Take Action to free Khalida Jarrar! June 30-July 2, organize for freedom

25 June 2018

See calls for action in: German | French

Take action: Sign the petition now – http://bit.ly/FreeKhalidaJarrar

Call to Action | Take Action | Campaign Materials

Palestinian leader Khalida Jarrar, a leftist, feminist parliamentarian imprisoned by the Israeli occupation, has been jailed without charge or trial since 2 July 2017. As her friends, family and comrades awaited her release, they were instead informed on 14 June that her administrative detention had been renewed for the third time for an additional four months. Take action to demand the immediate release of Khalida Jarrar and her fellow Palestinian prisoners!

As Palestinians march in Gaza in the Great Return March, and as they take to the streets in the West Bank in the Lift the Sanctions movement, the Israeli occupation is extending Khalida Jarrar’s detention without charge or trial to keep this strong, powerful leader off the streets and away from her people.

Khalida’s administrative detention renewal is scheduled to be approved by an Israeli military court on 2 July. Before this approval happens, it is important that international solidarity is heard, loudly and clearly, demanding her freedom!

Khalida Jarrar is a longtime advocate for the freedom of Palestinian prisoners, the Vice-Chair of Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association and its former Executive Director. A member of the Palestinian Legislative Council elected as part of the leftist Abu Ali Mustafa Bloc, associated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, she chairs the PLC’s Prisoners Committee.

She is also an outspoken leader in the fight to hold Israeli officials accountable for war crimes in the International Criminal Court. She is a member of a Palestinian commission charged with bringing complaints and files before the international court about ongoing Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people, from attacks on Gaza to land confiscation and settlement construction to mass arrests and imprisonment.

This is not the first time she has faced arrest and persecution. In 2014, she resisted – and defeated – an Israeli attempt to forcibly displace her from her family home in el-Bireh to Jericho. Only nine months later, in April 2015, she was seized by Israeli occupation forces and ordered to administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial. After a global outcry, she was brought before Israeli military courts and faced 12 charges based on her political activity, from giving speeches to attending events in support of Palestinian prisoners.

After she was released in June 2016, she resumed her leading role in the Palestinian liberation movement, only to be seized once more on 2 July 2017 and once again thrown in prison with no charges and no trial. Her administrative detention was already renewed for another six months in December 2017, and it is clear that the Israeli occupation has no intention of releasing Khalida, one of the leaders among the 6,200 Palestinian prisoners (including nearly 500 administrative detainees) in Israeli jails.

She, along with her fellow administrative detainees, boycotts the Israeli military courts that rubber-stamp their military detention orders. They are demanding an end to the practice of administrative detention, first brought to Palestine by the British colonial mandate before being adopted by the Zionist occupation. Administrative detention orders can be issued for up to six months at a time, and they are indefinitely renewable. Palestinians have spent years at a time jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention.

Within the Israeli occupation prison, she has played a leading role in supporting the education of the minor girls held there, organizing classes on human rights and in review for mandatory high school examinations when the prison authority denied the girls a teacher.

We know that the Israeli military court hearing is a sham. But it is more important than ever that our voices are heard and our actions are visible throughout the next week to demand freedom for Khalida Jarrar. Protests are already being organized in New York and elsewhere around the world. Join us and take action!

TAKE ACTION:

1.Sign the petition: Denounce Khalida’s imprisonment without charge or trial. Sign the petition at http://bit.ly/FreeKhalidaJarrar to add your name.

2. Organize a protest, demonstration or other gathering or event to Free Khalida Jarrar- especially on June 30, July 1 or July 2. Bring posters and flyers about Khalida’s case and hold a protest, or join a protest with this important information. Hold a community event or discussion, or include Khalida’s case in your next event about Palestine and social justice. Find your nearest Israeli embassy here: https://embassy.goabroad.com/embassies-of/israel. Write to us at samidoun@samidoun.net or contact us on Facebook to let us know about your action!

3. Contact your Member of Parliament, Representative, or Member of European Parliament. The attack on Khalida is an attack on Palestinian parliamentary legitimacy and political expression. Parliamentarians have a responsibility to pressure Israel to cancel this order.

4. 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.

Campaign Materials

Download the posters/flyers:

Campaign Flyer/Factsheet
Download PDF (A4/ 8.5 X 11)Campaign Poster

Download PDF (11 x 17)

Social Media Graphics

Download (click here)

Facebook Cover Image

Download (click here)

Toulouse protest takes the streets against “culture of apartheid and colonialism”

25 June 2018

Over 100 people demonstrated in Toulouse on Friday, 22 June outside the Theatre Garonne, demanding the cancellation of the so-called “France-Israel season” and the cultural boycott of Israel, in line with the Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions. The theater hosted an dance event called “Tel Aviv Fever” as part of the season of events, and dozens of organizations throughout the city demanded its cancellation.

