Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat statement on the ninth anniversary of his sentencing: Take action for Palestine

25 December 2017

The following statement was republished from the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat:

On the ninth anniversary of the sentencing of Palestinian leader and lifelong struggler Ahmad Sa’adat in Zionist military courts, the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’dat emphasizes the critical importance of building the popular, political and media campaign to free Palestinian prisoners, central to the Palestinian struggle for liberation.

Ahmad Sa’adat, the imprisoned General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was sentenced to 30 years in occupation prison by a Zionist military court – one day before the launch of “Operation Cast Lead,” the infamous, brutal Zionist aggression on the Palestinian civilian population of the Gaza Strip.

On this anniversary, the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat emphasizes the following:

1) We salute the leader Ahmad Sa’adat, who stood on this day before the Zionist court to reject its judgement and affirm its illegitimacy, while reaffirming the legitimacy of the Palestinian people’s struggle for liberation.

2) This occasion also revealed the magnitude of the disaster inflicted upon the Palestinian people by the right-wing Palestinian leadership, as demonstrated by the complicity of its officials and security agencies – primarily the intelligence and preventive security service – in the kidnapping of Sa’adat and his comrades. This act led to the violent invasion of Jericho and the arrest of Sa’adat and his comrades by the occupation forces. This crime has been intensified and repeated until it has become a symbol of the actions of the Authority and its security organs.

3) This crime against a Palestinian leader will not be forgiven or forgotten. Those who are responsible, the occupation and its servants in the security agencies, must be held accountable by the Palestinian people and their national liberation movement.

4) We emphsize the call of Ahmad Sa’adat to all forces, organizations and solidarity movements to build the campaign for freedom of the child prisoners, the cubs and the flowers in the prisons of the occupation. Their freedom and the freedom of the sick prisoners are a national priority for the Palestinian people.

5) In the current situation following the declaration of imperialist U.S. president Donald Trump regarding the city of Jerusalem, the continued mass mobilization inside Palestine, in the diaspora, and its support on the broadest Arab and international level is necessary and must be strengthened and expanded, toward a comprehensive uprising, eliminating the Oslo accords and all of its commitments and launching a new phase in which the energies and potentials of the Palestinian people are invested in confronting occupation and its schemes.

Freedom for Ahmad Sa’adat, his comrades, and all Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons!

Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat

December 25, 2017

Take action:

1. The Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat urges all to participate widely in the campaigns to Free Ahed Tamimi and the over 300 child prisoners held in Israeli jails. There are protests, social media campaigns, legislative calls to action – and now is the time to mobilize for all of the brave flowers and cubs imprisoned by the Zionist occupation. Indeed, since the Trump declaration, there have been over 170 children arrested by occupation forces.

2. The Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat urges the broadest mobilization for Jerusalem and Palestine – and their imprisoned leaders, the Palestinian political prisoners. Hundreds of thousands have already taken to the streets around the world; the pressure must continue in order to build support for the growing uprising and mobilize pressure on governments to end their complicity, silence and support for the occupier.

3. The Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat urges, on this ninth anniversary of the sentencing of Sa’adat, the escalation of all campaigns for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel on the cultural, economic, military, academic and diplomatic levels. Sa’adat spoke to the military court upon his sentencing: “In defense of the justice of our cause and in defense of the legitimate struggle of our people against the occupation, I refuse to recognize the legitimacy of your court or to legitimize your occupation or to stand before either of these.” The comprehensive boycott of Israel can and must back up this principled position at an international level.

Military court extends detention of Ahed, Nour and Nariman Tamimi for four days

25 December 2017

The Israeli occupation Ofer military court extended the detention of Ahed, Nour and Nariman Tamimi for four days on 25 December 2017; they will be back before the military court on 29 December, reported the Free the Tamimi Women page on Facebook. The military prosecutors had originally asked for the three women’s detention to be extended for 10 days.

