Freedom denied: Three years on the re-arrest of released prisoners from the Wafa al-Ahrar exchange

20 June 2017

*Celebration of release of Palestinian prisoners in Wafa al-Ahrar exchange*

Dozens of Palestinian prisoners released in 2011 in the Wafa al-Ahrar prisoner exchange have been imprisoned once more for over three years. 18 June 2017 marked the third anniversary of the seizure of 74 Palestinian prisoners released in the exchange agreement by Israeli occupation forces in mass arrests throughout Jerusalem and the West Bank in 2014.

Nearly 60 of these Palestinian prisoners have had their original sentences reimposed under Article 186 of Israeli Military Order 1651, which created a special military committee to arbitrarily re-impose sentences upon former prisoners released in the exchange, usually on the basis of “secret evidence” or allegations of “violating their terms of release,” usually on the basis of “association” with prohibited organizations, which include all major Palestinian political parties.

Among the re-imprisoned Palestinian prisoners is Nael Barghouthi, who has spent the longest period of time in Israeli prisons – 37 years. While the military commission originally imposed an additional 30-month sentence on him after his arrest in June 2014, the Israeli occupation prosecution appealed his sentence and restored his original life sentence plus 18 years. Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network will be protesting for the release of Barghouthi in New York City on Friday, 30 June.

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society noted that the reimposition of Palestinian prisoners’ former sentences continues, including that of Nayef Ghizan, who attended a hearing scheduled for him only to be seized by occupation forces and his sentence of life plus 30 years restored on the same day.

Amjad Abu Assab, the spokesperson of prisoners’ families in Jerusalem, was quoted in Quds News on the reimposition of released prisoners’ sentences.

He said that seven Jerusalemite Palestinians had their original sentences reimposed: Ala’a el-Din Bazian, 59; Nasser Abed Rabbo, 50; Jamal Abu Saleh, 53; Rajab al-Tahhan, 49; Adnan Maragha, 48; Samer Issawi, 38; and Ismail Hijazi, 36.

Palestinian prisoners and Palestinian political organizations and resistance movements have emphasized the critical importance of freeing these wrongfully imprisoned men whose original sentences were arbitrarily reimposed upon them as a form of collective punishment against former prisoners and their families. The release of the 57 prisoners has been held forward as a principal demand of the Palestinian resistance before any further negotiations for a future prisoner exchange will take place.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network demands the immediate release of all 57 of the re-arrested Palestinian prisoners, and all Palestinians imprisoned by the Israeli occupation.

Military Order 1651 is used as a permanent threat against all former Palestinian prisoners as a constant criminalization of Palestinian existence and freedom. It serves as an attempt by the Israeli occupation to exclude the strugglers and leaders who have, in many cases, spent decades in Israeli prisons from Palestinian politics and the ongoing struggle for the freedom of their land and people. The arbitrary reimposition of former sentences on released prisoners is an attempt to terrorize all former Palestinian prisoners, their families and their communities.

Thaer Halahleh thrown in isolation as tension rises in Ofer prison

20 June 2017

A state of tension has continued to escalate in the Israeli occupation Ofer military prison as Palestinian prisoner and former long-term hunger striker Thaer Halahleh has been ordered into solitary confinement after he began an open hunger strike two days ago.

Halahleh launched the strike after three leading Palestinian Islamic Jihad activists in Ofer prison were assaulted and suddenly transferred to other prisons on Sunday, 18 June. His strike is demanding the return of the three prisoner leaders to Ofer prison.

Halahleh has been imprisoned since 28 April 2017; he is held without charge or trial under an administrative detention order. Halahleh, 35, is from the village of Kharas near al-Khalil; he has been imprisoned eight times and spent over 12 years in Israeli prisons, mostly in administrative detention without charge or trial.

He was last released from Israeli prison in October 2016 and conducted multiple long-term hunger strikes to demand his release from administrative detention. Halahleh also suffers from Hepatitis C, which he obtained during a dental surgery procedure in Israeli prison.

