The Progressive Democratic Student Pole at Bir Zeit University is organizing a protest at Manara Square in Ramallah as part of the international week of action to free Georges Ibrahim Abdallah.
Saturday, 21 October Freedom for Georges Abdallah 1:00 pm Assemble on Habib Bourguiba Street to march to French Embassy Tunis, Tunisia Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/183534132218227/
Open call to join the Tunisian Solidarity Committee for the Freedom of Georges Abdallah on Saturday, 21 October at 1 pm in front of the French Embassy in Tunis, to join the vigil organized together with the Tunisian campaign for Boycott and Against Normalization and the Youth Against Normalization and demand the release of the longest-held political prisoner in Europe, Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, held in French prison for 33 years.
Free Georges Abdallah! Free Ahmad Sa’adat! Free Marwan Barghouthi! Freedom for all prisoners in Israeli jails!
On Thursday, 19 October, the Salem military court extended the detention of Anas Hamarsheh, 17, from the village of Ya’abad near Jenin, until next Tuesday, despite his need for ongoing medical care, said his sister Laila Hamarsheh to Wattan TV.
No charges have been issued against the boy, who was seized on Sunday, 8 October in a pre-dawn raid in which Israeli occupation forces invaded the family home. However, his sister stated that “we have learned that the arrest took place in the context of stone throwing.” Stone-throwing charges are some of the most frequent allegations used by the Israeli occupation when jailing Palestinian child prisoners, who overwhelmingly report experiences of threats, abuse, beatings and other forms of physical and psychological torture under interrogation.
Anas, a high-school student, is held in the Jalameh/Ketziot interrogation center at present. He suffers from osteonecrosis of the hip and requires treatment; he is in danger of losing his ability to walk. One leg is shorter than the other and he has difficulty running or playing sports; his leg is also at risk of infection.
He is the son of former prisoner Adnan Hamarsheh, who spent 11 years in Israeli prisons; Anas’ mother, Reem, was also imprisoned for eight months. His parents noted that they told the occupation forces when they took their son that they bear responsibility for any consequences from the arrest of Anas, as he urgently needs physiotherapy and other treatment as well as a special diet.
“Since his arrest, Anas has been transferred to the Jalameh interrogation center by the Israeli occupation. After several days in detention, the Israeli occupation extended his detention for eleven days. He is in a very tough condition now, based on my own experience in detention. His situation is contrary to the fact that he is still a child and should be at school, and not in the interrogation cells,” said his father to the Palestine Information Center.
Hamarsheh noted that this issue has special significance to the family due to his own experience in Israeli prisons. He suffered a series of strokes on 17 February 2014 while under Israeli interrogation; after two days of hospitalization, he was returned to the prison. He was transferred several times between the hospital and the prison, losing vision and balance. He was not charged and was instead ordered to six months in administrative detention. Since that incident, he has used a wheelchair due to his balance problems and difficulty walking and has been denied the right to travel to receive medical treatment.
“The aggressions of the occupation would only increase our steadfastness in our land and our right to it. The occupation always seeks to break the will of all the families that believe in resistance to liberate Palestine,” said Hamarsheh, noting that he sees the arrest of their youngest son as part of a systematic and ongoing attack on the family.
The Palestinian Authority’s Ramallah Magistrate’s Court dismissed charges against five Palestinian young men, comrades of Basil al-Araj, the assassinated Palestinian youth leader, in a hearing on Thursday, 19 October.
The six, al-Araj, Haitham Siyaj, Mohammed Salameen, Seif al-Idrissi, Mohammed Harb and Ali Dar al-Sheikh, were seized by PA security forces in April 2016; PA president Mahmoud Abbas touted their arrest as an example of the value of PA security coordination provides to the Israeli occupation. They were released after an open hunger strike and growing Palestinian popular demands for their freedom; the PA prosecution accused them of possession of unlicensed weapons.
Only one week after his assassination, al-Araj and his comrades’ case was scheduled for a hearing in the PA court, prompting mass anger and clashes outside the court when PA security forces attacked peaceful demonstrators demanding an end to the case. Charges against al-Araj were dropped due to his death; they were delayed several times against the others due to their ongoing imprisonment by the Israeli occupation without charge or trial.
A Palestinian commission set up to investigate the events outside the court when PA security forces attacked, beat and injured demonstrators urged that the charges be dropped against all six and the case closed.
