The Belfast Branch of the IPSC is calling for all Solidarity Activists and people of conscience to join us in solidarity with the over 300 children, imprisoned by the Apartheid state of Israel, and their families.
The youngest prisoner, Shadi is in to his third year of imprisonment.
Join us on his birthday to call for his immediate release and the release of all child prisoners.
End the occupation. End the blockade. #BDS
Shadi mother message.
“To the free people of this world. To the mothers who kiss their children every morning, and to the parents who hug their children every day, here Shadi is in his third year in captivity, his birthdays are passing, and he still has a long time to go. I miss him so much. I wish we could be together. We want our children to live in peace, security and stability. No fear, no arrests, no killing. Stop violence and persecution.
Shadi, I think of you every day and cannot wait for the time when you will eventually enjoy freedom and be with me again.”
We call on the directors of the Théâtre Garonne and the Cinémathèque de Toulouse not to condone Israeli apartheid. Renounce this dishonorable sponsorship!
The blood of Palestinians in Gaza was not yet dry when the “France-Israel Season” was inaugurated in Paris on 5 June, three weeks after the bloody repression of the Great Return March in Gaza. This whitewashing operation for the State of Israel is shameful and indecent by its very nature.
However, the Théâtre Garonne and the Cinémathèque de Toulouse have planned several shows and screenings in the second half of November, labeled as part of the “France-Israel Season.” They are participating in this attempt to restore the image of the Israeli state, somewhat tarnished by its policy of daily brutality against the Palestinians and its status as an exporter of arms and repressive securitization.
This is a state which has dispossessed the Palestinian people of their land for 70 years and continues without hesitation its occupation, colonization, blockade of Gaza, and much more. It completely destroyed the Al-Mishaal Cultural Center in Gaza on 9 August.
In July, it officially declared its status as a apartheid state with the passage of the so-called “nation-state law,” proclaiming the land to be the state of all Jewish people around the world while excluding the rights of Palestinians in Israel, whose language was also stripped of its official character. On that occasion, conductor Daniel Barenboim said that he was ashamed of being Israeli.
In a petition published on 4 May, 80 personalities from the cultural world, including Annie Ernaux, Jean-Luc Godard, Maguy Marin, Alain Damasio and Ernest Pignon-Ernest, declared: “In solidarity with the Palestinians, we refuse to appear in these events, we will not participate in the France-Israel Season and we call on others to not participate in any form whatsoever.”
A few days later, a petition from academics demanded the cancellation of the “festivities”: “How indeed could we act as if nothing had happened? As if dozens of young people had not been murdered with premeditation? As if hundreds of protesters demanding only respect for their fundamental rights had not been crippled for life? As if the Gaza ghetto does not run the risk of being liquidated, with the complicity, active or passive, of the international community?”
Rassemblement devant le théâtre Garonne :
MM. les Directeurs du Théâtre Garonne et de la Cinémathèque de Toulouse, ne cautionnez pas l’apartheid israélien. Renoncez à ce parrainage déshonorant !
Le sang des Palestiniens n’était pas encore sec, que la « Saison France-Israël » était inaugurée à Paris le 5 juin soit trois semaines après la répression sanglante de la « Grande Marche du Retour » à Gaza. Cette opération de blanchiment de l’État d’Israël est indécente dans son existence même et scandaleuse.
Pourtant, le Théâtre Garonne et la Cinémathèque de Toulouse ont prévu pour la deuxième quinzaine de novembre des spectacles et projections labellisés « Saison France-Israël » et participeront ainsi à la tentative de redorer le blason de l’État d’Israël, passablement terni par sa politique chaque jour plus dure à l’encontre des Palestiniens et son statut de start-up nation du sécuritaire.
Un Etat qui :
dépossède le peuple palestinien de sa terre depuis 70 ans, poursuit sans freins l’occupation, la colonisation, le blocus de Gaza,
a détruit totalement le 9 août le centre culturel Al-Mishal à Gaza,
a officialisé en juillet son statut d’État d’apartheid, par la loi « Israël–Etat nation du peuple juif » qui recrute tous les Juifs du monde en excluant les Palestiniens d’Israël, dont la langue est déchue de son caractère officiel. Le chef d’orchestre Daniel Barenboim a déclaré à cette occasion qu’il avait honte d’être israélien.
