Events in Denmark highlight Palestinian prisoners and the struggle for liberation

9 October 2018

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network participated in a series of events in Denmark in early October, organized by the Internationalt Forum and Boykot Israel. Charlotte Kates, Samidoun’s international coordinator, joined Palestinian leftist writer and organizer Khaled Barakat for several speaking events discussing the Palestinian situation today and how international solidarity can help to support the Palestinian liberation struggle.

On 4 October, Barakat and Kates presented at an event organized by Internationalt Forum Nordsjælland at the smelters’ union hall in Helsingør. There, Kates focused on the struggle of Palestinian political prisoners inside Israeli jails. After presenting key statistics about the number of prisoners, their conditions of confinement and the colonial system they face, she discussed the importance of international solidarity with Palestinian prisoners.

In particular, she noted that Palestinian prisoners represent a real Palestinian leadership – unlike the Palestinian Authority’s ongoing security coordination with Israel – that the occupation desperately seeks to isolate not only from the Palestinian people but from international movements for justice. She also noted several important cases of imprisoned Palestinians, including Ahmad Sa’adat – the jailed General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, first jailed by the PA under British and U.S. guard – Khalida Jarrar and Khader Adnan.

Barakat provided a thorough and wide-ranging overview of the Palestinian liberation movement, emphasizing that the struggle of the Palestinian people is an anti-colonial struggle that confronts an array of enemies and repressive forces that are joined together by common interests. He noted that Israel, the United States and Arab reactionary regimes come together to impose the ongoing colonial project in Palestine. He also emphasized the importance of the Palestinian popular classes in the liberation struggle and the role of the Palestinian Authority in serving only the interest of the wealthiest capitalists, while further marginalizing the majority of the Palestinian people.

He also focused on the importance of the right of return to the liberation project, especially as the U.S. is currently working to attempt to liquidate this fundamental right. Over half of the Palestinian population are refugees, Barakat noted, and their right to return has been denied them on the basis that their existence is a threat to the ongoing racist domination of Zionism. He encouraged Palestinians and solidarity activists to envision a future for Palestine “beyond Israel,” including the establishment of a democratic Palestine.

On Friday, 5 October, Barakat and Kates joined several Internationalt Forum organizers, including Irene Clausen, the author of the new book “PFLP and Palestine,” for a meeting with Christian Juhl, a member of the Danish Parliament representing the Red-Green Alliance. They discussed important issues facing Palestinians today, including the Great March of Return in Gaza and the need for international support to break the siege and support Palestinian refugees’ right to return. Kates discussed several cases of Palestinian political prisoners, including that of Mustapha Awad, a Belgian citizen jailed by the Israeli occupation, and Raja Eghbarieh, a Palestinian leader in occupied Palestine ’48 whose case further exposes the lie of “Israeli democracy.”

Barakat also was interviewed by Arbejderen, the daily newspaper of the Communist Party of Denmark, about a range of issues facing the Palestinian people today. “Zionist Israel, the imperialists in the United States and other Western countries, as well as the reactionary Arab regimes, spoken by Saudi Arabian king Bin Salman, have collapsed to break the Palestinian cause. They want the question completely off the table, so the focus is shifting to the fight against Iran,” Barakat said. He also addressed the devastating effects of the Oslo agreement as well as the need for more action to boycott Israel. “Israel is a racist and colonialist state that is doomed to dissolve. I believe that at one point Israel is going to become a burden for imperialism, as we have seen elsewhere in world history, such as in South Africa,” he said.

That evening, they presented at the Internationalt Forum’s Solidarity Boutique in Copenhagen. Kates again reviewed the situation of Palestinian political prisoners, noting the inadequacy of statistics in conveying how deeply imprisonment affects the Palestinian society and its political movement. She noted that the Palestinian prisoners represent the Palestinian resistance in all of its forms, also making it politically critical for the solidarity movement to emphasize its support for their freedom struggle. In addition, she also talked about how the Israeli occupation denies Palestinians’ right to education – through the imprisonment of children who lose years in school as well as the attacks on university students and professors. She urged the boycott of Israeli academic institutions, including study abroad programs, in protest of the violation of Palestinians’ right to education.

Barakat provided a thorough analysis of the Palestinian political situation, highlighting how the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian capitalist class have hijacked the liberation movement and emphasizing the need to focus on the struggle rooted in the refugee camps and among the popular classes. He noted that the Great Marches of Return in Gaza since 30 March have once again drawn the eyes of the world to Gaza, as Palestinians show immense creativity in their resistance and have resisted the silencing and liquidation of their cause.

