6-10 October, Vienna: George Jackson in the Sun of Palestine Festival

5 October 2017

Friday, 6 October – Tuesday, 10 October
Spektakel Wien
Hamburgerstrasse 14
1050 Vienna, Austria
More information: http://spektakel.wien/event/george-jackson-in-the-sun-of-palestine-festival/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/118383545511477/

Three-day festival on George L. Jackson – political prisoner, revolutionary, leader of the Black Panther Party (German below)

The traveling exhibition, “George Jackson in the Sun of Palestine,” curated by Greg Thomas, will be shown in Vienna, Austria, with an opening event from 6-8 October. More information and the program follow below:

Friday, 6 October

7:30 pm: Opening and introduction with Greg Thomas, curator
9:00 pm – Rhymes and beats from Beyond International with Diaz (Algiers), Asifeh (Ramallah/Vienna), Levni (Istanbul/Vienna), Kolonel Blip (Istanbul/Vienna), DJ Takonedoe (Vienna), Rezurec (Beirut/Vienna)

Saturday, 7 October

7:00 pm: “They’ll never count me among the broken men” – Film screenings on George L. Jackson and anti-prison, Black, Palestinian, anti-colonial resistance

Sunday, 8 October

5:00 pm: “Love – Poems – Weapons of Liberation” – Lecture with Greg Thomas of Tufts University. Reading with poetry and texts of Samih al-Qasim, Mahmoud Darwish, Jean Genet, George L. Jackson, Suheir Hammad, Kateb Yacine…

Tuesday, 10 October

7:00 pm: Greg Thomas in conversation with Alexis Neuberg live at Radio Afrika TV
Followed by discussion, drinks and food
Event takes place at AfriPoint, Hofmuhlgasse 2, 1060 Vienna

A Black revolutionary prisoner and member of the Black Panther Party, George L. Jackson was slain by prison guards – on August 21, 1971 – at San Quentin State Prison in California, USA. When he was murdered, the Black Panther Party loudly and proudly proclaimed “George Jackson Lives!” And so he does for new generations of artists and activists, prisoners and revolutionaries all over the planet.

On the day of his assassination, prison authorities seized Palestinian resistance poetry from George Jackson’s prison cell – along with more than 99 books from his contraband library. He and his comrades identified with Samih al-Qasim’s poem “Enemy of the Sun” most of all. The Black Panther Party expressed a radical solidarity with Palestinian resistance struggles in a variety of ways. Visually, and inspired by a poetic ‘mistake’ of radical kinship and solidarity „George Jackson in the Sun of Palestine“ highlights some of these global solidarity links between Black and Palestinian liberation movements, today as well as yesterday, both inside and outside prison.

Presented in English, Arabic, and German, the exhibit materials include paintings, woodcut prints, graphic design illustration, political poster art, multilingual book covers, handwritten prison letters, Black Panther newspaper covers, graffiti murals, photography, and video footage, not to mention a musical soundtrack.

Curated by Greg Thomas, Associate Professor for Black Studies and Literature in English. The founding editor of Proud Flesh, an e-journal, is also author of The Sexual Demon of Colonial Power: Pan-African Embodiment and Erotic Schemes of Empire (2007) as well as Hip-Hop Revolution in the Flesh (2009). Currently, he is at work on a book on the writings of George Jackson.

The traveling exhibition “George Jackson in the Sun of Palestine” premiered in October 2015 for the Abu Jihad Museum for Political Prisoner Affairs in Abu Dis on the campus of Al Quds University. It was recently hosted by the African Community Center in the Old City of Jerusalem and on display at the Khashabi Theatre in Haifa. “George Jackson in the Sun of Palestine” was also shown at the Black Panther Party 50th Anniversary Conference in summer 2016.

https://www.facebook.com/George-Jackson-in-the-Sun-of-Palestine-968792993179099/

Programm
Freitag, 6. Oktober
Vernissage
19h30 Begrüßung und Einführung von Greg Thomas, Kurator

Samstag, 7. Oktober
19h “They’ll never count me among the broken men.”
Film Screenings in Erinnerung an George L. Jackson, Anti-Prison, Black, Palestinian, Anti-Colonial Resistance

Sonntag, 8. Oktober
17h “Love – Poems – Weapons of Liberation”
Vortrag von Greg Thomas (Tufts University)
Lesung mit Texten und Gedichten von Samih Al-Qasim, Mahmood Darwish, Jean Genet, George L. Jackson, Suheir Hammad, Assata Shakur, Kateb Yacine, …

Dienstag, 10. Oktober
19h-20h Greg Thomas im Gespräch mit Alexis Neuberg live @ Radio Afrika TV
Anschließend Diskussion, Drinks & Food
!Veranstaltung findet im AfriPoint statt ( Hofmühlgasse 2, 1060 Wien)!