Dans une pétition publiée le 4 mai, 80 personnalités du monde de la culture, parmi lesquelles Annie Ernaux, Jean-Luc Godard, Maguy Marin, Alain Damasio et Ernest Pignon-Ernest, déclaraient : « Par solidarité avec les Palestiniens, nous refusons de figurer dans cette vitrine, nous ne participerons pas à la Saison France-Israël et nous appelons à ne pas y participer sous quelque forme que ce soit. »
Quelques jours plus tard, une pétition d’universitaires demandait l’annulation des « festivités » : « Comment en effet pourrions-nous faire comme si de rien n’était ? Comme si des dizaines de jeunes n’avaient pas été assassinés de manière préméditée ? Comme si des centaines de manifestants demandant seulement le respect de leurs droits fondamentaux n’avaient pas été estropiés à vie ? Comme si le ghetto de Gaza ne courait pas le risque d’être purement et simplement liquidé, avec la complicité, active ou passive, de la communauté internationale ? »
We call on all to join us on 4 November 2018 at 4:30 pm to support the prisoners in the occupation prisons who have refused to leave their rooms for 50 days despite their disastrous and difficult situation.
For more than 50 days, the prisoners have been locked in a battle with the Israeli prison administration in HaSharon prison. They have declared their refusal to go out to the recreation yard since there, in protest and rejection of surveillance cameras in the yard.
It is the only area where the women prisoners can find some respite during the day. They can see the sun behind the fence and try to breathe fresh air, and it is the only area where they can walk, especially when their cells are narrow.
The Israeli prison administration refuses to respond to the prisoners’ demand to remove the surveillance cameras, which violate their privacy, further restrict and suffocate them. Instead, they are transferring the women to Damon prison in retaliation, where surveillance cameras are also installed.
هي أمك يبرق النصر بغضبها
هي أخت ما برد يوم عتبها
هي بنتك تسكن الغيرة بقلبها
هي دمك.. هي لحمك.. هي عرضك
اكسر اليد الي تمادت ع ضفايرها وشعرهاندعوكم للمشاركة يوم الأحد الموافق 4\11\2018، الساعة 4:30، في وقفة لنصرة وإسناد الأسيرات في سجون الاحتلال اللواتي يخضن إضراباً منذ 50 يوماً، متمثلاً برفضهن الخروج من زنازينهن، رغم أوضاعها الكارثية والصعبة.
وتخوض الأسيرات منذ أكثر من 50 يوماً معركة مع إدارة سجون الاحتلال في سجن هشارون، وقد أعلن رفضهن الخروج للفورة منذ ذلك الحين، احتجاجاً ورفضاً لنصب الاحتلال كاميرات مراقبة في ساحة الفورة.
والفورة، هي المساحة الوحيدة التي يسمح للأسيرات بالتواجد فيها بضع ساعات خلال النهار، حيث يرون الشمس من خلف السياج، ويحاولون تنفس الهواء النقي، كما أنها المساحة الوحيدة التي يتمكن من المشي فيها وخاصة أن الزنازين ضيقة جداً.
وترفض إدارة سجون الاحتلال الاستجابة لمطلب الأسيرات بإزالة كاميرات المراقبة، التي تمثل تعدي على خصوصيات الأسيرات، وتفرض عليهم مزيد من التضييقات والخنق والمحاصرة، وقد قررت نقلهن تعسفياً إلى سجن دامون المزود أيضاً بكاميرات المراقبة.
The following article by Joe Catron was originally published at Mint Press News on 31 October and is republished below:
Photo: U.S. President Donald Trump and King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia sign a Joint Strategic Vision Statement for the United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, during ceremonies, Saturday, May 20, 2017, at the Royal Court Palace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Official White House Photo Shealah Craighead)
As the Trump administration renews its push for a formal military alliance between the United States and its Arab allies to target Iran, several members of the emerging bloc have joined an unprecedented drive to normalize their relations with Israel.
