24 August, Berlin: Boycott Puma! Protest demonstration at Hackeschen Markt

22 August 2019

Saturday, 24 August
2:00 pm
Hackescher Markt
Berlin, Germany
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/684997331927872/

BDS Berlin is calling for a demonstration at the PUMA Concept Store at Hackeschen Markt at Rosenthaler Str. 40/41 in 10178 Berlin on Saturday, 24 August 2019 from 2 pm to 4 pm.

BOYCOTT PUMA
PROUD SPONSORS OF ISRAELI APARTHEID

More than 200 Palestinian football teams have called on PUMA to end sponsorship of the Israel Football Association (IFA) due to its support for Israeli war crimes. The IFA includes football teams that are based in illegal settlements and host matches on land stolen from Palestinians.

EVERY ISRAELI SETTLEMENT IN THE WEST BANK, INCLUDING EAST JERUSALEM, IS ILLEGAL, AND A WAR CRIME UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW.

Israel’s settlements contribute to serious human rights abuses and are a direct cause for restrictions on Palestinian freedom of movement, access to natural resources, and ability to build homes and conduct business.

PUMA’S SPONSORSHIP OF THE IFA LEGITIMISES AND GIVES INTERNATIONAL COVER TO ISRAEL’S ILLEGAL SETTLEMENTS.

By sponsoring the Israel Football Association (IFA), Puma is endorsing the continued ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. Israel uses sport to whitewash its crimes and normalise the status of illegal settlements.

As the main international sponsor of the IFA, Puma is lending its brand to cover up and sportwash Israel’s human rights abuses, including against Palestinian footballers.

Until they end their sponsorship of the IFA, join us in boycotting Puma and calling on Puma-sponsored teams to drop Puma.

BDS Berlin ruft auf zur

Kundgebung vor dem PUMA Concept Store am Hackeschen Markt

in der Rosenthaler Str. 40/41 in 10178 Berlin

am Samstag, den 24. August 2019 von 14:00 – 16:00 Uhr

Mehr als 200 palästinensische Fußballmannschaften haben PUMA aufgefordert, sein Sponsoring des Israelischen Fußballverbandes (IFA) aufgrund seiner Unterstützung für israelische Kriegsverbrechen einzustellen. Im IFA sind Fußballmannschaften, die in illegalen Siedlungen ansässig sind und Spiele auf von Palästinenser*innen gestohlenem Land ausrichten.

JEDE ISRAELISCHE SIEDLUNG IN DER WESTBANK, EINSCHLIESSLICH OST-JERUSALEM, IST ILLEGAL UND GEMÄSS VÖLKERRECHT EIN KRIEGSVERBRECHEN.

Israels Siedlungen tragen zu schweren Menschenrechts-verletzungen bei und sind eine unmittelbare Ursache für Einschränkungen der Bewegungsfreiheit der Palästinenser*innen, des Zugangs zu natürlichen Ressourcen und der Möglichkeit Häuser zu bauen und Geschäfte zu tätigen.

PUMAS SPONSORING DES IFA LEGITIMIERT UND GIBT ISRAELS ILLEGALEN SIEDLUNGEN INTERNATIONALE DECKUNG.
Boycott PUMA

Mit dem Sponsoring des Israelischen Fußballverbandes (IFA) billigt PUMA die anhaltende ethnische Säuberung der Palästinenser*innen. Israel nutzt den Sport, um seine Verbrechen zu übertünchen und den Status illegaler Siedlungen zu normalisieren.

Als internationaler Hauptsponsor der IFA stellt PUMA seine Marke zur Verfügung, um die israelischen Menschenrechtsverletzungen, auch gegen palästinensische Fußballspieler*innen, zu vertuschen und zu verschleiern.

Macht mit, boykottiert PUMA und ruft von PUMA gesponsorte Mannschaften auf, PUMA fallen zu lassen bis das Unternehmen sein Sponsoring des IFA beendet. #BoycottPUMA

http://bdsberlin.org/2019/08/18/boykottiert-puma-protest-kundgebung-am-hackeschen-markt/?preview=true&_thumbnail_id=8924

Dozens of Palestinian prisoners launch solidarity strike as protests support hunger strikers

22 August 2019

*Protest in Gaza for the prisoners, 22 August*

On Wednesday evening, 21 August, the Prison Branch of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine announced that a number of Palestinian prisoners were launching a solidarity strike with Huzaifa Halabiya and his fellow hunger strikers on Thursday, 22 August. Halabiya, from Abu Dis in Jerusalem, has been on hunger strike for 53 days against his imprisonment without charge or trial under Israeli administrative detention. There are eight prisoners currently on hunger strike and almost 50 more have already joined solidarity strikes inside Israeli prisons.