George L. Jackson – politischer Gefangener, Revolutionär, Mitglied der Black Panther Party – wurde am 21. August 1971 im San Quentin State Prison in Kalifornien (USA) von Gefängniswärtern ermordet. Angesichts seines Todes proklamierte die Black Panther Party stolz, frei und laut: „George Jackson Lives!“ Und bis heute leben George Jackson, seine Poesie, seine Ideen und Texte für neue Generationen von Künstler_innen, Aktivist_innen, Gefangenen und Revolutionär_innen auf der ganzen Welt weiter.

Am Tag seiner Ermordung konfiszierte die Gefängnisverwaltung in George Jacksons Zelle – neben weiteren 99 Büchern aus seiner geschmuggelten Gefängnisbibliothek – palästinensische Widerstandsgedichte. Er und seine Genoss_innen identifizierten sich vor allen anderen Gedichten mit den Worten aus Samih al-Qasim’s „Enemy of the Sun“.

Radikale Solidarität mit dem palästinensischen Widerstand hat die Black Panther Party auf vielfältige Weise und Wege zum Ausdruck gebracht. Visuell und inspiriert von einer magischen „Verwechslung“, hebt die Ausstellung „George Jackson in the Sun of Palestine“ einige dieser globalen Verknüpfungen politischer Verwandtschaft zwischen Black Liberation, Palästinensischer Befreiungsbewegung und anderen anti-kolonialen Kämpfen hervor: Gestern wie heute, inner- und außerhalb der Gefängnisse.

Dreisprachig auf Englisch, Arabisch und Deutsch präsentiert, besteht die reisende Sammlung der Ausstellung aus Gemälden, Holzschnitten, Illustrationen, Postern, mehrsprachigen Buch-Covers, handschriftlichen Gefängnisbriefen, Black Panther Newspaper Covers, Graffitis, Fotografien, Video footage und nicht zuletzt einem Soundtrack.

Kuratiert von Greg Thomas, Associate Professor für Black Studies and Literature in English, Tufts University. Greg Thomas ist Autor von The Sexual Demon of Colonial Power: Pan-African Embodiment and Erotic Schemes of Empire (2007), Hip-Hop Revolution in the Flesh (2009) und Mitbegründer des E-Journals Proud Flesh. Momentan arbeitet er an einem Buch zu den Gefängnisschriften von George Jackson.

Die Ausstellung „George Jackson in the Sun of Palestine“ hatte ihre Premiere im Oktober 2015 für das Abu Jihad Museum for Political Prisoner Affairs in Abu Dis auf dem Campus der Al Quds University. Vor kurzem war die Wanderausstellung im African Community Center in der Altstadt von Jerusalem zu Gast. Anfang des Jahres war sie im Khashabi Theatre in Haifa zu sehen. Auch auf der Black Panther Party 50th Anniversary Konferenz war „George Jackson in the Sun of Palestine“ ausgestellt.

https://www.facebook.com/George-Jackson-in-the-Sun-of-Palestine-968792993179099/

10 October, Choisy: Evening of Solidarity for Salah Hamouri

5 October 2017

Tuesday, 10 October 2017
7:30 pm
Salle le Royal
13 avenue Anatole France
94600 Choisy-le-Roi, France
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/294589421040259

Evening of solidarity with Salah Hamouri, French-Palestinian lawyer arbitrarily detained in Israel, in order to build a local support committee. Event includes:

Screening of the documentary, “The Salah Hamouri Affair,” followed by speakers:

Nadir Dendoune, director of the film

Elsa Lefort, the wife of Salah Hamouri and spokesperson for the support committee.

This is an initiative of the Association Solidarité Choisy Palestine, with the support of LDH Choisy-Orly-Thiais, PCF Choisy, FI Choisy, and the UL CGT Choisy.