The timing, regional observers told MintPress News this week, is no coincidence.
“One of the major roles of the creation of such a bloc is to actually normalize with the Zionist entity in order for them, among other things, to weaken the position of the resistance in the Arab world and of the Arab peoples’ position in support of the resistance.”
In July the White House floated a pact with the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates — along with Egypt and Jordan, noting its officials were working on the idea, a recurring proposal in U.S. foreign policy, with “our regional partners now and have been for several months.”
The tentative Middle East Strategic Alliance (MESA) seemed to be a frequent topic at a military summit in Manama, Bahrain, attended by top officials of the eight Arab states as well as Defense Secretary Jim Mattis over the weekend.
When not pledging continued support for the Saudi-led war against Yemen — “We’ll continue to support the defense of the Kingdom” — Mattis hailed the emergence of MESA, stating:
“The United States is committed to working by, with, and through allies and partners across the region to make this concept a reality and reinforce deterrence of hostile actions.”
“Some of them feel they can get away with it”
The gathering came alongside a barrage of rapprochement between the Arab states represented in Manama and their traditional, if nominal, enemy, Israel.
Over the same weekend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid a rare visit to Oman, including an official audience with Sultan Qaboos bin Said. Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev, accompanying the Israeli team at the International Judo Federation’s Grand Slam tournament in the U.A.E., later toured the great mosque of Abu Dhabi. Another Israeli national team competed at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Doha, Qatar.
Meanwhile, news emerged on Sunday of a $250 million sale of espionage technology by Israel to Saudi Arabia during a series of secret meetings in Washington and London that also included an exchange of military intelligence between the two countries.
“Most of the Arab regimes in question are corrupt, extremely repressive and beholden to imperialism, and have no great political differences with Israel,” Joyce Chediac Wilcox, a Lebanese-American writer, and Liberation News editor told MintPress.
“They would have long ago openly sided with Israel if they thought they could without being overthrown,” she said. “Now, some of them feel they can get away with it.”
The GCC and its allies in Amman and Cairo — to say nothing of Tel Aviv — have long resented Iran’s influence in the region, and several bitterly opposed its nuclear agreement with the Obama administration and five other world leaders. But the emerging bloc marks a sharper departure from established policies for the United States.
While no friend of Iran, Obama sought to contain it through negotiations and trade, often to the dismay of his allies elsewhere in the region.
“Trump has identified selling weapons and arms as a major U.S. priority, escalating the situation and cementing the U.S. presence in the Gulf,” Khaled Barakat, a Palestinian writer and the international coordinator of the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat, told MintPress.
“This is a real change and a real escalation,” he said. “However, it doesn’t reflect a change in interests. The U.S. goals in the region remain the same regardless of the name of the president — imperial domination and hegemony.”
A major part of the overall U.S. strategy, Barakat added, is to “escalate the development of the so-called ‘moderate Arab camp,’ with Israel as the leader of this regional camp.”
“This is an attempt to say that there is no conflict in the region with Israel — the conflict is instead with Iran,” he said.”It is taking these alliances from a secret level to a public level.”
“An alliance to kill Palestine”
A third element in the timing of both Arab states’ coalescence around an anti-Iranian bloc and their rapprochement with Israel may be the Trump administration’s plans to force a “deal of the century” between Israel and the Palestinians.
The proposal, which the Trump administration reportedly plans to share with the Israeli government this week, is widely expected to disregard most Palestinian claims in Israel’s favor.
“Judging from the Trump administration actions — moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, cutting US funds to the Palestinian authority and UNWRA — the U.S. ‘deal of a century’ would really be to destroy the Palestinian struggle entirely,” Wilcox said.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas pledged on Sunday to block the “deal,” which also faces broadopposition from every Palestinian faction.
But Trump and his Mideast envoy and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, still hope to impose it upon Palestinians with help from their Arab allies.
