The Flood of the Free: The march to liberation

19 January 2025

Please note: All names and numbers below are subject to further clarification as official statements are released by the Palestinian Resistance and the Prisoners’ Media Office, the only authoritative source of information on the releasees of the Flood of the Free.

This morning, Sunday, 19 January, as the sun rises in Gaza, as the people of the north return home without anyone searching or interrogating them, in preparation for a greater march home to all of occupied Palestine and their original homes and lands, as Jabalia and Nuseirat camps are filled with its people and families, from the heroic resistance fighters that made the camp a death trap for the genocidal enemy until its last moment, as the doctors, nurses and health workers reopen the hospitals, as the Palestinian police, interior ministry and civil defense — so heavily targeted by the occupier — fan out throughout Gaza, as the Qassam Brigades march in public, welcomed by the people, throughout Gaza; Palestinian prisoners inside the occupation jails are awaiting their liberation in the exchange agreement, Toufan al-Ahrar, the Flood of the Free — liberated by the Palestinian resistance and the great sacrifices of Gaza, accompanied by those throughout Palestine, of Lebanon, Yemen, Iran and Iraq.

The Zionist entity attempted to undermine the ceasefire, outraged by the Palestinian exultation of the achievements of the resistance and their own clear defeat, in the earliest moments, taking another 10 martyrs, claiming that the Resistance had not turned over the list of three prisoners held by the resistance to be released today (despite the fact that such lists were not part of the agreement). However, the people continued their return. In the words of Palestinian writer Ali Abunimah, “Enemy is still bombing, shelling in Gaza, but people are still celebrating and streaming home, civil authorities getting back to work and the mayor of Rafah held a press conference. This too is defiance and resistance. People aren’t going to let the enemy spoil their ceasefire.”

These names were then publicly announced by the spokesperson of the Izz el-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Obeida, as the Palestinian people and the world await the list of names of the Palestinian detainees held in the dungeons of the occupier who will be liberated today by the Resistance.

The occupation has released an overall list of names of the prisoners to be liberated within the first stage of the agreement, a process that will take place over 42 days. The occupation does not release these lists in order to provide information to or facilitate the preparation of Palestinians; rather, it is a requirement of internal occupation law to allow Zionists to object to the liberation of these captives.

This list and even the full group of prisoners to be freed in the first stage is not the entire reach of the Flood of the Free; especially as many of the leadership prisoners and those with high sentences are expected to be demanded to be released in the second stage of the exchange, in return for high-ranking Zionist captives held by the resistance.

The names on the list published by the occupation are exciting and inspiring, including so many of the great leaders of the Palestinian liberation struggle; three of the heroes of the Freedom Tunnel; Nael Barghouthi, the longest-held Palestinian prisoner; Mohammed Abu Warda, with 45 life sentences; Khalida Jarrar, the leading Palestinian academic and leftist; Ammar al-Zaben, the first Palestinian prisoner to conceive a child through “smuggled sperm;” Dirar al-Sisi, the Palestinian engineer kidnapped from Ukraine in 2011; Hadeel Shatara, the Palestinian educator and activist; Iyad Jaradat, who endured years in solitary confinement; Wael Jaghoub, the Palestinian leader and writer behind bars; Bushra al-Taweel, the tireless chronicler of the Palestinian prisoners’ cause; the ill strugglers like Moatassem Raddad and Mansour Muqtada; Abla Sa’adat, the wife of Ahmad Sa’adat — and so many more.

However, we also know that the exchange will be completed in stages and throughout the 42 days, and that the Resistance — the great Resistance that achieved their liberation — is the only trustworthy source of information, and will be coordinating the release of the lists of names of prisoners to be exchanged each day of the releases.

We are committed to provide immediate translations and information as soon as they are available on an ongoing basis.

1,737 male and female prisoners will be released from Israeli occupation prisons by the Resistance as part of the FIRST PHASE ONLY of the Flood of the Free.

We urge everyone, around the world, to join with the Palestinian people in Gaza and everywhere, to celebrate the achievements of the Resistance and the humiliation of the occupier, and to celebrate and welcome each liberated prisoner as the heroes of our global movement that they are, in public events, with posters and public education, with actions and events exposing Zionism and imperialism everywhere.

The Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian Prisoners is continuing amid the Flood of the Free — this is an excellent opportunity to highlight the prisoners with lengthy sentences and support the resistance’s demand for their liberation, while celebrating the exceptional accomplishments of the Flood of the Free on a daily basis.

We urge all supporters of Palestine and Palestinian and Arab communities to receive and honour the prisoners virtually and symbolically — and pledge to continue the movement until all of them are free, and all of Palestine is free, from the river to the sea.

Gaza: The Resistance Lives, The Prison Doors Open – On the Road to Liberation and Return

15 January 2025

The Palestinian people in Gaza have filled the streets, celebrating, defying the Zionist drones and bombs that continued overhead, upon the announcement of a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement in Doha, Qatar. With every shout, every cheer, every waving Palestinian flag and every firework in the air, it was more clear than ever that amid all of the horrific, genocidal destruction and the tens of thousands of martyrs’ lives taken by the Zionist regime and its imperialist sponsors, backers and directors, it has utterly failed in its goals, and that it is the people and their resistance who remain, strong, honourable, and promising a future in which the genocidal Zionist project is fully defeated throughout Palestine, the Arab nation and the region. Throughout this great struggle against genocide, the prisoners have been at the heart of the cause and the resistance, with the Palestinian people committed to achieving the freedom of the prisoners and continuing to struggle in the most horrendous of circumstances.

Gaza and the Prisoners: At the Heart of Struggle

While the full details of the ceasefire agreement and the prisoner exchange have yet to be fully released, many of the clauses are very clear, including the full withdrawal of all Zionist forces from Gaza, the reopening of the Rafah crossing, the entry of trucks of aid and reconstruction supplies, and the exit of wounded Palestinians for treatment, after an aggression that particularly targeted hospitals and the Palestinian health system. And, alongside the people of Gaza, who have resisted the most extreme form of genocidal assault for the past 465 days, the Palestinian prisoners, living under severe torture, are also at the heart of this agreement, with the Resistance securing the release of all women and youth under the age of 19, hundreds of Palestinian prisoners with life sentences, and many more hundreds of prisoners with life sentences in the upcoming second phase of the exchange, as well as ending the repressive system in the prisons that has been instituted since October 2023. The most oppressed, marginalized and tortured sectors of the Palestinian people are at the center of this agreement, and at the center of the priorities of the resistance.

US Imperialism: Director of Zionist Genocide

It is very clear, given the role of the United States and incoming President Donald Trump in seeking to actually achieve a ceasefire prior to the presidential inauguration on January 20, 2025, for the first time since October 2023, that the US, as the leading imperialist power, directs the Zionist entity. Not only did the US never attempt to achieve a ceasefire, it was the primary director of the escalated genocidal assault on the Palestinian people, alongside the Zionist colony implanted in Palestine. Of course, it was joined in this aggression – on the Palestinian people, the Arab nation, the entire region, and indeed, all of humanity, by its fellow imperialist powers – Canada, Britain, Australia, Germany, France and other European Union members – but it has been apparent to all, as the US ships billions of dollars in deadly weaponry to the Zionist regime and implanted a faux “aid pier” only to support an attack killing hundreds of Palestinians in Nuseirat camp, that the US ordered the genocide and could stop it at any time.

Of course, the US is not acting now to preserve Palestinian lives, but for domestic political concerns and to focus its attention on imperial interests elsewhere. But the fundamental nature of this assault as an imperialist-zionist genocide, carried out with US weapons and intelligence, is not only etched firmly into history, so too is the reputation of “Genocide Joe” Biden, “Killer Kamala” Harris and the Democratic Party, in presiding over the incineration of tens of thousands of precious Palestinian lives and the destruction of every university and hospital in Gaza.

The Armed Resistance Defends the People and the Land

However, it is equally clear to all that it is due to the glorious resistance of the Palestinian people, particularly in Gaza, that the bombs will no longer be raining down upon them. Amid the most unimaginably difficult conditions, amid the most dire circumstances, the Palestinian resistance – led by the Izz el-Din al-Qassam Brigades of Hamas, joined with Saraya al-Quds of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and together with multiple resistance forces including the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades of the PFLP, the National Resistance Brigades of the DFLP, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades of the resisting sectors of Fatah, and their fellow resistance fighters in Palestine – continued to fight and to strike severe blows against the Zionist soldiers, the genocidal occupiers, until the last moment. Jabalia camp, the spark of the great popular Intifada of 1987, remained full of the fire of the resistance despite the genocidal destruction of the US/Zionist war machine, bringing down their tanks and soldiers with unparalleled courage, creativity and brilliant strategy.

From Gaza to Lebanon to Yemen and Beyond

And, of course, the Palestinian resistance has fought throughout alongside the brilliant and heroic resistance of Lebanon, led by Hezbollah, which has repeatedly defended and liberated the land of Lebanon from the occupiers – and the northern settlers remain dissuaded from returning to the land the occupy in northern Palestine to this day, and of Yemen, its people, government, armed forces and Ansarallah movement, which shut down the supply lines of genocide in the Red Sea, denied the path to US aircraft carriers, and continued to fire its missiles into the heart of the occupation’s “Tel Aviv,” and making clear that the bombs, sanctions, attacks and threats of the Zionist and imperialist forces would never dissuade them from standing with Palestine. The Yemeni example illustrated very clearly the unity of popular action – as the streets filled with millions every Friday in the greatest marches for Palestine in the world – with firm armed resistance and military action. And of course, they were joined by all of the forces of resistance in the region, stretching from Iraq to Iran, and the world, against the genocidal enemy.