This came after a night of attacks on the village of Nabi Saleh, where the three Tamimi women are, with their families, leaders of the indigenous land defense against Israeli colonization. The illegal settlement of Halamish has confiscated Nabi Saleh’s land as well as its spring. In the nighttime raids, Bassem Tamimi reported that two Palestinian youth, Moatasem and Izz Tamimi, were seized by Israeli occupation forces.

Bilal Tamimi also reported that Nour’s family home was again attacked by occupation forces in the night raid and that soldiers beat Nour’s father, Naji, with rifle butts in his head and chest. “In the end, this systematic terrorism targeting the Tamimi family in Nabi Saleh increases our strength and perseverance to continue our struggle – which we have done with our blood and with our prisoners and the groans of our wounded – until victory and liberation,” said Bilal.

TAKE ACTION!

Join the Twitterstorm! Every day, a Twitterstorm is being organized with a new hashtag released at the moment the campaign begins to raise awareness and urge action to free Ahed, Nour and Nariman Tamimi. You can join in and follow the campaign at the Free the Tamimi Women facebook page and @YASHebron on Twitter. The twitterstorms are currently scheduled for 10 AM Pacific, 1 PM Eastern, 6 PM UK, 7 PM in Europe, 8 PM in Palestine – updates and hashtags are posted regularly on Facebook and Twitter.
For supporters in the US: Call your member of the House of Representatives to support H.R. 4391, the Promoting Human Rights by Ending Israeli Military Detention of Palestinian Children Act. Tell them specifically about Ahed’s arrest, and urge them to act for her release. Tell them to pressure Israel to free Ahed and other detained Palestinian kids. Call the House switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to speak to your Representative’s office. CODEPINK has an action to highlight this case specifically.
Call your nearest Israeli embassy and let them know that you know about the detention of Ahed Tamimi in Nabi Saleh and other Palestinian child prisoners. Demand Ahed, her mother Nariman, and the other detained children be immediately released. Contact infomation here: https://embassy.goabroad.com/embassies-of/israel
Sign the petition. Over 150,000 people have already signed on to demand freedom for Ahed: https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/free_ahed/?feiNukb
Organize a protest for Ahed or join one of the many protests for Jerusalem and distribute this post and other news about Ahed and the Palestinian prisoners. Get others involved in the struggle for Palestinian freedom! Build the campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel and complicit corporations like HP and G4S.
Write to Ahed, Nour and Nariman. While Zionist jailers frequently censor Palestinian prisoners’ mail, these letters can help bolster morale and even send a message to the jailers and censors themselves. Write to Ahed Tamimi, Nour Tamimi or Nariman Tamimi (choose one and address your letter to one only) at: HaSharon prison
Ben Yehuda, P.O. Box 7
40 330 Israel

Winter cold and the abuse and torture of Palestinian prisoners by Shadi Shurafa

25 December 2017

As winter dawns in Palestine, the cold becomes a renewed weapon of abuse and torture used against Palestinian prisoners, from denial of blankets and winter clothes to the manipulation of temperature during interrogation.

The following article was written by Shadi Shurafa, a Palestinian prisoner in Israeli prisons. From Jerusalem, he is a prominent leader of the national prisoners’ movement and a leader in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine:

The winter comes to reward and revitalize the bounty of our land in general and its farmers in particular, but this blessing has been turned into a curse on the prisoners who are arrested during this time. The cold is one of the most notorious methods of torture and weapons of abuse used by the criminal Shin Bet against the Palestinian detainees.

Testimonies of over 90 percent of Palestinian prisoners have repeatedly affirmed that one of the most common and abusive methods of torture against them was the use as cold as a weapon of systematic abuse with the aim of forcing detainees to confessed.

I was reminder of this study conducted by the leadership of the prisoners of the PFLP and distributed to all prisons with the image of the martyred comrade Mustafa al-Akkawi of Jerusalem, who was martyred in February 1992 under torture, including being forced into the cold for hours on end.

