gave their lives and years to our people and their liberation.”

These events came following a webinar organized on 16 April to launch the Palestinian Prisoners’ Week of Action by Samidoun Network in occupied Palestine, featuring former Palestinian prisoners Ghassan Zawahreh and Heba al-Labadi and Dr. Widad al-Barghouthi speaking about their experiences and perspectives on the struggle to free Palestinian prisoners. The event was also joined by former Palestinian political prisoners Dareen Tatour and Rula Abu Duhou, among others, and was conducted in Arabic (Video at the link).

These events came amid a number of demonstrations and actions throughout occupied Palestine to mark Palestinian Prisoners’ Day. In Rafah, Gaza, Palestinians protested for the release of all Palestinian prisoners, highlighting the case of Georges Abdallah, imprisoned in France for the past 37 years. They also carried signs for the Collectif Palestine Vaincra, based in Toulouse, France, a member organization of the Samidoun Network.

https://twitter.com/CollectifPV/status/1383849523181543431

There are more events and actions still to come as part of the Week of Action for Palestinian prisoners in cities and communities around the world. To learn more about these actions, endorse the week or add your own event, please visit the Call to Action.

Send your message today: Communicating despite the jailer – Letters to our prisoners in occupation’s jails

“Our prison was at the end of the citadel behind the ramparts. Looking through the crevices between the palisade in the hope of seeing something, one sees nothing but a little corner of the sky, and a high earthwork, covered with the long grass of the steppe. Night and day sentries walk to and fro upon it. Then one perceives from the first, that whole years will pass during which one will see by the same crevices between the palisades, upon the same earthwork, always the same sentinels and the same little corner of the sky, not just above the prison, but far and far away.” – The House of the Dead, F.M. Dostoyevsky.

There are nearly 4,500 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails today — subjected to a colonial system of imprisonment that aims to isolate them from their families, communities, people and movements. Nevertheless, Palestinian prisoners continue to resist, organize and lead the liberation movement. Messages of support and solidarity help to break down the bars and walls of isolation imposed by the occupation and make it clear that the prisoners are not forgotten, but are actually in the heart of struggle. Join us to send your letters of solidarity to Palestinian prisoners.

These messages can transcend all oppression and isolation our heroic prisoners are subjected to in Zionist prisons, and can bring that faraway free blue sky closer to them, overwhelming the one above the prison, reminding them that the Palestinian people, the Arab people and all progressive and democratic forces in the world have not and will not forget their sacrifices.

Join us in this initiative launched by Samidoun Network in the week of action for Palestinian prisoners works to convey our voice and support for our brave prisoners. Join us in writing a letter for all prisoners or for any particular prisoner in occupied Palestine. Samidoun Network in Occupied Palestine will deliver all messages via radio for our prisoners to hear.

Let us affirm to our prisoners that their freedom rests on our shoulders, for they are the ones who inspire us with their steadfastness and pave the way for freedom and return.

Click here to send your message to Palestinian prisoners! (Let us know whether we can also publish it on our website, and whether it is for a particular prisoner or all detainees.)

March in Berlin and actions throughout Germany take to the streets for Palestinian Prisoners’ Day

On 17 April, an enthusiastic march for Palestinian Prisoners’ Day wound through Neukölln, Berlin, Germany, organized by Samidoun Deutschland in partnership with several organizations, including Palästina Spricht Palestine Speaks, FOR-Palestine, Young Struggle Europe, Volksrat der Eelam Tamilen – Deutschland e.V., und Netzwerk Freiheit für alle politischen Gefangenen. Marking Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, the march progressed from Rathaus Neukölln to Hermannplatz, marching through Sonnenallee, home to many Palestinian and Arab restaurants and businesses in Berlin.

The march was enthusiastic and led by Palestinian youth, and many organizations delivered speeches and greetings at the event. The march was also joined by the Palestinian and Arab Institutions and Associations in Berlin.

