On 27 February, Revolutionaire Eenheid and Samidoun Netherlands put up a mural honoring Basil al-Araj, the Palestinian intellectual revolutionary who was martyred by Israeli occupation forces on 6 March 2017. As Samidoun we support all initiatives commemorating the life of Basil al-Araj.
Basil al-Araj was a widely known activist and youth leader in Palestine, who has been remembered as “the martyr of pen and bullet”.
During his life, Basil played an important role in connecting activists from all parts of Palestine. He gave historic tours of Palestine to hundreds of people, was a pharmacist, and organized and participated in hundreds of protests, clashes and boycott actions. He wrote about the need for a self-confident youth establishing a revolutionary alternative to the current status-quo.
As Revolutionaire Eenheid wrote in their statement commemorating al-Araj:
“Basil was the embodiment of the culture and morals of Palestinian society during the first intifada. Sacrifice and the collective, rather than self-serving and consumerism. His work criticizes the lack of morals and principles, the consequences of feelings of inferiority and colonized thinking that he observed in his environment.
Al-Araj argued that politics is not about getting a well-paid job, where you can also do something good for the world. Politics is about struggle and sacrifice. A struggle against the apartheid era, without compromising with the occupier.
Basil’s politics were not limited to words. When the occupier wanted to arrest him again, he fought back bravely. With a single weapon and an unlimited amount of courage, he fought for his life for over two hours.
Basil’s vision for a Palestine free from occupation, oppression, racism, Zionism, colonialism, and apartheid cannot be stopped by any army. Our global struggle continues, his vision becomes reality!”
On Friday, 19 March, Georges Abdallah, imprisoned for 37 years in French prisons, received for the third time a visit from Mr. Rami Adwan, the Ambassador of Lebanon in France. On this occasion, he was accompanied by Ms. Marie-Claude Najm, Minister of Justice of the acting Lebanese government.
Among other things, they brought him greetings from the Lebanese government and its president. The visit of the Lebanese Minister of Justice was conditioned on their being no statement made before or after the meeting.
We remember that at other times, during the many requests for release made by our comrade, the French prosecution openly stated their fears that the return of Georges Abdallah to his country would be celebrated and that he would, therefore, be hailed at the height of his popularity:
“An emblematic figure of the anti-Zionist struggle, his release [of Georges Abdallah] would undoubtedly be an event in Lebanon. He will probably be celebrated as a hero on his return to his country, and also by various movements engaged in revolutionary struggle.” (July 2007)
In other words, if Manuel Valls had deigned to sign the expulsion document, upon which the release of Georges Abdallah was conditioned in the ruling of the sentencing court on 21 November 2012, he should have been required to land in his own country silently, according to the will of the French state!
Georges Abdallah, revolutionary communist, detained for 37 years in French jails without ever renouncing his anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist political commitment and his dedication to a free Palestine, is certainly a model of resistance, courage and determination who should be greeted as he deserves, especially in these times when the struggle against Zionism and the colonization of Palestinian land is once again threatened and/or judged by French courts.
We salute the approach of Ms. Najm and Mr. Adwan, who, in a most delicate Lebanese political context, had the courage to meet their compatriot who has suffered for so many years the vengeance of the French justice system.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is an endorser of the following statement issued by the Palestinian Feminist Collective.
In honor of International Women’s Month, the Palestinian Feminist Collective calls on all people of conscience to pledge their commitment that Palestine is a Feminist Issue.
This Women’s History Month, we, the undersigned, join the Palestinian Feminist Collective (PFC), a U.S. based network of Palestinian and Arab women and feminists, in affirming Palestine as a feminist issue. Alongside the PFC, we build upon the history of Palestinian women and their co-strugglers who have worked to end multiple forms of oppression. We reject all appropriations of feminist and queer rights discourses that are used to dehumanize Palestinians, justify ongoing Zionist settler-colonization of their homeland, and repress their political activism. In doing so, we commit to resisting gendered and sexual violence, settler colonialism, capitalist exploitation, land degradation and oppression in Palestine, on Turtle Island, and globally.