The suffering of the cold is imposed through a series of carefully examined stages, making it clear that this is a serious and systematic method of torture with both physical and psychological aspects. We refer to these stages as follows:

1. The first stage: This begins with the transfer of detainees to various military camps and bases such as Huwarra in Nablus, Jalameh, or others. There they are left for long hours in the open, exposed under rain and in the cold. There have been many cases of assaults and humiliation by soldiers against prisoners in these camps.

2. The second phase: Next comes the second stage, where the prisoner enters the interrogation centers. He is forced to remove his clothes under the pretext of search or inspection and these are replaced by the “Shabas” clothes, a thin pair of trousers and a shirt that provide no warmth amid bone-chilling cold.

3. The third stage: During the interrogation, the prisoner is bound with his legs and hands behind a small wooden chair for long hours and often days on the same chair. Air conditioners are operated throughout this harsh period of interrogation, causing even more intense suffering.

4. The fourth stage: This stage is that of the interrogation cells. The exhausted prisoner returns from the continuous interrogation to their cell, wishing for a few short hours of rest and sleep before the interrogation begins again, but it is impossible to sleep because of the cold air and air conditioners inside these cells, even in winter. There are only light blankets, often dirty, damp and difficult to use.

These methods of torture are not new. The Shin Bet security services have always used inhumane methods of interrogation that violate international human rights and humanitarian law, but it is immoral for human right institutions to ignore or remain silent about this phenomenon, especially the International Committee of the Red Cross, which does not act to end this situation. They visit the prisoners in these prisons suffering from these tactics and yet we do not find them submitting complaints or protesting about this serious concern.

A large number of prisoners suffer from severe or chronic diseases such as rheumatism, joint pain, back pain, chronic stomach issues, hemorrhoids and kidney disease, all of which are related to or exacerbated by the use of cold as a means of torture used to force strugglers to provide confessions.

Despite these harsh methods, the level of steadfastness in the interrogations has begun to rise, as our people have developed a culture of awareness about interrogation and ways to confront it. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that the Zionist security forces are intensifying the use of administrative detention in response to this honorable steadfastness.

Administrative detainee re-launches hunger strike as plans announced to boycott military courts

25 December 2017

Dozens of Palestinian prisoners were ordered jailed without charge or trial by Israeli military courts as administrative detainees announced a planned protest action for 2018 involving a boycott of the military courts and one prisoner re-launched his open hunger strike.

Palestinian prisoner Rizk Rajoub, 61, announced his return to open hunger strike on 23 December. He had been ordered to choose between administrative detention – imprisonment without charge or trial – and deportation to Sudan by the Ofer Israeli occupation military court. He had earlier launched a hunger strike for a week in protest, and he suspended the strike after prison authorities claimed to seek a solution. However, his imprisonment without charge or trial has continued, and now he is on his third day of renewed open hunger strike. Rajoub has spent over 20 years in Israeli prison, including 10 years administrative detention. He was seized mostt recently on 27 November from his home in Dura village near al-Khalil.

Meanwhile, Palestinian prisoner Sabah Faraoun was released from administrative detention after over 18 months of imprisonment without charge or trial late on Thursday night, 21 December. After Faraoun’s release, there are three Palestinian women remaining in administrative detention: Palestinian parliamentarian and national leader Khalida Jarrar; Khadija Ruba’i; and journalist Bushra al-Tawil. On 24 December, the Israeli military courts reduced al-Tawil’s detention order to four months from six months. Al-Tawil has previously spent over 16 months in Israeli prisons.

There are currently over 450 Palestinians jailed without trial under administrative detention out of over 6,000 total Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails. These numbers include 311 children under the age of 18.

Between 1 and 21 December, Israeli occupation authorities issued 40 administrative detention orders ranging from two to six months in length. These orders are indefinitely renewable, and Palestinians can spend years at a time jailed without charge or trial. Among those ordered imprisoned were Palestinian Legislative Council member Ahmed Attoun, who has been jailed with 11 other PLC members since 12 April, and Thaer Halahleh, former long-term hunger striker repeatedly re-imprisoned under administrative detention.

