On Palestinian Prisoners’ Day: Freedom for all revolutionary prisoners around the world!

14 April 2020

As we struggle for the liberation of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli and international jails, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network also expresses our strongest solidarity with the revolutionary prisoners around the world in imperialist and reactionary regimes’ jails.

We call for the freedom of thousands of political prisoners in Egypt, Palestinians imprisoned in Saudi Arabia and Sahrawi and Moroccan strugglers for justice jailed in the prisons of Morocco, and many more political prisoners in the Arab world held behind bars for seeking progressive and revolutionary change or for resisting Zionism and imperialism.

We also express our strongest solidarity to all of the political prisoners in Turkey, the Philippines, Colombia, India, the United States and Europe. The prisoners of the Black Liberation Movement continue to struggle for freedom, some with decades of lengthy imprisonment. We call for the immediate release of the members of Grup Yorum, the imprisoned Turkish lawyers and all of the Turkish and Kurdish prisoners jailed in Turkey. We also stand in solidarity with the Turkish and Kurdish organizers in Europe who are also facing political imprisonment and repression because they continue to struggle for their people and their rights.

The Duterte regime in the Philippines is intensifying its repression and political attacks rather than protecting the health of the people. In Colombia, there are 380 political prisoners and dozens of social activists have been killed in recent months. India is severely repressing and imprisoning Kashmiris alongside numerous intellectuals and activists jailed under the “sedition law.”

Of course, we also stand in full solidarity with the prisoners of Palestine around the world, including Georges Ibrahim Abdallah in French prisons and the Holy Land Five in the United States.

This graphic highlights just five of these thousands of strugglers worldwide. The struggle for the liberation of Palestine is a Palestinian, Arab and international struggle that involves the confrontation of not only the Israeli state but also the reactionary regimes and imperialist powers that keep these fighters for justice behind bars. Freedom for all political prisoners!

On this image:

Musa Asoglu, a Turkish revolutionary detained in Germany since 2 December 2016. Accused to be a leader of the DHKP-C (Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front), his indictment is essentially based on his political activities. These include organizing a symposium against isolation in several European countries, as well as various political investments in democratic spheres. For more information: https://www.musaasoglu.org/

Mumia Abu-Jamal, journalist and political activist, former member of the Black Panther Party, has spent the last 30 years of his life in prison, most of it in solitary confinement on Death Row in Pennsylvania. Organizations around the world have urged his immediate release as he continues to write and speak from behin bars. For more information: https://www.freemumia.com/

Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, Lebanese Arab Communist fighter for Palestine, has been jailed in France since 1984, despie being eligible for release since 1999. The United States and Israel have repeatedly intervened to prevent his release. For more information, please see: https://liberonsgeorges.samizdat.net/

Muslum Elma, born in Dersim, Turkey, in 1960 to a Kurdish and Alevi family, has been imprisoned since 2015 in Germany, accused of involvement in the Communist Party of Turkey Marxist / Leninist. As a revolutionary, he was jailed in Turkey for many years, subjected to extreme torture and participated in several long-term hunger strikes. Despite bing granted asylum in Germany due to repression in Turkey, today he is jailed due to Turkish security allegations. For more information: https://www.facebook.com/FreeMuslumElma/

Rey Casambre is a consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and the Executive Director of the Philippine Peace Center. He has been jailed since 2018 by the Duterte regime along with many other social leaders, trade unionists, indigenous organizers and others targeted for repression. Amid the COVID-19 crisis, his life is particularly at risk due to his advanced age and health conditions. For more information: https://www.facebook.com/FreeReyCasambre/

Free Ahmad Sa’adat, imprisoned leader of the Palestinian liberation movement

13 April 2020

Ahmad Sa’adat, the imprisoned General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, is a leader of the Palestinian revolutionary left and the Palestinian national liberation movement as a whole. Sa’adat’s case epitomizes the colonial nature of Israeli imprisonment that aims to target the legitimate leadership of the Palestinian people, and his boycott of the Zionist military courts reflects his principled commitment to reject colonization in all forms. His case also reflects the role of imperialist powers like the United States and Britain and the collusion of the Palestinian Authority and its “security coordination” regime in the oppression of the Palestinian people and the Palestinian resistance. Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is releasing the following video to highlight Sa’adat’s case as part of the weeks of action for Palestinian Prisoners’ Day:

We urge all supporters of Palestine to support the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian prisoners. Every year, the January anniversary of his imprisonment by the Palestinian Authority – later violently abducted by Israeli occupation forces – is marked as an international day of action for his release. These international actions make it clear that, contrary to the goals of the Israeli regime, Sa’adat is neither isolated nor silenced, but a leader of the international left and liberation movements. Even from behind bars, Sa’adat himself continues to advance an internationalist commitment to struggle everywhere. Freedom for Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian prisoners; freedom for Palestine, from the river to the sea!

For more information, please follow the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat and Ahmad Sa’adat news on Samidoun.

Background on the case of Ahmad Sa’adat

(Adapted from the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat)

Ahmad Sa’adat is the imprisoned General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. One of nearly 5,000 Palestinian political prisoners, he has been sentenced to thirty years in Israeli prisons for a range of “security-related” political offenses. These charges include membership in a prohibited organization (the PFLP, of which Sa’adat is General Secretary), holding a post in a prohibited organization, and incitement, for a speech Sa’adat made following the Israeli assassination of his predecessor, Abu Ali Mustafa, in August 2001.

Sa’adat is a prisoner of conscience, targeted for imprisonment because of his political activity and in his capacity as a Palestinian leader. The systematic assassination, imprisonment and detention of Palestinian political leaders has long been a policy of the Israeli state, as reflected in the imprisonment of Sa’adat and the nearly 5,000 Palestinian political prisoners, targeted for their involvement in and commitment to the struggle for the liberation of their land and people.

Born in 1953, Sa’adat is the child of refugees expelled from their home in the village of Deir Tarif, near Ramleh, in 1948. A math teacher by training, he is married to Abla Sa’adat, herself a noted activist, and is the father of four children. Abla Sa’adat was herself arrested and detained for four months, and prevented from leaving Palestine to speak about Palestinian rights at an international conference. He has been involved in the Palestinian national movement since 1967, when he became active in the student movement. Prior to his abduction from Jericho in 2006, he had been held at various times as a political prisoner in Israeli jails, for a total of ten years. Sa’adat was elected General Secretary of the PFLP in 2001, following the Israeli assassination of then-General Secretary Abu Ali Mustafa in his office in Ramallah on August 27, 2001. In retaliation for the murder of Abu Ali Mustafa, on October 17, 2001, fighters from the PFLP’s armed wing assassinated Rehavam Ze’evi, the notoriously far-right, racist Tourism Minister in Ariel Sharon’s Israeli government, in the Hyatt hotel in Jerusalem.

On January 15, 2002, Sa’adat attended a meeting with PA security chief Tawfiq Tirawi under false pretenses, from which he was abducted and taken to the Muqata’a compound in Ramallah, then-Palestinian President Yasser Arafat’s headquarters. In a deal involving Israel, Britain and the U.S., Sa’adat was then held in a Palestinian Authority prison in Jericho for over four years under the oversight of U.S. and British guards along with Ahed Abu Ghoulmeh, Majdi Rimawi, Hamdi Qur’an, Basil al-Asmar and Fouad Shobaki. The director of the US/British “supervision” of the prisoners at Jericho Prison formerly ran the infamous Maze Detention Center for Britain in the occupied North of Ireland, where Irish republican prisoners were held.

Sa’adat and his fellow prisoners were not subject to any real Palestinian sovereignty, but rather to the conditions and demands of the United States and Great Britain, in which the PA was fully complicit.. Sa’adat and his comrades were held under difficult conditions in Jericho prison, often secluded from one another and not allowed to communicate, denied access to newspapers, books, recreation and family and other visits. Water and electricity in their cells have been turned off, and numerous other punitive measures were implemented against them by the British and U.S. guards “monitoring” the prison. In response, Sa’adat and his comrades engaged in two hunger strikes, demanding an end to inhumane treatment and their immediate release.

In January 2006, he was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council on the Abu Ali Mustafa slate. On March 14, 2006, the Israeli military stormed that prison at Jericho, killing two Palestinian guards, abducting Sa’adat and five fellow prisoners and taking them to Israeli military prisons. For the entire period of Sa’adat’s imprisonment in the PA jails, he had been convicted of no crime; his sentencing- in an illegitimate military court of occupation, on December 25, 2008 – came nearly seven years into his detention, after a trial that began after five years of PA/US/British, then Israeli, imprisonment.

This trial was, of course, a military trial, as are the trials of nearly all Palestinian political prisoners. These trials are based on military law, including military regulations that may be issued at any time by the Israeli military commander over the area. This military rule under occupation dates from the era of the British occupation of Palestine, in which these “emergency” military rules were adopted in order to suppress the Palestinian national movement for independence and self-determination. These military laws continue today for the same purpose – to continue a military occupation and suppress the indigenous people of Palestine’s struggle for liberation and self-determination. Such military trials generally fail to uphold international standards for fair trials. At a more basic level, they are an illegitimate manifestation of an illegitimate system – trials that, by their very nature, can never be fair or legitimate.

Sa’adat is the child of 1948 refugees who, with six million others in Palestine, in the camps outside Palestine and in exile around the world, are denied their right to return to their homes, lands and properties and denied their right to organize, struggle and act to obtain their freedom, their return and their liberation.

JERICHO ASSAULT AND ABDUCTION

On March 14, 2006, the Israeli army laid siege for twelve hours to the Palestinian Authority prison at Jericho holding six political prisoners. Israeli bulldozers and tanks attacked the prison while the Israeli military issued threats of assassination against the prisoners. This military assault caused the death of two Palestinians, the injury of twenty-three more, and the abduction of Ahmad Sa’adat and five other political prisoners from Jericho to Zionist prisons.