He also discussed the situation in the Arab world and how it is affecting Palestinians today, especially as Arab reactionary regimes – particularly Saudi Arabia – are key partners of Zionism and imperialism in the attack on the Palestinian people. Without Egypt’s military government that imprisons thousands on political charges, the siege on Gaza would not hold, he noted. In addition, he discussed the imperialist attacks on Syria and Libya, noting that the role of NATO, the EU and the United States was clearly not to support Arab peoples’ rights to self determination and liberation but to further divide, impoverish and subjugate people.

On Saturday, 6 October, they joined Boykot Israel – DK, one of the oldest boycott organizations in Europe, having been founded in 2002, for a flyering and public awareness action near Norreport station in the center of Copenhagen. Participants carried a large orange banner reading “Boykot Israel” and distributed over 1,000 flyers to passers-by in the area. In addition, activists marked Israeli dates in nearby supermarkets as products of apartheid. Boykot Israel does these public information events on the first Saturday of every month in Copenhagen.

Samidoun joins Ahed Tamimi in Spain to urge action to free Palestine

9 October 2018

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network joined the welcome for Ahed Tamimi and call for a free Palestine in Madrid on 29 September. Samidoun international coordinator, Charlotte Kates, spoke alongside former Palestinian child prisoner and anti-colonial land defense activist Ahed Tamimi at the annual 2018 Fiesta, organized by the Communist Party of Spain. The event was attended by large crowds of enthusiastic supporters of the Palestinian cause.

The Fiesta event was part of Ahed Tamimi’s whirlwind tour around Europe after her release from Israeli prison; she and her family were originally blocked from leaving occupied Palestine by the Israeli occupation before she, her mother Nariman – a fellow political prisoner, her father Bassem and her two younger brothers joined their tour. Ahed and the Tamimi family spoke in cities across France and Athens, Greece before participating in several events in Spain.

Kates presented at an afternoon event celebrating Ahed and supporting the Palestinian liberation struggle. Also speaking at the event were Manu Pineda, international relations chair of the Communist Party of Spain; Bassem Tamimi, Ahed’s father and a long-time land defense organizer in the village of Nabi Saleh; and Ahed herself, who was greeted with immense enthusiasm by the crowds in Madrid.

Full event video:

Kates’ presentation:

Ahed emphasized that Palestinians would continue to resist and seek freedom and liberation for Palestine, part of the international struggle for justice and liberation. She asked for more international solidarity, more boycotts of Israel and more support to help Palestinians achieve their freedom, identifying the forces of capitalism as those who are suppressing the rights of people around the world. Enthusiastic chants of “Que viva la lucha del pueblo palestino”! followed the speeches.

After the event, Ahed expressed her support for the Week of Action to Free Georges Abdallah:

The text of Kates’ speech is below:

Thank you and salutes to the Communist Party of Spain and to all of you here in the Spanish state who struggle for a free Palestine, for Ahed to be free, to build BDS in municipalities across the country.

As we celebrate Ahed Tamimi’s freedom here today, there are 6000 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails

They are men and women, children and elders, workers and farmers, teachers and students. They represent the breadth and depth of the Palestinian people and their resistance movement.

And so as we come here today, in all of our strength, as Ahed tours through Europe meeting crowds of people who stand with her and the struggle, we also face a world in which Trump and Netanyahu stand at the pulpit of the United Nations to threaten war on Iran, on Venezuela and even more war on Palestine

And in this world of oppression and imperialism, where we confront Zionism, imperialism, reactionary regimes and the most brutal forms of capitalism, Ahed Tamimi stands as a symbol of all that is human and just and that represents the will to live and thrive despite oppression, killing and murder.

Ahed is indeed a symbol, but more than a symbol, Ahed is a human, a fighter, a daughter, a girl, a young woman who has sacrificed for Palestine – and for all of us.

Like all 6,000 of those Palestinian prisoners, Ahed represents the Palestinian resistance.

It is that resistance that the Israeli state and its occupation have tried to criminalize.

It is that resistance that the countries of the European Union attack, threatening to defund schools that bear the names of resistance leaders.

But we stand with the Palestinian resistance! Palestinians have a right to resist occupation and oppression by any means necessary.

Every week, Palestinians in Gaza march to the “borders” in the Great March of Return. Just yesterday, 6 Palestinians’ lives were taken by the occupation army as they marched to demand their fundamental right to return to their homes.

Israel was established on the dispossession of the Palestinian people and the theft of their land and it is a settler-colonial apartheid project.

Israel is a racist project, and if we are going to fight racism, we need to stand with the Palestinian people and their struggle for liberation!

We hear a lot about the need for Palestinian leadership and Palestinian unity, and we hear a lot about how there’s not clear representation for Palestinians.

But there is a clear Palestinian leadership – and it is behind Israeli bars. It is in the prisons, it is in the refugee camps, it is those who march for freedom, return and liberation.