The resistance, with the greatest honour, dedication and love of Palestine, has fought tirelessly to defend the Palestinian people — and indeed, humanity itself — from the genocidal Zionist/imperialist forces. This resistance has held the most oppressed in Gaza under siege, in the prisons under torture, at the center, and its achievements, its persistence, its refusal to back down despite everything, defeated the genocidal billions of dollars of weapons deployed against its people at the behest of imperialism and zionism.

Zionism Exposed Before the World

No one will ever again have illusions that the zionist regime is anything other than what it is, a colonial genocidal entity implanted in the region and in the heart of Palestine, a regime that is and will come to an end. The undefeated resistance that defeats the occupier, its great martyrs, its living leaders, its heroic fighters, are the great heroes of humanity. Despite the vast destruction and theft of human life that the Zionist/imperialist forces have caused, despite their war crimes, crimes against humanity and ongoing genocide, they failed to achieve even one of their military objectives. But they have never, and will never, crush the resistance, from the rubble in Jabalia to the torture rooms in their colonial prisons. Throughout all of their destruction, their aggression and genocide, they were unable to achieve their goal of separating the resistance from the Palestinian people. Instead, it only became ever more clear how deeply rooted the resistance is in the people, a relationship of thought and blood and bone. The armed resistance forces continued to recruit throughout the battle, with the al-Qassam Brigades and Saraya al-Quds replenishing their ranks with new fighters burning the tanks of the occupier.

Al-Aqsa Flood Changed the World

October 7, the great crossing, the Al-Aqsa Flood, changed the world. It became clear on that date that the Palestinian people and their resistance were capable of liberating Palestine, and that despite its technological and military resources, the Zionist regime had nothing but racism and imperialist interests to hold it together; and, indeed, that the regional forces of resistance were capable of liberating the Arab nation and the entire region from US imperialism. The imperialist forces and the Zionist colony were unwilling to accept this new reality, and met it with the only strategy they have – mass killing and genocidal destruction. As we have witnessed throughout the decades and centuries in Asia, Africa, Latin America and in the region, with Palestine at its heart, these forces have never refrained from mass murder in order to continue their theft of land, resources and indeed, the future of the peoples of the world. However, despite their vast destructive forces, they were unable to subjugate Algeria, Vietnam, Zimbabwe; they are unable to subjugate Cuba, Venezuela and Iran; and they are unable to defeat the glorious resistance in Palestine, Lebanon and Yemen. Instead, their military objectives have shattered on the rocks of the resistance.

Genocide is Inherent in Zionism and Imperialism

This does not mean the danger is over. From Syria, to Lebanon, to Palestine and beyond, it is apparent that the United States seeks to control the future of the region and will not refrain from genocide in order to do so. It will seek to shuffle the cards to hinder the resistance once again and to use its sanctions, sieges, unilateral coercive measures and “terrorist designations” in order to achieve its goals through a politics of starvation and deprivation. Therefore, this moment must drive us to build a broader, stronger, movement against imperialism that is capable of standing beside the resistance forces of the region to confront and challenge imperialist genocide. We are aware that imperialist and Zionist forces will escalate their repression domestically as well; the banning and/or designation of Samidoun by Germany, Canada and the United States is but one example. However, we are also aware that we must be prepared to fight repression, defend those attacked, and build a stronger movement that can significantly hinder the imperialist assault.

Of course, the genocide in Palestine did not begin in October 2023, and it will not end with the implementation of this agreement. Genocide is the nature of Zionism; it is the weapon of imperialism. Since 1948 – and indeed, since the Balfour declaration and British colonialism in Palestine – Palestinians have been resisting genocide. This is, however, a new stage of struggle against the ongoing Zionist genocide, organized, directed and backed by the imperialist powers – as illustrated by their colonial bombardment of Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank as the ceasefire agreement was being announced.

Honouring the Martyrs

As we mark this moment, it is with honour to the great martyrs; every father, mother and child, every sister, brother and loved one taken by the imperialist-zionist genocidal force; the doctors, nurses, journalists, health workers, teachers, municipal workers, police, and aid workers targeted by the occupation regime as they worked to wipe out all of the systems of sustenance of Palestinian life and steadfastness. We salute the 55 martyrs of the prisoners’ movement in the dungeons of the occupier, amid reportedly hundreds or thousands more martyred in the torture camps such as Sde Teiman, after being abducted from Gaza by the occupation regime.

And of course, the great leaders of the Resistance, whose unparalleled legacy of struggle, sacrifice and commitment lives on in every struggling resistance fighter and in every hope for the future of a liberated Palestine, a truly sovereign Lebanon, a proud Yemen. Saleh al-Arouri, the great Palestinian fighter; Ismail Haniyeh, the icon of Palestinian national unity and self-determination; Yahya Sinwar, the legendary fighter and liberated prisoner who fought to liberate the prisoners, Gaza and all of Palestine; Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the great Arab leader and icon of decades of resistance, the maker of victory over the Zionists; Sayyed Hashem Safieddine, the heroic strategist of resistance; Ibrahim Aqil, Fouad Shukr, Ali Karaki; Abdel Aziz Minawi, the Political Bureau member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement assassinated in Damascus, and many more yet to be fully named and honoured.

As we join with the Palestinian people in celebrating this moment, we are fully aware that Zionism and imperialism cannot be trusted, and neither can reactionary Arab regimes working in concert with them. Time and time again, the Zionist entity violates its agreements and breaks its commitments, a lesson that is quite clear to the Palestinian resistance, the prisoners’ movement, and all resistance forces. It will be up to the people and the resistance – as always – to protect the people; and it is up to us, around the world, to meet the challenge to do everything possible to defeat all of the schemes of imperialism and Zionism to impose a “Pax Americana” on Palestine and the region. The Zionist regime is itself a genocidal project – the only way to truly bring an end to genocide in Palestine is to bring the Zionist colony “Israel” to its end.

The International Popular Cradle of the Resistance

At the international level, this is a critical moment not to step back and to de-escalate, but to intensify and deepen our efforts to build the international popular cradle of the resistance. Millions of people filled the streets, in the heart of the imperialist core, to demand an end to the genocide and justice and liberation for Palestine. It is clear to everyone around the world that the Zionist regime is a genocidal threat to humanity. The resistance surmounted the lies and smear campaigns waged against them in an attempt to justify genocide and stand tall today as true heroes of humanity. The Palestinian and Arab people in exile and diaspora rose up everywhere to organize, come together, and play their role in the struggle for Palestine’s liberation. Direct actions like those of Palestine Action, confronting the war machine, have shut down weapons factories and offices of Israeli arms dealers. Students changed the picture of campus life everywhere as they rose up in a global intifada. The growing popular and grassroots boycott illustrated international popular revulsion and refusal of complicity in genocide. And yet, we also have key lessons to learn: We cannot have a successful movement or serve as a partner to the resistance without being clear on the role of imperialism, and equally clear on the centrality of the resistance forces. We cannot allow our movement to be taken down the road of imperialist party politics, competing over who is in charge of the theft of Palestinian lives.

Accountability must be imposed upon all those responsible for the genocidal assault on Gaza, and upon the people of Palestine and the region. Their crimes will neither be forgotten nor forgiven; from the engineers and architects of genocide in the halls of power to the occupation soldiers who broadcast their torture and abuse on social media to the propagandists who lied to the world to market a genocidal regime, we must work at all levels to impose true accountability and justice upon the perpetrators of these horrendous crimes.

Just as the power of resistance was made clear to all, so too were the weaknesses of the movement more broadly: the effective silencing of the Arab masses throughout much of the region, through reactionary regimes armed and funded by US imperialism, the continued role of the Egyptian regime in maintaining the siege on Gaza, the arrests of strugglers and activists in Jordan and Morocco, not to mention the continuing normalization of the United Arab Emirates. Within the international context, this must become a moment where we organize, consolidate and deepen our organizations. We must not have a “short breath” for what is inherently a long-term struggle in order to truly play our role as an international framework of resistance.

Unity and the Necessity of Anti-Imperialism

Our strength and our unity comes from standing together against repression, and for liberation, not in allowing our enemies to cut us off from one another through a politics that seeks accommodation within genocidal imperialism, self-censorship and subordination. It is, at the core, the armed resistance, the Palestinian prisoners, and of course, the people of Gaza, who exposed Zionism and imperialism and brought down all of their military objectives, who are opening the doors of freedom for the heroic prisoners of the cause of Palestine, and who promise a Palestinian future that will be determined only by the people and not by its occupiers, invaders and enemies. This is an indelible stamp and a historical moment upon the road to liberation and return for all of Palestine, brought ever closer.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes the Palestinian people and their Resistance and commits to continuing, intensifying and the struggle for liberation.

Glory and victory to the resistance, from Palestine to Lebanon and Yemen and everywhere in the region. The final defeat of Zionism and imperialism is coming. And Palestine will be free, from the river to the sea.