Coup Pour Coup 31, an anti-imperialist collective and a member organization of the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network was involved alongside the Campagne BDS Toulouse and many others in protesting the event, under the slogan “We do not dance with apartheid!” The campaign exposed the role of cultural projects like “Tel Aviv Fever” and the “France-Israel season” in attempting to put a pleasant face on the colonial, racist, apartheid reality of Israel.

Palestinians have called for a cultural boycott of Israel and Israeli institutions, including projects and events sponsored by the Israeli state and its propaganda campaigns. These are not mere cultural events, but a public attempt to hide ongoing Israeli crimes through promoting “Brand Israel” through art, culture and music. Far from being independent of the ongoing land confiscations, home demolitions, killings, siege and mass imprisonment, these projects are funded and supported by the Israeli colonial state apparatus.

In France, 80 artists signed a statement, including Annie Ernaux and Jean-Luc Godard, rejecting the “France-Israel season” and declaring that, “In solidarity with the Palestinians we refuse to be included in this showcase, we will not participate in the France-Israel season and we call not to participate in any form whatsoever.” Another statement, by academics and cultural workers, also demanded the cancellation of the “Season.” “Do not talk to us about ‘education’ or ‘ideas’ with a state that murdered more than 110 young freedom-loving people in a matter of weeks and injured or maimed more than 8,000. Send a clear signal to the Israeli government in publicly renouncing the ‘France-Israel 2018 season’.”

A heavy police presence dominated the scene and blocked demonstrators from approaching the theater gates, but their voices and chants could be heard even on the stage, according to observers. Meanwhile, the theater used private security, searched all of the spectators, used metal detectors and officials spoke of a “risk of attack.” Demonstrators wore shirts that appeared to be stained with blood, highlighting the horror of celebrating “Tel Aviv Fever” while occupation forces shoot Palestinians dead in Gaza as they participate in the Great Return March.

Prior to the evening, posters around the city had been stamped over with stickers stating “Cancelled: Due to support for Israeli occupation.” Graffiti on the riverbanks also demanded the cancellation of the event and an end to support for the culture of colonialism. The campaign received notice in local mainstream media, and Boris Baronne of Coup Pour Coup 31 appeared on France 3:

Palestinian dancers and artists joined the campaign against “Tel Aviv Fever;” the dabkeh troupe Sanabel in Gaza of the Palestinian Progressive Youth Union made a video calling for the cancellation of the event:

In addition, Mustafa Awad of Raj’een Dabkeh Group from Brussels, also made a video urging the cancellation of the event and solidarity with the Toulouse demonstration:

Local mainstream newspaper, Depeche du Midi, published an article denouncing the cultural boycott of Israel as an attack on artistic freedom, claiming that these artists are likely to be supporters of freedom of expression. The Toulouse BDS Campaign responded, noting that “the people mentioned are servants of the ruling system, draped in honors by the state and never having problems due to never voicing dissent. Their ‘opposition’ serves to whitewash Israel…their participation in an intergovernmental Franco-Israeli program to repair the image of Israel is the best proof of this. The BDS campaign is neither stupid nor unseeing. We denounce the propaganda operations of the French and Israeli states.”

At the event, Coup Pour Coup 31 had a statement about the protest and the boycott campaign:

“Tonight, we are here to say that we do not accept that the colonial, racist Israeli state is here to perform a propaganda operation to cover up its crimes! No, art is not neutral. The show “Tel Aviv Fever,” the Theatre Garonne and the Ballet du Capitole, through their participation in the France-Israel Season, are making themselves accomplices of Netanyahu, Macron, and their shabby propaganda campaign. They can label it “open-minded” or “apolitical,” but the facts remain clear.

“We, the anti-imperialist collective Coup Pour Coup 31, affirm clearly and precisely: theaters, dance groups, musical exhibitions and film teams that collaborate with the Israeli state are making themselves accomplices to crime, and must be denounced and boycotted! The cultural boycott is one of our weapons to confront colonialism and racism, along with the economic boycott, sports boycott and academic boycott. Let’s struggle everywhere aganst the normalization of relations with the Israeli state!

“We also support the Palestinian Resistance as it alone will free Palestine, all of Palestine, from the river to the sea! Finally, we would like to ancwer the dozens of Zionists who have for several weeks threatened our collective: We will never give up. Palestine will live, Palestine will win! (Palestine vivra, Palestine vaincra!)”

Georges Abdallah calls for anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist struggle in statement to Paris protest

25 June 2018

On 23 June, activists in Paris marched to demand the liberation of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, the Lebanese Communist struggler for Palestine imprisoned in France for over 33 years.

Organized by the Unified Campaign to Free Georges Abdallah, a number of organizations, including the Campagne BDS France, Secours Rouge, Plate-forme Charleroi-Palestine, Secours Rouge, Jeunes Revolutionnaires, CAPJPO-EuroPalestine, Parti Communiste Maoiste and many others, joined the march through the streets of Paris.