The orders were issued against the following Palestinians, reported lawyer Mahmoud al-Halabi:

1. Ahmed Mohammed Attoun, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
2. Rabie Hassan Zeid, al-Khalil, 4 months, extension
3. Ahmed Kayed Hamed, Ramallah, 4 months, new order
4. Montasser Abbas Hamad, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
5. Izzedine Mohammed Abu Dayyeh, Tulkarem, 4 months, new order
6. Fadi Hasan Safi, Ramallah, 4 months, new order
7. Salem Mohammed Abu Eid, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
8. Rizk Abdullah Rajoub, al-Khalil, 6 months, new order
9. Ahmed Ibrahim Zahran, Jerusalem, 4 months, new order
10. Issam Hussein Diriyeh, Bethlehem, 4 months, new order
11. Mohammed Eyad Albou, al-Khalil, 6 months, new order
12. Mohammed Jihad Ahmed, Bethlehem, 6 months, new order
13. Maher Ayoub Dalashi, Ramallah, 4 months, new order
14. Hisham Daoud Rudeida, Bethlehem, 6 months, new order
15. Rashid Mohammed Rashid Barghouthi, Ramallah, 4 months, new order
16. Musab Akef Ashtayyeh, Nablus, 4 months, extension
17. Shafiq Ali Rudeida, Bethlehem, 3 months, new order
18. Diaa Yousef Shehadeh, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
19. Nour Shaker Atrash, al-Khalil, 4 months, extension
20. Musab Saher Barghouthi, Ramallah, 6 months, extension
21. Jihad Wadah Qutb, Nablus, 3 months, extension
22. Mohammed Ahmed Abu Tama, Jenin, 6 months, extension
23. Mohammed Saleh Mohsen, Jerusalem, 4 months, extension
24. Thaer Aziz Halahleh, al-Khalil, 4 months, extension
25. Saad Mohammed al-Asa, Bethlehem, 4 months, new order
26. Ahmed Abdel-Karim Dar Mohammed, Ramallah, 3 months, extension
27. Fahd Abdel-Aziz Zaarour, Jenin, 4 months, extension
28. Daoud Raja Atwan, Bethlehem, 6 months, new order
29. Ibrahim Yassin Abu Srour, Bethlehem, 4 months, extension
30. Mustafa Issa Arouj, Bethlehem, 6 months, new order
31. Mohammed Abdel-Ghani al-Souki, Jenin, 6 months, new order
32. Khaled Walid Suleiman, Ramallah, 6 months, new order
33. Ahmed Mustafa Zaid, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
34. Yazan Walid Ayyash, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
35. Amer Nadeem Malukh, Jerusalem, 4 months, extension
36. Montasser Mustafa Ahmed, Nablus, 4 months, extension
37. Mohammed Munther Awri, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
38. Yousef Salameh Abu Ras, al-Khalil, 4 months, extension
39. Bahaa Hassan Abu Tabikh, Jenin, 4 months, extension
40. Mustafa Omar Bader, Tulkarem, 6 months, extension

Israeli military court extends Khader Adnan’s detention until 15 January 2018

25 December 2017

The Israeli occupation Salem military court extended the detention of Palestinian activist and former long-term hunger striker Khader Adnan until 15 January 2018 in a hearing on Sunday, 24 December. Randa Adnan, Khader’s wife, said that he spoke to the court on his own behalf at the hearing and rejected all charges against him.

Sheikh Adnan was seized from his home in the village of Arraba, near Jenin, on 11 December; he has previously been imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention and conducted a 55-day hunger strike and a 66-day hunger strike to win his freedom on two separate occasions. He has become an international symbol of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement and struggle for freedom.

