18 November, Anaheim: Palestinian Political Prisoners: Addameer Benefit

17 November 2017

Saturday, 18 November
4:00 pm
Arab American Community Center
907 S. Beach Blvd
Anaheim, CA
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/292107761304461/

The Arab Community of Southern California, Women’s International Network, and Palestine Youth Movement present: Palestinian Political Prisoners & Grassroots Organizing: Addameer Benefit.

We welcome Addameer’s Executive Director, Sahar Farncis, on her speaking tour that directly benefits the efforts of pironser support.

Oud performance with Clarissa Bitar

Addameer (Arabic for conscience) Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association is a Palestinian non-governmental, civil institution that works to support Palestinian political prisoners held in Israeli and Palestinian prisons. Established in 1992 by a group of activists interested in human rights, the center offers free legal aid to political prisoners, advocates their rights at the national and international level, and works to end torture and other violations of prisoners’ rights through monitoring, legal procedures and solidarity campaigns.

Light refreshments will be served.

Salah Hamouri’s letter from Negev prison: Solidarity with prisoners is a “real hope” for Palestinians

15 November 2017

The Committee to Support Salah Hamouri released a letter from the imprisoned Palestinian-French lawyer and human rights defender detained by the Israeli occupation without charge or trial since 23 August 2017. Written in the Negev prison, Hamouri’s letter greets his supporters in France and around the world.

Hamouri is a former prisoner whose case became widely known throughout France; after his release in the 2011 Wafa al-Ahrar agreement several months before his sentence was scheduled to end, he spoke throughout France about the struggle of Palestinian prisoners. He studied law in order to become a defender of Palestinian prisoners, and works as a field researcher for Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association.

A Jerusalemite Palestinian, he has faced frequent harassment and oppression by Israeli occupation forces, including bans on his entry into the West Bank and the 10-year ban against his wife, Elsa Lefort, entering Palestine after she was detained for several days and deported to France while pregnant despite holding a valid visa.

A growing number of prominent French artists, elected officials, political parties, writers and others have endorsed the campaign to free Salah Hamouri. Dozens of municipal councils have voted to demand his freedom. The Israeli ministry of national security recently announced that seven French mayors, parliamentarians and officials would be denied entry to Palestine for their upcoming delegation because of their support for Hamouri, Marwan Barghouthi, and the BDS movement.

Hamouri’s letter follows:

“I felt a strange sensation when, on 23 August, around 4:30 am, if I remember correctly, I was roused from my sleep by loud noises. Someone was outside the door of my apartment and nervously pressed the doorbell repeatedly. I thought I remembered this type of annoyance, but in the first few seconds, I thought it was a dream. I live in a six-story building in East Jerusalem. Each floor has two apartments. The soldiers and their commander did not know exactly which apartment in which I was living, so they banged brutally at each door. Then I had a thought for my neighbors, all awakened for a full night by soldiers terrorizing every family, I could hear children crying.

“The soldiers did not stop to knock on my door until I finally opened it, still numb with sleep. The first soldier I saw wore a hood. I could see that his eyes were filled with hatred. He yelled at me, asking me for my ID. After verification, these soldiers called for reinforcements, shouting that they had found the person they were looking for. The minute I realized that the occupying force was coming here for me, my brain sent me a clear order: ‘A new battle is beginning for you now, this enemy does not defeat you for even a second.’ They forced me to sit on a chair and three soldiers surrounded me, their guns pointed at me. During that time, their colleagues searched the apartment, overturning furniture, books, clothes … I felt feverish, they got upset, they found nothing of what they were looking for in this apartment. The commander finally gave the order to exit. They then ordered me to get dressed to go with them. Walking toward my apartment front door, before leaving for a term that was unknown to me, I stared at the picture of my son on the wall. In his eyes, I drew the strength to face the tough times ahead of me. I imagined him telling me, ‘Dad, be strong, we will soon be together, all three of us.’ I promised him then to stay strong and never give an opportunity to the occupation to forfeit our humanity and destroy our life as it is bent on doing. They then blindfolded my eyes and led me to an armored car. The march to this new destiny began. A painful march towards a world I know only too well. A world in which we have to stay strong and keep our human smile under any circumstance. Once again, I found in this armored vehicle the darkest and most miserable place for a human being: a prison of the occupier.