For over four years, these men had been held in the Palestinian Authority prison at Jericho, under U.S. and British guard. Immediately prior to the Israeli assault on the prison, these U.S. and British guards abandoned their posts, clearing the way for the military attack. The U.S. State Department blamed Palestinians for the siege, stating that the democratically-elected Palestinian Legislative Council leadership had indicated its willingness to release these illegally-held political prisoners. Said Sa’adat in a letter to the Palestinian people after his abduction, “The Quartet [US, EU, Russia and UN] provide a cover for occupation. What happened in Jericho Prison has made the British and US governments an integral part of the conflict and forever buried any illusions in their neutrality.”

Since his abduction – a blatant violation of Palestinian sovereignty – Sa’adat’s trial was repeatedly postponed and delayed. Israeli Attorney General Menachem Mazuz admitted shortly following the abduction that there was insufficient evidence to indict Sa’adat in the assassination of extreme racist Israeli minister Rehavam Ze’evi in 2001, an act of retaliation for the August 2001 Israeli murder of PFLP General Secretary Abu Ali Mustafa. Instead, Sa’adat was indicted on a wide array of political charges in a hearing on March 28, 2006 at Ofer Military Base in Ramallah.

Sa’adat consistently and repeatedly refused to recognize the legitimacy of the illegitimate court; his lawyers petitioned for the charges to be dropped, as they are clearly politically motivated and the court itself is illegitimate. His trial was repeatedly postponed, from May 2006, to September 2006, to January 2007, to May 2007, and finally to July/August 2008. With each hearing, Sa’adat’s courageous refusal to recognize in any way the illegitimate court – refusing to stand for the military judges, issuing statements exposing this mockery of justice, and refusing to deal with the military courts or interrogators – stood in clear contrast to the system of occupation and oppression represented by the military courts, exposing its bankruptcy and illegitimacy.

On December 25, 2008, Sa’adat was sentenced to 30 years in the Israeli occupation prisons. His lengthy sentence, produced by an Israeli military court, was intended as a mechanism for imprisoning the resistance and the commitment of the Palestinian people to seek freedom, justice, liberation and self-determination. This is the highest sentence delivered in the occupation courts for a political charge.

Since that time, he has continued his leadership of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement behind bars. He was held in isolation for nearly three years, and was repeatedly denied family visits. Several major Palestinian prisoners’ hunger strikes, including the September-October 2011 hunger strike and the April-May 2012 hunger strike, placed an end to isolation as a central demand, including an end to the isolation of Sa’adat. Sa’adat was finally released from isolation and returned to the general prison population in late May 2012, following the agreement to end the prisoners’ hunger strike. During the strike, Sa’adat was hospitalized due to the severe physical stress of consuming only salt and water.

He has participated in multiple hunger strikes and collective protests, including the 2015 hunger strike against administrative detention, the 2017 Dignity Strike, the 2016 strike in solidarity with Bilal Kayed, and the 2019 hunger strike.

Sa’adat’s statement before sentencing (25 December 2008)

To start, I do not stand to defend myself in front of your court. I have already confirmed that I do not recognize the legitimacy of this court as it is an extension of the illegal occupation under international law, and as well as the legitimacy of our people’s right to resist occupation, and that this court is based on the British emergency laws of 1945 about which one of one of the leaders of the Zionist Labor Party said after their approval, It is one of the worst of the Nazi laws. He added, “It is true that the Nazi crimes committed did not reach the degree of crime of this legislation.”

So I stand to defend my people and their legitimate right to national independence and self-determination and return. These rights are guaranteed by international law and humanitarian law and the resolutions of the United Nations, as well as the most recent recommendations of the Hague Tribunal on the wall.

I defend the right of our people to peace and stability not only in this region, but also in the whole world. Security and stability can never be achieved in Palestine or in the region and the world as long as there is a policy based on the logic of the occupation and imposition of things on people, whether by force through military invasion or occupation, as in Palestine.

I stand before this court again today, as a mechanism for the suppression of our people and a tool of oppression, that is unable to end the resistance and is an example of the inability of the occupation and its policies imposed on the peoples to do so. If you review the files of the prisoners of the Zionist occupation of Palestine, you will find that many of the prisoners are held a second time or a third time, because this mechanism has failed to deter our people or our activists fighting for our rights.

This, like many other examples of the failure of the occupation and its tools to suppress of our people and abolish our resistance, and these courts, will remain as long as the occupation exists and will also remain in the resistance of our people.

The existing policy of the occupation and the logic of imposing by force will not bring security to Israel or other countries engaged in occupation. The main route to achieve security, stability and peace in the region is to end the occupation and the implementation of the resolutions of international legitimacy for the Palestinian cause, to provide a climate in which a democratic, peaceful and humane solution to the Palestinian crisis and the Arab-Zionist conflict is established from the roots is the only way to end violence and bloodshed.

Finally, I have already stressed in my previous statements from the so-called indictment, to the trial that has been formulated, and now reiterate the same position after your court concluded, that this is one-sided and farcical way to achieve its resolution under a mere image of a “court.” The convictions were known in advance, and pre-determined by the terms of the political and security mechanism, which is made “legitimate” by the court.

The essence of my position is that I am proud of the Palestinian people and their political and national resistance and their just struggle to achieve their national rights and also I am proud of the trust given me by the Central Committee of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, by electing me as Secretary-General, and I’m sorry that I have not yet been able to fully perform my duties, first: because of the detention of the Palestinian Authority and the loss of my freedoms to work for more than four years, and second because of this abduction, in which more than one party – the U.S., Britain and the Palestinian Authority – were complicit; and notwithstanding anything that could hamper you or force you, you cannot stop the struggle, along with my people, in whatever space of movement.

Long live the struggle of the Palestinian people!

Ahmad Sa’adat
December 25, 2008

Statements and Writings by Ahmad Sa’adat

Ahmad Sa’adat: Prisons, the Black Liberation Movement, and the Struggle for Palestine (Jadaliyya, 24 January 2019)
Letter from Ahmad Sa’adat to Georges Abdallah: “You remain a symbol and a model for us” (Samidoun, 4 September 2017)
Ahmad Sa’adat issues statement to Resistance Festival in Greece (4 October 2017)
International Workers Day: On May 1, Ahmad Sa’adat’s message from prison to the international left. (Free Ahmad Sa’adat, 30 April 2017)
Interview with Ahmad Sa’adat: Prisoners’ struggle is critically important for the Palestinian liberation movement (Free Ahmad Sa’adat, 19 April 2017)
Call to action from Ahmad Sa’adat: Boycott Israel! (Samidoun, 29 July 2015)
Palestinian leader Ahmad Sa’adat from prison: We are struggling for democracy, liberation and justice for all (Samidoun, 11 December 2015)
Interview with Ahmad Sa’adat: Leading from Prison, Ending Negotiations, and Rebuilding the Resistance (Journal of Palestine Studies, Summer 2014)
Ahmad Sa’adat’s message to the Landless Workers’ Movement congress: Full Text (Free Ahmad Sa’adat, 13 February 2014)
Ahmad Sa’adat’s Message to the World Social Forum – Free Palestine (Free Ahmad Sa’adat, 29 November 2012)
Sa’adat from Isolation: Security Cooperation and PA Political Detention Must End (Free Ahmad Sa’adat, 29 January 2012)
Ahmad Sa’adat greets Conference in Solidarity with Palestinian Prisoners in Morocco (Free Ahmad Sa’adat, 25 January 2011)
Ahmad Sa’adat Greets the US Social Forum (Free Ahmad Sa’adat, 18 June 2010)
Ahmad Sa’adat speaks from isolation in Asqelan: The so-called “Two state solution” is a threat to the Palestinian people and the right to return (Free Ahmad Sa’adat, 1 June 2009)
Ahmad Sa’adat statement before sentencing (Free Ahmad Sa’adat, 25 December 2008)
Ahmad Sa’adat’s statement to Ofer military court (Free Ahmad Sa’adat, 14 January 2007)
Interview with Ahmad Sa’adat in his Jericho prison cell (Solidaire, 15 June 2006)
Interview with Ahmad Sa’adat (Mireille Terrin, Chris den Hond, 5 January 2005)
Creating a Pole of the Democratic Left: Interview with Ahmad Sa’adat (Mireille Court, Chris den Hond, August 2004)
The Popular Palestinian Intifada – Where is it heading? (Free Ahmad Sa’adat, 28 September 2003)
Interview With Imprisoned PFLP General Secretary Ahmad Saadat (Fight Back News, 1 June 2003)

Resources and Articles on Ahmad Sa’adat

Video: Vancouver event urges freedom for Ahmad Sa’adat, justice for Palestine, with Khaled Barakat (Samidoun, 31 January 2020)
Ahmad Sa’adat: An exceptional revolutionary leader in challenging times by Khaled Barakat (Samidoun, 20 January 2019)
Audio: Georges Abdallah calls for action to free Ahmad Sa’adat, confront normalization, in statement from French prison (Samidoun, 14 January 2019)
Ahmad Sa’adat: Palestine will be freed by the people, not the elites (Samidoun, 11 December 2018)
9 Years Later: My Journey to see my Father; 45 Minutes, a Window and a Telephone by Sumoud Sa’adat (Samidoun, 25 August 2015)
Palestinian Authority Security Cooperation and the Internationalization of Occupation: The Case of Ahmad Sa’adat by Charlotte Kates (Jadaliyya, 27 January 2015)

14 April, Online event: International solidarity to Free Grup Yorum

13 April 2020

Tuesday, 14 April
9 am Pacific/12 pm Eastern/6 pm Europe/7 pm Palestine
Join the Facebook event – link for webinar to be posted on 14 April: https://www.facebook.com/events/669133520584071/

On Tuesday, 14th April 2020 an ONLINE EVENT by the Grup Yorum Solidarity Committee on international level will take place 6.00 pm. (CEST) for the demands and lives of Mustafa Kocak and Grup Yorum guitarists Ibrahim Gökcek.

We will commemorate Grup Yorum singer Helin Bölek, who was immortalised in her resistance on the 288th day of death fast.

The ongoing repression, crimes of the government in Turkey against the whole opposition and especially against prisoners didn’t stop during the “corona crisis”, rather the AKP government tries to take advantage of the silence and restrictions towards the masses.

The resistance has reached a very critical state, as the death of the musician Helin Bölek showed to us.