Members of Samidoun delivered powerful messages in Arabic and German, saluting the struggle of 4,500 Palestinian prisoners behind Israeli bars and demanding freedom for all imprisoned strugglers. They carried banners and posters calling for the liberation of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, the Lebanese Arab struggler for Palestine imprisoned in French jails for over 36 years.

In the Samidoun speech at the rally, the speakers declared:

“The Palestinian prisoner movement was, and will remain, the shield of Palestinian and Arab resistance on the front line. The Palestinian prisoners are the advanced revolutionary corps struggling inside the furnaces of steadfastness and detention, within the dungeons of daily confrontation, engaged in a daily battle of confrontation that does not cease….As we sacrifice one hour of our time for them in this march, we must also remember that they are giving their whole lives for us, and for the liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea.”

The cause of the prisoners, as we understand it in Samidoun Network, is the cause of all. It is a Palestinian cause, an Arab cause, an international cause. It is the cause of Shatila camp and al-Baqa’a camp, the cause of Palestinians in diaspora and exile, not solely the cause of 5,000 Palestinian prisoners and their families.

Today, from Berlin, we declare clearly: The prisoners’ movement represents all of us, so today, when we raise our voices for their freedom, we are also calling out for the people of Ain el-Helweh, Yarmouk, Neirab, Wehdat, Bourj al-Barajneh and Beddawi camps… We are continuing our struggle with them today, continuing the march of the revolution, liberation and return, the march of the revolutionary struggle, from the legacy of the martyrs and wounded who struggled in Palestine in 1936, who struggled in Palestine in 1936, in Beirut, in the Jordan Valley, in the Golan, and who were martyred on the borders of Palestine…”

“When we organize the Palestinian prisoners’ week in scores of regions, cities and capitals, we are doing this to remind the world of its moral and political responsibilities and to restore the rightful role and position of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement, the true and legitimate national leaders that represent us and represent the resistance and the aspirations of our Palestinian people.

We need the prisoners more than they need us. It is our duty to raise the voice of the prisoners to the world and to all Palestinian communities in exile and diaspora, and raise their voice in unions, universities, factories, streets, parliaments, schools and all areas.”

“On this basis, we call today for:

First, exposing the crimes of the Zionist occupation against the Palestinian people and the brave Palestinian prisoners before the German and international public. We hold the German government accountable for its bias in favor of colonialism and Zionist crimes, and call upon it to respect German and international law and stand against these practices instead of justifying them in the right-wing, racist media.

Second,…Samidoun Network calls for unified action to build a wider movement for a comprehensive boycott of all occupation products and institutions. Building the boycott also means opposing normalization with Zionism.

Third, organizing for the liberation of the imprisoned hero, the struggler Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, who is for us a revolutionary model of steadfastness and an integral part of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement, to achieve his freedom from French prisons after 37 years of detention.

Fourth, strengthening our popular unity and real cooperation between the various Palestinian, Arab, Islamic and progressive German organizations to build an international front to defend Palestinian rights..

Fifth, we say to the embassies of the Palestinian Authority and the embassies of the Arab regimes, end your silence and weakness….Our people will defend their prisoners!”

They concluded by calling on attendees’ to join and mobilize for the 15 May March for Return and Liberation in Berlin.

The demonstration in Berlin was also accompanied by many actions and protests throughout Germany for Palestinian Prisoners’ Day.

In Stuttgart, the Palästinakomitee Stuttgart, together with several organizations, joined in an anti-racist and anti-fascist demonstration in the city with signs, banners and Palestinian flags to mark Palestinian Prisoners’ Day. The committee drew attention to the campaign to free Palestinian students and highlighted the conditions and unjust detention of Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails.

In Frankfurt, members of Samidoun Deutschland organized a public display on the imprisonment of Palestinian students, with large posters and collages of the photos of jailed students in Israeli prisons. They set up a wooden chair to illustrate the stress positions and forms of torture used by Israeli interrogators against Palestinian students and other political prisoners.

