New statement from Marwan Barghouthi on the Strike of Freedom and Dignity

30 May 2017

Imprisoned Palestinian leader, member of the Fateh Central Committee, Marwan Barghouthi has issued a new official statement, his first since the suspension of the Strike of Freedom and Dignity. We reproduce the statement in translation to English below:

First statement of the leader Marwan Barghouthi after the victory of the strike of freedom and dignity

In the name of God, the merciful
To our great people, the people of struggle and sacrifice
To our people of revolution and intifada
To the children of the Arab and Islamic nations
To the free people of the world

Friends and lovers of peace and justice everywhere…The Palestinian prisoners in the prisons and dungeons of the Zionist enemy have been engaged in an open hunger strike from 17 April until the evening of 28 May. The prisoners in this national strike have marked the longest collective strike, a historic epic in the prisoners’ movement’s record over 50 years.

Despite the brutal repression and indiscriminate terror used by the Israeli Gestapo-style administration in the face of the strike, in which all strikers were transferred from their prisons in an unprecedented action, hundreds of them were held in solitary confinement and special repressive units (Matsada, Dror and Yamaz) were used in round-the-clock raids and inspections throughout the 42 days of the strike. They resorted to the transfer of striking prisoners in harsh and brutal conditions in an attempt to impact or undermine their will, confiscating all personal belongings, including underwear. The prisoners were deprived of all sanitary and hygiene materials, turning their lives into hell and releasing shameful rumors and lies. Yet, the record of the prisoners has been one of unprecedented steadfastness in the record of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement and the Israeli repression failed to break their will. From this historical and heroic scene, I stand on record, and with great pride, saluting this great steadfastness of the hunger strikers. And I salute with great reverence the martyrs, their families, and all those who rose up, were wounded and detained in this battle of freedom and dignity for Palestine.

I would also like to pay tribute to our great people of our pure Palestine, from the river to the sea, and in exile and diaspora. I thank them for their great support and unbridled efforts for the cause of the prisoners and their strike, which has returned the Palestinian cause to the forefront of the international political landscape. At the same time, I salute the Arab, Islamic and friendly peoples of the world for the level of solidarity and participation with which they supported us.

And salutes to all of those who participated in local and international media campaigns, as well as the Bar Association, the Doctors’ Syndicate, the Ministry of Education, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society, and the Prisoners’ and Former Prisoners’ Affairs Commission, emphasizing that the battle of freedom and dignity for Palestine is an integral part of the struggle for freedom, independence, return and the overthrow of the apartheid system in Palestine and the end of the occupation.

Our great people, despite the fact that the government of terror that leads the apartheid regime of Israel launched an attack on the hunger strike in a failed and desperate attempt to hide its crimes, this did not intimidate the prisoners nor break their iron will. It did not dissuade them from fighting this battle with determination and conviction, and carrying out an epic heroic saga. They have been able to extract a number of just and humanitarian achievements, the first of which is to restore the second monthly visit to the families of the prisoners, which was stopped almost one year ago, as well as addressing problems ongoing for years related to the conditions of daily life, including the conditions of women prisoners, child prisoners, ill prisoners, the “bosta” and transfer processing, the “canteen” (prison store) system, the introduction of clothing, as well as the formation of a committee of senior officials of the Prison Service for continued dialogue with the prisoners’ representatives in the forthcoming few days to discuss all issues without exception.

In light of this and with the coming of the holy month of Ramadan, we have decided to suspend the strike to give the opportunity to carry out these discussions with the Prison Service, emphasizing our strong readiness to resume the strike if the Prison Service does not fulfill its commitments made to the prisoners.

On this occasion, I extend my warmest congratulations to the heroic prisoners for their steadfastness and achievements of humanity and justice, with a special tribute to the prisoners of Nafha prison, who played a leading role in the success of this strike and the achievement of this great victory. I also pay tribute to the prisoners who went on strike in the prisons of the Negev, Ofer, Ramle prison clinic, Ashkelon, Gilboa, Megiddo, Ramon, and the children and women prisoners, and, finally, in Hadarim prison, and to everyone who participated in all of the detention centers and prisons, I hold their hands and kiss their high foreheads.

