Dareen Tatour’s prosecution for poetry continues in Nazareth court

29 January 2017

Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour testified before the Magistrate’s Court in Nazareth on Thursday, 26 January; Dareen’s saga has lasted for nearly a year and a half as she faces prosecution and imprisonment for writing a poem, “Resist my people, resist them,” and posting it on YouTube.

Arrested from her family home in the village of Reineh on 11 October 2015, Tatour, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, was imprisoned for several months in Kishon, Damon and HaSharon prisons on allegations of “incitement,” and she was then transferred to house arrest. For several more more months, she was confined to an apartment in the Tel Aviv area; due to the restrictions of her house arrest, her brother and sister-in-law had to leave work and school to permanently accompany her; she was finally transferred to house arrest in her home village of Reineh but remains subject to severe restrictions and must wear an electronic ankle bracelet at all times. She is prohibited from using the internet.

Hundreds of internationally renowned writers and artists, including Edwidge Danticat, Ahdaf Soueif, Alice Walker, Eve Ensler, Ariel Dorfman, Russell Banks and Barbara Hammer, have called for Tatour’s release and the dropping of charges against her, a call endorsed by PEN, the international freedom of expression association. Despite the widespread support for Tatour and the almost farcical nature of the charges against her, she faces up to eight years in prison. The arrest and prosecution of Tatour also comes in the context of a long history of occupation persecution of Palestinian writers and artists, including such former prisoners as Mahmoud Darwish, Samih al-Qasim and Tawfiq Zayyad, like Tatour, Palestinians from occupied Palestine ’48.

Despite the lengthy proceedings stretching over four months, Tatour’s case will continue for several more hearings. There will be three more upcoming hearings in the case before a judgment is issued, and those sessions will convene on 19 March, 28 March and 5 April.

Learn more about the case at the Free Dareen Tatour facebook.

Al-Qeeq transferred to isolation in Hadarim prison; Shahatit continues hunger strike for seventh day

29 January 2017

On Friday, 27 January, the Israeli prison administration suddenly transferred Palestinian journalist and former long-term hunger striker Mohammed al-Qeeq from the Petah Tikva interrogation center to the isolation section of Hadarim prison from the Petah Tikva interrogation center.

This came one day after al-Qeeq’s detention was extended by the Ofer military court for the third time after his arrest on 15 January at the Beit El checkpoint near Ramallah as he returned from a demonstration in Bethlehem protesting for the return of the detained bodies of Palestinians killed by Israeli occupation forces. His detention has been extended three times since then and his family home and the apartment he shares with his wife were raided by Israeli occupation forces. His wife, Fayha Shalash, was also summoned to Israeli interrogation on Wednesday, 25 January.

Al-Qeeq was released from administrative detention – imprisonment without charge or trial – in May 2016, after he carried out a 94-day hunger strike to demand his release. His hunger strike gained international notice and highlighted the persecution of Palestinian journalists. Al-Qeeq has pledged to launch an open hunger strike if he is once again ordered to administrative detention without charge or trial. He is expected to be brought before military court again on 2 February.

Current Hunger Strikers

Meanwhile, Randa Shahatit, held in isolation in HaSharon prison, is now on her seventh day of hunger strike. Shahatit was seized by occupation forces on 20 January; the former Palestinian prisoner was released in 2011 as part of the Wafa al-Ahrar prisoner exchange when 17 months remained in her 50-month sentence. She was seized by occupation forces in August as she went to the hospital with her 3-month-old daughter and held for 12 days before being released on bail and under confinement to the area of her village while a secretive military committee determined whether to reimpose her prior sentence – as has happened to dozens of Palestinian prisoners. On 3 January, it was announced that her sentence would not be reimposed and her bail conditions were lifted; only two weeks later, she is now being accused of violating her conditions of bail. She is on hunger strike against her arrest and isolation.

Also on hunger strike for the fourth day is Islam Dar Musa, 24, who launched a hunger strike on 25 January to demand to be housed with his also-imprisoned father, Sheikh Saleh Dar Musa, 52. Islam is held without charge or trial under administrative detention since August 2016, and his administrative detention was renewed in December; his father is serving 17 life sentences. Islam was denied a transfer to Ramon prison to be with his father. He has not seen his father since he was last imprisoned in 2013.

