As part of the Festival “Palestine in Cinema” organized by the association AGIR POUR La Palestine
Samouni Road, a film by Stefano Savona (Award for Best Documentary at the Cannes Film Festival 2018) France, Italy – 2018 – duration 2h08 – VOSTFR
Screening followed by a meeting with Hisham Abu Shahla, a Palestinian from Gaza, a young researcher in political science who is researching the Palestinian question and served on the film’s working team as a consultant.
In the rural outskirts of Gaza, the Samouni family is about to celebrate a wedding. This is the first party since the last war. Amal, Fouad, their brothers and their cousins lost their parents, their homes and their olive trees. The neighborhood where they live is rebuilding. They replant trees and plow the fields, but a more difficult task still lies with these young survivors: rebuilding their own memory. Throughout their memories, Samouni Road paints a portrait of this family before, during and after the event that changed their lives forever.
Dans le cadre du Festival “La Palestine au Cinéma” organisé par l’association AGIR POUR La Palestine
Samouni Road, un film de Stefano Savona (Prix du Meilleur documentaire au Festival de Cannes 2018) France, Italie – 2018 – durée 2h08 – VOSTFR
Projection suivie d’une rencontre avec Hisham Abu Shahla, palestinien de Gaza, jeune chercheur en sciences politiques qui effectue ses recherches sur la question palestinienne et a fait partie de l’équipe de travail du film comme consultant.
Dans la périphérie rurale de la ville de #Gaza, la famille Samouni s’apprête à célébrer un mariage. C’est la première fête depuis la dernière guerre. Amal, Fouad, leurs frères et leurs cousins ont perdu leurs parents, leurs maisons et leurs oliviers. Le quartier où ils habitent est en reconstruction. Ils replantent des arbres et labourent les champs, mais une tâche plus difficile encore incombe à ces jeunes survivants : reconstruire leur propre mémoire. Au fil de leurs souvenirs, Samouni Road dresse un portrait de cette famille avant, pendant et après l’événement qui a changé leur vie à jamais.
The event “Palestinian women in the liberation struggle,” organized by Samidoun, was planned to take place on 15.03.2019 in the Dersim Cultural Center in Berlin. This event aimed to highlight the life stories of two Palestinian women of different generations and honor Palestinian women’s struggle around International Women’s Day.
The invited speakers Rasmea Odeh (born 1947) and Dareen Tatour (born 1982) would provide unique insights and perspectives, revealing marginalized narratives of torture and detention, as well as art and social engagement as forms of non-violent resistance. After the main presentations, dance and theater performances were planned, as well as dialogue and discussion with a diverse Berlin audience.
2. Speakers
Rasmea Odeh is a Palestinian women’s rights activist who was sentenced in 1969 by an Israeli military tribunal after being convicted of participating in an attack. Her confession was extracted under torture and sexual violence. Her confession was revoked in court, as well as before the UN Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the Occupied Territories. In 1979, she was released as part of a prisoner exchange. Odeh co-founded the Arab Women’s Committee in Chicago. She was awarded the Outstanding Community Leader Award by the Chicago Cultural Alliance for her work on political education in 2013.
Dareen Tatour is a Palestinian poet with Israeli citizenship, who spent years in house arrest and was sentenced to a five-month jail term after initially being arrested in October 2015 for publishing her poem “Resist, My People, Resist Them.” She was put on trial in an Israeli court for incitement and support of terrorism. PEN America and many freedom of expression organizations internationally demanded the poet’s immediate release.
3. The prevention of the event
On the afternoon of 15.03.2019, the Berlin Senate Department for Internal Affairs and Sport prohibited Rasmea Odeh from taking part in the cultural event. The immigration office claimed that Rasmea Odeh, by her mere presence in Berlin, posed a danger to security and revoked her Schengen visa.
Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Gilad Erdan has claimed that this ban was implemented through the intervention of his ministry and the Israeli ambassador as well as a number of Jewish organizations.
A few days before the scheduled event, Rasmea Odeh was branded unchecked in several sensationalist articles as a “terrorist”, “hate preacher” and “anti-Semite”. It should be noted that to date no journalist has sought direct contact with Rasmea Odeh for comment or interview. It should also be noted that most of the articles in the local press (Tagesspiegel, Berliner Zeitung, Berliner Morgenpost) do not mention the fact that Odeh’s confession was made under torture and sexual violence. The articles found rapid and unchecked widespread distribution. Even politicians such as the Berlin Interior Senator accused Odeh of “anti-Semitic propaganda”, and the US ambassador even used the terms “murder” and “terrorism”. So far, there was only one article in taz, which indicates that freedom of expression is endangered by the ban on the event.
Rasema Odeh, Dareen Tatour and the organizers of the event make it clear that they strictly reject all forms of violence, anti-Semitism, racism and sexism.
5. Legal statement
On 18.03.2019, an urgent hearing was requested at the Berlin Administrative Court. The aim is to prevent the deportation of Rasmea Odeh.
Odeh’s attorney sums it up: “Cancelling a visa based on what has happened so far in the past is a completely novel concept from a legal point of view, especially as it is based on a confession condemned even by the “The Special Committee to investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the Occupied Territories”.”