Samidoun in Palestine organizes its first event at Bir Zeit University

4 October 2017

Samidoun in occupied Palestine organized its first event on Tuesday, 3 October, a special seminar on the experience of imprisonment featuring presentations by Dr. Lena Meari and Mohammed Badr, a former prisoner and student at the Faculty of Information. With a focus on the experience of imprisonment and the construction of the revolutionary self, the program was attended by a packed room of students and faculty, with a group of people outside in the hall as they were unable to fit in the packed conference room.

The event began with a presentation on the reasons for establishing the Samidoun Network in Palestine, its history and the nature of its activities and objectives in North America, Europe and elsewhere.

Dr. Lena Meari of the Faculty of Women’s Studies at Bir Zeit University, presented on her Ph.D. thesis topic, on methods of torture, psychological trauma and Palestinian prisoners and resistance. She focused on the importance of the resistance inside occupation prisons and its role in shaping revolutionary identity and steadfastness.

Former prisoner and student Mohammed Badr discussed his own experience under detention in Israeli prisons, explaining his own methods for withstanding interrogation without falling into the traps designed to elicit confessions. The event concluded with discussions, interventions and questions from the audience.

Samidoun in Palestine will be organizing future events and activities, which can be followed on its new Facebook page.

Samidoun’s events in the Arab world are growing as well; its new Arabic-language website has reports, articles, news and events in Arabic. The Samidoun Network in Lebanon will hold its first event on Saturday, 7 October in Beddawi refugee camp in the Palestinian Arab Cultural Club, in support of the campaign for freedom for Georges Abdallah. Samidoun Lebanon can also be followed on its new Facebook page.

The Bir Zeit event video follows (in Arabic):

9 October, NYC: 2nd Annual Anti-Columbus Day Tour

4 October 2017

Monday, 9 October
3:30 pm
American Museum of Natural History
200 Central Park W, NYC
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1302697323192187/

The 2nd Annual Anti-Columbus Day Tour is upon us. On October 9th at 3:30 pm we will gather in the main atrium of the the American Museum of Natural History, and through an alternative narrative tour developed in collaboration with communities and groups based throughout the city and beyond, we will collectively press for the three demands we articulated last year: Remove the white supremacist statue in front of the museum, Rename the day to Indigenous People’s Day, and Respect the Ancestors. This action will be strong and beautiful with your participation and presence.

Family friendly
Tickets provided
Bring a friend

#decolonizethisplace
#notmyhero

New York protest demands freedom for Ahmad Sa’adat, all Palestinian prisoners

4 October 2017

New York activists protested on Monday, 2 October to demand freedom for imprisoned Palestinian leader Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian prisoners. The protest, held outside the Best Buy electronics store in Manhattan’s Union Square, highlighted the case of the imprisoned General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine as well as the growing international campaign to boycott Hewlett-Packard (HP) corporations over their role in providing technical infrastructure to Israeli apartheid.

The protest, organized by Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, also expressed solidarity with three longtime Black Liberation Movement prisoners in New York jails: Jalil Muntaqim, Herman Bell and Robert Seth Hayes. Bell – jailed for 43 years – was recently attacked by prison guards, beaten badly, and has been denied family visits. In addition to information about Palestinian prisoners, the case of Ahmad Sa’adat and HP complicity in Israeli colonialism, the demonstrators also distributed a leaflet about the three men’s cases.

Ahmad Sa’adat is currently serving a 30-year sentence in Israeli occupation prisons for his leadership of the PFLP. The leftist Palestinian leader was seized by occupation forces along with four of his comrades – Ahed Abu Ghoulmeh, Majdi Rimawi, Hamdi Quran and Basil al-Asmar – in 2006 when they violently attacked the Palestinian Authority’s Jericho prison. Sa’adat and his comrades had been jailed under U.S. and British guard in PA prison for four years, since 2002. He recently published a new book about his experience of isolation inside Israeli prisons; he is one of the foremost leaders of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement as well as a Palestinian national leader.

During his military trial, Sa’adat refused to participate or recognize the court. Samidoun international coordinator Charlotte Kates was part of a delegation of U.S. lawyers and activists in 2007 who participated in observing the military trial and witnessing firsthand the mockery of justice presented. At the close of the trial, Sa’adat stood to speak to the court, denouncing its role and proclaiming his commitment to Palestinian liberation:

“Based on all that I have said, and 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. Because what you call a list of accusations and ‘security infractions’ are in reality my patriotic duties, “whether they were effective or not,” and would have to be framed within the context of the general duty of resistance against occupation.

