As part of the International Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat, the imprisoned General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the anti-imperialist collective Coup Pour Coup 31 invites you to an information stand on Palestine, with leaflets on the boycott of Israel, supporting Palestinian prisoners, Ahmad Sa’adat and Georges Abdallah cards and stickers and more.
Dans le cadre de la Semaine Internationale d’Actions pour la libération d’Ahmad Sa’adat, secrétaire général du Front Populaire de Libération de la Palestine, le collectif anti-impérialiste Coup Pour Coup 31 vous invite à un stand d’informations sur la Palestine : tracts et dépliants sur le Boycott d’Israël – infos sur le soutien aux prisonniers palestiniens, Ahmad Sa’adat et Georges Abdallah – cartes et autocollants etc.
Protest in Nørrebro, Copenhagen on Monday, 21 January: Free Ahmad Sa’adat – free all Palestinian political prisoners
As part of the International Week of Solidarity with Ahmad Sa’adat, the Internationalt Forum’s Middle East Group invites all to participate in this demonstration. We will meet at Blågårds Plads at 5 pm and go from here around Norrebro with lights and distribute flyers.
Ahmad Sa’adat is a Palestinian freedom fighter, the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the strongest Palestinian leftist organization. Since 2002, Sa’adat has been behind bars, first under the Palestinian Authority in Jericho prison in the West Bank. From here he was kidnapped in March 2006 by the Israeli military and imprisoned in Israel. He has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for his role in a “terrorist organization” (PFLP) – though we all know it is the Zionist state of Israel that is the real terrorist. Sa’adat has participated in multiple prison struggles and hunger strikes. The struggle against the Israeli occupation takes place both inside and outside the prison bars.
Fight Zionism and imperialism – Boycott Israel – Free Palestine
Manifestation på Nørrebro i København mandag den 21. januar
Løslad Ahmad Sa’adat – løslad alle palæstinensiske politiske fanger
Som led i den internationale Ahmad Sa’adat solidaritetsuge inviterer Internationalt Forums Mellemøstgruppe til manifestation på Nørrebro mandag den 21. januar.
Vi mødes på Blågårds Plads kl. 17 og går herfra rundt omkring på Nørrebro med fakler og uddeler flyers
Ahmad Sa’adat er palæstinensisk frihedskæmper og generalsekretær for PFLP, Folkefronten til Palæstinas Befrielse, den stærkeste palæstinensiske venstrefløjsorganisation. Siden 2002 har Sa’adat siddet bag tremmer, først i det palæstinensiske selvstyrefængsel i Jericho på Vestbredden. Herfra blev han i marts 2006 kidnappet af det israelske militær og fængslet i Israel. Han er idømt 30 års fængsel for at tilhøre en ’terrororganisation’ (PFLP) – selvom vi alle ved at det er den zionistiske stat Israel som er den virkelige terrorist. Sa’dat har deltaget i flere fangeoprør og sultestrejker. Kampen mod den israelske besættelse og apartheid foregår både inden for og uden for fængslernes tremmer.
Bekæmp zionismen og imperialismen – Boykot Israel – Frit Palæstina
Join the Palestinian National Action Committee – Berlin for a demonstration of solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners in occupation prisons. Part of the international week of solidarity to Free Ahmad Sa’adat!
Kundgebung im Rahmen der internationalen Woche für die Freiheit von Ahmad Sa’adat
دعوة لجنة العمل الوطني الفلسطيني – برلين للمشاركة في وقفة التضامن معى الاسرى الفلسطينيين في سجون الاحتلال ….
Event and discussion on the campaign to free Ahmad Sa’adat, the imprisoned General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. This event is part of the Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat (15-22 January)
Speakers: Mohammed Khatib – Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network Member of the NAR-NKA International Commission
Freedom for Ahmad Sa’adat – Solidarity with the Palestinian people – Victory to the Resistance
Στα πλαίσια της παγκόσμιας εβδομάδας δράσης (15-22 Ιανουαρίου) διοργανώνεται εκδήλωση-συζήτηση για την απελευθέρωση του ηγέτη του Λαϊκού Μετώπου Απελευθέρωσης της Παλαιστίνης (PFLP) Ahmad Sa’adat.