“Arriving in the Negev jail after two weeks in the interrogation center, everything seemed depressingly familiar. I walked into Section 24, and I quickly recognized the faces I had left a few years ago. I did not know what to say, I was suddenly impressed to find them here. Some of them have been behind bars for more than fifteen years. They questioned me and I did not know what to tell them. ‘What happened, why are you here?’ I did not have the answers to their questions. No more that I could not talk to them about outside – those who have been there for so many years. What do we do for them, while they pay the price of their struggle? When I found them, I wondered if I had done enough to talk about them outside. We then discussed everything. One inmate told me, ‘Oh you’re back, we’ll talk about us in France!’ Then I realized that despite my new deprivation of liberty, I had no doubt that the mobilization would grow in France. This is a real hope for me and for them. I thought about all the people who had struggled during my first incarceration and all those I have met since, in France and Palestine. No doubt they would all again stand together to denounce the injustice that strikes us.

“And with the news that I get in fragments, I know you are even more numerous than last time! Figures whom I deeply appreciate, including elected representatives, citizens and an even greater number of you are all mobilizing to denounce injustice and arbitrary detention and to demand my release.

“I thank you sincerely. I want to tell you that I will be worthy of the support you are giving me. We do not market our freedom even if we sometimes pay a very high price. It is not a question of stubbornness but of dignity and principle, for freedom, that I will never give up. The Palestinian people, like all others, will not live on our knees. And what strength it gives us to know that you also do not intend to give up. This, the occupier does not fully appreciate. I feel it in my heart. And so, even when it rains I can see the sun is coming… “

Salah Hamouri
November 2017,
Negev prison, section 24

The campaign to support Salah Hamouri is continuing its active work, inside and outside France. On 15 November, the France Insoumise group and the Communist deputies in the French National Assembly walked out of the hall during the attack on Salah Hamouri promulgated by Meyer Habib and supported by the extreme right, including Front National representative Gilbert Collard.

The campaign noted that Nathalie Loiseau, adjunct minister to the minster for European and Foreign Affairs, urged the rapid release of Salah Hamouri as well as urging that the delegation of French officials and parliamentarians – seven of which were ordered banned by Israel for their support of Palestinian rights – be able to meet with Hamouri. Over 30 city councils have voted for motions to demand his release.

The Support Committee is organizing events from 27 November to 3 December throughout France to mark the 100th day of Hamouri’s detention; he is imprisoned under a six-mohth, indefinitely renewable administrative detetion order. Actions during the week will include media activities, rallies, events, and group letter-writing to Salah. Hamouri’s wife Elsa Lefort, the coordinator of the support committee, noted that despite hundreds of letters being mailed to Hamouri, he has been deprived of all of them by the Israeli occupation authorities.

Take Action:

1. Sign the appeal to support Salah Hamouri at http://libertepoursalah.fr

2. Organize an action, event or activity between 27 November and 3 December to mark the 100th day of Salah Hamouri’s detention and demand his immediate freedom. Raise his case at events and actions for the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People on 29 November.

3. Like and share the Facebook page for Salah Hamouri, which will be regularly updated with news and actions to demand Salah’s freedom: https://www.facebook.com/freesalahhamouri/

Two Palestinian prisoners remain on hunger strike

15 November 2017

Two Palestinian prisoners, Hamza Marwan Bouzia, 27, and Salah Khawaja, 50, remain on hunger strike in protest of their administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial, on 15 November. Two more Palestinian prisoners, Bajis Nakhleh, 52, and Hassan Hassanein Shokeh, 29, suspended their hunger strikes on Tuesday evening, 14 November.

Shokeh, 29, spent 35 days on hunger strike without food in protest of his imprisonment without charge or trial. He was seized by Israeli occupation forces on 29 September, less than one month after being released from prison on 31 August. His lawyer, Ahlam Haddad, said that he suspended his strike after the Israeli military prosecution directed him to be indicted in military court rather than be held under administrative detention. From Bethlehem, he is held in the Ramle prison clinic.

Nakhleh, 52, from Jalazone refugee camp near Ramallah, suspended his strike when he was moved to Ofer prison from the Etzion interrogation center. He had launched his strike on 8 November, when he was seized by occupation forces who invaded his family home.

Bouzia, 27, from Kifl Hares in Salfit, has been on hunger strike for 24 days demanding his release from administrative detention without charge or trial, while Khawaja, from Nil’in, is protesting the renewal of his administrative detention only one day before he was to be released.

Bouzia and Khawaja are among over 450 Palestinians imprisoned without charge or trial under indefinitely renewable administrative detention orders. Many Palestinians have spent years at a time jaile under these orders, and ending administrative detention has been a demand of Palestinian hunger strikers continuously for years.