A group from Belgium, organized by Plate-form Charleroi-Palestine and the Belgian Appeal for the Freedom of Georges Abdallah, also travelled to attend the protest.

The event included a special presentation of a letter by Georges Abdallah from Lannemezan Prison to those struggling for his freedom in the demonstration.

English translation follows:

Dear comrades, Dear friends,

You know, when you are in these sinister places for a “small eternity”, you are overwhelmed by a considerable emotion during the solidarity initiatives … That being so, I send you all my warmest greetings at the beginning of this short speech …

In this time of great struggles, Comrades, your gathering today in Paris fills me by strength, warms my heart and especially strengthens me in the conviction that it is only by assuming more and more the ground of the anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist struggle that we bring the most powerful support to those who have resisted for decades behind these abominable walls.

Certainly Comrades, it is not by seeking judicial tricks here and there that we manage to face the criminal persecution of “the capital of capital” to which the resistance is held in captivity, but rather in affirming unswerving determination in the struggle against their moribund, criminal system. We all know that, in the end, it is according to the balance of power that we can succeed in tearing our comrades from the clutches of the enemy. The latter only agrees to let go when he realizes that keeping these revolutionary strugglers in captivity carries a greater weight in the process of the ongoing struggle than the threat inherent in their release. It is not a matter of pretending that we do not know that justice is always a class justice in the service of a class policy inscribed in the global dynamics of a class war, nationally and internationally. Admittedly, there are social gains that allow us to wage battles on the legal ground and it is useless to recall that we must carry out these battles. It does not remain so, Comrades; there comes a time when one must realize that the so-called “reason of the State” always means that the bourgeoisie suppresses its own laws when their interests seem to require it. That said, any approach that might suggest that one has interest in pretending is downright counterproductive, even if it is animated with all good intentions. Certainly, after so many years of captivity, there are and will always be in our ranks friends and comrades who are calling for something to be done in the courts, and perhaps this times, etc, etc …

Of course Comrades, it is not good intentions that are missing. In spite of all the suffering of lengthy captivity, there is not and there will be no possibility of escaping what is needed – the effort necessary to change the balance of power, if one longs for (as say some of my relatives) the release of our comrades. Let’s develop solidarity by always assuming the ground of the anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist struggle and “our old friend …” this “old mole who knows underground work so well” will not be indifferent to our efforts. This is precisely why, Comrades, it is of paramount importance to know and to be able to make clear this approach to solidarity in the global dynamics of the ongoing struggles.

The crisis of moribund capitalism in its phase of advanced putrefaction is already there before our eyes at the global level, in the centers of the system as in its peripheries … What is happening these days in the Arab world in general, and in Palestine in particular (Yemen, Bahrain, Syria and Libya too …), is more than emblematic in this respect. Imperialist forces of all stripes are engaged in a multi-dimensional war, reflecting inter-imperialist contradictions on the one hand and an imperialist war of looting and destruction on the other. The majority of the Arab bourgeoisie has opted for this camp … on the other hand, Palestine on a daily basis gives us all the lessons of sacrifice and courage of exceptional scope. More than ever, the Palestinian popular masses, in spite of all the treachery of the bourgeoisie, assume their role as the true guarantor of the defense of the interests of the people. Young and old martyrs fall by the hundreds, even as they march unarmed. Yet the imperialists of all kinds do not take offense at their friend Bibi, the distinguished guest of the Elysee.

Palestine remains nonetheless, despite the treachery of the bourgeoisie or not, despite direct or indirect imperialist interventions. The Resistance continues and certainly it will continue as long as the occupation continues. Naturally, the Palestinian popular masses and their fighting vanguard in captivity must rely more than ever on your active solidarity.

May a thousand solidarity initiatives flourish in support of Palestine and its promising Resistance.

Solidarity, all solidarity with the Resistance in Zionist jails, and in isolation cells in Morocco, Turkey, Greece, the Philippines and elsewhere in the world!

Solidarity, all solidarity with the young proletarians of the working class neighborhoods!

Solidarity, all solidarity with the railway workers and other proletarians in struggle!

Honor to the Martyrs and the popular masses in struggle!

Down with imperialism and its Zionist watchdogs and other Arab reactionaries!

Capitalism is nothing but barbarism, honor to all those who oppose it in the diversity of their expressions!

Together Comrades, and only together will we win!

To all of you Comrades and friends, my warmest revolutionary greetings.

Your friend Georges Abdallah

* highlighted in red by the author

Remembering Felicia Langer: lifelong struggler for Palestinian political prisoners

25 June 2018

Felicia Langer, a German-Israeli lawyer who played a significant role in the legal defense and international support of Palestinian political prisoners over the years, passed away on 21 June in Turingen, Germany, at the age of 87. She played a pioneering legal role in fighting the forced expulsion and deportation of Palestinian political leaders, the demolition of Palestinian homes, the imprisonment of Palestinians without charge or trial under administrative detention and exposing Israeli torture of imprisoned Palestinians on an international level.