Long-time Palestinian prisoner Walid Daqqa moved into solitary confinement

28 January 2017

Long-time Palestinian prisoner and prominent figure Walid Daqqa was moved on Wednesday, 25 January from the Ketziot Negev desert prison to solitary confinement in Ramon prison. Daqqa, one of the pre-Oslo prisoners, has been held in Israeli prison since 1986 along with his comrades Ibrahim and Rushdi Abu Mukh and Ibrahim Bayadseh; they are sentenced to life sentences for taking part in a Palestinian resistance operation targeting an Israeli occupation soldier. As one of the pre-Oslo prisoners, Daqqa’s release has been demanded over the years, yet the Israeli state has repeatedly refused to release him and has insisted that as he, Bayadseh and the Abu Mukh brothers are Palestinians holding Israeli citizenship, they are a separate matter from their fellow 7,000 Palestinian prisoners.

From the town of Baqa al-Gharbiyeh, Daqqa has become a prominent figure inside Israeli prisons and in the Palestinian prisoners’ movement, writing about his experience and that of fellow prisoners and gaining his masters’ degree. The staging of a play that reflects Daqqa’s stories and experiences, “A Parallel Time,” in Haifa’s al-Midan Theater in 2015, sparked attempts by the Israeli state to defund the theater and other Palestinian cultural institutions.

The isolation of Daqqa comes as he is invoked in the Israeli allegations against Knesset member Basel Ghattas, alongside his brother Assad Daqqa. Ghattas is accused of bringing cell phones to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails while he met with Daqqa and Basel al-Bizra; Daqqa received only documents, while al-Bizra is accused of receiving cell phones. On the same day Walid Daqqa was isolated, his brother Assad was brought before an Israeli district court and a hearing set for 1 February; Assad Daqqa is accused of providing the alleged cell phones to Ghattas.

Ghattas was held in house arrest and has been barred from the Knesset; Palestinian organizations have widely condemned the persecution of Ghattas as an attempt to both attack Palestinian citizens of Israel – who already live under more than 50 racist laws and face continuing land confiscation, home demolitions and arbitrary political arrests – more broadly and to further silence and isolate Palestinian prisoners.

The prison branch of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine issued a statement from Israeli prisons on Daqqa’s solitary confinement, saying that Israeli prison officials “target the comrade because he represents an influential leadership role in the prisoners’ movement as one of its key figures, particularly at this time of the targeting of the Palestinian people in occupied Palestine ’48 through home demolition, killings in cold blood and the adoption of racist laws in the occupation Knesset, as part of the systematic displacement and targeting of the Palestinian people…We in the PFLP Prison Branch and the national and Islamic forces and the prisoners’ movement have sent a clear message to the prison administration that they will be held accountable for the consequences of isolating Walid, and the seriousness of this decision.”

Firas Omari, of the Freedoms Committee of the Arab Monitoring Committee in Palestine ’48, emphasized that Palestinians who have spent over three decades in Israeli prisons are denied simple phone calls with their families. “Jewish criminal prisoners are allowed to marry and talk daily to their families on the telephone…while Palestinian political prisoners are deprived of all of their rights,” said Omari. He noted that the persecution of Ghattas and prisoners’ families, such as Assad Daqqa, the brother of long-term prisoner Walid Daqqa, is another attempt to prevent communications by the prisoners and keep them in permanent isolation.

“What has happened to the deputy Basel Ghattas and Assad Daqqa, the brother of Walid Daqqa…is a mechanism by the occupation to impose new racist secuity measures that carry a great danger for the prisoners,” said Omari.

Mohammed al-Qeeq’s interrogation extended for another eight days

27 January 2017

Palestinian journalist and former long-term hunger striker Mohammed al-Qeeq was ordered to eight more days in interrogation by the Ofer military court on Thursday, 26 January, reported his family.

Al-Qeeq was seized by Israeli occupation forces on 15 January as he returned from a protest in Bethlehem demanding the release of the detained bodies of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces. He was held under administrative detention without charge or trial and launched a hunger strike in December 2015. The strike lasted for 94 days and ended in Al-Qeeq’s release in May 2016; his case drew worldwide attention to the targeting of Palestinian journalists and the issue of administrative detention.

Since his latest arrest, Israeli authorities have not garnered confessions or issued charges against al-Qeeq, although they earlier expressed that they were investigating him for “incitement” on social media, a charge targeting Palestinian expression that has become widely used in Israeli military courts, reported his wife and fellow journalist, Fayha Shalash.

His detention was extended on 19 January, 23 January and again yesterday, 26 January, for an additional eight days. On Wednesday, 25 January, al-Qeeq’s family home in al-Khalil and he and Shalash’s apartment in Ramallah were invaded by Israeli occupation forces in pre-dawn raids, who ransacked the homes and subjected Shalash to a strip search. Shalash was summoned to interrogation by Israeli intelligence, while al-Qeeq is being held in the Petah Tikva interrogation center.

