UK protests demand freedom for Palestinian political prisoners, end to British war profiteering

16 January 2017

The Revolutionary Communist Group/Fight Racism Fight Imperialism! organized a series of events and public actions in solidarity with Ahmad Sa’adat throughout the UK on 13-15 January as part of the International Days of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat and All Palestinian Prisoners. The RCG produced the following report on their public actions and events in London (Brixton and Whitechapel), Manchester and Glasgow calling for freedom for Palestinian prisoners and building the boycott of Israel. Protests specifically targeted Barclays Bank for its investment in British and Israeli war industries:

FREE AHMED SA’ADAT!

VICTORY TO THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE!

NO TO IMPERIALIST WAR!

In Britain, RCG (Revolutionary Communist Group) and Samidoun supporters helped organise a day of protest on 14 January as part of an international day action for the release of Ahmed Sa’adat and all Palestinian political prisoners. South London RCG held a street meeting in Brixton, raising awareness of the case of Sa’adat and other Palestinian political prisoners while activists in the East London neighbourhood of Whitechapel led an open mic sound system. Manchester Boycott Israel Group activists led a picket of Barclays bank on Market Street as part of a protest linking the prisoners’ struggle to the wider fight against war and racism. The street action called for the release the prisoners and and exposed British imperialist intervention in the Middle East. Barclays is symbolic of that warmongering, investing in BAE Systems, Raytheon and Boeing, all companies who provide arms to Israel, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, directly fuelling wars on Palestinian, Syrian, Kurdish, Iraqi, Yemeni and Afghan people. Waving the flags of Palestine and Syria, the picket was well received by the public, showing that the campaign for BDS has resonance with other issues.

In Scotland, supporters took to the streets of Glasgow with Palestine flags flying proudly in the wind and placards declaring solidarity with the liberation struggle, activists received wide support from the passing public, taking to the megaphone and chalking the streets to highlight the ongoing fight for justice and dignity by those trapped within the occupation’s dungeons. The criminal role of the British government in comrade Sa’adat’s arrest was made clear. Activists from the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign were also out on the street, continuing their campaign against Barclays and its investments in Israeli military technology, for which several SPSC campaigners have been arrested.

The RCG stands for the release of all political prisoners of imperialism, from Ahmad Sa’adat to Mumia Abu-Jamal, and will continue to take the streets, inspired by their resistance. We call on all BDS supporters to join us to build campaigns stand with all Palestinian prisoners leading the fight against Zionism and imperialism and for a better world.

Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism!

www.frfi.co.uk

ILPS Canada: Free Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian Prisoners

16 January 2017

The International League of Peoples’ Struggle in Canada issued the following statement in solidarity with Palestinian prisoner Ahmad Sa’adat and his fellow Palestinians in Israeli jails as part of the International Days of Action in solidarity with Sa’adat, from 13-15 January. The days mark the 15th anniversary of Sa’adat’s imprisonment by the Palestinian Authority at the behest of Israel, the US and UK; today, Sa’adat is imprisoned in Israeli prison serving a 30-year sentence and a leader of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement as well as a national leader. Aiyanas Ormond, the chair of ILPS Canada, also participated via Skype in the Waterloo, Ontario opening of the new International Office of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement on 15 January, speaking about Ahmad Sa’adat and the struggle to free political prisoners:

ILPS in Canada and its member organizations join with progressive people around the world in calling for freedom for Palestinian political leader Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian prisoners held in the occupation jails.

This month marks 15 years since Comrade Sa’adat, the Secretary General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was abducted by Palestinian Authority security forces working ‘in security cooperation’ with the Israeli Occupation. He is just one of 7000 Palestinian prisoners currently held in the Occupation jails. This number includes 400 children prisoners, and 720 ‘administrative detainees’ who are held without any formal charge or even access to the illegal and illegitimate ‘due process’ of the Occupation courts. A large number of these Palestinian prisoners are, like Sa’adat, imprisoned purely on the basis of their membership in a Palestinian organization that resists the Israeli colonization and occupation of their homeland.