And so as we celebrate one part of that resistance here today, we raise the name of some of the other Palestinians – the leaders of the Palestinian struggle and the leaders of our international social justice movement: Ahmad Sa’adat, Khalida Jarrar, Marwan Barghouthi, Khader Adnan and there are 6,000 more struggling for freedom and leading the Palestinian struggle.

And we also we raise the name of Georges Abdallah, imprisoned for 34 years in French prison as a struggler for Palestinian freedom.

We remember the words of Ghassan Kanafani: Palestine today is not a cause for Palestinians only. It is a cause for every revolutionary, the cause of the oppressed and exploited masses of our era.

And so we stand today to say: Freedom for Ahed! Free Palestine – freedom from the river to the sea! Because the fight of Palestine represents all who stand for justice and liberation and those who fight capitalism, racism and oppression.

Boycott Israel! Viva, viva Palestina!

Raja Eghbarieh’s detention extended; U.S. strips visitor visa from Palestinian leftist

9 October 2018

*Photo: Raja Eghbarieh in court (via Free Raja Eghbarieh facebook page)*

Raja Eghbarieh, founding general secretary of the Abna’a el-Balad movement and a leader of the Palestinian people’s struggle in occupied Palestine ’48, remains detained by the Israeli occupation. On Sunday, 7 October, his detention was once again extended by the Israeli occupation – meanwhile, one week after his arrest, he received a letter from the U.S. embassy to Israel, declaring that his visa to visit the United States had been revoked.

*Letter to Raja Eghbarieh from US Embassy revoking his visa*

Eghbarieh, 66, was seized from his home in Umm al-Fahm on 11 September. A longtime Palestinian leftist leader and a prominent spokesperson in the movement to boycott Knesset elections, Eghbarieh is accused of “incitement” for posting about politics on Facebook. According to one report, 500 Palestinians have been arrested and imprisoned on the basis of allegations about their social media posts in the last several years.

While the Israeli state calls itself a democracy, Palestinians like Eghbarieh who carry Israeli citizenship are subject to political persecution for expressing their opinions publicly. Eghbarieh has been arrested on multiple occasions and spent six months imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention.

Eghbarieh’s detention was extended until 15 October by the Haifa Central Court after extended presentations from his defense lawyers, Hassan Jabarin, Rabia Eghbarieh, Afnan Eghbarieh and Omar Khamaisi; like in the earlier case of Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour, translations presented to the court by the prosecution were doubtful, unprofessional and often incorrect. His lawyers also noted that many of these comments had been posted for months and that an arrest warrant was obtained a month before his home was invaded, indicating that even the state does not believe there is a real “danger” from Eghbarieh. Instead, this is a political attempt to keep him behind bars.

One article by Yoav Haifawi noted the prosecution’s disregard for facts: “Another post in the indictment is a picture from the commemoration at the first anniversary to the killing of Bassel Al-A’araj, who was shot by Israeli soldiers in Ramallah. Al-A’araj was well known as an independent activist and an ideologue of the youth protest movements in the West Bank. The indictment claims he was a member of the PFLP and performed terrorist attacks at the order of Hezbollah.”

Eghbarieh declared, “The charges against me have been null and void from 1976 to the present day. These charges have been repeated; they are nothing new. They have no proof to back up what they are trying to inflict on me.”

The arrest of Eghbarieh comes at a particularly important moment for Palestinians in ’48; the passage of the recent “nation-state law” further codified the fundamental racism of the Israeli state, rejecting their right to self-determination. As Palestinians look towards political alternatives, the Israeli state looks to silence leaders like Eghbarieh with a record of clear, principled positions on Palestinian liberation.

The letter from the U.S. embassy, labeled “Jerusalem, Israel” in defiance of international law and the rights of the Palestinian people, appears to have been coordinated with the Israeli state. Eghbarieh has traveled around the world speaking frequently about the Palestinian cause and the situation of Palestinians in ’48.

*Photo: Palestinians in Shatila camp protest to Free Raja Eghbarieh. Photo via facebook*

Palestinians protested outside the Israeli court as Eghbarieh’s detention was extended. at the same time, protests in Gaza and in Shatila refugee camp in Lebanon demanded his freedom.

*Photo: Palestinians in Gaza at the ICRC office protest to Free Raja Eghbarieh. Photo via facebook*

Fishermen in Gaza took to the sea with boats bearing Eghbarieh’s photo, and the Higher Committee of the Great March of Return in Gaza saluted his struggle, calling for his freedom on Friday, 5 October. A number of Palestinian civil society organizations in Palestine ’48, including Adalah, the Arab Association for Human Rights, Mada al-Carmel, Kayan Women’s Organiation, Women Against Violence, Mossawa Center, Arab Economic Forum, the Association for the Defense of the Displaced and the Center for Alternative Planning also demanded Eghbarieh’s release.