For decades, Palestinian feminists have resisted Israel’s masculinist and militarized siege of Palestinian land and life. Since its inception, the Zionist settler colonial project has hinged on the expulsion of Palestinians from their homes and land, creating generations of landless Palestinian refugees. Zionist violence continues to dominate Palestinian lives in intimate ways. Throughout the homeland, Israel demolishes Palestinian homes, subjects Palestinian prisoners of conscience to systematic sexual and physical abuse and torture, and polices Palestinian bodies, sexualities, reproductive rights, and family life. Palestinians continue to affirm life in the face of the enduring Nakba (catastrophe), which takes place through deadly closure in the Gaza Strip, military occupation in the West Bank, legal designations of second-class citizenship in the settler state, exile in refugee camps and across the shatat (global diaspora), and denial of the right to return home.
We uphold the legacies of solidarity between Palestinian, Black, Indigenous, Third World feminist, working class, and queer communities who have struggled side-by-side within larger anti-colonial, anti-capitalist, and anti-racist movements in the US and globally. This stands in contrast to liberal feminist traditions in the U.S. that continue to weaponize feminist discourses against Palestinians and other marginalized communities by failing to confront the structural forms of gendered and sexual violence inherent to settler/colonialism,imperialist wars, racial capitalism, and global white supremacy. Liberal and Zionist feminisms rely on Orientalist discourses to silence and undermine the collective aspirations of Palestinian women and their co-strugglers, contributing to intensified political repression that criminalizes free speech on Palestine and Palestinian liberation.
In the interest of advancing a truly intersectional and decolonial feminist vision for the United States, Palestine and our world, we hereby pledge to:
Embrace and advocate for Palestinian liberation as a critical feminist issue;
Reject the conflation of anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism, in particular the legal enforcement of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism;
Call for an end to US political, military, and economic support to Israel, and to all military, security, and policing collaborations.
Our commitment to the liberation of Palestinian lands and people is rooted in love, which is at the heart of all projects of decolonization. Our values grow out of embodied cultural wisdom and justice to transform our communities. We are committed to ending the greed, domination, and fragmentation so deeply entrenched in capitalism, colonial extraction, and US empire. We are re-imagining and re-creating a world free from systems of gendered, racial and economic exploitation that commodify human life and land. Ours is a vision for a radically different future based on life-affirming interconnectedness, empowering the working classes,and love for each other, land, life and the planet itself. For these reasons, we pledge, today and everyday, to recognize Palestine as a Feminist Issue and to uphold this commitment in our daily lives and organizing praxis.
3/19/21 would be 18 years since Bush Jr. invaded & occupied Iraq.
It has continued through 8 years of Obama and 4 years of Trump.
Now Biden is bombing Syria.
NEW YORKERS: Join us on Sunday, March 21 from 12 Noon to 4 PM. Broadway & 42ND Street to protest. We will march to Broadway & 34th street – Herald Square, and continue our protest till 4:00 PM
ALL OTHERS: Take the lead and organize rallies in your Cities between Mar. 19th & 21st
Organized by Americans of Pakistani Heritage, Inc.
Endorsed by: Jafria Association of North America, Jaafria Youth of New York, Long Island Activists, Muslim For Peace, Muslim Action Committee, Peace Action New York State, StandWithDignity.Org, Struggle La Lucha, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network and United National Antiwar Coalition
Jaldia Abubakra, of the Preparatory Committee of the Palestinian Alternative Path Conference (Masar Badil), has a message: 30 years after the disastrous “Madrid Peace Conference,” join the Conference in Madrid for an alternative path: to liberation and return for Palestine.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is a participating organization in the Alternative Palestinian Path Conference and we invite all Palestinians and friends of Palestine to become involved in organizing and building for the conference. Learn more and get involved at: https://masarbadil.org/
Hadeel of Samidoun in Occupied Palestine will participate in this event alongside women from Africa, Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti and many movements for justice and liberation:
From the Argentine Committee of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, we condemn the inclusion by Israel of Samidoun in the list of terrorist organizations.
On February 28, Israel included Samidoun in the list of organizations it considers terrorists. Samidoun is an International Network of Solidarity with Palestinian Prisoners with delegations in North America, Europe and Palestine, with a sustained work for ten years.