And with the renewal of their covenant and participation in this national strike, the longest and fiercest in the Palestinian prisoners’ movement’s history, there is a turning point in the relationship between the prisoners and the mechanisms of the prison administration. From now on and after today, we will not allow any infringement upon the achievements and the rights of the prisoners. In addition, this battle is also a force to rebuild and unify the prisoners’ movement in its various components, as a prelude to the formation of a unified national leadership in the coming few months. This is in preparation for the battle to extract the recognition of the prisoners in the dungeons of the Israeli occupation as prisoners of war and prisoners of freedom and the full application of the Third and Fourth Geneva Conventions.

To our great people, as I renew the tribute to the martyrs of the battle of freedom and dignity, I call upon the Palestinian president Abu Mazen, the PLO leadership and the national and Islamic factions to carry out their national duty to the prisoners by working to liberate them and gain their freedom. Again, I warn against any resumption of negotiations before requiring a comprehensive release of all prisoners and detainees. I express my special thanks to all institutions and bodies related to the prisoners, especially the Prisoners’ Affairs Commission, headed by the struggling brother Issa Qaraqe, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society and the struggling brother Qaddoura Fares, and the Higher Commission for Prisoners’ Affairs, the popular and international campaign for the release of all Palestinian prisoners, led by the struggling lawyer Mrs. Fadwa Barghouthi.

Glory to the righteous martyrs
Freedom to the prisoners of freedom
Long live the Palestinian battle of freedom and dignity

Your brother, Marwan Barghouthi (Abu al-Qassam)
Hadarim Prison
Cell No. 28

Palestinian community organizations in exile and diaspora salute prisoners’ struggle

30 May 2017

Palestinian community organizations around the world in exile and diaspora – reflecting the dispossession of the majority of the Palestinian people and their struggle for return and liberation – have been deeply involved in the struggle of the Palestinian prisoners, both historically over decades of struggle and over the past 40 days of the #DignityStrike.

In cities and towns around the world, Palestinian communities have demonstrated, organized, pressured and struggled to support the prisoners and their demands, leading international efforts. A number of the organizations that have been heavily involved in these efforts have issued statements in support of the prisoners, which we republish below from three continents.

The Union of Palestinian Communities and Organizations in Europe dedicated its fourth conference in Berlin, which elected a new, youth-oriented, organizing leadership, to the Palestinian prisoners, and its activists were involved in many actions across Europe to support the prisoners. The US Palestinian Community Network organized a number of actions for the prisoners’ strike, with the participation of former Palestinian prisoner and community leader Rasmea Odeh, and received a letter of support for the hunger strikers from U.S. Member of Congress Danny Davis. The Committee for a Democratic Palestine in Brazil played a leading role in bringing together Brazilian mass organizations and movements, including the Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) and the CUT labor confederation, with Palestinian groups to create a new support campaign for Palestinian prisoners.

The organizations’ statements follow below:

Union of Palestinian Communities and Organizations in Europe | US Palestinian Community Network | Committee for a Democratic Palestine – Brazil

Union of Palestinian Communities and Organizations in Europe

The Union of Palestinian Communities and Organizations – Europe greets the Palestinian people in the homeland and in diaspora, and all our comrades and brothers in the Palestinian prisoners’ movement, led by the great national leader Ahmad Sa’adat and the brothers, Marwan Barghouthi, Karim Younes, Abbas Sayyed, and all of our prisoners. We extend our salutes and congratulations to the prisoners and their leadership on the occasion of a historic, important victory in the Battle of Freedom and Dignity, which the prisoners’ movement fought in Israeli jails with steadfastness and will of steel, refusing to relent and achieving victory after 41 days of struggle in open hunger strike.

We urge all Palestinian institutions and associations and the movements of solidarity with the Palestinian people in Europe to celebrate this victory through organizing cultural, social and political events to continue the struggle and to work for the liberation of all prisoners from the jails of the occupation, exposing all of the schemes of the prison authority aimed at targeting the rights of our prisoners. The victory will be complete only with the removal of the occupation from the entire land of Palestine.

The Union reaffirms that this national achievement came due to the steadfastness of the prisoners and their families, and the blood of the martyrs who were killed in the struggle and the dozens wounded, and the struggle of just people and the forces of freedom in the world. And we renew our call to protect this victory of the political prisoners and warn against any attempt to circumvent or confiscate it for any partisan or official advantage.

