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15 May, Cape Town: Picket in Support of Palestinian Prisoners on Hunger Strike

Monday, 15 May
12 pm to 2 pm
5 Wale Street
Cape Town, South Africa
More information: http://www.vocfm.co.za/ct-pickets-planned-highlight-palestinian-hunger-strike/

Part of the South African Campaign to free Palestinian political prisoners. Organized by the Al-Quds Foundation.

 

 

15 May, Sydney: Solidarity with Palestinian Hunger Strikers + Nakba Rally

Several events are taking place in Sydney, Australia, to support Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike on Monday, 15 May.

Start your support for the strike by joining the Sydney #SaltWaterChallenge:

Monday, 15 May
1:15 pm
Harbour Master Steps
First Fleet Park next to Circular Quay Station
Sydney, Australia

Participants will video and photograph drinking salt water to support the prisoners.

Then, join the contingent to support the hunger strikers at the Sydney Nakba rally:

Monday, 15 May
6:30 pm
Sydney Town Hall
Sydney, Australia
Contingent Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1275850352511538/

Stand in support of all the heroic Palestinians participating in the mass hunger strike from inside the zionist prison walls (now numbering more than 1,700+ people) and in support of their families, comrades, and communities fighting for them on the outside.

Recognize and reaffirm their #RightToResist mass incarceration, political imprisonment and settler colonial occupation by any means necessary.

The Palestinian “Nakba” (“catastrophe” in Arabic) refers to the mass expulsion of Palestinian Arabs from British Mandate Palestine during Israel’s creation (1947-49).

The Nakba was not an unintended result of war. It was a deliberate and systematic act necessary for the creation of a Jewish majority state in historic Palestine, which was overwhelmingly Arab prior to 1948.

Many dispossessed Palestinians continue to hold and treasure the keys to their lost homes, and the key has become a symbol of Palestinian right to return home. United Nations Resolution 194, passed immediately following the Nakba, declares the right of all refugees displaced and dispossessed by the Zionist militias to return to their homes.

Nakba Rally Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/415303885512398/

May 15th 1948 marks the day that over 750,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes and made refugees.

In 1948, the establishment of the Israeli state in Palestine through violent ethnic cleansing not only forced Palestinians from their homes, but also led to massacres of indigenous populations and the destruction of villages.

After 69 years this bloodshed has not been forgotten, nor the right of Palestinians to return to their homeland.

Join us to commemorate 69 years since the Nakba (catastrophe) and to protest against the ongoing occupation of Palestine, on Monday May 15th, 6:30PM Town Hall.

Monday events in Australia also include a national day of action, organized by Australia Palestine Advocacy Network. For more information: https://www.facebook.com/events/661017800775813/


14 May, Lurgan: Vigil in Support of Palestinian Hunger Strikers

Sunday, 14 May
6:00 pm
Kilwilkie Murals, Kilwilkie Est
Lurgan, Ireland
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/749355631905651/

Saoradh Ard Mhacha activists are holding a vigil in Lurgan this Sunday 14th May in solidarity with the Palestinian Hunger Strikers.

Join us to show solidarity with those who hunger for Freedom and Dignity.

#freedom #dignity

14 May, Donegal: Nakba Vigil 2017 and Emergency Vigil for Hunger Strikers

Sunday, 14 May
1:00 pm
Station Road Roundabout
Letterkenny, County Donegal, Ireland
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/274632019663361/

Nakba Day 1948, meaning “Day of the Catastrophe” the day Palestine was invaded by Zionist forces, over 700,000 Palestinians were driven from their homes and land, hundreds of Palestinian towns and villages destroyed and the state of Israel created on that land.
These refugees and their descendants number between 5 and 6million today all of which have no right of return to their home country.

69 years later and the Palestinian people are still suffering horrific abuse at the hands of their oppressor, no civil rights, no basic human rights. The Palestinian people are a normal people with normal aspirations, what they aspire is to live on their land with freedom and dignity as all people deserve.

The ethnic cleansing of Palestine is still happening today, we call upon Tesco to respect human rights and cease trading with Israel until Israel abides by international law in regards to illegal settlement and its’s daily violations of Palestinian human rights. Trading with Israel is funding apartheid and occupation.

Donegal Awareness For Palestine are organizing an hour long peaceful vigil in rememberance of Nakba Day and the continuous suffering of Palestinian people. There are at present 1600 Palestinian preisoners on hunger strike in Israeli prisons asking for their basic human rights as prisoners, family visits, phone calls, adequate medical care and the end administrative detention.