“In order for Israel to become a ‘natural’ state in the region and part of a regional camp, a deal — by whatever name — must happen with some Palestinians, especially a narrow class who can benefit from this alliance,” Barakat said. “But of course,” he added, “this all comes at the expense of the Palestinian people. This is an alliance to kill Palestine and plunder the wealth, the resources and the people of the region.”
And the Arab hostility the Trump administration hopes to muster against both the Palestinian national movement and Iran require further normalization between Arab states and Israel.
“This normalization breaks any dreams of unity amongst Arab states vis-a-vis the Palestinian cause, and it legitimizes the internal enemy,” Nakhal said.
Alongside the liquidation of the Palestinian national movement, the U.S., Israel and their emerging Arab bloc hope to weaken Iran, currently Palestine’s strongest supporter in the region, if not remove it from the equation entirely.
As Wilcox put it: “The Trump administration seeks to outright destroy the Iranian revolution because it is independent from imperialism and because it has played a major role in stopping Washington’s dismemberment of Syria, and gives crucial aid to Hezbollah, the national liberation movement of Lebanon.”
“The Trump administration seeks to return to the days of the Shah, when Western companies seized all of Iran’s oil wealth, and none of it went to the people,” she added. “Whether the Iranian people will permit this to happen is another question.”
Joe Catron is a MintPress News journalist covering Palestine and Israel. He is also a solidarity activist and freelance reporter, recently returned to New York from Gaza, Palestine, where he lived for three and a half years. He has written frequently for Electronic Intifada and Middle East Eye, and co-edited The Prisoners’ Diaries: Palestinian Voices from the Israeli Gulag, an anthology of accounts by detainees freed in the 2011 prisoner exchange.
Four Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are currently engaged in hunger strikes to protect prisoners’ rights and demand their freedom. Saddam Ali Ayad Awad, 28, from Beit Ummar near al-Khalil, has been on strike since 13 October, after occupation authorities renewed his administrative detention – imprisonment without charge or trial.
Image: Saddam Awad, Asra Media
Awad earlier went on hunger strike for 10 days in August, which he suspended when Israeli intelligence officials told him that his administrative detention would not be renewed. However, despite this promise, his imprisonment without charge or trial on the basis of secret evidence was renewed for another six months, sparking his strike. After nearly three weeks on hunger strike, Awad’s health has begun to deteriorate; he has lost significant amounts of weight and suffers from extreme fatigue, difficulty moving and pain throughout his body.
Awad was arrested for the first time in 2009; he spent two and a half years in Israeli jails before being released as part of the Wafa al-Ahrar prisoner exchange. In 2013, he was once again arrested and his sentence of four years reimposed. After his release in November 2017, he was free for only four months before occupation forces seized him again on 12 March 2018, ordering him imprisoned without charge or trial.
Rizk Rajoub
Sheikh Rizk Rajoub, 60, from the village of Dura near al-Khalil, also launched a hunger strike on Sunday, 28 October. This is the third hunger strike he has launched while detained; like Awad, Rajoub is jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention. He was seized by occupation forces on 27 November 2017 and ordered to administrative detention. He was also threatened with deportation from Palestine. He went on strike for 25 days and suspended it with a pledge that his case would instead be transferred to charges in the military court.
However, Israeli occupation forces ignored the promise and ordered him jailed for six months without charge or trial. He again refused food for 10 days, extracting a promise to not renew his detention. Nonetheless, his detention was renewed for a second time. His detention period will soon expire once more, and Rajoub launched the strike to demand that he be released at that time without the renewal of his detention order.
Administrative detention orders are issued for one to six months at a time; they are indefinitely renewable. Palestinians have been jailed for years at a time without charge or trial under repeatedly renewed detention orders.
Rajoub, a leader in the Hamas movement, himself has been imprisoned by the Israeli occupation on multiple occasions, serving nearly 23 years behind bars, 10 of those mostly under administrative detention. His most recent arrest came only one week after his release from a previous detention period, when he was jailed without charge or trial for 29 months. Riyad al-Ashqar of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Center for Studies said that occupation forces pressured him to accept deportation to Sudan as a condition for his release.