Dozens of prisoners announced that they would join a three-day solidarity strike beginning on Thursday, including the following:

From Ramon prison: Ahmad Karajeh, Ahmad Abu Hassaniya, Ahmad Abu Sheikha, Mahmoud Abu Asba, Ahmad al-Masri, Majdi Qawariq, Siraj al-Khatib, Ashraf al-Sajdi, Khaled Yousef

From Ofer prison: Khaled Taha, Mohammed Safi, Tarek Karajah, Ahmed Kittani, Mohammed Farahin, Bahaa al-Khawaja, Maher al-Amarin, Hafez Omar, Bassem Mizher, Ramez Rayan, Mohammed Khamour, Mohammed Fares, Mohammed Ghatrashi, Yousef al-Zaghari

From Nafha prison: Mohammed Khalaf, Mohammed Saleh, Uday al-Titi, Ahmad al-Khatib, Mohammed Hawarin, Hussein Atta

From the Negev desert prison: Fadi Abu al-Huda, Yousef Yousef, Tariq Mahran, Taleb Abu Khait, Hamdi al-Balawi, Mahmoud al-Haj Mohammed, Ibrahim Salem, Khader Madi, Mohammed Laddawa, Ali Darwish, Haytham Siyaj, Majed Alama, Munther Hajajreh, Mohammed Khatatbeh, Hamza Zawil

A number of the 48 prisoners launching solidarity strikes today have previously participated in solidarity actions during the strike of the administrative detainees. In their statement, they said that “the battle of freedom and will continues until the administrative detainees achieve their liberation and victory over the policy of administrative detention.”

As they launched their strike, protests were planned throughout occupied Palestine, including a protest in Gaza City at the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights at 10 am and a protest outside Ofer prison. Participants in the Gaza protest carried signs and banners demanding freedom for all Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, while children performed street theater in support of the prisoners.

In Eizariya and Abu Dis in Jerusalem, both towns observed a general commercial strike in support of Halabiya and Ismail Ali, both from Abu Dis. Ali has been on hunger strike for 30 days against administrative detention. National forces and political parties called for a day of anger and demonstrations to confront the occupation. The general strike followed an evening protest on Wednesday, which launched from the sit-in tent in support of the prisoners in Abu Dis to the homes of the martyrs Nasim Abu Roumi and the wounded Mohammed al-Sheikh in Eizariya. Hundreds joined the march to support the prisoners and demand justice for the wounded and the martyrs, while occupation forces fired tear gas, sound grenades and rubber-coated metal bullets toward the youth in the demonstration.

Halabiya is facing a particularly precarious health condition. He is a leukemia survivor who also suffered burns over the majority of his body as a child. He has been jailed without charge or trial since June 2018. When he was seized from his home by Israeli occupation forces, his wife was pregnant; he is now the father of seven-month-old Majdal, who he has been denied the opportunity to even meet.

All eight of the long-term hunger strikers are held without charge or trial under administrative detention, a policy of arbitrary detention introduced to Palestine under the colonial British mandate and adopted by the Zionist regime. Palestinians can be jailed for up to six months at a time under administrative detention orders, which are indefinitely renewable. This means that Palestinians can spend years in administrative detention. The hunger strikers include:

Huzaifa Halabiya, 54 days
Ahmad Ghannam, 41 days
Sultan Khallouf, 37 days
Ismail Ali, 31 days
Wajdi al-Awawda, 26 days
Tareq Qa’adan, 22 days
Nasser al-Jada, 17 days
Thaer Hamdan, 12 days

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges all supporters and friends of Palestine everywhere around the world to stand with these courageous prisoners who have put their lives on the line to seek freedom and an end to the unjust system of administrative detention. International solidarity can play an important role in supporting their struggle, and Palestinian prisoners are calling for our actions. All of our participation, protests and petitions can play a role in helping them to seize victory for justice and freedom.

Take Action:

1) Organize or join an event or protest for the Palestinian prisoners. You can organize an info table, rally, solidarity hunger strike, protest or action to support the prisoners. If you are already holding an event about Palestine or social justice, include solidarity with the prisoners as part of your action. Send your events and reports to samidoun@samidoun.net.

2) Write letters and make phone calls to protest the violation of Palestinian prisoners’ rights. Demand your government take action to stop supporting Israeli occupation or to pressure the Israeli state to end the policies of repression of Palestinian political prisoners. In particular, demand that your political officials put pressure on Israel to end the policy of administrative detention, the imprisonment of Palestinians without charge or trial.

Call during your country’s regular office hours:

• Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs Marise Payne: + 61 2 6277 7500
• Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland: +1-613-992-5234
• European Union Commissioner Federica Mogherini: +32 (0) 2 29 53516
• New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters: +64 4 439 8000
• United Kingdom Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt: +44 20 7008 1500
• United States President Donald Trump: 1-202-456-1111

3) Boycott, Divest and Sanction. Join the BDS campaign to highlight the complicity of corporations like Hewlett-Packard and the continuing involvement of G4S in Israeli policing and prisons. Build a campaign to boycott Israeli goods, impose a military embargo on Israel, or organize around the academic and cultural boycott of Israel. Learn more about the BDS campaign at bdsmovement.net.