Palestinian and Arab community organizations in Germany also organized sit-ins and actions in Köln, Koblenz and elsewhere. There are more events and actions still to come as part of the Week of Action for Palestinian prisoners in cities and communities around the world.

In Toulouse, a Palestine Stand for the freedom of Palestinian prisoners

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

On Saturday, 17 April, Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, the Collectif Palestine Vaincra organized a Palestine stand near the exit of the Jean Jaurès metro station in Toulouse, France. This event took place as part of the International Week of Action for Palestinian Prisoners, organized by Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network.

For over two hours, the Collectif organized an information booth, distributed hundreds of leaflets on Palestinian prisoners, discussed with passers-by, played Palestinian music and presented several speeches over the loudspeaker explaining how mass incarceration is a colonial weapon in the hands of the Israeli occupation.

At the same time, the stand included a letter-writing workshop in which participants wrote solidarity letters to a number of Palestinian prisoners, a copy of which will be sent to their families by Samidoun Network in occupied Palestine. The collective thanks Mélusine for creating these artistic cards.

The Collectif also displayed several large banners, in support of Palestinian prisoners, for the liberation of Georges Abdallah — Arab struggler for Palestine jailed for over 36 years in France — and promoting the boycott of Israel.

The stand also included a small exhibition of posters, explaining the situation in occupation prisons and highlighting certain prisoners, including Marwan Barghouthi, Ahmad Sa’adat, Khalida Jarrar and Georges Abdallah.

On this occasion, dozens of people took solidarity photos in support of the release of the over 4,450 Palestinian prisoners.

To conclude this solidarity initiative, participants affirmed support for the #AgainstMilitaryCourts campaign by Addameer, opposing the Israeli military courts that condemn over 99% of the Palestinian civilians brought before them:

https://twitter.com/CollectifPV/status/1383457227449663492

Khaled Barakat: Freeing the prisoners requires a new revolutionary path for Palestinian struggle

On Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, 17 April 2021, the Samidoun Arabic website conducted an interview with Palestinian writer Khaled Barakat, below (Arabic at the link):

Question: How do you assess the current state of international solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners’ movement? What are the immediate tasks and priorities for the Palestinian diaspora and exile community regarding the cause of Palestinian prisoners in the occupation prisons?

Barakat: The international solidarity movement with the Palestinian prisoners’ struggle is not separate or isolated from the tasks and reality of the Palestinian and Arab popular mobilization with the Palestinian people in general and their legitimate national rights. However, a direct relationship with the cause of the prisoners specifically requires taking a clear position in support of the Palestinian resistance and its legitimacy. This also means that the focus should be on supporting the struggle and demands of this Palestinian revolutionary contingent, which is intensified and represented by the prisoners’ movement struggling within the occupation prisons, as it defends the cause and rights of the Palestinian people struggling for liberation and return, and, on the other hand, as a solid core of resistance and the front line of defense for the Palestinian people. The prisoners’ movement embodies the concept of freedom and is at the center of the daily and hourly confrontation against the occupation.

The level and state of the Palestinian national consensus and the level of Arab popular mobilization in supporting the prisoners’ movement necessarily affects the reality of the international solidarity movement with the struggle of the Palestinian prisoners in the prisons of the enemy. The primary responsibility is a Palestinian and Arab responsibility.

There is also a state of catastrophic failure witnessed daily by the Palestinian people at the official level of the Palestinian Authority, the role and inaction of the Authority and even complicity with the occupation, the Palestinian embassies largely ignoring the suffering and sacrifice of the prisoners, and there is also a serious failure on the part of the Palestinian factions. Moreover, the presence of a large number of Palestinian human rights institutions, for example inside occupied Palestine in particular, does not necessarily mean that they have an effective role at the international level.