The three assaulted prisoners also include well-known administrative detainees and former long-term hunger strikers. Mohja al-Quds said that the three prisoner leaders are Ayman Ali Suleiman al-Tabeesh, Akram Yousef Mohammed Fassisi and Shehadeh Mohammed al-Tamari.

Al-Fassisi went on hunger strike earlier this year against his imprisonment without charge or trial; he previously conducted 58 and 70 day hunger strikes in 2013 and 2014, both against his administrative detention. Only two months after his release in 2014, he was seized by Israeli occupation forces again; after nearly two more years of detention, he was released in 2016 and again was arrested only two months after his release.

Al-Tabeesh has also been repeatedly arrested and held without charge or trial under administrative detention, where he carried out multiple hunger strikes during his last imprisonment of nearly three years without charge or trial. He has now been imprisoned once more since 2 August 2016.

The Ofer prison administration also closed Section 14 in the prison, where 35 prisoners affiliated with Islamic Jihad are held, after they demanded the return of al-Fassisi, al-Tabeesh and al-Tamari. Meanwhile, fellow prisoner leader Moatassem Ahmed Jaradat, 40, was suddenly transferred from Ramon prison to Ofer prison. Mohja Al-Quds Foundation said that the Ofer prison administration is intending to destabilize the prisoners through constant transfers and disruption of prisoner leaders inside Israeli jails.

Muhammad Allan on 13th day of open hunger strike

20 June 2017

Re-arrested Palestinian prisoner and veteran long-term hunger striker Muhammad Allan is on his 13th day of hunger strike in Israeli prison. Allan, 33, is a Palestinian lawyer from the village of Einabus near Nablus.

He last won his release from Israeli occupation prison on 4 November 2015 after a 66-day hunger strike against his imprisonment without charge or trial under administrative detention. He was seized once more on 8 June by Israeli occupation forces in a pre-dawn raid on his home.

Allan’s father was quoted in Hadf News, noting that Allan’s detention was extended again on Monday, 19 June by the Salem military court. He is being threatened with charges of “incitement” for posting on Facebook; hundreds of Palestinians have been seized by Israeli occupation forces, interrogated and imprisoned on charges of expressing their political opinions on social media.

Allan launched his hunger strike on 8 June; on his 10th day of hunger strike, he was transferred from Jalameh/Kishon interrogation center to isolation in Megiddo prison. Allan’s father said that the charge of “incitement” is being used to keep him detained and that he believes the occupation intends to order him again to imprisonment without charge or trial under administrative detention.

He was previously imprisoned for three years between 2006 and 2009 on charges of participation in Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a “prohibited organization.”

There are currently over 500 Palestinians imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention. Administrative detention orders are issued on the basis of secret evidence for one to six month periods and are indefinitely renewable; many Palestinians have spent years at a time arbitrarily imprisoned under repeatedly renewed administrative detention orders.

In addition, Wasfi Kabha, the former Palestinian Minister of Prisoners’ Affairs in the Palestinian Authority unity government under Ismail Haniyeh in 2006, was ordered once more to administrative detention by an Israeli military court on Monday, 19 June. He was ordered to four months imprisonment without charge or trial; his detention is indefinitely renewable.

Kabha was seized by Israeli occupation forces on 11 June, only 50 days after his release from Israeli prison after 10 months in administrative detention without charge or trial. Occupation forces stormed his home, confiscated phones, computers and Palestinian flags.

He has spent over 10 years in Israeli jails under multiple periods of arrest, many without charge or trial under administrative detention.

30 June, NYC: Protest to free Nael Barghouthi and Stop HP

20 June 2017

Friday, 30 June
5:30 pm
Best Buy Union Square
52 E. 14th Street
New York City
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/260368777772696/

Nael Barghouthi, age 59, has been imprisoned by Israel for 36 years and is the longest-detained Palestinian political prisoner.

He was released by Israel in a prisoner exchange with Palestinian resistance groups in 2011, but swept up in a wave of detentions by Israeli occupation forces that targeted dozens of freed prisoners in 2014.