October 2017 report on repression in occupied Palestine ’48

15 November 2017

Mada al-Carmel, the Arab Center for Applied Social Studies, and the Institute for Palestine studies issued a monitoring report on the situation of Palestinians in 1948 occupied Palestine. They noted that there were seven cases of home demolitions and five cases of political detention and imprisonment against Palestinian citizens of Israel in October 2017.

The report noted that these home demolitions and political imprisonments reflect the fundamental racism of the state toward Palestinians, including the use of racist laws, policies and discourse of decision-making politicians. “Each month, we see ongoing racist policies against the Palestinian people,” said Khaled Anabtawi of Mada el-Carmel. “There is a clear Israeli strategy in recent years that seeks to ‘resolve’ the issue of Palestinians of the inside through focusing the Zionist nature of the state and imposing this as a practice on the ground.”

Anabtawi noted the repression of the Islamic Movement by the Israeli state, including the harassment of Sheikh Raed Salah, as an ongoing and persistent violation of Palestinian human rights, as well as the latest case of Dr. Suleiman Eghbariyeh, who was refused release by an Israeli court and turned to house arrest, denied contact with anyone except immediate family.

Palestinian human rights bill on child imprisonment introduced in United States Congress

14 November 2017

The following press release is reprinted from the No Way to Treat a Child campaign. U.S. lawmakers seek to prohibit taxpayer funds from supporting human rights violations against Palestinian minors in Israeli military detention system

Washington, D.C., November 14, 2017—Members of Congress on Tuesday introduced a bill prohibiting U.S. financial support of abuses against Palestinian children in the Israeli military detention system, putting violations under the magnifying glass of U.S. taxpayers.

The Promoting Human Rights by Ending Israeli Military Detention of Palestinian Children Act requires the Secretary of State to certify annually that no funds obligated or expended in the previous year by the United States for assistance to Israel have been used to support the ill-treatment of Palestinian children detained by Israeli forces from the occupied West Bank.

Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) brought the bill to the floor, with eight original co-sponsors, including Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) and Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI), co-chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

An estimated 10,000 Palestinians between the ages of 12 and 17 in the West Bank have been subject to arrest, detention, interrogation, and/or imprisonment under the jurisdiction of Israeli military courts since 2000. This bill was drafted in response to widely documented rights violations carried out by Israeli military and police against children within the military detention system, including torture or cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment.

“Despite ongoing engagement with UN bodies and repeated calls to abide by international law, Israeli military and police continue night arrests, physical violence, coercion, and threats against Palestinian children,” said Khaled Quzmar, general director of Defense for Children International – Palestine. “These practices remain institutionalized and systemic rather than last resort measures, and we call on the U.S. to halt its support of these violations.”

The bill aims to establish, as a minimum safeguard, a U.S. demand for basic due process rights for and an absolute prohibition against torture and ill-treatment of Palestinian children arrested and prosecuted within the Israeli military court system.

Israel has the dubious distinction of being the only country in the world that systematically prosecutes an estimated 500 to 700 children each year in military courts that lack fundamental fair trial rights and protections.

In every annual report on Israel and the occupied territories released since 2007, U.S. authorities have openly acknowledged the prevalence of torture and ill-treatment of Palestinian children and the denial of fair trials rights in the Israeli military detention system.

In 2013, UNICEF released a report titled Children in Israeli Military Detention: Observations and Recommendations. The report concluded that “ill-treatment of children who come in contact with the military detention system appears to be widespread, systematic and institutionalized throughout the process.”

Despite sustained engagement by UNICEF and repeated calls to end night arrests and ill-treatment of Palestinian children in Israeli military detention, Israeli authorities have persistently failed to implement substantive reforms to end violence against child detainees.

Fourth Palestinian prisoner joins hunger strike

14 November 2017

Four Palestinian prisoners are currently on hunger strike in Israeli prison. Salah al-Khawaja, 50, of the village of Nil’in, launched a hunger strike on Monday, 13 November after his administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial, was renewed only one day before he was scheduled for release.

Administrative detention orders, which last for one to six months at a time, are indefinitely renewable, and Palestinians routinely spend years at a time jailed under administrative detention.

Khawaja is also suffering a delicate health condition. Within days after he was detained, he was taken for a heart catheterization procedure at the Shaare Tzedek hospital, where he was told that an open heart surgery was necessary. The Israel Prison Service refused to authorize the operation and his imprisonment without charge or trial, while needing serious health treatment, continues.