A survivor of the Nazi Holocaust, born in 1930 in Poland, she came to occupied Palestine in 1950 with her husband, Mieciu. She belonged to the Communist Party and responded to the 1967 occupation of the West Bank and Gaza by establishing a law office in Jerusalem with a focus on the defense of Palestinian political prisoners in occupation jails. In this time and thereafter, she defended thousands of Palestinian prisoners.

Her writings and documentation played a significant role in exposing the torture and mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners. Her 1975 book, “With My Own Eyes,” (later continued in the 1979 book “These Are My Brothers” and other works) helped to shine an international spotlight on the situation of imprisoned Palestinians involved in the liberation struggle. In 1977, Langer played a major role in the issuance of the British Sunday Times report that highlighted, among others, the case of Rasmea Odeh.

In 1990, she left occupied Palestine, announcing that she can “no longer be a fig leaf for this system.” She traveled to Germany, where she remained an active advocate for Palestinian prisoners, speaking at conferences for their release organized by the European Alliance in Defense of Palestinian Detainees in Berlin, Brussels and elsewhere. She lived in Germany, outside occupied Palestine, for the rest of her life.

One of her last public statements was written in April 2018, an open letter to the imprisoned Palestinian parliamentarian Khalida Jarrar. In her message, she said:

“You, my dear, are politically detained by a state that calls itself the only democracy in the Middle East.

“You are a member of the Palestinian parliament, and your arrest comes only because you are politically aligned with your sisters and brothers held in Israeli jails because of their legitimate struggle against the occupation.

“Dear Khalida, you are a sister in struggle. Despite my age, I stand with you and declare solidarity with you and your family from my heart.”

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network joins Palestinian prisoners’ organizations throughout occupied Palestine and advocates for justice around the world in mourning the loss of Felicia Langer. We urge all to remember her by continuing the struggle for the freedom of Palestinian prisoners and the liberation of the land and people of Palestine.

Hassan Shokeh enters third week of hunger strike; 44 more administrative detention orders in June

25 June 2018

Palestinian prisoner Hassan Shokeh, 30, held without charge or trial under administrative detention, has entered his third week of hunger strike, demanding his release. On 23 June, he was transferred to isolation in Ramle prison from Ofer prison.

Shokeh, a former long-term hunger striker, is protesting his transfer to administrative detention. As he enters his third week without food, he is facing severe health symptoms. He cannot walk and must use a wheelchair to get around and has severe pain in the kidneys, head and eyes. He refuses to perform medical tests in the prison clinic.

Shokeh was seized by the Israeli occupation on 29 September 2017, only one month after he was released from Israeli jails on 31 August 2017. He launched his open hunger strike for the first time on 11 October after he was ordered to administrative detention without charge or trial. He suspended the strike on 14 November after 35 days, after his case was moved to the military courts. There, he was sentenced to six months in Israeli prison. After his sentence expired on 3 June 2018, however, he was not released but arbitrarily ordered once more to administrative detention without charge or trial.

Shokeh is not the only hunger striker in Israeli prisons – Jawad Jawarish, 42, serving a life sentence for his involvement with the resistance through the Fateh movement’s Al-Aqsa Brigades, has been on strike for 19 days against his isolation and transfer.

In addition, other former long-term hunger strikers are facing renewed imprisonment without charge or trial. The administrative detention of Palestinian prisoner and former long-term hunger striker Anas Shadid, 22, was extended once again on 20 June for an additional six months. Shadid, from the town of Dura near al-Khalil, was re-arrested by Israeli occupation forces on 14 June 2017 after he had been released for only two weeks from nine months in administrative detention without charge or trial.

During that time, he carried out an 88-day hunger strike demanding his freedom and protesting administrative detention. He ended his strike with an agreement that his administrative detention would be ended on 30 May. However, only two weeks after his freedom, occupation forces came to, once again, throw him in jail without charge or trial. Since his re-arrest, his detention has been extended three times.

Since 15 February, Palestinian administrative detainees have engaged in a comprehensive boycott of the Israeli military courts. They refuse to participate in the rubber-stamp process that provides a thin veneer of legality to the system. Administrative detention orders can be issued for up to six months at a time, and they are indefinitely renewable. Palestinians have spent years at a time jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention.

