Take action: Mobilization grows to free Salah Hamouri, French-Palestinian human rights defender

4 September 2017

The administrative detention confirmation hearing for Palestinian-French human rights defender Salah Hamouri, recent law graduate, field researcher at Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association and re-arrested Palestinian political prisoner, has been delayed until 5 September, and French activists are organizing to demand that the French government put pressure on Israel to release Hamouri.

Hamouri, 32, was ordered on Tuesday, 29 August to six months imprisonment without charge or trial under administrative detention, only six days after he was seized in a pre-dawn raid on his home in Jerusalem. The order for his imprisonment without charge or trial came directly from ultra-right racist Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, only hours after he had been ordered released by the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court.

*Salah Hamouri at the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court after his administrative detention order, via Farah Bayadsi*

In France, protests by many organizations, including the Association France-Palestine Solidarite, the French Communist Party, Jeunes Communistes, EuroPalestine, Coup Pour Coup 31, local BDS organizations, the New Anticapitalist Party and a number of others have been mobilized to demand Hamouri’s release and real action on the part of the French government.

Hamouri was seized by Israeli occupation forces who invaded his Jerusalem home on 23 August, only three days after he passed the Palestinian bar examination to begin practice as a lawyer. Jailed by the Israeli occupation from 2005 until his release in the Wafa al-Ahrar prisoner exchange in 2011, he has been subject to repeated repression and harassment by the Israeli occupation, including being barred from the West Bank (and his university classes), his pregnant wife being banned from Palestine and now this current administrative detention order.

*Photo: Mechkar Elmostafa, Paris, 2 September*

In Paris, multiple sizable protests have gathered to demand action on Hamouri’s case. Protests have gathered in cities and towns, including Mitry-Mory, Martigues, Chambery, Ales, Bagneux, Vienne and Metz, while more mobilizations are planned in Toulouse, Avignon and elsewhere in the country. On Tuesday, 5 September, an initial meeting is planned to launch a support committee for Salah Hamouri in Paris. In Gennevilliers, the mayor, Patrice Leclerc has hung a large banner on city hall, calling for freedom for Salah Hamouri and directing people to sign the petition for his release.

While French president Emmanuel Macron has tweeted from his official account to urge the release of right-wing Venezuelan opposition figures detained by the Venezuelan Bolivarian government of Nicolas Maduro, he has remained silent on French citizen Salah Hamouri, imprisoned without charge or trial by the Israeli occupation.

*Photo: Elsa Lefort at Paris demonstration, 31 August*

Parliamentarians from France Insoumise , the French Communist Party and others have demanded Macron and the French government act officially to call for freedom for Salah Hamouri. While Hamouri has received a consular visit, French official state demands appear to be limited to visitation rights for Hamouri’s family, including his wife, Elsa, who is denied entry to Palestine, rather than his release.

Senator Michel Canevet, senator Rachel Mazuir, mayor Jacques Boutault, parliamentarians Ugo Bernalicis and Adrien Quatennens, Member of European Parliament Patrick Le Hyaric, scholar Pascal Boniface, mayor Sylvie Altman and many others have joined the growing number of political figures and parties speaking out across France on the Salah Hamouri case.

The large labor union, la CGT – Federation des services publics, has also spokn out on the case of Salah Hamouri, urging immediate action by the President Emmanuel Macron and the French government to demand Hamouri’s release and expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people.

These actions come, of course, in the context of a French state that has imprisoned Lebanese struggler for Palestine Georges Ibrahim Abdallah for 34 years despite a grossly unfair trial and his eligibility for release since 1999, working hand in hand with Israel and the United States, while pursuing the criminalization of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign for Palestinian human rights in France. Macron himself infamously equated anti-Zionism (opposition to racism) with anti-Semitism (anti-Jewish racism) a week before Hamouri’s seizure at the hands of Israeli occupation forces.