Freedom for the prisoners
Glory to the martyrs and healing to the wounded
Victory for the Palestinian people and the Arab nation

Union of Palestinian Communities and Organizations – Europe
27-May-2017

US Palestinian Community Network

“They will not criminalise us, rob us of our true identity, steal our individualism, depoliticise us, churn us out as systemised, institutionalised, decent law-abiding robots. Never will they label our liberation struggle as criminal.”
— Bobby Sands, Irish Republican leader who died in a political prisoners’ hunger strike in 1981

After 40 days of the Palestinian Strike of Freedom and Dignity, our political prisoners have suspended their hunger strike and declared victory! Over 1,800 prisoners participated in the open-ended hunger strike, consuming only salt and water; and many more tens of thousands in Palestine, other Arab states, and the rest of the world protested, fasted in solidarity, and supported the #DignityStrike. USPCN salutes the prisoners and everyone else who played a role in this historic victory!

The hunger strike began on April 17th, the International Day of Solidarity with Palestinian Political Prisoners, when 1,500 original strikers representing all of the social sectors and political forces in Palestinian society, announced their basic and humanitarian demands, including the restoration of regular family visits, an end to solitary confinement, an end to administrative detention (imprisonment for months without trial or formal charge), the strengthening of medical care, and access to education.

When the prisoners declared victory May 27th, the only detail reported by any media was the restoration of a second monthly family visit, but today in a press conference, Issa Qaraqe, director of the Palestinian Prisoners Affairs Commission, said that “80 percent of the demands” of the prisoners were won after 20 hours of negotiations between the committee in leadership of the prisoners and the Israeli Prison Service (IPS).

It should also be noted that the IPS claims that the agreement was not made with the prisoners themselves, but between Israel, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and the Palestinian Authority (PA). We reject this boldfaced lie, and also condemn the role of the ICRC, which was responsible for cutting the second monthly family visit in the first place.

In addition, we will not allow the PA to take any credit for this hunger strike and the victory it brought for our prisoners and our people. As we have many times in the past, USPCN again demands that the PA, under its President Mahmoud Abbas, immediately halt “security coordination” with Israel. It cannot be more clear that this coordination plays a leading role in serving Palestinian organizers, activists, and resistance leaders to the Israelis. In fact, a number of the hunger strikers were originally jailed by the PA before being abducted and imprisoned by the Israelis.

This hunger strike was always about more than just visitation rights and better services for the prisoners. It was a fight for respect, dignity, and freedom. And it was won because of the steadfast strength of the hunger strikers themselves, who built a united front across the political spectrum, even when the enemy tried to isolate and marginalize the leaders and break the strike. The IPS had refused to negotiate with the prisoners until just two days ago, which means the strikers broke the Israelis instead.

The fight was won because of the brave family members of the prisoners, and the entire community of Palestinians in historical Palestine, who continuously lobbied and protested to pressure Israel to accept the demands, even under massive repression from both the Israelis and the PA. It was won also because it was a fight taken up by huge numbers of people across the world, who organized nonstop in solidarity and support. In the U.S., despite virtually no coverage at all from mainstream media, activists still organized protests, visits to legislators, and solidarity encampments.

As a reminder that the U.S. government and its elected officials, regardless of party affiliation, are complicit in Israeli crimes against Palestinian prisoners and our people in general, only one, Congressman Danny Davis of Illinois, wrote a letter supporting the strikers. (Coalitions of forces met with Congresswoman Barbara Lee of California and, led by USPCN, with Congressman John Conyers of Michigan, and are hopeful to get positive responses, even though the strike is suspended.) And despite a meeting USPCN organized with the staff of U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, one of the most powerful members of Congress, he has been mute.

Even with this incredible victory, we cannot forget that dozens of strikers have been hospitalized, and many more will take months to recover physically. They were and are ready and willing to give up their lives to win their dignity and respect, and they and millions of other Palestinians are also ready and willing to give up their lives for full liberation.

We are proud to salute and celebrate our hunger strikers and all the prisoners, and remind all that this victory comes only with a “suspension” of the hunger strike, so we must make certain that the Israelis do not renege on the agreement, as they have so many times in our history.As the Irish martyr, Bobby Sands, suggested in the quote that opens this statement, the essence of our defense of Palestinian political prisoners is a defense of resistance, a defense of organizing for liberation. The criminalization of our organizers, protesters, and leaders by Israel, the U.S., and even the Palestinian Authority (PA), is a criminalization of resistance, an attempt to brand illegitimate our movement for our national rights to return home, to self-determination, to equality, and to freedom. Those of us who seek to secure those rights, from every social sector of Palestinian society, are always going to be subject to imprisonment, whether within the open-air prison of Gaza under siege, the walled-in West Bank, the jails of the occupation and those colluding with it, or even prisons inside the U.S.