He joins three more Palestinian prisoners on open hunger strike – Hassan Shokeh, 29, on strike for 34 days against his imprisonment without charge or trial, and Hamza Marwan Bouzia, 27, on strike for 23 days against administrative detention. Bajis Nakhleh has been on hunger strike for seven days, a strike he launched immediately upon his arrest by Israeli occupation forces on 8 November, only 2 months after his release on 1 September.

In particular, Bouzia and Shokeh have been on hunger strike for an extended period of time, in which they not only are suffering from extensive weight loss, fatigue and pain but also cognitive difficulties. Prior to and after the third week of hunger strike is one of the most dangerous times for a person on strike. The commitment of the hunger strikers to achieve their freedom is so great – and the ability to challenge administrative detention so limited by the occupation – that their bodies and lives are on the line in their bid for freedom.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges support and action to free these four Palestinians whose lives and bodies are on the line for freedom and against injustice. By taking action, you can show the Israeli occupation and international governments that these Palestinians are not alone and have worldwide support and solidarity with their urgent demands.

Take action:

1) Organize or join an event in support of the hunger strikers. Protest outside your local Israeli embassy, consulate or mission, or at a public square or government building. You can drop a banner or put up a table to support the prisoners and their strike. You can also bring signs and flyers about the hunger strikers to local events about Palestine and social justice. Send your events and actions to us at samidoun@samidoun.net or on Facebook.

2) Call your government officials and urge action. Call your foreign affairs officials – and members of parliament – and urge action for the Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike.

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

Tell your government: Three Palestinian prisoners are on hunger strike for their basic human rights – for freedom from imprisonment without charge or trial. Governments must pressure Israel to end administrative detention now!

3) Build the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Campaign! Join the BDS Movement to highlight the complicity of corporations like Hewlett-Packard and the continuing involvement of G4S in Israeli policing and prisons. Build a campaign to boycott Israeli goods, impose a military embargo on Israel, or organize around the academic and cultural boycott of Israel.

Download the flyers and posters for distribution:

Download: Flyer/leaflet – Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike

Download: Poster/Sign – Free All Palestinian Prisoners

Download: Poster/Sign: Free Hunger Strikers and All Prisoners

Download: Poster Sign: End Administrative Detention

London protest outside #Balfour100 celebration rings out with demands for justice for Palestine

14 November 2017

Samidoun activists in London joined fellow organizers from Victory to the Intifada, Revolutionary Communist Group, Inminds and other organizations for a protest on 7 November outside the Royal Albert Hall, protesting a celebration of the colonial Balfour Declaration on its 100th anniversary.

Protesters stood outside the entrance chanting in support of the Palestinian people and against Zionism, imperialism and colonialism and the British responsibility for the occupation of Palestine. The concert was attended by British prime minister Theresa May and Israeli occupation prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“I participated in the protest because I am angry and sick of the British colonial mind-set, arrogance and ignorance. Where I come from, Britain is neither neutral nor innocent in what happened and is still happening in Palestine. So called ‘Israel’ is a British colonial project in the first place, and Britain literally set the foundations of the Zionist settler colonial project in Palestine. it is important for me to remind the arrogant British politician and that we still refuse the colonial project in Palestine,” said Yafa Hussein, a university student from al-Quds.

Carrying speakers, signs and banners, the protesters marched despite the rain to all of the entrances of the hall, loudly and clearly denouncing British and now Zionist occupation in Palestine. Chants included “Brick by brick, wall by wall, Israeli Apartheid has to fall!” “Aida, Dheisheh and Balata, Victory to the intifada,” “From Al Quds to Ramallah, victory to the intifada,” and “Resistance is justified when Palestine is occupied.”

“We are here tonight demonstrating against a British celebration of racism and imperialism and colonialism, Zionism must be erased from the map; as an ideology and as a state,” said Lara Khalidi, Palestinian activist and Samidoun organizer.

“We are here standing against British imperialism as an internationalist communist organisation, standing in solidarity with the Palestinian people, and Britain has such a hug hand in oppressing the Palestinian people going back 100 years to the Balfour declaration. That is why are standing here saying: ‘no celebration of Balfour in Britain, we will not stand this, we will be here protesting against it, against Zionism, imperialism against the oppression of the Palestinian people and in solidarity with the Palestinian people and their resistance,'” said Wesam Khaled of the Revolutionary Communist Group – RCG.