*Gaza fishermen call for freedom for Raja Eghbarieh. Photo via facebook*

They noted that like the cases of Tatour and Sheikh Raed Salah, Eghbarieh’s arrest was an “attempt to narrow the scope of freedom of expression for Palestinians in Israel…an attempt to force discourse in the Israeli public sphere to suit the agenda of the Israeli government and reject any speech against it.” There were 650 percent more Palestinian citizens of Israel than Israeli Jews arrested for “incitement” between 2015 and 2017, a sharp increase that came with a focus by far-right Attorney General Ayelet Shaked on criminalizing Palestinian speech on social media.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network expresses our strongest solidarity with Raja Eghbarieh, and we demand the release of this Palestinian national leader. His imprisonment highlights the reality that all Palestinians face a systematic settler colonial system of racist oppression and political persecution and imprisonment. We urge friends and supporters of Palestine around the world to take up the call and join the campaign to free Raja Eghbarieh!

TAKE ACTION!

Palestinians in occupied Palestine ’48 – like their sisters and brothers throughout Palestine and internationally – are under attack. Take action to defend Raja Eghbarieh and demand his freedom!

Join the social media campaign! Like and share the Free Raja Eghbarieh facebook page. Take a photo with our Free Raja Eghbarieh poster – either a selfie or a group photo – and share it on Facebook, Instagram or your favorite social platform.
Organize or participate in a protest, demonstration or other gathering or event to free Raja Eghbarieh and free Palestine! Bring posters and organize or attend a protest for Palestine. Hold a community event or discussion. Find your nearest Israeli embassy here: https://embassy.goabroad.com/embassies-of/israel – or hold an activity in a popular area of town. Write to us at samidoun@samidoun.net or contact us on Facebook to let us know about your action!
. Boycott, Divest and Sanction. Hold Israel accountable for its violations of international law. Don’t buy Israeli goods, and campaign to end investments in corporations that profit from the occupation. Learn more at bdsmovement.net.

Palestinian women prisoners protest surveillance cameras for 34 days

9 October 2018

Palestinian women prisoners in HaSharon prison have launched a series of protests against their conditions of confinement. For 34 days, they have remained inside their rooms, refusing to go to recreation time in the prison yard since surveillance cameras were installed there in early September, in an attack on prisoners’ previous accomplishments inside Israeli prisons. The cameras have also been installed in the corridors leading to their rooms where they wash, cook and pray. Palestinian male prisoners elsewhere have also joined their campaign in solidarity with the women prisoners’ protest.

The women prisoners have closed their sections since 5 September in protest of the surveillance cameras and other repressive tactics of the prison administration. They have refused to return to recreation until the cameras are removed completely and refused a proposal to cover the cameras for two hours a day. They noted that the cameras affect their personal privacy and freedom and that their presence denies the women access to air, sun and exercise. In addition, the yard includes not only the recreation area but also the kitchen, canteen (prison store) and washing machine.

The mothers of the young women prisoners, Shorouq Dwayyat and Malak Salman, said that their daughters are suffering from bad conditions inside HaSharon and have not left their room for 33 days. In addition to being prevented from accessing the canteen, they have experienced continuous electricity cuts inside their rooms. They also said that other mothers of the women prisoners have been severely traumatized by seeing their children’s experience inside the prison.

The cameras were previously removed several years ago after a protest by the women prisoners, but they were reinstalled in early September, sparking the protest. 34 of the 54 women prisoners are held in HaSharon prison; they others are held in Damon prison. In either case, transportation to and from the prison to the military courts is particularly arduous, requiring travel of up to 12 hours at a time in harsh, uncomfortable conditions in the so-called “bosta.” In addition, the prison administration has threatened to transfer the prisoners collectively if they will not stop their protest.

Male prisoners in Ramon prison affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Islamic Jihad and Hamas have refused to go out for recreation time in support of the women prisoners in HaSharon. After the solidarity action in Ramon prison, the prison administration ordered all sections closed. The prisoners in Ramon are also struggling against intensified repression, especially after a new director was appointed, issuing threats of escalation against the leadership of the prisoners’ movement. This director has also pledged to “restore the conditions of the prison to 2008,” meaning an attempt to roll back important achievements of the prisoners’ struggle.

Khader Adnan on hunger strike for 38 days against arbitrary detention

9 October 2018

Palestinian prisoner and political leader Khader Adnan has been on hunger strike for 38 days inside Israeli prisons, demanding his release from detention without trial Adnan, 40, a former long-term hunger striker, has drawn widespread Palestinian and international support for his strikes against his detention on various occasions without charge or trial under Israeli administrative detention order.