Tesco continue to profit from the murder and oppression of innocent civilians, we aim to raise public awareness of the Israeli origin of Tesco products.

Boycott, is a practical, non-violent,peaceful way we can all help!
Hope to see you there.

Palestinian writer and intellectual Ahmed Qatamesh seized by Israeli occupation forces

Palestinian writer and intellectual Dr. Ahmed Qatamesh, 63, was seized from his home in El-Bireh by Israeli occupation forces, who invaded and ransacked his home before dawn on Sunday, 14 May.

Qatamesh was last released from Israeli prison nearly 4 years ago after being held in administrative detention without charge or trial for 2 and one-half years.  He has previously spent many years inside Israeli prison, and his memoir about prison, I Will Not Wear Your Tarbush, is a well-known contribution to Palestinian prison literature. Haneen Qatamesh, Ahmed’s daughter, wrote about the experience of his last arrest in 2011 for his family.

Photo: Raid on Ahmed Qatamesh’s home. Via Quds News

He had been detained for six years, between 1993 and 1998, under administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial – at that time the longest-serving prisoner held under administrative detention.

He was one of 14 Palestinians seized overnight in violent raids by Israeli occupation forces.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network demands the immediate release of Ahmed Qatamesh and all Palestinian prisoners. We will follow up on this case as soon as information becomes available.

28 days of hunger strike: Sa’adat to receive legal visit as strike grows amid repression

Graphic by Marz Saffore, via Decolonize This Place

On Sunday, 14 May, Palestinian prisoners entered into their 28th day of hunger strike in Israeli prisons. 1500 Palestinian prisoners launched the strike on 17 April, Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, for a series of basic demands, including: end to the denials of family visits, proper health care and medical treatment, the right to pursue distance higher education, and an end to solitary confinement and administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial.

On Friday, 12 May, 11 prisoners in Gilboa prison joined the open hunger strike. In addition, despite some earlier reports, Issa Qaraqe of the Prisoners’ Affairs Commission stated that no negotiations have yet taken place between the prisoners and Israeli officials; instead, Israeli officials have demanded that Palestinian prisoners first end their strike.

The Martyr of Dignity, via Decolonize This Place

Also, on Friday, 12 May, Israeli occupation forces shot and killed “the martyr of dignity,” Saba Obeid, 22, as he participated in a protest march in support of the prisoners in the village of Nabi Saleh, northwest of Ramallah.

Palestinian prisoners have faced harsh repression since the launch of the strike. Strikers have been routinely denied family and legal visits, had their personal belongings confiscated – including the salt that they take with water to preserve their life and health – pressured to break the strike in exchange for medical care, routinely abusively transferred from prison to prison and thrown in isolation. Some prisoners have been transferred – in a physically grueling, lengthy process in a vehicle called the “bosta” – seven times since the beginning of the strike.

One of the hunger striking Palestinian leaders who has been routinely denied legal visits is Ahmad Sa’adat, the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association has reportedly obtained a visit with Sa’adat to take place today, Sunday, 14 May, at 3:00 pm, only after petitioning the courts after repeated denials of visits with Sa’adat since he joined the strike on 4 May.

Palestinian lawyers who obtained visits with their hunger-striking clients after legal actions have reported the use of tear gas and police dogs in raids and frequent inspections inside hunger strikers’ cells, as well as the presence of insects and filthy conditions in the cells the strikers were transferred to. Dozens of prisoners were transferred to so-called “field hospitals” after a deterioration in their health condition; many prisoners have reported difficulty or inability to stand, severe pain and even vomiting blood.

Throughout Palestine, marches, demonstrations, protests and solidarity hunger strikes continued in support of the prisoners. On Friday, in addition to the killing of Saba Obeid, dozens of Palestinians were wounded by Israeli occupation forces firing tear gas and rubber-coated metal bullets on demonstrators. On Friday evening, 12 May, another ten organizers from Beit Sahour near Bethlehem launched an open hunger strike in support of the prisoners.