*Photo: Bagneux demonstration, 2 September*

It is urgent to continue to take action to build the campaign for freedom for Salah Hamouri and all Palestinian prisoners. He is one of nearly 500 Palestinians imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention and nearly 6,200 total Palestinian political prisoners held in Israeli jails. Administrative detention orders are indefinitely renewable and Palestinians have spent years at a time jailed with no charge or trial on the basis of an unchallengeable “secret file.” Demand the French government act to defend its citizen from arbitrary and racist imprisonment.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network reiterates its urgent demand for the immediate release of Salah Hamouri and all Palestinian prisoners and call for the French state to defend the rights of their citizen and take action for Salah Hamouri’s freedom. It is no less critical now; it must be made clear that it is unacceptable to imprison Hamouri – or any other Palestinian – without charge or trial. This is clearly an attempt on the part of the Israeli state to target an effective, local and international human rights defender working for Palestinian freedom.

The French state must take real action to demand freedom for Salah Hamouri, the Palestinian human rights defender. From the jails and the courts of the occupation to the cities and campuses of the world, he is a consistent and clear voice against oppression and for liberation. Free Salah Hamouri! Libérez Salah Hamouri!

TAKE ACTION

1. SIGN this petition to French president Emanuel Macron and European officials. Demand that they act now to free Hamouri: https://www.change.org/p/emmanuel-macron-demand-the-immediate-release-of-human-rights-defender-salah-hamouri

2. SIGN this French-language petition to the French government to demand they act for Hamouri’s freedom: http://liberezsalahhamouri.wesign.it/fr

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/

4. SEND an individual message to several offices of the French government demanding action. The text below is provided by the Association France-Palestine Solidarite (AFPS).

Write to:
Consulate General of France in Jerusalem by following this link: https://jerusalem.consulfrance.org/Contactez-nous-par-mail

Ministry of Foreign Affairs at this link: http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/mentions-legales-infos-pratiques/nous-ecrire/ By filling in the form with the subject line “Français de l’étranger” (French abroad)

Presidency of the Republic: http://www.elysee.fr/ecrire-au-president-de-la-republique/

Monsieur le Consul,
ou Monsieur le Ministre des affaires étrangères
ou Monsieur le Président de la République,

Salah Hamouri a été arrêté dans la nuit du 23 août à son domicile de Jérusalem-Est par l’armée d’occupation venue en grand nombre le cueillir dans son sommeil. Comme souvent, les autorités militaires n’ont donné aucun motif à cette arrestation. Il a ensuite été entendu par le tribunal pendant 20 minutes puis placé à l’isolement où il est toujours.

L’arrestation de notre concitoyen est inadmissible et insupportable. Les autorités françaises ne doivent pas laisser passer une telle infamie. C’est un véritable acharnement contre Salah Hamouri qui a déjà passé plus de 7 ans en prison.

Nous demandons à la France d’agir avec conviction pour protéger et obtenir la libération de notre concitoyen qui subit une fois de plus l’arbitraire israélien.

Dans un premier temps, la décision qui devait être rendue dimanche 27 a été reportée de deux jours à la demande de l’armée pour les besoins de « l’enquête ».

Mardi 29, alors que ses avocats négociaient les conditions d’une remise en liberté sous contrôle, un ordre ministériel est arrivé demandant au tribunal de placer Salah en détention administrative pour 6 mois. Le tribunal ayant 48 heures pour confirmer ou contester la décision à savoir jeudi 31 août.

Jeudi 31, les avocats de Salah Hamouri ont obtenu 5 jours de délais, c’est-à-dire jusqu’au mardi 5 septembre pour pouvoir examiner la seule pièce qu’ils puissent obtenir : le PV de l’audition de 20 minutes du 23 août.

Notre inquiétude est vive. Rien ne garantit qu’à cette date notre compatriote retrouve la liberté. Pire encore, il pourrait rejoindre les 6128 prisonniers politiques palestiniens dans les geôles israéliennes, en détention administrative comme 450 d’entre eux (dont plusieurs député-e-s), c’est-à-dire sans procès ni chef d’inculpation.

Je vous demande d’œuvrer dès aujourd’hui, au nom de la France, pour la libération immédiate de Monsieur Salah Hamouri.

Veuillez agréer, Monsieur, l’expression de ma haute considération.

English translation:

Dear Consul, (or the Minister for Foreign Affairs, or the President of the Republic,)

Salah Hamouri was arrested in the night of 23 August at his home in East Jerusalem by the occupation army, who had come to take him in his sleep. As often, the military authorities gave no reason for the arrest. He was then heard by the court for 20 minutes and then placed in solitary confinement where he remains today.