Since he announced his strike, he has been held in isolation and repeatedly transferred, most recently to Jalameh prison. Adnan’s wife, Randa, denounced what she referred to as a “media blackout” on his strike, saying that he has received a legal visit only once and only one visit from the International Committee of the Red Cross since he began his strike. The Red Cross was supposed to visit him again on Monday, 8 October but were told that he was “elsewhere” and the visit postponed.

She urged greater solidarity with his hunger strike, which aims not only to demand his own release but to raise the Palestinian prisoners’ struggle to the forefront of the political agenda.

In a letter Adnan sent from inside Israeli prisons, he said that “freedom and dignity are more precious than food.” He recounted his latest arrest on 11 December 2017, noting that occupation forces assaulted his wife, two daughters and elderly father, pushing and shoving them. He was handcuffed from behind and blindfolded before being trampled and beaten by rifle butts in the military vehicle.

He said that he was taken to interrogation as well as rooms with collaborators in an attempt to extract confessions, but that he refused to give any answers or information. He said that for this reason he was always held without charge or trial under administrative detention or on the basis of others’ confessions under the so-called “Tamir” law, which allows Palestinians to be tried solely based on the confessions of others.

Adnan’s letter also emphasized that he does not recognize the occupation or its courts, saying that the individual and collective strikes of the prisoners are a means of seeking freedom and an extension of all of the forms of resistance Palestinians are engaged in outside prison.

Adnan’s father also spoke at a protest on Monday, 8 October, calling for his son’s release and standing in solidarity with the women prisoners’ protest against surveillance cameras. He said that the occupation is preventing lawyers and the Red Cross from seeing his son and demanded that official Palestinian Authority spokespeople end their silence on Adnan’s case. Muhammad Allan, another former long-term hunger striker, denounced the PA for its continued security coordination with Israel, even as prisoners face ongoing attacks and violations.

Adnan is not the only Palestinian prisoner on hunger strike. Also on strike is Omran al-Khatib, 60, from Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza. He has been striking for 66 days to demand his early release; he has spent 21 years in Israeli jails to date and is suffering from serious health problems.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network calls for solidarity with Khader Adnan in his hunger strike. In 2012, Adnan’s 66-day hunger strike inspired protests and mobilizations, solidarity strikes and actions in communities and on campuses around the world. Today, it is just as critical to highlight the struggle of Palestinian prisoners confronting administrative detention – imprisonment without charge or trial – and all prisoners engaged in their resistance behind Israeli bars. The military courts and administrative detention represent the same framework – an arbitrary mechanism for the detention of Palestinian activists and leaders.

Take Action!

1. Protest at the Israeli consulate or embassy for Khader Adnan and all Palestinian prisoners.Bring posters and flyers about administrative detention and Palestinian hunger strikers and hold a protest, or join a protest with this important information. Hold a community event or discussion, or include this case in your next event about Palestine and social justice.

2. Boycott, Divest and Sanction. Hold Israel accountable for its violations of international law. Don’t buy Israeli goods, and campaign to end investments in corporations that profit from the occupation. Learn more at bdsmovement.net.

Salah Hamouri released after 13 months in administrative detention; honored in France, releases statement

9 October 2018

French-Palestinian lawyer Salah Hamouri was released by the Israeli occupation on Sunday, 30 September after 13 months of imprisonment without charge or trial under administrative detention. His release was accompanied by Israeli harassment and repression and was met with joy by his family, comrades and the support committee in France which had organized events across the country and internationally to demand Hamouri’s release.

After he was released from the Negev desert prison, he was taken to the Moskobiyeh interrogation center in Jerusalem and released, preventing his family and friends from welcoming him upon the moment of his release. Hamouri was seized on 23 August 2017, only three days after being sworn in by the Palestinian Bar as a lawyer, and ordered held in administrative detention – jailed without charge or trial. Hamouri, a staff researcher at Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, was subjected to repeated detention orders. Over 1,700 elected officials in France signed a statement demanding his release and dozens of cities and towns officially passed resolutions for his release.

Hamouri was previously jailed for six and a half years by the Israeli occupation before being released in the Wafa al-Ahrar prisoner exchange in 2011. He is married to Elsa Lefort, with whom he has a son, Watan. She is banned from entering occupied Palestine and was subject to detention and deportation while pregnant before Hamouri’s arrest. He was also banned from the West Bank while attending law school, delaying his graduation.

Hamouri’s release was celebrated in Aubière, France, on 5 October, where a ceremony was planned to name him an honorary citizen of the city, as reported by AFPS 63. Salah himself joined the event live over Skype and was greeted with loud applause. Several elected officials in the region were present, including Francois St. Andrew, councillor and former mayor of Beaumont; regional councillors Boris Bouchet and Catherine Fromage; Nadia Forte, deputy mayor of Blanzat; Clermont-Ferrand councillors Magali Gallais, Pierre Miquel and Nicole Prieux; Delphine Lucard, councillor of Blanzat as well as 13 councillors of Aubière.

