Statement: Stop the Ongoing Nakba – Defend Khan al-Ahmar!

15 August 2018

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is one of over 100 organizations to sign on to this statement in support of the Palestinian struggle against the scheduled demolition of the village of Khan al-Ahmar by the Zionist occupation. The statement was coordinated and issued by the Palestinian Youth Movement.

In the span of five days, over 100 organizations have joined the Palestinian Youth Movement in condemning the scheduled demolition of the Palestinian village, Khan al-Ahmar, the ongoing dispossession and displacement of Palestinians by the Zionist colonial occupation, and U.S. complicity. Student groups, civil and human rights organizations, and popular movements from across Palestine, the Arab region, Europe, South Africa, the United States, Canada, and Latin America take a united stand to defend Khan al-Ahmar.

For press inquiries please email, palyouth.usa@gmail.com. Arabic and Spanish versions below.

This year, 2018, marks the 70-year anniversary of the Zionist colonization of Palestine, and thus 70 years of dispossession of the Palestinian people. The Zionist army responded to Gaza’s Great Return March — a popular mobilization of Palestinians against forced exile and mass displacement — with brutal force and aggression, killing 168 civilians, and wounding 16,000 for engaging in peaceful demonstrations. Nonetheless, Palestinians continue to organize mass mobilizations against continued land theft, incarceration, and Zionist occupation. Currently, the people of Khan al-Ahmar remain steadfast in their strength and resistance against colonial land grabs, continuing their resistance against the Occupation court’s decision to demolish their village. This demolition cements part of the Zionist entity’s larger plan to realize Greater Jerusalem as “Israeli” territory and as the undivided capital of the Zionist state, a plan that the U.S. financially and diplomatically supports with billions of dollars in foreign aid and endorsements of Jerusalem as the Zionist capital.

On the 70th anniversary of the expulsion of over 750,000 Palestinians in 1948 (referred to as Al-Nakba, Arabic for “the catastrophe”), the Zionist entity, backed by the U.S., issued a declaration claiming the entirety of occupied Jerusalem as its capital. The destruction of Khan al-Ahmar is one part of the larger Zionist project to claim all of Jerusalem as its undivided capital. The demolition of Khan al-Ahmar and all Palestinian villages like it existing between Jericho and Jerusalem would pave the way for new settlements connecting east and west occupied Jerusalem, and all areas between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. Khan al-Ahmar is home to almost 200 Palestinians, whose fate and future is hinged upon decisions made by the colonial Occupation, an entity hostile to their very existence. These residents and those in similar Bedouin villages are at risk to have their entire communities destroyed with no place to go, adding to the ongoing Nakba, which signifies the displacement and dispossession of Palestinians from their land. That the Zionist entity — what some refer to as “Israel,” a name Palestinians refuse so as not to legitimize their colonizer — sees Palestinians as nothing more than an obstacle to fully occupying Jerusalem and the West Bank reflects the ultimate agenda of this colonial state, which repeatedly demonstrates total disregard for Palestinian life while enjoying the full support of the U.S., another settler-colonial state.

This flagrant disregard for Palestinian life and livelihoods by the Zionist entity, the U.S., and their allies is nothing new. In 2016, under Obama, the U.S. increased foreign aid to “Israel” through a 30 billion dollar agreement. This aid, funded with American taxpayer money, has been and continues to be used to aid in the creation of Zionist colonies, which are more commonly referred to as illegal “settlements” by the international community, in administrative detention centers, in the development of military technology, and in various other forms of colonial violence. Support for the Occupation’s brutality in Khan al-Ahmar, in Gaza, and throughout the entirety of Palestine is the default in U.S. foreign policy. It is thus everyone’s responsibility to confront and refuse both Zionist violence and U.S. complicity in it.

We stand united today in support of Palestinians in Khan al-Ahmar, to uplift their resistance to Zionist occupation, and to condemn the decision to demolish the Khan al-Ahmar village. The demolition is scheduled to take place this week, and a large number of Palestinian youth have committed to camping out in Khan al-Ahmar to protest the demolition. We therefore call on supporters of Palestinian rights in the U.S. and internationally to actively demand an end to aid to the Zionist entity in its genocidal, ethnic cleansing project, an end to demolitions, and an end to the construction of more colonies. We pledge to struggle for justice for Khan al-Ahmar, and all Palestinians, through organizing demonstrations, raising awareness in our communities, and other acts of resistance in the spirit demonstrated by Palestinians struggling since Al-Nakba.

#OnePeopleOneStruggle

#KhanAlAhmar

#OngoingNakba

Signed,

1. The Palestinian Youth Movement حركة الشباب الفلسطيني

2. Lift the Sanctions حراك ارفعوا العقوبات

3. Grassroots Jerusalem الجذور الشعبية المقدسية

4. The Ongoing Popular Movement for Palestine الحراك الشعبي المستمر من أجل فلسطين

5. Jafra Foundation for Relief and Youth Development

6. Al-Naqab Center for Youth Activities, Lebanon

7. Palestinian Cultural Club at the Lebanese International University (PCC – LIU)

8. Palestinian Cultural Club at the American University of Beirut (PCC – AUB)

9. Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network

10. Feministas Autonómas, Chile

11. Comunidad Palestina de Chile

12. Unión General de Estudiantes Palestinos (UGEP), Chile

13. Movimiento Venezolano de Solidaridad con Palestina

14. Palestine Solidarity Forum at the University of Cape Town

15. Jews for a Free Palestine at the University of Cape Town

16. University of Leeds, United Kingdom

17. Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights at Queens University

18. Al-Awda: The Palestinian Right of Return Coalition

19. American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)

20. American Muslims for Palestine New York-New Jersey

21. ANSWER Coalition – San Francisco, Bay Area

22. Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC)

23. Bears for Palestine, University of California Berkeley

24. Canadian Peace Congress

25. Center for Interdisciplinary Environmental Justice, San Diego

26. Centro Cultural de Mexico, Santa Ana

27. Colectivo Zapatista, San Diego

28. Comité Boricua Filadelfia-Camden, Philadelphia

29. Committee to Stop FBI Repression, New York

30. Dream Defenders

31. Existence is Resistence

32. Freedom Road Socialist Organization

33. Friends of Sabeel North America

34. Graduate Students for Justice in Palestine at University of California Los Angeles

35. International Action Center, New York

36. Islah Reparations Project, San Diego

37. Islamic Center of San Diego

38. Jacksonville Community Action Committee

39. Jacksonville Palestine Solidarity Network

40. Jewish Voice for Peace Central Ohio

41. Jewish Voice for Peace San Diego

42. Jewish Voice for Peace Twin Cities

43. Jewish Voice for Peace at Stanford University

44. Jewish Voice for Peace Bay Area

45. Jewish Voice for Peace Boston

46. Jewish Voice for Peace Denver/Boulder

47. Jewish Voice for Peace Kansas City

48. Jewish Voice for Peace Los Angeles

49. Jewish Voice for Peace Madison

50. Jewish Voice for Peace Milwaukee

51. Jewish Voice for Peace Northern New Jersey

52. Jewish Voice for Peace New York

53. Jewish Voice for Peace Seattle

54. Jewish Voice for Peace at the University of California Santa Barbara

55. Jews for Palestinian Right of Return

56. Justice for Palestinians – Calgary, Canada

57. Khaled Bakrawi Community Center, San Diego

58. LA4Palestine

59. Labor for Palestine, New York

60. Madison Rafah Sister City Project

61. Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA)

62. Middle East Justice and Peace Group of South Central Pennsylvania

63. Muslim Student Association at the University of California Davis

64. Muslim Student Association at the University of California San Diego

65. Muslim Student Association West

66. National Students for Justice in Palestine – Steering Committee

67. NorCal Friends of Sabeel

68. International Socialist Organization at Stanford University

69. Palestinian Community of Boston

70. Palestine Solidarity Committee – Austin, Texas

71. Palestinian American Cultural Center – Houston

72. Palestinian American Women’s Association (PAWA)

73. Party for Socialism and Liberation

74. Popular Assembly of Palestinians In North America (PAPNA)

75. Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism (QUIT!)