52 days of hunger strike for Huzaifa Halabiya: Call to Action 22 August

21 August 2019

*New cartoon to support Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike, by Carlos Latuff*

As Palestinian prisoner Huzaifa Halabiya exceeds 52 days of hunger strike against his imprisonment by the Israeli occupation without charge or trial, the prisoners’ movement is urging people to take to the streets on 22 August to stand with Palestinian prisoners fighting for freedom. In a statement, Palestinian prisoners called on people to rally in front of the Ofer prison, emphasizing that the Palestinian people “will not stand idly by and accept the continued suffering of the striking administrative detainees.”

The statement also “called on all in the West Bank, Jerusalem, Gaza, occupied Palestine ’48 and in the refugee camps in diaspora to confirm together that we are fighting one battle, the battle of freedom and victory.”

*Huzaifa Halabiya, on hunger strike since 1 July*

The Prison Branch of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine issued a call to participate in these actions in cities, camps and villages throughout occupied Palestine. It also urged “activating all forms of Arab and international support and solidarity with the prisoners, especially the administrative prisoners who are engaged in an open-ended hunger strike.” The statement also called for bringing Gilad Erdan, the Minister of Public Security, and other Israeli officials to be brought before “popular tribuals and international courts for their crimes against the prisoners and the Palestinian people as a whole.”

The statement also demanded that “The International Committee of the Red Cross and other concerned international bodies must take up their responsibilities to the prisoners. These institutions cannot be silent on the crimes against the prisoners.”

*Huzaifa Halabiya’s mother joins protest for his freedom. Photo: Muhammed Qarout Idkaidek*

Huzaifa Halabiya, from Abu Dis in Jerusalem, has been jailed without charge or trial under Israeli administrative detention since 10 June 2018. He launched his hunger strike on 1 July to demand his freedom from detention. His health is precarious, especially given that he requires specialized medical care. He is a leukemia survivor and suffered severe burns as a child over the majority of his body. When he was arrested by occupation forces, his wife was pregnant; today, he is the father of a six-month-old daughter, Majdal, who he has been denied the ability to meet.

*Majdal Huzaifa Halabiya, Huzaifa’s 6-month-old daughter*

He is joined on hunger strike by Ahmad Ghannam, who has gone without food for 39 days. He is also a leukemia survivor held without charge or trial under administrative detention. From Dura near al-Khalil, he is married with two children. Sultan Khallouf, from the village of Burqin near Jenin, has been on hunger strike for 35 days. He was arrested on 8 July and launched his strike immediately after occupation authorities announced that he would be transferred to administrative detention.

Ismail Ali, also from Abu Dis in Jerusalem, has been jailed without charge or trial since January 2019; he launched his strike 29 days ago to demand an end to his administrative detention. He was jailed in the past for seven years by the Israeli occupation. Wajdi al-Awawdeh, 20, has been held under administrative detention since April 2018, and has now been on hunger strike for 24 days.

Tareq Qa’adan, a prominent leader in Jenin and a former prisoner who spent 11 years in Israeli jails, launched his hunger strike 20 days ago. He was transferred to administrative detention instead of being released at the end of his sentence.

Two more prisoners have joined the strike: Nasser al-Jada, who has been on hunger strike for 15 days, and Thaer Hamdan, who has been on strike for 10 days. All are held without charge or trial under administrative detention.

*Poster for the 22 August protests…”It’s victory..or victory!”*

Administrative detention was first introduced to Palestine under the British colonial mandate and was then adopted by the Zionist state. Palestinians can be jailed for up to six months at a time under each administrative detention order, without charge or trial. These orders are indefinitely renewable, so Palestinians spend years at a time jailed under administrative detention. There are approximately 500 administrative detainees among the over 5000 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails, and the end of administrative detention is a major demand of the prisoners’ movement.

The administrative detainees are not alone. Almost 50 fellow prisoners have launched solidarity strikes in order to pressure the Israeli occupation authorities to accede to the strikers’ demands. More prisoners are vowing to join the battle in the coming days.

The strikers have been repeatedly transferred from prison to prison, thrown in isolation and deprived of sleep in an attempt to break their strikes. Their health conditions have deteriorated severely. Halabiya is vomiting water, suffers severe pain throughout his body and must rely on a wheelchair to move. Ahmad Ghannam has lost at least 17 kilograms (35 pounds), has difficulty breathing and an elevated heart rate. Addameer lawyers visited Ismail Ali on 20 August and reported that he has lost 14 kilos (29 pounds) and suffers severe joint pains and yellow hands and feet.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges all supporters and friends of Palestine everywhere around the world to stand with these courageous prisoners who have put their lives on the line to seek freedom and an end to the unjust system of administrative detention. International solidarity can play an important role in supporting their struggle, and Palestinian prisoners are calling for our actions. All of our participation, protests and petitions can play a role in helping them to seize victory for justice and freedom.