At the same time, and as the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, I would like to reaffirm my pride in belonging to the Palestinian Revolutionary Movement and to the extensions of this movement in the regional, national and international planes that form the components of the international movement against the imperialist system of globalization. This is the leading framework of the peoples of the world and their oppressed social classes that struggle for freedom, democracy, socialism, global progress, the just distribution of wealth, equality among peoples and peace – rejecting repression and the concept of imperialist freedom based on plunder, injustice and racial discrimination.”

The protest focused on Best Buy as a major retailer of HP products to the consumer market. HP corporations are involved in providing IT databases to the Israel Prison Service as well as selling the technology Israeli occupation forces use to maintain their system of apartheid checkpoints and ID cards. HP corporations are even involved in providing technical support to the Israeli navy and other military forces, thus profiting from the siege on Gaza and the daily military occupation and colonization imposed on the Palestinian people. Churches, labor unions and other organizations are joining the call to become “HP-free zones” to demand the corporation cut its ties to apartheid.

Khaled Barakat, the international spokesperson of the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat and a Palestinian leftist writer, delivered a message of solidarity to the protest. Barakat wrote:

“Ahmad Sa’adat is a representation of the reality in Palestine today: the leaders of the Palestinian people – the lawyers, the strugglers, the organizers, the parliamentarians, the freedom fighters, the students, the teachers – are targeted time and again for night raids, mass arrests, torture under interrogation and lengthy prison sentences. This is an attempt to deny the Palestinian people their leadership and thus hold back the tide of resistance for return and liberation.

We salute Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network and the New York activists especially, who consistently and firmly stand behind Palestinian prisoners, linking arms in struggle to demand liberation for all Palestinian prisoners and liberation for Palestine. Your actions and dedication are seen not only here but also warm the hearts and raise the spirits of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Your tireless work through three years of weekly demonstrations illustrate your own steadfastness as true comrades on the march towards liberation.”

Samidoun will be participating in multiple upcoming events and actions in the coming week in New York City. It is one of the co-organizers of the 7 October Rally to Resist War and Racism at Home and Abroad, joining with dozens of other organizations to denounce U.S. war threats, imperial attacks and racist policies.

On Monday, 9 October, Samidoun will not be holding its own protest but will instead be supporting Indigenous and Indigenous solidarity organizing against “Columbus Day,” participating in the 2nd Annual Anti-Columbus Day Tour beginning at the American Museum of Natural History. The protest has three demands: “Remove the white supremacist statue in front of the museum, Rename the day to Indigenous People’s Day, and Respect the Ancestors.”

Samidoun in New York will be planning actions in the following weeks as part of the international Days of Action to Free Georges Abdallah from 14-24 October; announcements will be posted soon. All supporters of justice for Palestine and the Palestinian people are encouraged to join and attend these events.

Escalating arrests, detentions target Palestinian journalists

4 October 2017

An Israeli occupation military court extended the detention of two Palestinian journalists, Amir Abu Araam and Alaa al-Titi, until Tuesday, 10 October, accusing them of “incitement.” Both are correspondents for Al-Aqsa TV. The two were seized when occupation forces invaded their homes in pre-dawn raids on Monday, 2 October, ransacking their belongings and terrorizing their families.

Three days before, al-Titi and his colleague Mustafa al-Khawaja had been sentenced to a fine of 3,000 NIS ($800 USD) and a suspended sentence of eight months over a three-year period if they return to work for Al-Aqsa TV, in a case that began in 2015; the two had been imprisoned and released as the military court hearings dragged on over years. Al-Titi has been repeatedly detained on political grounds by the Israeli occupation and also the Palestinian Authority security forces.

Meawhile, fellow journalist, freelancer and Quds News Network correspondent Ragheed Tabisia, 24, from Qalqilya, had his detention extended once again by an Israeli occupation military court. Tabisia was seized by occupation forces in a pre-dawn raid on his home on 24 September; he has been held in the Jalameh interrogation center since that time.

Palestinian journalist Mohammed Awad, seized on 29 September, was ordered on 3 October to administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial. There are now approximately 30 Palestinian journalists in Israeli occupation prisons and the recent slew of arrests in the past several weeks has highlighted an escalation in attacks on Palestinian journalists. Awad had previously been jailed for 10 months in 2013 and works for Wattan TV.