Palestinian lawyer Muhannad Karajah, who represents the youth, said in Quds News that “the charges were dropped because they did not commit any crime…the case has ended with a clear ruling confirming the acquittal of the five young people from any charges brought by the prosecution.”
Al-Araj’s mother spoke with Wattan TV after the verdict, saying “If they are acquitted now or not, what is the benefit of that now? After Basil died, what is left?” Speaking to her son, she said, “Are you now innocent, so you can go and come out of the grave and get them out of the prisons of the occupation?”
Al-Araj’s father said that “This is a correct decision at an incorrect time, as it has come after a lengthy procrastination. This decision was made after these youth have paid a very high price on their lives and their freedom.”
Bilal Diab launched a hunger strike on Tuesday, 17 October following the denial of his appeal against his administrative detention, Israeli imprisonment without charge or trial on the basis of secret evidence. The Ofer military court rejected the appeal, claiming that the secret file shows that he is a “danger to the security of the area.”
He announced his hunger strike with a statement: “My dignity is more precious than my life. I reject the unjust policy of administrative detention and walk in the footsteps of all those who struggle, all lovers of freedom, all those who crave justice, and all those who dream of a free and just state on the historic land of Palestine with its capital al-Quds,” he said. “I declare to our people and its active forces, to the people of our nation and the free people of the world and humanity, that I will fight this battle of will, of the open hunger strike. I hope for your support and solidarity until victory or martyrdom.”
Diab joins fellow prisoner Hassan Shokeh, 29, from Bethlehem, who is on hunger strike for the eighth day against his administrative detention without charge or trial. Released from Israeli occupation prisons on 31 August, he was re-arrested only one month later and ordered to six months in administrative detention by the Ofer military court.
Shokeh and Diab are now being held in isolation in retaliation for their hunger strikes. They are among over 450 Palestinians jailed without trial under administrative detention orders. These orders are issued for one to six months at a time and are indefinitely renewable; many Palestinians have been jailed for years without charge or trial under so-called “secret evidence” with Israeli administrative detention orders.
Supporters of the Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! (FRFI) and BDS societies at the University of Manchester organised a street meeting on 18 October to call for solidarity with Georges Abdallah. Students and members of the public stopped to sign up to the campaign calling for the release of all Palestinian political prisoners and demand that Britain breaks its links with the Zionist regime. Student organisers gave speeches on the struggle of the prisoners and read out letters between Georges Abdallah and Ahmed Sa’adat.
Photo: Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism!
Palestine solidarity has heightened significance at the University of Manchester – management have spent the last year attempting to ban or censor FRFI and BDS events, and now are planning to host a celebration of the Balfour declaration on 31 October! The event is co-hosted by the Israeli Embassy and will likely feature speeches by notorious racists like Mark Regev. These links are historic. Chaim Weizmann was a scholar at the university before becoming the notorious first president of Israel, showing the links between British institutions and Zionist colonialism. A protest is being organized on 31 October against the pro-Balfour event, demanding the university end its collaboration with apartheid.
Photo: Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism!
“We demand the freedom of Georges Abdallah and all Palestinian political prisoners, and demand that the University of Manchester cancel its pro-Israel event,” emphasized the protesters.
Israeli occupation forces attacked and shut down at least eight Palestinian media offices in pre-dawn raids on Wednesday, 18 October, as well as seizing 23 Palestinians in a series of home raids.
The offices of Pal Media, Trans Media, Ramsat and others in Ramallah, Nablus, al-Khalil and Bethlehem were attacked and ransacked by occupation forces who blocked the doors with metal barricades or barred them with iron gates, posting notices that the offices are closed by military order for the next six months.
The attack on Palestinian media is the latest step in the Israeli occupation war on Palestinian expression in the name of suppressing “incitement.” The media offices were attacked on the pretext of providing services to Palestinian TV channels that the Israeli occupation has also declared “unauthorized,” including Palestine Today, Al-Quds TV and Al-Aqsa TV.
The Israeli occupation military also declared its intention to turn over Palestinian media workers that continue to broadcast or work with the prohibited channels “to interrogation and detention.” The equipment inside the offices was ransacked and confiscated by invading military forces.
The offices of Al-Quds TV, Al-Aqsa TV and Palestine Today in al-Khalil were also directly attacked, raided and their belongings confiscated and forcibly closed. Amer al-Jaabari, the director of Trans Media, and his brother Ibrahim al-Jaabari, were among 23 Palestinians seized by Israeli occupation forces in overnight raids.