Ομιλητές: Mohammed Khatib – Δίκτυο Αλληλεγγύης Παλαιστίνιων Κρατουμένων Samidoun Μέλος της Επιτροπή Διεθνών ΝΑΡ-νΚΑ
Λευτεριά στον Ahmad Sa’adat Αλληλεγγύη στον Παλαιστινιακό λαό-Νίκη στην αντίσταση του
The International Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat kicked off in Berlin on Sunday, 13 January with the Palestinian contingent in the Liebknecht-Luxemburg-Lenin Demonstration as well as an evening event highlighting the struggle of Palestinian political prisoners. Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network participated with other Palestinian and solidarity organizations in the morning’s demonstration, which brought over 10,000 people together not only to mourn the 100th anniversary of the assassination of Rosa Liebknecht and Karl Luxemburg, but to protest for revolutionary political change.
Samidoun banner in the LLL-Demo
The evening event featured guests from Coup Pour Coup 31, the anti-imperialist collective in Toulouse, France, that is a member of the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network. These activists are organizers with the Campaign to Free Georges Abdallah in France and have played a major role in popularizing his case and building the mobilization for his liberation. Organizers with Coup Pour Coup have visited with Georges Abdallah on many occasions in the prison of Lannemezan, where he is held.
Photo by Abed Khattar
The statement from Coup Pour Coup 31 is reprinted below, in English. Georges Ibrahim Abdallah has been imprisoned for 34 years in France; despite being eligible for release since 1999, he has remained behind bars. The French government has refused his release, intervening at the highest levels to override judicial decisions for his parole. This has come hand in hand with pressure from the Israeli and U.S. governments, including interference by successive U.S. Secretaries of State, including Condoleeza Rice and Hillary Clinton.
More recently, Lebanese President Michel Aoun expressed his interest in the case and securing Abdallah’s freedom; he is a Lebanese citizen who would return to Lebanon upon his release. For the first time since his imprisonment, the Lebanese ambassador to France visited him in prison. While these are indications that the growing campaign in Lebanon, France and internationally is having an effect, the organizers emphasized in their presentation that building the international campaign is critical to winning his liberation.
In addition, Georges Abdallah himself sent a voice message from prison to this event and to mark the International Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat. His statement was a strong call to action to liberate the prisoners as well as a denunciation of the policies of Palestinian Authority “security coordination” that led to the original imprisonment of Sa’adat by the Palestinian Authority in 2002 and that continue to participate with the Israeli occupation in the repression of Palestinian resistance today. (Listen in Arabic below or read the English text here)
Charlotte Kates, Samidoun international coordinator, spoke about the Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat, noting that events are taking place in many countries around the world, including Ireland, the United States, Canada, Argentina, Germany, Britain, Greece, Denmark and more. She also reviewed the case of Ahmad Sa’adat, the imprisoned General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the reasons for the international mobilization for his freedom. She noted that this week of action is organizing to free all Palestinian prisoners, but highlights Sa’adat’s leadership as well as the international responsibility in his imprisonment.
Photo by Abed Khattar
Sa’adat has been imprisoned since 2006 by the Israeli occupation; in March of that year, heavily armed occupation forces attacked the PA’s prison in Jericho, where he had been imprisoned by his comrades for the previous four years. They killed two Palestinian guards and injured many more in the process; Sa’adat is now serving a 30-year sentence for his role as General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. He refused to participate in the Israeli military trial that convicted him, portions of which were observed by Kates as part of a legal/activist delegation to Palestine in 2007.
In the context of security coordination, the PA arrested Sa’adat after tricking him into a meeting under false pretenses. With his comrades, he was transferred to Jericho prison, where he was held under U.S. and British guard. Some of the British guards stationed there had actually previously served to guard Irish Republican political prisoners in the North of Ireland prior to this assignment. Those U.S. and British guards moved away in a coordinated fashion to later allow for the Israeli assault and kidnapping.
Photo by Abed Khattar
The event also included a presentation from a representative of the campaign to free Georges Abdallah in Berlin, who spoke about the challenges facing Palestinian organizing in Germany as well as the work being done to publicize Abdallah’s case and highlight why it is so important as the case of a prisoner of the Palestinian struggle in Europe. He also spoke about the importance of solidarity between struggles against repression, noting the Turkish and Kurdish political prisoners who have been jailed in Germany and elsewhere in Europe.