From the Argentine Committee of Solidarity with the Palestinian People we condemn this inclusion, which, together with others, intends to distort and ban the organizations that we stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
As of January 2021, there were 4,400 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, including 160 boys and girls, 440 administrative detainees and 8 members of the Palestinian parliament.
Strikingly, Israel’s announcement comes days after 300 international organizations joined in a campaign to free imprisoned Palestinian students.
Israel maintains a systematic policy of detention and confinement of Palestinian men and women in Israeli jails in flagrant violation of International Law. In addition to the cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment reported internationally, Palestinian prisoners suffer other violations of their rights: restrictions on family visits, access to education, medical assistance, the right to due process, among many others.
Israel’s decision to include Samidoun on its list of terrorist organizations is part of a new attempt to persecute defenders of the rights of the Palestinian people. An attempt to isolate Palestinian prisoners from their international base of support and solidarity. For this reason, from Argentina we join the voices that condemn this inclusion.
We will continue to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
**
Desde el Comité Argentino de Solidaridad con el Pueblo Palestino, condenamos la inclusión por parte de Israel de Samidoun en la lista de organizaciones terroristas.
El pasado 28 de febrero, Israel incluyó a Samidoun en el listado de organizaciones que considera terroristas. Samidoun es una Red Internacional de Solidaridad con los Presos Palestinos con delegaciones en Norteamérica, Europa y Palestina, con un sostenido trabajo desde hace diez años.
Desde el Comité Argentino de Solidaridad con el Pueblo Palestino condenamos esta inclusión, que junto con otras, pretende desvirtuar y proscribir a las organizaciones que nos solidarizamos con el pueblo palestino.
A enero de 2021 se contabilizaban 4400 presos y presas palestinos/as en las cárceles israelíes, entre ellos 160 niños y niñas, 440 detenidos/as administrativos/as y 8 miembros del parlamento palestino.
Llamativamente, el anuncio de Israel se produce días después de que 300 organizaciones internacionales se unieran en una campaña para liberar a los estudiantes palestinos presos.
Israel mantiene una política sistemática de detención y reclusión de palestinos y palestinas en cárceles israelíes en flagrante violación al Derecho Internacional. Además de tratos crueles, inhumanos y degradantes denunciados a nivel internacional, las presas y presos palestinos sufren otras violaciones a sus derechos: restricciones a las visitas de familiares, en el acceso a la educación, la asistencia médica, el derecho al debido proceso, entre muchas otras.
La decisión de Israel de incluir a Samidoun en su listado de organizaciones terroristas, se enmarca en un nuevo intento de perseguir a defensores y defensoras de los derechos del pueblo palestino. Un intento de aislar a los presos palestinos de su base internacional de apoyo y solidaridad. Por eso, desde Argentina nos unimos a las voces que condenan esta inclusión.
Seguiremos solidarizándonos con el pueblo palestino.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network has joined many Palestinian, Palestine Solidarity, progressive, labor and anti-racist organizations in endorsing the International Day of Solidarity with Alabama Amazon Workers and Against Union Busting on 20 March, the World Day Against Racism.
Between Feb 8, and March 29, approximately 6,000 Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer, Alabama will begin voting by mail on whether to be represented by the Retail, Wholesale Department Store Workers Union (RWDSU). The harsh working conditions at Amazon warehouses, along with Amazon’s refusal to adopt measures that protect workers from COVID 19, have pushed Amazon and Whole Foods workers every- where to step up organizing and fighting back.
These predominantly Black workers who have in recent months formed the BAmazon Workers Union, are on the cusp of launching a history-changing workers organization against one of the biggest and most powerful transnational corporations in the world, and its super rich union busting owner, Jeff Bezos. In addition, these workers are standing up to the racist, anti-union laws that suppress labor across the South.
Solidarity from every corner of the labor and progressive movements is needed now to show the workers in Bessemer that they are not alone, that all eyes are on the historic struggle that they are leading. This is especially needed as Amazon ramps up their union-busting tactics.