The Case of Ahmad Sa’adat: Resistance Without Compromise

15 January 2025

Special Commentary by Abu Riad

Join the Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat, January 15-22, 2025

Martyred Leader Ismail Haniyeh with a portrait of Ahmad Sa’adat during the Great March of Return. Jabalia, Gaza. April, 20, 2018.

January 15^th of this year will mark 23 years since Ahmad Sa’adat’s abduction by the Palestinian Authority, the start of his continued detention in occupation jails. He is a man at the center of many things: a story of PA treachery, the Palestinian prisoners’ movement, and of course, the political affairs of the PFLP. Despite his cruel conditions, such as long periods of solitary confinement and lack of visits from family, his will has never broken and he remains committed to the people of Palestine and the cause of resistance. He has been a consistent leader of the movement of Palestinian political prisoners, participating in multiple hunger strikes in 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2019. Despite being sold out by the PA, forced through sham trials and frame ups, he has remained a committed leader of the political prisoner movement and the PFLP. Through his struggle, he represents the living, fighting spirit of the Palestinian people and its Resistance.

This anniversary comes at an especially important time in light of the genocide in Gaza and the PA’s brazen treachery across the West Bank. Ahmad Sa’adat was sold out by the PA to the arms of the occupation, an important example of the true nature of the Palestinian Authority, which sacrifices popular and patriotic Palestinians to the occupation in order to cynically maintain its own power. As ‘Abu Ghassan’ said in 2014, “Two decades on, the results of the negotiations have conclusively demonstrated that it is futile to continue the process according to the Oslo frameworks.”

The Palestinian Authority was established in the wake of the 1993 Oslo Accords with the ostensible goal of being the government by which the new “Palestinian State,” set to be established on less than a third of historic Palestine, would be administered. Oslo marked the ultimate triumph in the PLO of the more “pragmatic” faction of Fatah (Palestinian National Liberation Movement) led by Yasser Arafat, which since 1974 had demanded for the creation of a Palestinian government on any territory liberated by the Resistance. In word, this was to be one step on the road to the liberation of all of historic Palestine, but as Oslo showed, it meant capitulation. It is worth noting that since the inception of the concept of a “Palestinian authority” in the wake of the conquest of the West Bank and Gaza during the Zionist entity’s 1967 aggression, the PFLP vehemently opposed such schemes. In 1971, 22 years before Oslo, martyred PFLP spokesman Ghassan Kanafani defined any type of Palestinian “state” founded through peace negotiations as “one instigated, overseen and dominated by Israel.” Its existence would herald surrender of Palestinian resistance forces, with its purpose being to “develop the victor’s [Israel’s] military, political and economic superiority, and to engender a profound advance towards its strategic objectives.”

22 years later, the former forces of the Resistance led by Arafat were to help create such a reality for Palestine in the halls of Western capitals and on the lawn of the White House. Forsaking claims on all of historic Palestine, the right of refugees to return, and giving up on armed struggle, Fatah and allied entities, under the tutelage of the United States and Zionist occupation, established the Palestinian Authority which was to nominally govern the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem. From the very onset, this government agreed to flagrant violations of Palestinian sovereignty, including the ceding of control of Palestinian resources to Israel, allowing Israel to oversee and control the finances of the PA, allowing Israel to control the borders of the territories, and agreeing to divide the West Bank into different zones of control. Israel was able to create an illusion of nominal Palestinian control of the occupied territories while ultimately having the Palestinian Authority do its bidding.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the “Security Cooperation” agreements between the PA and the occupation. From Oslo onwards, the main repressive arm of the PA has been the Palestinian National Security Forces (PNSF) which was formed with direct US & European aid and supervision in the 1990s.

with the purpose of securing the Oslo Framework and cracking down on Resistance groups like Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the PFLP who rejected the agreement and continued armed struggle against the occupation. Between 1993 and the start of the Second Intifada in 2000, the PA arrested hundreds of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, PFLP, and DFLP members who rejected the “peace process”, accusing their legitimate acts of resistance to be extremism and terrorism. Ironically, those who called out Oslo for the betrayal it was were accused by the PA of hurting the Palestinian cause. With almost no break, security cooperation has persisted from Oslo till today.

The occupations incessant violations of Palestinian rights throughout the post-Oslo period and the PA’s inability to confront them led to mass outrage amongst the Palestinian people, culminating in the Second Intifada which began in September of 2000. As armed struggle against the occupation commenced, all Palestinian factions begun conducting operations all over historic Palestine, breaking down the artificially imposed barriers Oslo sought to impose on the Resistance. Notably, even members of Fatah, including members of the PNSF who became disillusioned with the “peace process”, took up arms against the occupation. A couple of months into the uprising, PFLP secretary-general Abu Ali Mustafa outlined its importance due to the fact it unified the Palestinian people and Resistance, as well as rendering bankrupt the view that the cause could ever persist through peace negotiations with Israel and the United States. Due to the efforts of Abu Ali and his comrades, the Front was able to reorganize its military wing and conduct over a hundred operations across Gaza, the West Bank, and the Occupied 1948 territories between the outbreak of the Intifada in September 2000 and August 2001 when the secretary-general was martyred.

On August 27, 2001, Abu Ali Mustafa was martyred in an Israeli airstrike on his office in al-Bireh. His killing was one of the first major assassinations conducted by the occupation during the Second Intifada, due to the threat he posed to the colonial project. In the aftermath of his martyrdom, Ahmad Sa’adat, a lifelong revolutionary and militant of the PFLP was elected to take his place. Ahmad Sa’adat was born in 1953 in al-Bireh, Palestine. In 1967, he joined the student league of the PFLP and officially joined the group in 1969. He was arrested for his militancy first in 1969, followed by arrests in 1970, 1973, 1975, 1976, 1989, and 1992. Most of those arrests led to arbitrary detention without any trial. He stated his experiences in prison to be formative times for his revolutionary and political convictions. He was elected to the Central Committee of the PFLP in 1981 and then to the Politburo in 1993, but the Palestinian Authority arrested him in 1995 and 1996, following the security coordination framework of Oslo.

Upon his election, he promised to avenge the killing by adhering to the line of “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and a head for a head”. On October 17^th, 2001, with precise planning and execution, Majdi al-Rimawi, Hamdi Qu’ran, Basil al-Asmar, and Ahed Abu Ghoulmeh, leaders and fighters of the newly renamed Martyr Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, executed the people’s ruling. At the Regency Hotel in “Tel Aviv”, fascist Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Ze’evi was executed as revenge for Abu Ali’s killing. Across Palestine and the refugee camps where the diaspora lives, the masses celebrated. The operation was historic as it marked the highest level Israeli official ever taken out by the resistance.

However, the Palestinian Authority’s reaction was characteristically out of touch with that of the Palestinian people. Immediately in the wake of the operation, the PA conducted a ferocious arrest campaign targeted at PFLP members throughout the West Bank and Gaza. By November 3^rd, 2001, over 60 PFLP members had been arrested on unjust grounds by the PNSF. Treacherously, on January 15^th of 2002, under the pretext of negotiating an end to the mass arrests of PFLP members, the PNSF lured Ahmad Sa’adat out of hiding and arrested him. He was then taken to the presidential compound of the PA in Ramallah where he was held in detention for over 2 months alongside Rimawi, Qu’ran, al- Asmar, and Abu Ghoulmeh until Arafat cynically acceded to US-Israeli pressure to place them in prison.

In May of 2002, the PA transferred Sa’adat, Rimawi, Qu’ran, al-Asmar, and Abu Ghoulmeh to Jericho prison where they were held under the de facto control of American and British guards, nominally there to observe the PNSF’s performance. They were not the only resisters who the PA repressed during the Second Intifada however. Alongside the PFLP, large numbers of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades members were arrested throughout this period for resisting. At times, the PA even arrested members of its own security forces who fought back against the Israelis. Despite security cooperation continuing to an extent during the Intifada, Israeli and American leadership under Sharon and Bush respectively started to lose faith in Yasser Arafat, looking for a more amicable successor to replace him.

Their choice was Mahmoud Abbas, a veteran of Fatah’s international relations department and an architect of the Oslo Accords. He was appointed in March 2003 due to US-Israeli pressure on Arafat. He was vehemently opposed to any type of armed resistance and immediately began calls for an end to Palestinian militancy. Throughout the rest of the Intifada, he gave humiliating speeches denouncing what he called the “militarization of the intifada” like his remarks at the Aqaba “peace” summit in June of 2003. With Arafat’s death in 2004, he was elected leader of Fatah, and he won the 2005 PA presidential elections due to the fact Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the PFLP boycotted it. Alongside his rise to leadership of the PA came the restructuring and reorganization of the PNSF which had been shaken up during the 2^nd Intifada. In order to maximize the efficiency of security cooperation and reduce any possible defections of more patriotic minded officers to the camp of resistance, the United States military was brought in to train the PNSF.