On 22 August, please share your support of the Palestinian prisoners! Take part in an event or print the cartoon of Carlos Latuff (above) in support of the prisoners and share your photo on social media.

Take Action:

1) Organize or join an event or protest for the Palestinian prisoners. You can organize an info table, rally, solidarity hunger strike, protest or action to support the prisoners. If you are already holding an event about Palestine or social justice, include solidarity with the prisoners as part of your action. Send your events and reports to samidoun@samidoun.net.

2) Write letters and make phone calls to protest the violation of Palestinian prisoners’ rights. Demand your government take action to stop supporting Israeli occupation or to pressure the Israeli state to end the policies of repression of Palestinian political prisoners. In particular, demand that your political officials put pressure on Israel to end the policy of administrative detention, the imprisonment of Palestinians without charge or trial.

Call during your country’s regular office hours:

• Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs Marise Payne: + 61 2 6277 7500
• Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland: +1-613-992-5234
• European Union Commissioner Federica Mogherini: +32 (0) 2 29 53516
• New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters: +64 4 439 8000
• United Kingdom Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt: +44 20 7008 1500
• United States President Donald Trump: 1-202-456-1111

3) Boycott, Divest and Sanction. Join the BDS campaign to highlight the complicity of corporations like Hewlett-Packard and the continuing involvement of G4S in Israeli policing and prisons. Build a campaign to boycott Israeli goods, impose a military embargo on Israel, or organize around the academic and cultural boycott of Israel. Learn more about the BDS campaign at bdsmovement.net.

Political ban fails to silence Khaled Barakat in Berlin

21 August 2019

Two events in Berlin on Friday and Saturday, 16 and 17 August, featured speeches by Palestinian writer and activist Khaled Barakat, who was subject to a political ban by the German state preventing him from speaking about Palestine at any public event or activity. Barakat appealed against the political ban in German courts, a move that secured a pledge not to renew the political ban when it expired. Barakat spoke out at these events both to highlight the urgency of the current Palestinian political situation as well as to expose anti-Palestinian repression in Germany.

The Saturday event focused on the escalating political repression targeting Palestine organizing in Germany, linking these attacks to racism, imperialism and the rise of the extreme right, while also highlighting the complicity and active involvement of supposedly left parties in attempts to silence advocacy for Palestine. In addition to the political ban imposed on Barakat, recent events have included the deportation of Rasmea Odeh, the passing of an anti-BDS resolution in the Bundestag, the criminal prosecution of Palestinian and Israeli Jewish activists for interrupting a speech by a member of the Knesset, the forced resignation of the director of the Jewish Museum, the closing of the bank account of Jewish Voices for a Just Peace and the disinvitation of international artists who have taken a stand to support Palestinian rights.

Charlotte Kates, the international coordinator of Samidoun, opened the event with an overview of the current situation around activism for Palestine in Germany, highlighting the connection between racism, colonialism and the attacks on Palestinian rights. She also presented historical photos and posters reflecting the past involvement of German left movements of the 1970s and 1980s in strong support for the Palestinian struggle, including prominent campaigns to boycott Israel at the time of the first Intifada. She also detailed the political nature of some of the latest attacks on Barakat from German authorities.

*JUZI Gottingen, a left social center, in 1988. Slogans call for support of the Palestinian people and the boycott of Israel.*

After the expiration of the political ban, the German state reiterated the same arguments once again, adding repeated citations to the May 2019 anti-BDS Bundestag resolution in another document issued on 1 August, declaring that Barakat’s residence permit would not be renewed. This document also declared that referring to Israel as a “racist project” was “clearly anti-Semitic,” while failing entirely to cite any actual anti-Semitic content in the numerous referenced interviews and speeches Barakat made. It stated that critiques of the nature of the Israeli state can only be made “when the right of Israel to exist is recognized,” a particularly racist demand to impose upon a Palestinian.

Barakat focused in his own presentation on presenting a vision towards a liberated Palestine on the entire land of Palestine from the river to the sea, embracing a democratic, inclusive vision for a Palestinian revolutionary future. He emphasized that no political ban or repressive measures would stop him or, more fundamentally, the Palestinian people and their national liberation movement as a whole, from speaking about and struggling for justice. Instead, he noted, it only made clear once again that any expressive activity by the Palestinian people and the growing solidarity movement is seen as an existential threat by the Zionist state as well as by the imperialist and colonialist states that support it.

He reaffirmed the rights of the Palestinian people to resist occupation and seek their liberation by any means necessary, including armed struggle, underlining the goals of the Palestinian people for return and liberation. Barakat also emphasized the importance of the BDS campaign and the boycott movement, especially on an international level, in building material solidarity with Palestine.