Al-Qeeq has pledged that he will launch a hunger strike if he is again ordered to administrative detention without charge or trial. There are approximately 700 Palestinians held in administrative detention, indefinitely renewable imprisonment without charge or trial on the basis of secret evidence, among a total of nearly 7,000 Palestinian political prisoners. Palestinians can spend years at a time in administrative detention due to consecutively renewable orders.

Palestinian leftist Jamal Barham’s administrative detention renewed for three more months

27 January 2017

Prominent Palestinian Jamal Barham was ordered to another three months in administrative detention without charge or trial on Thursday, 26 January. Barham, 56, the director of the Arab Studies Department of the Palestine Liberation Organization, has been imprisoned without charge or trial since 3 June 2015.

Barham’s home in the village of Ramin near Tulkarem was raided simultaneously with that of fellow Palestinian leftist Shaher al-Rai. His home was ransacked and the family’s electronic devices and memory cards confiscated, including those of his children, with their work as university students. He was taken to a military interrogation center and presented with confessions against him stating that he is active in the Palestinian leftist party, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Barham refused to confess or sign a statement and was transferred to administrative detention on 11 June. These “confessions” relate to political activity; one of them is over 20 years old.

Both Barham and al-Rai have been imprisoned without charge or trial since June 2015 under Israeli administrative detention; this marks the fifth renewal of Barham’s administrative detention. He is currently held in the Negev desert prison. Barham spent two and a half years in Israeli prison from 1984 to 1987 for his activities against the occupation; he was then labeled as “wanted” during the late 1990s and the beginning of the second Intifada.

Barham’s wife, Amira, is a coordinator of the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees; they have three children, Ghassan, a medical student in Egypt; Majd, a new graduate in engineering from An-Najah University; and Jamil, an accounting student at Kaddouri University in Tulkarem.

Barham is one of 700 Palestinians imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention, and one of 7,000 total Palestinian prisoners.. These orders, issued for one to six month periods, are indefinitely renewable; Palestinians like Barham can spend years in administrative detention before release.

Randa Shahatit on open hunger strike; ordered to 12 more days of detention

27 January 2017

Palestinian re-arrested prisoner Randa Shahatit was ordered detained for 12 more days, until 6 February, by the Ofer military court in a hearing on 26 January. Shahatit, 30, confirmed that she is continuing on open hunger strike; she is currently being held in isolation in HaSharon prison and is demanding her release and an end to solitary confinement.

She was seized on 20 January at a checkpoint at the entrance to al-Fuwwar refugee camp in al-Khalil, only two weeks after the end of a six-month period of house arrest. Shahatit has been arrested four times, and was serving a 50-month sentence in 2011 when she was released as part of the Wafa al-Ahrar prisoner exchange. Since her release, Shahatit married and had three children, aged three, two and nine months.

In August 2016, Shahatit was seized by occupation forces and military prosecutors sought to re-impose her earlier sentence on the basis of secret evidence before a closed military committee. After nearly two weeks of detention and being kept from her three-month-old baby, Shahatit was released on bail conditions, including restriction to her home village of Dura. On 3 January 2017, it was announced that her sentence would not be reimposed and her bail conditions were lifted. Now, she is being accused of violating her bail conditions during that earlier period.

Dozens of Palestinian former prisoners released in the exchange have had their former sentences imposed by this secret Israeli military committee under Israeli Military Order 1651, violating the release agreement itself.

Palestinian lawyer Abdel-Nasser Noubani emphasized that Shahatit is now on an open hunger strike against her arrest and isolation, calling for her immediate release.

Protesters in Antwerp facing trial for organizing Palestine demonstration

26 January 2017

Solidarity with Antwerp activists for Palestine facing prosecution: translated from French; originally published at pourlapalestine.be, the site of Plate-Forme Charleroi-Palestine.

Three demonstrators who participated in a 2014 protest in Antwerp, Belgium against the attack on the Gaza Strip were called before the court in Antwerp on 24 January. They are charged with incitement to racism against the Jewish community in Antwerp, not based on independent findings by the police, but instead on a complaint filed by supporters of Israel. Based on a very thin file, the public prosecutor began a prosecution against the three, joined by the Centre Against Racism. The prosecution is seeking heavy penalties against the defendants: six months in prison for two of the three defendants, identified as the organizers, and 60 days of community service for a Palestinian from Gaza.

The ruling in the case will take place on 21 February.