Photo by Abed Khattar
The representative of ATIK, the Confederation of Workers from Turkey in Europe, spoke about their support for Georges Abdallah as well as the mutual solidarity they have received for these imprisoned activists. She noted that despite 34 years in prison, Abdallah continues to express his support for other political prisoners and work to demand their freedom. She also noted several of the cases of imprisoned Turkish and Kurdish activists who have been targeted for their role in organizing the community and supporting progressive causes in Turkey.
Another activist involved in the campaign to free Mumia Abu-Jamal spoke about updates in the important case of the Black Liberation activist and journalist in Philadelphia who has also been imprisoned for over 34 years. There have been recent critical developments in the case, including a legal victory pointing towards the restoration of Abu Jamal’s appeal rights and the sudden discovery of six boxes of previously undisclosed evidence by the prosecutor’s office in Philadelphia. She reviewed the case and emphasized the need to connect across struggles to share solidarity, noting that Mumia himself has produced a number of articles and audio statements about Palestine and is a strong supporter of the Palestinian cause, leading to his case being known among Palestinians internationally.
Photo by Abed Khattar
The presentations were followed by a lively discussion about the need for greater unity in the movement and the challenges faced in resisting repression in Germany and elsewhere. The event was attended and supported by activists and members of a number of organizations, including the Hirak Shebabi youth movement, the Democratic Palestine Committees, BDS Berlin, ATIK, FOR-Palestine and the Communist Party of Spain in addition to the Campaign to Free Georges Abdallah, the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat, Coup Pour Coup 31, the Free Mumia campaign and Samidoun, among others.
Photo by Abed Khattar
Coup Pour Coup statement in English:
We begin by warmly thanking the comrades of Samidoun and the
Palestinian community of Berlin for this invitation. For us, it is very
important to develop international solidarity, especially when it comes to
fighting for Palestinian prisoners and Georges Abdallah.
We would also like to extend the warmest greetings from
Georges Abdallah to this event, which he had the opportunity to share with us
during our last visit with him in prison.
For 2 years, our anti-imperialist collective Coup Pour Coup
31 (based in Toulouse in the South of France) has joined Samidoun, the
solidarity network with Palestinian prisoners. Our desire was to intensify our
struggle and support for progressive and revolutionary Palestinian prisoners,
at the forefront of the struggle against Zionism. To us, supporting Palestinian
Prisoners also means supporting the only fighter for Palestine who is in French
imperialist prisons, Georges Abdallah!
Georges Abdallah is a political prisoner. Arrested in 1984
and sentenced to life in 198, following various political maneuvers, accused of
complicity in the assassination of a Mossad and a CIA official on French
territory. These were actions claimed by his organization, the Lebanese
Revolutionary Armed Fraction. He has been eligible for release since 1999, but
the French state refuses to release him. The US and Israel put pressure in this
direction, and it is the successive French governments that keep him in prison,
through various mechanisms. The French secret services are also involved in
this ongoing process.
Recently, Lebanese President Michel Aoun has declared his
desire to release Georges Abdallah during French President Macron’s visit to
Lebanon. A few weeks ago, Lebanon’s ambassador to France visited Georges
Abdallah in prison. These are obviously positive signs that come as results of
the international campaign and in particular the campaign in Lebanon. But only
the intensification of the international campaign will free him. It is more
than ever urgent to mobilize to compel the French state to do so.
Georges Abdallah is an Arab communist. From his time in the
Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, where he became politicized in the 1970s,
Georges Abdallah never stopped fighting capitalism. This fighter has always
affirmed his communist commitment, without ever denying it or denouncing his
comrades. He still stands today alongside peoples struggling against
imperialism, Zionism and reactionary regimes, as well as alongside proletarians
in imperialist centers fighting for their liberation.
He regularly makes statements of support for revolutionary political
prisoners throughout the world, particularly in Morocco, Turkey, the
Philippines … He has of course supported the various hunger strikes of
Palestinian prisoners as well as Turkish prisoners. Recently, he has been
supporting prisoners in ATIK, the Confederation of Turkish Workers in Europe,
detained in Germany.
Georges Abdallah is a prisoner of the Palestinian
Resistance. He joined the ranks of the PFLP and fought Zionist colonization.
His struggles, when he was free or once imprisoned, have always been a part of
the struggle for the liberation of Palestine. Today, he expresses a vision that
embodies the only just and lasting solution: a free and democratic Palestine
from the sea to the Jordan and the return of all Palestinian refugees.