Image: Kifah Hattab
They are not alone. Two more Palestinian prisoners, Kifah Hattab and Khalil Abu Aram, have launched a hunger strike against repressive conditions imposed by Israeli prison administration as part of an initiative by Israeli minister Gilad Erdan to impose even more difficult conditions on Palestinian prisoners. The commission is seeking to roll back the achievements that Palestinian prisoners have won through years of struggle. Thousands of books have been confiscated from prisoners, who have also seen decreased food rations and limited access to hot water.
Hattab and Abu Aram, both serving multiple life sentences, are held in Hadarim prison. They launched their hunger strike to support Palestinian women prisoners in HaSharon, who have refused to go out to the recreation yard for nearly two months due to the sudden imposition of surveillance cameras on 5 September. They are also protesting intensified repression inside Hadarim and other prisons.
Photo: Khalil Abu Aram, Twitter
Hattab and Abu Aram have been on hunger strike since 24 October to demand an end to these repressive mechanisms and the withdrawal of the surveillance cameras from HaSharon prison. In June, Abu Aram and other Palestinian prisoners were attacked in Nafha prison when photos from inside the prison were released revealing them baking ma’amoul cookies in their rooms for Eid al-Fitr. Abu Aram was thrown in isolation and later transferred, while nine prisoners were assaulted and isolated for defending Abu Aram against the guards’ attack.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network expresses our strongest support for all of these prisoners on hunger strike, as well as the women prisoners of HaSharon fighting back against repression. They are struggling with their bodies and their lives to defend their dignity and their rights. Their courage and sacrifices serve as another impetus to build campaigns for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel and its products, academic institutions and cultural institutions to demand freedom for all Palestinian prisoners and freedom for Palestine.
Nidal Abu Aker, a longtime community leader and a journalist in Dheisheh refugee camp, and his son Mohammed Abu Aker, a university student, were seized by Israeli occupation forces who invaded the camp in the early morning hours of Thursday, 1 November. Both are prominent advocates for Palestinian rights and former prisoners who have been repeatedly jailed for their commitment to Palestinian liberation.
Israeli occupation forces invaded the home, pushing, shoving and hitting Abu Aker as he resisted the armed soldiers forcing their way inside the family’s house.
They manhandled Mohammed as they pulled him and his father from their home, raising their weapons in a threat to the Palestinian refugees in nearby apartments.
The Abu Aker family are refugees from Ras Abu Ammar in Palestine ’48; their family has lived in Dheisheh refugee camp since the Nakba. Nidal, 50, is married to Manal Shaheen and the father of three children, Mohammed, Dalia and Karmel. A prominent leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, he is also the host of a program about Palestinian prisoners called “In their cells” on Sawt al-Wihda radio station and a co-founder of the Families of Prisoners Association in the camp.
He has spent 17 years in Israeli prisons, through multiple arrests and under 11 years of administrative detention without charge or trial. In 2015, he engaged in a 40-day hunger strike with five more administrative detainees to demand an end to imprisonment without charge or trial. He was arrested for the first time in 1984, and his mother says that he has spent nearly half of his life in Israeli prisons. He was released from his latest stint in administrative detention without charge or trial in July 2018, after two years of imprisonment.
Mohammed, 25, was released in late 2017 after spending two years and two months in Israeli prison on an array of political charges, including support for and membership in a prohibited organization. All major Palestinian political parties are labeled illegal by the Israeli occupation, and people often face this charge for participating in student, labor or youth organizing, as did Mohammed. A student at Bethlehem University, he is known for his role in organizing the Palestinian student movement on campus.
Dheisheh refugee camp has been a site of intense repression and frequent violent raids by Israeli occupation forces. Youth in the camp have been threatened by Israeli military commanders with phone calls and text messages. Raed al-Salhi, an unarmed Palestinian youth was shot dead by occupation forces in an “arrest raid,” shortly after one occupation soldier had threatened to “shoot [Raed] in front of your mother.”