Follow @uspcn, @Addameer, and @SamidounPP for updates, and stay tuned to #DignityStrike and #PalHunger on social media. Continue organizing until every single one of our Palestinian political prisoners is free, and until full Liberation and Return!

Ramadan Mubarak!

USPCN
May 28th, 2017

Committee for a Democratic Palestine – Brazil

The victory of the Palestinian prisoners in the realization of their humanitarian demands is in and of itself a great achievement that we all must support. More than that, however, today the Palestinian people, its institutions and organizations, its civil and political movements, stand with the Palestinian prisoners. They are the front lines of the resistance and the struggle aggainst the Zionist occupation, who must be supported by action at all popular and official levels for their freedom and liberation.

They continued their strike despite brutality, torture and isolation and all forms of pressure. The prisoners were able to deliver their message and their meaning, throughout the Palestinian street. It is they who are leading the struggle for self-determination, independence and national liberation. No voice is above their voice. All of the attempts to break the strike were themselves broken, and this achievement was a collective one of the Palestinian people and the Palestinian prisoners that forced the jailer to submit to the just demands of the prisoners.

We must not remain idle and must struggle for the prisoners’ freedom; they have sacrificed everything for the freedom of the Palestinian people. The prisoners’ cause must remain a top priority of the Palestinian liberation movement with action and resistance at all levels for their immediate release.

27 May 2017

Samidoun joins Euro-Mediterranean Workers’ Conference in Athens, urges united action for Palestine

29 May 2017

Mohammed Khatib, the European coordinator of Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, participated in the Euro-Mediterranean Workers’ Conference in Athens, Greece on Saturday, 27 May, delivering a speech in the opening event of the conference and focusing on the struggle of Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons.

“Palestinian prisoners in occupation prisons are the real leadership of the Palestinian national liberation struggle against Zionist colonialism,” Khatib said, emphasizing that the hunger strike of Palestinian prisoners – suspended just that morning after over 40 days – had wide popular support. He denounced the attempts by Israeli occupation forces to suppress the prisoners’ protest and distort its image before the Palestinian public and the world. Furthermore, he warned against the role of the Palestinian Authority in seeking to lay claim to the accomplishments obtained by the prisoners while suppressing support and protests and continuing to engage in “security coordination” with the Israeli occupation.

He also noted that the Palestinian prisoners were confronting imperialism through their strike at the same time that U.S. President Donald Trump was in Riyadh and then in occupied Palestine to promote normalization with the Israeli occupation state and the further suppression of Palestinian rights and existence. Khatib warned against attempts to integrate the economy of the Mediterranean region with the Israeli state, noting the recent gas deals, pipeline projects and other initiatives meant to link the economies of Turkey, Greece, Italy and Jordan to that of the Israeli occupation, intensifying not only economic enmeshment but also military alliances at the expenses of the rights, wealth and existence of the Palestinian people.

He emphasized the importance of workers’ and social movements in Mediterranean countries in confronting and disrupting these attempts and escalating the struggle for boycott, especially against water, gas and oil deals designed to confiscate the wealth of the peoples of the region for the enrichment of the Israeli occupation, Arab reactionary regimes and the United States.

Khatib also denounced the role of the European Union in continuing to support the Israeli occupation 100 years after the Balfour declaration and the launch of British colonization in Palestine, noting that this accord between the British state and the Zionist movement was a “bankrupt agreement between colonizers.” He also particularly noted the role of the French state, with its lengthy history of colonization in the region, today suppressing Palestine solidarity activism while imprisoning Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, a Lebanese Communist struggler for Palestine, for 33 years in French prisons. He urged building the international campaign to free Georges Abdallah alongside his fellow prisoners of the Palestinian cause.

Following his major speech at the opening of the conference, Khatib later presented at a workshop on political prisoners, in which he explained in detail the situation of approximately 6,500 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons and their struggle for freedom and liberation. He reviewed the newly-suspended Strike of Freedom and Dignity as well as the history of hunger strikes in the prisons and the leading role of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement in the Palestinian national liberation struggle. The conference expressed its support for political prisoners around the world, including in Palestine, Turkey, Greece, Ukraine, France, Poland, Argentina, Bulgaria and elsewhere.