He is one of over 500 Palestinians seized since U.S. President Donald Trump’s declaration that the U.S. would recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Palestinians have taken to the streets in a renewed upsurge that has been met by intense repression by occupation forces; there have been 14 Palestinians killed, thousands wounded, and over 500 detained since 6 December, including a large proportion of child prisoners like Ahed Tamimi and Abdul-Khalik Burnat.

Israeli attacks continue on Nabi Saleh prior to military court hearings for Tamimi women

24 December 2017

Israeli occupation attacks continued on the Palestinian village of Nabi Saleh on Monday, 25 December, as occupation forces stormed the village and arrested two youth, Izz Tamimi and Moatassem Tamimi, reported Bassem Tamimi on Facebook. This report of the ongoing attack on the Tamimi family and Nabi Saleh came as military court hearings were scheduled for Ahed, Nour and Nariman Tamimi later on Monday. h

Ahed Tamimi, 16, the young activist and indigenous land defender whose arrest by Israeli occupation forces has inspired protests in Palestine and around the world, was brought earlier on Sunday, 24 December before an Israeli military court. As Mondoweiss noted, “In the five days since her arrest, Israeli authorities have attempted to coerce confession from Ahed, a minor, without access to a lawyer or a parent (her mother Nariman was herself arrested when she arrived to accompany her daughter during questioning); moved her from the occupied West Bank across the 1949 armistice line, also known as the “Green Line,” in contravention of international law; and transferred the sleep deprived teenager between at least three different detention centers and prisons.”

Ahed was brought before the Ofer military court for a hearing on her release after spending the night in the Moskobiyeh detention and interrogation center in isolation as she suffered from the winter cold in her cell; her family noted that Ahed appeared to have “not been allowed sunshine, a shower or proper food during her detention.” Her release was denied, and she will be brought back to military court tomorrow along with her mother, Nariman, who was seized when she attempted to see her daughter after her arrest, and her cousin Nour, seized in another night raid one day later.

Ahed was seized by armed occupation forces that invaded her family home after a propaganda campaign against her following a video of her slapping an Israeli occupation soldier on her family’s land shortly following the shooting of her 14-year-old cousin Mohammed by occupation forces; Mohammed remains hospitalized, will require extensive care and rehabilitation, and had been in a coma at the time.

The Tamimi family has been on the front lines of land defense in Nabi Saleh for years; the village of 600 people has been attacked by the illegal settlement of Halamish, and settlers have taken the village’s spring and confiscated its agricultural land. Even the Tamimis’ home has been threatened with demolition. Ahed’s family members have been killed, wounded and imprisoned for defending their right to their land.

Her bravery in resisting Israeli occupation and oppression, in protecting her younger brother from occupation forces and fearlessly confronting a massively armed occupation force has seen her become well-known throughout Palestine and internationally as a symbol of Palestinian courage and resilience. At the same time, she has been targeted by Israeli occupation journalists and political figures for vile and abhorrent threats, including Maariv journalist Ben Caspit‘s thinly veiled call for the rape of Ahed and her female family members as he stated “in the case of the girls, we should exact a price at some other opportunity, in the dark, without witnesses and cameras.”

Extreme-right Zionist education minister Naftali Bennett said that Ahed and other Palestinian teens should “spend the rest of their days in jail,” calling for life sentences for teenage girls for pushing occupation soldiers from their land.

Protests have taken place in Palestine and in cities around the world to defend Jerusalem and Palestine after U.S. President Donald Trump’s infamous declaration of recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and many thousands have taken action online as Ahed’s arrest and that of her mother and cousin have joined the attacks on Jerusalem as further inspiration for a growing Palestinian upsurge.

Iyad Burnat, the father of Abdul-Khalik Burnat, and Bassem Tamimi, Ahed’s father, posted a joint statement on Facebook to the international supporters of Palestine and the child prisoners:

TAKE ACTION!