Mohammed Khatib, the European coordinator of Samidoun, spoke about the need to confront European colonial policies in Palestine and around the world, linking European colonialism in the region with anti-refugee and racist policies inside Europe itself. He emphasized that Europe’s wealth stemmed from the exploitation of colonized peoples around the world, including people within Europe’s borders. He also focused on the importance of a clear, principled approach to supporting Palestine, declaring firmly that neither he nor the Palestinian people would recognize “Israel’s right to exist” on stolen land, built on the dispossession and displacement of the Palestinian people. A Palestinian refugee from Lebanon, he also discussed the popular movements in the camps in Lebanon and the importance of supporting their struggle for dignity and return.

Nadija Samour, a human rights lawyer who represents Barakat, spoke about the legal situation on an international level as well as within Germany, providing a comprehensive analysis of the rights of states versus those of people and emphasizing the various forms of attack that defenders of Palestinian rights are facing in Germany today. She underlined the fundamental human rights issues involved in this repression, including violations of Germany’s obligations under international law and the conventions it has committed to.

The event concluded with a lively discussion about bringing movements together to fight all forms of racism and oppression, the importance of confronting German imperialism and challenge escalating political repression. Participants noted that the upcoming Pop-Kultur Festival in Berlin, co-sponsored by the Israeli Embassy, is the focus of a growing boycott campaign not only in Berlin but at an international level, as artists of conscience around the world refuse to participate. They discussed successful, movement-building actions like the campaign to support Rasmea Odeh, the response to the anti-BDS resolution and the #BDSYes bloc at the Radical Queer March, emphasizing the need to build on these actions to work politically, legally and culturally to support Palestinian liberation.

Samidoun condemns Palestinian Authority repression

21 August 2019

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network condemns the latest cynical attack by the Palestinian Authority against marginalized people in Palestine, noting that the ban on activities by al-Qaws is an attempt to distract from the PA’s ongoing failure to defend Palestinian rights from Israeli occupation, colonization and apartheid. While the PA claimed that it was investigating how to end its catastrophically damaging “agreements” with the Israeli occupation, in reality, security coordination with the occupier at the expense of the Palestinian people continues on a daily basis.

By targeting LGBTQ-identified Palestinians, Palestinian Authority security officials – also responsible for carrying out security coordination with the occupation on the ground and locking up Palestinian youth and students in political detention – are attempting to claim the mantle of religious and cultural identity to hide the PA’s ongoing involvement in coordinating “security” with the occupier. Instead, the PA seems to be attempting to incite conflict between Palestinians while providing free propaganda to the pinkwashing campaigns of the colonial Israeli regime and Zionist organizations around the world, while marginalized Palestinians bear the brunt.

Mohammed Khatib, the European coordinator of Samidoun, said:

“This dangerous reaction only proves once again that the PA is serving as a tool in the hands of the Zionist occupation that is used to oppress our people and to break any movement against the occupation. We know, very well, that the Zionist entity will be the only baneficiary of these repressive actions against LGBTQ-identified Palestinians. We can already see how these forces – which actively attack Palestinians of all identities through ongoing colonization, apartheid, occupation, killings, siege, imprisonment and dispossession – have already begun to disingenuously use this action to pinkwash the occupation.”

“Al-Qaws and other organizations have played a key role in building international awareness of the real situation of the Palestinian people, exposing the pinkwashing propaganda of the occupation state. Their members are part of the Palestinian people and our national liberation movement. The Palestinian people are diverse in our struggle for national and social liberation, and our diversity includes the LGBTQ community. Our vision of liberation includes justice for all.”

“These events should only encourage progressive and revolutionary LGBTQ movements and communities around the world to escalate their solidarity with the Palestinian people through fighting pinkwashing campaigns and building the boycott campaign against the racist, settler-colonial Israeli apartheid project, and building the BDS movement. Palestinians of all identities and sexualities are fighting for liberation from settler-colonialism as well as fighting for social liberation and democratic rights. It is impossible to achieve the latter without the fotmer.”

“Pinkwashing campaigns are, in reality, an international propaganda assault on LGBTQ Palestinians by the very forces most responsible for their oppression. We know that the Palestinian Authority is engaging in ongoing security coordination with the Israeli occupation. Far from protecting Palestinian values, it has completely sold out those values while pursuing normalization and cooperation with the Zionist occupation and the imperialist forces that fund, aid and arm it. In response to these attacks, this is the time to intensify all of our efforts to fight for national and social liberation in Palestine and for freedom for all oppressed communities.”

New video from Redfish: Germany censors Palestinian BDS activist Khaled Barakat

21 August 2019

Palestinian writer Khaled Barakat‘s struggle against political repression in Germany was covered by Redfish in a new video interview. Organizations and activists around the world have responded with solidarity after Barakat was issued a political ban by the German state on 22 June, preventing him from speaking at any public events or activities on Palestine. Barakat and Samidoun activists spoke at the European Parliament about the growing repression in Germany, after which the Israeli state and Zionist organizations attempted to impose censorship there, but were defeated. Listen to this interview with Khaled Barakat and human rights lawyer Nadija Samour as they discuss the current state of repression in Germany targeting Palestinian rights:

Samidoun condemns Palestinian Authority normalization meetings

14 August 2019

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network joins organizers and activists throughout occupied Palestine in condemning the normalization meetings undertaken by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas with a delegation from the so-called “Israel Democratic Party” and it alliance, the Democratic Union. This meeting comes amid the approach to the Israeli elections scheduled in early September, in which the Israeli war criminal Ehud Barak – founder of this party – is marketing himself as a “left” competitor to his fellow war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu.