The Radio and Television Federation in Palestine said that “the number of detainees in Israeli jails is increasing amid the intensification of arrest campaigns against journalists by the occupation authorities…the Israeli occupation deliberately postpones the trials of journalists under flimsy pretexts and subjects journalists to administrative detention without charge.”

On 4 October, the Committee to Support Journalists emphasized that Palestinian journalists face increased danger to their lives and freedoms, marking 53 violations to journalists’ rights in Palestine in September 2017, 48 carried out by the Israeli occupation.

During September, 11 journalists were arrested and held, detained and released or summoned to interrogation by the Israeli occupation, including Tabisia, Awad and his brother Abdel-Rahman Awad; Kayed Hassanein, Hazem Badr, Issam Rimawi and Talal Abu Rahma – all detained – and filmmaker Mohammed Bakri and journalists Ahmed Jalajel and Daoud Afaneh, all summoned to interrogtion.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network denounces the ongoing attacks on Palestinian journalists and urges broader international solidarity with imprisoned Palestinian journalists to demand their freedom and an end to the institutionalized Israeli occupation repression that seeks to silence their voices.

Sheikh Raed Salah held in solitary confinement; emphasizes commitment to struggle

4 October 2017

Sheikh Raed Salah, leader of the Islamic Movement in occupied Palestine ’48 and a prominent defender of Al-Aqsa Mosque against Israeli settler attacks, is currently held in solitary confinement in Ramon prison in the Naqab desert, said his lawyer Khaled Zabarqa after a meeting with Salah on 4 October, as reported by Wattan TV.

Zabarqa said that Salah is charged with “incitement” for speeches about Al-Aqsa during the Palestinian campaign against new electronic gates and other occupation repressive technology installed at the holy site in July 2017, as well as for performing prayers at the funerals of three young men from Umm al-Fahm killed by Israeli forces after participating in an attack that killed two occupation armed “border police” in Jerusalem. He is also accused of supporting a “prohibited organization,” the Islamic Movement, which was declared prohibited in 2015 in what Palestinians from across the political spectrum in occupied Palestine ’48 denounced as an attack on the entire Palestinian people.

“Sheikh Salah will remain faithful to the Islamic, pan-Arab and Palestinian principles despite his arrest and the conditions of his detention,” said Zabarqa, noting that Salah’s morale is high and that he sends greetings to all his supporters. Zabarqa further said that the indictment file against Salah is “fabricated” for political purposes.

Sheikh Salah is prevented from mixing with or seeing other Palestinian political prisoners and has also been denied books for reading. Salah was released in January 2017 after eight months of imprisonment for a speech he gave in 2009; during his imprisonment, he was also held in solitary confinement for the entire time, denied visits, including from Knesset members, and denied access to books and reading material.

Israeli occupation officials have also been involved in attempts, including in the United Kingdom, to deny Salah an international platform for advocacy. He has been subjected to repeated travel bans by the Israeli state and has also been repeatedly barred from entering Jerusalem itself.

63 more Palestinians jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention

4 October 2017

Israeli occupation authorities issued at least 63 administrative detention orders in the latter part of September, reported Palestinian lawyer Mahmoud al-Halabi of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society.

Among those ordered to administrative detention were Sabah Faraoun, a Palestinian seamstress from Jerusalem whose administrative detention has been extended five times since she was seized by occupation forces on 19 June 2016, and Salah Hamouri, the French-Palestinian lawyer and human rights defender who is the subject of a global campaign for his release.

Administrative detention orders, which imprison Palestinians without charge or trial on the basis of secret evidence, are issued for one- to six-month periods and are indefinitely renewable. Palestinians have spent years at a time jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention. There are currently approximately 450 Palestinians held under administrative detention out of a total of 6,200 Palestinian political prisoners.