76. Researching the American-Israeli Alliance (RAIA)

77. Resilience Orange County

78. Socialist Action

79. Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights at McMaster University, Ontario

80. Southwest Asian & North Afrikan – Los Angeles (SWANA-LA)

81. Stop LAPD Spying Coalition

82. Students for Justice in Palestine at Louisiana State University

83. Students for Justice in Palestine at Ryerson Students’ Union – Toronto, Canada

84. Students for Justice in Palestine at Stanford University

85. Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of California Berkeley

86. Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of California Irvine

87. Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of California Los Angeles

88. Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of California Santa Barbara

89. Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Florida

90. Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Houston

91. Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign

92. Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of South Florida

93. Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Southern California

94. Students for Justice in Palestine at University of Georgia

95. Students for Justice in Palestine West

96. Students United for Palestinian Equal Rights at Western Washington University

97. SWANA Alliance

98. The Queer Palestinian Empowerment Network (QPEN)

99. United We Dream

100. US Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI)

101. US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR)

102. US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN)

103. Within Our Lifetime – United for Palestine, New York

104. Workers World Party, Philadelphia

أوقفوا النكبة المستمرة: ناضلوا من أجل الخان الاحمر

اكثر من 100 منظمة محلية ووطنية في فلسطين والعالم العربي وأوروبا وأمريكا الشمالية وأمريكا اللاتينية يدينون قرار الهدم لقرية الخان الاحمر واستمرار التهجير والتشريد الفلسطينين من قبل الكيان الصهيوني الاستعماري و التواطؤ الامريكي

عام 2018 يصادف الذكرى السبعين لاستعمار الصهاينة لفلسطين ، وبالتالي انها 70 سنة من تجريد الشعب الفلسطيني من حقوقه. استجاب الجيش الصهيوني لمسيرة العودة الكبرى في غزة والهبة الشعبية للفلسطينيين ضد النفي القسري والنزوح الجماعي بالقوة الوحشية والعدوان ، مما أسفر عن استشهاد 168 مدنيًا وجرح 16,000 في المظاهرات الشعبية. ومع ذلك ، يواصل الفلسطينيون تنظيم عمليات تعبئة جماهيرية ضد استمرار سرقة الأراضي والاعتقالات والاحتلال الصهيوني. في الوقت الحالي ، يستمر سكان الخان الأحمر في مقاومتهم للاحتلال ، ويواصل شعبنا في الخان مقاومته لقرار الكيان الصهيوني لهدم القرية. إن هذا الهدم يعزز من خطة الكيان الصهيوني لتحقيق حلم بناء القدس الكبرى كأرض “إسرائيلية” وكعاصمة موحدة للدولة الصهيونية ، وهي خطة تدعمها الولايات المتحدة مالياً ودبلوماسياً بمليارات الدولارات لمساعدة الكيان على تحقيق حلمه بفرض سيطرته على القدس وجعلها عاصمة ابدية له

في الذكرى السبعين للنكبة ولطرد أكثر من 750،000 فلسطيني في عام 1948،أعلن الكيان الصهيوني مدعوما من قبل الولايات المتحدة ، أن القدس بأكملها عاصمة له . هدم الخان الأحمر هو جزء من مشروع صهيوني أكبر يدعي أن القدس كلها عاصمته الموحدة. إن هدم الخان الأحمر وجميع القرى الفلسطينية التي تقع بين أريحا والقدس من شأنه أن يمهد الطريق لمستوطنات جديدة تربط القدس الشرقية والغربية المحتلة ، وجميع المناطق بين القدس والبحر الميت. الخان الأحمر هو مسكن لقرابة 200 فلسطيني ، مستقبلهم يتوقف على القرارات التي اتخذتها الدولة الصهيونية الاستعمارية. هؤلاء السكان وأولئك الذين يعيشون في تجمعات بدوية مماثلة معرضون لخطر تدمير تجمعاتهم بأكملها دون أي مكان يذهبون إليه.أن الكيان الصهيوني يرى الشعب الفلسطيني على أنه مجرد عقبة أمام احتلال كامل للقدس والضفة الغربية وعقبة أمام جدول الأعمال النهائي لهذه الدولة الاستعمارية ، التي تظهر مراراً وتكراراً التجاهل التام للحقوق الفلسطينية بينما تتمتع بالدعم الكامل من الولايات المتحدة ، وهو كيان استعماري آخر

ان التجاهل الصارخ للحياة الفلسطينية وحقوق الشعب الفلسطيني من قبل الكيان الصهيوني والولايات المتحدة ، وحلفاؤهم ليس بالأمر الجديد. في عام 2016 ، وفي عهد أوباما ، زادت الولايات المتحدة من المساعدات الخارجية إلى “إسرائيل” من خلال اتفاقية قيمتها 30 مليار دولار. هذه المساعدات ، التي تم تمويلها بأموال دافعي الضرائب الأمريكيين ، كانت ولا تزال تُستخدم للمساعدة في إنشاء المستعمرات الصهيونية ، وبناء السجون , و في تطوير التكنولوجيا العسكرية ، وفي دعم أشكال أخرى من أشكال العنف الاستعماري الصهيوني. إن دعم الكيان الصهيوني في الخان الأحمر وفي غزة وفي جميع أنحاء فلسطين هو تقصير في السياسة الخارجية للولايات المتحدة الامريكية. وعليه، إن على الجميع تحمل مسؤولية مواجهة ورفض كل من العنف الصهيوني والتواطؤ الأمريكي ضد شعبنا

نقف متحدين اليوم لدعم شعبنا الفلسطيني في الخان الأحمر ولدعم مقاومتهم للاحتلال الصهيوني وإدانة قرار هدم قرية خان الأحمر.حيث من المقرر أن تتم عملية الهدم هذا الأسبوع ، وقد تعهد عدد كبير من الشباب الفلسطيني بالتخييم في الخان الأحمر للوقوف في وجه عملية الهدم وحماية الخان. لذا فإننا ندعو أنصار القضية الفلسطينية في الولايات المتحدة وعلى الصعيد الدولي إلى المطالبة بوقف الدعم للكيان الصهيوني في مشروع التطهير العرقي والإبادة ، ووضع حد لعمليات الهدم ، ووضع حد لبناء المزيد من المستعمرات. نتعهد بأن نكافح من أجل العدالة للخان الأحمر وجميع الفلسطينيين ، من خلال تنظيم مظاهرات ، ونشر الوعي في مجتمعاتنا ، وغيرها من أعمال المقاومة التي يستخدمها الفلسطينيون منذ النكبة

شعب_واحد_نضال_واحد#

الخان_الاحمر#

نكبة_مستمرة#

DETENER LA NAKBA EN CURSO:

DEFENDER A KHAN AL-AHMAR!