We shall be many thousands people participating in this event and also showing our direct reaction, shouting from one mouth the demands of the resisters! We can really manage to break through the wall of ignorance and silence! Let’s be ONE POWER on 14th April, Let’s BREAK THE SILENCE!”

Participants are:
Activists of the international solidarity campaign, musicians from different countries, Grup Yorum, People’s Lawyers from Turkey defending Mustafa Kocak..
The program includes live music, solidarity videos, messages, statements, call for action and Hashtag for Mustafa and Grup Yorum….

Online Link will be shared Monday!

What are they fighting for?
MUSTAFA KOCAK is ready to give his life in the struggle against injustice and corruption of the jurisdiction. He wants a fair trial and the end of policy of traitors and police informants. Because in Turkey, already around 300 persons, who are involved in the democratic struggle against the fascist rule of the state, were put in jail only because of the false statements of a person called Berk Ercan. He offered himself to the police in order to escape repression and served police to get rid of political dissidents. The police tortured many people to make statements against other. Mustafa denied and was tortured for weeks. He was punished by this politics for crimes he didn’t commit.
But he resisted and continues to protect his human dignity.
Mustafa suffers incredible pain, can’t sleep, can’t walk and even stand up anymore, has bruises all over the body from forced intervention and torture. And all he says is: “The pain is very strong, I can’t sleep due to the pain. My whole body is burning.. Yes the pain is very big, its unbearable, but nobody shall suffer this pain again in connection with justice.. I’m ready for this pain. I sustain, so the pain won’t remain until tomorrow”!

Grup Yorum
The music group exists since 1985 and already published 23 albums. The AKP regime wants to completely destroy opposition and all revolutonary potential which can mobilise the masses. Of course, Grup Yorum is the biggest and most popular group, who can bring 1 million people or more to the concerts. And their motto is socialism, independence, freedom, solidarity and unity among the people.
The songs of Grup Yorum unite people of all colors and beliefs, its not deviding but uniting. This is, what the state in Turkey fears.
Since a few years all concerts and cultural activies are banned, members of the group are arrested. Their cultural center was raided and completely destroyed with all instruments several times within 2 years.
There are still 5 members of the group in prison, also with statements of police informants. The group started a hunger strike to fight this repression and finally 2 members began with death fast.
Just to sing their songs freely, to get freedom and justice, Helin Bölek was hungry for 288 days and she was immortalised due to the fascist politics of the state. Ibrahim has reached the 300th day of his death fast.

MUSTAFA KOCAK AND IBRAHIM GÖKCEK MUST LIVE!
WE CAN DO IT TOGETHER!

LONG LIVE INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY!
HELIN BÖLEK IS IMMORTAL!

Samidoun Palestine and Asra Voice broadcast solidarity to Palestinian prisoner Ibrahim Hamed

12 April 2020

Samidoun Network in occupied Palestine, working in collaboration with Asra Voice, the Voice of the Prisoners radio network, organized a broadcast of messages of solidarity to Palestinian prisoner Ibrahim Hamed. His mother, Zainab Hamed, from the town of Silwad east of Ramallah, occupied Palestine, died on 2 April 2020, after being separated from her son for 15 years.

Samidoun collected audio messages with words of strength, support and condolences to Ibrahim Hamed, noting that he received the news of his mother’s death inside Israeli occupation prisons and was unable to be with her or even attend her funeral, kept behind bars. Even her family were denied a traditional funeral due to the global COVID-19/coronavirus pandemic.

Many individuals and organizations sent messages of solidarity. Charlotte Kates, international coordinator of Samidoun, sent a message, noting that Ibrahim Hamed and 5,000 Palestinian prisoners are kept from their families even at the most devastating moments due to Israeli imprisonment and that their lives face an even greater risk now due to COVID-19, which has already entered the prisons through infected jailers interrogators. Khaled Barakat, international coordinator of the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat and Palestinian writer, emphasized that the popular and progressive movements of the world stand with the steadfast Palestinian prisoners and the prisoners’ movement behind Israeli bars.

Leila, an Algerian member of Collectif Palestine Vaincra in Toulouse, France – a member organization of the Samidoun Network – spoke on behalf of the collective, expressing condolences on the loss of Hamed’s mother. She noted that the struggle of the Palestinian prisoners also includes that of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, jailed for over 35 years in French prisons and ending with a call for a liberated Palestine.

The organizers invited participants to send their messages with a call: “Let us break through the walls of Nafha Prison with our voices and messages and support the strength and steadfastness of the prisoners.” The audio was broadcast over FM radio – where it can be heard on radios inside Israeli prisons – on Saturday morning, 11 April. The audio was also aired live on Facebook on the page of Samidoun Network in Occupied Palestine and Asra Voice radio.

Listen to the messages here:

Freedom for all Palestinian students! Youth on the front lines of struggle

12 April 2020

Palestinian students are not only learning and expanding their knowledge as the next generation of Palestinians struggling for liberation – they are on the front lines of struggle against colonial imprisonment. There are approximately 250 Palestinian students held in Israeli jails, including approximately 80 from Bir Zeit University alone. Over the years, thousands of Palestinian university students have been targeted for arrest and persecution. Palestinian universities have been frequently raided by Israeli occupation forces; student organizations’ offices have been ransacked, their belongings confiscated and destroyed.

This new video highlights the situation of Palestinian student prisoners:

Student leaders have even been kidnapped in broad daylight on university campuses by disguised Israeli forces, called “mustaribeen,” and their homes have been invaded by occupation soldiers in violent night raids. Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network expresses its strongest solidarity with imprisoned Palestinian students and urges all people of conscience to amplify the call for their immediate release.

The imprisonment of Palestinian students reflects only one part of the ongoing denial of Palestinians’ right to education by Israeli colonization. For example, Palestinian child prisoners often lose a full year of school and more due to the poor, insufficient or nonexistent education they receive behind bars. There are currently 200 Palestinian children in Israeli detention and over 700 are arrested and brought before military courts every year. Dozens of Palestinian schools are targeted for demolition due to a “lack of building permits” – because they are refused by the occupation – while Palestinian students in occupied Palestine ’48 are taught a curriculum that fundamentally denies their history and identity.

Palestinian universities have been forcibly converted into military areas as occupation forces take over and confiscate property for checkpoints, attacks on students or even military training. At the same time, propagandists for Israeli colonialism wage media attacks on Palestinian universities and education, attempting to defund and block international partnerships; even international professors hired by Palestinian universities are regularly denied entry to Palestine to teach their students. This cannot be delinked from the ongoing attempts to eradicate Palestinian culture, knowledge and history, from the bombing of the Palestine Research Center in Beirut in 1983 to the assassination of Palestinian writers, poets and scholars inside and outside Palestine – or, for that matter, from the ongoing attempts to defame, criminalize and suppress Palestinian and solidarity activism on campuses around the world, outside occupied Palestine.

Today, Palestinian students inside occupied Palestine are most frequently accused of “‘membership in’ and ‘provision of services to an unlawful association’ as defined by the 1945 (Defense) Emergency Regulations and the 1948 Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance, which were both incorporated into Israel’s domestic laws,” as noted by Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association. Both were initially orders from the British colonial mandate over Palestine.

All major Palestinian political parties and many other social and political organizations have been declared “illegal organizations” by the Israeli military. As Addameer notes:

“Palestinian student unions have not escaped Israel’s efforts to criminalize every aspect of Palestinian civil, political and cultural life and many have also been declared illegal. In the event that a student union is not explicitly declared unlawful by a decision of the Israeli military commander or a government official exercising his or her authority under Regulation 84 of the 1945 Emergency Regulations, a Palestinian student union member may be arrested on the grounds of membership in an organization having broadly defined ‘ties’ with an unlawful organization. The nature of those ties is never of interest to the prosecution and hardly ever examined by the military judge. In consequence, attending a rally of an ‘unlawful association’ or an association ‘with ties’ to an ‘unlawful association’, putting up posters of such an association, writing, producing, printing and distributing publications related to the declared ‘unlawful association’ are all activities that are considered to ‘endanger the security of the state of Israel’, and are prosecuted as crimes under the banner of ‘hostile and terrorist activities’. In some cases, students were indicted with charges as unreasonable and far-fetched as ‘dancing Dabke’, a traditional Palestinian folkloric dance, at an event organized by a student union ‘with ties to an unlawful organization’, or attending a film screening at an ‘illegal rally’.

In this video, Samidoun’s international coordinator speaks at Israeli Apartheid Week in Cagliari, Sardinia, about the situation of imprisoned Palestinian students:

It must also be noted here that the Palestinian Authority has repeatedly arrested and detained Palestinian students as political detainees, usually for their involvement in campus student activism. This detention reflects not only political repression on the part of the PA but also, fundamentally, its “security coordination” with the Israeli occupation, especially as many of the students arrested by the PA have previously been arrested by Israeli occupation forces – or are later seized by Zionist troops after their release from PA detention.

Palestinian student life is rich in its political diversity and expression. Every year, student council elections spark a vast amount of debate and political competition between all trends of the Palestinian movement as reflected among university students. This vibrant expression of a democratic political culture is routinely subjected to violent suppression by the Israeli occupation; the student election period is often marked by a sharp rise in raids and arrests at university campuses. The last several student council presidents elected in Bir Zeit University, such as Omar Kiswani and Yehya Rabie, have been seized by occupation forces and imprisoned for holding their positions.

Today, Shatha Hassan, the president of Bir Zeit’s Student Council Conference, is imprisoned without charge or trial under Israeli “administrative detention,” and her detention has already been renewed without presenting any evidence or allegations against her.

Nevertheless, Palestinian students – including many from the popular classes and the refugee camps – continue to play a leading role in the struggle for the liberation of Palestine. They continue to organize and develop their student activism despite the incessant threat of Israeli attacks, imprisonment or even extrajudicial execution. Despite the fact that they could miss their graduation day or see a substantial delay or interruption to their academic careers and future professional life, they continue to struggle for a revolutionary, liberated Palestinian future. The student movement is also central to the campaigns inside Palestine for the liberation of Palestinian prisoners, marching, organizing and campaigning to free their imprisoned sisters and brothers.