6. Summary
Rasmea Odeh’s rights were violated on several levels:
1. By sensationalist, inaccurate reporting and slander as a “terrorist,” “murderer,” and “anti-Semite,” Odeh suffered a serious injury to her personal rights.
2. The prevention of the event restricted Odeh’s right to freedom of expression.
3. The withdrawal of her visa curtailed Odeh’s right to freedom of movement.
7. Prospective
We are calling for a withdrawal of the baseless allegations against Rasmea Odeh made by the Berlin Senate, the Mayor of Berlin, Michael Müller, and the Senator for the Interior, Andreas Geisel. We are also calling for objective and fair reporting.
We would like to receive a contact from the Senate on this matter, as well as a commitment to constitutional and international law protecting freedom of expression.
In light of what has taken place, we cannot help but to recognize the intimidation and criminalization of Palestinian and migrant voices and narratives in the approach to the planned event.
Samidoun and Rasmea Odeh’s lawyer are available for clarification and comment at any time.
“Miss Rasmiah ODEH (A/AC.145/RT.262 and 264) was arrested on the night of 28 February 1969 with her father and two sisters. Their house was blown up several days later. After being interrogated for 45 days (including 25 days of non-stop interrogation night and day) at the Russian Compound, in Jerusalem and at Ramle prison, she was sentenced, on 22 January 1970, to life imprisonment on charges (which she denied) of planting explosives in a supermarket….
Miss Odeh gave a detailed description of the physical ill-treatment to which she was subjected during her interrogation. She also described the psychological torture that she had experienced when her father, sisters, fiancé and other comrades were ill-treated in front of her or nearby. She stated that the physical torture to which she had been subjected included being stripped naked, chained and beaten with sticks and metal bars, on her head as well as on her body thereby causing her hearing problems for over one year.
Miss Odeh stated that she had been subjected to sexual abuse while alone with her interrogators and also in the presence of her father. She alleged that her interrogators had forced her father to violate her but that he had fainted before he could do so. Similar treatment was meted out to her in front of her colleagues, including Aisha Odeh. Miss Odeh stated that during her interrogation she was forced to remain naked or have her clothes torn off her.”
“They demolish our houses while we build theirs.” This is how a Palestinian stonemason, in line at a checkpoint outside a Jerusalem suburb, described his life to Andrew Ross. Palestinian “stone men,” utilising some of the best-quality dolomitic limestone deposits in the world and drawing on generations of artisanal knowledge, have built almost every state in the Middle East except their own. Today the business of quarrying, cutting, fabrication, and dressing is Palestine’s largest employer and generator of revenue, supplying the construction industry in Israel, along with other Middle East countries and even more overseas.
Drawing on hundreds of interviews in Palestine and Israel, Ross’s engrossing, surprising, and gracefully written story of this fascinating ancient trade shows how the stones of Palestine, and Palestinian labour, have been used to build out the state of Israel—in the process, constructing “facts on the ground”—even while the industry is central to Palestinians’ own efforts to erect bulwarks against the Occupation. For decades, the hands that built Israel’s houses, schools, offices, bridges, and even its separation barriers have been Palestinian. Looking at the Palestine–Israel conflict in a new light, this book asks how this record of achievement and labour be recognised.
Stone Men: The Palestinians Who Built Israel by Andrew Ross is available from Verso on March 26: https://www.versobooks.com/books/2926-stone-men
Speakers:
Andrew Ross is Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis at New York University and a social activist. A contributor to the Nation, Village Voice, New York Times, and Artforum, he is the author of many books, including, most recently, Bird on Fire: Lessons from the World’s Least Sustainable City and Nice Work if You Get It: Life and Labor in Precarious Times. He lives in New York.
Lamis Deek is a human rights attorney, activist and strategist.
Nerdeen Kiswani is a Palestinian organizer from NYC. She’s the founder and chair of Within Our Lifetime – United for Palestine, a youth organization that has been organizing the Palestinian diaspora in NYC for the past 3 years. She has been centrally involved in multiple coalitions for Palestine both locally in NYC, building multiple Palestine student organizations in different universities and participating in the national student movement in the US, and internationally, having participated in conferences around the world and across the US to further the Palestinian struggle.
The Palestinian Documentation Center invites you to attend this information meeting on living conditions in Palestinian refugee camps and the right of return.
The meeting will be attended by Wisam al-Jaafari, director of two short films on the life in the refugee camps: «Without waves» and «Wishes for the new paint» – which will be screened during the meeting.
“Dobbiamo fare tutto il possibile per impedire che i palestinesi ritornino! Gli anziani moriranno, i giovani scorderanno…”
Il Centro Documentazione Palestinese invita a partecipare all’incontro informativo sulle condizioni di vita nei campi profughi palestinesi e sul diritto al ritorno.
All’incontro parteciperà Wisam al-Jaafari, autore di due cortometraggi sulla vita nei campi profughi: «Without waves» e «Auguri per la nuova vernice» – che verranno proiettati durante l’incontro.