The arrest of our fellow citizen is unacceptable and unbearable. The French authorities must not allow such infamous behavior to pass.

It is a real outrage against Salah Hamouri, who has spent over 7 years in prison. We urge France to act with determination to protect the rights and obtain the release of our fellow citizen who is once again subject to arbitrary Israeli detention.

Initially, the decision to be rendered on Sunday, 27 August, was postponed by two days at the request of the army for the purposes of “interrogation.” On Tuesday, 29 August, after his lawyers negotiated the conditions for his release, a ministerial order was issued demanding that the court place Salah in administrative detention for 6 months. The court had 48 hours to confirm or contest the decision, until Thursday, 31 August. On Thursday, 31 August, Salah Hamouri’s lawyers obtained five days’ postponement, that is until Tuesday, 5 September, to examine the only document they could obtain: the minutes of the 20-minute hearing on 23 August.

Our concern is immense. There is no assurance that our compatriot will regain his freedom. He could join the 6, 128 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails, in administrative detention like 450 of them, including several parliamentarians – that is to say, without charge or trial.

I ask you to act today, on behalf of France, for the release of Mr. Salah Hamouri.

Please accept the assurance of my highest consideration.

Rasmea and Oscar: Resisting the Criminalization of Freedom Fighting

3 September 2017

By Diana Block – reprinted from Counterpunch

On May 18, 2017 Oscar López Rivera was welcomed by a large and loving crowd in Chicago’s Paseo Boricua after 35 years of imprisonment for the “crime” of supporting Puerto Rican independence. One of the people who greeted Oscar was Rasmea Yousef Odeh who will soon be punitively deported from her home in the United States for the “crime” of supporting Palestinian freedom.

In her greeting at the event, Rasmea stated “Oscar, I was released after 10 years as a political prisoner in Palestine, two years before you started your sentence, and I know your story very well, because your life is an example to all of us.” The image of Rasmea embracing Oscar and then gifting him with a red keffiyeh was shared by thousands around the world, an emotional testament to the common commitments of these two elder freedom fighters. The moment’s potent symbolism highlighted the long arc of resistance by the Puerto Rican and Palestinian people against colonial control. It also demonstrated how struggles to support freedom fighters can strengthen popular movements for self-determination and liberation.

When Oscar was arrested as a member of the FALN (Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional) in 1981 and was then imprisoned for 35 years on the political charge of seditious conspiracy, he became part of a long line of independentistas who spent years in U.S. prisons because of their militant resistance to the U.S. conquest of Puerto Rico in 1898. Starting with Pedro Albizu Campos in the 1930’s who was imprisoned for the “crime” of sedition,the U.S. has consistently used surveillance, infiltration, and imprisonment as a major part of its arsenal to suppress the Puertan Rican movement. Puerto Ricans were one of the first targets of the FBI’s COINTELPRO program, dating back to the 1930’s, which was aimed at disrupting, undermining and criminalizing all political activism on the island and in the United States.

One of the major goals of the FALN in the 1970’s was to win the freedom of the five Puerto Rican Nationalist prisoners who had been disappeared for over two decades within U.S. prisons. The Nationalists had brought the demand for Puerto Rican independence to the U.S. mainland with attacks on Blair House in 1950 and the U.S Congress in 1954. In its very first action in 1974, the FALN demanded the release of the Five, noting that they were “the longest held political prisoners in the Western Hemisphere.”(communique Oct 1974). The FALN identification of the Nationalists as an integral part of the independence movement helped to spark a multi-pronged campaign that ultimately resulted in their release by then President Jimmy Carter in 1979.

International law denounces colonialism as a crime and recognizes a colonized people’s right to end colonialism by any means at their disposal. But the resurgent Puerto Rican independence movement of the seventies and eighties was met with a full battery of repressive tactics which resulted in the imprisonment of many independentistas. In the nineties, the fight to free this new generation of political prisoners once again became a leading focus of struggle, uniting a broad spectrum of Puerto Ricans across political tendencies. In 1999 the struggle for the freedom of the prisoners converged with the fight against the U.S. Navy’s control over the Puerto Rican island of Viequeswhich it used as a site for its bloody war games. Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of Puerto Rico in a series of demonstrations demanding the return of Vieques and unconditional amnesty for the prisoners. On September 11, 1999 eleven of the Puerto Rican prisoners were released by Clinton and greeted as national heroes all over Puerto Rico and the U.S.