These attacks come as dozens of Palestinian journalists remain imprisoned, a number of them held without charge or trial under administrative detention. Hundreds of ordinary Palestinian citizens – including Palestinians holding Israeli citizenship – have been jailed for “incitement” for posting on social media, especially Facebook.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network denounces the ongoing attacks on Palestinian journalists, media organizations and radio and TV channels and urges broader international solidarity with imprisoned Palestinian journalists and forcibly closed media offices and channels to demand their freedom and an end to the institutionalized Israeli occupation repression that seeks to silence their voices.
The protest comes as part of an international week of action marking the anniversary of Abdallah’s arrest by French police in 1984 and the beginning of his 34th year in French prisons, despite being eligible for release since 1999. The Lebanese Communist struggler for Palestine’s trial was marked by severe irregularities, including the involvement of one of his lawyers from an earlier case spying on him for French intelligence.
Abdallah was originally arrested in 1984 for allegedly carrying false documents; his detention was repeatedly extended as French intelligence searched for information to charge him with involvement in armed actions that killed a U.S. diplomat and an Israeli representative in Paris. Today, he remains behind bars despite several previous favorable parole decisions overruled by political forces, and his case has received wide support from an array of justice and left organizations throughout France and internationally.
The New York protesters distributed information about Abdallah’s case and carried signs demanding the French state release Abdallah. As U.S. government pressure has been a signifcant issue in the ongoing imprisonment of Abdallah, protesting in the U.S. is particularly relevant to his case.
Photo: Bud Korotzer/Desertpeace
Samidoun protesters this week were rejoined by Christian Cobb, recently returned from an international solidarity and work delegation to Cuba honoring the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Che Guevara.
Protesters also focused on another case involving France: that of French-Palestinian lawyer Salah Hamouri, a field researcher for Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association. Hamouri is a former Palestinian prisoner who spent six years in Israeli prison; now, he is subject to a six-month administrative detention order without charge or trial.
A growing campaign across France, led by his French wife, Elsa Lefort, who was detained for three days and banned from Palestine for 10 years by the Israeli state when she traveled home with her husband after a visit with her family in France, is demanding Hamouri’s release. A large number of elected officials, municipalities and organizations have joined the campaign for his freedom.
Photo: Bud Korotzer/Desertpeace
However, to date, the French state has remained largely silent on Hamouri’s case, providing only standard consular visits and failing to place any significant pressure on Israel to release their detained citizen arbitrarily detained without charge or trial. The New York protesters also urged the French government to take action in Hamouri’s case, distributing literature and carrying signs highlighting his imprisonment.
Samidoun activists in New York will continue their participation in the Week of Action next week; the next protest will take place at the French Consulate in New York at 934 5th Avenue at 5 pm on Monday, 23 October. Events are taking place as part of the days of action, including a large protest at Lannemezan prison on 21 October, where Abdallah is jailed; other protests and events will take place in Athens, Bordeaux, Berlin, Brussels, Paris, Marseille, Villeneuve, Den Haag, Tunis, Beirut, and in various locations in Palestine.
Photo: Bud Korotzer/Desertpeace
The participants are also planning to join a number of other upcoming events in New York in the coming days, including a press conference organized by the National Lawyers Guild International Committee on Wednesday, 18 October against U.S. threats of war in the Korean peninsula. Samidoun is also endorsing an event organized on 27 October by Nodutdol for Korean Community Development, also mobilizing against threats of U.S. bombing in Korea and in support of the Korean people.
The week of action kicked off with an exciting action organized by the Greek Front of Resistance and Solidarity for Palestine “Ghassan Kanafani”,who raised a banner to free Georges Abdallah on Saturday, 14 October at the football game between Atromitos and Asteras Tripolis at a central spot beside the Atromitos fans.
Photo: Kanafani Front
Other early events were held in Bordeaux, from which participants will also join the large national march in Lannemezan on Saturday, 21 October. On Friday, 13 October, the Collectif Liberons Georges 33 organized an evening of solidarity with Georges Abdallah featuring a screening of “3000 Nights” about Palestinian political prisoners; the following night, the organizers held a dinner with Jacques-Marie Bourguet to support Georges Abdallah.