With the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in 2005 due to the efforts of the Resistance during the Intifada, the US sought to bolster PA presence there as well as the West Bank. To that effect, they had American generals William Ward and Keith Dayton coordinate with the occupation to facilitate training and weapons transfers for the PNSF. Mahmoud Abbas’s own presidential guard which has been recently used in raids across the West Bank was directly trained by the US. One particular figure for US-Israeli designs on Gaza was Mohammed Dahlan, the head of the PNSF in Gaza who gained infamy for his corruption and ruthless torture of Resistance members and supporters in the Strip. Throughout his leadership, he oversaw the mass arrests of scores of patriotic Gazans and instilled a veritable reign of terror sanctioned by the US and occupation. However, the victory of Hamas in the 2006 Palestinian elections greatly upset the designs of the imperialist backers of the PA. One of the key promises the new Hamas led government made was to free Ahmad Sa’adat and the four Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades leaders and fighters held with him in Jericho Prison, as well as scores of more Palestinian prisoners held in PA jails.

The Israeli occupation and United States quickly moved into action on March 14, 2006 when the IDF laid siege to Jericho prison with up to 1000 troops, artillery, attack helicopters, and tanks. The siege lasted for over 10 hours, most of the PA guards surrendered as it began. Despite the overwhelming odds stacked against them, Ahmad Sa’adat, Majdi al-Rimawi, Hamdi Qu’ran, Basil al-Asmar, Ahed Abu Ghoulmeh, and the 200 other prisoners at Jericho stood their ground to the very end and refused to surrender as the Israelis took them into custody. The Palestinian people across the occupied lands and diaspora rose up in revolt and protest to the blatant kidnapping of the secretary-general and his fellow inmates. Across the spectrum of the Resistance, denunciations poured out from all factions who refused to put up with a status quo that allowed the occupation to detain Palestinian leaders at will. In December of 2008, Ahmad Sa’adat was sentenced to 30 years in prison in an occupation court due to his leadership of the PFLP and role in the October 17^th operation. At his trial (which was held in 1948 occupied Palestine) he stated “I do not stand to defend myself in front of your court… I stand to defend my people and their legitimate right to national independence and self-determination and return.”

Around the time of the Jericho prison raid, an American-Israeli conspiracy to remove Hamas from power was brewing in the shadows. The US, stunned by the victory of Hamas in the free and fair elections of 2006, feared that a renewed bout of Palestinian radicalism would threaten Israel and its reactionary allies in the region. To this effect, the US ordered the PA to dissolve the government led by Haniyeh and Hamas and instead appoint an “emergency government” that would act to marginalize the Resistance. In Gaza, they prepared Mohammed Dahlan and PNSF men loyal to him for a putsch, in which they were to furnish his forces with arms transmitted through Egypt and Jordan, alongside training to forcibly expel Hamas from power. However, getting wind of this coup attempt, Hamas swiftly crushed the PA’s forces in confrontations across Gaza that lasted from the 10^th to 15^th of June in 2007. In response, Mahmoud Abbas cemented his dictatorial rule in the West Bank and the PA received further US-Israeli support to entrench itself vis-a-vis the Resistance. This order in the West Bank has lasted until this day, as Abbas has trampled on numerous national unity agreements to secure his own power.

On the other hand, the victory of Hamas in Gaza has allowed all factions of the Resistance to exponentially grow their strategic capabilities. Despite the brutal siege imposed on Gaza, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the PFLP, DFLP, Popular Resistance Committees, and other factions have been able to creatively confront the occupation, ranging from the vast tunnel system under Gaza to the domestically made weapons used to neutralize Israeli armor. One of the most important tactics utilized by the Resistance has been the prisoner exchange. Dating back to the early days of the Palestinian Revolution in the 1960s and 1970s, the Resistance has taken occupation soldiers prisoner with the goal of freeing Palestinian prisoners. In 1985, the Resistance was able to free over 1,100 prisoners by exchanging 3 captured soldiers in the Jibril Agreement. In June of 2006, the Resistance in Gaza captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in Operation Dispersive Illusions. Holding him for 5 years, they were able to negotiate an exchange deal in 2011 which led to the release of over 1000 prisoners, including the martyred commander Yahya Sinwar. Notably, Israel refused to release Ahmad Sa’adat in this deal, showing how much they fear his role in Palestinian politics.

The Gilad Shalit deal led to the strengthening of the Resistance in Gaza, and paved the way for Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7^th, 2023. In this historic operation led by Hamas and participated in by all Palestinian factions, the Resistance breached the Gaza “security envelope”, dealt devastating losses on the Occupation army, and managed to capture over 200 prisoners of war. One of the central objectives of this operation is the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners held in Zionist jails.

Among the list of captives demanded to be released are Ahmad Sa’adat, Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti, former Hamas commander in the West Bank Abdullah Barghouti, and Lebanese struggler Georges Abdallah currently held in France. While a recent event, this operation marks one of the most important moments in the history of the Palestinian struggle, and will certainly merit historic gains for the Resistance.

At the same time as the camp of Resistance in Palestine and regionally has demonstrated its capabilities to confront the occupier, the PA has increased its repression in the West Bank. In March of 2024, the Fatah movement denounced the operation, claiming it had brought catastrophe and ruin to Gaza and the Palestinian quest for statehood. Since October 7^th, 2023, the PA has detained over 1,800 Palestinians in the West Bank on charges of supporting or aiding the Resistance, or simply criticizing the PA’s rule.

Journalists documenting their brutality have been repressed in manners similar to the occupations genocidal actions in Gaza, such as in the case of Shatha al-Sabbagh, a journalist martyred in late December 2024 in Jenin Camp by PA sniper fire. Throughout 2024, numerous PA raids occurred at centers of resistance, like in Nour Shams Camp in Tulkarm or the December 2024 Jenin Camp siege.

The PA’s activity is directly tied to the American-Israeli designed “Fenzel Plan”, named after general Michael Fenzel, one of the senior architects of US-PNSF collaboration. This plan entails the bolstering of PNSF forces so that they can quash armed Resistance in the West Bank, and ultimately pave way for a plan of unopposed Zionist control of the West Bank. The anti-popular character of the PA shows itself every day; no government representing the Palestinian people would claim that its most patriotic and daring youth are “terrorists” or foreign agents. The current violence in the West Bank is a desperate attempt to quell the swelling volcano and will surely fail just as the plans to liquidate Gaza’s Resistance in 2007 fell flat on their face. With every passing day the PA and its rotten security cooperation agreements are closer to being incinerated by the fire of Resistance. With every passing day the prisoners of occupation and PA jails are closer to their freedom.

Alongside over 9000 Palestinian prisoners, Ahmad Sa’adat stands in front of the occupier boldly and defiantly. Despite all the occupation has put him and his co-inmates through, they stand steadfastly and weather the storm. The Israeli occupation has tried all they could to break him, from martyring his younger brother Muhammad in a targeted assassination attempt in Ramallah in 2002 to arresting his wife Abla in September of 2024, but he has stood steadfast. His story, along with the countless stories of Palestinian strugglers in Zionist jails should serve as a call to action for all free people in the world to fight for not just their release from Zionist prison, but for the liberation of the whole Palestinian people and nation from the prison called Zionism which has been forcibly established on their land since 1948.

“Prison Cells Scare us not. O Abu Ghassan, we are ready. For your eyes, O Palestine, We Will Assault Death Itself!”

Jenin: The Guns of the Camps

12 January 2025

Samidoun Network Special Report from Occupied Palestine

**“Stop** **the Palesrinian Authority’s Attack on Jenin Camp** ” from the Black September posters, original poster by artist Mark Rudin (Jihad Mansour), 1980, from the Palestine Poster Archive.

Introduction: The Continuous Confrontation

Twenty years after the Second Intifada, the enemy did not imagine that the special forces unit that would storm Jenin to assassinate Jamil Al-Amouri and his companion in June 2021 would serve as an unwitting tool of history. That event sparked the mobilization of hundreds of rifles that appeared on the same day to announce the beginning of the stage of liberation of the West Bank.

Following Jamil Al-Amouri’s assassination, the enemy repeated its mistake many times in announcing destructive military campaigns that turned the streets of the northern West Bank into fertile ground for planting explosive devices, the most recent of which was the “Summer Camps” operation, in which the leader Abu Shujaa was martyred. This operation was confronted with fierce resistance, termed “The Terror of the Camps.” The aggression began at 2:00 AM on Wednesday, August 28, 2024. By dawn there were 10 martyrs by aerial bombardment, including fighters from Jenin and Tubas. Zakaria Zubeidi notes in his master’s thesis “The Hunter and the Dragon: Pursuit in the Palestinian Experience 1968-2018” that the enemy intentionally names its operations in order to undermine the morale of the Palestinian people. During the period of the Second Intifada, for example, it gave names to its military attacks on Jenin such as: “Garbage Collection,” “Hunting the Black Rat,” “House of Cards,” “Collapse of the Pyramid,” “Tears of the Dragon,” and even “A Colorful Journey” when Ramallah was bombed in 2002—these came after the “Defensive Shield” operation. Only a few months after “The Terror of the Camps,” the Palestinian Authority launched its security campaign titled “Homeland Protection” to destroy Jenin Refugee Camp.