Mayor Christian Sinsard expressed his pride in organizing this event in Aubière, a town of over 10,000 inhabitants. André Chassaigne, Communist deputy of Puy de Dôme, said that the members of his group in the National Assembly saluted the commitment and tenacious energy of Jean-Claude Lefort, former deputy, activist and Hamouri’s father-in-law, in struggling for Palestine, especially prisoners’ rights. He also expressed his thanks to the AFPS 63 for their dedicated organizing for Hamouri’s freedom.

Lefort, honorary president of the AFPS and coordinator of Hamouri’s support committee, reviewed the past 13 months of struggle for Salah’s freedom. He denounced France’s shameful attitude against one of its own nationals, while even the UN denounced his arbitrary imprisonment. He also noted that the struggle of Palestinian prisoners goes beyond the case of Salah Hamouri, noting also that Palestine bears the open wounds of ongoing injustice and colonization.

In AFPS 63’s presentation at the event, they emphasized that justice in Palestine is the key to regional peace. For this to be achieved, they urged all to join the BDS campaign, one of the most effective, popular campaigns to end Israel’s policy of attempting to erase the Palestinian people and liquidate their rights. They also emphasized the struggle of Palestinian prisoners, including child prisoners and administrative detainees and leaders like Marwan Barghouthi and Khalida Jarrar. They also raised the struggle of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, imprisoned for 34 years in France despite being eligible for parole for 19 years.

The event ended with Salah’s intervention from Palestine, who thanked the municipality, the attendees and all those struggling in France and elsewhere to free Palestinian prisoners. He also emphasized the importance of writing letters to prisoners, saying that “every letter received is like a sun that illuminates the cell and helps the will to resist the Israeli authorities’ goal to erase all humanity.” Hamouri’s presentation was followed by a standing ovation.

The evening continued with a screening of Franck Salomé’s film, “Palestine: la case prison” that dissects the use of Israeli imprisonment against Palestinians.

During questions and discussions, Jean-Claude Lefort emphasized the need to expand campaigns to free Palestinian prisoners across Europe as well as the importance of the BDS movement. In particular, he discussed the sports boycott, noting that the boycott of South Africa was strengthened immensely through the sports boycott; he also discussed the boycott of Eurovision 2019 in Israel.

Participants noted the absence of local media at the event, with an attitude no different than that of the national media; with a few exceptions, few raised the case of Salah during his detention.

The case of French-Israelis serving in the Israeli army was also raised, particularly as it highlights the question of France’s attitude toward Palestinian rights and its disregard for them. The discussions continued around a buffet organized by the municipality, closing an evening of celebration for which the participants’ joy was not complete without the freedom of Palestine.

After his release, Hamouri issued a statement, circulated by his support committee (translated below from the original French):

Dear friends,

Here I am, finally free after 13 months of detention in a dark prison of the occupation. 13 months without ever knowing the reason for my detention. 13 months without knowing when I will find freedom.

I know the prisons of the occupier and its prison system, but this new detention confirmed once more the fact that the occupation is bent on breaking men, women and children. Prison is a way to isolate the Palestinian people, collectively. In these prisons, everything is done to take away our humanity. We are cut off from the world, from our relatives. The occupation restricts our access to the press and the television so that we can not inform us properly about what is happening outside. We can not freely study or receive books or any mail. We’re denied our families, one visit per month allows us to see our first-degree relatives only for 45 minutes, behind glass, through phones, our personal conversations being listened to carefully and analyzed in order to put pressure on us.

Certain detainees are sometimes deprived of these visits, arbitrarily. For my part, I was deprived of my wife and son during those 13 long months, a real psychological torture for us three.

But in the darkness of this prison, I experienced rays of sun that warmed my heart. My lawyers and parents kept me informed of the mobilizations in France, Belgium and even further in the world. Back in my cell, I would inform my fellow prisoners.

I want to thank you all warmly for your mobilization, your diverse and varied actions, rallies, debates, film screenings. Many pasted posters, signed petitions, distributed leaflets, demanded the Government take action for my freedom, all you have done has touched me deeply. I must tell you today.

Thank you to the citizens, the activists political parties, associations and unions, lawyers, artists, intellectuals who pleaded for me during all this time and have never ceased their activity.

Thank you to the elected officials that carried my name and the demand for freedom in the cities, counties, regions of France, the National Assembly, the Senate and the European Parliament, who posted banners on the streets and public buildings, and that made me an honorary citizen.

Know that it is also an honor for me to be well defended by the French people and their representatives.