Palestinian prisoners collectively symbolize the steadfastness and determination of the Palestinian struggle for freedom and are an important source of political leadership for the resistance to the occupation. Comrade Sa’adat is recognized as a leader among Palestinian prisoners and in the Palestinian national movement for his outstanding commitment to the total liberation of his people and their homeland. While he rejects the legitimacy of the Israeli Occupation to imprison him, he refuses to have his freedom used as a pawn in negotiations that would further entrench the occupation or give further concessions to the Zionist State:

“I refuse to be released on the basis of a ‘condition for negotiations’ and I will not accept the price for my freedom to be several meters of the land of Palestine, the land that we have fought for and been imprisoned for. I refuse to be free on the condition of the expansion of settlements. I refuse this offer, not even a single house for Zionist settlers will be built as the price of my freedom.” – Ahmad Sa’adat, from Gilboa Prison

Today we join the collective call for international action for the freedom of Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian political prisoners. We demand an end to the internationally-mandated policy of Palestinian Authority “security coordination” that undermines the Palestinian struggle for freedom. And we urge the escalation of the campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions against the Israeli state and complicit institutions and corporations, including HP, to create, as Sa’adat said, “a real economic cost for the industries of colonization.”

Free Ahmad Sa’adat and All Palestinian Prisoners!

Free Palestine!

Long Live International Solidarity!

NYC events build solidarity with Sa’adat and Palestinian prisoners, kicking off international days of action

16 January 2017

Kicking off the international days of action in solidarity with Ahmad Sa’adat and Palestinian political prisoners, John Fletcher of Samidoun spoke on Thursday night, 12 January, to a political meeting organized by the Workers World Party and the International Action Center at the Solidarity Center in New York City.

Fletcher presented an overview of the upcoming days of action taking place around the world in solidarity with Sa’adat and his fellow 7,000 Palestinian political prisoners, as well as Sa’adat’s own history of resistance and leadership. He discussed the boycott campaigns targeting G4S and Hewlett-Packard for their complicity and profiteering from the imprisonment of Palestinians. Fletcher also thanked the International Action Center for its consistent support of Samidoun’s organizing and the Palestinian struggle.

Watch the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7OndsdzTbg’

Also on Thursday, 12 January, NYC Students for Justice in Palestine expressed their solidarity with Ahmad Sa’adat and imprisoned Palestinians at the first session of the NYC SJP Palestine Winter School, taking place at NYU’s Vanderbilt Hall. The session, “Palestine 101,” focused on the history of Zionism and the Palestinian struggle for liberation. Subsequent sessions will focus on imperialism, the Oslo “peace” process and Palestinian political factions and the current political situation. NYC SJP is also organizing a Bay Ridge Resistance series of workshops in the Arab community in NYC.

Participants took a group photo in solidarity with the campaign to free Ahmad Sa’adat and the upcoming international days of action:

Palestinian prisoners continue to be denied family visits: 13-year-old Rita Abu Ghoulmeh banned from seeing her jailed father

16 January 2017

Palestinian prisoners continue to be denied family visits under a pretext of “security” on a systematic basis. On Sunday, 15 January, Rita Abu Ghoulmeh, 13, the daughter of Ahed Abu Ghoulmeh, an imprisoned leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was traveling to visit her father but was stopped at a checkpoint and told that she was prohibited from visiting her father for undeclared security reasons.

In speaking with Sawt al-Shaab radio, Rita said, “Today I went to visit my dad, and I presented my ID card and permit for the visit, and I was told that the visit was banned. When I asked them why, they told me that the intelligence had made a decision to ban the visit.”

Wafa Abu Ghoulmeh, Rita’s mother and Ahed’s wife, said that this is a continued crime of the Zionist occupation against the rights of Palestinian prisoners and their families, noting that it is a means of collective punishment against an entire family, especially when you see the pretext of “security” used against minor children who have a right to see their parents. Wafa has been denied visits with her husband for years under the same pretext.