Oscar didn’t accept Clinton’s commutation because two other Puerto Rican prisoners were not included at the time. After the others were released, Oscar and his supporters began a broad-based effort to win his freedom. Refusing to accept the Federal Parole Board’s ruling in 2011 that he serve 12-15 more years, his campaign gathered strength, winning impressively broad support, including several members of Congress, 10 Nobel Peace Prize winners, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Senator Bernie Sanders as well as a global coalition of human rights and religious, labor, and business leaders. Once again a campaign for the freedom of a political prisoner became a unifying force within the Puerto Rican movement. The passage of PROMESA in June 2016 caused outrage among Puerto Ricans and fueled the mobilization for Oscar’s freedom. On January 17, 2017, Obama commuted Oscar’s sentence and on May 17, 2017 Oscar was released from house arrest in Puerto Rico.

Oscar’s designation by the New York Puerto Rican Parade Committee as its first ever “National Freedom Hero” shortly after his release, became a flashpoint for controversy. Corporate sponsors and politicians withdrew support from the Parade, denouncing Oscar as a terrorist and condemning the Parade Committee. But as Johanna Fernández and Carlito Rovira pointed out, “On closer inspection, the outcry against the Puerto Rican Day Parade Committee and the defamation of Oscar Lopez are smokescreens for the real injustice—that Puerto Ricans are daily terrorized by systemic racism and poverty in the US mainland and colonial domination in their homeland. Consider, for example, the passage of the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA) — a ploy recently imposed by Washington officials to assure the payment of a $73 billion dollar debt, created not by Puerto Ricans but by the colonizers themselves.”

The corporate effort failed. Oscar refused the hero designation but marched in the parade among tens of thousands as a “humble Puerto Rican and grandfather who at 74 continues to be committed to helping raise awareness about the fiscal, health-care and human-rights crisis Puerto Rico is facing at this historic juncture.” Besides continually advocating for Puerto Rican sovereignty since his release, Oscar has been outspoken in his declarations of solidarity with the Venezuelan revolution, as well as with Cuba, Nicargua and Palestine. He has also continued to use every opportunity he can to oppose the criminalization of other freedom fighters by calling for the release of other U.S.-held political prisoners .

It was more than a coincidence that on the day Rasmea greeted Oscar in Chicago, Palestinian political prisoners were on the 31^st day of an open-ended hunger strike in Israeli jails. Rasmea made the connections clear when she explained, “Oscar, over six thousand Palestinians are political prisoners in Israeli jails because they fight for what you fight for, self-determination and an end to colonialism and full and complete independence.” In Palestine, where 40% of the male population has spent time in prison, the role of imprisonment as a weapon of repression is widely understood. Political prisoners are consistently recognized for their leading role in the struggle which has been ongoing since Israel colonized Palestine in 1948, fifty years after the U.S. colonization of Puerto Rico, Rasmea’s history exemplifies the extent to which Israel and the U.S. have worked closely together for decades to develop coordinated strategies of criminalization and imprisonment. Rasmea was tortured and raped in an Israeli prison for 45 days in 1969 after she was accused of two bombings which she denied doing. When the Israelis arrested her father and threatened to make him have sex with her, Rasmea issued a coerced confession to the bombing that she repudiated afterwards. She spent ten years in Israeli prisons before being released as part of a prisoner exchange in 1979. Upon her release she testified about her physical and sexual torture at a UN special hearing in Geneva.

Rasmea emigrated to the U.S. and became a citizen in 2004. She has been a leading organizer with the Arab American Action Network (AAAN) of Chicago, coordinating its Arab Women’s Committee and continuing her active support for Palestinian freedom. Then in 2013, Rasmea was arrested on charges of immigration fraud, a bogus pretext for persecuting a leading, effective Palestinian woman activist. Rasmea was jailed, tried, and convicted. Her conviction was overturned on appeal because presiding Judge Drain had refused to allow an expert to testify about the PTSD Rasmea suffered from as a result of her torture and rape. Rasmea was preparing for a second trial on the immigration charges when the U.S. government suddenly added new charges of belonging to a terrorist organization to her indictment in December 2016. In the extreme Trump administration right-wing climate, Rasmea decided to accept a plea agreement that will mean deportation and loss of U.S. citizenship but avoids many years of possible prison time.