The Palestinian National Committee to Support the Strike issued a statement and call for action following the killing of Obeid, “saluting the heroic spirit of the martyr Saba Obeid, a martyr of the battle of empty stomachs of our brave prisoners in Israeli jails.”  The Committee urged action to call for a special session of the United Nations General Assembly to highlight and take action to save the prisoners at a time when they are threatened with severe health deterioration and even death. The statement urged protests each day of the week, including rallies and marches on Monday, 15 May, for the right of return of Palestinian refugees and freedom for the prisoners, in commemoration of the 69th anniversary of the Nakba.

The statement also urged protests at International Committee of the Red Cross buildings on Tuesday, 16 May; mass marches on Wednesday, 17 May and ongoing marches, actions and confrontations with Israeli occupation forces on 18 and 19 May. It also spoke to the supporters of Palestine around the world, urging intensified boycott actions:

“We highly appreciate the many throughout the world who see the suffering of the Palestinian people under occupation. We call on the free and conscientious people of the world to expand the boycott of Israel and campaign to impose sanctions, as well as intensifying local Palestinian campaigns to clean up our homes and stores of the products of the occupation.”

Berlin, 13 May – photo by Afif el-Ali

Events and actions took place around the world to support the striking prisoners on 13 May. In Berlin, two large protests commemorated the 69th anniversary of the Nakba and expressed support for Palestinian prisoners. In New York City, the Nakba Day March for Resistance and Return braved the rain one day after Samidoun in New York organized a protest for Palestinian prisoners. In Toronto, a wide coalition of activists took to the street days after the Canadian Labour Congress issued a resolution in support of the prisoners’ hunger strike. In London, two protests also took the streets to remember the Nakba and highlight the struggle of Palestinian prisoners.

Photo via New York City Students for Justice in Palestine

Events also took place in Los Angeles, Tucson, Anaheim, Dearborn, Clifton, Ottawa, London, Bristol, Glasgow, Milan, Genova, Mersin, Wuppertal, Neuweid, Vaxjo, Gothenburg, Malmo, Cagliari, Dublin, Nice, Montpellier, Frankfurt, Rome, Auckland and Madrid. On Sunday, 14 May, protests and actions in support of the prisoners are scheduled in Vancouver, Malmo, Manchester, Donegal and Lurgan, while Monday will mark a day of national action in South Africa, where a growing list of prominent officials will join a one-day strike. Activists in Australia are also organizing a day of action.

Samidoun urges the organizing of events and actions to support the prisoners, rallying at Israeli embassies, federal buildings and public squares. These actions around the world will help to underline the global support for Palestinian political prisoners in their struggle for freedom, and the struggle of the Palestinian people for liberation. You can download flyers and posters for your events to support the prisoners among our resources. 

South African Deputy President, dozens of officials and anti-apartheid veterans join solidarity strike for Palestinian prisoners

Dozens of prominent South African figures, including a number of government ministers and Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, will participate in a 24-hour fast and day of action for hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners that begins on Sunday evening, 14 May. The solidarity strike has been organized by a broad coalition of organizations, including the National Coalition for Palestine and BDS South Africa, to support the 1500 Palestinian political prisoners who launched a hunger strike on 17 April, Palestinian Prisoners’ Day.

Participants in the strike will begin fasting at 6:00 pm on 14 May and will only drink salt and water until 6:00 pm on 15 May. As the campaigners noted, “May 15 was symbolically selected for the #DignityStrikeSA campaign to mark the Nakba (Catastrophe) that saw Palestinians being forced to flee their homeland in 1948, and the establishment of Israeli occupation.”

Some of Ramaphosa’s fellow government officials participating in the strike include Dr Aaron Motsoaledi (Minister of Health), Ayanda Dlodlo (Minister of Communications), Naledi Pandor (Minister of Science & Technology), Rob Davies (Minister of Trade & Industry), Ebrahim Patel (Minister for Economic Development), Mmamoloko Kubayi (Minister of Energy), Nomaindia Mfeketo (Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation), Buti Manamela (Deputy Minister in the Presidency), Enver Surty (Deputy Minister of Basic Education), Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams (Deputy Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services), Fatima Chohan (Deputy Minister of Home Affairs), John Jeffery (Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development) and Bongani Mkgoni (Deputy Minister of Police), noted the organizers.

Palestinian prisoners are demanding basic human rights in the ongoing hunger strike: the right to receive family visits, the right to pursue distance higher education, proper health care and medical treatment and an end to solitary confinement and administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial. They have been met with harsh repression, including repeated abusive transfers, confiscation of salt – on which prisoners are dependent to preserve their health – denial of legal and family visits, isolation and solitary confinement of leaders and repeated raids by repressive units inside the prisons.