In further discussion about Palestine, the conference discussed the importance of building alliances with the Palestinian workers’ movement and the Palestinian Left, adopting a call from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine to build a “united anti-imperialist, anti-Zionist international initiative that will also fight all other kinds of reaction that are on the rise in the Middle East, the Balkans and the Mediterranean region at large.”

New Yorkers protest to support Palestinian prisoners, boycott HP

29 May 2017

New York City activists gathered on Friday, 26 May to protest in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike and demand freedom for all Palestinian prisoners. The protest, outside Best Buy in Union Square, also urged consumers to participate in the growing global boycott of Hewlett-Packard (HP) products, as Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE) operates a number of contracts with the Israeli occupation, including with the military, the checkpoint system and the Israel Prison Service.

The protest was organized by Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network. Participants distributed information to passers-by about the situation of nearly 6,500 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and the hunger strike of 1,500 Palestinian political prisoners. They provided information to consumers at Best Buy – which sells HP laptops, printers, ink and other computer and printer supplies – about HP’s profiteering from the occupation and dispossession of Palestinians.

The protest marked the 40th day of the Strike of Freedom and Dignity, around which prisoners reached an agreement the following day for the suspension of their open hunger strike involving increased family visits and improvement in conditions of living and transit for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. In addition, the New York City action was part of a global day of action for the strike’s 40th day called by the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (National Committee), urging international actions for a military embargo of Israel. Protesters demanded that Hewlett-Packard end its contracts with Israel’s prisons, detention centers, military and security forces.

Protesters’ signs highlighted the cases of some of the leaders of the strike, including imprisoned Fateh leader Marwan Barghouthi, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Secretary Ahmad Sa’adat, and longest-serving Palestinian prisoner Nael Barghouthi. All, along with other leaders of the strike, were targeted for heavy repression, including frequent arbitrary and abusive transfers, solitary confinement and isolation.

Samidoun will continue its protests and actions in support of freedom and justice for Palestinian political prisoners and liberation for Palestine, including its weekly Friday protests outside Best Buy. The next New York City action will take place at 5:30 pm on Friday, 2 June at the Best Buy in Union Square, at 52 E. 14th St in Manhattan. All supporters of justice and liberation for Palestine are invited to attend.

1 June, Brussels: Café Palestine – Palestinian Hunger Strikes: A Human Rights Perspective

29 May 2017

Thursday, 1 June
7:00 pm
Het Goudblommeke in papier/La Fleur en Papier Dore
Cellebroersstraat/Rue des Alexiens 55
Brussels, Belgium
Facebook: https://facebook.com/events/103230590247108/

In what promises to be a truly engaging event, Charlotte Kates, the International Coordinator of Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, and Alexis Deswaef, layer and President of La Ligue des Droits de l’Homme, will address the topic of the conditions of Palestinian prisoners, the hunger strike and prisoners’ protests and international response to the movement in relation to international law and human rights.

On 17 April 2017, some 1,500 Palestinian prisoners announced the start of an indefinite hunger strike to protest the conditions of their detention. Classified by Israel as “security prisoners”, Palestinian detainees are subject to a wide range of human rights violations from the moment of arrest, through interrogation and remand detention, to trial and imprisonment. These practices are part and parcel to the 50-year long prolonged occupation and must be addressed in the pursuit of long-term peace and reconciliation.

This is reflected in the demands of the hunger strikers which include the call to end torture and ill-treatment, the use of administrative detention, unfair trials, the detention of children, demeaning detention conditions including sleep and food deprivation, insufficient medical care, solitary confinement and the denial of the right to education.

The strike was suspended on 27 May 2017 after an agreement; further details remain forthcoming.

An open Q&A and discussion will follow the presentation. The Café Palestine team looks forward to seeing you at La Fleur en Papier Doré / Het Goudblommeke in Papier on Thursday, 1st of June at 19:00.

The events at “Het Goudblommeke in Papier” are organized with the support of vzw Geert van Bruaene.

More about our speakers:

// Charlotte Kates is the International Coordinator of Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network and coordinates the International Committee of the National Lawyers Guild. She is an Organizing Committee member of the U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel. She is a longtime activist for social justice and Palestinian rights.

// Alexis Deswaef is a layer and current President of La Ligue des Droits de l’Homme. He is a co-founder of the law firm of the Quartier des Libertés, committed to ensuring justice for all. Thanks to his continuing involvement in international humanitarian law, he won in 2007 the International Competition of Advocacy for Human Rights in Caen (France), denouncing the detention of undocumented children in detention centres. He has been involved in striving for refugees and migrants’ rights for more than 20 years.