El 14 de agosto de 2018

Más que 100 organizaciones locales y nacionales en Palestina, los Estados Unidos, la región árabe, Europa, y América latina, condena la demolición programada del pueblo palestino, Khan al-Ahmar, y la continua desposesión y el desplazamiento de palestinos por la ocupación colonial sionista.

Para consultas de la prensa, envíe un correo electrónico a palyouth.usa@gmail.com.

Este año, 2018, marca la septuagésima aniversario de la colonización sionista de Palestina y así, setenta años de la despojo de la gente de Palestina. El ejército sionista respondió la Gran Marcha del Retorno de Gaza – una movilización popular de los Palestinos contra la exilio forzado y el desplazamiento masivo – con la fuerza brutal y la agresión, matando a 168 civilians, y hiriente a 16,000 por participar en manifestaciones pacíficas. Sin embargo, los Palestinos continúan organizar las movilizaciones masas contra el continuo robo de tierra, incarceración, y la ocupación sionista. Actualmente, la gente de Khan al-Ahmar permanece firme en su fuerza y su resistencia contra los apropiaciones de tierras coloniales , continúa su resistencia contra la decisión del tribunal de Ocupación para demoler su pueblo. Esta demolición cementa una parte del plan más grande de la entidad sionista para realizar Gran Jerusalén como “Israelí” territorio y como el capital indiviso del estado sionista, un plan que los Estados unidos apoya financieramente y diplomáticamente con miles de millones de dólares en ayuda externa y avales de Jerusalén [Al-Quds] como el capital sionista.

En la septuagésimo aniversario de la expulsión de más que 750,000 Palestinos en 1948 (se refirió a como Al-Nakba, Árabe para “la catástrofe”), la entidad sionista, apoyado por los Estados Unidos, emitió una declaración reclamando la totalidad de Jerusalén ocupada como su capital. La destrucción de Khan al-Ahmar es una parte del gran proyecto sionista para reclamar a toda Jerusalén como su capital indivisa. La demolición de Khan al-Ahmar y todas los pueblos palestinos como la que existe entre Jericho y Jerusalén allanaría el camino para nuevos asentamientos que conectan el este y el oeste de Jerusalén ocupada, y todas las áreas entre Jerusalén y el Mar Muerto. Khan al-Ahmar es casa a casi 200 Palestinos, cuyo destino y futuro depende de las decisiones tomadas por la Ocupación colonial, una entidad hostil a su propia existencia. Estos residentes y los que viven en pueblos beduinos similares corren el riesgo de que se destruyan todas sus comunidades sin lugar adonde ir, lo que se suma a la actual Nakba, que significa el desplazamiento y el despojo de los Palestinos de sus tierras. Que la entidad sionista – lo que algunos refieren a cómo “Israel,” un nombre los Palestinos rechazan para no legitimar a su colonizador – ve a los Palestinos como nada más que un obstáculo para ocupar completamente Jerusalén y Cisjordania refleja la agenda final de este estado colonial, que demuestra repetidamente desprecio total por la vida palestina mientras disfruta del apoyo total de los Estados Unidos, otro estado colono-colonial.

Esta flagrante falta de respeto por la vida y los medios de subsistencia de los Palestinos por parte de la entidad sionista, los Estados Unidos y sus aliados no es nada nuevo. En 2016, bajo a Obama, los Estados Unidos aumentaron su ayuda externa a Israel a través de un acuerdo de 30 miles de millones de dólares. Esta ayuda, fundado con dinero de los contribuyentes estadounidenses, ha sido y continúa siendo utilizado para ayudar en la creación de los colonies sionistas, que la comunidad internacional denomina más comúnmente a como asentamientos ilegales, en los centros de detención administrativos, en la desarrolllo de la tecnología militar, y en varios otras formas de la violencia colonial. El apoyo a la brutalidad de la Ocupación en Khan al-Ahmar, en Gaza, y en en toda Palestina es el predeterminado en la política exterior de los Estados Unidos. Por lo tanto, es la responsabilidad de todos confrontar y rechazar tanto la violencia sionista y la complicidad de los Estados Unidos en ella.

Hoy, estamos unidos en apoyo a los Palestinos en Khan al-Ahmar, para elevar su resistencia a la ocupación sionista y para condenar la decisión para demoler el pueblo de Khan al-Ahmar. La demolición está programada para esta semana, y una gran cantidad de jóvenes palestinos han comprometido a acampar en Khan al-Ahmar para protestar por la demolición. Por lo tanto, hacemos un llamamiento a los partidarios de los derechos palestinos en los Estados Unidos y internacionalmente para exigir activamente el fin de la ayuda a la entidad sionista en su proyecto genocida de limpieza étnica, el fin de las demoliciones y el fin de la construcción de más colonias. Nos comprometemos a luchar por la justicia para Khan al-Ahmar, y todos los palestinos, mediante la organización de manifestaciones, la sensibilización en nuestras comunidades y otros actos de resistencia en el espíritu demostrado por los palestinos que luchan desde Al Nakba.

#UnoPuebloUnaLucha

#KhanAlAhmar

#EnMarchaNakba

ILPS Canada Statement: Blacklisting and Scare Tactics will not Stop our Solidarity

15 August 2018

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is a proud affiliate of the International League of People’s Struggle. Our Europe coordinator, Mohammed Khatib, participated alongside Leila Khaled, Palestinian leader and resistance icon, in the ILPS 2015 conference in the Philippines and a series of associated events, including the launch of the Philippines-Palestine Friendship Association. Leila Khaled joins Aiyanas Ormond, a longtime Palestine organizer and Samidoun comrade; Malcolm Guy of ILPS Canada; Bill Doares, with decades of experience in the struggle for the liberation of Palestine; and many others on a “blacklist” issued by the government of the Philippines. All are banned from entering the country due to their support for the popular struggles and people’s movements of the Philippines.

We join in the statement below issued by ILPS Canada:

In a move to ban human rights activists from entering the Philippines, the Philippine Bureau of Immigration (BI) released BI B.L.O. No.JHM-17-287 [Black List Order] which bars people associated with the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) from entering the Philippines. This is an attack on the people’s right to witness, document, and support the Filipinos people’s struggle for basic human rights and social, political and economic justice.

Canadians should be concerned. Included on this list are two Canadians, Malcolm Guy, ILPS Secretary General, and Aiyanas Ormond, Chairperson of the Canadian Chapter of ILPS. Guy is a founding member of the Immigrant Workers Centre in Montréal and is co-founder and President of the film production and distribution company, Productions Multi-Monde. He is a well-respected film director/producer who has made many documentaries about the peoples’ struggles for land, livelihood, peace, and basic human rights in the Philippines, Canada and elsewhere, and has been a friend and unabashed ally of the movement for the rights of working people in the Philippines for decades. He interviewed the Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte, for a film about Duterte’s former teacher, Professor Jose Maria Sison, just before Duterte swept the elections in 2016. That film is due out later this year.