On March 22, an Israeli military court at Ofer prison, in the occupied Palestinian West Bank, used “secret evidence” to reimpose Barghouthi’s original sentence of life plus eighteen years.

Along with Samidoun, Addameer Prisoner Support & Human Rights Association has called for action to pressure Israel to release Barghouthi, now held as a political hostage by the Israeli government.

Stand with Barghouthi to demand that Israel release him and all 6,200 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.

24 June, Naples: After the prisoners’ struggle, what next in Palestine?

20 June 2017

Saturday, 24 June
5:00 pm
Ex OPG Occupato – Je so’ pazzo
via Matteo Renato Imbriani 218
80136 Naples, Italy
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/700598726791436/

“In struggle against oppression” – after the victory of the prisoners, what is next in Palestine?

Discussion and presentation of the book “50 years later (1967-2017) – the occupied Palestinian territory and the failure of the two-state solution” with the author Michele Giorgio and Chiara Cruciati, journalists of Nena News Agency and il manifesto.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network will speak about the situation of the prisoners over Skype.

Presentation of Roberto Prinzi about the independent media project, Nena News Agency and dinner, to support the project.

**

Sabato 24 giugno – ore 17 – @Ex Opg “Je so’ pazzo”

“In lotta contro l’oppressione”. Dopo la vittoria dei prigionieri, cosa sta succedendo in Palestina?

Dibattito e presentazione del libro “Cinquant’anni dopo (1967-2017). I territori palestinesi occupati e il fallimento della soluzione dei due Stati”. Con gli autori: Michele Giorgio e @Chiara Cruciati, giornalisti di Nena NewsAgency eil manifesto.

– INCONTRO “In lotta contro l’oppressione”. Dopo la vittoria dei prigionieri, cosa sta succedendo in Palestina?
Facciamo un bilancio della mobilitazione con Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network.

PRESENTAZIONE DI Roberto Prinzi DEL PROGETTO
DELL’AGENZIA DI STAMPA INDIPENDENTE Nena NewsAgency E CENA A SOSTEGNO DEL PROGETTO!

—-
Quasi 2000 prigionieri palestinesi per oltre 40 giorni in sciopero della fame. Una delle mobilitazioni più importanti a cui il popolo palestinese abbia dato vita negli ultimi anni si è chiusa lo scorso 27 maggio. Insieme alla protesta dei detenuti, le manifestazioni di supporto di un intero popolo, uno sciopero generale che ha coinvolto tutti i territori palestinesi (e non accadeva dal 1987, anno della prima intifada), la “giornata della rabbia” in occasione dell’ultima visita di Trump, presidi permanenti, tutto nel silenzio tombale delle istituzioni e dei media occidentali. Eppure, nonostante tutto, la protesta dei palestinesi è riuscita ad irrompere ben lontano dalle carceri, costringendo i ministri israeliani, che fino a quel momento si erano opposti a qualsiasi forma di riconoscimento della battaglia dei prigionieri, a intavolare una trattativa a partire dalle rivendicazioni lanciate dal movimento di protesta: un immediato miglioramento delle condizioni di detenzione, la possibilità di comunicare e di incontrare familiari a cui viene negata sistematicamente la possibilità di accedere dalla Cisgiordania o da Gaza in territorio israeliano, l’accesso a cure mediche negli ospedali. Una mobilitazione che ha denunciato con forza e chiesto la fine della detenzione amministrativa, pratica inumana, retaggio del colonialismo britannico nella regione, per cui Israele può incarcerare senza formulare accuse, senza presentare capi d’imputazione, rinnovando la detenzione di sei mesi in sei mesi senza limiti.