The orders issued include the following:

1. Habib Ahmed Mohammed, Bethlehem, 6 months, extension
2. Ibrahim Ismail Zanouneh, al-Khalil, 6 months, extension
3. Salah Mohammed Khawaja, Ramallah, 2 months, extension
4. Ghaleb Mohammed Atatra, Jenin, 4 months, new order
5. Moatassem Billah Jiyawi, al-Khalil, 6 months, extension
6. Yousef Mohammed Za’ik, al-Khalil, 4 months, new order
7. Omar Fathi Shafi’i, Nablus, 6 month, new order
8. Rabie Salim Abdo, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
9. Nader Abdel-Halim Natsheh, al-Khalil, 6 months, new order
10. Sabah Ahmed Faraoun, Jerusalem, 3 months, extension
11. Ayad Jamal al-Hareimi, Bethlehem, 6 months, extension
12. Suhaib Nasri al-Zeer, Bethlehem, 6 months, new order
13. Abdallah Ibrahim Jawarish, Bethlehem, 6 months, extension
14. Majd Ahmad Amarneh, Jenin, 4 months, new order
15. Bassam Abdel-Rahim Hammad, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
16. Murad Ali Asakra, Bethlehem, 6 months, new order
17. Fathi Mohammed Atoum, Jenin, 5 months, extension
18. Abdel-Khaliq Hasan al-Natsheh, al-Khalil, 4 months, new order
19. Hussein Saleh Abu Aker, Bethlehem, 4 months, extension
20. Diaa Yousef Shehadeh, Ramallah, 6 months, new order
21. Qais Fouad Kharma, Ramallah, 4 months, new order
22. Arib Walid Salem, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
23. Hammam Munir Abu Rahma, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
24. Abdel-Aziz Mahmoud Mubarak, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
25. Mohammed Jamal Sajidiya, Ramallah, 6 months, extension
26. Ahmed As’ad Abu Khalifa, Jenin, 4 months, extension
27. Raafat Jamal Nassif, Tulkaem, 6 months, extension
28. Ahmed Abdel-Karim Dar Mohammed, Ramallah, 3 months, extension
29. Mohammed Jamal al-Natsheh, al-Khalil, 6 months, extension
30. Omar Mohammed Barajeh, Jericho, 4 months, extension
31. Ramzi Omar Qawar, Bethlehem, 4 months, extension
32. Mohammed Ahmad Meshaal, Ramallah, 3 months, new order
33. Imad Shafiq Erhimi, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
34. Alaa al-Din Khaled Ali, Ramallah, 3 months, extension
35. Rashid Ibrahim Rashid, Bethlehem, 4 months, extension
36. Montasser Wajih Abu Ayyash, al-Khalil, 4 months, extension
37. Mamoun Faleh Hamdan, Tulkarem, 4 months, extension
38. Ahmad Abdallah Abu Sariyeh, Jenin, 4 months, extension
39. Akram Yousef al-Fassisi, al-Khalil, 6 months, extension
40. Osama Khaled Amour, al-Khalil, 6 months, new order
41. Fadi Hamad Ghanem, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
42. Abdel-Razeq Yassin Faraj, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
43. Ibrahim Mohammed al-Rashaydeh, Bethlehem, 6 months, extension
44. Issa Khalil Abu Arqoub, al-Khalil, 6 months, extension
45. Musab Akef Ashtayeh, Nablus, 4 months, new orer
46. Mohammed Khader Musa, Bethlehem, 4 moths, extension
47. Amir Nizar Yousef Khawaja, Ramallah, 6 months, extension
48. Thabet Nassar Nassar, Nablus, 4 months, extension
49. Faisal Maahmoud Khalifa, Tulkarem, 4 months, extension
50. Yousef Fakhri Atrash, Jenin, 4 months, new order
51. Louay Sati Ashkar, Tulkarem, 3 months, extension
52. Yousef Omran Abu Hussein, al-Khalil, 6 months, extension
53. Yousef Abdel-Aziz Qazzaz, al-Khalil, 6 months, extension
54. Mohammed Abdallah Dar Taha, Ramallah, 2 months, new order
55. Nimer Ali Hamed, Ramallah, 3 months, new order
56. Mohammed Mahmoud Sahwil, Ramallah, 4 months, new order
57. Mohammed Abdallah Atwan, Bethlehem, 3 months, extension
58. Mo’men Hammad al-Obeid, Tulkarem, 6 monhts, new order
59. Abdel-Rahim Sami el-Haj, Tulkarem, 6 months, new order
60. Abdel-Basit Abdel-Jamil el-Hajj, Tulkarem, 6 months, new order
61. Khaled Ibrahim Abu Turki, al-Khalil, 4 months, new order
62. Ayman Mohammed Jabariya, al-Khalil, 3 months, extension
63. Mahdi Majdi Sweidan, Qalqilya, 4 months, extension

12 Palestinian parliamentarians jailed by Israeli occupation

4 October 2017

An Israeli military court renewed the administrative detention – imprisonment without charge or trial – of Palestinian Legislative Council member Mohammed Jamal al-Natsheh. There are currently 12 imprisoned members of the Palestinian Legislative Council in Israeli prisons.