The campaign to win Justice4Rasmea has mobilized widespread support across the United States and in many other parts of the world. As her defense committee has stated, “Through a massive, organized defense campaign, Rasmea Odeh — a long-time icon of the Palestine liberation movement — is now a name known in every corner of the movement for social justice in the U.S….This fight not only brought her story to the U.S. and the world, but also pushed forward the cause of the liberation of Palestine.”

Rasmea’s prosecution has coincided with a growing Zionist offensive within the United States aimed at intimidating and stopping scholars, students and activists who support Palestinian freedom and the Palestinian-initiated Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign. Recently, Zionist groups have expanded their targets to a Bay Area community bakery started by a Palestinian woman activist, Reem Assil, because it features a striking mural of Rasmea on its walls. Since Reem’s opened in early 2017, the bakery has been demonized on social media and Yelp, Zionist groups have held a protest rally in front of the restaurant, and Breitbart News has taken up the chorus of denunciations.

*Mural of Rasmea Odeh at Reem’s Bakery, Oakland.*

Reem has been clear about her reasons for commissioning the mural. “I put Rasmea up there because she is an emblem of resilience. She reminds me that as an Arab woman, I should never be afraid to speak up against injustice, not matter what the consequence. “ In response to the orchestrated attacks, the community has organized to defend Reem’s. They recognize the attacks as part and parcel of the anti-Muslim, anti-Arab, white supremacist escalations occurring across the country since the Trump election.

While Zionist forces have tried to erase Rasmea’s image in an Oakland bakery, Judge Drain, who has presided over her case since its beginning, once again tried to silence Rasmea’s voice when she appeared for her final court hearing in Detroit on August 17, 2017. He threatened to jail Rasmea for contempt of court as she attempted to read the final statement she had prepared. When she was forced to stop reading, she went ahead and ad-libbed, “I’m not a terrorist and my people are not terrorists. [The Israeli military] tortured me. They raped me. They destroyed my house…I will raise my voice to say this: we have the right to struggle for our country.”

In her suppressed statement, Rasmea also made comparisons between the white supremacist violence in Charlottesville that occurred the weekend before and similar violent acts occurring against Palestinians in Israel. “Black-Palestinian unity and solidarity is at its absolute height in the U.S., because both peoples recognize that the racist nature of the U.S. government and the racist nature of Israel are the same.” Rasmea has made it clear that wherever she creates her new home in the future, she will not be silent.

When Rasmea and Oscar reached out and hugged each other in Humboldt Park, they won a victory over the power of imprisonment, torture,erasure, and criminalization in a political climate where repressive power looms large. They affirmed that the love and defense of their homelands has persisted over generations despite decades of colonial control. And they reminded us all of the inextricable connections between struggles and the necessity for international solidarity in the fight against imperialism and for liberation. As Rasmea remarked about the occasion, “I felt stronger than ever that I was part of the universal struggle to make changes in our countries and all over the world!”

Diana Block is the author of a novel, Clandestine Occupations – An Imaginary History (PM Press, 2015) and a memoir, Arm the Spirit – A Woman’s Journey Underground and Back (AK Press, 2009). She is an active member of the California Coalition for Women Prisoners and the anti-prison coalition CURB. She is a member of the editorial collective of The Fire Inside newsletter and she writes periodically for various online journals.

8 September, Toulouse: Rally for Freedom for Salah Hamouri and all Palestinian Prisoners

3 September 2017

Friday, 8 September
6 pm
Metro Jean-Jaures
31200 Toulouse, France
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1852610758389172/

On 23 August, three days after passing the Palestinian bar exam to practice as a lawyer, Salah Hamouri, a 32-year-old French-Palestinian, was arrested at his home in East Jerusalem by Israeli occupation forces in the most arbitrary manner and ordered to six months of administrative detention on the order ot the Minister of Defense.