Abbas’ meeting with the representatives of Barak’s party – presented as a reunion with the granddaughter of Yitzhak Rabin and a symbolic reconstruction of the Oslo alliance – aims to perpetuate normalization of allegedly “left” Israeli forces which in fact represent the same brutal policies toward the Palestinian people, rooted in settler colonialism and Zionist racism, as their electoral rivals in the Likud or the Yisrael Beitenu of Avigdor Lieberman.

Such meetings with representatives of Israeli parties, competing for the right to oppress, exile and besiege the Palestinian people and escalate war threats against Iran and even Lebanon, only serve to normalize war criminals. Instead, all such parties – fundamentally based on the negation of the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people to return, self-determination and national liberation on their land – should instead be clearly and firmly boycotted.

When Palestinian Authority officials engage in normalization meetings, this undermines the efforts of people of conscience around the world – including and especially Palestinian communities and organizations in exile and diaspora – to boycott Israeli political parties and institutions. International solidarity with the Palestinian liberation movement can never be found in the accommodation of war criminals like Ehud Barak and his latest political machinations. Instead, popular movements around the world stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people and their legitimate resistance to the regime of occupation, apartheid, racism and colonialism that Barak’s party aims to helm.

The Israeli elections are being used to fuel one attack on the other upon the Palestinian people, from “anti-BDS minister” Gilad Erdan‘s alliance with the most overtly racist and reactionary settlers to invade al-Aqsa and displace Palestinian worshippers, to escalating threats of war from Gaza to Iran, to the promotion of a “neo-Oslo” normalization by Barak’s pseudo-leftist party whose very name is a fundamental contradiction: “Democratic Israel,” based on apartheid and colonization. Attempts by the Palestinian Authority to promote such figures come only at the expense of the Palestinian people and their fundamental rights.

The Oslo process has never been anything but deeply destructive to the Palestinian people, and normalization has never done anything but undermine Palestinian rights and cover up the reality of a struggle between a colonizer exerting its domination in alliance with the most powerful imperialist forces in the world and a colonized people continuing to struggle and resist.

While the Zionist parties may debate intensely with each other over a range of issues, they are unified in their commitment to the apartheid regime, the dispossession of the Palestinian people, the denial of Palestinian rights, the colonization of Palestinian land and the labeling of Palestinian resistance as “terror.” They compete with each other about how to more “effectively” combat the “Iranian strategic threat” and “Palestinian terror.” None of the Zionist parties recognize the national rights of the Palestinian people, and all are committed to denying Palestinian refugees’ right to return. Palestinians – especially Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails – are labeled “extremists” for pursuing their rights at the same time that occupation forces invade Palestinian homes on a daily basis and impose a deadly siege on the Gaza Strip.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges people around the world committed to Palestinian rights and especially Palestinian communities in exile to confront these dangerous normalization meetings. Instead, we must prioritize Palestinian prisoners and refugees, fighting for their fundamental right to return home and putting their bodies and lives on the line within Israeli occupation prisons in hunger strikes for dignity, justice and freedom. Any attempt to promote Zionist parties that continue to reject fundamental Palestinian rights, including by the Palestinian Authority and reactionary Arab regimes, can only harm Palestinians struggling for their lives, land and liberation.

We join the demand to immediately bring to an end the so-called “Committee for Communication with Israeli Society” in the PLO, which is in reality a mechanism to promote normalization with Zionist war criminals and their official political parties and institutions. We urge all friends of Palestine to confront normalization with intensified mobilization to support Palestinian refugees struggling in Gaza, Lebanon and around the world for their rights, and Palestinian prisoners on the front lines fighting for freedom. In particular, this is a critical moment to escalate the international call for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel and the complicit corporations that continue to prop up its colonial regime.

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

30 more Palestinian prisoners strike in solidarity with six fighting administrative detention

13 August 2019

Thirty more Palestinian prisoners of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine joined 19 of their comrades in an ongoing series of solidarity strikes to support six Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike against Israeli administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial. On Monday, 12 August, the Prison Branch of the PFLP announced that 30 comrades in Negev, Ofer, Ramon and Gilboa prisons had joined the solidarity strike, including:

From the Negev prison, Asem Kaabi, Shadi Ma’ali, Majd Barbar, Munther Mifleh Khalaf, Jamil Yousef, Nazim Assous, Mahmoud Abu Srour, Muhannad Kawar, Mohammed Abu Khdei, Mohab al-Ajarma, Obada Dandis and Maan Awad
From Ramon prison, Jihad Ma’ali, Ahmad Mousa, Tariq Abu Ayyash, Zaki Atta, Thaer Hanani, Mahmoud Issa and Tamer Abu Zudud
From Ofer prison, Hafez Omar, Nasser Atta, Rami Karajeh, Majdi Nasr, Bassel al-Wawi and Mahmoud al-Lahham.
From Gilboa prison, five comrades whose names were not yet reported due to the difficulties of communication imposed by the Israeli prison environment.