Ormond is a Community Health Worker in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and an organizer with the Alliance for People’s Health who has spent over a year in the Philippines with his family providing health care and human rights monitoring in far-flung rural communities in the Visayas.

The International League of Peoples’ Struggle is a broad alliance of over 250 peoples’ rank and file organizations and movements in 40 countries which aims to foster the unity, cooperation and coordination of anti-imperialist and democratic struggles of peoples around the world. Through fostering international solidarity, the ILPS has consistently exposed and opposed the US-led war machine and the exploitative and oppressive policies of all imperialist states, including Canada, and their local supporters. The Chapter of the ILPS in Canada was founded in 2011 and is made up of 25 peoples’ organizations from Montreal to Victoria.

The news of this BLO release comes simultaneously with an ongoing string of blacklisting and deportation orders which include 84-year-old US-Australian lawyer and human rights activist Professor Emeritus Gill Boehringer, who was prevented from entering the Philippines on August 10 and as of this writing is held at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport facing deportation. It also includes 71-year-old Australian missionary Sister Patricia Fox, who has provided missionary services to rural and poor communities in the Philippines for 28 years and to date has successfully resisted deportation.

The Duterte government simultaneously publicly denies political persecution of foreign nationals in the popular media while upholding and defending BI Operations Order SBM 2015-025 which prohibits foreign nationals from “engaging in any political activity … such as but not limited to, joining, supporting, contributing or involving themselves in whatever manner in any rally, assembly or gathering, whether for or against the government”. In an obvious twisting of the facts, the BI has issued press statements declaring that the purpose of such blacklisting is to “ensure that no undesirable foreign national enters the country” and that “inclusion in the blacklist means that the subject is a threat to public order and safety” (BI Press Releases). The supposed threat to public order and safety that the blacklisted individuals purportedly participated in was a mass demonstration against the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation in November 2015; a demonstration which was attended by many thousands of participants, including some international guests who were exercising their right to peaceful assembly and protest.

These supposed “threats to public safety” are a diversionary tactic. The true motivation for barring entry to human rights activists is to scare off international solidarity and silence foreign critics of the Duterte government. Despite promises to be a different kind of President, Rodrigo Duterte has amplified his predecessors’ attacks on urban poor and peasant communities. No one on Duterte’s political blacklist has committed any offence, but Duterte’s crimes against the people are well documented by international human rights activists such as Human Rights Watch. The Duterte government’s crimes against the Filipino people include thousands of dead in the President’s bloody “war on drugs”, hundreds of extrajudicial killings in his ongoing attacks against members of people’s organizations, the illegal arrest and detentions without warrant of hundreds of activists, hundreds of thousands forced to evacuate due to counterinsurgency operations, and the extension of martial law in Mindanao.

Canadian progressives and participating organizations in the International League of Peoples’ Struggle vow to work hand-in-hand with the Filipino organizations in Canada to build broader and stronger support in opposition to the Duterte government.

The ILPS in Canada calls on Canadians to put pressure on the government of Justin Trudeau to immediately suspend all funding to the Philippine military and police and all programs of support and cooperation with them through Global Affairs Canada, the Department of Defence and other agencies of the government of Canada. ILPS in Canada also calls for the immediate suspension of the Military Training and Cooperation program and the Police Training Assistance program which serve only to enhance the technical and operational capabilities of the bodies that are responsible for gross human rights violations, as long as the Philippine government continues to wage its anti-drug and counter-insurgency wars, and police and military continue to disregard human rights.

At the same time the ILPS in Canada calls on Canadians to push the Canadian government to issue a clear public statement condemning the targeting of human rights defenders, indigenous and peasant leaders and communities and progressive organizations that are part of the Philippine government’s counter-insurgency program. In view of the acute and immediate danger faced by these individuals and communities, the people of Canada demand that Ottawa take concrete measure to oppose the Philippine government’s conduct of the counter-insurgency program which results in rising numbers of extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances, illegal arrests and detention, harassment and forcible evacuation.

Instead, the Canadian government should support the peace process undertaken by the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines which dealt with the underlying roots of the armed insurrection in the Philippines, which the Duterte government has decided to not continue for the moment.

Finally the members of the ILPS in Canada request that the Philippine government immediately rescind all so-called blacklists, watchlists and exclusion orders targeting human rights and solidarity workers and take measures to protect the right of Canadian citizens, including Mr. Guy and Mr. Ormond, as well as the citizens of Australia and other countries, to practice people to people solidarity with the Philippine peoples’ struggle for justice, peace and respect of basic human rights.

The blacklist document:

Samidoun participates in Native Liberation conference organized by The Red Nation

15 August 2018

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network participated in the Third Annual Native Liberation Conference convened by The Red Nation in Albuquerque on 11-12 August 2018. The Samidoun international coordinator, Charlotte Kates, participated in a session entitled “From the River to the Stars: Irish and Palestinian Anti-Imperialism” focusing on the struggles in Ireland and Palestine against colonialism and settler colonialism.

Watch the video of the workshop below:

The Native Liberation Conference focused “on global solidarity and decolonization in the heart of empire, bringing together Native, Black, undocumented, and Palestinian organizers. In this time of terrible danger, we must work together to build a better world — the future of the planet is at stake.” Workshops included events highlighting indigenous feminisms, challenges to celebrations of conquest, indigenous student organizing, border imperialism and Native peoples in struggle against police violence.

Workshops addressed “decolonization, land liberation and Third World solidarity economies” as well as envisioning a way forward for Native Liberation struggles. The rooms at the conference highlighted political prisoners of anti-colonial struggles: Little Feather (Michael Giron), Red Fawn Fallis, Leonard Peltier, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Khalida Jarrar and Tony Taylor.

Several Palestinian and Palestine solidarity organizations gave presentations at the conference, including Addameer, where David Joseph Deutch and Lana Ramadan were joined by Brad Parker of DCI-Palestine and Walaa Abu Ghussein, a Palestinian student from Gaza. The Adalah Justice Project, with Nadia Ben-Youssef and Sandra Tamari, focused on land, liberation and the links between U.S. settler colonialism and Zionist settler colonialism.

The “From the River to the Stars” workshop included a presentation by Micheailin Butler, an Irish American activist and organizer, as well as contributions from the Irish Republican Socialist Party and Anti Imperialist Action Ireland. Charlotte Kates from Samidoun spoke about the targeting of political prisoners as a means of targeting the resistance to colonialism and the importance of organizing to defend these prisoners as leaders of the movement. Her presentation focused on the case of Ahmad Sa’adat, the imprisoned General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, as his imprisonment since 2002 by first the Palestinian Authority and, since a bloody raid in 2006, by Israel, also involved the United States and Britain. Indeed, some British guards charged with guarding Sa’adat and his comrades in Jericho prison had previously held Irish Republican prisoners as captives.

Melanie Yazzie, co-founder of The Red Nation, spoke about exchanges of solidarity and history between the Indigenous liberation struggle on Turtle Island and the Irish liberation struggle. She addressed the importance of reigniting these solidarities and joint struggle through mutual and material support. “Our national liberation struggle is a struggle for decolonization,” she said of the Indigenous liberation movement, connecting it to the Irish and Palestinian struggles for liberation.

