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/

8 August, Michigan: Stand with Striking Refugees & Migrants in Lebanon!

8 August 2019

Thursday, 8 August
11:30 am
Consulate General of Lebanon – Detroit, MI
1000 Southfield Town Center, Suite 2450
Southfield, Michigan 48075
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/438451133416310

We stand with striking Palestinians as well as Syrians and migrant workers in Lebanon against the restrictive and discriminatory new labor law. This law restricts legal work to those who hold a work visa and was accompanied by a scapegoating campaign against Palestinians and Syrians in the country and raids on their places of work and several shutdowns. This has led to an ongoing uprising and strike in the Palestinian camps demanding a repeal of the law and the resolving of their legal status. Syrian refugees have largely avoided rising due to the continuous threat of deportation to Syria. The Lebanese political class continues to scapegoat and threaten both groups.

Our protest in Michigan comes in response to and affirmation of calls by rising Palestinians in Lebanon to hold protests and shows of solidarity across Europe and North America in support of their demands.

Hundreds march in Ramallah and Gaza to free Palestinian prisoners, support Palestinian refugees in Lebanon

7 August 2019

Hundreds of Palestinians took to the streets in Gaza and Ramallah in protests in support of Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails on Wednesday, 7 August. The protests also supported the ongoing struggles of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon for civil, social and economic rights as well as the right to return to their homeland, Palestine. The protest in Ramallah was organized by Samidoun Network in occupied Palestine.

*Gaza protest, 7 August 2019. Photo: Hadf News*

In the Ramallah protest, which launched from Manara Square, former prisoners – including former long-term hunger strikers – and family members of current Palestinian prisoners joined the march, including prominent leaders such as Khalida Jarrar and Khader Adnan.

The protests were inspired by the ongoing hunger strikes inside Israeli prisons against administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial. Over 200 people, including many youth and students, joined the march through Ramallah.

The Gaza protest was organized by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, supported by an alliance of Palestinian political parties and organizations. Hundreds marched through Gaza City, with the participation of women’s organizations, prisoners’ committees and the National and Islamic Forces.

Several leaders gave strong speeches saluting Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike and emphasizing the ongoing struggle of the Palestinian people, not only to break the siege on Gaza and end administrative detention, but to liberate Palestine from the river to the sea. Protesters also carried signs in English and French from Samidoun and Collectif Palestine Vaincra, a member organization of Samidoun in Toulouse, France.

Huzaifa Halabiya from Abu Dis, Jerusalem, has been on hunger strike for 38 days against his administrative detention; he has been jailed with no charges since 10 June 2018, and his six-month-old daughter was born while he was imprisoned.

Ahmad Ghannam, Sultan Khallouf, Ismail Ali, Wajdi al-Awawda and Tareq Qa’adan are also on hunger strike against their own administrative detention, and dozens of Palestinian prisoners are joining solidarity strikes for their freedom, including 16 prisoners of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine who joined the strike on 6 August.

Members of Halabiya’s family participated in the Ramallah protest and delivered an audio message to the Gaza march as Huzaifa continued his hunger strike despite severe deterioration of his health. He is a leukemia survivor who was burned as a child over the majority of his body, requiring ongoing medical care and treatment, yet he has put his life on the line in a hunger strike for freedom.

Administrative detention orders can be issued for up to six months at a time with no charge or trial. They are indefinitely renewable, and Palestinians can spend years at a time jailed under administrative detention without knowing when, or if, they will be released. Administrative detention was introduced to Palestine by the British colonial mandate and adopted by the Israeli state following the Nakba.

Both protests also focused on expressing the unity of the Palestinian people, including supporting Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, who have launched weeks of ongoing protests following a crackdown on Palestinian workers by the Minister of Labor, a representative of the far-right Lebanese Forces party, which emerged from a militia with a history of massacres against Palestinians and collaboration with Zionist forces invading Lebanon during the Civil War.

Palestinian workers are already forbidden from 70 registered professions in Lebanon. Refugees in Lebanon have also noted cuts to UNRWA services and attempts to liquidate their most fundamental right – the right to return to their homes and lands in occupied Palestine. They are demanding political, civil and social rights, a struggle that is also supported by many Lebanese parties and forces, viewing it as critical to confronting Zionism and imperialism in the region.