The banning of Rita’s visit came only days after Palestinian child prisoner Natalie Shokha, 15, was denied visits from her parents, also on the pretext of “security.” The Palestinian Prisoners Affairs Commission said that family visits “are being used as an instrument of collective punishment in flagrant violation of the Geneva Conventions and international conventions.”

On multiple occasions, the Commission noted, Israeli occupation soldiers at roadblocks and checkpoints tear up visitation permits issued through the International Committee of the Red Cross by the Israeli authorities. On 8 January, Akram Hamed, the representative of prisoners in Ofer prison said that 30 people had been denied visitation with their imprisoned family members, including elderly people over the age of 80 years old. In Hadarim prison, 5 family visit permits were withdrawn when the families arrived at the prison and their permit papers torn up by the occupation forces. Marwan Barghouthi, held in Hadarim prison, raised this issue on behalf of the prisoners with the director of Hadarim prison, saying that the continuation of this policy will lead to escalated protests by Palestinian prisoners.

The denial of family visits is also used as a means of pressure and punishment against Palestinian prisoners, noting that 12 Palestinian prisoners were punished after protesting against an attack by guards with the denial of family visits for 6 months.

Sick prisoner Mansour Moqtada continues to be denied family visits from his elderly mother; Moqtada is serving a life sentence and uses a wheelchair after he was shot with three bullets in 2002 at the same time he was seized by Israeli occupation forces. He has a colostomy and a catheter and is in frequent pain; he is one of the most seriously ill prisoners in Israeli jails and is permanently held at the Ramleh prison clinic. His mother, who is over 70 years old, has continually been denied family visits with her son for over two years under the pretext of unspecified “security” reasons.

The right of prisoners to receive family visits is enshrined in the Fourth Geneva Convention. In addition, the Fourth Geneva Convention forbids the imprisonment of people under occupation in the territory of the occupying power; nevertheless, the vast majority of Palestinian prisoners are detained inside Palestine ’48. Most Palestinian prisoners from the West Bank and Gaza Strip can only receive visits through the visits and permitting process coordinated by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), because their families are denied access to the areas where they are imprisoned. These permits are often delayed or denied and take months to process; if and when they are approved, Palestinians must visit on special ICRC buses. he entire visit process begins early in the morning and ends late at night for a 45-minute visit; it is very difficult for young children and elderly parents.

Prior to 2016, these visits took place twice monthly for Palestinian prisoners from the West Bank; however, the visits were arbitrarily reduced to once monthly by the ICRC, which cited lack of participation in the second visit and financial concerns to justify their decision. Palestinians have repeatedly protested these cuts to visits, coming as they do at the same time that the Israeli occupation is repeatedly using family visit denial as a weapon against Palestinian prisoners.

Five Palestinian fishermen seized this morning by Israeli occupation forces

16 January 2017

On Monday morning, 16 January, the Israeli occupation navy has so far seized five Palestinian fishers. Early in the morning, the Israeli navy forced two Palestinian fishermen from their boats off the coast of Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, seizing the two of them and confiscating their boat. The two, Ourans Sultan and Mohammed Sultan, were taken to an unknown destination. Just before noon on Monday, three more fishers were seized by occupation forces in the sea off the northern coast of Gaza and fire is continuing toward fishing boats.

The attack on the fishers came after two Palestinian merchants from the Gaza Strip were also seized by Israeli occupation forces on Sunday evening, 15 January, as they attempted to cross the Beit Hanoun/Erez border crossing. The two traders, Medhat Karam and Hazem Touman, had secured permits to cross for trade purposes; however, they were subjected to arbitrary and lengthy interrogation before being taken to an unknown location.

The Palestine Prisoners Center for Studies noted that these arrests come after a year of escalating arrests against all sectors of society in the Gaza Strip. In 2016, 125 fishermen were arrested by Israeli forces and dozens of boats confiscated. While the vast majority of fishers were shortly released, they were frequently subject to physical injury and the confiscation, damage to or loss of their valuable fishing boats, at a time when fishers in Palestine have been economically devastated due to the Israeli occupation forces’ restriction of their fishing area.