Protesters carried Palestinian flags as well as Irish flags; some carried the banner of the leftist Palestinian party, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. A group of Zionists attempted to get the Metropolitan Police to force the demonstrators to remove the banner, accusing them of carrying a banned “terrorist” flag, but the demonstrators used information on their phones to demonstrate that, in fact, the PFLP’s flag is not banned in the UK. This prompted Zionist organizations to launch a campaign to attempt to ban the PFLP and the display of its flag at demonstrations in Britain after they failed to suppress the demonstration or prevent their message from being heard through police harassment.

The flag incident came after the police attempted to block the entrances of the hall, keep protesters far away from attendees and otherwise support the pro-Zionist event while attempting to suppress or minimize the protest.

“The Metropolitan police showed just how racist they are when they proceeded to abuse, cajole and harass peaceful protesters for standing up against Israeli apartheid. There behaviour is akin to the Israeli forces in occupied Palestine, the RUC in occupied Ireland or the civil guard of Spain,” said Daithi Cliontun, an Irish Republican socialist and protest participant.

Signs carried by the protesters included support for the Palestinian resistance, posters of Ghassan Kanafani, Palestinian writer and political leader assassinated by Israel, and denunciations of the Balfour declaration, imperialism and Zionism.

“The group was small as the rain probably kept more people away but our voices in support of Palestine were loud and clear,” said Norma Hashim, Editor of The Prisoners’ Diaries and treasurer of Viva Palestina Malaysia.

The protest came as part of a series of protests and events against the 100th anniversary of the Balfour declaration in London, across the UK and internationally. On 4 November, tens of thousands of protesters took the streets in London for a mass march against the Balfour declaration and in support of Palestine, under the slogan “Make it Right.” On 3 November, organizers protested outside a speech by Netanyahu, urging he be expelled as a war criminal; protests and events have continued in London, Manchester and elsewhere.

Israeli occupation officials bar French mayors, parliamentarians from Palestine for BDS support, prisoner solidarity

14 November 2017

The Israeli occupation state has vowed to prevent a delegation of French mayors who wish to visit imprisoned Palestinian parliamentarian and Fateh political leader Marwan Barghouthi from entering occupied Palestine, citing anti-BDS political exclusion. Gilad Erdan, Israeli security minister, declared that “We will not allow anyone who calls for a boycott of our state to visit us.”

The delegation of 20 European parliamentarians, mayors and other officials is scheduled to arrive in Ben-Gurion airport on 19 November. Erdan and Deri said that seven members will be denied entry due to their support for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS). The delegation seeks to visit with Barghouthi, the prominent imprisoned Palestinian leader and Fateh official, in Hadarim prison and express support for the Palestinian prisoners’ struggle for freedom.

Erdan’s security ministry benefits from research and development funds provided by Israel under the “Horizon 2020 program.” For example, LAW-TRAIN, the research project on interrogation that was later spurned by Portugal and is the subject of a large campaign in Belgium, is managed in partnership with Erdan’s ministry.

Aryeh Deri, fellow far-right interior minister, stated that the European delegation should “change the members of the delegation,” because they will not be allowed to enter.

It is also expected that the delegation will seek to visit Salah Hamouri, the Palestinian-French lawyer and human rights defender imprisoned without charge or trial, whose case has received support from municipalities and elected officials across France. Erdan’s Strategic Affairs ministry labeled Hamouri an “extremist delegitimizing activist;” in most cases, the term “delegitimization” is used to describe support for the BDS campaign. The language used in the document is highly indicative of the true reasons Hamouri is imprisoned – because of his political activity, defense of fellow Palestinian prisoners and role in advocating for Palestine in France.

The seven targeted officials include Members of European Parliament Pascal Durand and Patrick Le Hyaric, French parliamentarian Clementine Autain, Gennevilliers mayor Patrice Leclerc, Stains mayor Azzedine Taibi, Limay mayor Eric Roulot and French Communist Party leader Pierre Laurent.

This is only the latest attempt to suppress support for the Palestinian people and Palestinian prisoners and prevent the exposure of Israeli colonization, occupation and oppression from reaching international audiences through politically-motivated denials of entry. As noted in Ha’aretz, the ministry says that “the issue of Palestinian prisoners and efforts to delegitimize Israel are intertwined,” which indicates the growing effectiveness and importance of BDS and solidarity campaigns that highlight the cause of the Palestinian prisoners.