A prescindere dai risultati ottenuti, dagli avanzamenti “umanitari” che Israele sembra aver concesso e sui quali, i Palestinesi lo sanno bene, bisognerà vigilare nei mesi a seguire, lo sciopero dei detenuti ha rappresentato un momento fondamentale:

– ha rinsaldato il fronte della resistenza: la questione dei prigionieri tocca la totalità del popolo palestinese: secondo l’organizzazione di sostegno ai detenuti Addameer si contano 6200 palestinesi detenuti, di questi 490 in detenzione amministrativa e 300 sono minori. Ormai i prigionieri rappresentano un punto di riferimento decisivo per tutto il movimento di liberazione.

– ha fatto emergere, con forza, la lotta che i Palestinesi conducono quotidianamente “anche contro il collaborazionismo dell’Autorità Nazionale Palestinese, e soprattutto contro l’accordo di cooperazione militare con le forze di occupazione, che la sta trasformando in una forza di repressione del movimento di resistenza palestinese, in nome e per conto degli occupanti israeliani”.

– ha posto in questione l’occupazione nella sua totalità: impossibile parlare delle carceri israeliane e dei detenuti palestinesi senza tenere conto del processo di colonizzazione continua a cui è sottoposta la terra palestinese dal 1948, della repressione, dei soprusi cui è sottoposto il suo popolo, degli assassinii quotidiani di giovani palestinesi. Solo nel 2016, rispetto all’anno precedente, le costruzioni israeliane nei Territori Occupati sono aumentate del 40 %, l’assedio su Gaza non accenna tregue. D’altronde tutti i governi occidentali sostengono a mano bassa le direttrici criminali su cui si muove Israele, a partire dal governo italiano che da sempre intavola con lo stato sionista accordi commerciali, economici, di cooperazione militare, collaborazioni accademiche e diplomatiche.

Se è questo il quadro, allora, cosa fare per supportare e dare voce, anche qui, alla resistenza palestinese? Cosa sta realmente accadendo nei Territori Occupati, di cui è parte Gerusalemme Est, a Gaza? Cos’ha lasciato, e cos’ha significato, in Palestina, la grande lotta dei prigionieri?

Coordinamento napoletano per la Palestina

—-
Agenzia di Stampa NenaNews. CHI SIAMO?
http://nena-news.it/chi-siamo/
La Near East News Agency (Nena News), Agenzia Stampa Vicino Oriente, nasce nel 2010 dal progetto di un collettivo di giornalisti e ricercatori, che vivono e lavorano nel Vicino Oriente e in Italia, con l’obiettivo di diffondere un’informazione indipendente su un’area del mondo che è terreno di conflitti che condizionano l’intero pianeta. Il Vicino Oriente è da sempre oggetto di particolare attenzione da parte dei maggiori mezzi d’informazione; un’attenzione spesso appiattita su rappresentazioni schematiche della realtà dei singoli paesi della regione che, al contrario, è complessa e articolata. Gran parte delle notizie diffuse offre punti di vista parziali che trascurano l’analisi dei contesti politici, sociali ed economici entro i quali maturano ed esplodono conflitti e contraddizioni.

Nena News, aperta al contributo di giovani reporter, si propone di fornire aggiornamenti quotidiani sui conflitti in corso, sui processi politici di cambiamento, le dinamiche sociali, le lotte dei lavoratori, il protagonismo emergente dei giovani e delle donne, le produzioni culturali e musicali. Lo fara’ sia attraverso la diffusione di articoli, reportages, analisi e materiale multimediale.

NENA NEWS – Near East News Agency – Agenzia Stampa Vicino Oriente

Testata giornalistica registrata al Tribunale di Roma n.98/2011 – sede operativa: Via San Pio X, 36 – 06081 – Assisi (Pg)

Direttore: Michele Giorgio – @michelegiorgio2

Caporedattore: Chiara Cruciati – @ChiaraCruciati
Redazione: Roberto Prinzi – @Robbamir

Tra i collaboratori: Fidaa Abu Hamdiyyeh (cucina etnica), Barbara Antonelli (Palestina, Israele), Sonia Grieco (Africa, Medio Oriente), Giorgia Grifoni (Iran, Medio Oriente), Federica Iezzi (Siria, Africa), Francesca La Bella (analisi), Cristina Micalusi (cultura), Rita Plantera (Africa), Rosa Schiano (Palestina, Israele), Cecilia D’Abrosca (cultura), Stefano Mauro (Iran, Libano, Israele), Patrizia Cecconi (Palestina, botanica)