Black4Palestine video: Detroit to Palestine – Congratulations to the Hunger Strikers

29 May 2017

Black4Palestine released a new video in solidarity with the Palestinian political prisoners on 29 May, specifically congratulating Palestinian prisoners on the suspension of the Strike of Freedom and Dignity.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes these Black and Arab organizers in Detroit and Black4Palestine for their consistent support for the Palestinian prisoners’ strike, the Palestinian prisoners’ freedom and the liberation struggle of the Palestinian people, even as these same organizers work day and night to confront racism, oppression and state-sponsored violence against Black people in the United States and around the world. The history of Black-Palestinian solidarity is one that is deep, long and storied, stretching from the streets of Detroit to the refugee camps of Lebanon and Palestine over decades of struggle confronting racism, colonialism, capitalism and imperialism. The arena of struggle of political prisoners and confrontation of mass colonial incarceration is one that is of shared importance and priority in the Palestinian and Black Liberation movements. We express our full solidarity with the Black Liberation movement and demand the immediate release of all political prisoners in U.S. jails.

The following statement accompanied the video, as well as a text in English and Arabic: Black4Palestine joins millions of people around the world in congratulating the hundreds of Palestinian prisoners who forced the Israeli government to meet their demands through their 40 day hunger strike. We’d like to share this video (يحتوي الفيديو على ترجمات عربية) from Black and Arab organizers in Detroit, which includes water rights activists, a former Black Panther, a formerly incarcerated community member, and one man who fasted for 140 days to resist his eviction. We love you Palestine and congrats again to the prisoners and their families.

The English text:

We are a group of Black, African, Arab and Palestinian people here in the city of Detroit—on occupied territory in “the United States.” (Like Israel, the United States stole indigenous land and renamed all the cities.)

We’re here to offer our solidarity and congratulations to you, the prisoners who steadfastness was inspirational to all of us:

We’re calling for the decolonization of Zagajibiising (“Detroit”) and all of Turtle Island (“North America”) and Palestine. And we’re here in solidarity with you. Free the water! (In Detroit, the government is threatening to shut off the water of 18,000families who cannot afford to pay their water bills. The entire city of Flint, Michigan drank poisoned water for a year because ofcorporate greed. The city still does not have clean water.)

Power to the People!

Free the Land in the US and Palestine! Rise Up!

Ah-hurriya falastinia! (Freedom is Palestinian!)

Congratulations on your step towards a free Palestine!

My heart goes out in solidarity to the brave people who risked fasting for forty days in order to bring attention to the importance of the issue of justice. I personally understand what sacrificing and fasting is. I myself fasted for 140 days. So I know personally what you had to go through. And again, my heart goes out to you in solidarity. We are one.

We’d like to end with a chant from one of our own revolutionary comrades and a former political prisoner – Assata Shakur. Assata was liberated from prison and has been living free for decades in Cuba. So we offer this chant from our struggle to ours. It goes:

It is our duty to fight for our freedom
It is our duty to win
We must love and support each other
We have nothing to lose but our chains
We have nothing to lose but our chains
We have nothing to lose but our chains!

The Arabic text:

وفيما يلي ترجمة فيديو من ديترويت. اجتمع السود والعرب للاحتفال بالمضربين عن الطعام المنتصرين. وشمل هذا الفيديو ناشطون في مجال حقوق المياه، ونمر أسود سابق، ورجل بدأ إضرابا عن الطعام لمقاومة طرده من منزله، وسجين سياسي سابق. نحن نحبك فلسطين و تهاني مرة أخرى إلى السجناء . ه

السلام وعليكم و رمضان كريم ومبارك لرفاقنا وأصدقائنا الفلسطينيين وخاصة للمضربين عن الطعام الذين انتصروا بحق في إضرابهم لمدة 40 يوما من أجل الحرية والكرامة. ه

نحن مجموعة من السود والأفارقة والعرب والفلسطينيين هنا في مدينة ديترويت – على الاراضى المحتلة فى “الولايات المتحد. و مثل اسرائيل، قامت الولايات المتحدة بسرقة الاراضي من السكان الاصليين و اعادت تسمية جميع المدن. ه

، .نحن هنا لنقدم تضامننا وتهانينا للأسرى الذين كان صمودهم إلهاماً لنا جميعاً

إننا ندعو إلى إنهاء استعمار “ديترويت” و “أمريكا الشمالية” وفلسطين ونحن هنا في تضامن معكم. حرروا المياه! (في ديترويت، تهدد الحكومة باغلاق المياه عن 18000 عائلة لا تستطيع دفع فواتير المياه. شربت مدينة فلينت وميشيغان المياه المسممة طوال عام كامل بسبب طمع الشركات، ولا تزال تلك المدن لا تتحصل على المياه النظيفة.) ه

القوة للشعب! ه

!حرروا الأرض في الولايات المتخدة وفلسطين! انتفضوا!