“Protecting the Homeland”: Destroying the Camp

The “Homeland Protection” aggression began on December 9, 2024, and has so far resulted in the martyrdom of journalist Shatha Al-Sabagh , the wanted struggler Yazid Ja’ayseh, Mohammed Al-Jalqamousi and his son Qasem, Mohammed Abu Labda, Majd Zaidan, Ribhi Al-Shalabi, the boy Mohammed Al-Amer, and Sa’ida Abu Bakr. The month-long campaign has relied on imposing a siege on Jenin Refugee Camp, arresting journalists including Obada Tahaineh and Jarrah Khalaf, and detaining 247 young men from Jenin, according to statements by the security services. It also banned Al Jazeera from covering and broadcasting events, deployed snipers on rooftops, stationed armored vehicles, occupied hospitals, terrorized residents with tear gas, cracked down on protests or solidarity movements, launched a smear campaign in the media, silenced dissent, and punished anyone supporting the resistance.

Perhaps the most extraordinary and perplexing aspect is the idea of a Palestinian-imposed siege on a refugee camp—a phenomenon entirely unprecedented in Palestinian history. While Palestinian history is replete with examples of tragic sieges, such as those in Tel Al-Zaatar, Sabra and Shatila, the War of the Camps, and the blockade of Gaza since 1967, as well as repeated sieges of West Bank camps during the 1980s and the battles of the Second Intifada, this is the first instance of a Palestinian siege on a refugee camp. In this aggression against Jenin Refugee Camp, the Palestinian Authority has surpassed itself and assumed the role historically played by the enemies of the Palestinian people.

**“Hands Off Jenin Camp”** from the legacy of the first Palestinian Intifada, original poster by artist Karim Dabbah, “**Hands Off Deheishe Camp”** 1980s , from the archives of Birzeit University.

Since the inception of the Palestinian Authority project, the discourse of statehood and citizenship has taken up a significant space in Palestinian society in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. By the late 1990s, university programs were established to teach human rights, law, and democracy, alongside the emergence of organizations and institutions promoting citizenship, freedoms, and human rights, such as the The Independent Commission for Human Rights (1993) and The Coalition for Integrity and Accountability (AMAN) (2000). According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, there are no less than 10,637 practicing lawyers in the West Bank, in addition to hundreds of graduates of law, international law and human rights annually from Palestinian universities.

Despite this, the aggression has shown that the Palestinian Authority has completely dismantled the legal framework, nullifying the concepts of citizenship, the right to life, fair trial, and all agreements against torture, freedom of opinion, and expression. The aggression began under the pretext of targeting “outlaws,” but the actions primarily entrenched a state of chaos and lawlessness imposed by the Authority itself. It besieged thousands of civilian refugees, cutting off electricity, water, fuel, food, freedom of movement, education, and access to healthcare. Violent practices included killings, arbitrary arrests, beatings, humiliation, and house burnings. The Palestinian Authority relied on its popular base, primarily composed of members of the Fateh movement, to push its political agenda accompanying the aggression on Jenin Refugee Camp through intimidating and using violence against people, as seen in An-Najah National University, Birzeit University, and several cities and villages. This was accompanied by displays of violence and threats during Fateh’s anniversary celebrations.

The killing of martyr Rabhi Al-Shalabi, the wanted struggler Yazeed Ja‘aysa, and journalist Shatha Al-Sabagh—who was the sister of Hamas martyr Moatasem Billah Sabagh—revealed the deliberate intent behind premeditated killings and executions as part of the aggression’s objectives to impose control through bloodshed. Although the Palestinian Authority announced in August 2024 its intention to form a delegation to visit Gaza in an attempt to end the genocidal war, its failure to provide any assistance to Gaza and the changes that occurred on the support fronts pushed it to directly participate in the aggression against the Palestinian people rather than lifting the siege imposed upon them. Instead of sending a delegation to Gaza, the Authority’s security apparatus set forth to besiege Jenin Refugee Camp and kill its residents.

In addition, the Palestinian Authority’s discourse can be classified as self-deception toward itself and the Palestinian people, justifying violence that cannot be justified. The Authority’s attempts to contain the resistance in the north have persisted since its emergence in 2021. These efforts peaked when Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announced a visit to Jenin Refugee Camp after the Israeli aggression in July 2023. Although such visits held no practical value in strengthening the camp’s resilience, the Authority deemed combating the resistance as a higher priority—or so it was instructed by the American and Israeli administrations.

The narrative of “outlaws” represents the height of this self-deception. First, what law are we talking about? Why are settlers who burn villages and seize land not considered “outlaws,” and why do the Authority’s armored vehicles not protect the Bedouins of the Jordan Valley or Masafer Yatta? Furthermore, labeling besieged refugees—many of whom are fugitives and relatives of martyrs, prisoners, and the wounded—as “outlaws” aligns with the Israeli narrative against the resistance. This rhetoric distorts symbols of Palestinian society, peaking with the martyrdom of Mohammed Jaber (Abu Shujaa), who was subjected to extensive defamation and propaganda until he was martyred by the Israeli enemy on August 28.

The suppression of journalism—a repressive policy that violates human rights—raises the question: What can journalists in Jenin document during this time? Following the ban on media coverage, many journalists posed this logical question: What do we film? The clear skies despite the smoke rising from nowhere? Or the empty streets for inexplicable reasons? Condemning the resistance in Jenin through the “outlaws” rhetoric contradicts the Palestinian narrative, especially regarding Jenin’s role in Palestinian consciousness. It is on Jenin’s soil where the Syrian Arab revolutionary Izz al-Din al-Qassam and a number of members of his armed group were martyred in 1935 while fighting British colonialism.

Stories from the Battalion: “They were youths who believed in their Lord, and We increased them in guidance”

In his master’s thesis, Zakaria Zubeidi noted that the concept of “pursuit” is a permanent fixture in the vocabulary of Palestinian struggle. Pursuit represents rebellion against colonial time and space by betting on life itself. Through tracing biographies and testimonies, Zubeidi concluded that the fugitive as a “living martyr” played a pivotal role in advancing revolutionary movements worldwide throughout history. When Zubeidi, as a fugitive, wrote these words inspired by the legacy of martyrs and freedom fighters, he could not have imagined that only a few years later, his young son Mohammed would become one of the most prominent fugitives, eventually martyred without being embraced by his father.

When a journalist asked martyr Mohammed Shalabi about the resistance fighters’ fierce willingness to engage in battle even if it led to martyrdom, he responded that this ferocity stems from the enemy itself. “The resistance today fights the fiercest enemy in history, equipped with unprecedented destructive capabilities it uses daily against Palestinians in Gaza.” The martyr Mohammed Shalabi, a lawyer from Silat Al-Harthiya, held a bachelor’s degree in law from the University of Jordan and a master’s in international law from the American University in Jenin. He decided to join the battalion and was martyred on the road to al-Quds on March 3 of this year.

Wissam Khazem, a resistance martyr with Norwegian citizenship, lived in Norway for ten years. He is an engineer, married, with children. He decided to join the resistance under the slogan “Existence is Resistance,” which was engraved on his rifle. He is the cousin of the martyr Raad Khazem, who carried out the Tel Aviv operation on April 7, 2022, and the martyr Nidal Khazem, the commander of the Qassam Brigades, who was assassinated by a special force along with Yousef Shraim on March 16, 2023. Wissam was martyred on August 30, 2024, after his car was targeted in the town of Al-Zababdeh while he was with freed prisoner Maysara Musharqa and Arafat Al-Amer.

Arafat Al-Amer was unparalleled in his loyalty to the martyrs. After the martyrdom of key leaders and founders such as Mohammed Hawashin, Mohammed Zubeidi, Islam Khamaiseh, Ahmed Barakat, Wi’am Hanoun, Aysar and Ayham Al-Amer, some began to feel fear and hesitation in continuing on this path. However, Arafat Al-Amer’s devotion was unmatched. When recalling any memory of a martyr, tears would flow from his eyes, and he eagerly anticipated joining them.

As for the child martyr Lujain Musleh, her last appearance was from the window of her house in Kafr Dan on September 4 when the enemy soldiers shot her in the head at the age of sixteen years old. Her father recalls that, since the age of ten, she always longed for martyrdom. Whenever she saw a funeral procession for a martyr in her town of Kafr Dan, Jenin, or Gaza, she would say, “I wish I could have a procession like that.”

The rural areas that the enemy tried to neutralize served as a supportive environment for the battalion in Jenin Camp. They caused such exhaustion to the enemy that it resorted to using aerial weapons to target martyr Laith Shawahneh in the village of Silat Al-Harthiya. The Tubas Battalion, too, offered its finest fighters as martyrs, including Mohammed Zubeidi, Ahmed Fawaz, Qusay Abdul-Razzaq, Mohammed Abu Zagha (from Jenin Camp), Mohammed Awad, and Mohammed Abu Zeina. Days later, several young fighters from the Sawafteh family followed, including Mohammed Sawafteh, Majd Sawafteh, Yassin Sawafteh, and Qais Sawafteh, who was named after martyr Qais Adwan — one of the fighters of the Qassam Brigades at An-Najah University who was martyred on April 4, 2002.

Talabah Bsharat, a school student, would make explosive devices daily until September 11 when he was martyred when a drone targeted him alongside three young men near Al-Tawheed Mosque in Tubas. As for the martyrs Mohammed Abu Talal (Harboush) and Amjad Al-Qanari, they set up an ambush in the Al-Damj neighborhood in Jenin Camp, killing an invading occupation officer and injuring several others during the “Summer Camps” operation.