Below is the statement previously circulated by the event organizers:

The Context

On 8 July 2014, the Israeli regime launched another attack on Palestinians. For nearly two months, the Gaza Strip is bombed. 2,100 people were killed – 70% of them civilians – including 551 children and 250 women. 11,000 were injured, 44,300 homes damaged and 18,000 homes, schools, hospitals and power plants destroyed. The horror and outrage in Europe is widespread and for two months, demonstrations were held everywhere, including in Brussels and Antwerp.

Facts: What is the complaint?

On 12 July, around 800 people demonstrated at Sint-Jansplein in the center of Antwerp. The event took place in a highly emotional context and the speakers, including three municipal councillors from the SP.a, Workers Party of Belgium and the Greens were interrupted continuously by chants from the crowd. Despite the high levels of feeling in the crowd, the demonstration ended without incident as was confirmed by the police at the time. The Flemish channel VRT ran a news story, entitled: “Protesters in Antwerp against the violence in Gaza.”

However, Michael Freilich of “Joods Actueel” began to scrutinize photos of the event and claimed that he heard some screaming for a few seconds, “Khaibar, Khaibar ya Yahud.” The next day, he wrote that “The slogan chanted specifically refers to the Jewish community and not to Israel.” There was no mention of countless flags and slogans and official chants during the demonstration, clearly and exclusively directed against Israel. Instead, this issue focuses on a single chant in the crowd for seconds and a specific interpretation. The FJO, Forum of Jewish Organizations in Antwerp, announced it would file a complaint, and Pinkas Kornfeld did so three days later, denouncing the organizers of the rally.

Zionists constantly and deliberately abuse the terms “anti-Semitic” and “anti-Jewish”

The Zionists, the supporters of the state of Israel, must see painfully clearly that the outrage over the conduct of the state of Israel mobilizes more and more people. This was the case in 2014 and increasingly so with successful boycott actions. The tactic is well-known: the slightest criticism of the Israeli regime is labeled as tantamount to an “anti-Semitic” or “anti-Jewish” act. Among the European population, traumatized by the horrors of the Holocaust, these terms are extremely sensitive. The atrocities committed by the Israeli regime are constantly denounced internationally, yet Zionist propaganda continues to abuse the terms “anti-Semitic” and “anti-Jewish.”

“Zionist” vs. “Jewish”

The Israeli regime, supported by Zionists worldwide, presents the occupation of Palestine as a conflict between Jews and Muslims. If someone were to be summoned before a court of law due to incitement to racism, it would be rather logical in this case that it would be defenders of Israel. Pro-Palestinian activists are constantly obliged to denounce this lie and to draw attention to the real problem: occupation and colonization characterized by constant aggression against the Palestinian people. Terror has no religion, and neither does occupation. Religion is used as a pretext for the sole purpose of mobilization. This is the case for the “Islamic State” and this is the case for the “Jewish State.”

Jews against Zionism

Those who resist Zionism are not anti-Jewish; this is evidenced by the anti-Zionist Jews who defend a just and righteous peace in Palestine. They participate in the pro-Palestinian demonstrations. Why, then, would these same demonstrations target the Jewish people or the Jewish religion? At the event in Antwerp, nobody incited violence against the Jewish community in Antwerp. It is Freilich and Kornfeld who made a faulty conclusion.

Discouragement of the pro-Palestinian demonstrations and the boycott

It is not a question of three individuals but of an entire solidarity movement. The next step is obviously an attempt to silence the growing calls for the boycott of Israel, an attempt we already see taking place elsewhere. The people summoned are being arrested for being protest organizers, and it is clear that the goal is to intimidate and discourage the organizers of protest demonstrations.

That the Zionist movement continues to apply these tried and tested tactics is no surprise. From Israel, it is supported by official programs and hasbara.

What is alarming in the present case is that the Antwerp Prosecutor accepted the complaint and that the Center Against Racism has joined as an injured party. It is a world turned upside down! The prosection and UNIA who defend the true racists against those who stand against racism and colonization. The importance of this cannot be underestimated. (*)

* The current attitude of UNIA, the Federal Center for Combating Racism, is unclear. They were not present at the trial, but the lawyer did not receive any information that they are withdrawing.

Support the pro-Palestinian demonstrators!
Freedom of expression and the right to criticize the Israeli regime!
Criticism of Israel is criticism of Zionist regime and ideology, not of Jewish religion or Jewish people!
“Joods Actueel” and the Forum of Jewish Organizations in Antwerp are not the representatives of all Jewish people.