On Wednesday, 4 January, Palestinian fisherman Rashad Hissi was in his fishing boat west of northern Gaza, 5 nautical miles from the shore. As the Fishermen’s Committee of the Union of Agricultural Work Committees in the Gaza Strip noted, “one of the Israeli navy boat ran into the fishing boat directly without any prior warning, resulting in capsizing and damaging the boat completely and the loss of the fisherman, Mohammed Ahmed Mohammed Jamil Hissi, who is still missing.” Hissi was later declared dead. The fishermen urged international action to protect Palestinian fishermen seeking to work and secure their livelihood under attack by Israeli occupation forces, as well as an end to the siege on Gaza.

There were a total of 223 Palestinians from Gaza arrested last year by occupation forces; 15 of them were merchants, as well as patients going to receive medical treatment and students seeking to study abroad.

Former hunger striker, journalist Mohammed al-Qeeq among 20 Palestinians seized by Israeli occupation forces

16 January 2017

Israeli occupation forces seized Mohammed al-Qeeq, 34, Palestinian journalist and former long-term hunger striker, on the evening of Sunday, 15 January at the Beit El checkpoint north of Ramallah. Fayha Shalash, al-Qeeq’s wife, said that the occupation forces delayed and detained a number of families of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces and former prisoners at the checkpoint as they came from participating in a demonstration in Bethlehem for the return of the bodies of the martyrs held captive by the Israeli occupation.

Most were released after around 45 minutes, but al-Qeeq was separated from the others, arrested and transferred inside the Beit El settlement and its interrogation center, Shalash told Asra Voice. She also said that he had stated his intention to begin an open hunger strike if he was seized by occupation forces. Al-Qeeq remains imprisoned now in an unknown location.

Al-Qeeq engaged in a 94-day hunger strike against his administrative detention without charge or trial, winning his release in May 2016. He has continued to be a visible leader and participant in defending Palestinian prisoners and demanding their freedom. Al-Qeeq is one of over 20 Palestinian journalists currently imprisoned by the Israeli occupation, including Omar Nazzal, member of the General Secretariat of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, held in administrative detention without charge or trial.

Fellow long-term hunger striker and former Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan spoke in response to the arrest of al-Qeeq, calling for the escalation of actions and calls at all levels against the ongoing attacks by the occupation against released prisoners and the suppression of the prisoners inside the prisons.

The seizure of al-Qeeq came among the arrest of 20 Palestinians by Israeli occupation forces on late Sunday or early Monday morning, most in the Ramallah area. Among those arrested was Palestinian Legislative Council member Ahmed Mubarak. Mubarak’s seizure by occupation forces brings the total of PLC members currently in Israeli prison to 7; he joins PFLP General Secretary Ahmad Sa’adat; Fateh leader Marwan Barghouti; Mohammed Abu Teir, exiled Jerusalemite PLC member; and Hassan Yousef, Mohammed Jamal Natsheh and Azzam Salhab, all held in administative detention without charge or trial.

Also arrested in this series of raids were writer Walid Hodali of el-Bireh, Sheikh Ibrahim Abu Saba from Beitunia, Sheikh Falah Abu al-Taher of el-Bireh, Omar Barghouthi from Deir Ghassaneh, Mohammed al-Barghouthi of Bani Zeid, Mohammed Qar’an from Beitunia. Former prisoners Shuja’a Darwish of Birzeit and Jihad Karajeh of Saffa were also seized, as were Mohammed Dahlah and Yousef Alayan of Budrus, Louay Nazir of Kobar and Saeb Fahmi Abu Salem of Rantis. In Beit Ummar near al-Khalil, Abdel Nasser Abu Maria, 18, a former prisoner, was seized by occupation forces, blindfolded and taken to an unknown destination.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network demands the immediate release of Mohammed al-Qeeq and urges international action and pressure for his freedom and that of his fellow Palestinian prisoners, including imprisoned Palestinian journalists.