The Red Nation, the organizers of the conference, describe their work in principles of unity, including the following:

“We are Indigenous revolutionaries. We are comrades and relatives first and foremost. We practice radical democracy and compassion for all relatives. Despite differences in organizational role or affiliation, we are equals in struggle.

We are anti-capitalist and anti-colonial. We are Indigenous feminists who believe in radical relationality. We do not seek a milder form of capitalism or colonialism—we demand an entirely new system premised on peace, cooperation, and justice. For our Earth and relatives to live, capitalism and colonialism must die.”

15 September, Gothenburg: Imperialism and International Solidarity – at Radikal Bokmässa 2018

13 August 2018

Saturday, 15 September
11:30 am
Kvinnofolkhögskolans Stödförening
Gothenburg, Sweden
At Radikal Bokmässa: https://www.facebook.com/events/2064587577191081/

Torkil Lauesen, member of Internationalt Forum and author of the recently published work The Global Perspective: Reflections on Imperialism and Resistance, and Charlotte Kates, international coordinator at Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, will discuss imperialism and international solidarity. After brief personal introductions, the panel is intended to deal with topics such as: imperialism as a concept for our history, present and future, and consequences of applications of the concept; the history of international solidarity and current challenges and possibilities; and what demands the concepts and realities of imperialism and international solidarity place upon those who wish to exterminate misery and its causes. In case there is time over the discussion will be opened up to questions from the audience, and the event will possibly be recorded for future use and spreading.

The panel is organized in collaboration with Emmaus Björkå and moderated by Samidoun Göteborg.

LÖRDAG – RADIKAL BOKMÄSSA
https://www.facebook.com/events/2064587577191081/
https://radikalbokmassa2018.tumblr.com

Torkil Lauesen, medlem i Internationalt Forum och författare till nyligen utkomna boken Det Globale Perspektiv, och Charlotte Kates, internationell samordnare i Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, samtalar på engelska om imperialism och internationell solidaritet. Efter kortare personliga introduktioner planeras samtalet att behandla frågor såsom: imperialism som begrepp för vår historia, samtid och framtid, och konsekvenser av begreppets tillämpning; den internationella solidaritetens historiska och nutida utmaningar och möjligheter; och vilka krav imperialismens och den internationella solidaritetens begrepp och realiteter ställer på den som vill utrota nöden och dess orsaker. I mån om tid öppnas samtalet upp för publikfrågor, och samtalet spelas eventuellt in för framtida bruk och ökad spridning.

July Prisoners’ Update: 520 Palestinians seized by Israeli occupation forces

13 August 2018

In July 2018, Israeli occupation forces arrested 520 Palestinians from the occupied Palestinian territories, including 69 children, nine women and five journalists, according to Palestinian human rights and prisoners’ institutions that released their monthly report on 13 August. This translation was produced by Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network.

The Israeli occupation authorities seized 122 Palestinians from the city of Jerusalem, 100 from Ramallah and El-Bireh, 75 from al-Khalil, 52 from Jenin, 48 from Bethlehem, 55 from Nablus, 15 from Tulkarem, 31 from Qalqilya, 7 from Tubas, 8 from Salfit and 8 from Jericho.

As of 31 July 2018, the number of Palestinian prisoners in occupation prisons was approximately 6000, including 53 women, among them three minor girls, while there were approximately 300 children in Israeli occupation prisons. The occupation authorities issued 86 administrative detention orders, 36 of which were new and 50 of which were renewals; the total number of administrative detainees jailed without charge or trial rose to 430.

Fines for child prisoners: Extortion and collective punishment for prisoners and their families

The military occupation courts do not restrict themselves to issuing unfair sentences against child prisoners, but also impose heavy fines on their families, on top of the lengthy years and months of detention. These fines can amount to tens of thousands of shekels for just one person. This is theft in the name of the law and a policy of extorting prisoners’ families with the aim of pressuring the prisoner and the families.

The prison administration also imposes fines for small reasons against the minors inside the prisons, such as being too noisy when calling for prayer, being late to daily roll call, posting pictures on the wall, hanging a clothesline to dry clothes inside the room and similar pretexts.

It is reported that the total fines on child prsioners in Ofer prison reached 85,000 NIS ($22,970 USD) in July 2018. The fines imposed on child prisoners each year are estimated at over 1 million NIS ($270,000 USD) each year.

The imposition of these fines is a form of long-term punishment for the family, obliging families to borrow the money or go without basic needs. In addition, the parents are told that their child is the cause of this debt, despite child prisoners’ arbitrary arrests and regardless of their innocence.

This material extortion against the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails is a systematic policy imposed by the occupation to pressure the entire Palestinian society by exploiting its difficult financial situation. This is far from any form of justice or credibility, especially given the dubious reasons for these fines. The aim of the policy is also to relieve the occupation of its material responsibilities toward the prisoners by forcing them to fund their own confinement.

Occupation renews its historic policy of arresting journalists

The Israeli occupation authorities carried out a string of arrests targeting five journalists in the month of July.

The Israeli occupation authorities continued their policy of attempting to silence the voices of journalists and violating the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, as the number of journalists in Israeli prisons rose to 23, including four women journalists.

Four of the arrested journalists were Alaa Rimawi, Mohammed Sami Alwan, Hosni Anjas and Qutaiba Hamdan, all from Ramallah and El-Bireh. Alaa Rimawi went on hunger strike for several days in protest of his arrest.

In addition, writer Lama Khater, 42, from al-Khalil governorate, was arrested on 24 July. Lawyers who visited her in detention reported that she was subjected to harsh, continuous interrogation lasting more than 10 hours each day, on the subject of her writings, which interrogators described as “time bombs.” She is a mother of five.

Individual hunger strikes by Palestinian prisoners in July

* Please note: Anas Shadid, Dirar Abu Manshar, Alaa Rimawi, Bassam Abidu and Mohammed al-Rimawi all suspended their hunger strikes in August 2018. For a current report on hunger strikers, please see this article.*

Five Palestinian prisoners and detainees conducted open hunger strikes in Israeli jails during July, including: Anas Shadid, 21, from al-Khalil, who began his hunger strike on 19 July rejecting his administrative detention. The Ofer detention center transferred Shadid to isolation in the Hadarim detention center after he launched his strike. This is the third strike Shadid has carried out in the past two years, one for 90 days in 2016. He has been detained since 22 June 2017 and has been issued three administrative detention orders, all for six month periods, prompting his hunger strike. He refrained from consuming salts or vitamins. During his strike in Hadarim prison, he was held in a small cell with no windows or screens and was very cold. He suffered from nausea and dizziness and fell unconscious on multiple occasions, as well as suffering from pain throughout his body and shortness of breath.

Hassan Shokeh, 30, from Bethlehem, carried out an open hunger strike for more than two months. Arrested on 27 September 2017, this was his sixth arrest. He was seized only 27 days after his last release on 31 August 2017 and ordered to administrative detention for 6 months. Shokeh went on an open hunger strike, which concluded with an agreement that he would be sentenced and released on 3 June 2018. Instead, he was issued a new administrative detention order for six months, accompanied by a claim that new secret material had entered ihis file. He immediately launched a hunger strike in Ofer prison.