Administrative detention is one of the weapons used by the Israeli authorities to imprison Palestinians without justification or pretext. The “secret file” remains unknown to the accused and their lawyers. Renewable every six months, a person can be held indefinitely in priosn with no charge. Dozens of Palestinian prisoners have spent years behind bars with no charge or trial. There are over 6,128 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, including 450 in administrative detention, among them several members of the Palestinian Legislative Council.

This is not the first time Salah is imprisoned by Israel, he spent seven years in prison between 2005 and 2011 on false and dubious charges.

Israel is constantly harassing him – barring him from the West Bank, forbidding his wife from Palestine, and now, since 23 August, again imprisoning him in a totally illegitimate manner!

Enough! We demand the immediate release of Salah Hamouri and thousands of Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails.

We cannot remain silent in the face of this new manifestation of the occupier’s power, convinced that it will not be held accountable to anyone, and for good reason. The French governments have not been characterized by their courage against arbitrary Israeli colonial practices, preferring to hide behind the manufactured image of Israel as an embattled democracy. This impunity must cease. The French government must do everything in its power to obtain the immediate release of its citizen.

First signatories: Campagne BDS Toulouse, Coup Pour Coup 31, Npa-infos Haute Garonne, OCML VP, Union Juive Française pour la Paix UJFP,Utopia Tournefeuille..

Raed Salhi slain by occupation forces, dies imprisoned weeks after shooting while being denied family visits

3 September 2017

*Photo via Raid al-Salhi’s Facebook page*

Raed Salhi, 21, the young Palestinian refugee from Dheisheh camp who has been held in a coma and in intensive care since 9 August, when he was shot at point-blank range by Israeli occupation forces invading the refugee camp, died of his injuries on the evening in Hadassah Hospital of 3 September 2017. During the weeks following his arrest, he was denied family visits and held under heavy security guard despite his unconsciousness and severe medical condition.

Salhi was seized after being shot at point-blank range by Israeli occupation forces invading the camp on 9 August; along with him, occupation forces seized Abdel-Aziz Arafa, who they shot in the leg. The Israeli occupation army claimed at the time of his shooting that the two unarmed young men were shot as they “attempted to flee the area.”

His family and comrades in Dheisheh camp are still awaiting news of the delivery of his body from occupation forces; upon the news of his death, a spontaneous march broke out in the camp to his family home, where his mother and family received the support of their community, surrounding the home.

Dheisheh camp social media pages reported that media would not be welcomed at the funeral due to the lack of coverage of his situation; many people in the camp and throughout Palestine posted about their memories of Salhi, saluting his dedication to the Palestinian people and the Palestinian cause, including his affiliation with the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

During his imprisonment in Hadassah hospital, his family members were denied permits to visit him under the pretext of ongoing interrogation, despite the fact that the young man was in a coma and unable to speak. His lawyer, Karim Ajwa, reported just days ago that he was being held under strict security guard at the hospital despite his severe health crisis.

“All of the family’s attempts to obtain a permit to visit have failed. The occupation authorities are preventing all members of his family from visiting him to check on his health. The last attempt was several weeks ago by his mother, who suffers from several diseases herself and cannot sleep due to her worry,” said Khaled al-Salhi, Raed’s brother, to Quds News at the time.

Indeed, Salhi’s detention was extended on several occasions by the Ofer military court under the pretext of “completing interrogation,” despite the fact that he was held in critical condition, unconscious and dependent on a ventilator. On 29 August, Arafa was brought to Ofer military court on a hospital bed to further extend his imprisonment before being moved to the Ramle prison clinic.

Not only was Salhi’s family denied visits with their dying brother, his brother Bassam Salhi was seized by occupation forces in another invasion of Dheisheh camp one week after the shooting, on 16 August, Ma’an News reported.

The PFLP issued a statement on the martyrdom of Raed Salhi, saying, “Palestine, Dheisheh camp and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine have lost a courageous struggler committed to liberation of the Palestinian people from Zionist occupation. This young man was committed in his veins with loyalty to the Palestinian cause and his people.” In the statement, they said that “he was always present to confront the occupation in Bethlehem area.” Salhi was also known for his commitment to volunteer activities, incluing health support days and other social activities to support the people of the camp.