Thank you to the few media and journalists who spoke of my detention, while the majority of their colleagues preferred to lock me in a second prison, one of silence and indifference. You give credit to your profession, you who are acting despite the pressure, preferring the truth to your personal comfort.

Finally, thank you to the core of this Committee who tirelessly organized events and sustained the campaign, alongside Elsa and Jean-Claude. Those who always held the line, despite the obstacles and bad days, I know how important your work was important both politically and on a human level.

It is your collective action that helped force the French diplomacy to move, when it would rather leave this folder in a drawer. It is your collective action that sent a clear message to the occupation, that the solidarity of the peoples of the world will not stop and that they will keep on the path required, marching alongside the Palestinian people for their legitimate rights of freedom and independence, like all peoples of the world. It is together that we will write this page of history, we Palestinians, you and our global solidarity.

Again, many thanks to all.

I hope to come soon to France, first to find my wife and my son which I am now deprived for 16 months and then come to thank you, to continue the fight for my many still-imprisoned comrades and to defend ceaselessly the fundamental rights of my people.

See you soon, dear friends!

Salah Hamouri
Wednesday, October 3, 2018, Jerusalem

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes Salah Hamouri on his liberation. We salute all of those who joined the struggle for his freedom and who helped to force the occupation to release him, in France and around the world. We know that he will never cease to be in the front lines of struggle to free his fellow Palestinian prisoners and to free Palestine!

Palestinian human rights defender Ayman Nasser ordered to administrative detention

9 October 2018

Ayman Nasser, the coordinator of the Legal Unit at Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association and a long time Palestinian human rights defender was ordered to six months in administrative detention without charge or trial by an Israeli military court on 24 September 2018. Nasser was seized from his home in Saffa near Ramallah on 9 September and interrogated for several days; an administrative detention order was isued against him shortly after his detention, confirmed by the military court.

Nasser, 45, has been arrested on multiple occasions, including in 2014, where he spent a year under administrative detention, jailed without charge or trial, and 2012, when he was jailed for attending Palestinian Prisoners’ Day and other public activities. He is married and the father of four children; his previous detentions have sparked worldwide protest.

There are currently around 450 Palestinians held without charge or trial under administrative detention out of nearly 6,000 Palestinian political prisoners. Administrative detention orders are issued for one to six months at a time and are indefinitely renewable.

Nasser, 44, holds a masters degree in Social Psychology of Education and previously lectured at Al-Quds Open University. He is the founder of Handala educational center in his village of Saffa, which is an educational center established in 1999 and is focuses on arts, athletics and education. He was also elected as a member in the Municipal Council in Saffa village while he was still in prison.

The protection of human rights defenders is an individual and collective right and responsibility, as recognized by the United Nations and enshrined in such key international covenants as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders. States have the responsibility to protect these rights, as well as to affirmatively implement human rights. In the case of Israel, not only is it maintaining an illegal military occupation, it has a long record of persecution of Palestinian human rights defenders, including arrests, detentions, travel bans and harassment

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network demands the immediate release of Ayman Nasser. His detention once again shows that not only Palestinian prisoners themselves, but also their defenders, are regularly subjected to repression, persecution and criminalization. We urge all supporters of Palestine to raise their voices to call for freedom for Ayman Nasser and all imprisoned Palestinian human rights defenders.

19 October, Gothenburg: Victory to the Palestinian liberation struggle!

9 October 2018

Friday, 19 October
5:30 pm
Brunnsparken
Gothenburg, Sweden
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/309184616544806/

Victory to the liberation battle!

On 19 October, we mark 30 weeks since the beginning of the Great Return March, the popular and peaceful mass demonstrations that took place every Friday since 30 March in the Gaza Strip. These demonstrations take place along Israel’s 51-kilometer-long “border” with the Gaza Strip, a border that is considered to be the fence around the world’s largest jail.

Palestinian demonstrations in the Gaza Strip for liberation from 11 years of severely siege and 70 years of occupation, illegal settlements and displacement have been met by brutal Israeli violence since the first day. Up to 180 Palestinians have been murdered and 20,000 were seriously injured by Israeli snipers, drones and grenades. Despite some expressions of concern, official reactions to the massacres have been muted, and even the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank has suppressed Palestinians gathered publicly to express support to the Great Return March and its fierce participants.

In addition, many Palestinians are detained in Israeli prisons, including those held in administrative detention under arbitrary circumstances, with the purpose of breaking and suppressing the Palestinian liberation struggle for peace, freedom and justice. This struggle has been going on for a long time and can be traced back at least to the Balfour Declaration of November 2, 1917, when Great Britain gave its approval for Zionist colonization of Palestine. That is why we all call for international popular solidarity with the people of Palestine under the following slogans:

– Support for the strugglers of the Great Return Marches!

– Freedom for political prisoners!

– Boycott Israel!