Photo: Joe Catron
Meanwhile, in New York City, Samidoun in New York organized the first of two protests it will hold to demand freedom for Georges Abdallah and that the French state act to free detained Palestinian lawyer Salah Hamouri from Israeli jails. Protesters gathered at the French mission to the United Nations, carrying placards and distributing information about the cases.
In Belgium, the new appeal for freedom for Georges Abdallah has attracted over 100 signatures, including 20 organizations such as Intal, Palestina Solidariteit, Activist Child-Care, Mouvement Citoyen Palestine, Plate-forme Charleroi-Palestine and the BDS Committee at ULB. Palestinians in Gaza issued solidarity videos expressing their support for the international campaign to free Georges Abdallah.
Many more events are being organized and will take place in Manchester, Brussels, Berlin, Den Haag, Toulouse, Marseille, Villeneuve, Lannemezan, Paris, Bordeaux, New York City, Tunis, Beirut and elsewhere. There is still time to join in the week of action! Organize an event or take a social media action by posting photos with signs calling for freedom for Georges Abdallah. If you are organizing another event for Palestine or other social justice issues, take a group photo with our materials to free Georges Abdallah.
Become a part of the campaign – organize events, actions and protests at French embassies and consulates around the world. Where there is not a French consulate, protest at U.S. or Israeli embassies and consulates and in public squares between 14 October and 24 October. Include Georges Abdallah in your actions and demonstrations during that time against war and racism and for Palestine and political prisoners’ liberation. Send us your events! Use this form or email samidoun@samidoun.net
NEW YORK:
Monday, 16 October
Protest to Free Georges Abdallah and Salah Hamouri
5:00 pm
France Mission to the United Nations
245 E. 47th St, NYC
Organized by Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1897506840567283/
MANCHESTER:
Wednesday, 18 October
Free Georges Abdallah! Free all Palestinian Prisoners!
12:00 pm
University of Manchester Students Union
Manchester, UK
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/529973637336876/
DEN HAAG (THE HAGUE):
Friday, 20 October
Freedom for Salah Hamouri and Georges Abdallah
2:00 pm
Embassy of France to the Netherlands
Den Haag
More information: https://www.facebook.com/events/182938298942362/
TOULOUSE:
Friday, 20 October
Palestine: They can’t stop our solidarity!
6:30 pm – 11 pm
Le Hangar de la Cépière
8 rue de Bagnolet, Toulouse
More information: https://www.facebook.com/events/1330369670424161/
LANNEMEZAN:
Saturday, 21 October
National Demonstration to Free Georges Abdallah
2:00 pm
Gare de Lannemezan (March to Lannemezan Prison)
Lannemezan, France
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/814700755345206/
LYON:
Saturday, 21 October
Boxing event and “Soul Train” evening in support of Georges Abdallah
7:00 pm
Lyon 7th-Gerland
Email: csao-harraga@riseup.net
Organized by: Dar Harraga (Lyon) / Jugurtha band’s (St Etienne) / Comité lyon sud/est pour la libération de Georges Ibrahim Abdallah
More info: https://rebellyon.info/Gala-de-boxe-et-soiree-Soul-Train-en-18143
BEIRUT:
Sunday, 22 October
Lebanon demands the release of Georges Abdallah from French prisons
11:00 am
Al-Sham Street
Université Saint-Joseph de Beyrouth – USJ
More information: https://www.facebook.com/events/131239200959946/
NEW YORK:
Monday, 23 October
Free Georges Abdallah and Salah Hamouri!
5:00 pm
Consulate General of France in New York
934 5th Avenue
New York City
More information: https://www.facebook.com/events/888197914668181/
BIRZEIT:
Wednesday, 25 October
Seminar and vigil for Georges Abdallah and Samir Abu Naameh
11:00 am
Bir Zeit University
Palestine
More information: https://www.facebook.com/events/1449960441760546/
SHATILA CAMP:
Friday, 27 October
Solidarity with Georges Abdallah – Organized by the Palestinian Chess Club in Shatila
6:00 pm
Palestinian Chess Club
Shatila Camp, Beirut, Lebanon
Call to Action
24 October 2017 marks the 33rd anniversary of the arrest of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, revolutionary Lebanese Arab Communist struggler for Palestine, by French police. Since 1984, he has remained behind bars, one of the longest-held political prisoners in the world. From 14-24 October 2017, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network joins organizations in France and around the world to call for a week of international actions to demand freedom for Georges Ibrahim Abdallah and all Palestinian prisoners!