Here are just a few of the cases of imprisoned Palestinian students and youth today:

Shatha Hassan

Shatha Hassan, the president of the Student Council Conference at Bir Zeit University, was seized from her home in the Ain Misbah neighborhood of Ramallah on 12 December 2019, when armed occupation forces invaded her residence. She was shortly thereafter ordered to administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial. She is one of three woman and roughly 500 Palestinians in total – out of 5,000 Palestinian prisoners – who are currently jailed under this type of arbitrary detention, which can be indefinitely renewed by Israeli military order. Palestinians have spent years in administrative detention without ever being charged. The Committee of Concerned Scientists issued a letter urging her release.

Mays Abu Ghosh

Mays Abu Ghosh, a journalism student at Bir Zeit University and a student activist, was seized by occupation forces in a violent raid on 29 August 2019, when the armed soldiers removed the door of her family home and invaded it, ransacking her and her family’s belongings, blindfolding and cuffing her and then taking her to an occupation military camp near Qalandiya checkpoint.

While she was held there, the soldiers dragged her violently as she was handcuffed and blindfolded while cursing at her and screaming in her face. She was interrogated for over 30 days and subjected to severe torture and abuse. She is charged in the Israeli military courts – which convict over 99% of Palestinian detainees – with involvement in student activities on the Bir Zeit University campus.

Samah Jaradat

Samah Jaradat was arrested by Israeli occupation forces three days after her graduation from Bir Zeit University with a bachelor’s degree in sociology. She was looking forward to continuing her higher education and dreams of becoming a professor at Bir Zeit herself. On 7 September 2019, she was seized from her family home and subjected to 22 days of harsh interrogation inside the Moskobiyeh detention center. A student activist and a close friend of Mays Abu Ghosh, Samah was strip-searched, held in isolation and deprived of sleep in an attempt to force her to confess. She was prohibited to see a lawyer for over 22 days and was questioned repeatedly about her student activism at the university after her interrogators failed to obtain a confession about anything else.

Israr Ma’arouf

Israr Ma’arouf, 21, is a third-year law student at Bir Zeit University who was seized by occupation forces on 24 August 2019 and almost immediately ordered to four months in administrative detention. Shortly thereafter, on 7 September, they transferred him again to the Moskobiyeh interrogation center where he was subjected to torture and severe abuse during 70 days of interrogation. Israr was deliberately and systematically deprived of sleep, interrogated most of the day and then interrupted with loud music. He was threatened with the arrest of his family and forced into stress positions during his interrogation, forcing him to fall to the ground. He fainted several times while under interrogation due to the extreme pain he was in and was forced to use a wheelchair for several days during his interrogation because he was unable to walk due to his injuries from torture.

Tareq Matar

Tareq Matar, a student and youth leader, was planning to pursue his academic career further; he had been accepted to a Ph.D. program at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. Instead, however, he was seized by Israeli occupation forces on 2 October 2019 and subjected to severe torture. A healthy, active young man, Tareq was pushed into Israeli military court in a wheelchair. This is the fifth time Tareq was arrested and imprisoned by occupation forces; he has been jailed multiple times without charge or trial under administrative detention. After he was seized in 2019, he was interrogated and tortured for over 30 days at the Moskobiyeh detention center, forced into stress positions such as “back-bending” that caused severe damage to his back and denied access to the toilet. His facial hair was pulled out from its roots by an Israeli interrogator. He was ordered to six months in administrative detention without charge or trial.

Click here to read the personal testimony of Thomas Hofland about his friend, Tareq Matar.

Ameer Hazboun

Ameer Hazboun, a fourth-year engineering student at Bir Zeit University, was seized by soldiers in his dormitory on 10 September 2019 as they invaded his room at 1:00 a.m. He was brutally kicked beaten by the soldiers with their guns while being transported to the Moskobiyeh interrogation center. He arrived at the center with bruises all over his body and informed the prison doctor that he has a platinum plate in his left hand for a previous injury. He was interrogated for weeks on end for 22 hours a day. Due to severe sleep deprivation, he would sometimes fall asleep during interrogation and was shaken awake by the interrogators. He was forced into multiple stress positions, including being forced to stand on his toes with his hands cuffed overhead to the wall, placing severe stress on his feet, arms and injured hand. He was eventually charged with being a member of the Qutub, the Democratic Student Progressive Pole at Bir Zeit – and “aiding an illegal organization” by distributing student election campaign flyers.

These are only six of the hundreds of cases of Palestinian students seized, tortured and imprisoned by the Israeli occupation – in addition to dozens more targeted for political detention under the Palestinian Authority’s “security coordination” with Israel. As the Right to Education campaign stated, “At a time when the entire world is suffering as a result of the outbreak of the pandemic, and governments are issuing regulations to save their people, the Israeli occupying forces continue their crimes against Palestinian prisoners, and our students, in particular.”

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network demands the immediate release of Shatha Hassan, Mays Abu Ghosh, Samah Jaradat, Israr Ma’arouf, Ameer Hazboun, Tareq Matar, all student prisoners and all 5.000 Palestinian prisoners. Palestinian students are on the front line of the struggle to defend Palestinian rights and the Palestinian people and to fight for the liberation of Palestine. They are the future generation of the Palestinian revolution – both inside and outside Palestine, and they are targeted for arrest and imprisonment for their anti-colonial knowledge and active struggle, including their work to free Palestinian prisoners.

In the run up to Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, we call upon all supporters of Palestine to join us for a week of action starting on 10 April to free all Palestinian prisoners. As COVID-19 threatens prisoners around the world, we have to intensify the struggle for their liberation. Click here for our call to action and suggested actions.

We are also republishing the following article by the Voice of Palestinian Students, which was initially published in the ILPS Youth Commission Newsletter in February 2020. Samidoun is a member organization of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle:

Palestinian Student Prisoners

Voice of Palestinian Students

Currently, there are 300 Palestinian student prisoners in “Israeli” jails. In recent months, the Zionist Occupation waged a vicious arrest campaign against a number of university students, in an attempt to constrain the rising role of the Student Movement at the university, both as a platform for national and political action and as one of our few remaining barricades in the struggle against the occupation.

We, as Palestinian students across the globe, say in a unanimous voice, that we reject completely the policies of arrest, oppression and terrorism that are exercised by the occupying forces against our students wherever they are located. We further affirm that these attacks will only strengthen the student movement and increase its firmness in the face of zionist colonialism in all forms and methods. Therefore, we call all student bodies and councils, as well as all youth groups, in all of their respective locations, to increase and intensify the level of their work, and to rally public opinion around the case of Palestinian students under arrest, as a response to the repression and increasing constraints the student movement has had to recently face.

We hereby recall some of the names of the Palestinian students who were arrested in the past few months:

Nizar Khames
Qusai Hendi
Mays Hanatsha
Hadi Tarsha
Nasim Barghouthi
Mohammad Zahran
Mais Abu Ghoush
Yazan Maghamis
Rebhi Karaja
Ahmed Kharouf
Amir Hazboun
Hasan Abu Al-Hasan
Nitham Imteir
Samah Jaradat
Rami Karaja
Omar Yousef
Israr Ma’rouf
Qusai Iyad
Yousef Al-Shayeb
Hamza Abu Qare’
Abd Al-latif Subeh
Osama Fakhory
Omar AlKhader
Yahia Rabee
Mohammed Al’arouri
Mohammed Obeid
Moath ‘Abed
Bara’ ‘Asi
No’man Hamed
Tawfiq Abu Arqoub
Amir Adnan
Bilal Hamed
Mohammed Nakhla
Laith Ladawdeh
Ihsan Al-Imwasi
Khaled Omar
Qassam Hussein
Oweis Al’ouri
Mohammed Al’ouri
Malik ‘Ayesh
Qassam Awad
Yahia Alawi
Mo’tassem Zaloum
Zacharia Al-Zubeidi

Security agencies of the Palestinian Authority have also arrested a number of students under political detention, including the following:

Hamza Hamdan – Birzeit University
Mohammed Naser – Birzeit University
Mohammed Ramadan – Annajah National University
Mo’ayad Halayqa – Annajah National University
Mothana Al-Qawasmi – Hebron Univeristy
Hussein Abu Shanab – Khuduri Univeristy
Mo’men Mazza – Khuduri University — Detained since 8 months and conducted a hunger strike

End political detention against students!

Hands off Palestinian students!

Freedom to all prisoners in all detention facilities!

The atrocious arrests of students and members of the Birzeit University student movement on an ongoing basis have not and will not discourage the will of our student movement. We reaffirm and reassure that students of Palestine will remain the messengers of the revolution wherever they are, despite the whips of repression and terrorism! Our way and our struggle require sacrifice. Either we sacrifice today with all our time and effort to raise our cause higher and struggle, or we give up and surrender. There is no word in our dictionary for surrender.

Tareq Matar, imprisoned youth leader and friend: A personal testimony

12 April 2020

by Thomas Hofland

For the last six months I have been thinking a lot about my friend Tareq Matar, who was arrested by Israeli occupation forces in November 2019 and subjected to severe torture. When he entered the Israeli military court for the first time, he was pushed in in a wheelchair. I was shocked, “Tareq in a wheelchair!?” Tareq is one of the strongest people that I know, both mentally and physically. So how could he have ended up in a wheelchair? And what can I do to ensure his freedom?

Friendship

Tareq and I met several times in Palestine, when I was on a solidarity delegation with Dutch and American students. Tareq welcomed us with open arms and his big smile. He made us feel at home and asked us about the struggles in our home countries. At the same time he explained the history and contemporary situation of the Palestinian liberation movement. He wanted to connect these struggles and unify our efforts to confront colonialism and Zionism internationally.

Even though we were already active in the Palestinian solidarity movement back home, Tareq elevated our understanding of the Palestinian struggle and emphasized that the best form of solidarity is to fight colonialist and oppressive forces in our home countries.

Why he was targeted

Tareq loves to talk about politics and even more he loves practicing his politics. And this is where we get back to his imprisonment. The Israeli occupation always targets Palestinians who resist Israeli colonization and occupation. As a youth leader and organizer, Tareq poses a so-called “security threat” to Israel. Is that not the world turned upside-down?