On the International Day of Solidarity with Revolutionary Political Prisoners around the world, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network launches the following resource on Palestinian women detained by the Israeli settler-colonial occupation regime.
We invite all organizations, activists, women’s collectives and others interested in standing for justice in Palestine and for the freedom of Palestinian detained women to contact us at samidoun@samidoun.net to build collective campaigns for their liberation.
"Our battle is united, as we are all fighting oppression on the basis of gender, fighting class exploitation and fascist colonialism and foremost among which is the occupation on our land...For all Palestinian women, we believe that our social struggle is an inherent part of the struggle of our people, and for the liberation of land and people, we sacrifice, struggle and bring forth strugglers.”
– Bir Zeit University student prisoners, Layan Kayed, Elia Abu Hijleh, Ruba Assi, Shatha Tawil, Damon prison, Mount Carmel, 8 March 2021
There are currently approximately 35 Palestinian women in Israeli jails, representing all facets of Palestinian society: students, activists, organizers, parliamentarians, journalists, health workers, mothers, sisters, daughters, aunts, strugglers, freedom fighters.
Palestinian women have always been at the center of the liberation movement through all aspects of struggle and have led within the prisoners’ movement, organizing hunger strikes and standing on the front lines of struggle even behind bars.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes the leading role of Palestinian women in struggle and urges the immediate release of all Palestinian women prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons.
Palestinian women prisoners include 11 mothers, six injured women and three jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention.
They include Khalida Jarrar, Palestinian parliamentarian, feminist, leftist and advocate for Palestinian political prisoners, sentenced to two years in Israeli prison for her public political activities just days prior to International Women’s Day; Khitam Saafin, President of the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees, jailed without charge or trial, her administrative detention renewed for another four months; Bushra al-Tawil, Palestinian journalist and activist whose detention without charge or trial was also renewed for another four months on 7 March 2021.
They include Palestinian students, like Layan Kayed, Elia Abu Hijleh, Ruba Assi and Shata Tawil of Bir Zeit University. Hundreds of Palestinian students are routinely detained by the Israeli occupation, especially those who are part of student organizations involved with campus political life. At Bir Zeit University alone, approximately 74 students were detained by occupation soldiers during the 2019-2020 academic year.
Palestinian women prisoners are among 5,000 total political prisoners, but Palestinian women are broadly affected by the mass incarceration of Palestinian men as well. Palestinian women are the mothers, wives, daughters, sisters, lovers and friends of Palestinian male prisoners. They make homes for themselves and their children, denied access to their husbands and fathers.
Palestinian women lead the movement outside prison to highlight the names, faces, voices and stories of all Palestinian prisoners struggling for liberation. However, too often, the stories, names and experiences of imprisoned Palestinian women remain unmentioned and unhighlighted.
Since 1948 and before, from the earliest days of the Palestinian national liberation movement, Palestinian women have been expelled from their homes and targeted for repression on multiple levels, their very capacity to reproduce and raise their children labeled as an unacceptable threat to the racist settler-colonial project of Zionism. Since 1967 alone, around 10,000 Palestinian women have been jailed by the Israeli occupation for their political activity and involvement in the Palestinian resistance, including Palestinian women in Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and Palestinian women holding Israeli citizenship in occupied Palestine ’48. Palestinian women in exile and diaspora have been denied their right to return to Palestine for over 72 years yet continue to struggle, facing political repression, criminalization, deportation and imprisonment.
Palestinian women prisoners are routinely subjected to torture and ill-treatment by Israeli occupation forces, from the moment they are detained — often in violent night raids — and throughout the interrogation process, including beatings, insults, threats, aggressive body searches and sexually explicit harassment. Within Israeli prisons, the official state policy of “worsening the conditions” of Palestinian prisoners has particularly targeted Palestinian women, denied family visits or even phone calls, subjected to intense surveillance that violates their privacy, denied education and held in dangerous and unhealthy conditions. They are transported in the “bosta,” a metal vehicle where women are shackled on a long, circituous trip that takes hours longer than a direct route and often denied access to sanitary facilities.