الحرية فلسطينية!

تهانينا على خطواتك نحو تحرير فلسطين!

رجل في مجموعتنا اضرب عن الطعام ليقاوم الحكومة بطرده من منزله. و لكن قامت الحكومة بالنهاية باخذ منزله منه. وهو يقدم تضامنه: ه

قلبي معكم، تضامنا مع الشجعان الذين خاطروا باضراب دام اربعين يوما من اجل لفت الانتباه إلى اهمية قضية العدالة. انا شخصيا افهم ما معنى التضحية و الإضراب— انا نفسي قمت بالإضراب عن الطعام لمدة 140 يوم. لذلك انا اعرف ما الذي خضتموه. و مرة اخرى قلبي معكم، و انا اتضامن معكم. نحن واحد! ه

نود ان ننهي بكلمات من امرأة اسمها “اساتا شاكور”. هي احدى رفيقاتنا الثوريين وهي سجينة سياسية سابقة. اساتا تم تحريرها من المعتقل و هي تقيم الان بحرية في كوبا منذ عقود من الزمن. ه

لذلك نقدم هذه الانشودة من نضالنا لنضالكم. و هي كالاتي: ه

ومن واجبنا أن نكافح من أجل حريتنا

من واجبنا ان ننتصر

يجب أن نحب ونؤيد بعضنا البعض

ليس لدينا ما نخسره، إلا أغلالنا

ليس لدينا ما نخسره، إلا أغلالنا!

29 May, Toulouse: Rally for Freedom and Dignity

29 May 2017

Monday, 29 May
6:00 pm
Metro Jean Jaures
Toulouse, France
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/180718282453863/

This protest was originally organized to support the strike of 1500 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails in their demands for freedom and dignity. The protest is being maintained following the suspension of the strike to demand freedom for all Palestinian prisoners and stand in solidarity with Palestine.

Freedom for Marwan Barghouthi, Ahmad Sa’adat, Georges Ibrahim Abdallah and all Palestinian political prisoners! Support the Palestinian resistance!

Organized by: Association des Palestiniens en France, Association France Palestine Solidarité 31, Attac 31, CCFD-Terre Solidaire, CGT Educ’Action 31, Collectif Coup pour Coup 31, Campagne BDS Toulouse, Comité 31 du Mouvement de la Paix, Couserans Palestine, Ensemble!, Europe Ecologie – Les Verts, Egalité Toulouse Mirail, NPA 31, MJCF, OCML-VP, Parti Communiste Français, Sud Educ31, Sud Ptt 31, Sud Rail, Sud Santé Sociaux 31, Union des EtudiantEs de Toulouse.

New statement from Ahmad Sa’adat: Prisoners’ strike a collective victory

28 May 2017

The Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat has released a new statement from imprisoned Palestinian leader Ahmad Sa’adat, the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, on the suspension of the Strike of Freedom and Dignity. The statement is republished below:

Statement by the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Ahmad Sa’adat

The prisoners have made a new epic from their will and determination and have proven that their rights must be taken and not pleaded for

To the masses of the Palestinian people, the Arab nation, and the forces of freedom in the world…

The striking prisoners mustered their steadfastness, will and resolve to thwart and resist all attempts to abort and dismantle the strike. No oppression has been spared against the strikers, which has contributed to the deterioration of the prisoners’ health through repressive policies and measures against the strikers, especially the policy of arbitrary transfer which did not cease until the last moment, apart from the occupation’s attempts to spread lies, rumors and misinformation. The heroic prisoners have confronted all of these policies and practices and have, for 41 days, made of their own will of steel a new epic in confrontation of the occupation, adding to the historic landmarks of the struggles of our people in the national liberation movement.