Join the Twitterstorm! Every day, a Twitterstorm is being organized with a new hashtag released at the moment the campaign begins to raise awareness and urge action to free Ahed, Nour and Nariman Tamimi. You can join in and follow the campaign at the Free the Tamimi Women facebook page and @YASHebron on Twitter. The twitterstorms are currently scheduled for 10 AM Pacific, 1 PM Eastern, 6 PM UK, 7 PM in Europe, 8 PM in Palestine – updates and hashtags are posted regularly on Facebook and Twitter.
For supporters in the US: Call your member of the House of Representatives to support H.R. 4391, the Promoting Human Rights by Ending Israeli Military Detention of Palestinian Children Act. Tell them specifically about Ahed’s arrest, and urge them to act for her release. Tell them to pressure Israel to free Ahed and other detained Palestinian kids. Call the House switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to speak to your Representative’s office. CODEPINK has an action to highlight this case specifically.
Call your nearest Israeli embassy and let them know that you know about the detention of Ahed Tamimi in Nabi Saleh and other Palestinian child prisoners. Demand Ahed, her mother Nariman, and the other detained children be immediately released. Contact infomation here: https://embassy.goabroad.com/embassies-of/israel
Sign the petition. Over 150,000 people have already signed on to demand freedom for Ahed: https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/free_ahed/?feiNukb
Organize a protest for Ahed or join one of the many protests for Jerusalem and distribute this post and other news about Ahed and the Palestinian prisoners. Get others involved in the struggle for Palestinian freedom! Build the campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel and complicit corporations like HP and G4S.
Write to Ahed, Nour and Nariman. While Zionist jailers frequently censor Palestinian prisoners’ mail, these letters can help bolster morale and even send a message to the jailers and censors themselves. Write to Ahed Tamimi, Nour Tamimi or Nariman Tamimi (choose one and address your letter to one only) at: HaSharon prison
Ben Yehuda, P.O. Box 7
40 330 Israel

Photos: #FreeAhedTamimi and #FreePalestine in Brussels, Berlin, Athens, Amsterdam, London, Jaipur, Manchester, Naples, Milan, Dortmund

24 December 2017

Dozens of organizations around the world joined a global call for actions to free Ahed Tamimi, fellow Palestinian child prisoners like Abdul-Khalik Burnat, her family members Nariman and Nour Tamimi, and all Palestinian prisoners on 22 December. This call coincided with the ongoing large demonstrations around the world in defense of Palestine and Jerusalem following U.S. President Donald Trump’s declaration that the U.S. is recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and the upsurge inside Palestine against Zionism and U.S. imperialism. It was also marked by the 128-9-35 vote at the United Nations against the Trump declaration and Israeli colonialism in Jerusalem.

Protests around the world demanded freedom for the prisoners, joining the day of action, and stood with Jerusalem and Palestine. In addition to the photos below, protests also took place in Hamburg, Koblenz, Stuttgart, Gottingen, Kalmar, Brescia, Viareggio and Lodi.

Please email us at samidoun@samidoun.net or message us on Facebook to let us know about your protests to free Ahed Tamimi and Palestinian prisoners and to stand with Jerusalem and with Palestine!

Photos below:

Brussels, Belgium – 22 December 2017

New York City, US – 22 December 2017

*Photo: NYC Students for Justice in Palestine*

Berlin, Germany – 22 December 2017

Berlin, Germany – 23 December 2017

London, UK – 23 December 2017

Manchester, UK – 23 December 2017

Naples, Italy – 22 December 2017

Milan, Italy – 23 December 2017

Dortmund, Germany – 23 December 2017

Athens, Greece – 22 December 2017

Jaipur, India – 22 December 2017

Amsterdam, Netherlands – 24 December 2017

Photos and Videos: New York demonstration calls for freedom for Ahed Tamimi, Palestinian children

24 December 2017

The NY4Palestine coalition organized a demonstration on Friday, 22 December in Manhattan’s Union Square to demand freedom for detained Palestinian teen Ahed Tamimi and fellow Palestinian child prisoners, including detained boy Abdul-Khalik Burnat. The protest highlighted the attack on the Tamimi family, including the detentions of Ahed’s mother, Nariman Tamimi, and cousin, Nour Tamimi. The Tamimi women are leaders in the indigenous anti-colonial Palestinian resistance in the village of Nabi Saleh, where they organize to defend the agricultural village’s land and water from frequent attacks by Zionist occupation soldiers and settlers.