Since the beginning of June, 44 administrative detention orders have been issued by the Israeli occupation, including 22 for the first time after their arrest. Among the others, this includes a renewal of the detention order of prominent Palestinian leftist, feminist parliamentarian Khalida Jarrar, who has already been jailed for a year, for an additional four months. The detention orders issued so far in June are:

1. Wissam Mufid ‘Abed, Jenin, 4 months, new order
2. Yazan Aysir Nizalin, Bethlehem, 3 months, new order
3. Mu’min Abdel-Aziz Hreibat, al-Khalil, 6 months, new order
4. Mohammed Hassan Aadi, al-Khalil, 4 months, extension
5. Issam Jamil Eshtayyeh, Nablus, 6 months, extension
6. Nayef Abdel-Fattah Bazzar, Ramallah, 6 months, new order
7. Mohammed Khaled Abu Sal, al-Khalil, 4 months, extension
8. Musaab Saher Barghouthi, Ramallah, 6 months, new order
9. Mu’min Musa Atrash, al-Khalil, 6 months, new order
10. Mahmoud Hassan Wardian, Bethlehem, 4 months, new order
11. Osama Hussein Shahin, al-Khalil, 4 months, new order
12. Ziad Ali al-Qawasmeh, al-Khalil, 6 months, new order
13. Munjid Musa al-Junaidi, al-Khalil, 4 months, new order
14. Munjed Khaled Ashour, al-Khalil, 4 months, new order
15. Munjid Mohammed Qimri, al-Khalil, 4 months, new order
16. Zaid Akram Qawasmeh, al-Khalil, 4 months, new order
17. Basem Mohammed Abidu, al-Khalil, 4 months, new order
18. Abdullah Mohammed Abidu, al-Khalil, 4 months, new order
19. Hisham Hmedian Sharabati, al-Khalil, 4 months, new order
20. Ibrahim Fadl al-Sheikh, Jerusalem, 6 months, new order
21. Mohammed Walid Bani Jarrah, Jenin, 6 months, new order
22. Karam Bassam Tanina, al-Khalil, 4 months, new order
23. Noureddine Ahmed Sweifa, al-Khalil, 3 months, new order
24. Abdel-Majid Ahmed Abu Srour, Bethlehem, 5 months, new order
25. Mohammed Jamal Hamideh, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
26. Fadi Mohammed Nasrallah, Bethlehem, 6 months, extension
27. Yousef Bader Akhil, al-Khalil, 4 months, extension
28. Khalida Kanaan Jarrar, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
29. Ammar Mustafa Abu Aker, Bethlehem, 6 months, extension
30. Shehab Hassan Mezher, Bethlehem, 6 months, extension
31. Fouad Rabah Assi, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
32. Anas Ibrahim Shadid, al-Khalil, 6 months, extension
33. Sharif Nayef Suleiman, Jenin, 4 months, extension
34. Basil Hussam Ma’allah, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
35. Ahmed Jamal Abu Jalghaif, Bethlehem, 4 months, extension
36. Jihad Abdel-Qader Abdel-Fattah, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
37. Adib Mohammed Mafarjah, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
38. Jihad Mohammed Suleiman, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
39. Mohammed Ahmed Sabah, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
40. Qassem Majd Barghouthi, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
41. Mohammed Abdel-Aziz Faqih, Jerusalem, 2 months, extension
42. Ibrahim Kamal Shalabi, Jenin, 3 months, extension
43. Munther Yousef Zouneh, al-Khalil, 6 months, new order
44. Omar Diab Abu Shkeidam, al-Khalil, 6 months, extension

Palestinian women prisoners: Suzan Owawi faces harsh interrogations, serious health deterioration

25 June 2018

Palestinian prisoner Suzan Owawi, 40, a member of the al-Khalil municipal council, is suffering from serious deterioration of her health after being subjected to harsh, lengthy interrogations in the Ashkelon detention center, noted Palestinian lawyer Firas al-Sabbah.

She told the lawyer that she has been under interrogation in an attempt to extract a confession from her. During this time, she has begun to suffer severe kidney pain. She noted that, prior to her arrest, she had been undergoing medical tests and was diagnosed with kidney issues that require follow-up. She has been prevented from pursuing medical treatment due to her arrest by Israeli occupation forces. She has been jailed since 5 June, when she was seized by occupation forces, and had been denied access to a lawyer until 22 June.

The detention of Safa Akram Abu Hussein, 38, from al-Fuwwar refugee camp south of al-Khalil, was extended until Monday, 25 June by Israeli occupation forces. She was denied access to her lawyer after being seized from her home on 18 June. Her husband, Said, is also jailed by Israel.

In addition, Alaa Fuqaha, 25, is also jailed by the Israeli occupation since she was seized by occupation forces on 30 May from her family home in the village of Kafr el-Lubad east of Tulkarem. Her detention has been repeatedly extended four times. Her father, Hatem Fuqaha, said that “my family was the target of the largest forces of the occupation army and the intelligence services…enough to storm an entire city.” Speaking about his daughter, he said, “When I see my daughter shackled, in a prison uniform, my chest trembles, but her morale rises to the sky within the court.”

For the 11th time, the Ofer military court continued the trial of Areej Houshieh, 19, from Qatneh village, until 11 July. She has been imprisoned since 28 December 2017 and her case has been extended repeatedly.

There are approximately 54 Palestinian women jailed by the Israeli occupation, including Palestinian leader Khalida Jarrar, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention, and six minor girls, including Ahed Tamimi, the 17-year-old anti-colonial land defense activist from Nabi Saleh targeted for slapping an Israeli soldier on her land.