Since 2009, we have been popularizing in Toulouse, France
and elsewhere, the case of Georges Abdallah, his battles of yesterday and
today. We continue to visit him regularly and correspond with the comrade
behind bars. By fighting for his release, we are building links with Palestine,
Lebanon and their freedom fighters. We are proud, for example, to have helped
strengthen the ties between Georges Abdallah and the PFLP.
In 2017, we proposed to Georges Abdallah to make a
solidarity photo in support of Ahmad Saadat. In return, Ahmad Saadat made
several statements in support of Georges. Today we come with an audio statement
from George in solidarity with Ahmad Saadat. For us, anti-imperialist
campaigners in Europe, it is very necessary to make the connection between Georges
Abdallah and Ahmad Saadat. To make this link is to bridge the gap between the
Palestinian Revolution and the revolutionary struggle here in Europe. This
bridge also brings to light the support of the European imperialist countries
for the Zionist entity, a support that we must fight by fighting our own
imperialism.
So let’s always continue to build and escalate international
solidarity. Intensify the campaigns for the release of Ahmad Saadat, for the
release of Georges Abdallah and for the liberation of Palestine, all Palestine,
from the river to the sea.
Tuesday, 22 January 8:00 pm Estacio de Renfe Alicante
Ahmad Sa’adat is the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. He has been imprisoned since 2002 and is now serving a 30-year sentence in Israeli prison.
Ahmad Sa’adat es el Secreari General del Front Popular per l’Alliberament de Palestina. Empresonat des de 2002, ara es trobe a una preso israeliana comlint un condemna de 30 anys.
Organized by MRG: Moviment de Resistencia Global Alacant
The International Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat is beginning, and events are being organized around the world to free the imprisoned political leader and all Palestinian political prisoners. Below is the schedule of events for the Week of Action, which will be continually updated. More events are being scheduled now, and we will announce the dates in the coming days!
We urge all supporters of Palestinian freedom to join the campaign. A wide array of posters, including images in 11 languages (English, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, French, German, Danish, Swedish, Turkish, Arabic, Greek) are available at the Call to Action page. We also have flyers for distribution and a longer PDF resource on the case of Ahmad Sa’adat.
Organize actions, events and protests for Ahmad Sa’adat and the Palestinian prisoners – or include calls to support the prisoners as part of your ongoing social justice and Palestine solidarity events.Use this form or email samidoun@samidoun.net to tell us about your activities, so we can add them to the calendar!
Several new statements have been released to join the week of action, including:
1. Organize events, actions and protests at Israeli embassies and consulates around the world to urge freedom for Ahmad Sa’adat. Protest in public squares and other open community spaces. Send us your events! Use this form or email samidoun@samidoun.net (Read about past years’ events here.)
2. Distribute this call to action and take media actions, like posting photos with posters calling for freedom for Ahmad Sa’adat and other Palestinian prisoners. Download the posters on the call to action page and send us your photos! Email us at samidoun@samidoun.net or send us a message on Facebook.
3. Include Ahmad Sa’adat and the Palestinian prisoners in your Palestine solidarity, anti-racism, anti-imperialist and social justice events. Bring flyers and posters or share a statement from Sa’adat as part of your program. Let us know what you’re doing: Email us at samidoun@samidoun.net or send us a message on Facebook.
Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, the Lebanese Arab Communist struggler for Palestine imprisoned in France for 34 years, issued a statement urging greater action to free imprisoned Palestinian leader Ahmad Sa’adat and his fellow Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. This audio message, recorded from Lannemezan prison in France, was released at the 13 January event in Berlin launching the Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat, with events taking place in countries around the world from 15 to 22 January.
Previously, Sa’adat issued a statement from Israeli prison urging participation in international actions to free Georges Abdallah, highlighting his place as a leader and comrade of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement.
The Arabic audio is available, followed by the English text of Georges Abdallah’s speech:
Thursday, January 10, 2019
Friends, sisters and brothers, comrades:
We mark the seventeenth anniversary of the arrest of our
leader, the prisoner Ahmed Sa’adat, under extremely complex and dangerous
political circumstances; not least of which are the repercussions of the
structural crisis that is affecting the foundations of the world order and
making the Arab world a theater of the contradictions between the various
imperialist countries and their assets in the region. It is within this
framework that we see the propagation of the U.S. initiative known today as the
“deal of the century” and the drive towards the liquidation of the Palestinian
cause in all its dimensions.