Samidoun Network in Occupied Palestine delivered the main speech at the Ramallah protest, translated below:

To the sons and daughters of the Palestinian people everywhere…

Here in the heart of occupied Ramallah and under the sun of our homeland, we join with you today in our struggle, under our united Palestinian flag, the flag of Palestine, to continue our journey of liberation with all of the free people of the world until we achieve our freedom, full, undiminished and undivided.

Today, we stand with the Palestinian people, the supreme reference of the cause, in occupied Jerusalem, our united capital, in the West Bank, Gaza, Haifa, the Naqab and the Triangle, all of our occupied land. We stand with our prisoners steadfast behind bars, with the brave wounded, with the workers and peasants, with Palestinian strugglers holding fast to the embers of the idea and the weapon of resistance.

Let the spark of the intifada of return and liberation begin from the camps of our people in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. United, let the world hear our cry and our clear position: Down with the occupation! Down with the U.S. liquidation projects, Zionism and the reactionary Arab regimes, the so-called “Deal of the century.” It will inevitably fall beneath the feet of the Palestinian people who have brought forth so many strugglers, who will rise from the ashes and mark the path of revolution and the uprising of return and liberation everywhere, to trample the attempts of Trump, Netanyahu and Bin Salman.

We declare the following:

First, we warn of the serious deterioration in the health of the striking prisoners, especially the ill prisoner Huzaifa Halabiya and for all of the sick prisoners, especially the prisoner Bassam Sayeh. We call on all international institutions to play their responsible role toward the striking and sick prisoners immediately and to pressure the Zionist occupation for their immediate release. We emphasize that there will be a strong reaction of the Palestinian people if our prisoners suffer any harm.

Second, we call on all of the forces, political currents and national figures, inside and outside occupied Palestine, to unite under the banner of return and liberation, to asset before our people and everywhere: the final and complete end of the catastrophic era of Oslo, leaving the arena of division, fragmentation and disintegration, and progressing with confidence and determination to popular unity and unity of action in confronting the occupation and its plans and putting an end to the U.S. liquidation project.

Third, we urge the struggling Palestinian people everywhere to initiate this unified struggle in the squares, streets and universities, to march together, hand in hand, on the path of an Intifada of return and liberation, and to unite immediately with the struggle of our people in the camps in Lebanon, with the valiant resistance in the occupied homeland and with all of the organizing and efforts of the Palestinian people in exile and diaspora, near and far.

Fourth, we affirm that our popular march is continuing, and we will announce upcoming demonstrations in the coming days, for all of the organizations of our people inside Palestine and in the diaspora to unite in marches of return and liberation, for the freedom of the prisoners, the achievement of the return to the homeland and the sweeping of settler-colonialism from our occupied land.

Fifth, we salute the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network internationally, for its continuous daily confrontation of the Zionist movement and its racist organizations in North America and Europe, and we congratulate you on the victories that you are achieving against these repressive forces, particularly in the German capital Berlin, with the ongoing and successful struggle against all attempts to muzzle the mouths of Palestinian activists and strugglers and silence the international boycott movement and supporters of the resistance.

Sixth, based on the principles of common struggle with all progressive forces in the world, freedom fighters and anti-colonial strugglers everywhere. We declare our support for all political prisoners and detainees in reactionary Arab prisons and in the prisoners of dictatorial regimes around the world. We call on the international solidarity movements supporting Palestinian rights to make the issue of the prisoners a top priority and work hard to demand their release in all international forums and platforms.

Seventh and finally, we pledge to the martyrs, the wounded and the prisoners to follow in their footsteps and on their path of struggle.

Accordingly, the activities of the coming weeks will be held in honor of the martyr Naji al-Ali, through joint activities with our people in Lebanon, so that the memory of Naji al-Ali will remain in the conscience of our people as a revolutionary torch in their hand until return.

Freedom for the prisoners….return for the refugees, dispossessed and displaced people. Return and victory is certain – our struggling people remain steadfast and victorious!

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