Le immagini riprodotte in questo sito provengono in prevalenza da Internet e pertanto le riteniamo di dominio pubblico. Gli autori delle foto o i soggetti coinvolti possono in ogni momento chiederne la rimozione, scrivendo al seguente indirizzo di posta elettronica: nenanewsagency@gmail.com

—–
Je so’ pazzo è un ex-opg (ospedale psichiatrico giudiziario) occupato nel marzo 2015 da un gruppo di studenti, lavoratori, disoccupati, per sottrarlo all’abbandono e per restituirlo alla città, per ricostruire la memoria di questo luogo terribile di esclusione e tortura, e lanciare percorsi di mobilitazione a partire dalle nostre concrete esigenze: dal lavoro al territorio, dalle scuole alle università, dalla casa alla sanità.

—–
Come arrivarci?
– Metro Linea 1: Fermata Materdei
(5 minuti a piedi verso Salita San Raffaele)
– Dal centro storico (15 minuti a piedi):
arrivare al museo nazionale e salire via Salvator Rosa,
all’incrocio con via Imbriani ci trovate sulla destra.

—–
Ex Opg Occupato – Je so’ pazzo
pagina facebook: https://www.facebook.com/exopgjesopazzo
sito web: http://jesopazzo.org/
twitter: https://twitter.com/ExOpgJesopazzo

24 June, Liege: Musical Festival featuring Raj’een Dabkeh Group

20 June 2017

Saturday, 24 June
4:00 pm
Espace Georges Truffaut
Avenue de Lille 5
4020 Liege, Belgium (Droixhe)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/137886120098702/

The CCAPL and the Association Belgo-Palestinienne of Liege and Espace Georges Truffaut invite you to a Musical Festival. The music will not be alone on the stage: the Palestinian folkloric dance troupe Raj’een Dabkeh Group will perform.

Free Entry

Le CCAPL en collaboration avec l’Association Belgo-Palestinienne régionale de liège et l’Espace Georges Truffaut vous invite à la Fête de la musique.
La Musique ne sera pas seule sur la scène, la danse folklorique palestinienne avec le groupe «Raj’een Dabkeh Group فرقة راجعين للدبكة» et la danse orientale feront leurs démonstrations qui combleront les admirateurs de ces danses.
La musique de l’Orient et du Maghreb séduira un public amateur et nostalgique.
Lieu : Espace Georges Truffaut
Avenue de Lille 5, 4020 LIEGE (Droixhe)
P.A.F. : entrée libre – Au programme :
16h : Jeunes musiciens du cours de musique du CCAPL
18h : Dabké palestinien « Raj’een Dabkeh Group فرقة راجعين للدبكة »
et Danse Orientale
Repas oriental
Concert de musique traditionnelle et folklorique arabe

23 June, NYC: Al-Quds Day Community Iftar

20 June 2017

Friday, 23 June
7:30 pm
147 W. 24th St. 2nd Floor
NYC
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/399192140475962/

Join New York City Students for Justice in Palestine for Iftar Friday, June 23rd, Al-Quds Day. As the fight continues for a liberated Al-Quds (Jerusalem), we will come together over food and discussion to celebrate the ongoing resistance to Zionism within historic Palestine and across the diaspora.

We invite you join us at the Al-Quds Day rally in Times Square before our Iftar!:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1850932601791010/

————————–
Food Provided by Yemen Cafe

Sliding Scale Donation Accepted
$15 – Standard Rate
$20 – Al-Quds Rate
$10 – Discount/Student Rate

No one turned away for inability to pay!