He was strip-searched and put in isolation in Ofer prison before being transferred to Hadarim prison for 10 days and then back to Ofer for five days. His lawyer appealed to the Israeli occupation Supreme Court against his administrative detention given the deterioration of his health. His strike ended with an agreement for his release on 1 December 2018.

Bassam Abidu, 47, from al-Khalil governorate, launched a hunger strike on 22 July against his administrative detention. A former prisoner, he spent a total of seven and a half years in Israeli prison. He was rearrested on 30 May 2018 by Israeli occupation forces and ordered jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention. He is married and the father of six children.

In addiiton, Mohammed al-Rimawi, 27, from Ramallah governorate, began an open hunger strike on 19 July in protest of his arrest and the conditions of his interrogation in Ashkelon detention center. He was seized after being summoned for interrogation. A former prisoner jailed previously for three years, his father, Nimr al-Rimawi, was then seized by occupation forces in an attempt to pressure his son to confess.

Dirar Abu Manshar, 40, from al-Khalil, launched a hunger strike on 27 July against his administrative detention. Jailed since 7 June 2017, his imprisonment without charge or trial was renewed three times. He is the father of four children.

Alaa Rimawi, a 40-year-old journalist from Ramallah, began his open hunger strike on 30 July 2018 in rejection of his arrest for journalistic work. He is currently jailed in Ofer prison, and he is married with five children.

Israeli occupation keeps Palestinian journalist Alaa Rimawi jailed, writer Lama Khater under interrogation

13 August 2018

Even as four Palestinian journalists were released after paying a bail of NIS 5000 ($1350) each, an Israeli military court extended the detention of journalist Alaa Rimawi, the director of the Al-Quds TV office. Rimawi previously went on hunger strike for 6 days immediately following his arrest. In addition, the interrogation of Palestinian writer Lama Khater, seized by occupation forces from her home in Al-Khalil, was also extended by an Israeli military court.

The four journalists released are Mohammed Sami Alwan, Qutaiba Hamdan, Hosni Anjas and Ibrahim Rantisi. Alwan, Hamdan and Anjas all work for al-Quds TV, while Rantisi works for TRT World.

In an interview with Asra Media Center after his release, Rantisi said that “the interrogation was on the charge of incitement through my work with media outlets in the past, and I reiterated to the interrogators that this arrest was motivated by a policy of revenge against Palestinian journalists. While Palestinian journalists operate according to professional standards, they face charges of incitement through the arrest of journalists, subjecting them to interrogation and extracting confessions from them through threats or ordering them to administrative detention, imprisonment of unknown time and without charge.”

“Every media outlet is threatened with closure and the arrest of its employees on charges of incitement,” Rantisi said. “If their words, images and interviews do not meet the approval of the security forces, the journalist will be arrested and subject to interrogation and military prosecution.”

As Rantisi spoke, writer Lama Khater was ordered detained for 12 more days of interrogation. When Israeli occupation forces stormed her family home on 24 July, it came shortly after she had been summoned to interrogation and threatened to stop writing. Khater is being held under harsh interrogation in the Ashkelon detention center, restrained on a small chair for over 10 hours each day, deprived of sleep and cursed at and insulted by the interrogators. Her interrogation has been extended three times consecutively.

Her articles are published in a number of newspapers and websites, highlighting the struggle against normalization and the rights of Palestinian prisoners and the Palestinian people.

*Poster of Mohammed Mona. Photo: Asra Media*

In addition, as the number of journalists seized by Israeli occupation forces has escalated, Palestinian journalist Mohammed Anwar Mona of Nablus was ordered to administrative detention for six months. Mona, 35, from Zuwata near Nablus, has been jailed since 1 August when Israeli occupation forces invaded his home. He has been jailed on multiple occasions, with a total of six years in Israeli jails, mostly in administrative detention. He was first arrested as a journalism student in 2003, when he was jailed for 28 months. Mona directs a radio station in Nablus and serves as a correspondent for Quds Press.

Mona is not the only jailed journalism student; Ola Marshoud of an-Najah University and Istabraq Tamimi of Bir Zeit University are both imprisoned by Israel for their involvement in student activities on campus.

**

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network joins the call of Palestinian journalists for greater global solidarity against the ongoing attacks of the Israeli occupation. From the International Federation of Journalists to Reporters without Borders, international voices who are concerned with human rights of reporters have a responsibility to defend Palestinians facing colonial imprisonment for reporting the reality of apartheid, colonization and injustice. The imprisonment of Palestinian journalists can also not be separated from the killing of Palestinian journalists like Yaser Murtaja and Ahmad Abu Hussein in Gaza in the Great March of Return.

The attacks on Palestinian journalists – including student journalists – also underline the importance of the boycott of Israel, including the cultural and academic boycott. So long as Palestinians – including Palestinian journalists – are not free, the Israeli state and its associated institutions must be isolated by people of conscience and human rights defenders around the world. Freedom for all Palestinian prisoners – Freedom for Palestine!

Palestinian prisoners launch new hunger strikes against administrative detention

13 August 2018

Three Palestinian prisoners launched a new hunger strike on Sunday, 12 August inside Israeli jails, demanding freedom from Israeli administrative detention, where they are held without charge or trial. Saddam Awad, 28, from the village of Beit Ummar, Khaled al-Battat, 46, from the village of al-Dhahriyeh, and Abbas Abu Aliya, 21, from the village of Mughir, launched a hunger strike against their imprisonment without charge or trial.

Awad has been arrested several times since 2009, spending 7 years in Israeli prisons; he was released in 2011 as part of the Wafa al-Ahrar prisoner exchange. He was detained again for four years and then was seized once more by Israeli occupation forces in April of 2018, ordered jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention.

Abu Aliya, on the other hand, has been held under administrative detention without charge or trial for 14 months. His detention was suddenly renewed for another four months on Sunday, 12 August, as he had been preparing for his release.

Battat, a former prisoner who has spent 14 years in Israeli prison in the past, was seized by Israeli occupation forces on 6 July 2018. He suffers from heart weakness and underwent open heart surgery several years ago.

In addition, Omran Hashem Ahmed al-Khatib, 60, from Gaza, has been on an open hunger strike for the past 9 days to demand his early release. He is held in Ashkelon prison and, after his hunger strike began, he was denied family visits and access to the “canteen” (prison store) for the next two months. Al-Khatib has lost 6 kilograms of weight. He has been imprisoned since 20 July 1997, sentenced to life imprisonment, a sentence later changed to 45 years, and is demanding his early release after 21 years in Israeli prison.

Earlier, Anas Shadid, 21, suspended his hunger strike on Thursday, 10 August, after reaching an agreement for his release; he will be freed on 19 December 2018. This is the second time Shadid has won his freedom from imprisonment without charge or trial with a long-term hunger strike. Dirar Abu Manshar, 40, also suspended his own open hunger strike after 17 days, reaching an agreement for his release after four months from administrative detention without charge or trial.

Awad and Abu Aliya’s strikes come as part of the escalating protest by Palestinian political prisoners held without charge or trial under administrative detention. Administrative detainees are around 450 of the 6,000 total Palestinian political prisoners; they are held without charge or trial under indefinitely-renewable military orders on the basis of “secret evidence”. Palestinians can spend years at a time jailed under administrative detention.