This is a colonizing force which imprisons, tortures and kills thousands of Palestinians every year, a force which steals Palestinian land, demolishes homes and denies refugees their Right to Return. It is clearly Israeli colonization and occupation which poses a security threat! And this security threat is the greatest for those people, like Tareq Matar, who resist colonization and occupation.

After his arrest in November 2019, Tareq was brought to Moskobiyeh interrogation center where he was held for approximately 30 days. During his interrogation, he was tortured by the Shin Bet’s method of the “banana position” or “back-bending,” allegedly made illegal since 1999 to use against Palestinian prisoners. As a result, he suffered intense pain in his back and joints, made worse by the brutal beatings he suffered at the hands of six security officers. From the moment of his arrest and torture until now, he has been banned from seeing his family members or his lawyers.

Student prisoners and COVID-19

Tareq is not the only Palestinian student imprisoned by the occupation. Currently, more than eighty students of Birzeit University are held behind bars, among them Mays Abu Ghosh. And most of them are being tortured. As Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association noted in December 2019, Israeli torture against Palestinian prisoners “included, but were not limited to harsh beating, sleep deprivation, solitary confinement, stress positions, the denial of basic hygiene needs, sexual harassment, threatening and intensive psychological torture including the use of family members and/or other detainees.”

The current COVID-19 pandemic poses a new threat to Palestinian prisoners, especially as they lack necessary personal protection equipment. The Right to Education campaign stated that “At a time when the entire world is suffering as a result of the outbreak of the pandemic, and governments are issuing regulations to save their people, the Israeli occupying forces continue their crimes against Palestinian prisoners, and our students, in particular.”

It has to be mentioned that Palestinian prisoners have been infected with the Coronavirus by an Israeli interrogator. On top of that, Israeli occupation forces have barred Palestinian prisoners from purchasing at least 140 different items at the “canteen” or prison store, including cleaning and sanitation supplies, and prohibited family and legal visits to the prisoners. They have continued to put Palestinians ate severe risk by continuing interrogations, maintaining dirty and overcrowded conditions and pursuing transfers.

Back to Tareq, who is right now being held in one of these dirty and overcrowded Israeli occupation prisons. When Tareq was arrested in November last year, he was preparing to pursue his academic career with a Ph.D program at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. He is being detained under administrative detention, without charge or trial and based on secret evidence.

This is the fifth time Tareq is imprisoned by Israeli occupation forces. When he was imprisoned under administrative detention in 2017 for one and a half years, his students at school waited for him and wrote letters to him. Tareq always saw in their eyes the hope of a better future and a good life for the people of the world. Tareq had a special relationship with his students, full of dialogue and love.

I want to call upon everyone reading this to demand the immediate release of Tareq Matar and all Palestinian prisoners. The Palestinian people have the right to resist. And the more Israel uses mass imprisonment, administrative detention and torture, the more resistance it will encounter along the way.

I want to end with the words of a Dutch-Palestinian youth who participated in our solidarity delegation:

Often you meet people that stand for something. That something can be anything and is strongly present in this person’s presence. When I met Tareq, I immediately knew he wasn’t an ordinary guy who had an opinion and that’s it. He exudes leadership and involves people in the thing that he stands for. That something is power, justice and equality. He knows his purpose and he will fight for it until his last breath. Personally, I do not know him well. We talked briefly in the house where he took us in. But one thing is for sure: The day I met Tareq I realized something. Leadership is not learned. Leadership thrives within. Tareq proves that.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network demands the immediate release of Tareq Matar, all student prisoners and all 5.000 Palestinian prisoners. In the run up to Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, we call upon all supporters of Palestine to join us for a week of action starting on 10 April to free all Palestinian prisoners. As COVID-19 threatens prisoners around the world, we have to intensify the struggle for their liberation. Click here for our call to action and suggested actions.

19 April, Online event: Palestinian political prisoners: The case of Ubai Aboudi and child detainees

12 April 2020

Sunday, 19 April
Online event over ZOOM
11 am Pacific/2 pm Eastern/8 pm Europe/9 pm Palestine
Register online: http://bit.ly/ImprisonedPalestiniansWebinar

Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/221342868944372/

Organized by NY4Palestine Coalition (Samidoun is a member organization of this coalition along with Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition; Within Our Lifetime – United for Palestine, Students for Justice in Palestine, American Muslims for Palestine – NJ and the Muslim American Society (MAS)- NY)

Mark Palestinian Prisoners’ Day by joining the NY4Palestine coalition for an interactive webinar on Palestinian political prisoners, with a focus on the 180 children imprisoned by Israel, as well as Ubai Aboudi, a Palestinian-American researcher detained in Israeli jails.

Brazilian organizations call for release of Palestinian prisoners

11 April 2020

Organizations in Brazil joined the call to the International Committee of the Red Cross to take action and intervene to protect Palestinian prisoners from the severe threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic should it spread inside Israeli jails. They made an urgent appeal upon the ICRC to pressure Israel to immediately release the Palestinian and Arab prisoners inside Israeli jails.

The letter emphasized that the Palestinian prisoners’ movement has issued multiple declarations and calls to free the detainees, especially the sick prisoners, elderly and child prisoners; there are currently over 180 children imprisoned in Israeli jails. Like other Palestinian prisoners, they are denied sanitary conditions, family visits or access to their lawyers. While Israel has claimed its restrictions protect prisoners from COVID-19, multiple jailers infected with the virus have been allowed to enter the prisoners and raids and arrests continue, putting the prisoners’ lives and health at extreme risk. This is especially true as Palestinian prisoners are routinely subjected to medical neglect within Israeli prisons.

The full letter is below in PDF and is signed by:

1- Comitê da Palestina Democrática
2- Sociedade Árabe Palestina de Corumba
3- Sociedade Árabe Palestina de Brasilia
4- Partido Comunista Brasileiro
5- Partido Comunista do Brasil
6- Centro Brasileiro de Solidariedade aos Povos e Luta pela Paz – Cebrapaz
7- União da Juventude Comunista.
8- Coletiva Feminista Classista Ana Montenegro.
9- Centro Cultural Árabe Palestino Brasileiro de São Paulo – SP.
10- Centro Cultural Árabe Palestino Brasileiro do RS.
11- Centro Cultural ÁrabePalestino Brasileiro do MS.
12- Portal desacato.info.
13- Cooperativa comunicacional sul.
14- Casa de America Latina seção Santa Catarina.
15- Comitê Catarinense de solidariedade ao povo Palestino.
16- Ashjan Sadique Adi, Doutorando pelo USP/ Ribeirão Preto e Diretora de Secretaria de Mulher pela FEPAL.
17- Edmilson Costa – PCB
18- Georges Latif Bourdoukan Jr – Restaurador.
19- Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra MST
20- Campanha Global pelo Retorno a Palestina
21- Comitê de Solidariedade ao Povo Palestino ABCDMRR/ SP
22- Estudantes em Solidariedade ao Povo Palestino – ESPP – USP
23- Casa da America Latina -Nacional.
24- Máximo Augusta Campos Masson, professor Associado da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro.
25- Sociedade Árabe Palestina Brasileira da Grande Porto Alegre.
26- MMM…Marcha Mundial das Mulheres (Coordenação Internacional).
27- União da Juventude Socialista – UJS

https://samidoun.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/brazil.pdf

Remembering Ibrahim al-Rai, revolutionary struggler for Palestine killed under torture

11 April 2020

Ibrahim (to the Shabak interrogator): Have you ever interrogated a table? I am a table now. Go interrogatea table. If it talks back to you, come to me and you’ll find that I have become a mountain.” — Ibrahim El-Rai, quoted in a handbook publishedby the Committee for the First Commemoration ofthe Martyr Ibrahim Mahmood al-Rai (Translated and reprinted in Lena Meari’s Sumud)

On the 32nd anniversary of his assassination behind Israeli bars, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes the memory of Ibrahim al-Rai (Abu al-Muntasser), the hero of the interrogation rooms. Ibrahim al-Rai was killed under torture by Israeli jailers in the interrogation cells where he was held and tortured for over 10 months of continuous solitary confinement on April 11, 1988. Until his death, he gave not one word of confession to his jailers and torturers. His revolutionary life of struggle and resistance continues to inspire Palestinians and internationalists everywhere, not only for his steadfastness behind bars but for his radical love for and commitment to the Palestinian people and their liberation.

Born in 1960 in Qalqilya, Ibrahim al-Rai joined the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in 1978 after two years of active involvement in the popular struggle. He was first arrested in August 1978 for his role in the Front and was released in 1982. He was released as part of a campaign by the Israeli occupation to promote the so-called “Village leagues” as an alternative to the Palestinian revolution and its leadership. Upon his release he publicly declared, “These people represent only themselves and the PLO is the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people,” at the time a revolutionary declaration that openly defied the occupation upon his release. He was returned to prison to complete his original sentence.

He was active in all fields of struggle, organizing mass cultural activities, dabkeh groups and youth symposiums. He established the Democratic Progressive Student Pole at An-Najah University in Nablus before devoting himself to political activity in Qalqilya as well as armed resistance throughout the northern West Bank of occupied Palestine.

He formed volunteer work committees that harvested wheat with the farmers, provided assistance to poor and marginalized people, rebuilt damaged properties, cleaned the cemeteries and painted schools in the refugee camps. He took strong inspiration from international and Arab struggles, including the Algerian liberation movement and the Vietnamese people’s war.

Again, in 1986 he was arrested and interrogated under torture for nine months, during which time he refused to provide a confession despite facing intense torture. Even after he was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison, he was not sent to the collective prison rooms with fellow prisoners but was instead held in solitary confinement, denied the ability to even shower, shave or change his clothes.

During this period he was held for 58 days in the interrogation cells in Jenin prison, then transferred to the interrogation cells in the old Nablus prison, and from there to the infamous al-Moskobiyeh detention center. He maintained a hunger strike throughout his time in the Moskobiyeh detention center until 29 November 1987, when he was transferred to Ramleh prison and thrown into solitary confinement there, where torture and interrogation continued. While held in al-Moskobiyeh, he wrote on the walls of his cell: “My comrades, they may hang me and this is possible, and if they hang me, they will not kill me, so I will stay alive. I will challenge them and I will not die, and remember me, I will remain alive in the beats of your heart.”