Damon prison, itself formerly a stable for animals, is located in occupied Palestine ’48 — in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and making it even more difficult for Palestinian women’s family members to visit them. All visits are subjected to an arbitrary permit regime which is often obstructed by the Israeli occupation regime.
Palestinian women behind bars continue to resist and to lead. In April 1970, Palestinian women prisoners at Neve Tirza prison launched one of the first collective hunger strikes of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement when they refused food for nine days. They demanded access to women’s sanitary supplies as well as an end to beatings and solitary confinement. Palestinian women have been consistently involved in general hunger strikes and protest actions, including strikes led by women prisoners in 1985, 2004 and 2019 that inspired global women’s solidarity. Despite the denial of formal education by the Israeli colonial regime, Palestinian women prisoners have developed revolutionary education for all prisoners, expanding their knowledge and commitment to struggle.
Palestinian women prisoners are not alone; they struggle alongside fellow women political prisoners in the Philippines, Turkey, India, Egypt and around the world. And their imprisonment is also international: it is funded, backed and supported by the diplomatic, military, economic and political backing given to Israel by the imperialist powers, including the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia and the European Union states. Palestinian women also confront the role of the Palestinian Authority’s “security cooperation” regime under Oslo and the normalization politics and repressive attacks of reactionary Arab regimes.
Despite all attempts of the Zionist regime to isolate them from the global movement for the liberation of women and humanity through imprisonment and repression, Palestinian women continue to organize and struggle from behind bars, in the streets and fields of occupied Palestine, and everywhere in exile in diaspora, seeking return and liberation. Now is the time to act and urge their immediate release and the liberation of all Palestinian prisoners, and of Palestine, from the river to the sea.
Below are images and links to information about many of the Palestinian women political prisoners today held behind Israeli bars. To submit more information or contact us about a campaign, please email samidoun@samidoun.net.
Images for Palestinian Women Prisoners: Please download and use in your campaigns!
Take Action to Support Palestinian Women Prisoners
Here are some actions that you can take to join the campaign and spread it in your local area and community!
We join together to call for action and support for imprisoned Palestinian women:
Boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel.
Ending all military and economic aid, military transactions, joint projects and direct funding to the Israeli occupation regime by governments around the world.
Challenging “normalization” programs that aim to legitimize Israeli occupation.
Organizing to build direct links of solidarity with Palestinian women’s organizations and movements, to ensure that they will not be isolated from their global community of support despite all attempts by the Israeli occupation.
Writing Solidarity Letters
Palestinian prisoners and detainees repeatedly report that receiving letters from supporters around the world boosts morale and provides them with support. Israel wants to isolate Palestinian student leaders by keeping them behind bars, and letters help to break their isolation. This is a simple activity that can be done with physical distancing or combined with other prisoner support efforts. Contact us at samidoun@samidoun.net for a physical mailing address, or send us your letters — Samidoun in Occupied Palestine will share directly with the families and lawyers of detained women.
Adopt a Prisoner
Share the stories of Palestinian women detainees with your community by “adopting” a prisoner. Share their stories, write letters to them and include their name and photo in your activities. Above, we’ve presented 33 women prisoners, and we’ll be continuing to share their stories and photos throughout this campaign. Please contact us at samidoun@samidoun.net for even more info on your organization’s adopted prisoner.
Boycott Israel!
Join the movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel. Highlight the complicity of corporations like Hewlett-Packard and the continuing involvement of G4S in Israeli policing and prisons. Build a campaign to boycott Israeli goods, impose a military embargo on Israel, or organize around the academic and cultural boycott of Israel.
Protest, Rally and Organize
Organize a protest or direct action! The United States, Canada, EU states, Australia and Britain, among others, provide ongoing military, economic, diplomatic and political support to Israel to continue the repression of Palestinian women. Protest on your campus or in your city, highlighting government and media complicity, or act and organize at Israeli embassies, corporations and institutions in your area. Ad hacks, postering and other outdoor actions – especially near an Israeli embassy or consulate – can draw a significant amount of attention to the Palestinian women prisoners and the Palestinian cause at this critical time.