Multiple former South African political prisoners and anti-apartheid veterans are also joining in the one-day strike, including Ebrahim Ebrahim, a 79-year-old former Robben Island prisoner, Laloo Chiba, an 86-year-old former prisoner, Kehla Subane, a fellow former Robben Island prisoner, Bongani Mbindwane and Trish Hanekom, former anti-apartheid detainees, and Mpho Masemola, Chairperson of the Ex Political Prisoners Association of South Africa, who was denied entry to Palestine by the Israeli occupation earlier this year as he sought to attend a conference on political prisoners.

Well known personalities, liberation icons, activists and political leaders who have also pledged to participate include: Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma (Former African Union Chairperson), Gwede Mantashe (ANC Secretary General), Jessie Duarte (ANC Deputy Secretary-General), Faiez Jacobs (ANC Provincial Secretary), Derek Hanekom (Ahmed Kathrada Foundation Chairperson), Sidumo Dlamini (President of the Congress of South African Trade Unions), Mluleki Dlelanga (YCL National Secretary), Khulekani Skosana (Secretary-General of the Congress of South African Students), Sifiso Mtsweni (NYDA Chairperson), Reverend Edwin Arrison (Chairperson of the National Coalition 4 Palestine), Frans Baleni (Deputy Chair of the Development Bank of Southern Africa and former NUM GS), Allan Kolski Horwitz (SA Jews for a Free Palestine), Charles Setsubi (SACP CC member) and Parks Tau (President of the United Cities and Local Government, Chairperson of SA Local Government Association and former Mayor of Johannesburg). They will be joined by South African media celebrities, including radio and television presenters such as Eben Jansen, Hajra Omarjee, Nina Hastie, Kuli Roberts, Shaka Sisulu and media personalities Kay Sexwale, Janet Smith, Jimi Matthews and Yusuf Abramjee.

The demands of the South African solidarity actions include:

a) Israel’s release of all #PalestinianPoliticalPrisoners and an end to its use of “administrative detention” (Apartheid SA’s “detention without trial”).
b) A South African government led solidarity delegation to #PalestinianPoliticalPrisoners.
c) The South African government to support the demands outlined by the Palestinian political prisoners (click here).
d) The South African government to commit to not using any international companies involved in the Israeli prison system as outlined by the BDS Movement such as G4S, HP etc.
e) The South African Parliament and all 9 provincial legislatures to have special sittings in solidarity with the plight of Palestinian political prisoners.

South Africans can register to participate in the strike by emailing palestinianpoliticalprisoners@gmail.com. “We have been receiving tremendous support from a range of individuals, as can be seen from the growing list of ministers, deputy ministers and others. We’re encouraging ordinary South Africans to also make their pledges of support public by emailing us their names and bios, and sharing photos of themselves on social media with the words” ‘I support #DignityStrikeSA,’” said Kwara Kekana of BDS South Africa.

A wide range of South African organizations, including the following, have endorsed the growing campaign in South Africa to support the Palestinian political prisoners. The day of action on 15 May will also include pickets, protests and other street actions in solidarity.  A full list of endorsers is available online.

African National Congress (ANC)
Ahmed Kathrada Foundation
Al Jama-ah Political Party
Al Quds Foundation
Amnesty International (Wits)
BDS South Africa
Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU)
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF)
Equal Education (EE)
Embassy of the State of Palestine
Ex Political Prisoners Association of South Africa
Gandhi Remembrance Organisation
Institute of Palestine South Africa
Jewish Voices for a Just Peace
Kairos Palestine Study Group – South Africa
KZN Palestine Solidarity Forum
MSA (University of Pretoria)
Muslim Judicial Council of South Africa
National Coalition 4 Palestine (which includes more than 40 organizations, trade unions and political parties)
Palestine Museum (South Africa)
Palestine Solidarity Alliance
Palestine Solidarity Alliance Youth League
Palestine Solidarity Campaign Cape Town
Palestine Solidarity Committee
PMB4Palestine Action Group
South African Human Rights Commission
South African Jews for a Free Palestine
South African Municipal Workers Union
South African Prison Organization
#TheWorkZone Radio Talkshow
UCT Palestine Solidarity Forum
UKZN Theology and Development
United Democratic Movement
UP Palestine Solidarity Committee
Wits PSC

 

 

Palestinian refugees in Mersin, Turkey commemorate the Nakba and support Palestinian prisoners