L’appuntamento è per venerdì 22 marzo 2019 – H18:00 Sede del Centro Documentazione Palestinese – Via Attilio Hortis 38
March 30th will be the 1st anniversary of the start of the Gaza Return March. 30 March is also Palestinian Land Day. Palestinians have issued a call for international action on the day.
Join the protest on Saturday 30th March
We will be demanding an end to the siege of Gaza and the right of return for Palestinians.
No new Nakba ! End the Siege of Gaza! Defend the Right of Return!
So join us on March 30th to show support for the Palestinian people and their rights to EXIST, RESIST & RETURN!
#FreePalestine #ExistResistReturn
Details 30th Mar 2019 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm Piccadilly Gardens, City Centre, Manchester,
The Revolutionary Struggles Film Festival will feature a series of documentaries that showcase some of the most significant revolutionary struggles that were waged against colonialism, racism, capitalist imperialism and military occupation in the 20th century across continents.
Following the film screening of Naila and the Uprising, Naila’s son – Majd – who in 1988 was an infant and kept in prison with his mother – will be joining us in discussion.
This festival is organized as part of a course on Revolution in the Transnational Context being taught in Equity Studies at New College, University of Toronto. All film screenings are free and will be followed by an analysis and discussion.
As part of the Israeli Apartheid Week 2019, we call for a rally and march under the motto “Stop Arming Colonialism.“ It will begin at the US embassy and take us to the embassy of the Israeli apartheid state. Regardless of which administration is charge, the USA has long been and continues to be the power that arms Israel politically and ideologically, which in practical terms means giving US aid and protection as Israel carries out its expansion and annexation policies. Moreover, the EU and its member states by-and-large tolerate Israel’s violations of international law. On Saturday March 23rd, we want to express our solidarity with the people of Gaza, al-Khalil, al-Quds, Nablus, Jenin, Haifa and Akko loudly and clearly. Free Palestine! Boycott Israel!
Im Rahmen der Israeli Apartheid Week 2019 rufen wir unter dem Motto „Stop Arming Colonialism“ zur Demonstration auf, die uns von der Botschaft der USA zur Botschaft des israelischen Apartheidstaates führt. Die USA waren und sind – unabhängig der jeweiligen Administration – diejenige Macht, die Israel ideologisch und politisch „bewaffnet“, was konkret den Schutz Israels bei seiner Expansions- und Annektierungspolitik bedeutet. Jedoch wird das völkerrechtswidrige Agieren Israels von der EU und den Mitgliedsstatten weitgehend geduldet. An diesem Tag wollen wir auf der Straße unsere Solidarität mit den Menschen in Gaza, al-Khalil, al-Quds, Nablus, Jenin, Haifa und Akko laut und deutlich zum Ausdruck bringen. Free Palestine! Boycott Israel!
4:00 pm — Rally Honoring the Martyrs of the Great Return March with the NY4Palestine Coalition Location: Times Square
6:30 pm — Within Our lifetime event: Great Return March teach-in followed by a discussion with Raja Abdulhaq and Palestinians from the front lines in Gaza. Location: The People’s Forum (320 w. 37th St.)
Join us in commemorating 52 Fridays of resistance and marching with the people of Gaza on the 53rd consecutive Friday of protests.
On 30 March 2019, we commemorate a dual anniversary. It is the 43rd anniversary of Land Day (Yom al-Ard in Arabic), a day when the Israeli occupation forces used deadly repression against Palestiniaan protests against land theft. This is also the first anniversary of the Great Return March, a popular mobilization that has since continued every Friday since 30 March 2018. It has inolved hundreds and thousands of Palestinians in Gaza for the right of return of all Palestinian refugees. Leading activists of the Great Return March are calling on the world to stand with people in Gaza and the entire Palestinian people’s liberation struggle on 30 March!
Slogans of the demonstration: Honor the memory of Land Day! Support the struggle of the Great Return March! Boycott Israel!
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Den 30:e mars i år, 2019, är en dubbel årsdag. Den är den 43:e årsdagen för Jorddagen (“Yom al-Ard” på arabiska), en dag då den israeliska ockupationsmakten svarade med dödlig repression på palestinska protester mot markstölder. Dagen är även den första årsdagen för Stora återvändarmarschen, en folklig massmobilisering som varje fredag sedan den 30:e mars 2018 har involverat hundratals och tusentals palestinier i Gaza som har protesterat för ett sluta på Israels belägring av Gaza och för rätten till alla palestinska flyktingars återvändo. Ledande aktivister och organisatörer i Stora återvändarmarschen kallar på omvärlden för att stå med gazaborna och hela det palestinska folkets befrielsekamp den 30:e mars!
Manifestationens paroller: – Hedra Jorddagens minne! – Stöd de kämpande i Stora återvändarmarschen! – Bojkotta Israel!
Plakat, banderoller och fanor på manifestationen är välkomna, även med organisationssymboler, men endast palestinska nationsflaggor är tillåtna.
Är du med i en organisation som är intresserad av att vara med som medarrangör? Vill du att din organisation representeras av en talare? Hör av dig till oss här på Facebook eller via samidoungbg@gmail.com.