Share These Stories on Social Media
You can support Palestinian women on social media as well. Use the prisoner photos above on your individual or group social media pages, on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Take a selfie or a group photo with our posters or just post these images with a message of your own.
Support Palestinian Women’s Organizing
The Palestinian Feminist Collective has launched a campaign: Palestine is a Feminist Issue. Sign on to support the Pledge and support Palestinian women’s anti-colonial organizing for liberation.
Resources On Palestinian Women Prisoners
We recommend the following resources for more information on Palestinian women prisoners:
On Saturday, 13 March, around 20 activists and supporters of the Collectif Palestine Vaincra gathered at the exit of the Capitole metro station in Toulouse, France, for a Palestine Stand. The event took place as part of the international campaign for the release of imprisoned Palestinian students, which unites over 350 international organizations.
Under a shining sun, participants distributed nearly 1,000 flyers for the #FreePalestinianStudents campaign and displayed an exhibition of dozens of portraits of young imprisoned students, drawing great attention from passers-by who stopped to discover the reality of the Israeli occupation. At the same time, two large banners at the exit of the Capitole metro station affirmed: “Against colonialism, racism and apartheid: Boycott Israel” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will win.”
Photo: Corine Janeau
Affirming their support for imprisoned students, many passers-by stopped to join the card-writing workshop to send notes of solidarity to Palestinian youth spending months and years in prison for living and studying in occupied Palestine. 52 cards were created and will be sent to around 10 prisoners. At the same time, the Samidoun Network in occupied Palestine (of which the Collectif Palestine Vaincra is also a member of the network) will meet with their families to provide them with copies of the letters written in Toulouse. Do not hesitate to write to them: it is an important gesture of solidarity!
Photo: Corine Janeau
Dozens of people also took solidarity photos to support the campaign. You can participate by using these posters and sending your photos!
The stand distributed many free stickers and leaflets on the struggle of the Palestinian people and the importance of supporting their cause: on the history of Zionist colonization and solidarity today, the situation of nearly 5,000 Palestinian prisoners, on the cases of Georges Abdallah and Ahmad Sa’adat, and of course on the global campaign to boycott Israel. Throughout the event, speakers provided more information over the microphone about the #FreePalestinianStudents campaign, making the link to developing concrete and active solidarity in Toulouse. On this occasion, the speakers highlighted that not only is the boycott of Israel legal, it is legitimate and necessary. It is a political and moral duty for every anti-racist and anti-colonialist to boycott Israeli apartheid. In addition, two large display banners highlighted the history of the colonization of Palestine and the reasons for the boycott of Israel as well as some key targeted products to boycott. Many photos of these banners were taken by passers-by.
Photo: Corine Janeau
Throughout the event, participants affirmed their support for Olivia Zémor, president of CAPJPO-EuroPalestine, who faced a trial on 16 March in Lyon for calling for the boycott of Israeli pharmaceutical manufacturer TEVA. Many people were outraged to learn of the case and expressed their support, and dozens took “No TEVA” sticketrs to put on their health cards to tell their doctors and pharmacists they want an alternative vendor.
In addition to a protest event, the stand was also full of warmth, camaraderie and cultural resistance. A team from the Collective made cakes and prepared tea and coffee, an activist performed a rap about Palestine and a removable mural on plastic was created to support Palestinian students, while Palestinian music played in the heart of Toulouse city center. The event ended with a dabkeh dance that was warmly applauded by dozens of people.
Photo: Corine Janeau
Collectif Palestine Vaincra thanks the associations and collectives that came to provide support, especially the delegation of Couserans Palestine. The Palestine Stand takes place every month in the Toulouse city center, in addition to other initiatives organized by the Collectif Palestine Vaincra, which invites all to contact them and get involved.
This was not the only event in France to express support for Olivia Zémor in advance of the trial. In Lille, over 50 people demonstrated on Sunday, 14 March to denounce TEVA and its attempts to silence the boycott campaign against Israeli colonization and occupation.
Meanwhile, in Paris, over 150 people came out despite wind, rain and cold on Saturday, 13 March to stand with Olivia Zémor in a unified demonstration bringing together the Palestine solidarity movement in France to defend the boycott of Israel.