His example represented the “Philosophy of Confrontation Behind Bars” and resistance under interrogation that has come to exemplify Palestinian sumoud or steadfastness. Two days before his death he sent a letter to his family members:

“My beloved family, my lovely mother, passionate regards from my heart. I received your letter and, indeed, I read it almost every day as it encompasses immense meanings that motivate me and give me new powers each second I spend in my solitary cell. The poem that the comrades dedicated to me affectsme deeply and mobilizes me to really be the samed [steadfast] hero. . . . I realize that my solitary confinement is meant to separate me socially and culturally.Yet their plans will fail. The increase of suffering and hardships will not stopme; it motivates me to continue. . . . My beloved, I wish for you to ask the lawyer to visit me as there are issues I need to discuss with her regarding my solitary confinement and my case.”

Ibrahim al-Rai is considered to be the Bobby Sands of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement, a symbol not only of the prisoners but of an entire people’s commitment to resist colonialism, Zionism, and imperialism. His experience inspired a generation of Palestinians to refuse to confess under torture, and the slogan, “Resist, resist like al-Rai under interrogation” remains a call for Palestinian revolutionary consciousness that refuses to break or bend.

Palestinian women prisoners: The continuing struggle for freedom

11 April 2020

Today, there are 43 imprisoned Palestinian women and girls in Israeli jails. Many of them suffer from health issues, and the global pandemic of COVID-19 poses a significant threat, especially as they are held under harsh condition at Damon prison, previously a stable for animals. Palestinian women behind Israeli bars represent all facets of Palestinian society: parliamentarians, leaders, journalists, social workers, activists, students, mothers, sisters, daughters, aunts, caregivers, health workers and many more.

Throughout the history of the Palestinian cause, Palestinian women have been at the center of the liberation movement in all aspects of struggle and have played a particularly meaningful role in the prisoners’ movement behind bars historically, leading hunger strikes and continuing the struggle for freedom. Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Movement salutes the leading role of Palestinian women in the struggle and urges the immediate release of all Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

Amal Taqatqa– from Beit Fajjar (Bethlehem), sentenced to seven years
Israa Jaabis – from occupied Jerusalem, severely wounded; sentenced to 11 years
Helwa Hamamreh – from Husan (Bethlehem), sentenced to six years
Nisreen Hasan – from Haifa, occupied Palestine ’48, sentenced to six years
Sabreen Zbeedat – from Sakhnin, occupied Palestine ’48, sentenced to 50 months
Maysoun Musa Jabali – from Shawahreh (Bethlehem), sentenced to 15 years
Rawan Abu Ziyada – from Ramallah, sentenced to nine years
Shorouq Dwayyat – from occupied Jerusalem, sentenced to 16 years
Marah Bakir – from occupied Jerusalem, sentenced to 8.5 years (at the age of 16)
Nurhan Awad – from Qalandiya refugee camp, sentenced to 10 years
Fadwa Hamadeh – from occupied Jerusalem, sentenced to 10 years
Malak Suleiman – from occupied Jerusalem, sentenced to 10 years (at the age of 17)
Wafa Mahdawi – from Alshweika (Tulkarem), sentenced to 18 months (mother of Ashraf Na’alwa)
Ansam Shawahneh – from Qalqilya, sentenced to five years
Shatila Abu Ayyad – from 1948 occupied Palestine, sentenced to 16 years
Ayat Mahfouz – from al-Khalil, sentenced to five years
Amani al-Hashim – from occupied Jerusalem, sentenced to 10 years
Jihan Hashima – from occupied Jerusalem, sentenced to four years
Asiya Kaabneh – from Duma (Nablus), sentenced to 43 months
Amina Odeh – from occupied Jerusalem, sentenced to 33 months
Fawzieh Hamad Qandil – from Ramallah, sentenced to 20 months
Balsam Sharaeh – from al-Lydd, occupied Palestine ’48, detained awaiting trial
Bayan Faraoun – from occupied Jerusalem, sentenced to 40 months
Rawan Anbar – from Ramallah, sentenced to three years
Aisha al-Afghani – from occupied Jerusalem, sentenced to 15 years
Tasneem al-Assad – from Lakia, occupied Palestine ’48, sentenced to 5 years
Rahmeh al-Assad – from Lakia, occupied Palestine ’48, sentenced to 4.5 years
Samar Abu Thaher – from Gaza, sentenced to 2.5 years
Ranwa Shinawi – from occupied Palestine ’48, detained waiting for trial
Shorouq al-Badan – held without charge or trial under administrative detention
Inas Asafreh – from al-Khalil, detained awaiting trial
Mays Abu Ghosh – from Qalandiya refugee camp, detained waiting for trial
Samah Jaradat – from Ramallah, detained awaiting trial
Khalida Jarrar – from Ramallah, detained awaiting trial
Shatha Hassan – Bir Zeit student council president, held without charge or trial under administrative detention
Bushra al-Tawil – Palestinian journalist from Ramallah, held without charge or trial under administrative detention
Rawan al-Samhan – from al-Khalil, sentenced to 18 months
Azhar Qasem – from Qalqilya, detained awaiting trial
Suheir Salimiyeh – from al-Khalil, detained awaiting trial
Suzan Moubayed – from occupied Jerusalem, detained awaiting trial
Halimeh Khandaqji – from Ramallah, detained awaiting trial
Nawal Fetheya – from occupied Jerusalem, detained awaiting trial
Aya Khatib – from occupied Palestine ’48, detained awaiting trial

Below, we are reprinting this article by Samidoun’s international coordinator, Charlotte Kates. It was originally published for International Women’s Day at the International Review of Contemporary Law, the publication of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers. See online in French here.

Steadfastness and resistance: Palestinian women prisoners confront repression

by Charlotte Kates

“In prison, we challenge the abusive prison guard together, with the same will and determination to break him so that he does not break us…Prison is the art of exploring possibilities; it is a school that trains you to solve daily challenges using the simplest and most creative means, whether it be food preparation, mending old clothes or finding common ground so that we may all endure and survive together. For Palestinians, the prison is a microcosm of the much larger struggle of a people who refuse to be enslaved on their own land, and who are determined to regain their freedom, with the same will and vigor carried by all triumphant, once-colonized nations.” – Khalida Jarrar, imprisoned Palestinian feminist, leftist and parliamentarian[1]

Incarceration forms a major front for Israeli colonial control directed against the Palestinian population. However, the image of the Palestinian prisoner is largely a masculine one; indeed, the large majority of Palestinian political prisoners are men. Nevertheless, women political prisoners in occupied Palestine have played a major role in resistance behind bars, reflecting the role of Palestinian women in their national liberation struggle. They have encountered harsh torture, gendered violence and repression through the systematic policies of Israeli occupation forces and have often been targeted for imprisonment because of their leading roles in various forms of resistance to Israeli occupation.

Between 1967 and 2017, around 10,000 Palestinian women were jailed by Israeli authorities for political reasons and/or their involvement in the Palestinian resistance. This figure includes Palestinian women who hold Israeli citizenship, Palestinian Jerusalemites and Palestinian women living under direct Israeli military occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. There are currently approximately 41 Palestinian women held as political prisoners and detainees in Israeli prisons, out of approximately 5,000 Palestinian political prisoners overall.[2]

Flagrant violations of international law

Four of these women are jailed under administrative detention — imprisonment without charge or trial based on a “secret file.” The contents of this secret file may not be disclosed to their defense lawyers or to the detainees themselves. There are approximately 500 Palestinian prisoners currently held in administrative detention. While the Fourth Geneva Convention allows for some use of administrative detention by an occupying power, the Convention imposes strict limitations on its usage, including due process requirements. These are routinely violated by the Israeli occupation regime, and the Israeli practice of administrative detention does not comply with the Convention’s restrictions.[3]

The Convention specifies that any form of administrative detention may be used only as an “exceptional” measure due to “imperative” circumstances. Further, Article 66 of the Fourth Geneva Convention requires occupation courts to be legally constituted, with proper fair trial guarantees, in the occupied territory[4]. Instead, Palestinians in the West Bank face Israeli military courts that do not meet such standards, and the vast majority of the military courts are located behind Israeli borders. These courts routinely uphold administrative detention orders, in violation of Article 71 of the Convention, which mandates that such occupation courts must not issue decisions unless they are first preceded by a legal trial[5]. Administrative detainees and their lawyers are denied access to any form of trial or even knowledge of the allegations against them. “Willfully depriving a protected person of the rights of fair and regular trial” is a grave violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.[6] Israel’s deprivation of fair trial rights and imprisonment in violation of the fundamental rules of international law further constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court[7]. Furthermore, administrative detention as routinely practiced violates several provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, including Articles 9, 10 and 14.[8]

It should be noted that the Convention’s acceptance of any form of administrative detention was meant to apply to conventional military occupations, while Israel has combined its ongoing occupation with a long-term colonial project. Administrative detention is not handled as an individual, urgent, or case-by-case matter, as mandated by the Convention; instead, it is used routinely to penalize prominent community leaders and activists, especially when Israeli interrogators have found it impossible to obtain a confession. Since 1967, at least 50,000 administrative detention orders have been issued by Israeli military officials and courts[9]. Administrative detention orders are indefinitely renewable, and Palestinians have spent years at a time jailed without charge or trial.

All Palestinian women political prisoners are held in Damon prison, an Israeli prison within the “green line” demarcating the 1948 armistice borders of the Israeli state. This means that Palestinian women – like most Palestinian political prisoners – are detained outside the 1967 occupied territories of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, directly contravening Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which mandates that an occupying power must detain the residents of an occupied territory within that occupied territory itself[10].