Human rights activists, including Raed Jarrar of Amnesty International, have been repeatedly barred under the anti-BDS laws, while Charlotte Kates of Samidoun was denied entry while coordinating a prisoner solidarity delegation after questioning about BDS activities. Palestinians born outside Palestine carrying European, U.S. and other passports are routinely denied entry both in retaliation for their activism and as a racist daily practice.

Israeli occupation forces seize former prisoner Tareq Qa’adan, raid Deir Abu Mashaal village

14 November 2017

Israeli occupation forces seized at least 14 Palestinians throughout occupied Palestine in pre-dawn raids on Monday, 13 November, including former prisoner and long-term hunger striker Tareq Qa’adan, a prominent leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement.

Qa’adan, 45, was seized after a 1:30 am raid on his home in the town of Arrabeh, south of Jenin. Occupation forces ransacked his home and interrogated him on the spot before seizing him. He has spent over 10 years in Israeli prions in previous detentions – mostly imprisoned without charge or trial – and is related to many other current and former prisoners; his sister, Mona Qa’adan, is also a freed prisoner and prominent activist.

Khader Adnan, prominent former prisoner and long-term hunger striker, said that evidence indicates that the Israeli occupation intends to transfer Qa’adan to administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial. He said that he is confident that imprisonment will not break Qa’adan’s will, and that “he adheres firmly to the defense of the Palestinian cause and homeland, even when the price is his freedom.”

The Islamic Jihad movement issued a statement on the detention of Qa’adan, saying that “this unjust detention…comes amid a wave of targeting and escalation by the occupation against the movement and our steadfast people…Our people have known him as a solid national leader who defends the rights of his people and the fundamentals of his cause. He is known for his positive and strong relationships with all political and national forces and their leaders, who has spent long years in detention in the occupation prisons and a hero of the battles of the open hunger strike.”

This was followed on Tuesday morning, 14 November, by raids across the occupied Palestinian West Bank in which Israeli occupation forces seized 18 Palestinians. In Deir Abu Mashaal village west of Ramallah, occupation fores once again engaged in collective punishment of Palestinian families. They stormed the home of the family of Baraa Saleh Atta, killed by occupation forces after he participated in an armed action in which several Israeli police were killed. They confiscated tens of thousands of shekels from the village and arrested Baraa’s brother Nidal. The stolen funds are those that were raised to help support the families of the three young men, whose homes were sealed off and demolished by occupation forces; the Israeli occupation accused that these funds were “supporting terrorism.”

They also raided the towns of Qabatiya, Zababdeh and Maysaloon near Jenin, while in Tulkarem, they seized former prisoner Muath Jaroun, ransacking his home. They also stationed themselves once again at Kadoorie University, where the presence of armed Israeli occupation forces has become a regular threat and barrier to education for Palestinian students.

Unjustly reimprisoned elderly Palestinian suffers health crisis

14 November 2017

Palestinian prisoner Yousef Hassan Abu al-Kheir, 74, from Akka (Acre) in occupied Palestine ’48, is suffering from a difficult health situation in Gilboa prison. Abu al-Kheir has been imprisoned since May 2017 after over 30 years outside Palestine.

He is suffering from health problems, including heart disease and hearing problems. He previously suffered a stroke and underwent heart surgery before he was arrested, said the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society, noting that he needs urgent and consistent health care.

Abu al-Kheir returned to Palestine from Greece in May 2017. He had dealt with the Israeli embassy in Greece prior to arriving at the Ben-Gurion airport and had reportedly received assurances that there were no restrictions on his travel. He was arrested in 1969 and sentenced to life imprisonment; with many other Palestinians, he was released in the 1983 prisoner exchange with the Palestinian resistance. He was stripped of his Israeli citizenship, deported to Libya and later moved to Greece.

Before returning to Palestine, he reportedly visited the Israeli embassy in Athens and consulted with a lawyer; he was informed and believed that there were no problems with his return, yet when he arrived at the airport on 27 May, he was arrested on board the plane and taken to prison.

Abu al-Kheir’s prior sentence was reimposed by a secretive decision; while prior sentences have been repeatedly reimposed on over 60 prisoners released in the 2011 Wafa al-Ahrar prisoner exchange – an urgent priority for the Palestinian resistance and these long-time prisoners, including Nael Barghouthi and Samer Mahroum – a reimposed sentence on a former prisoner from the 1983 exchange is a newer, and disturbing, development for many former prisoners.

1...331332333...687 Page 332 of 687

Follow us on Instagram @samidounnetwork