How to support the protesters

Support the people accused first by sharing this information and explaining the Zionist attack against the Palestine solidarity movement.
The summoned persons are entitled to a legal defense. Help to support their defense by contributing to bank account BE74 0010 1920 8807 with the note, “Advocate 12 July 14”
Attend the court on 21 February in Antwerp

Fordham students and supporters protest and march against SJP ban

26 January 2017

Dozens of students and activists protested in New York City on Monday, 23 January to defend Fordham University’s Students for Justice in Palestine, denied the right to be chartered as a student club through the intervention of Fordham Dean of Students Keith Eldredge. The SJP chapter had earlier been approved by the student government despite a lengthy period in which students were questioned about their support for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel.

Speakers from a number of organizations expressed their support for the students’ struggle against the ban; the Fordham students are working with Palestine Legal to counter the university administration’s discriminatory actions.

Fordham alumnus Ahmad Awad wrote in the New York Daily News about the banning of SJP, noting that “This experience has underscored how difficult it is to talk about Palestinian freedom in America without facing serious suppression. In recent years, students and faculty who choose to speak critically of Israeli policies have faced increasing pushback, a problem that has been widely documented by constitutional and civil rights attorneys. In the first half of 2016 alone, there were 171 such incidents of suppression across the country.”

John Fletcher spoke at the rally on behalf of Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network. Leading off with a chant, John expressed solidarity with the students at Fordham and made links with the past student struggles against apartheid in South Africa. He also made the point that it was even more important for students to continue this legacy of solidarity particularly with the situation in Palestine. He also mentioned that with the emergence of right-wing political power in the United States and around the world, it is more important than ever to focus of the cause of Palestinian liberation.

Fletcher later wrote about the protest in an article for Workers World.

Protesters engaged in a spontaneous march after the demonstration, heading to Columbus Circle to highlight the suppression of SJP at Fordham and express solidarity with the Palestinian people’s liberation struggle.

Joe Catron wrote about the Fordham students’ struggle for Mint Press News, noting that “Despite their lack of the resources and services afforded to recognized student organizations, SJP activists are pressing forward, holding regular meetings on campus to plan the next steps in their campaign to secure registration with the university, as well as an apology and affirmation of the school’s commitment to free speech and the equal treatment of its students.”

Take action to defend the rights of Fordham students to organize for Palestine:

Sign the petition organized by New York City Students for Justice in Palestine
Send a protest email with US Campaign for Palestinian Rights
Academic protest letter: Faculty, sign on to Jewish Voice for Peace letter

3 February, NYC: Protest to Free Salah Khawaja and Stop HP

26 January 2017

Friday, 3 February
5:30 pm
Best Buy Union Square
52 E. 14th St, NYC
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1819756774946383/

Salah Khawaja, a member of the coordinating committee of the StopTheWall.org Campaign and of the Secretariat of the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement National Committee, was seized from his home in a pre-dawn raid on October 26 by Israeli occupation forces.

He was subject to extended and torturous interrogation, including beatings and threats to himself and his family, and was denied access to a lawyer for weeks. Since his transfer to the Ofer prison, his military court hearings have been repeatedly postponed.

Stand with Khawaja to demand that Israel release him and all 7,000 Palestinian political prisoners immediately, and that Hewlett Packard companies end their contracts with Israeli prisons and detention centers, occupation and security forces, and checkpoints and settlements now.

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

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

1 February, London: Book launch, talk and discussion with Norma Hashim on “Dreaming of Freedom”

26 January 2017

Wednesday, 1 February
7:00 pm
P21 Gallery
21 Chalton Street
NW1 1JD London
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1648990398734197/

Please join us at P21 Gallery for the book launch, talk & discussion of Norma Hashim’s book: “Dreaming of Freedom: Palestinian Child Prisoners Speak” on Wednesday 1st February at 7pm

“Dreaming of Freedom: Palestinian Child Prisoners Speak” is a collection of first-hand testimonies by Palestinian children who have spent time in Israeli prisons . The editor Norma Hashim felt there was an urgent need to document the voices of these children, who remain resilient despite the heavy price they paid for their resistance to the occupation. The book was released in July 2016 and is launched for the first time in the UK.

Norma Hashim will be joind by Daud Abdullah and Malaka Mohammad for the discussion.

Norma Hashim is a social activist and treasurer of Viva Palestina Malaysia, editor of “The Prisoners’ Diaries” and “Dreaming of Freedom”.

Daud Abdullah is the Director of the Middle East Monitor.

Malaka Mohammad is a Palestinian activist and freelance writer currently pursuing a PhD in Exeter.

RSVP HERE: https://podio.com/webforms/17656059/1186763

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