Torture and ill-treatment

This violation has multiple significant material effects on the lives of Palestinian women prisoners. In order for Palestinians from the West Bank or the Gaza Strip to visit their imprisoned family members, they must obtain special permits from the Israeli administration. These permits are frequently denied on “security” grounds. When these permits are granted, they can be revoked at any time. This means that, in practice, Palestinian women may be frequently denied family visits, including from their spouses and children.[11]

Palestinian women detainees routinely encounter torture and ill-treatment when they are arrested and detained, particularly during the interrogation process. As Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association (a Palestinian NGO that provides legal representation to detained Palestinians) reports,

The majority of Palestinian women prisoners are subjected to some form of psychological torture and ill-treatment throughout the process of their arrest and detention, including various forms of sexual violence that occur such as beatings, insults, threats, body searches, and sexually explicit harassment. Upon arrest, women detainees are not informed where they are being taken and are rarely explained their rights during interrogation. These techniques of torture and ill-treatment are used not only as means to intimidate Palestinian women detainees but also as tools to humiliate Palestinian women and coerce them into giving confessions.[12]

Torture and ill-treatment are not the sole purview of male Israeli interrogators and soldiers. While the Israeli military frequently touts its commitment to gender equality, for Palestinians under occupation, this simply means that the mechanisms of oppression and control are shared. It does not provide relief for arrested and detained Palestinian women. As noted by Addameer, “Israeli women soldiers deploy violent methods of control against Palestinian men and women in an effort to seek respect and recognition from male soldiers and their superiors.”[13]

Under CEDAW’s Recommendation 35, when assessing torture or inhumane and degrading treatment, “a gender sensitive approach is required to understand the level of pain and suffering experienced by women and that the purpose and intent requirement of torture are satisfied when acts or omissions are gender specific or perpetrated against a person on the basis of sex.”[14] Palestinian female detainees have repeatedly reported sexually harassing comments, threats against them and their families, repeated strip-searches and other forms of ill-treatment that directly target their lived experience as women.

“Erdan committee” targets prisoners’ rights

While these circumstances and many others have been routinely documented for decades by Palestinian, international and even Israeli human rights organizations and justice advocates, Palestinian women prisoners are facing an intensified climate of repression and harsh attempts to claw back those rights that they have obtained through years of struggle inside and outside prison. Gilad Erdan, the Minister of Public Security in Benjamin Netanyahu’s Israeli government, who supervises the Israel Prison Service, chaired a commission known as the “Erdan committee” to allegedly investigate “luxuries” enjoyed by Palestinian prisoners.[15] Many of these basic provisions, such as access to some remote education programs and separate kitchens or television channels, had only been obtained through years of hunger strikes and related campaigns.

Erdan, it should be noted, holds two positions within the Netanyahu government; he is also the Minister of Strategic Affairs, a department often referred to as the “anti-BDS ministry.”[16] Thus, he is also charged with international attempts to counteract and suppress Palestinian human rights organizations and international solidarity with the Palestinian people, particularly the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. In this context, Erdan has gone after organizations advocating for the rights of Palestinian prisoners, calling for these organizations to be defunded by international donors and labeling them “terrorists in suits.”[17] This campaign has targeted human rights defenders as well as solidarity organizations, including Addameer, Al-Haq, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees and Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network. These efforts, which have unfortunately resulted in new political conditions on support for human rights defenders by European Union officials, are the international corollary to the “Erdan commission’s” attempts to roll back achievements of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement over the years.[18]

Repressive measures and intensified surveillance

Several of the “Erdan committee’s” efforts have focused specifically on the circumstances of Palestinian women prisoners. Erdan himself declared that “we must make conditions worse” and reduce living conditions to the “minimum required,” making clear the odious intent of the policies.[19] One such action was the implementation of camera surveillance in the HaSharon prison yard, one of two Israeli prisons (both, notably, outside the 1967 occupied territories in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention) housing Palestinian female political prisoners.[20]

These surveillance cameras were activated in the collective kitchens used by women prisoners, washing machine areas and prayer areas as well as the recreation yards. All of the prisoners objected strongly to the placement of the cameras, especially knowing that male security guards and officials were likely to view the footage. For religiously observant women, these spaces were now rendered public areas for additional scrutiny, forcing them to cover up. As a result, women in HaSharon prison refused to go to recreation for over two months and demanded the removal of the cameras. Several years before, the cameras had been installed but were covered and deactivated after an extensive protest campaign.

The surveillance cameras were not the only repressive measures levied against the prisoners; Erdan’s committee also imposed restrictions on water access for Palestinian prisoners, limiting the number of showers they could take, another issue of particular concern for detained Palestinian women. Thousands of books, which had been donated or gifted by family members, were confiscated from the women’s section of the prison.[21

In response to the hunger strike, repression at HaSharon prison escalated. At one point, hot water was entirely cut off to the women’s section, allotments of meat and vegetables were significantly reduced and significant fines, amounting to hundreds of USD, were imposed on Palestinian women prisoners as a form of punishment. Finally, all of the women prisoners were transferred en masse to Damon prison, an action firmly regarded as a heightened form of punishment and repression.

Harsh, dangerous conditions of confinement

Both prisons are known for repressive conditions, but Damon is particularly harsh, partially due to its history as a stable for horses, but also because of its distance from most Israeli military courts, where Palestinian women prisoners face multiple and ongoing hearings. As noted by Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, “Women prisoners have frequently cited the use of the ‘bosta’ – a vehicle used to transport prisoners, where they are shackled throughout the journey which often takes hours upon hours due to repeated stops, security checks and other delays.”[22]

The “bosta,” named for its resemblance to a mail truck, is constructed of metal benches. Women on the bosta are often brought together with Israeli prisoners facing criminal charges, who in turn target the Palestinian detainees with racial slurs and abuse. Palestinian women detainees have repeatedly reported being denied the ability to use the toilet and the vehicle takes a circuitous route that makes what should be a short, direct trip an hours-long ordeal.[23]

Conditions in the “bosta” and in Damon prison overall are particularly difficult for women who have disabilities and other health care needs. As documented by Palestinian lawyer and human rights defender Sahar Francis,

Female prisoners suffer from systematic medical negligence. Despite the fact that there is a medical clinic in every prison, the treatment provided is largely insufficient to meet Palestinian women prisoners’ needs. The prison administration does not provide adequate personal hygiene items, forcing female prisoners to buy these items from the prison’s canteens with their own money… Childbirth inside prison is particularly inhumane. The pregnant prisoner’s hands and feet are shackled on the way to the hospital, and are only temporarily loosened during the final stage of labor (the actual birthing) after which they are put back on immediately…Female prisoners are also subjected to penalties and punishments that include…restricted access to bathrooms during menstruation.[24]

Palestinian women’s resistance

As reflected in their response to the “Erdan committee” at HaSharon prison, Palestinian women political prisoners have found ways to continue their resistance and struggle behind bars. Nahla Abdo writes in her important book that studies the lives of imprisoned Palestinian women,

Resistance, struggle, and fighting against oppression do not stop at the doors of prisons or detention camps. The commitment to freedom, the love for the homeland, and the determination to struggle against oppression – elements which make up the agency of women fighters and drive them to resist – continue to be the driving forces for their survival in prisons or detention camps. Methods of resistance used by most female political detainees include hunger strikes, refusing to leave their cells, disobeying the orders of prison guards, persisting in making demands and the already discussed dirty protests. Resistance, in other words, can be active and direct or else passive. The social and political consciousness-raising provided by the older and younger generations of political detainees for new arrivals is also common among many political detainees globally. Resistance education in prisons, expressed in formalized education sessions, seminars, workshops and literacy awareness classes is also practiced by female political detainees.[25]

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.[26] Palestinian women have been consistently involved in general hunger strikes and protest actions throughout all prisons. These include specific strikes of women prisoners in 1985, 2004 and 2019, as well as on multiple other occasions. These struggles have inspired international feminist campaigns to support the strikes.[27]

As Abdo notes, resistance education is also part of Palestinian women’s experience inside Israeli prisons. While Palestinian women have written for many years about the “revolutionary education” they have received from other prisoners, this has also been experienced by imprisoned teen girls, engendered by the Israeli authorities’ denial of their right to education. Teen girls are imprisoned with Palestinian adult women political prisoners, previously in Neve Tirza and HaSharon prisons and currently in Damon prison. As is the case for male Palestinian child prisoners, these girls frequently lose a year or more of their high school education because they suffered a gap of more than three months in their education.

Denials of the right to education

Palestinian girls are affected by military orders that direct Palestinian children’s cases to be handled by military courts that fundamentally lack basic fair trial rights and protections, a completely different system than that used for Israeli children. Once imprisoned, Palestinian children receive at most 20 hours a week of education, compared to 35 hours in regular schools, while at least 25% received no education at all. On the other hand, Israeli child prisoners receive a comprehensive educational program that prepares them to pass the national high school graduation examination.[28]

In 2018, Palestinian girls at HaSharon prison obtained no education for several months, prompting Palestinian women, led by prominent feminist, leftist, political detainee, advocate and legislator Khalida Jarrar, to develop a self-organized education program. This program included high school exam preparations in math, science and languages for the minor girls as well as human rights and international law education, including studying CEDAW.[29] Israeli prison officials attempted to stop the classes, causing Palestinian women prisoners to return meals and launch protests to protect their right to education[30]. As Addameer noted,

What is currently taking place at HaSharon prison is not only a denial of education, it is also an attempt to curtail female prisoner’s ability to better understand their own oppression. These sessions are about the fundamentals of human existence, rights. The Israeli occupation forces, are not only violating IHL and IHRL but are also attempting to erase an understanding of the acts of the oppressor and to distort the Palestinian consciousness.[31]

Urgent need for action and solidarity

The insupportable circumstances of Palestinian women political detainees implicate not only the Israeli occupation and state structures, but also the international parties that continue to provide support for its ongoing and blatant disregard for international law and international human rights law. For example, the United States provides $3.8 billion in military aid to Israel every year. Several members of Congress have introduced legislation to forbid this aid from being used for the detention and military trial of Palestinian children, but this bill has faced fierce opposition from the Trump administration and Israel lobby organizations.[32]

The European Union has intensified political conditions on the aid it provides to some Palestinian human rights organizations, which are already facing difficult and extreme obstacles to the enjoyment of their rights. Rather than taking action to hold the occupying power accountable for its ongoing violations against Palestinian human rights defenders, including Palestinian women like Khalida Jarrar, EU officials have required Palestinian organizations to pledge that their staff and members are not members of political parties. This mirrors the demands by Erdan – the same Israeli official who stated his intention to reduce Palestinian prisoners’ living conditions to the “minimum possible.” These restrictions have sparked a new protest campaign by Palestinian human rights defenders, as they highlight ongoing international complicity in Israeli violations of the rights of Palestinians, including and particularly those of Palestinian women.[33]

The treatment of detained Palestinian women and girls once again highlights the reality of apartheid in occupied Palestine. It differs markedly and distinctly from the treatment of Israeli women and girls, as do Israeli policies ranging from education to military service to fertility. Despite extensive documentation of these violations, Israeli officials continue to enjoy impunity and declare that international law does not apply to occupied Palestine. A wide range of Palestinian women’s organizations, including former Palestinian women political prisoners, have issued an urgent call to the world to support the campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel. The BDS movement requires compliance with Palestinian human rights by ending the occupation, dismantling the wall, implementing Palestinian refugees’ right to return and replacing apartheid with equality for all citizens.[34] The circumstances faced by Palestinian women political detainees make the urgency of this call clear to all, particularly to women’s movements concerned with global justice.