New Yorkers demand freedom for imprisoned Palestinian leader Khalida Jarrar

24 June 2018

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network organized a New York City demonstration outside the offices of the “Friends of the IDF” on Saturday, 23 June. The protesters distributed flyers and carried signs demanding freedom for imprisoned Palestinian leader Khalida Jarrar.

Jarrar has been imprisoned without charge or trial for nearly a year under “administrative detention,” and a new detention order was issued by the Israeli occupation military on 14 June. An Israeli military court is scheduled to approve the order for four more months of imprisonment without charge or trial on 2 July.

The protesters briefly blocked the door to the FIDF office, shutting down access to the organization that seeks out donations from an array of American celebrities and Zionist supporters to fund the occupation army of war criminals that regularly attacks, kills and injures Palestinians. Among other activities, “Friends of the IDF” funds “lone soldiers,” people who leave their own home countries to travel to occupied Palestine in order to serve as foreign fighters in the Israeli occupation army.

*Bud and Fran Korotzer. Photo: Joe Catron*

The participants chanted against FIDF as a fundraiser for war crimes, racism, occupation and apartheid, and distributed leaflets providing information about Khalida Jarrar’s case and encouraging people to take action. They also had something to celebrate at the protest – Bud Korotzer, dedicated photographer, activist and maintainer of the Desertpeace blog with his wife Fran, marked his 86th birthday by joining the demonstration for Jarrar’s release.

Joe Catron, the U.S. coordinator of Samidoun, emphasized the importance of building solidarity and international struggle for Jarrar’s release from administrative detention. “Khalida’s decades of solidarity with Palestinian political prisoners and the prisoners’ movement inspire all of us supporting the same struggle. Her administrative detention by Israeli occupation forces is a clear effort to impede her work, particularly her role in efforts to hold Israel accountable at the International Criminal Court for its crimes against Palestinians,” said Catron.

“As we continue to mobilize in solidarity with the Great March of Return, we can’t forget the urgency of fighting to free Khalida, other administrative detainees, and all Palestinian political prisoners interned by Israel for their leadership in the struggle for the liberation of Palestine,” he concluded.

Jarrar is a leftist, feminist Palestinian parliamentarian with the Abu Ali Mustafa Bloc, aligned with the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. She also serves as Vice-Chair of the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association and is a longtime advocate for Palestinian prisoners’ freedom. She is also a member of a PLC commission charged with raising Israeli war crimes and attacks on Palestinian rights to the International Criminal Court.

As a prominent leader of the Palestinian struggle, Jarrar has been attacked and arrested on multiple occasions by occupation forces. Indeed, her arrest in July 2017 came just one year after she was released after 14 months in Israeli prison.

Originally, upon that arrest in April 2015, she was also ordered to administrative detention without charge or trial; following an international outcry, she was then tried in an Israeli military court on 12 charges based entirely on political activities like giving speeches and attending events in support of Palestinian prisoners. That arrest itself came nine months after Jarrar defeated an attempt to forcibly displace her from el-Bireh to Jericho under a military order; she set up a permanent protest tent and sit-in at the PLC headquarters throughout the struggle.

Inside Israeli prisons, she is known for her leading role, including the educational support that she provides to the minor girls imprisoned with her at HaSharon prison. Jarrar led the women prisoners’ efforts to continue the girls’ education behind bars, even when a promised teacher was denied for three months to the minor girls by the Israeli occupation prison administration.

She is also a participant, with the other nearly 500 Palestinian administrative detainees (out of a total of approximately 6,200 Palestinian prisoners), in a boycott of the Israeli military courts. The boycott, ongoing since 15 February, aims to highlight and expose the sham role played by the military courts in administrative detention orders and renewals. The detainees, unified in their boycott, are demanding an end to the policy and practice of administrative detention.

Administrative detention was first introduced to Palestine by the British colonial mandate and has been a significant weapon of the Zionist colonial occupier since its occupation of Palestine. Palestinians can be jailed for up to six months at a time under a military order on the basis of alleged secret evidence with no charge and no trial. These orders are indefinitely renewable, and Palestinians have spent years on end inside Israeli prisons under repeatedly renewed administrative detention orders.

Samidoun organizers in New York and internationally will be working to organize further actions to free Jarrar and her fellow Palestinian prisoners.

23 June, Milan: Lift the Sanctions! Rally for Palestine

23 June 2018

Saturday, 23 June
5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Piazza Oberdan
Milan, Italy
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1305144812949641/

To Palestinians and allies in Italy:

We invite you to take part in the vigil #LiftTheSanctions on Saturday, 23/6/2018, at 5:00 pm, in the Italian city of Milan, to say with one voice, “Stop the punitive measures imposed on our people in Gaza.” We call on the Palestinian Authority to immediately repeal all the sanctions imposed on Gaza.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has since 2017 imposed a package of punitive measures on more than two million Palestinians in Gaza, which led to the deterioration of humanitarian and economic conditions very quickly and very seriously.