“Jenin Camp Will Remain a Symbol of Palestinian Steadfastness” from the legacy of the siege of Tel al-Zaatar camp, original poster issued by the PLO 1976, </span><a href="https://palarchive.org/index.php/Detail/objects/16383"><span>from the Palestinian Museum’s digital archive. — **“Jenin Camp Will Remain a Symbol of Palestinian Steadfastness”** from the legacy of the siege of Tel al-Zaatar camp, original poster issued by the PLO in 1976, from the Palestinian Museum’s digital archive.

Conclusion

In his book “The Great Battle of Jenin Camp 2002: Living History,” Jamal Huwail presents in his conclusion the idea that the military defeat that occurred at the end of the battle must be read in light of the broader defeat outside the camp, specifically, within the doctrine of the Palestinian Authority’s national project.

Initially, the leadership of the security apparatus did not participate in devising military plans to defend the camp. This responsibility was left to the resistance fighters and some members of the security forces, relying on minimal experience without scientific planning. Regarding armament, the Authority, even at the height of the Second Intifada, did not arm the resistance, to the point that it prevented weapons stockpiled in the headquarters of the security services from reaching the resistance fighters. By the eve of the Zionist invasion of the camp, the resistance had only one RPG shell.

During the battle, and at the height of the resistance’s sense of victory following an ambush that killed 13 Zionist soldiers, calls from some Authority leaders urged surrender, claiming the futility of continued fighting, even participating in psychological warfare. In the end, Abu Jandal was executed on the twelfth day.

The main difference between the 2002 battle and the current Jenin Battalion experience lies in the reality that the resistance is now directly besieged by the Palestinian security apparatus. Not only has the Authority refrained from supporting the resistance, but it has actively worked to besiege it for years, culminating in the ongoing aggression of more than a month, marked by direct military and political siege. As for the second factor, it is the battalion’s decision to confront to the end, which is derived from the resistance forces from Gaza, which draw from a deep legacy and regional power spearheaded by the Yemeni armed forces. Yemen has developed technologies and combat theories capable of confronting the world’s most powerful states.

Free Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian Prisoners! Week of Action January 15-22, 2025

12 January 2025

15 January 2025 marks the 23rd anniversary of the detention of Ahmad Sa’adat – Palestinian national and leftist leader, and the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – by the so-called “Palestinian Authority,” as part of its “security coordination” with the zionist occupation. Since then (23 years!), he has been detained, first in the PA jails. Later, he was abducted by the zionist entity on March 14th, 2006.

Join us to take action on 15-22 January 2025 for the Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian Prisoners!

>> Click here to Endorse the Week of Action (Organizational Endorsements) <<

This annual call to action is particularly urgent this year for two reasons:

1) The collaboration of the treacherous Palestinian Authority, which inflicts repression on the Palestinian people to maintain its own position of privilege and collaboration with the zionist entity. With the funding and support of the imperialist powers, this has accelerated in a particularly dangerous manner amid the ongoing genocide. Since 7 October 2023, the PA has taken the lives of 18 Palestinian martyrs and is currently waging an ongoing siege against the resistance in Jenin camp. It continues to imprison dozens of Palestinian political prisoners, including Palestinian students, while firing on the resistance forces defending Palestinian land.

2) This is an urgent moment for the potential prisoners exchange sought by the Palestinian Resistance. Contrary to zionist and imperialist propaganda, the Resistance is the primary force seeking a meaningful prisoner exchange combined with the complete withdrawal of the genocidal zionist forces from the Gaza Strip. One of the highest priorities of the prisoner exchange is releasing the leaders of the resistance held in Zionist jails, with high sentences, that the regime has refused to release in past exchanges, including Ahmad Sa’adat, Marwan Barghouti, Abdullah Barghouti, Abbas al-Sayyed, Hassan Salameh, Ibrahim Hamed, Mahmoud al-Ardah, and others.

Palestinian prisoners are Resistance leaders, on the front lines for justice and liberation, enduring hunger strikes and struggling relentlessly with an unbreakable will toward freedom amid the most dire conditions of torture, abuse, medical neglect and deliberate killing. Since October 2023, they are facing exponential violence from the zionists, a violence that led to the martyrdom of over 50 Palestinian prisoners, with extreme violence particularly directed against the undisclosed number of Palestinians from Gaza abducted by the occupation and held in notorious torture camps like Sde Teiman.

Ahmad Sa’adat is a leader in the Palestinian prisoners’ movement and the Palestinian national liberation movement and a Palestinian, Arab and international symbol of resistance to Zionism, capitalism, racism, apartheid and colonization. Targeted for his political role and clarity of vision, he remains unsilenced and unbroken, despite the oppression imposed upon him and thousands of fellow Palestinian political prisoners.

23 years after his arrest, it is long past time for freedom for Ahmad Sa’adat, his fellow Resistance leaders and all Palestinian Prisoners in Zionist, imperialist, reactionary and Palestinian Authority jails.

32 years after Oslo, it is long past time to expose the so-called Palestinian Authority and bring down its “security coordination” and treachery against the Palestinian people, in Jenin camp and everywhere.

76 years after al-Nakba, it is long past time for the liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea!

We call for an international week of actions from January 15th to January 22nd, calling for the liberation of Ahmad Sa’adat and his fellow resistance leaders, advancing the demand for a prisoner exchange and an end to the genocide in Gaza and throughout occupied Palestine, and highlighting the malevolent role of the “Palestinian Authority” in the Palestinian liberation struggle. Take action to escalate against the zionist genocidal colonial entity, organise for justice in Palestine!

What can you do at you local level?

Endorse the Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian Prisoners.
Educate through your networks: organise a discussion on Resistance leaders and political prisoners, share resources about Ahmad Sa’adat and Palestinian prisoners on social media and in your community
Organise or join a protest or demonstration against the ongoing Zionist-imperialist genocide in Palestine with a contingent, signs or banners for Ahmad Sa’adat and the Palestinian prisoners
Organise a demonstration at a PA embassy or similar location to demand an end to the Palestinian Authority’s offensives in Jenin Camp and throughout the West Bank against the People and the Resistance.
Organise an event, protest, teach-in stand or letter-writing meeting for the Week of Action.
Organise events, actions and protests to demand freedom for Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian Prisoners. Protest in public spaces, campuses and community spaces.
Join the social media campaign. Post a photo or a video message calling for freedom for Ahmad Sa’adat and his fellow Palestinian prisoners.
Support the liberation of Abla Sa’adat, Ahmad’s wife, imprisoned since September 2024.
Use the hashtags #freeallpalestinianprisoners, #freeahmadsaadat

“The Palestinian struggle for national liberation is part and parcel of the international movement of peoples for national liberation, international racial and economic justice, and an end to occupation, colonialism and imperialism.” – Ahmad Sa’adat

Palestine will be free, from the river to the sea!

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Statements and Writings by Ahmad Sa’adat

Ahmad Sa’adat: Prisons, the Black Liberation Movement, and the Struggle for Palestine (Jadaliyya, 24 January 2019)
Letter from Ahmad Sa’adat to Georges Abdallah: “You remain a symbol and a model for us” (Samidoun, 4 September 2017)
Ahmad Sa’adat issues statement to Resistance Festival in Greece (4 October 2017)
International Workers Day: On May 1, Ahmad Sa’adat’s message from prison to the international left. (Free Ahmad Sa’adat, 30 April 2017)
Interview with Ahmad Sa’adat: Prisoners’ struggle is critically important for the Palestinian liberation movement (Free Ahmad Sa’adat, 19 April 2017)
Call to action from Ahmad Sa’adat: Boycott Israel! (Samidoun, 29 July 2015)
Palestinian leader Ahmad Sa’adat from prison: We are struggling for democracy, liberation and justice for all (Samidoun, 11 December 2015)
Interview with Ahmad Sa’adat: Leading from Prison, Ending Negotiations, and Rebuilding the Resistance (Journal of Palestine Studies, Summer 2014)
Ahmad Sa’adat’s message to the Landless Workers’ Movement congress: Full Text (Free Ahmad Sa’adat, 13 February 2014)
Ahmad Sa’adat’s Message to the World Social Forum – Free Palestine (Free Ahmad Sa’adat, 29 November 2012)
Sa’adat from Isolation: Security Cooperation and PA Political Detention Must End (Free Ahmad Sa’adat, 29 January 2012)
Ahmad Sa’adat greets Conference in Solidarity with Palestinian Prisoners in Morocco (Free Ahmad Sa’adat, 25 January 2011)
Ahmad Sa’adat Greets the US Social Forum (Free Ahmad Sa’adat, 18 June 2010)
Ahmad Sa’adat speaks from isolation in Asqelan: The so-called “Two state solution” is a threat to the Palestinian people and the right to return (Free Ahmad Sa’adat, 1 June 2009)
Ahmad Sa’adat statement before sentencing (Free Ahmad Sa’adat, 25 December 2008)
Ahmad Sa’adat’s statement to Ofer military court (Free Ahmad Sa’adat, 14 January 2007)
Interview with Ahmad Sa’adat in his Jericho prison cell (Solidaire, 15 June 2006)
Interview with Ahmad Sa’adat (Mireille Terrin, Chris den Hond, 5 January 2005)
Creating a Pole of the Democratic Left: Interview with Ahmad Sa’adat (Mireille Court, Chris den Hond, August 2004)
The Popular Palestinian Intifada – Where is it heading? (Free Ahmad Sa’adat, 28 September 2003)
Interview With Imprisoned PFLP General Secretary Ahmad Saadat (Fight Back News, 1 June 2003)