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network demands the immediate release of Nidal and Mohammed Abu Aker. Their arrest reflects the ongoing targeting of their family and other activists in Dheisheh refugee camp as well as the ongoing attack on student organizers in Palestine. According to estimates, there are over 300 university student prisoners in Israeli jails.
These arrests reflect Israeli attempts to remove and isolate the most effective, popular and trusted leaders of Palestinian movements through the use of mass imprisonment. Nevertheless, despite years of imprisonment, the occupation has failed to break their steadfastness and commitment to Palestinian liberation. International solidarity and action is critical to support Nidal and Mohammed and demand freedom for all Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
Internationally, we can help to win their freedom by building boycott campaigns of Israeli products, academic and cultural institutions and urging a military embargo of Israel, and by protesting and campaigning to break the isolation of Palestinian prisoners and to demand their liberation – and the liberation of Palestine and its people, from the river to the sea.
Palestinian women in HaSharon prison are continuing their protest against the imposition of surveillance cameras on 5 September in the prison yard. The placement of surveillance cameras also cover the collective kitchens, washing machine areas and prayer areas. Since that time, for 56 days, the women have refused to go out for recreation or enter the areas under surveillance until the cameras are removed.
The imposition of the surveillance cameras was one of the latest repressive actions initiated by Israeli minister Gilad Erdan‘s committee, charged with rolling back the accomplishments of the Palestinian prisoners won through years of struggle. Erdan, who is the Minister of Public Security responsible for the Israel Prison Service, is also the Minister of Strategic Affairs responsible for international campaigns against Palestine solidarity activists and the growing boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement.
In addition to the activation of the surveillance cameras, the Israeli prison administration confiscated thousands of books and cut the amount of water that prisoners could access. Since the prisoners began their protest, the repression has only increased.
Women prisoners have been denied family visits; the hot water was cut off to the women’s section. Arab TV channels were removed from their television access. Women prisoners have been fined, excessively searched and the amounts of meat and vegetables they receive have been significantly reduced, prisoner advocates have reported. The surveillance cameras had previously been imposed several years ago, but were covered and deactivated after extensive protest.
Now, the prison administration is threatening to move all of the women prisoners to Damon prison. Palestinian women political prisoners are held in two Israeli prisoners – HaSharon and Damon prisons. There are approximately 31 women and girls in HaSharon prison and 20 in Damon prison. While the conditions in both prisons are difficult and repressive, Damon is even more notorious because of its distant location from the military courts in which the women are tried. Women prisoners have frequently cited the use of the “bosta” – a vehicle used to transport prisoners, where they are shackled throughout the journey which often takes hours upon hours due to repeated stops, security checks and other delays.
Dr. Raafat Hamdouna of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Center for Studies said that this action reflects the fact that the Israeli prison administration cannot handle the women’s protest for the past 54 days. By transferring the prisoners, the prison administration seeks to circumvent the protest and create a situation of confusion and instability. He noted that a mass transfer and the opening of new section requires substantial effort from the IPS in order to deny the women prisoners’ struggle. He called for widespread action to work to release the Palestinian women prisoners. h
In support of the women prisoners in HaSharon, male prisoners in Hadarim have announced a program of struggle for their demands. They have joined the women of HaSharon in refusing to go out to the prison yard. Two prisoners, Kifah Hattab and Khalil Abu Aram, launched an open hunger strike on 24 October; they are now on their 8th day without food. The ill prisoners in Hadarim have rejected medicine and clinic visits. In response, the prison administration has isolated five prisoners in solitary confinement cells, closed the kitchen and “canteen” (prison store) and threatened to transfer the prisoners collectively to isolation.
The protest was also sparked by repressive actions in Hadarim that began around 20 October, including the removal of all chairs and tables from the prison yard and forcing all prisoners to leave their rooms during a so-called “security check.” These actions also came as part of Erdan’s escalation against Palestinian prisoners.