Posters and banners on the manifestation are welcome, but only Palestinian national flags are allowed and only one (1) flag, banner or similar with organizational symbols per organization is allowed.

Are you part of an organization that is interested in joining a co-organizer? Contact us here on Facebook or via samidoungbg@gmail.com.

Location: Johannastatyn in Brunnsparken
Date: Friday 19th October
Time: 17:30

Seger åt befrielsekampen!

Den 19:e oktober är det 30 veckor sedan den Stora återvändarmarschen inleddes, de folkliga och fredliga massdemonstrationer som skett varje fredag sedan den 30:e mars i Gazaremsan. Dessa demonstrationer sker längs Israels 51 kilometer långa gräns mot Gazaremsan, en gräns som är att betrakta som stängslet runt världens största utomhusfängelse. Palestiniernas demonstrationer i Gazaremsan för befrielse från 11 år av sträng blockad och 70 år av ockupation, illegala bosättningar och folkfördrivning har sedan första dagen mötts av brutalt israeliskt våld. Uppemot 180 palestinier har mördats och 20 000 allvarligt skadats av Israels krypskyttar, drönare och granatkastare. Förutom enstaka avståndstaganden har reaktioner från officiellt håll mot massakrerna låtit vänta på sig, och till och med den Palestinska myndigheten i Västbanken slår ner på palestinier som samlas offentligt för att uttrycka stöd till den Stora återvändarmarschen och dess kämpande deltagare. Dessutom fängslas många palestinier i Israels administrativa förvar och fängelser, under godtyckliga omständigheter, med syfte att splittra och krossa den palestinska befrielsekampen för fred, frihet och rättvisa. Denna kamp har pågått alldeles för länge och kan spåras tillbaka åtminstone till den ödesdigra Balfourdeklarationen från den 2 november 1917, då Storbrittanien gav sitt godkännande till sionistisk kolonisering av Palestina. Därför manar vi alla att ansluta sig till den internationella folkliga solidariteten med Palestinas folk under följande paroller:

– Stöd till de kämpande i Stora återvändarmarschen!

– Frihet åt de politiska fångarna!

– Bojkotta Israel!

Plakat och banderoller på manifestationen är välkomna, men endast palestinska nationsflaggor är tillåtna och endast en (1) flagga, fana eller dylikt med organisationssymboler per organisation är tillåten.

Är du med i en organisation som är intresserad av att vara med som medarrangör? Hör av dig till oss här på Facebook eller via samidoungbg@gmail.com.

Plats: Johannastatyn i Brunnsparken
Datum: Fredag 19:e oktober
Tid: 17:30

13 October, Berlin: Protest to free Raja Eghbarieh, Georges Abdallah and all Palestinian Prisoners

9 October 2018

Saturday, 13 October
12:00 pm
Alexanderplatz
Berlin, Germany

Together against all forms of racism, repression and the institutionalization of discrimination and exclusion. Free all Palestinian prisoners, including Raja Eghbarieh, Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, Ahmad Sa’adat and Marwan Barghouti.

13 October, Toulouse: Information stand for Georges Abdallah

9 October 2018

Saturday, 13 October
2:00 pm
Metro Capitole
Toulouse, France
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1234469550011712/

Information booth at the Capitole metro station about Georges Abdallah, an Arab communist and a fighter for the Palestinian cause imprisoned in France since 1984 and eligible for parole since 1999. Feel free to come for a few minutes or more. Solidarity is our weapon!

A program: Information table on Palestine, BDS and Georges Abdallah – letter-writing workshop to Georges Abdallah – solidarity selfies – solidarity items, etc.

It will also be an opportunity to call widely for the national demonstration for the release of Georges Abdallah! (Lannemezan)

A bus will leave Toulouse (free price). Gather on Saturday October 20th at 11.30 am at the Basso Cambo metro (register at couppourcoup31@gmail.com). Back in the evening.

Stand d’info au métro Capitole sur Georges Abdallah, communiste arabe et combattant de la cause palestinienne emprisonné en France depuis 1984 et libérable depuis 1999. N’hésitez pas à venir participer pour quelques minutes ou plus. La solidarité est notre arme !

Au programme :
Table d’info sur la Palestine, BDS et Georges Abdallah – atelier d’écriture à Georges Abdallah – selfies solidaires – chamboule-tout – goodies solidaires etc.

Cela sera aussi l’occasion d’appeler largement à la Manif pour la libération de Georges Abdallah ! (Lannemezan)

Un bus partira de Toulouse (prix libre). Rendez-vous le samedi 20 octobre à 11H30 au métro Basso Cambo (inscriptions à couppourcoup31@gmail.com). Retour dans la soirée.

1...244245246...691 Page 245 of 691

Follow us on Instagram @samidounnetwork