Ahed’s arrest by Israeli occupation forces for protesting against the shooting of her 14-year-old cousin, Mohammed Tamimi and pushing occupation soldiers from her family’s land has sparked widespread Palestinian and international outrage. Dozens of organizations signed on to a collective call to action that demanded freedom for Ahed and the over 300 Palestinian child prisoners in Israeli jails. Every year, nearly 700 Palestinian kids are brought before Israeli military court and dozens have been jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention orders in the past several years.

The protest was joined by organizers from many groups, including NYC Students for Justice in Palestine, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, Al-Awda NY, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition, American Muslims for Palestine, the International Action Center, the Palestinian Youth Movement, US Palestinian Community Network, the ANSWER Coalition, Labor for Palestine, Jews for Palestinian Right of Return, BAYAN USA, Stony Brook Students for Justice in Palestine, Workers World Party, Decolonize This Place, Adalah NY and Jewish Voice for Peace. Participants also included members of the Tamimi family living in New York:

A number of speakers from many organizations addressed the speakout, which was emceed by Nerdeen Kiswani of NYC SJP. Speakers included artist Moana of Mahina Movement, who just returned from Palestine, where she worked artistically with the Freedom Theatre in Jenin Refugee Camp. Participants chanted for freedom for the prisoners and justice for Palestine. “There is only one solution – Intifada! Revolution!” “Resistance is justified when people are occupied!” “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!”

Joe Catron, the US Coordinator of Samidoun, spoke on behalf of the organization. “Ahed Tamimi is one of over 6,000 Palestinian political priosners interned by the racist, illegitimate Zionist so-called State of Israel, from Khader Adnan, who is back on hunger strike once again, to Nael Barghouthi, the longest held Palestinian prisoner,” saluting their resistance and resilience and the example of Ahed in self-defense in defense of her family, land and people.

A few far-right Zionist counterprotesters from the Jewish Defense League appeared at the protest to hold signs cheering for U.S President Donald Trump and reading “Jail Ahed.” The JDL is infamous for its racism as well as its violence; a JDL member was recently indicted in Washington, DC for a hate attack on a Palestinian man protesting AIPAC and the JDL was implicated in the assassination of Arab American community leader Alex Odeh. They attempted to provoke and taunt protesters by calling for the imprisonment of Palestinian children and shouting “God bless Trump.”

Full videos of the rally and speakers are below, by NYC Students for Justice in Palestine:

Photo gallery:

22 December, Twitterstorm: Free the Tamimis!

22 December 2017

Take action on
Friday, 22 December
at 9 am PST/12 pm EST/6 pm CEST/7 pm Palestine

Join the Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1759081794386878/

TAKE ACTION! Tweet to release Ahed, Nour and Nariman Tamimi! Join our twitter storm! 12pm EST (9am Pacific, 7pm Palestine time).

Tuesday morning before dawn, Israeli forces invaded the Tamimi family’s home and arrested the daughter. They dragged Ahed out of bed, handcuffed her and put her in the back of their military jeep. She is 16 years old.

The next morning, her mother Nariman went to the police station to be with her daughter as she was interrogated. But Israel took her into custody as well. The following day, they arrested her 21-year-old cousin Nour. Then her father Bassem was summoned to the Israeli military for interrogation.