Georges Abdallah has been committed throughout his life to the revolutionary struggle in Lebanon and the liberation of Palestine. He was involved with the Palestinian leftist organization, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, resisting Israeli attacks on Lebanon. Later, he joined other Lebanese revolutionary leftists in the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Factions, pointing to a non-sectarian, socialist and revolutionary path to liberation for the people of Lebanon, faced with civil war militias and Israeli invasion and occupation in the south of Lebanon.
Georges Abdallah was originally arrested for allegedly carrying false documents; his detention was repeatedly extended as French intelligence searched for information to charge him with involvement in armed actions that killed a U.S. diplomat and an Israeli representative in Paris. Even one of his lawyers was reportedly involved in spying on Abdallah for the French intelligence agency. While he was supposed to be exchanged with prisoners held by Arab revolutionaries, the French state reneged after obtaining their own prisoners, keeping Abdallah as a prisoner.
In 1987, when Georges Abdallah was sentenced, he was expected to receive a lengthy sentence of ten yearsor less – as recommended by the prosecutor in his case. Instead, he received a life sentence, as argued by a private lawyer representing the U.S. government.
Today, Georges Abdallah remains behind bars. Despite being eligible for release since 1999, his applications have been denied repeatedly. Even when they have been approved judicially, French officials have intervened at the highest levels to block his release, such as former Prime Minister Manuel Valls. U.S. officials like former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have also intervened in an attempt to block Abdallah’s release. In essence, Georges Abdallah is a prisoner not only of the French colonial state but also of U.S. imperialism and the Israeli occupation. Meanwhile, the Lebanese government has failed to live up to its responsibility in seeking the freedom of its imprisoned countryman.
Despite being held in Lannemezan prison for over 33 years of his life, Georges Abdallah is an active participant in struggle. He has written letters and issued statements in response to revolutionary struggles around the world and always maintains a special eye toward the Palestinian prisoners, who have declared him one of their own.
His words continue to inspire generations of revolutionaries, strugglers and freedom fighters. And his participation is not limited to words – indeed, he has refused meals and organized his Basque and Arab fellow prisoners in Lannemezan to do so as well, in solidarity with the hunger strikes of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
Georges Abdallah expressed his solidarity with imprisoned Palestinian national leader, Ahmad Sa’adat, the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, wearing a shirt demanding his release. In return, Sa’adat issued a public letter to Abdallah from Ramon prison:
We are chained by the common injustices manufactured in the United States of America, which are the same ones used in Palestine, and I do not doubt that there are many examples in all of the strongholds of imperialism.
You and those who unite with you in support and solidarity, the true comrades in France, Lebanon, Palestine and all over the world, are the natural extension of those who once carried hammers, stormed the Bastille and broke into the prison walls…the extension of those who turned the cells of the Zionist occupation into revolutionary schools from which successive generations learn the meaning of will, determination and commitment…the extension of all of the forces and movements for liberation in the world who resist for true democracy and a world free of exploitation, tyranny and subjugation, where the values of social justice, liberation and dignity prevail.
Until we meet one day in the world of freedom, you remain a symbol and a model for us to follow.
This year, on 14-24 October, we call on you to join us, in your cities, communities, neighborhoods, camps, towns and campuses, to organize events, protests, marches and activities to demand freedom for Georges Ibrahim Abdallah and all Palestinian prisoners. Events are already being organized in France, including the mass annual march to Lannemezan prison, in Ireland, in the United States, in Germany, in Spain, in Belgium and in Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine, among other locations.
Georges Abdallah is not alone; his imprisonment comes alongside that of Ahmad Sa’adat and over 6,200 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails and the prisoners of Palestine in U.S. and other international jails. They are imprisoned in an attempt to silence and suppress the anti-colonial struggle of the Palestinian people for justice, liberation and return – yet their leadership remains a symbol of hope and inspiration to all those who struggle for freedom. Join the movement to free Georges Abdallah, free Palestinian political prisoners and free Palestine, from the river to the sea!
TAKE ACTION:
1. Organize events, actions and protests at French embassies and consulates around the world. Where there is not a French consulate, protest at U.S. or Israeli embassies and consulates and in public squares. Send us your events! Use this form or email samidoun@samidoun.net
2. Join the broad national protest in Lannemezan on 21 October. Every year, hundreds arrive to demand George’s freedom, raising a call so loud the prisoners can hear us inside. Don’t miss this year’s action!