Nevertheless, there is an important role being played by a number of organizations that consider the prisoners a priority and a fundamental task on their agenda, including the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network and the Collectif Palestine Vaincra and other groups in France, and leftist and solidarity forces in Ireland, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Canada, the United States, South Africa, Brazil and elsewhere. This role has escalated significantly in recent years, which has caused significant inconvenience to the occupation state such that it has launched counter-campaigns and put in place programs and laws to suppress this movement, reaching the extent of some being included on the so-called “terrorist” list, as is the case with you (Samidoun.)

I think that the direct tasks that must be focused on for the Palestinian diaspora towards the prisoners are: expanding the Palestinian and Arab popular participation in supporting the prisoners’ struggle, engaging in organized work on a consistent rather than a seasonal or symbolic basis, and pushing for revolutionary work that builds true bridges of struggle between our people outside Palestine and our Palestinian people in general inside occupied Palestine, through focused campaigns that expose the crimes of the enemy and reap positive results for the benefit of our people and their prisoners.

The task of liberating prisoners from the prisons remains the major, fundamental task, and this is a condition for building an alternative, new Palestinian revolutionary path. That means building up the Palestinian deterrent force that restrains the occupation and prevents it from violating the rights and dignity of the Palestinian people and the Palestinian prisoners with impunity

Building an organized Palestinian popular force that refers to the priorities of the Palestinian people and raises the level of international solidarity and emphasizes core issues (the right of return, the liberation of prisoners and supporting the resistance) remains a burning, urgent issue that should not be postponed or marginalized.

The role of Palestinians in exile in achieving such a revolutionary alternative and in building its leadership, especially in the refugee camps, is a central issue, just as its role in building a movement to boycott the Zionist entity and fight normalization and to link these tasks of struggle to the situation in occupied Palestine, at the heart of which is the struggle of the prisoners and detainees in the occupation prisons.

We must not be satisfied with criticizing the “self-government” Palestinian Authority that has failed our Palestinian people. We must do so while we build a revolutionary alternative that achieves the goals and aspirations of our people. This is an individual and collective mission and responsibility.

Question: We note, for example, the growing role of diaspora organizations and associations, especially in Europe and North America, towards the Palestinian prisoners’ movement and popular mobilization more generally, perhaps more than in the past. Do you agree with this?

Barakat: Yes, this is partially due to the presence of a wider space of “freedom,” by which we specifically mean freedom of movement, expression and organization in these areas. Despite state repression, this context remains outside the Oslo apparatus and the oppression of the Palestinian Authority as a proxy for the occupation and the hegemony of official Arab states that impose conditions upon and besiege our Palestinian people. Also, the occupation feels somewhat helpless in the face of this role of Palestinians in exile and diaspora, because it cannot freely exercise the oppression that it exerts against our people in occupied Palestine. This margin of freedom, despite its limitations, remains important and should not be ignored.

In addition, there are major changes that have occurred at the popular level in Palestinian and Arab communities in recent years, especially in terms of the increase in the number of Palestinians and Arabs in Europe due to displacement, war, imperialism and racism. This inevitably affects the escalation and centralization of the role of the Palestinian diaspora and will affect the growth of movements and forces supporting our peoples’ struggles on the international level.

In particular, we see the presence of a Palestinian vanguard among tens of thousands of Palestinian youth from the refugee camps of Syria, Lebanon, the Gaza Strip, Jordan and elsewhere, leading and organizing the demonstrations in these capitals and cities today, especially those called for by the Samidoun Network. These youth, as Ghassan Kanafani said, “will not learn to calm down.”

On the importance of this activity in general, it is clear that the cornerstone remains building the foundations for action and real revolutionary change in the refugee camps and among the popular classes in the countries and areas adjacent to occupied Palestine. This equation, as I see it, does not need a lot of rhetoric or explanation. The more our Palestinian people in diaspora take on their necessary role, regain their strength and bear their responsibilities toward themselves and towards Palestine and restores consideration for fedayee action, the sooner the liberation of Palestine becomes, and the closer the date of return approaches. These are the goals for which people resist the occupation and enter its prisons.

 

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