See footnotes below

Resources on Palestinian women prisoners

We recommend the following resources for more information on Palestinian women prisoners:

International Women’s Day … 43 Palestinian Women in Detention, March 2020, Addameer
Khalida Jarrar: New Video and Resources, April 2020, Samidoun
Nahla Abdo, From Captive Revolution to Grand Gaza Prison: https://plutopress.wordpress.com/2014/08/21/from-captive-revolution-to-grand-gaza-prison/
Nahla Abdo’s book, Captive Revolution: https://www.plutobooks.com/display.asp?K=9780745334936&%3C/)
“For the Love of Palestine:” New booklet highlights stories of Palestinian women prisoners – November 2016, Prison, Labor and Academic Delegation to Palestine
Sahar Francis, Gendered Violence in Israeli Detention, Journal of Palestine Studies, summer 2017
Remembering Therese Halasa, Palestinian revolutionary: Rima Tannous’ prison story – Samidoun, March 2020. With reprint of historical account of Palestinian freed prisoner Rima Tannous
Soraya Antonius, Prisoners for Palestine: A List of Women Political Prisoners – Journal of Palestine Studies, 1980
Addameer, Occupied Lives: The Imprisonment of Palestinian Women and Girls: http://www.addameer.org/publications/occupied-lives-imprisonment-palestinian-women-and-girls
Leena Jawabreh, Facing imprisonment in Israeli Jails: A Palestinian Woman’s Testimony: https://samidoun.net/2013/09/facing-imprisonment-in-israeli-jails-a-palestinian-womans-testimony-by-leena-jawabreh/
Film, Women in Struggle, Dir: Buthaina Canaan Khoury, 2004: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0Va7-cNxf8
Film, Tell Your Tale, Little Bird, Dir: Arab Loutfi, 2007: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdkoxBjKM1Q
The Struggle of Palestinian Women (PLO, 1975): http://www.palestinianconference.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/PLO-PalestinianWomen.pdf
International Women’s Day and the General Union of Palestinian Women, PFLP Bulletin, April 1982: http://www.palestinianconference.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/WomensDay-PFLPBulletin-April1982.pdf
Palestinian Women Develop Their Struggle through Democratic Revolutionary Resolutions, September 1974, PFLP Bulletin: http://www.palestinianconference.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/WomensDay-PFLPBulletin-13-SepOct74.pdf
Women’s Struggle in Occupied Palestine, Democratic Palestine, May 1984: http://www.palestinianconference.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/WomensStruggle-DemocraticPal-Mar1984.pdf

Article Footnotes

[1] Khalida Jarrar, “Foreword,” in Ramzy Baroud, These Chains Will Be Broken: Palestinian Stories of Struggle and Defiance in Israeli Prisons. Clarity Press, 2020

[2] Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, “Imprisonment of Women and Girls.” November 2018, http://www.addameer.org/the_prisoners/women

[3] Al-Haq, “Ongoing violations of the rights of Palestinian prisoners.” 11 October 2010, http://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/7311.html

[4] Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War. Geneva, 12 August 1949., Art. 66, https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/ihl/385ec082b509e76c41256739003e636d/6756482d86146898c125641e004aa3c5

[5] Id., Art. 71.

[6] Id., Art. 147.

[7] Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Part 2, Article 8, https://www.icc-cpi.int/resourcelibrary/official-journal/rome-statute.aspx#article8

[8] Jelena Pejic, “Procedural principles and safeguards for internment/administrative detention in armed conflict and other situations of violence,” International Review of the Red Cross, Vol. 87, No. 858 (June 2005), https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/assets/files/other/irrc_858_pejic.pdf

[9] Addameer, “10 Facts about Administrative Detention,” 5 November 2015, http://www.addameer.org/Campaign/sheets-and-reports/10-facts-about-administrative-detention

[10] Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War. Geneva, 12 August 1949., Art. 76 https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/ihl/385ec082b509e76c41256739003e636d/6756482d86146898c125641e004aa3c5

[11] Public Committee Against Torture in Israel and World Organization against Torture, “Violence Against Palestinian Women.” July 2005, https://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/docs/ngos/OMCT.pdf

[12] Addameer, ibid.

[13] Id.

[14] UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, “General recommendation No. 35 on gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19.” http://docstore.ohchr.org/SelfServices/FilesHandler.ashx?enc=6QkG1d%2FPPRiCAqhKb7yhsldCrOlUTvLRFDjh6%2Fx1pWAeqJn4T68N1uqnZjLbtFua2OBKh3UEqlB%2FCyQIg86A6bUD6S2nt0Ii%2Bndbh67tt1%2BO99yEEGWYpmnzM8vDxmwt

[15] Tamara Nassar, “Palestinians launch mass hunger strike against prison repression,” Electronic Intifada. 12 April 2019, https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/tamara-nassar/palestinians-launch-mass-hunger-strike-against-prison-repression

[16] Itamar Benzaquen and The Seventh Eye, “Israeli ministry paying for anti-BDS propaganda in major news outlets,” 972 Magazine, 14 January 2020. https://www.972mag.com/anti-bds-propaganda-ministry-media/

[17] “Israel labels BDS activists ‘terrorists in suits’ in new smear campaign,” Middle East Monitor. 4 February 2019, https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190204-israel-labels-bds-activists-terrorists-in-suits-in-new-smear-campaign/

[18] Tariq Dana, “Criminalizing Palestinian Resistance: The EU’s Additional Condition on Aid to Palestine,” Al-Shabaka. 2 February 2020, https://al-shabaka.org/commentaries/criminalizing-palestinian-resistance-the-eus-new-conditions-on-aid-to-palestine/

[19] Nassar, ibid.

[20] Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, “Palestinian women prisoners escalate struggle against repression.” 31 October 2018, https://samidoun.net/2018/10/palestinian-women-prisoners-escalate-struggle-against-repression/

[21] Id.

[22] Id.

[23] Leena Jawabreh, “Facing Imprisonment in Israeli Jails: A Palestinian woman’s testimony,” Samidoun. 22 September 2013, https://samidoun.net/2013/09/facing-imprisonment-in-israeli-jails-a-palestinian-womans-testimony-by-leena-jawabreh/

[24] Sahar Francis, “Gendered Violence in Israeli Detention.” Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. XLVI No. 4 (Summer 2017)

[25] Nahla Abdo, Captive Revolution: Palestinian Women’s Anti-Colonial Struggle Within the Israeli Prison System. 2014, Pluto Press, p. 34

[26] Mustafa Abu Sneineh, “Beds, kettles and books: How hunger strikes changed the cells of Palestinian prisoners,” Middle East Eye. 1 May 2019, https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/beds-kettles-and-books-how-hunger-strikes-changed-cells-palestinian-prisoners

[27] AWID, “Feminist perspectives on the Palestinian prisoner hunger strike,” 26 May 2017. https://www.awid.org/news-and-analysis/feminist-perspectives-palestinian-prisoner-hunger-strike

[28] Addameer, “Education within the Israeli Prisons: A Deliberate Policy to De-Educate,” 9 June 2019, http://www.addameer.org/publications/education-within-israeli-prisons-deliberate-policy-de-educate

[29] Jaclynn Ashly, “Khalida Jarrar: ‘I will never stop speaking out,’ Electronic Intifada, 28 March 2019, https://electronicintifada.net/content/khalida-jarrar-i-will-never-stop-speaking-out/26961

[30] Samidoun, “Imprisoned Palestinian girls denied educational rights as women self-organize high school exam preparations,” 13 April 2018. https://samidoun.net/2018/04/imprisoned-palestinian-girls-denied-educational-rights-as-women-self-organize-high-school-exam-preparations/

[31] Addameer, “No Education, No Awareness for Female Minors in Detention,” 11 April 2018, http://addameer.org/news/no-education-no-awareness-female-minors-detention

[32] Rep. Betty McCollum, “Resources on HR 2407, Promoting Human Rights for Palestinian Children Living Under Israeli Military Occupation Act.” https://mccollum.house.gov/palestinianchildrensrights

[33] Yumna Patel, “Palestinian NGOs launch campaign against EU ‘anti-terror’ funding requirement,” Mondoweiss, 24 January 2020. https://mondoweiss.net/2020/01/palestinian-ngos-launch-campaign-against-eu-anti-terror-funding-requirement/

[34] Palestinian Women Coalition, “Palestinian Women’s Call for Worldwide Women’s Endorsement of BDS,” 8 March 2016, https://bdsmovement.net/news/palestinian-women%E2%80%99s-call-worldwide-women%E2%80%99s-endorsement-bds

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Background on the case of Ahmad Sa’adat

JERICHO ASSAULT AND ABDUCTION

Sa’adat’s statement before sentencing (25 December 2008)

Statements and Writings by Ahmad Sa’adat

Resources and Articles on Ahmad Sa’adat

Shatha Hassan

Mays Abu Ghosh

Samah Jaradat

Israr Ma’arouf

Tareq Matar

Ameer Hazboun

Steadfastness and resistance: Palestinian women prisoners confront repression

Resources on Palestinian women prisoners

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