Photo: Palestinian Refugees Displaced in Mersin

On the 69th anniversary of the Nakba and in support of the prisoners’ struggle in Israeli occupation prisons, the Palestinian Refugees Displaced in Mersin, Turkey, working together with Turkish parties, institutions and advocacy organizations, rallied on 13 May 2017. The rally emphasized the hunger strike of Palestinian prisoners, launched on 17 April by 1500 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

Photo: Palestinian Refugees Displaced in Mersin

The rally was introduced in Turkish and Arabic by Salim Zubairi and Mahmoud Salem Abu Abed, before the first speaker, Furat Gedek, representing the Turkish organizations in support of Palestine. He emphasized solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, noting that comrades in Turkey are standing with them in struggle. He denounced Israeli racism and injustice and saluted imprisoned leaders, including Marwan Barghouthi and Ahmad Sa’adat, the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and concluded by urging all people in Turkey and around the world to stand with the Palestinian struggle for liberation.

Photo: Palestinian Refugees Displaced in Mersin

Bana Mahmoud Salem read a poem in support of the prisoners and their ongoing struggle for freedom and dignity. Her presentation was followed by a talk by Palestinian activist Izzat Ibrahim, in which he emphasized “solidarity with the brave, steadfast prisoners who are fighting the battle of freedom and dignity with an open hunger strike until their just demands are met.” Ibrahim reviewed the demands of the prisoners, including an end to solitary confinement, the end of administrative detention (imprisonment without charge or trial), the provision of appropriate health care and an end to medical neglect, the right to family visits, the right to pursue higher education and the right to have telephone calls with family members on a public pay telephone.

Photo: Palestinian Refugees Displaced in Mersin

Ibrahim also urged international institutions to uphold their responsibilities to the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, noting that “we are confident in the heroic victory of the Palestinian prisoners.” He also highlighted the 69th anniversary of the Nakba – the 1948 occupation of Palestine and the displacement of over 700,000 Palestinians from their homes, lands and villages. “After 69 years of expulsion, displacement and dispersion of the Palestinian people from their towns and villages in Palestine, we as Palestinian refugees reaffirm our commitment to the right of return to our homeland, Palestine. There is no alternative to the right of return, affirmed in international law,” said Ibrahim.

 

The event closed with a speech by Sheikh Abu Bakr al-Awawda, who spoke about the struggle of the prisoners and the Palestinian people and saluted the Turkish people for their support of Palestine.

Photo: Palestinian Refugees Displaced in Mersin

Portuguese parliament declares support for Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike

The following statement is republished from the Movimento pelos Direitos do Povo Palestino e Pela Paz no Medio Oriente (MPPM). Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes the Portuguese parliament and the movement in Portugal in solidarity with the Palestinian people for this important declaration that emphasizes that Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are far from isolated and silenced – instead, they have the solidarity and support of justice-minded people around the world. 

On 11 May, the Assembly of the Republic (Portuguese parliament) approved a text of solidarity with the 1,500 Palestinian political prisoners who have been on hunger strike since 17 April. The text was proposed by MPs Bruno Dias and António Filipe (PCP, Portuguese Communist Party), Joana Mortágua and Pedro Filipe Soares (BE, Left Bloc) and Heloisa Apolónia (PEV, Ecologist Party Greens).

The MPPM welcomes this important manifestation of solidarity by an organ of the Portuguese State.

We hereby publish the full text of the declaration of solidarity.

«DECLARATION OF SOLIDARITY

Towards Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons

A hunger strike involving about 1,500 Palestinian political prisoners has been under way since April 17 in Israeli prisons. They protest against the degrading conditions to which they are subjected, arbitrary arrests, torture and solitary confinement, medical negligence, humiliation, denial of basic rights such as family visits or education.

The response of the State of Israel to the struggle of Palestinian political prisoners was to put some of the most prominent Palestinian leaders in solitary confinement or transfer them to other detention centers, the threat of forced feeding, a practice considered by humanitarian law and medical ethics as a form of torture. More than 6,500 Palestinians are held in Israeli prisons, in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, of which 300 are children and 500 are under administrative detention. Thirteen Members of the Palestinian Parliament remain imprisoned in Israeli prisons.

The struggle of these political prisoners is an expression of the long struggle of the whole people for freedom, against occupation and for their national existence. This form of struggle, now adopted by prisoners of all Palestinian political organizations, underlines once again the importance of solidarity with the Palestinian patriots imprisoned by the Israeli authorities.