They issued a statement, declaring that “as part of our unwavering commitment to support our hunger strikers, a new group of our cadres is joining the open hunger strike to further pressure the prison administration and the Shin Bet to respond to their demands,” emphasizing that the occupation is fully responsible for the life and health of Huzaifa Halabiya and his fellow hunger strikers.

They joined 19 PFLP prisoners who had already joined the solidarity strikes in support of Halabiya and the other strikers.. Halabiya, from Abu Dis in Jerusalem, has been on hunger strike for 44 days, since 1 July 2019. He is a leukemia survivor who was burned over the majority of his body as a child and requires medical care and follow-up. Still, he is persisting in his hunger strike and relying only on water despite the severe deterioration in his health.

He has been imprisoned without charge or trial since 10 June 2018, when Israeli occupation forces took him from his home and his pregnant wife. He is the father of a six-month-old daughter, Majdal, who he has been denied the opportunity to meet.

A lawyer with Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association visited Halabiya on Monday, 12 August in isolation in the Ramle prison clinic. The lawyer reported that he came to the visit in a wheelchair with his hands and feet shackled despite his deteriorating health. He is suffering from severe pain, nausea and cramps in the abdomen, head and elsewhere. He is unable to stand or walk and can sleep only three to four hours a day. At one point, he was shackled and taken to Kaplan hospital, where his blood, pulse and blood pressure were tested and an intravenous salt bag was placed; he was handcuffed and shackled the entire time. Last Thursday, 8 August, a repressive unit broke into his isolation cell, ransacking it.

Administrative detention orders are issued on the basis of “secret evidence” for up to six months at a time. They are indefinitely renewable, and Palestinians often spend years at a time imprisoned with no charge and no trial under repeatedly renewed administrative detention orders.

Also on hunger strike are five more Palestinian prisoners:

Ahmed Ghannam, 42, from al-Khalil, also a survivor of leukemia. He has been on hunger strike for 31 days against his administrative detention without charge or trial. He is held in solitary confinement in the Negev desert prison.
Sultan Khallouf, 38, from Jenin, has been on hunger strike for 27 days againt his imprisonment without charge or trial under administrative detention. He launched his strike after he was ordered to detention after his arrest on 8 July 2019. He is held in Megiddo prison.
Ismail Ali, 30, also from Abu Dis in Jerusalem, has been on hunger strike for 27 days against his administrative detention. He has been jailed without charge or trial since January, and is held in isolation in the Negev prison.
Wajdi al-Awawda, 20, from al-Khalil, is on hunger strike for the 16th day against his imprisonment without charge or trial, held in isolation in the Negev prison.
Tareq Qa’adan, 46, from Arraba, is on hunger strike for 14 days against his administrative detention order. A well-known Palestinian leader, he has spent 15 years in Israeli jails in the past.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges all supporters and friends of Palestine everywhere around the world to stand with these courageous prisoners who have put their lives on the line to seek freedom and an end to the unjust system of administrative detention. International solidarity can help them win their struggles, so all of our participation, protests and petitions can play a role in helping them to seize victory for justice and freedom.

Take Action:

1) Organize or join an event or protest for the Palestinian prisoners. You can organize an info table, rally, solidarity hunger strike, protest or action to support the prisoners. If you are already holding an event about Palestine or social justice, include solidarity with the prisoners as part of your action. Send your events and reports to samidoun@samidoun.net.

2) Write letters and make phone calls to protest the violation of Palestinian prisoners’ rights. Demand your government take action to stop supporting Israeli occupation or to pressure the Israeli state to end the policies of repression of Palestinian political prisoners. In particular, demand that your political officials put pressure on Israel to end the policy of administrative detention, the imprisonment of Palestinians without charge or trial.

Call during your country’s regular office hours:

• Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs Marise Payne: + 61 2 6277 7500
• Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland: +1-613-992-5234
• European Union Commissioner Federica Mogherini: +32 (0) 2 29 53516
• New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters: +64 4 439 8000
• United Kingdom Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt: +44 20 7008 1500
• United States President Donald Trump: 1-202-456-1111

3) Boycott, Divest and Sanction. Join the BDS campaign to highlight the complicity of corporations like Hewlett-Packard and the continuing involvement of G4S in Israeli policing and prisons. Build a campaign to boycott Israeli goods, impose a military embargo on Israel, or organize around the academic and cultural boycott of Israel. Learn more about the BDS campaign at bdsmovement.net.