Natsheh’s imprisonment was renewed for six months for the third time; he has been jailed without charge or trial on the basis of secret evidence since his home was stormed by occupation forces on 28 September 2016. He had previously been held without charge or trial under administrative detention and had been released for only seven months before being re-arrested. He has spent over 18 years in Israeli prisons.

An Israeli occupation court also rejected an appeal by the lawyer of fellow imprisoned Palestinian parliamentarian Ahmed Attoun, whose administrative detention without charge or trial was renewed for four months. He has been jailed since 12 April 2017.

The Ofer military court, however, ordered that PLC member Mohammed al-Tal, from Dahariyeh south of al-Khalil, will be released in approximately two weeks. Al-Tal was seized by occupation forces on 21 March 2017 and ordered to administrative detention without charge or trial for four months. After the expiration of his detention period he was then charged in the Israeli military courts; he was sentenced to nine and a half months in Israeli prison, leaving only two weeks remaining before his pending release.

Similarly, on 13 September, Azzam Salhab was sentenced to 12 months in prison by the Ofer military court; he had been imprisoned since 28 November 2016 under administrative detention before being transferred, like al-Tal, to the military courts. Salhab is expected to be released in late November.

Natsheh, Attoun, Salhab and al-Tal are all members of the Change and Reform Bloc, the parliamentary bloc associated with the Hamas movement. Other PLC members from the bloc held in Israeli jails include Mohammed Abu Teir, Omar Abdel-Razak, Mohammed Badr, Ibrahim Dahbour, and Ahmad Mubarak.

Also held without charge or trial under administrative detention is Khalida Jarrar, the leftist feminist parliamentarian and Palestinian national leader, seized on 2 July by occupation forces; she was ordered to six months in administrative detention. Jarrar is a member of the Abu Ali Mustafa Bloc, associated with the Palestinian Left and the Popular Front for the Liberatin of Palestine.

Fellow imprisoned Palestinian parliamentarians include two of the most prominent political leaders serving lengthy sentences: Ahmad Sa’adat, 63, the imprisoned General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine serving a 30-year prison sentence after he and his comrades were abducted by Israeli forces attacking a Palestinian Authority prison in Jericho in 2006, and Marwan Barghouthi, prominent Fateh leader serving five life sentences and imprisoned since 2002.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network demands the immediate release of all of the imprisoned Palestinian parliamentarians. Their imprisonment reflects an Israeli drive to criminalize and confiscate Palestinian leaders while denying any true political expression to people under occupation.

Palestinian student Kifah Quzmar released after seven months in prison without charge or trial

4 October 2017

Kifah Quzmar, 23, Palestinian student and activist, was released on Wednesday, 4 October after seven months of imprisonment without charge or trial under administrative detention. Quzmar was received by comrades, family and friends upon the moment of release, who welcomed him joyously.

Quzmzr is an active student at Bir Zeit University in the last year of study for his degree in business administration. He was seized by Israeli occupation forces on 7 March 2017 as he returned from Jordan via the Karameh/Allenby crossing and subject to interrogation for 20 days and denied access to his lawyer, sparking his 4-day hunger strike.

Over 70 international organizations signed on to a collective statement initiated by student groups in Belgium, the Netherlands, Canada, the United States and Palestine demanding Quzmar’s immediate release. The statement highlights the ongoing targeting of Palestinian students for arrest and persecution, especially for involvement in student activities, including annual student council elections. It also urges the academic boycott of Israel, particularly in response to the ongoing denial of Palestinians’ right to education.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes Kifah Quzmar upon his release from Israeli prisons and urges the immediate end to the policy of administrative detention, the freedom of all student prisoners in Israeli jails and the release of all 6,200 Palestinians held in the prisons of the occupation. We thank all of the international organizations and student groups who joined in the campaign to free Kifah, wrote letters to him in prison and demanded his release.

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