Seventy years after the adoption of the Palestine partition plan and fifty years after the occupation of the West Bank of the Jordan River, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights in Syria, it is time for the Palestinian people to realise their inalienable right to the establishment of a free, viable and sovereign State.

Thus, the Assembly of the Republic, meeting in Plenary Session,

1. Expresses its solidarity with the Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons;

2. Calls for the compliance with international law, in particular the Geneva Conventions on the obligations and restrictions of the occupying power, and the respect for the rights and the release of the political prisoners;

3. Reaffirms the position taken by the Portuguese State on the principle of the coexistence of two States, Palestine and Israel, in accordance with the principles established by international law.

Assembly of the Republic, May 10, 2017 »

The voting was as follows. Section 1 approved (in favour: PS – Socialist Party, BE – Left Bloc, PCP – Portuguese Communist Party, PEV – Ecologist Party Greens and PAN – Persons Animals Nature party; against: PSD – Social-Democratic Party, CDS-PP – Democratic-Social Center, and 1 MP of the PS). Section 3 approved (in favour: PSD, PS, BE, CDS-PP, PCP, PEV and PAN; abstention: 2 PS MPs). Section 2 rejected (in favor: BE, PCP, , CDS-PP and 1 MP of the PS, abstention: 2 MPs of the PS).

14 May, Vancouver: Vancouver Protest for Palestinian Political Prisoners

Sunday, 14 May
4:00 pm
Vancouver Art Gallery
750 Hornby Street
Vancouver, Unceded Coast Salish Territories
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1919935464950812/

This event is taking place on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh peoples.

More than 1,700 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons began a mass hunger strike on April 17th. Their primary demands include:
-Allowing more frequent and lengthy family visits and allowing prisoners to take photographs with their loved ones
-An end to solitary confinement
-An end to administrative detention- prolonged detention without trial or charge. (currently there are more than 500 administrative detainees in Israeli jails)
-An end to medical negligence. More than 50 have died due to medical neglect and another 70 as a result of torture.
-Reduce restrictions on the entry of books, clothing, food, and other items from family members
-Improvements of prison conditions, which include installing public telephones in every prison and providing air conditioners

Currently Israel holds 6,500 Palestinian political prisoners in their jails, from which 500 are admistrative detainees, 57 are females, and 300 are children. Most prisoners have reported being: chained from their arms, beaten, placed in solitary confinement, deprived of sleep, and routinely threatened with harm of family members.

Join us in Vancouver to stand in solidarity, to chant and rally together and shed light on the plight of Palestinian prisoners instead of the silence that is being put forward by mainstream media!
#DignityStrike #Vancouver #Palestine #HungerStrike

Organizations endorsing this event:

1. ILPS Canada- International League of Peoples Struggle
2. Samidoun Palestinian Prisoners Solidarity Network
3. Canada Palestine Association
4. Plan Peace
5. SPHR UBC

Schedule:
[4:00pm – 4:30pm]
————————–——————–
Meet up and chants: While we wait for everyone to gather come and get to know your fellow activists. Bring your best chants or come up with some with your friends and get involved. This time will also include performance art where children will represent the children held in Israeli detention.

[4:30pm – 5:00pm]
————————–——————–
Guest Speakers: Gather around to hear speeches from our supporters who have so graciously endorsed us.

Hanna Kawas – Chairman of the Canada Palestine Association

Maria Atherton – A pro-Palestinian activist, writer, freelance journalist, and member of the Canada Palestine Association

Tarek Ramadan – Head of the Outreach Committee of the Muslim Association of Canada, Human Rights Activist, Writer, and Poet

Carl Rosenberg – Executive Member of Independent Jewish Voices Vancouver

Yousef Barakat – President of the Canadian Arab Forum

Haroun Khan – President of the Pakistan Canada Association

Musa Ismael – Former president of British Columbia Muslim Association

Abubaker Khan – Director of Governmental Relations, Pakistan Canada Association

[5:00pm – 5:30pm]
————————–——————–
Audience Participation: Have something to say about the plight of Palestinian political prisoners? Here is your chance to get engaged and tell us how you feel and take part in the Saltwater Challenge!

[5:30pm – 6:00pm]
————————–——————–
Wrap up: Join us for some last minute chanting and networking before the end of the event.