Since February of this year, all administrative detainees have boycotted the Israeli military courts that confirm their detention orders, while a series of administrative detainees have launched hunger strikes. They are demanding the abolition of the policy which is frequently used to target Palestinian political leaders, community organizers and prominent activists. Among those jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention are Palestinian legislator, leftist and feminist Khalida Jarrar and French-Palestinian lawyer Salah Hamouri.

Israeli military occupation authorities renewed the detention of Palestinian administrative detainee and former long-term hunger striker Thaer Halahleh for the fifth time. Halahleh, 35, from al-Khalil, has been jailed under his current detention since 27 April 2017. Overall, he has spent over 90 months in administrative detention through multiple arrests and 14 years total in Israeli jails. In 2012, he conducted a 22-day strike against his administrative detention.

Palestinian student Ismail Najib Faraj, 26, was also ordered to another four months in administrative detention. A student at Al-Ahliyya Palestine University in Bethlehem, he was seized by Israeli occupation forces from his home in the town of Doha on 23 April 2017. His detention was renewed for the fourth time on the basis of a “secret file” alleging that he is a “threat to the security of the area” and a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

In addition, as the number of journalists seized by Israeli occupation forces has escalated, Palestinian journalist Mohammed Anwar Mona of Nablus was ordered to administrative detention for six months. Mona is among tens of Palestinian journalists jailed without charge or trial.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges the escalation of protests and actions in solidarity with the struggle to end administrative detention. Administrative detention is a colonial weapon used to separate effective leaders from the Palestinian people through arbitrary imprisonment without charge or trial. It is also a form of psychological torture for both prisoners and their families, denying them even the knowledge of when or if they will be released. We urge the immediate end of the practice of administrative detention and the release of all Palestinian prisoners. As the prisoners boycott the military courts, it is our responsibility to escalate boycott, divestment and sanctions campaigns to isolate the Israeli state that confiscates Palestinian land, rights and freedom.

Mother of Palestinian youth killed by Israeli forces accused of “incitement” for posting on Facebook

13 August 2018

Susan Abu Ghannam, the mother of Mohammed Abu Ghannam, the Palestinian youth killed by Israeli occupation forces just over one year ago on 21 July 2017, was indicted in Israeli court in Jerusalem on Monday, 13 August. She was accused of making political posts on Facebook.. Her detention was extended until 13 September 2018, as Israeli occupation prosecutors listed 40 times that she posted on social media about politics.

She was seized from her home on 5 August by Israeli occupation forces, who invaded her home, confiscating cell phones and other electronics.Her son, Mohammed was killed by occupation forces as he joined in Jerusalem protests against the imposition of electronic gates outside Al-Aqsa Mosque.

After shooting him dead, Israeli occupation forces attempted to steal the body of Mohammed Abu Ghannam from Makassed hospital in Jerusalem. The Israeli occupation continues to hold the bodies of slain Palestinians hostage in an attempt to suppress Palestinian resistance as a general policy; while Palestinian families are struggling for the release of the bodies, Israeli high courts have upheld the occupation’s policy of holding them hostage.

In order to prevent occupation forces from seizing the body, his family and friends wrapped Mohammed in a sheet after he passed away, carried his body and passed it up over the hospital’s surrounding wall, several meters high. It was carried from there to the cemetery of al-Tur village; on the way, the car was stopped by police. While the occupation attempted to impose a rule of only seven people at the burial, hundreds joined in the funeral procession.

They acted just in time as dozens of military-armed Border Patrol swarmed the hospital, invading the area, forcing people donating blood to leave the hospital before they terrorized the crowds in the hospital’s courtyards by throwing stun grenades and tear-gas canisters at them.

The policy of the confiscation of bodies is, according to Gideon Levy, the brainchild of Gilad Erdan, the same Israeli minister charged with the global anti-BDS mandate and the creator of the “BDS Hate List” of international organizations in support of Palestine, including Samidoun and many others around the world.

The arrest of Susan Abu Ghannam is only the latest incident of Israeli harassment of the family; earlier, her husband, Mohammed’s father, Hassan Abu Ghannam, 47, was arrested days after Mohammed’s funeral.

Palestinian journalists under attack call for global solidarity

8 August 2018

*The four Al-Quds TV journalists. Photo: Quds News*

Tens of Palestinian journalists continue to be detained by the Israeli occupation, as the Israeli military refused on Wednesday, 8 August to release four Palestinian journalists seized last week. Palestinian journalists have urged international solidarity to free those targeted for their reporting about the crimes of the Israeli occupation.

The Ofer military court ordered four journalists from Al-Quds TV – Alaa Rimawi, Mohammed Sami Alwan, Qutaiba Hamdan and Husni Anjas – released on bail; however, the military prosecution refused their release and said it would appeal the decision to a higher military court.

Earlier, in a joint statement issued on Monday, 6 August, the four said that “the occupation practices a policy of intimidation and psychological torture against us in lengthy interrogation sessions,” saying that the interrogations are centered on the role of the media in occupied Palestine and the content of media broadcsts. They said that the goal of their arrest is to “silence the Palestinian media outlets and break them through a policy of detention.” They urged international actions from journalists’ associations and legal organizations to combat ongoing Israeli violations of Palestinian journalists’ rights.

Rimawi earlier carried out a six-day hunger strike in protest of his detention for journalism. He and his colleagues were seized from their Ramallah-area homes in pre-dawn raids, and he launched a hunger strike immediately upon his arrest, which he suspended on Saturday, 4 August at the advice of his lawyer.

The number of jailed Palestinian journalists rose to 23 on 6 August after Ibrahim Rantisi was seized from his hometown of Rantis near Ramallah. The detained journalists include: Mahmoud Musa Issa, Ahmad Hassan al-Saifi, Bassam al-Sayeh, Hammam Hantash (held in administrative detention without charge or trial), Musab Said, Radwan Qutani, Istabraq Tamimi (a journalism student at Bir Zeit University), Ola Marshoud (a journalism student at An-Najah University), Yassin Abu Lefah (held in administrative detention without charge or trial, Musa Salah Samhan (held in administrative detention without charge or trial, Musa Qadamani, Osama Shaheen ((held in administrative detention without charge or trial, director of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Center for Studies) Mahmoud Asida, Ahmad al-Arbid, Yousef Shalabi, Suzan Owawi (still held under interrogation), Lama Khater (still held under interrogation), Alaa Rimawi, Qutaiba Hamdan, Mohammed Alwan, Husni Anjas, Mohammed Anwar Mona and Ibrahim Rantisi, the latter two seized in the early days of August.

Dozens of journalists joined in a protest in Nablus on 8 August in the center of the city, carrying Palestinian flags and signs protesting occupation attacks on Palestinian journalists.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network joins the call of Palestinian journalists for greater global solidarity against the ongoing attacks of the Israeli occupation. From the International Federation of Journalists to Reporters without Borders, international voices who are concerned with human rights of reporters have a responsibility to defend Palestinians facing colonial imprisonment for reporting the reality of apartheid, colonization and injustice. The imprisonment of Palestinian journalists can also not be separated from the killing of Palestinian journalists like Yaser Murtaja and Ahmad Abu Hussein in Gaza in the Great March of Return.