1 to 23rd St & 7th Ave
N, R to 23rd St & Broadway
C, E to 23rd St & 8th Ave

23 June, New York City; International Day of al-Quds

20 June 2017

Friday, 23 June
4:30 pm
42nd St and 7th ave, Times Square
New York City
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1850932601791010/

#QudsDay
#Right2Boycott

On International Day of Quds, people of conscience gather to express solidarity with all the oppressed human beings of the world and particularly the innocent civilians of Palestine who are victimized by the oppressive and racist Zionist regime.

We invite all peace loving people to voice their opposition to the unjust and illegal occupation of the great Al-Aqsa Mosque and the usurpation of the Holy Land by the Zionist regime. In addition, we will also protest the current Saudi aggression in Yemen.

We, the citizens of the United States and in particular residents of New York, reserve the right to boycott any and all parties involved in practicing racist, discriminatory, and oppressive policies.

Stand with us! Stand for your rights!

We will rally at Times Square at 4:30 where our speakers will shed lights on the atrocities being committed by the Zionist state on the oppressed people of Palestine.

*ENDORSING ORGANIZATIONS*

1) Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
2) Jafaria Association Of North America
3) Neturei Karta
4) International Action Center
5) Al Awda NY
6) Palestine Right to Return Coalition
7) New York Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP)
8) BDS App
9) Students & Youth for a New America
10) New York for Palestine
11) Samidoun
————————–—————-
NOTE: “Muslim Congress and its AlQuds subcommittees in respective cities have no affiliation with any foreign entity.
Funds for Al-Quds events are generated by local community organizers who strongly believe in exercising their legal right to protest against oppression.”

21 June, San Francisco: Freedom and Dignity across Walls – from Palestine to Pelican Bay

20 June 2017

Wednesday June 21
7pm
Mission Center – City College of San Francisco
1125 Valencia St., SF
Room 107
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1930149910600506

Featuring:

Marie Levin of Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity, and sister of one of the 2011-2013 CA Hunger Strike leaders, Sitawa Jaama

Lara Kiswani, Executive Director of AROC: Arab Resource & Organizing Center

Special update from Palestine, by Addameer Prisoner Support & Human Rights Association

Moderated by former political prisoner and Freedom Archives director, Claude Marks

Just a couple weeks ago, Palestinian prisoners suspended a 40-day hunger strike, bringing the Israeli state to the negotiating table. At the same time word began to emerge of a prisoner hunger strike against appalling conditions at Folsom State Prison here in California. Although both strikes come amid an intensification of Israeli colonialism in Palestine, and brazen plans for increased policing and imprisonment against Black, Brown, and immigrant communities in the US, they are also born of bold prisoner organizing.

Join us for a discussion drawing connections between struggles by
imprisoned organizers in Palestine and California, providing updates on current prisoner-led actions, and lifting up opportunities for more powerful solidarity.

Mass marches in Greece declare “Netanyahu Not Welcome!” in Thessaloniki and Athens

19 June 2017

*Photo: Thessaloniki, 15 June – Ghassan Kanafani Front for Resistance and Solidarity*

Large crowds took to the streets on Thursday, 15 June in Thessaloniki and Athens, Greece, protesting the visit of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Greece-Israel-Cyprus summit promoting increased economic and military cooperation between the Israeli occupation, Greece and Cyprus in the Eastern Mediterranean region.

*Photo: Athens, 15 June – Workers’ Revolutionary Party*

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network in Greece joined a number of Greek and Palestinian organizations in calling for the demonstrations to reject the presence of Netanyahu in Greece as a war criminal. Organizations including ANTARSYA, KOE (Communist Organization of Greece), NAR (New Left Current), EEK (Workers’ Revolutionary Party), KKE ml (Communist Party of Greece – Marxist-Leninist), the Friends of Palestine, the Ghassan Kanafani Front for Resistance and Solidarity, the Friends of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and a wide range of anti-war, anti-imperialist, anti-racist and social justice organizations and activists joined in the marches that took to the streets in both cities.