Resources and Articles on Ahmad Sa’adat

Georges Abdallah’s message to the International Week of Solidarity to Free Ahmad Sa’adat (Samidoun, 17 January 2022)
13th anniversary of the sentencing of Palestinian left leader Ahmad Sa’adat: Take action for liberation! (Samidoun, 25 December 2021)
Free Ahmad Sa’adat, imprisoned leader of the Palestinian liberation movement (Samidoun, 19 April 2020)
Ahmad Sa’adat: An exceptional revolutionary leader in challenging times by Khaled Barakat (Samidoun, 20 January 2019)
Georges Abdallah calls for action to free Ahmad Sa’adat, confront normalization, in statement from French prison (Samidoun, 14 January 2019)
Ahmad Sa’adat: Palestine will be freed by the people, not the elites (Samidoun, 11 December 2018)
9 Years Later: My Journey to see my Father; 45 Minutes, a Window and a Telephone by Sumoud Sa’adat (Samidoun, 25 August 2015)
Palestinian Authority Security Cooperation and the Internationalization of Occupation: The Case of Ahmad Sa’adat by Charlotte Kates (Jadaliyya, 27 January 2015)

Mohammed Walid Ali al-Aref martyred in Zionist prisons one week after his re-arrest

5 December 2024

On Wednesday evening, 4 December 2024, Palestinian prisoners’ organizations announced the martyrdom of re-arrested liberated prisoner Mohammed Walid Hussein Ali (al-Aref), 45, of Nour Shams camp in Tulkarem inside the Zionist occupation prisons. He was abducted along with three other men from Nour Shams camp on 28 November 2024, when the invasion of occupation soldiers into the camp was met with a fierce response from the Resistance.

He was only in the occupation prisons for one week and was held in the notorious interrogation cells at the time of his martyrdom. Before his abduction by the occupation forces, he was healthy and well; he is married and the father of one child, and his wife is currently pregnant awaiting the birth of their second child. Given the circumstances of his martyrdom, it is clear that the attack on him is essentially an assassination behind bars, under torture in interrogation.

Mohammed Walid Ali al-Aref is a former prisoner who served 19 years inside the colonial Zionist prisons. During his time in prison, he was a leader in the prisoners’ movement and held several organizational positions, including representative of the Hamas prisoners in the Naqab desert prison and played an active role in struggles behind bars to defend the rights and achievements of imprisoned Palestinians.

He was released on 12 December 2021 in a celebration bringing together his family, loved ones, comrades and brothers in Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement.

The celebration of his release was attacked by Palestinian Authority “security forces” acting in “security coordination” with the Zionist regime, an attack condemned by — among others — the martyr Sheikh Khader Adnan, who was present for the welcoming occasion.

The martytdom of Mohammed Walid Hussein Ali al-Aref, held in Zionist prisons for only one week before he was martyred under interrogation, is part and parcel of the Zionist genocidal war on the Palestinian people and the Palestinian prisoners. He is now at least the 48th martyr of the prisoners’ movement since 7 October 2023, including 29 Palestinian prisoners from Gaza. It is clear that this number is incomplete, as at least dozens of Palestinians from Gaza were martyred under severe torture in the occupation prisons and detention camps, and the occupation has refused to release information about their names and the date of their martyrdom.

There are currently over 10,200 Palestinian prisoners held in Zionist prisons, although this number does not include all of the prisoners from Gaza, hundreds or thousands of whom have been subjected to enforced disappearance and whose names, locations, medical status and very life or death continue to be concealed by the occupation. There are at least 3443 Palestinians held under administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial (first brought to Palestine by the British colonial mandate and since enthusiastically adopted by the Zionist regime), 90 women prisoners and 270 imprisoned children, among this number.

All Palestinian prisoners are being subjected to medical abuse, extreme violence and deliberate starvation. The occupation regime recognizes that the Palestinian prisoners’ movement is a keystone of the Palestinian liberation struggle and is seeking to destroy it by all means, including the assassination of the prisoners. Palestinian prisoners from Gaza in particular have been subjected to systematic severe torture, gang rape, and extreme abuse, particularly in the notorious prison camps run specifically to torture Palestinians from Gaza without any kind of external observation.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network mourns Mohammed Walid Hussein Ali al-Aref and extends its condolences to his family, his fellow strugglers, and the Palestinian people. We pledge to redouble our efforts to organize to end the genocide, to stand with the resistance, to liberate the prisoners and for a free Palestine, from the river to the sea.

Glory to the martyr!
Freedom for all Palestinian prisoners and for all of Palestine, from the river to the sea!

Wounded Palestinian Ayman Ghanem abducted from hospital by occupation forces

5 December 2024

Zionist occupation special forces — who arrived and departed partially disguised as a yellow taxi van — invaded the Arab Specialized Hospital in Nablus on the evening of Wednesday, 4 December, and abducted Ayman Ghanem, who had been wounded the day prior in the occupation’s bombing of a vehicle near the village of Aqaba in the Tubas governorate of the West Bank of occupied Palestine.

This cowardly assassination attack targeted the martyrs, the resistance fighters of the Al-Qassam Brigades, Karam Abu Ara and Mohammed Ghannam. The occupation forces then imposed a siege on the Turkish Governmental Hospital, detaining doctors and health workers in an attempt to confiscate the bodies of the martyrs and locate and abduct the wounded Ghanem.

The images of Ghanem’s hospital bed clearly indicate where he was bleeding as he was abducted and forcibly removed from IVs and other treatment. Ayman is being taken to join his fellow 10,200 Palestinians inside Zionist jails, where they are systematically denied medical care and where, at the same time, Mohammed Walid Hussein Ali al-Aref was martyred after only one week in the occupation’s interrogation cells.

Freedom for Ayman Ghanem and all Palestinian prisoners!

Haneen Jaber, mother of the martyrs Abu Shujaa and Mahmoud Jaber, abducted by occupation forces

5 December 2024

On the evening of Wednesday, 4 December Zionist occupation forces abducted Haneen Jaber, the mother of the martyrs Mohammed Jaber (Abu Shujaa) and Mahmoud Jaber, at the entrance to Qalqilya city, occupied Palestine; she was then transferred to the Jalameh interrogation center, where she currently is being held captive.

The arrest and targeting of the mothers — and fellow relatives — of martyrs and resistance fighters is a common practice of the occupation regime in Palestine. It is frequently used in an attempt to force people to turn themselves in, or as a form of collective punishment in an attempt to deter future resistance fighters from confronting the occupation. For example, Tahani Masoud Mona, the mother of the martyr Jaafar Mona, is currently being held in administrative detention without charge or trial under a 4-month order. She is one of 27 Palestinian women prisoners jailed under administrative detention on the basis of a so-called “secret file” out of 3428 total administrative detainees, among over 10,000 Palestinian prisoners in Zionist jails.

Haneen’s son, the martyr Mohammed Jaber, Abu Shujaa, became a legendary resistance fighter and a leader of the Tulkarem Brigades with Saraya al-Quds of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, martyred at the age of 26. He was abducted for the first time by the Zionist regime when he was 17 years old and spent 5 years in occupation prisons through multiple arrests, where he was imprisoned alongside leaders of the resistance.

He was assassinated by the occupation regime on 29 August 2024 after multiple assassination attempts, and battled with the occupation until the last moment alongside his fellow strugglers, Hamouda al-Awfi and Majd Daoud. All three of their bodies were kidnapped by the occupation as part of the ongoing policy of the abduction of the bodies of martyrs as a form of collective punishment and in order to hold them hostage.

Watch his interview with Al-Mayadeen before his assassination (subtitled in English):

If you have not seen Abu Shujaa’s interview with AlMayadeen weeks ago – subtitled in English on X by @BIG__Brother7 – please do. It is one of the main reasons the Zionist regime cited to ban AlMayadeen – because they are so afraid of his voice. pic.twitter.com/tXgxlnqryD

— Samidoun Network (@SamidounPP) August 29, 2024

Nine months earlier, in December 2023, his brother, Mahmoud Jaber, was martyred in the Nour Shams camp, killed by the occupation forces during one of their attacks on the camp’s people. He was one of five Palestinians martyred that day in the camp as they confronted the invading occupation forces.

Haneen has two living sons, Ahmad and Uday; Ahmad is currently imprisoned by the occupation, while Uday is a liberated prisoner who was released in 2019.

Arrests, repression and fascism: The attack on Palestinians in occupied Palestine ’48

5 December 2024

The Zionist occupation regime has carried out a concerted effort of repression against Palestinians in occupied Palestine ’48 to prevent the emergence of a clear front of protest, resistance and disruption to confront the genocide in Gaza and throughout occupied Palestine.

The regime’s criminal racist leaders, from Ben Gvir to Smotrich to Netanyahu, openly proclaim their plans to suppress the Palestinians of occupied Palestine ’48, with the latest attack being an order to silence the call to prayer from mosques throughout Palestine.

Colonial imprisonment is used as a weapon to attempt to prevent the Palestinian people living in ’48 from organizing into clear political organizations and resistance movements confronting Zionism head-on, despite the heroism of Palestinian resisters like Rami Natour, who used his truck to carry out a resistance operation near an occupation military base at Glilot, near “Tel Aviv” on 27 October 2024.