This “deal of the century” did not come from nowhere, and it
did not draw its parameters and build its foundations overnight. Rather, it is
the outcome of a three-decade process that began in the early 1990s. Throughout
this period, the “creative chaos” continued, as it continues today
throughout the Arab world and especially in occupied Palestine. This is
accentuated by the insistence of a corrupted leadership on chasing the illusion
of peaceful solutions. These delusions have continued for some time, as these
leaders confuse their direct interests with the historic rights of our people.
It is mostly the latter that have been sacrificed on the altar of immediate
benefits for that small sector.
Throughout this negotiating process, they have always
chanted slogans that only confirm the path of surrender: “negotiations to
achieve the aspirations of our people”, “the state is within
reach” and “the state is set in stone.”
Where now can we find the “achievements” of this negotiating
track?! What did Oslo and its ominous agreements and outcomes produce for our
masses? In short, we can say that “security coordination” is the
outcome of this path … Perhaps the arrest of our comrade and leader, the
prisoner Ahmad Sa’adat, by the Palestinian Authority was one of the first
achievements of “security coordination” between this sector
controlling the Palestinian decision-making process and the authorities of the
Zionist entity. Today, the importance of security coordination, not only for
the Zionist entity, but also for some of the PA’s leadership and its security
services, is no longer unknown or hidden. Therefore, the latter believes that
it is doing all it can to confirm and further spread this treacherous approach.
Despite all the public statements that have been made, security coordination
between the organs of the Authority and the occupation forces has never ceased.
In the final analysis, the basic purpose of “security
coordination” has become, apart from its active role in suppressing all
forms of resistance and armed struggle in particular, the spreading of a
culture of coordination. It eliminates the prohibition on dealing with the enemy
and somehow transforms it into a relationship between two neighbors rather than
a relationship between occupied and occupier. This is the context of the
Palestinian Authority’s failure to denounce Arab official normalization
processes. Within this approach, the position of this “National
Authority” concedes to American and Israeli pressure on the support of
prisoners and the families of martyrs as well as in the actions taken against
Gaza and the heroic masses of Gaza.
In this context, we also see the repressive measures being
escalated today in the Zionist prisons and, at the same time, the institutions
concerned with defending the prisoners of the Palestinian revolution are being
attacked … All this and many other factors must push all those who believe in
the cause to reaffirm the importance of the role of these men, women and
children, standing on embers in the castles of dignity, our heroic and
steadfast prisoners. It also highlights the need to put the issue of their
liberation, not only political solidarity with them – despite its importance – at the top of our priorities.
That the position of the majority of the Arab bourgeoisie falls
in the camp of the Zionist enemy, in all honesty and without ambiguity, makes
this task – “the task of liberating the prisoners of the Palestinian
revolution” – an important step toward “building a comprehensive Arab
resistance front.”
Salutes to the leadership of the Palestinian revolution, our
heroic and steadfast prisoners, and at the forefront comrade leader Ahmed Sa’adat,
Secretary General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine!
Yes, to build a comprehensive Arab resistance front to
confront normalization in all its forms!
Glory and eternity to our martyrs!
Victory for the masses and struggling peoples!
Shame upon the traitors and those who surrender!
Down with imperialism and its guard dogs – the Zionists and
Arab reactionaries!
With all my greetings to all of you, your friend Georges
Abdallah
January 15, is a national day of protest to demand freedom for Palestinian political prisoner Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian prisoners. There is also an important press conference in Philadelphia for Mumia. In Baltimore, we will be holding a special outreach event, distributing flyers and rallying at N. Charles St & North Ave. Learn more about both cases. There will be coffee and light snacks immediately afterwards at the Harriet Tubman Solidarity Center, 2011 N. Charles St., with information on how to write to both political prisoners.
Nottingham Protest to Free Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian Political Prisoners
Nottingham Revolutionary Communist Group is joining the international week of action called by Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network to Free the Political Prisoner Ahmad Sa’adat and all political prisoners.
“The Palestinian people are determined to continue the intifada for all of the national rights of our people. This position is naturally consistent with the struggle of all progressive global forces confronting global imperial arrogance and struggling for independence, self-determination and liberation, for social justice, equality and socialism, based on a fair distribution of the wealth and human principles of peace, rejection of war, imperialism and all forms of oppression and exploitation…” – Ahmad Sa’adat
On Saturday 19 January, Join us in a collective call for the freedom of Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian Prisoners. Join us to demand an end to British support for the Israeli occupation that has been confiscating land and lives for over 70 years. Join us outside Marks & Spencer, Britain’s biggest corporate sponsor of the Zionist Israeli state and a symbol of Britain’s support for Israel.