The punitive measures imposed by the President have severely negative impacts on the health sector, availability of electricity, salaries of employees, and operational necessities and expenses. It also led to the cessation of part of the medical transfers and the denial of patients and those wounded from leaving Gaza and receiving the necessary treatment. These sanctions violate the fundamental human rights of Palestinians, and are a clear evasion by the PA of its responsibilities towards the Gaza Strip and our steadfast people.

While our people in Gaza at the great return march, despite suffering tens of casualties and thousands of injuries, pushed the Right of Return to the center of regional and international priorities despite the sinister plots being pushed to delegitimize the Palestinian cause, the Palestinian Authority continues to enforcing collective punishments — which is what pushes us to stand up today in solidarity and support, demanding an immediate cease to all sanctions.

One People, one cause, one enemy.

إلى الفلسطينيين في إيطاليا:

ندعوكم للمشاركة في الوقفة الاحتجاجية #ارفعوا_العقوبات يوم السبت، الموافق 23/6/2018، الساعة 5:00 مساءً، في مدينة ميلانو الايطالية، لنقول بصوت واحد لا للإجراءات العقابية المفروضة على أهلنا في غزة، ونطالب السلطة الفلسطينية بالإلغاء الفوري لكل العقوبات التي تفرضها على غزة.

الرئيس الفلسطيني محمود عباس يواصل منذ عام 2017 فرض رزمة من الإجراءات العقابية على أكثر من مليوني فلسطيني في غزة، ما أدى لتدهور الأوضاع الانسانية والاقتصادية بشكل سريع وخطير جدا.

الإجراءات العقابية التي يفرضها الرئيس طالت قطاع الصحة، والكهرباء، ورواتب الموظفين، والمستلزمات والمصاريف التشغيلية، كما أدت لوقف جزء من التحويلات الطبية وحرمان المرضى والجرحى من الخروج من غزة وتلقي العلاج اللازم. وتنتهك هذ العقوبات الحقوق الفلسطينية والإنسانية الأساسية، كما فيها تملص واضح للسلطة الفلسطينية من مسؤولياتها تجاه قطاع غزة وأهلنا الصامدين فيه.

ففي الوقت الذي يقدم أهلنا في غزة خلال مسيرات العودة الكبرى عشرات الشهداء وآلاف الجرحى ما دفع بقضية العودة إلى سلم الأولويات والاهتمامات الدولية والإقليمية رغم المؤامرات التي تحاك لتصفية القضية الفلسطينية، تواصل السلطة فرض العقوبات، ما يدفعنا لنقف اليوم مساندين وداعمين، مطالبين بإلغاء الفوري كل العقوبات.

شعب واحد، همٌ واحد وعدو واحد .

#ارفعوا_العقوبات
#مستمرون
#غزة

23 June, New York: Protest to free Khalida Jarrar and stop administrative detention

22 June 2018

Saturday, 23 June
5:00 pm
Friends of the IDF
1430 Broadway at West 40th Street
New York, NY
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/454977998293311

Take action: Sign the petition now – bit.ly/FreeKhalidaJarrar

According to Palestinian news reports, the administrative detention order against Palestinian leader, parliamentarian, feminist and leftist Khalida Jarrar was renewed late on Thursday, June 14, two weeks before she was scheduled to be released after a year of imprisonment without charge or trial. She was seized by Israeli occupation forces who invaded her family’s home in El-Bireh on July 2, 2017, only a year after her release from a prior term of political imprisonment.

Samidoun recently issued a call reiterating our demand for Jarrar’s freedom, joining those from Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association and others. The extension of Jarrar’s administrative detention does not mean that the campaign is stopping. On the contrary, it illustrates just how critical it is to pressure the Israeli occupation to demand her freedom.

Administrative detention orders, first introduced to Palestine by the British colonial mandate and continued in frequent use by the Israeli occupier, are indefinitely renewable, with no charge or trial, on the basis of secret evidence. The Israeli military courts have not yet confirmed the administrative detention order. While they operate as an essential rubber stamp for such orders, this period is particularly critical to escalate international demands for her freedom.

Another Palestinian prisoner, Hassan Hassanein Shokeh, 29, launched a hunger strike to demand his freedom after he was ordered to administrative detention after completing his six-month prison sentence. Shokeh, who has spent over 13 years in Israeli prisons over multiple arrests, many times in administrative detention, previously conducted a hunger strike in October 2017 to demand his freedom.

Shokeh launched his strike on June 5. He has been imprisoned since September 29, 2017, when he was seized from his home in al-Ram. He was arrested less than one month after he was released, on August 31, 2017, from his previous period of detention without charge or trial. He was initially ordered imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention, and he launched a hunger strike in October 2017 to demand his release. After a 35-day strike, he suspended his protest after he was told he would be charged and his case moved to the military courts.