Samidoun mourns the passing of Nader Abuljebain

13 August 2019

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network mourns the passing of Nader Abuljebain, Palestinian writer and lifelong activist, in California on 11 August 2019. Nader Abuljebain was born in 1950 to Palestinian parents from Yafa, occupied Palestine, and attended school in Kuwait before university in the United States.

He lived between the United States and Kuwait throughout his life, and he was a dedicated activist for Palestine and a strong exponent of the Right of Return movement. He was an early member of Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition, in the United States, where he organized together with many activists across generations who continue to mobilize for Palestine today, including those involved with Samidoun.

He was a strong leader in the anti-war movement, especially the widespread protests against the U.S. war on Iraq and the 2006 Israeli war on Lebanon, and frequently spoke at demonstrations representing the Free Palestine Alliance.

He participated in numerous conventions and international mobilizations in support of Palestine and the Palestinian people, and he always held his eyes fixed on return, signing his messages tirelessly, “Until return, Hatta al-Awda.”

His work lives on in his book, “Palestinian History in Postage Stamps,” documenting the historical legacy of postage stamps in Palestine, including Ottoman stamps, Egyptian stamps, British mandate stamps, stamps produced by the Palestinian resistance and the PLO, stamps produced to support the Palestinian people around the world and other postage documents that represent the history of the Palestinian people, with extensive documentation in Arabic and English.

His legacy also lives on in the continuing work of so many who learned from and worked with him throughout his life, remaining committed to his clear vision: the liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea.

*Nader Abuljebain speaking at the Fifth Al-Awda Conference*

As he wrote, “The very fact of our continued existence in the face of the world’s longest standing and horrific occupation is living testimony to the heroism of our people. This process has given the newer generations a pride of their ancestry and heritage and the momentum and strength to resist inside Palestine and in exile. Under the leadership of Palestinian community-based groups, we must all assume a larger role in cultural activism focusing on the Right of Return, and reminding the world that colonial ‘Israel’ was not established on an empty piece of land but rather its imposition was based on a slow genocide and expulsion of the Palestinian Arabs, and the expropriation of the Arab Palestinian land. Anywhere in the world people know they live on the land, but for the Palestinians their land lives in them. They are inextricably and intimately linked to that space and that land in all of Arab Palestine. There will be no lasting peace in the region UNLESS that link, that organic unity between the exiled Palestinians and their homeland, is restored. It is at the core of the Palestinian struggle.”

Rest in power, Nader Abuljebain!

9 August, NYC: Demo in Solidarity with Palestinian refugees in Lebanon!

8 August 2019

Friday, 9 August
4:30 pm
Lebanese Consulate in NYC
9 E 76th St
New York, NY 10021
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/438087463456281

Join us on Friday, August 9, in front of the Consulate General of Lebanon in NYC in solidarity with Palestinians across camps in Lebanon that are rising up to demand the repeal of the Lebanese Labour Law to ban Syrian and Palestinian refugees from working without visas that has led to mass unemployment and a crackdown on refugee workers.

Endorsing Organizations:
Al-Awda NY: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition
American Muslims for Palestine – NJ Chapter
Existence Is Resistance
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
Struggle – La Lucha for Socialism
Jews for Palestinian Right of Return
International Action Center
Committee to Stop FBI Repression NYC
Peoples Power Assemblies NYC
NY4Palestine
Arab Workers Resource Center
International League of Peoples’ Struggle – ILPS
BAYAN USA

Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are barred from 72 regulated professions, including medicine, public transit, farming and fishery, and the implementation of this Lebanese labor law barred Palestinians (and Syrian refugees) from working at all without costly and difficult-to-obtain work visas. These protests, led mostly by youth in the camps, which are home to nearly a half-million Palestinian refugees, also come in rejection of the harsh conditions that have impacted Palestinian refugees after the signing of the Oslo accords in 1993. In fact, the situation of deprivation, repression and despair has forced many Palestinian refugees in Lebanon to migrate to Europe or elsewhere, seeking human dignity.

Palestinian organizations in Lebanon have expressed specific demands, including:

– the granting of clear legal status to Palestinian refugees with civil, economic and social rights;
– amending Lebanese labor law to cancel the work permit requirement for Palestinian refugees and end their exclusion from regulated professions
– ending ongoing discrimination against Palestinian refugees in a range of areas, including allowing them to own property.

They pledged to continue to protest until the dignity of Palestinian refugees was respected, emphasizing that this campaign is part and parcel of the struggle to return to and liberate the entire land of Palestine and reject all attempts to undermine the Palestinian cause. (The statement was signed by the Al Naqab Center for Youth Activities, Arab Palestinian Cultural Club, Palestinian Cultural Club – Beirut, Palestinian Cultural Club at AUB, Palestinian Cultural Club at LIU, Camps Boycott and the Palestinian National Theater – Lebanon.)

Check out the following statements for more information on the situation in Lebanon:

www.pymusa.com/strikesinlebanon

https://samidoun.net/2019/07/call-to-action-solidarity-with-palestinian-refugees-in-lebanon/

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