The attacks on Palestinian journalists – including student journalists – also underline the importance of the boycott of Israel, including the cultural and academic boycott. So long as Palestinians – including Palestinian journalists – are not free, the Israeli state and its associated institutions must be isolated by people of conscience and human rights defenders around the world. Freedom for all Palestinian prisoners – Freedom for Palestine!

Women prisoners’ update: Susan Abu Ghannam, mother of young man killed by Israel, seized by occupation forces

8 August 2018

Susan Abu Ghannam, the mother of Mohammed Abu Ghannam, a 22-year-old man slain by Israeli occupation forces in Jerusalem on 21 July 2017, was seized by Israeli occupation forces who invaded her family home in Jerusalem on 5 August. Her detention was first extended for 24 hours and then for another five days as she faces extensive interrogation at the hands of occupation forces. They also confiscated the family’s phones and computers and are allegedly accusing her of “incitement” for posting about politics and about the killing of her son on social media.

Mohammed was shot by occupation forces as he joined in Jerusalem protests against the imposition of electronic gates outside Al-Aqsa Mosque.

After shooting him dead, Israeli occupation forces attempted to steal the body of Mohammed Abu Ghannam from Makassed hospital in Jerusalem. The Israeli occupation continues to hold the bodies of slain Palestinians hostage in an attempt to suppress Palestinian resistance as a general policy; while Palestinian families are struggling for the release of the bodies, Israeli high courts have upheld the occupation’s policy of holding them hostage.

In order to prevent occupation forces from seizing the body, his family and friends wrapped Mohammed in a sheet after he passed away, carried his body and passed it up over the hospital’s surrounding wall, several meters high. It was carried from there to the cemetery of al-Tur village; on the way, the car was stopped by police. While the occupation attempted to impose a rule of only seven people at the burial, hundreds joined in the funeral procession.

They acted just in time as dozens of military-armed Border Patrol swarmed the hospital, invading the area, forcing people donating blood to leave the hospital before they terrorized the crowds in the hospital’s courtyards by throwing stun grenades and tear-gas canisters at them.

The policy of the confiscation of bodies is, according to Gideon Levy, the brainchild of Gilad Erdan, the same Israeli minister charged with the global anti-BDS mandate and the creator of the “BDS Hate List” of international organizations in support of Palestine, including Samidoun and many others around the world.

The arrest of Susan Abu Ghannam is only the latest incident of Israeli harassment of the family; earlier, her husband, Mohammed’s father, Hassan Abu Ghannam, 47, was arrested days after Mohammed’s funeral.

Meanwhile, Palestinian writer Lama Khater‘s detention was extended again on Thursday, 2 August for another eight days of interrogation. Palestinian lawyer Firas al-Sabbah said that Khater is facing intense and escalating interrogation throughout the day and night. Seized on 24 July from her home in al-Khalil, Khater had previously been threatened with arrest by occupation forces if she continued to write.

Wounded prisoner Abla al-Aedam, 45, from the village of Beit Ulla in al-Khalil district, is being denied adequate health care treatment on the grounds that she will be released in October. She continues to suffer from the injuries she suffered when she was shot by Israeli occupation forces on 20 December 2015. She was seriously injured in the face and head, and she continues to suffer severe pain in the head; she has said that she receives painkillers and sedatives rather than treatment for her underlying conditions.

Al-Aedam is the mother of nine children, and her lawyers have noted that she needs medical care so that her health does not continue to decline and worsen. However, Israeli prison officials continue to refuse to provide her with proper treatment allegedly due to costs, citing her upcoming release. After she was shot by Israeli occupation forces she was accused of attempting to stab occupation soldiers in al-Khalil and sentenced to three years in occupation prison.

Nisreen Hassan, 43, is also suffering from an ongoing swelling in her right hand and thumb and has not received treatment, despite having diabetes. Palestinian lawyer Hanan al-Khatib said that she needs specialized orthopedic treatment which she has so far been denied. In addition, Hilweh Hamamreh, 25, also continues to suffer from her injuries sustained when she was shot by Israeli occupation forces. She lost a part of her liver and intestines as well as her pancreas and spleen and needs physical therapy, which continues to be denied her.

An Israeli military court continued the hearing of Bayan Faraoun, 24, a graduate of Al-Quds Open University from al-Eizariyeh in Jerusalem, on Thursday, 2 August. Her hearing was scheduled for 13 August; she has been detained since 11 March and has not been convicted or sentenced throughout that time. Faraoun is the fiancee of Ahmad Jamal Azzam, who is serving a sentence of 5 years and 8 months in Israeli prison.

On 1 August, the Ofer military court held a hearing in the case of Dina Said al-Karmi, 38, one of a series of Palestinian women, including City Council member Suzan Owawi and writer Lama Khater, seized from al-Khalil. Al-Karmi remains under interrogation at Ashkelon prison since she was seized by Israeli occupation forces on 3 July. Since that time, her interrogation has been repeatedly extended and she has not been charged. She has been subjected to harsh interrogation for many hours at a time and fainted more than once due to her extreme fatigue. Al-Karmi is the widow of Nashat al-Karmi, a leader in Hamas, killed by Israeli occupation forces on 8 October 2010 when they surrounded, invaded and attacked the home where he was staying. She is the mother of an eight-year-old daughter, who is now deprived of both of her parents.

The Israeli occupation military court also held another hearing on the case of Asiya Kaabneh, 41, from the village of Duma near Nablus on 1 August. She has been jailed since 24 April 2017 and her case has been continued repeatedly over a 16-month period with no ruling or sentence against her. She was arrested at Qalandiya checkpoint after Kaabneh says that a female Israeli soldier attacked her. She is the mother of nine children, ranging in age from 4 to 17.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military prosecution refused to release Palestinian prisoner Ataya Abu Aisha, 31, from Kafr Aqab near Jerusalem. Abu Aisha was ordered released by the Central Court after an appeal by her lawyer for early release after completing two-thirds of her sentence. However, the order was contingent on the approval of the military prosecution, which rejected it and continues to hold her in Damon prison. Abu Aisha has been jailed since 15 December 2015, when she was accused of intending to stab Israeli occupation soldiers. She is serving a four-year sentence in Israeli prison.

Palestinian prisoner Manal Da’na, 38, from Silwan in Jerusalem, was released on Sunday night, 5 August after she completed a 13-month sentence in Israeli prison. She was seized by occupation forces in September 2012; Israeli police accused her of attempting to stab them in Jerusalem. She was released under house arrest one month after her arrest and subject to confinement in her home for years on end, until she was finally sentenced on 2 July 2017.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network stands in solidarity with Palestinian women prisoners and demands their immediate release. From imprisoned mother Susan Abu Ghannam to parliamentarian Khalida Jarrar jailed without charge or trial, to city councillor Suzan Owawi, writer Lama Khater, to the students and journalists like Ola Marshoud and Istabraq Tamimi, to the minor girls who continue to struggle for creativity and learning despite its denial by Israeli occupation forces, Palestinian women are on the front lines of struggle – including the struggle inside Israeli prisons. Women’s movements and organizations around the world have an important role to play in defending Palestinian women prisoners and demanding their freedom and liberation. Free all Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails!

أوقفوا النكبة المستمرة: ناضلوا من أجل الخان الاحمر

DETENER LA NAKBA EN CURSO:

DEFENDER A KHAN AL-AHMAR!

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