As the women prisoners have continued their protests against repression, Khalida Jarrar, the Palestinian leftist leader and parliamentarian, was once again ordered to administrative detention without charge or trial. Jarrar has been jailed since July 2017 under repeated administrative detention orders
Photo: Asiya Kaabneh, Asra Media
Asiya Kaabneh, 41 and the mother of nine children, was also sentenced to 42 months in Israeli prison; she has been jailed since 24 April 2017 when she was seized by Israeli occupation soldiers. She was charged with attempting to stab an occupation soldier at the Qalandiya checkpoint, and she was brought back to military court 15 times before being sentenced by the Ofer military court on 30 October.
Photo: Wafaa Mahdawi, Asra Media
In addition, Wafaa Mahmoud Mahdawi, 45, the mother of Ashraf Na’alwa, who is currently being pursued by occupation soldiers, was ordered detained again for an additional eight days on 30 October. The entire Na’alwa family has been subject to collective punishment and repeated arrests in order to attempt to pressure Ashraf to turn himself in. Wafaa, who is held in the Jalameh interrogation center, has been detained since 17 October along with her son Amjad Na’alwa aand her daughter Fairuz.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network stands in solidarity with these women prisoners on the front lines of the resistance to repression and the battle for freedom. We urge broader international solidarity with their steadfastness and dedication in confronting occupation and oppression, to achieve their demands and to win their liberation.
Tuesday, 30 October 7:30 pm Al-Nahda Center 10555 South West Highway Worth, IL
Join us tonight for a presentation by Dr. Saif Dannah for a presentation on the current situation in Palestine and the Arab region, specifically the struggle of the Palestinian prisoners. The presentation will focus specifically on the cases of Khader Adnan and Georges Abdallah.
يقيم مركز النهضة والفعاليات الوطنية نشاطا تضامنا مع الأسرى السياسين الفلسطينيين والعرب يعقبها حوار سياسيا مع البرفيسور .سيف دعنا حول التطورات الجارية على الصعيد الفلسطيني والعربي. مركز النهضة الواقع على 10555ساوت ويست هاي وي. يوم الثلاثاء 10/30 الساعة 7:30. مساء. حضوركم واجب وضروري ودعم لقضية الاسرى والدعوة عام
On Wednesday, 31 October, call your government to demand it intercede for the immediate release of Khalida Jarrar, a Palestinian parliamentarian jailed without charge or trial under Israeli “administrative detention” since July 2017. Her arbitrary imprisonment was just renewed for another four months.
Join the Facebook page for the call-in campaign and invite others. After you call, post to the page telling other supporters who you called and what they told you.
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
Tell your government:
• Khalida Jarrar is a Palestinian member of parliament and a political leader. She has been jailed by Israel with no charges and no trial since July 2017.
• Your government must intercede to demand her immediate release and end all support for Israel’s political imprisonment and other crimes against Palestinians.
• Israel’s use of “administrative detention” is a universally-recognized violation of human rights and international law.
• The government must do more than criticize “administrative detention” or express concern, but should also take serious measures to end these violations.
The Friends of the Jenin Freedom Theatre invite you to meet
Mohammad Sabaaneh, renowned Palestinian political cartoonist.
Sabaaneh will discuss his life as an artist, current projects, and
his work at The Freedom Theatre as an educator.
The evening will also include a silent auction of two original works by Sabaaneh.
* This event is FREE and open to the general public *
About Mohammad Sabaaneh:
Mohammad Sabaaneh, a talented political cartoonist from Palestine, has gained worldwide attention for his stark black-and-white sketches, which draw attention to brutalities of the Israeli occupation and celebrate the Palestinians’ popular resistance. These provocative drawings do not flinch from tackling the tough subjects that confront Palestinians, from Israel’s everyday injustices in the West Bank to their frequent military operations on Gaza.
Sabaaneh’s work has been published in many newspapers across the Arab World, and he is the principal political cartoonist for Al-Hayat al-Jadida, the Palestinian Authority’s daily newspaper. He has also recently published his first book – Black and White.
Finally, Sabaaneh has been a board member of The Freedom Theatre in Jenin, Palestine and continues to lead workshops there, supporting youth in developing their critical thinking skills and creativity, and exploring the ways cartoons can be tools for cultural resistance.