19 January, Duke University: Child Detention in Palestine with Azadeh Shahshahani

15 January 2017

Thursday, 19 January
12:00 pm
Duke University
West Campus
Allen 304
Durham, NC

Azadeh Shahshahani, legal and advocacy director for Project South, will present a discussion of detention of Palestinian children by Israeli security forces, in a free public talk.

Shahshahani formerly served as national security/immigrants’ rights project director with the ACLU of Georgia, and she is a past president of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG). Through the NLG, she participated in international delegations, including a delegation focused on the situation of Palestinian political prisoners. Shahshahani also serves as chair of Georgia Detention Watch, co-chair of the U.S. Human Rights Network Working Group on National Security, and on the Advisory Council of the American Association of Jurists.

Shahshahani has a master’s degree in modern Middle Eastern and North African studies from the University of Michigan, and earned a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School where she was articles editor for the Michigan Journal of International Law.

This event is organized by Duke University Students for Justice in Palestine.

23 January, NYC: Solidarity Rally for Fordham SJP

15 January 2017

Monday, 23 January
1:00 pm
Fordham University
113 W. 60th St
New York, NY
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1181170275336535/

Fordham Students for Justice in Palestine is calling for a solidarity rally at Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus at W. 60th St and Columbus Ave on Monday, January 23 at 1 pm.

The school’s administration has vetoed the student government’s vote to approve SJP for club status. Not only does this move violate free speech principles and civil rights protections, but it also disrespects the authority of the student governing body. It is also a direct attack on Palestine solidarity activism.

We are calling on all those who fight for justice to stand with us as we resist this shameful decision by Fordham University. We need your solidarity and support. We cannot allow this attack on student activists. It’s an attack on our entire community.

#DefendFordhamSJP #Fordham175

Here is some media coverage of Fordham’s decision: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/01/18/fordham-denies-student-palestinian-rights-group-approval-being-too-polarizing

Media contact: fordhamsjp@gmail.com

Istanbul vigil demands freedom for Ahmad Sa’adat, Palestinian prisoners

14 January 2017

A demonstration was organized in Istanbul, Turkey on Saturday, 14 January in solidarity with imprisoned PFLP General Secretary and Palestinian leader Ahmad Sa’adat and his fellow Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails at Galatasaray Square, as part of the International Days of Action on 13-15 January.

The event was organized by Tutsaklarla Dayanisma Inisiyatifi, the Solidarity Initiative with the Prisoners. The event came as part of international days of action in support of Sa’adat and Palestinian prisoners, on the 15th anniversary of his arrest by the Palestinian Authority. Today, Sa’adat is serving a 30-year sentence in Israeli prisons.

Dozens of Turkish and Kurdish activists participated in solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners in the occupation prisons, the attacks of the occupation against the Palestinian people and prisoners, and the use of isolation, torture, and prevention of family visits against Palestinians, which the organizers labeled “fascist brutality.”

They carried Palestinian flags and signs calling for freedom for Palestinian leader Ahmad Sa’adat. “The fact that Ahmad Sa’adat was arrested by the Palestinian Authority and the participation of multiple parties in his arrest and the kidnapping from Jericho only proves that Palestinians are not only fighting occupation but that multiple forces are aligned and complicit in their oppression,” said Nicola Saafin of Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network.

Ali Dogan spoke on behalf of the Solidarity Initiative with the Prisoners, saying that 60 organization around the world have echoed the call to free Ahmad Sa’adat and 7,000 Palestinian freedom fighters. He highlighted the ongoing struggle inside Israeli prisons, and stated that “we are gathered in Galatasaray Square today to be the echo of this international call as the initiative of Solidarity with Prisoners, the voice of the revolutionary prisoners in Turkey.”

The statement also condemned Turkish policies of normalization with the Israeli state and urged all institutions in Turkey to support the struggle of Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian prisoners for freedom and against the Zionist occupation and its policies. The vigil ended with chants in support of the Palestinian cause, the Palestinian prisoners and freedom for Ahmad Sa’adat.