He is the 212th imprisoned Palestinian to die in Israeli custody, and Issa Qaraqe, the chair of the Prisoners’ Affairs Commission, joined multiple prisoners’ organizations issued statements noting that the killing of al-Salhi was an execution by occupation forces through their point-blank shooting on the streets of Dheisheh as they invaded the camp.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network mourns the loss of Raed Salhi, Palestinian refugee and beloved member of his community, under armed guard, denied his family even as he lay dying, shot by the bullets of the Israeli occupation. The outrageous murder of Raed Salhi stands once again as a call to all people of conscience in the world to escalate their campaigns to support the Palestinian people in their struggle for justice, return and liberation, including through the international isolation of Israel and building campaigns for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS).

4 September, Alès: Rally for freedom for Salah Hamouri

3 September 2017

Monday, 4 September
10:30 am
prefecture d’Alès
Alès, France
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1945585372378139/

First signatories of the call to rally for the immediate release of Salah Hamouri French-Palestinian lawyer:
Attac Alès, AFPS Alès Cévennes, CiMADE Alès , Ensemble, FSU, LDH, NPA Alès, section PCF Alès, UL CGT Alès…

On the night of Wednesday, 23 August, the occupation army came to arrest Salah Hamouri in his home and took him to a detention center in Jerusalem. He was heard by a judge for 20 minutes and placed in isolation, where he remains. He has not been charged, instead he is detained under the pretext of a “secret file.”

On 29 August, after his lawyers negotiated conditions for his release, he was instead ordered to administrative detention for six months without charge or trial.

We solemnly call on the French head of state to intervene strongly with the Israei authorities as he did for two French compatriots imprisoned in Turkey.

We continue to mobilize to break the silence of the French authorities and demand from Benjamin Netanyahu the liberation of our fellow citizen. Salah Hamouri must not spend another day in Israeli jails. We are determined to obtain justice.

5 September, Paris: Support Committee for Salah Hamouri

3 September 2017

Tuesday, 5 September
7:00 pm
CICP
21ter Rue Voltaire, 75011 Paris, France
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/141413523127420/

Appeal of Elsa Lefort , Salah Hamouri’s wife , for the formation of a support committee:

“Following the arbitrary arrest by the Israeli army of Salah Hamouri, a Franco-Palestinian lawyer, on August 23 at his home in East Jerusalem, many people mobilized on social networks to demand action by the French government to obtain his release. On 29 August, he was ordered held in administrative detention for an initial period of six months by Avigdor Lieberman, Israeli Minister of Defense.

Since this announcement, the mobilization has grown and we have decided to set up a support committee composed of organizations and citizens in support of justice and the defense of human rights.

We invite you to meet on Tuesday, September 5th, at 7 pm, at the CICP, to lay the foundations of this mobilization with all those who wish to join!

4 September, Paris: Rally to Free Salah Hamouri!

3 September 2017

Monday, 4 September
6:00 pm
Place de la Bataille de Stalingrad
March at 6:30 pm to Republique
75019 Paris
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1936959996575903/

Organized by the Association France-Palestine Solidarite

On Thursday, 31 August, Salah Hamouri’s lawyers were granted an extension until Tuesday, 5 September for his administrative detention order to be confirmed.

AFPS, along with other organizations of the National Collective for a Just and Lasting Peace between Palestinians and Israelis, calls for a demonstration for the release of Salah Hamouri.

Let us be many to support Salah and ask the French authorities to act!

French action alert for Salah: http://www.france-palestine.org/Mobilisation-pour-la-liberation-de-Salah-Hamouri

4 September, NYC: Protest to free Hassan Abu Rish and #StopHP

3 September 2017

Monday, 4 September
4:30 pm
Best Buy – Union Square
52 E. 14th St, NYC
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1546599738760043/

Palestinian teen organizer Hassan Abu Rish was seized in the early morning hours of Monday, August 21 by Israeli occupation forces who invaded his family home in the Jerusalem village of Ezzariyeh. Hassan, who is 16 years old, is active in the Nabed (“Pulse”) youth forum in his village; Nabed is a social and cultural forum and group for Palestinian youth looking toward social change, justice and liberation from occupation, colonialism and apartheid.

Hassan has been very concerned by the plight of Palestinian political prisoners and interested in raising the profile of imprisoned Palestinians – especially youth – on an international level. His family has been touched by imprisonment before, as his brother has been jailed three times by Israeli occupation forces. He also plays drums with the Scouts Youth Club of Ezzariyeh.