To our Palestinian masses…

This victory was the collective fruit of the efforts of the Palestinian people who rallied around the strike, including individuals and institutions, national, human rights, humanitarian and popular organizations, through the sacrifices of the martyrs, the wounded and the prisoners. It came through the support of Arab popular forces throughout the Arab world, and through the support of all of the forces of freedom in the world, including popular movements and organizations, solidarity committees, parliamentarians, social justice movements confronting imperialism and globalization, and the international boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement. To all of those who participated in the actions of solidarity with our strike to bring it to its honorable conclusion, we send all of our greetings and appreciation, especially to the families of the martyrs, the wounded and the prisoners.

To the masses of our people:

While it is too early to provide a final assessment of the achievements of the strike before the offical statement of the strike leadership, we can say clearly that the inability of the occupation to break the strike or contain it is a victory for the prisoners and for their will and determination to continue the confrontation. This victory has important implications: first, to reaffirm the fact that rights can only be taken and never begged for, and that the resistance was the main lever for all of the achievements of the Palestinian people in the successive eras of the revolution. Second, that the different factions of the prisoners’ movement and the atmosphere of division did not prevent the unity of action of all of the national and Islamic factions on the fields of confrontation, as long as the compass of struggle remaind directed at the primary contradiction with the occupation. The third significant point is that the confrontation does not end with the strike; instead, it must continue in order to strengthen the achievements of the strike, expand them and build on them. This is critical to rebuild and unify the body of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement and expand its role to exit the situation of fragmentation and division and instead present a living model to our people to bring forward sincere efforts to advance the Palestinian cause from this current crisis and the framework of division.

To our Palestinian masses…

What our Palestinian political forces and factions must do to support the prisoners and strengthen their steadfastness is to restore our national unity toward a path of advancement and leave behind this stage of going around endlessly in circles.

Once again, all of our salutes to all of the popular Palestinian, Arab and international forces who contributed to strengthening the steadfastness of the prisoners and carrying their battle forward to the road of victory.

Glory to the martyrs, and victory is certain

General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

Ahmad Sa’adat
Ramon Prison
28 May 2017

30 May, Granada: Solidarity Action – We Die in Israeli Apartheid Prison

28 May 2017

Tuesday 30 May
11 am to 3 pm
6 pm to 9 pm
Plaza del Carmen
Granada, Spanish state
More info: https://twitter.com/BDSGranada/status/868781815624077313

In response to the request for international support launched by the Palestinian prisoners, who carried out a heroic hunger strike for 41 days against their atrocious conditions of confinement in Israeli prisons, BDS Granada is organizing this public action for 30 May.

We propose an action-performance that can be done by a single person holding a sign with two black sticks that convey the image of bars. The idea is that any person who supports the action can hold the sign and be photographed with it in order to disseminate each image for social networks and multiply the impact of the event. This way we intend to break the media blackout on the desperate situation of all imprisoned people, not only in the Israeli prisons, and also in the de facto prison in which all Palestinians are held under the apartheid practices of Zionism, under the umbrella of the international impunity of the state of Israel. We will not be silent!

Organized by BDS Granada

Stuttgart protest calls for freedom for Palestinian political prisoners

28 May 2017

*Photo by Solidaritätskomitee mit den palästinensischen Gefangenen, Stuttgart*

The Solidaritätskomitee mit den palästinensischen Gefangenen (Solidarity committee for Palestinian prisoners) in Stuttgart, Germany organized a demonstration on 27 May in support of Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails, demanding their release, an end to administrative detention and the implementation of basic human rights.

Originally organized in support of the 41st day of Palestinian prisoners’ hunger strike, the demonstration continued after the strike was suspended with a general focus on supporting the rights of the Palestinian prisoners and calling for the liberation of over 6,500 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

The demonstration followed several earlier protests in Stuttgart in support of the hunger strike, attended by members of the Palestinian community as well as solidarity activists in support of the Palestinian struggle.

Participants distributed flyers to passers-by on a sunny day in Stuttgart, highlighting the situation of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails as well as the responsibility of the international community to take action to ensure the implementation of human rights for Palestinian prisoners and for the entire Palestinian people.

The materials highlighted the issue of administrative detention, the policy of imprisonment of Palestinians without charge or trial, a form of imprisonment originally brought to Palestine by British colonialism and continued by the Israeli state after the Nakba and the continuing occupation of 1967.

The organizers plan to continue their activities in Stuttgart to work for freedom and justice for the Palestinian prisoners and the Palestinian people.

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Union of Palestinian Communities and Organizations in Europe

US Palestinian Community Network

Committee for a Democratic Palestine – Brazil

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