Freedom for all political prisoners! Freedom for Palestine! Victory to the Intifada!
This will be an anti-racist protest – all anti-racist groups and individuals are welcome to join us and bring your own placards/ literature or borrow some we have prepared. We will have an open microphone so please feel free to prepare something to say. If you would like to learn more about the situation in Palestine and in particular the situation for prisoners, feel free to come along to find out more.
More information about Marks & Spencer’s role in supporting Israel below and more info about Ahmad Sa’adat here:
Ahmad Sa’adat is a prominent Palestinian national liberation and international left leader, the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
15 January 2019 marks the 17th anniversary of Sa’adat’s arrest by the Palestinian Authority in the context of “security cooperation” with the Israeli occupation. After a violent attack on the PA’s Jericho prison in 2006, where Sa’adat was held under United States and British guards, Ahmad Sa’adat and his comrades are serving lengthy sentences in Israeli prisons. Sa’adat was sentenced to 30 years in prison, convicted in an Israeli military court of leading a prohibited organization and “incitement.”
Sa’adat is a leader in the Palestinian prisoners’ movement and the Palestinian national liberation movement. He is a figure of international importance and political clarity, targeted behind bars in an attempt to isolate him from his political role. He stands alongside nearly 6,000 fellow Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails on the front lines of the liberation struggle. As such, he is a symbol of Palestinian, Arab and internationalist resistance to capitalism, racism, apartheid and colonization.
The case of Ahmad Sa’adat also clearly highlights the complicity of international powers in the occupation and colonization of Palestine. He and his comrades were held for years under U.S. and British guards in a Palestinian Authority prison – and those guards moved away in a prearranged agreement to allow the Israeli occupation army to attack Jericho prison in 2006. The support of the United States, Britain, Canada, the European Union, Australia and others for the Israeli colonial project continues to perpetuate its impunity as it carries out land confiscations, home demolitions, mass imprisonment, extrajudicial executions, the ethnic cleansing of Jerusalem, the siege on Gaza and further crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The Palestinian Authority kidnapped Sa’adat under false pretenses and imprisoned him for four years before its prison was attacked by the Israeli occupation. This is part and parcel of the policy of “security coordination” that has led to the repeated imprisonment of Palestinians for their political involvement by the PA. Despite critical words, the policy remains firmly in place – with devastating and deadly consequences for Palestinians, as seen in the case of Basil al-Araj.
Why protest outside M&S? Britain has been responsible for racist oppression of Palestine for over 100 years- in 1917 the British government issued the Balfour Declaration, which called for “a national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine, despite the huge majority of Palestinians being against this. After decades of British rule, this lead to the ethnic cleansing of 750,000 Palestinians in 1947/8. Today Britain continues to support Israel, militarily, economically and politically– for example, £221m in arms export licenses were issued last year alone.
Boycott M&S Marks and Spencer is a key British supporter of Israel.
Marks and Spencer annually sell approximately £240 million worth of Israeli goods, including grapes, lychees, fresh figs, plums, dates, Hass avocados, fresh herbs, Sweet potatoes, potatoes, red peppers, suits and underwear. M&S stocks goods produced by Israeli companies like Delta – selling a reported 51% of Delta clothing.
They have also been marked with a long history of political support for the state of Israel and the Zionist movement:
In 1941 Israel Sieff, M&S Chairman, advocated ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians: ‘large sections of the Arab population of Palestine should be transplanted to Iraq and other Middle Eastern States’ (Jewish Chronicle 21/9/1941).
In 1990 Marcus Sieff, M&S Chairman, wrote that M&S sees ‘aiding the economic development of Israel as one of its fundamental objectives’.
In 1998 Marks and Spencer CEO Richard Greenbury received the Jubilee Award for services to Israel.
In 2004 chief executive Stuart Rose was guest of honour to the British Israeli Chamber of Commerce annual dinner as reward for ongoing support for Israel.
In 2014 M&S chiefs attended events in London organised by David Cameron to counter the boycott and to strengthen trade with Israel.
We call for the complete boycott of M&S, as a symbol of boycotting British state and corporate support for the vicious Zionist state. Join us.