Hassan is among hundreds of Palestinian children who are repeatedly arrested and jailed by Israeli occupation forces. There are currently over 300 Palestinian child prisoners held at Megiddo and Ofer prisons, and Palestinian children seized by Israeli occupation forces have repeatedly testified to their abuse, mistreatment and torture under arrest, including beatings, kicking, humiliation, intimidation and threats to their family members. In addition, 22 Palestinian teens have been imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention in the past two years.

Hassan was among 25 Palestinians seized in mass arrest raids conducted by Israeli occupation forces in the pre-dawn hours on Monday, August 21. Ma’an News reported that there is a biweekly average of 85 search and detention raids carried out by occupation forces according to the United Nations. These raids are often heavily violent and involve massive weaponry, home invasions, ransacking of belongings and explosions of doors, and often target children like Hassan.

Stand with Hassan to demand that Israel release him, 319 other detained children and all 6,128 Palestinian political prisoners, and that Hewlett Packard companies end their contracts with Israeli prisons and detention centers, occupation and security forces, and checkpoints and settlements.

Help build a growing international campaign to boycott HP over the companies’ support for Israeli crimes.

Support the Palestinian people, the Palestinian prisoners, the Palestinian Resistance, and the liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea.

7 September, Avignon: Rally – Freedom for Salah

31 August 2017

Thursday, 7 September
6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Prefecture de Vaucluse
84000 Avignon, France
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/2024248407845890/

CALL FOR THE RELEASE OF SALAH HAMOURI

On August 23, 2017, we learned from Elsa Lefort about the arrest of Palestinian-French human rights defender Salah Hamouri: “Salah Hamouri was arrested last night at our home in East Jerusalem by the army of occupation, in his sleep. As often, the military authorities gave no reason for his arrest and we have little information about his detention; he has not been able to contact anyone. Action is needed to protect and secure the release of our fellow citizen who is once again subjected to Israeli arbitrariness.”

We communist activists condemn this arbitrary arrest of our fellow citizen and demand his release as soon as possible.

Organized by Jeunes Communistes Vaucluse – MJCF 84 and PCF 84 – Parti communiste français

2 September, Paris: Build the BDS Campaign, Free Salah Hamouri, Break the Siege of Gaza

31 August 2017

Saturday, 2 September
3 pm to 6 pm
Place Saint-Michel
Paris, France
Metro Ligne 4 and RER C at Saint-Michel
More info: www.europalestine.com

Israel worsened this summer its colonization, repression and the detention of Palestinians.

The people in Gaza under siege are terribly suffering without electricity, drinkable water nor medicines. Everyday children and adults are dying because Israel prevents them from getting treatment (cancer, dialysis, cystic fibrosis…)

In East Jerusalem, not only more and more Palestinian houses are demolished but Israel tries to get hold on Al-Aqsa Mosque!

More than 3800 Palestinians have been arrested and jailed since the beginning of this year.

And among them is Salah Hamouri, 32, who is Palestinian and French. He is a lawyer defending Palestinian prisoners, working with Addameer, and has just been kidnapped at his home in East Jerusalem on the 22nd of August, and has been condemned to 6 months of ” administrative detention “, i.e without any charge or trial.

He had already been imprisoned for 7 years in 2005 for being close to the Popular Front of Liberation of Palestine. He could have chosen after that to live a quiet life in France with his French spouse and their child.

But he decided to stay in Palestine in order to defend his people. And Israel has kept punishing him since then. His wife Elsa is banned from entering Palestine. She was prevented to give birth to their child in Palestine, and now he got arrested and imprisoned. Israel wants to show what happens to those who don’t give up the fight for their rights.

We are calling to join a demonstration in Paris this Saturday, September 2

We are also stressing the importance and the success of the BDS campaign, in spite of all kinds of intimidation and blackmailing with accusations of antisemitism everywhere.

And we congratulate our British comrades who occupied the Israeli Elbit arms factory near Birmingham which had to close for two days last July, !

They will appear in court and their trial will take place on September 13.
You can send them a message of solidarity at : adie_mormech@hotmail.com and, if you can, come to support them on the 13th of September !

CAPJPO-EuroPalestine
www.europalestine.com – info@europalestine.com

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