The Ofer military court sentenced him to six months in prison and he was scheduled for release on June 3. However, instead of being released, he was again ordered imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention, sparking the renewal of his strike.

Throughout his imprisonment, he has been denied family visits as his family members have been denied permits under “security” pretexts. Only his 10-year-old sister has been allowed to visit him. On 9 June, he was transferred to Hadarim prison from Ofer prison.

The Israeli occupation prison administration frequently uses transfer and isolation against Palestinian prisoners who launch hunger strikes. The transfer process is physically arduous and damaging and often requires the striking prisoners to stand, shackled, for lengthy periods waiting for transportation or to sit in an un-air-conditioned vehicle on metal benches, shackled to the seats. The use of frequent abusive transfers is a mechanism of physical abuse and mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners in retaliation for launching hunger strikes or involvement in the prisoners’ movement.

Shokeh’s strike and the reported renewal of Jarrar’s detention comes as Palestinian administrative detainees have been carrying out a boycott of Israeli military courts for over 100 days. They are refusing to participate in the system that is used to give a faint veneer of a “legal process” to an extralegal process of imprisonment without charge and without trial at the behest of the Israeli occupation military.

Approximately 500 Palestinian prisoners are held without charge or trial under administrative detention, out of nearly 6,500 total Palestinian prisoners. Administrative detention orders are indefinitely renewable, and Palestinian prisoners have spent years at a time jailed through repeatedly renewed detention orders, all on the basis of a so-called “secret file” to which both the detainees and their lawyers are denied access.

Stand with Jarrar and Shokeh to demand that Israel release them, other administrative detainees and all Palestinian political prisoners.

Protest the Friends of the IDF (FIDF)’s support for Israeli war crimes and join the global campaign to demand a comprehensive military embargo on Israel now.

Support the Palestinian national and prisoners’ movements, the Palestinian Resistance, and the liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea.

Gilad Erdan wants to shut us down while attacking prisoners – we’ll keep fighting for Palestinian freedom

20 June 2018

Just one week ago, Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs and Public Security Gilad Erdan used his position to threaten Palestinian prisoners with even more repression, setting up a commission to discuss specifically how to make the lives of the over 6,000 imprisoned Palestinians even more difficult on a daily basis. And yesterday, Erdan – also charged with suppressing the global solidarity movement with Palestine, especially the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement – released another image purporting to “map” leading BDS organizations and Palestine advocacy groups around the world, including Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network.

Erdan wants to tighten the chains on Palestinian prisoners while seeking to incite government repression against the international organizations that fight for their freedom and the freedom of the Palestinian people. Samidoun is listed with 39 other Palestinian, U.S., Arab, African and European organizations, all involved in the growing BDS campaign around the world, in a presentation Erdan made to the “Global Coalition 4 Israel Forum.” Several of the Palestinian organizations targeted by Erdan, including Addameer, DCI-Palestine, al-Haq and PCHR, play key roles in defending Palestinians imprisoned and detained by the Israeli occupation. While Erdan seeks to depict our organizations as a “hate net,” Erdan himself is a leading promoter of hatred and racism against the Palestinians subjected to Israel’s colonial occupation.

In the view of Erdan – one of the leading officials of the settler-colonial, apartheid state – support for Palestinian freedom is “terrorism.” He’s denounced everyone from Samidoun to the African National Congress to Palestinian rights advocates and NGOs in Palestine and around the world for “terrorism” or ‘links to terror” – more accurately reflecting the “terror” of the Israeli state that its impunity could soon come to an end as a result of these international campaigns in support of the Palestinian people’s struggle.

Despite all of Erdan’s threats, blacklists and rhetoric – from his threats of “targeted assassinations” of Gaza protesters in the Great Return March to his promotion of Palestinian prisoners’ suffering – his efforts to block the boycott of Israel around the world are failing. Instead, despite blacklists and “terror” labels, more and more people are recognizing the real perpetrators of colonial state terror in occupied Palestine: that is, the regime Erdan represents. Far from stopping the international isolation of Israel, Erdan is in effect promoting it – making blacklists of human rights defenders, blocking international parliamentarians from visiting Palestine and using the “terrorism” label to attempt to incite repression against advocacy groups around the world.

The “Hate Net,” like similar attempts, is a failed attempt to intimidate activists and organizations that support Palestinian freedom in an attempt to preserve the impunity of Erdan and the colonial state he represents. This kind of rhetoric is only an inspiration to continue to build our work and advocacy to free Palestinian prisoners and free Palestine.

Interested in getting involved in Samidoun? We’re organizing in the United States, Canada, Greece, France, Britain, Belgium, Germany, Lebanon, Palestine, and elsewhere. Contact us at samidoun@samidoun.net or on Facebook to find out how you can get involved!

Want to support Samidoun’s work? Donate online to keep our work going! Or publicize and share the information here with your networks of friends and colleagues.

1...258259260...691 Page 259 of 691

Follow us on Instagram @samidounnetwork