The summit, which included Netanyahu, Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras and Cypriot president Nicos Anastasiades, convened in Thessaloniki under the auspices of a touted gas deal for pipeline construction between occupied Palestine, Greece and Cyprus. Protesters denounced the role of the SYRIZA-ANEL government in Greece, elected on a left, anti-austerity program with campaign pledges that included an end to joint military exercises with Israel, for its role in enforcing more austerity, greater EU control over Greek resources and a massively intensified relationship with the apartheid settler-colonial Israeli regime.

*Photo: Thessaloniki, 15 June – Middle East Monitor*

In Athens, hundreds gathered outside the Israeli Embassy where protests went on for over an hour before a march through the streets to the Defense Ministry, demanding an end to collaboration with the Israeli occupation. A wide array of left organizations and youth participated in the protest and march.

“We are here to protest the presence of the war criminal Netanyahu in Greece. We are against this relationship between the current SYRIZA government and the Israeli apartheid state. We see Greece’s natural position in the Middle East, supporting the people and anti-war. We are against the involvement of Greece in the European Union, more and more, and supporting the colonial machine in the region,” said Mohammed Khatib, the European coordinator of Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, speaking to reporters at the protest.

*Photo: Athens, 15 June – Nikolas Joao Kokovlis*

In Thessaloniki, an even larger crowd gathered at the Venizelos Statue and marched throughout the city carrying Palestinian flags and red flags, banners and signs demanding an end to Greek cooperation with EU, US and Israeli schemes stripping the wealth of the Greek and Palestinian people. As they marched by the United States consulate in Thessaloniki, protesters stopped and burned an image of a U.S. and Israeli flag, chanting slogans against U.S. imperialism in the region.

Also in Thessaloniki, another protest of hundreds marched from St. Sophia Square to denounce ongoing NATO involvement in Greece and Israeli occupation. Another group of Greek activists protested inside the studios of state-run TV station ET3 until they ran a video protesting the summit and denouncing the role of Tsipras in engaging in military and economic cooperation with the Israeli occupation.

Palestinian revolutionary Leila Khaled called on all to participate in the demonstration: “This message is to call on all progressive, socialist, democratic, anti-imperialist, anti-apartheid forces to firmly stand strongly against this visit and this summit. Our mutual struggle is based on common interests for our peoples. On behalf of the martyrs, the prisoners and their families, I call upon everyone to participate in the demonstration. Let Netanyahu hear our voices, from Palestine to Greece via Cyprus, that he is not welcome anywhere.” In Athens, Leila Khaled’s message was read aloud in Greek to the crowd.

Earlier, the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine had urged protests of the summit, calling on Greek organizations to respond: “The PFLP urged all friendly Greek forces and parties to fight the intensifying political, military and economic ties between Greece and the Zionist entity, which necessarily come at the expense of the Palestinian and Arab people whose resources and rights have been confiscated by the occupier, while opening the wealth of the Greek people to looting by the U.S. and Zionist state. The Front denounced the role of the Syriza-ANEL government in escalating this relationship between Greece and the Zionist occupation state to unprecedented levels at the expense of the Greek and Palestinian peoples and their gas and water wealth and resources.”

The Union of Palestinian Communities and Organizations in Europe had called on the Greek government to cancel the meeting. “The SYRIZA government was elected with claims of commitment to international law and respect for the will of the Greek people. At the same time, it is standing with imperialism and Zionist forces and the interests of oil and gas companies while receiving a racist war criminal who killed thousands of civilians in Gaza. Netanyahu is a criminal, a killer of children, and his only natural place is in the dock at the International Criminal Court in The Hague,” said Dr. Fawzi Ismail, president of the Union.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is dedicated to continuing to organize in Greece and internationally against the Greece/Cyprus/Israel gas deal and attempts to extract the wealth of the Palestinian and Greek people for exploitation by U.S. imperialists, oligarchic captialists and Israeli colonialists. The large turnout in Athens and Thessaloniki makes clear that Greek people support justice for the Palestinian people, not war deals with apartheid settler-colonial states.

Video from Thessaloniki:

Video from Athens:

Photos from Athens:

Photos from Thessaloniki:

Follow us on Instagram @samidounnetwork