Use the hashtags:
#FreeTamimiWomen
#FreeAhedTamimi

Sample tweets:

Nariman and Nour Tamimi’s detention extended until Monday by Israeli military court

21 December 2017

*Ahed Tamimi, Nariman Tamimi, Nour Tamimi (left to right)*

The detention of Nariman Tamimi, the mother of Ahed Tamimi and an activist, human rights defender and land defender in Nabi Saleh, occupied Palestine, and Nour Tamimi, 21, Ahed’s cousin and also a leading organizer in the village’s popular resistance to Israeli colonization, settlement construction, land confiscation and mass arrests, has been extended until Monday, 25 December by an Israeli military court on Thursday, 21 December; the Ofer military court extended 16-year-old Ahed’s detention until Monday on 20 December. Bassem Tamimi, Nariman’s husband and Ahed’s father, reported the updates on his Facebook page:

The three Tamimi women are currently being held in HaSharon prison, with Ahed in one room and Nariman and Nour in another. Bassem Tamimi wrote that they are being held with Israeli “criminal” prisoners rather than in the rooms with their fellow Palestinian political prisoners in HaSharon; this is used as a tactic of intimidation and an attempt to force confessions, especially as Palestinians are at a high risk for racist abuse and violence.

Thousands of people around the world have responded to the detention of Ahed and the arrests of her family members after she was seized in a pre-dawn raid on the family home for protesting Israeli occupation soldiers’ shooting of her 14-year-old cousin, Mohammed Tamimi, with a rubber-coated metal bullet; Mohammed is hospitalized in critical condition. Ahed’s role in protesting occupation, colonization and apartheid from an early age has seen her become well-known around the world as a social justice activist along with the other members of her family.

People are mobilizing internationally for protests on Friday, 22 December, as well as Saturday, 23 December and participating in the global calls to action for the release of the Tamimi family, whose arrest and persecution epitomizes the ongoing Palestinian rootedness and resistance confronting the brutality, hatefulness and oppression of colonization and occupation.

Take Action:

Join the call to action to #FreeAhedTamimi: Sign on to the collective call for action at the Google Form. Organize events and actions for 22 December and post photos and graphics on social media along with the hashtag, #FreeAhedTamimi.
For supporters in the US: Call your member of the House of Representatives to support H.R. 4391, the Promoting Human Rights by Ending Israeli Military Detention of Palestinian Children Act. Tell them specifically about Ahed’s arrest, and urge them to act for her release. Click here to tell your member of Congress to support the bill. Tell them to pressure Israel to free Ahed and other detained Palestinian kids. Call the House switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to speak to your Representative’s office.
For international supporters: Call your government officials and demand action for Ahed Tamimi and other Palestinian child prisoners, and freedom for Nariman Tamimi.Call your country’s officials urgently:
Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop: + 61 2 6277 7500
Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland: +1-613-992-5234
European Union Commissioner Federica Mogherini: +32 (0) 2 29 53516
New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully: +64 4 439 8000
United Kingdom Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson: +44 20 7008 1500
United States President Donald Trump: 1-202-456-1111
Call your nearest Israeli embassy and let them know that you know about the detention of Ahed Tamimi in Nabi Saleh and other Palestinian child prisoners. Demand Ahed, her mother Nariman, and the other detained children be immediately released. Contact infomation here: https://embassy.goabroad.com/embassies-of/israel
Join one of the many protests for Jerusalem and distribute this post and other news about Ahed and the Palestinian prisoners. Get others involved in the struggle for Palestinian freedom! Build the campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel and complicit corporations like HP and G4S.

Brussels, Belgium – 22 December 2017

New York City, US – 22 December 2017

Berlin, Germany – 22 December 2017

Berlin, Germany – 23 December 2017

London, UK – 23 December 2017

Manchester, UK – 23 December 2017

Naples, Italy – 22 December 2017

Milan, Italy – 23 December 2017

Dortmund, Germany – 23 December 2017

Athens, Greece – 22 December 2017

Jaipur, India – 22 December 2017

Amsterdam, Netherlands – 24 December 2017

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