In fear of the development of a collective resistance, the occupation passes even more repressive “apartheid” laws targeting families of resistance fighters from occupied Palestine ’48, vowing to strip them of their imposed “Israeli” citizenship and expel them from Palestine.

Indeed, the occupation is still imprisoning activists from the 2021 uprising during the Battle of Seif al-Quds/the Unity Intifada, when Palestinians in occupied Palestine ’48 mobilized together with those in Gaza, the West Bank and exile to confront the Zionist assault.

The use of colonial imprisonment has also included a series of attacks against Palestinians for posting on social media in support of Gaza and the Palestinian people, arresting them and imprisoning them for “incitement.” Palestinian women especially have been targeted in this way.

The occupation regime continues to imprison the body of the martyr, the Palestinian freedom fighter, intellectual and author Walid Daqqa, who was martyred behind bars after the occupation denied him appropriate medical care or release.

In many cases, the repression of Palestinians is rendered less visible through the use of “house arrest.” Palestinians under house arrest are often denied access to the internet, must have another family member with them to guard them, and often are held outside their hometown via forced expulsion.

While Palestinians under “house arrest” are free of the extreme torture, beatings, starvation and medical neglect imposed upon Palestinians in the Zionist jails, they are also kept away from the Palestinian prisoners’ movement and collective mobilization of the Palestinian people, serving the efforts of the Zionist regime to separate Palestinians in ’48 from their people.

In the past days, several Palestinians from occupied Palestine ’48 holding imposed “Israeli” citizenship have been sentenced. Nasr Zeitawi, from Zalfa village, was ordered yesterday to 5 years in prison and a fine of 20,000 NIS for his role in the Unity Intifada in 2021. He already served 2 years in prison and has been under “house arrest” since 2023. Now, he will be sent to prison for the remaining 3 years. Ward Zeitawi, also from Zalfa, was sentenced to 250 hours of “community service” and a fine of 3,000 NIS. He has also been under “house arrest” since 2021.

In the past year, around 550 Palestinians from occupied Palestine ’48 have been charged in Zionist courts for participating in 2021 in defense of Palestine. On 14 October, Mohammed Zeitawi was sentenced to 7 yrs and Ahmad Mahameed to 5 yrs (both from Zalfa) in Zionist prison.

On 9 October, Assi Hourani (52) from Akka had charges against him dropped. However, he already served six months in Zionist jails and was severely tortured under interrogation; has been held under “house arrest” since 2023; and has been deported from Akka this entire time.

On the same day, Saleh Majed and Mohammed Hammad from Akka were “convicted” of defending themselves from a settler who attempted to ram Palestinians with his car. Adham Bashir was sentenced in 2022 to 10 years in prison; and Qusay Abbas in 2023 to 17 years in the same incident.

On 4 December, the conditions on activist Mohammed Jabareen from Umm al-Fahm were “eased”; he can now leave the house for 5 hours and return to Umm al-Fahm, rather than the village of Zalfa, where he has been under “house arrest” since June.

Mohammed Jabareen was imprisoned between 19 October and mid-June 2024 in Zionist occupation prisons for participating in a demonstration against the genocide in Gaza (in sharp contrast to the deference shown to the “right to rape” Zionist rioters, who invaded military bases.) He has been in “house arrest” in Zalfa under forced expulsion since that time.

On Monday, 2 December, Mahdi Abu al-Hassan, 22, from Umm al-Fahm began serving a 9-month sentence in Jalameh prison. He was abducted by the occupation from Al-Aqsa Mosque in April 2022 with hundreds of worshipers & sentenced to 11 months in prison; he has already served 60 days.

All of these sentences are meant to create a sense of terror among the Palestinian masses that any participation in protest, confrontation or resistance will be met with a massive attack against not only the individual, but their family and community.

The Palestinian identity is certainly under attack by the Zionist regime, as it has been for over 76 and indeed, for over 100 years; however, even more, there is a concerted attack to prevent organized action, community defense and mobilized resistance.

All of these assaults make clear not only the racist nature of the Zionist regime and its desire to erase Palestinian life and existence, but also its inability to destroy Palestinians’ love for their land and people and willingness to act to defend them in all circumstances.

From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!

Palestinian Authority escalates “security coordination” through arrests and attacks on Palestinian resistance

5 December 2024

Every time there is a serious effort towards Palestinian unity to confront the occupation, in line with the needs of the people — and, therefore, with the Resistance — Palestinian Authority “security coordination” forces, in league with the Zionist occupiers, launch arrests and attacks against the Palestinian resistance.

As Palestinian factions meet in Cairo, ostensibly to defend the Palestinian people in Gaza against the genocide and protect them from the plans of the Zionist regime and imperialist powers to impose their wishes for “the day after” on the besieged Strip, the PA in Ramallah is — as it always has been since its creation under the Oslo accords — arresting Palestinians under “security coordination” with the occupation, shooting at resistance fighters and dismantling resistance weapons.

This policy clearly aims to prevent the resistance in the West Bank from carrying out a large-scale confrontation of the occupation, standing with Gaza and the people throughout Palestine, and from defending their land and people from colonial settlers. Of course, it also aims to prevent Palestinian unity, as it is impossible to have national unity with forces that are actively engaged in an alliance with the occupation regime against the resistance.

In the early hours of 4 December 2024, PA “security” forces abducted Raheeb and Mohammed Daraghmeh after besieging their homes in Al-Jisr neighbourhood in Tubas, part of the PA’s ongoing attacks on the resistance in Tubas and its popular cradle (acting alongside Zionist assassinations and invasions.) This has involved repeatedly dismantling explosive devices created by the resistance in order to confront the invading occupation forces and multiple threats against the resistance.

Later in the day on Wednesday, 4 December, PA forces abducted two more young men, Abdel-Salam al-Masri and Mutaib Khaled Abu Hamad, from Aqaba in the Tubas district, the same village where the Zionist occupation had abducted multiple people the previous day, as well as bombing a car leading to the martyrdom of two Palestinian resistance fighters and the serious injury of a third Palestinian.

In Nablus, Palestinian Authority forces arrested Mohammed Jawad al-Bari from Jerusalem Street during the day on 4 December. He is a liberated prisoner who was released from the occupation’s prisons less than one month ago. A few hours later, the PA abducted his brother, Mahmoud Jawad in front of his home in Balata.

Later in the day, PA security forces in Bethlehem arrested Salahat Abayat as he was leaving the mosque following noon prayer, part of this ongoing campaign of arrests in cities throughout Palestine.

For Palestinian students, the PA prisons are a “revolving door” with the occupation. When released by the occupation, they are detained by the PA; and vice versa. At least five of the students arrested in the past week by the occupation were recently detained in the Palestinian Authority’s notorious jails. On Tuesday, 3 December, the PA “security” abducted Birzeit student Hudhayfa Ammar Abu Zneid from his university dorm.

One day before, the PA intelligence services in al-Khalil abducted Polytechnic University student Muhannad Mahmoud Amr, from Dura, after summoning him for interrogation at the Al-Khalil PA intelligence headquarters.

PA intelligence forces abducted Imad Abu al-Haija, the liberated prisoner, the son of the imprisoned leader Jamal Abu al-Haija, brother of the martyr Hamza Abu al-Haija, and brother of the prisoners Asem and Abdel-Salam Abu al-Haija, on 3 December.

PA “security” forces arrested Palestinian journalist Hammam Attili from his workplace in Attil, north of Tulkarem, at the same time the zionist regime carries out an arrest and assassination campaign against Palestinian journalists.

Only two weeks after he was released from PA detention in Nablus, the PA once again abducted Rami Dweikat on 30 November. He has launched a hunger strike to demand his freedom.

These are only those most recently detained by the “security forces.” Since 7 October 2023, the PA has detained 1,800 Palestinians for “security” reasons — that is, on suspicion of resisting the occupation, being held as political prisoners — while providing absolutely no security to the Palestinian people confronting violent illegal settlers and the occupation army on a daily basis.

At the same time it pursued these arrests on Wednesday, 4 December, the PA “security forces” attacked and opened fire on members of the Tulkarem Brigade of Saraya al-Quds in Tulkarem, who were able to escape, but who clearly stated following the incident that they viewed the attack as an assassination attempt. (The PA’s forces previously assassinated Brigade martyrs Ahmed Abu al-Foul and Moatassem al-Arif.)

Of course, this is nothing new. The Palestinian Authority was created in order to provide security for the colonizer and create a local agent to act in its interests, rather than to protect and liberate the Palestinian people.

From Muhyi al-Din al Sharif to Ahmad Sa’adat to today’s detainees, the treacherous PA imprisoned many leaders of the resistance in order to serve the Zionist occupation and its imperialist backers in the US, EU, Canada, etc. Free all Palestinian prisoners in PA, Zionist & imperialist jails!

Gaza and the Prisoners: At the Heart of Struggle

US Imperialism: Director of Zionist Genocide

The Armed Resistance Defends the People and the Land

From Gaza to Lebanon to Yemen and Beyond

Zionism Exposed Before the World

Al-Aqsa Flood Changed the World

Genocide is Inherent in Zionism and Imperialism

Honouring the Martyrs

The International Popular Cradle of the Resistance

Unity and the Necessity of Anti-Imperialism

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