Palestinian prisoner Anas Jaradat will be released from isolation to the general prison population by mid-February along with four other isolated Palestinians, reported Muhja al-Quds Foundation. The agreement was reached on Wednesday, 18 January to resolve Jaradat’s hunger strike and the announced steps of protest by Islamic Jihad prisoners.
Jaradat, held in isolation in Ashkelon prison, will be returned to the general prison population in Ramon prison in February 2017. He had earlier highlighted aggressive and threatening statements by prison officials in Ashkelon, and has been denied appropriate medical treatment for liver disease. He was not informed that he has liver disease or provided with treatment until 2016 despite tests in 2009 detecting it.
Said Saleh, Hosni Issa, Munir Abu Rabie and Abdullah Abu Daher, all held in Eshel prison, will also be returned to general population in Hadarim prison under this agreement.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes Oscar López Rivera and Chelsea Manning on the commutation of their sentences by U.S. President Barack Obama. The victory of López Rivera and Manning is one for the Puerto Rican people’s movement and strugglers for justice throughout the U.S. and internationally who have demanded freedom for political prisoners in U.S. jails.
López Rivera fought all of his life as a Puerto Rican revolutionary against U.S. colonialism in his homeland, and for independence and justice. He has served over 35 years in U.S. prison for “seditious conspiracy” for his involvement in the struggle for the freedom of his people. Lopez Rivera’s prosecution and imprisonment came as part of a concentrated political attack on the revolutionary Puerto Rican movement for independence from U.S. colonial rule. López Rivera’s attorney, Jan Susler, said in 2012 that her client had been “punished for his beliefs and affiliations, for who he is, not for any act he committed.”
Manning, who was a soldier in the U.S. army, revealed materials and documents exposing war crimes and the killing of Iraqi, Yemeni and Afghan civilians by the U.S. war machine, providing the documents to Wikileaks. She was sentenced in 2013 to 35 years in prison.
López Rivera and Manning will be freed on 17 May. This was not a benevolent gesture by Obama, but a victory for popular movements. In the last days of the Obama presidency, it is a critical moment to step up the pressure for clemency and commutation for political prisoners in U.S. jails, including the following key cases:
Leonard Peltier
Leonard Peltier is an American Indian Movement (AIM) activist who has served over 41 years in prison, falsely accused of involvement in the death of FBI agents engaged in an attack on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Peltier is in very poor health. His case has received wide support across the U.S. and internationally. This is Peltier’s last chance to live in freedom.
Mutulu Shakur
Dr. Mutulu Shakur, a New Afrikan activist, has been in U.S. federal prison for over 30 years and denied parole eight times. He is imprisoned for involvement in actions as part of the Black Liberation movement, was targeted by the FBI’s COINTELPRO program and is a co-founder of the Republic of New Afrika Movement. While he was scheduled for mandatory release in February 2016, it was unexpectedly cancelled.
Holy Land 5 (Mufid Abdulqader, Shukri Baker, Ghassan Elashi, Mohammad El-Mezain, and Abdulrahman Odeh)
These five Palestinian-American humanitarians raised millions of dollars in purely charitable aid for the Palestinian people. However, the U.S. government – with the aid of anonymous Israeli intelligence agents who were permitted to testify at their trial – criminalized their charity work and they are now serving sentences of 15 to 65 years in federal prisons. The conviction of the HLF5 has not only severely hurt these charity workers and their families, but has created a severe chilling effect on Palestinian, Arab and Muslim organizing and charity work in the U.S.
Veronza Bowers
Veronza Bowers is a former member of the Black Panther Party who has been held in U.S. federal prison for over 37 years. He was convicted in the murder of a U.S. Park Ranger on the word of two government informers, with no eyewitnesses and no independent evidence. He was to be released in 2005 on mandatory parole, only for his release to be blocked and rescinded at the last minute.
**
President Obama may issue commutations and clemency grants until Friday, 20 January at noon. It is critical to continue to contact the White House until the last minute to call for commutation or clemency for Leonard Peltier, Dr. Mutulu Shakur, Veronza Bowers and the Holy Land Five, Mufid Abdelqader, Shukri Baker, Ghassan Elashi, Mohammed El-Mezain and Abdulrahman Odeh.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes Oscar López Rivera and Chelsea Manning, the Puerto Rican people and the popular movements, lawyers and committees that worked tirelessly in the struggle to free these political prisoners. We urge continued action to free all political prisoners in U.S. jails. While executive clemency and commutation only apply to federal cases, there are many political prisoners – like Mumia Abu-Jamal – held in state prisons as well. From the U.S. to Palestine, free all political prisoners!
Re-arrested Palestinian journalist and former long-term hunger striker Mohammed al-Qeeq suspended his hunger strike pending a court hearing on Thursday, 19 January, said his wife Fayha Shalash.
She said that her husband has vowed that if he is ordered again to Israeli administrative detention he will begin his hunger strike with the same intensity as in the past; he engaged in a hunger strike for 94 days against his imprisonment without charge or trial, winning his release in May 2016. Al-Qeeq was seized by Israeli occupation soldiers on Sunday evening at the Beit El checkpoint near Ramallah on 15 January, as he returned from a demonstration in Bethlehem, demanding the return of the bodies of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces.
Meanwhile, Anas Jaradat, 36, of Silat al-Harthiya village near Jenin, announced on Tuesday evening, 17 January, that he is launching an open-ended hunger strike against his solitary confinement and for proper medical treatment for liver disease. Jaradat has been held in isolation for nine months and recently learned that Israeli prison doctors have had knowledge of his liver condition since 2009, information he was denied until 2016. Islamic Jihad prisoners have announced that they will begin a series of escalating protest steps if Jaradat there is not an answer from the prison administration by next Sunday. They have also called for the release from isolation of Said Saleh, Hosni Issa, Munir Abu Rabie and Abdallah Abu Daher, held in Eshel prison, by 1 February.
Today, Sa’adat, the General Secretary of the Palestinian leftist political party the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, is serving a 30-year sentence in Israeli prison and is a leader in the Palestinian prisoners’ movement. He and his comrades were abducted from the PA’s Jericho prison, where they were held for over four years, on 13 March 2006, when the prison was attacked by armed Israeli occupation forces who demolished part of the prison and killed two Palestinian guards.
Participants in the Sa’adat actions urged international solidarity and pressure to release Sa’adat and his fellow 7,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, and also demanded the end of the policy of “security coordination” under which the PA arrested Sa’adat. Samidoun and the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat worked together to organize the days of action; events were organized in 15 countries and 26 cities around the world, including the following:
John Fletcher of Samidoun spoke to an event organized by the Workers World Party and International Action Center about Sa’adat’s imprisonment and the struggle of Palestinian prisoners.
Meanwhile, New York City Students for Justice in Palestine stood in solidarity with Ahmad Sa’adat and his fellow Palestinian prisoners at the first session of their Palestine Winter School at NYU.
Friday, 13 January
On Friday, 13 January the campaign kicked off in full force with multiple events around the world.
Photo: Bud Korotzer/Desertpeace
In New York City, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network organized a protest outside the Best Buy in Union Square, demanding freedom for Sa’adat and building the boycott campaign against Hewlett-Packard (HP); HP companies profit from the oppression and imprisonment of Palestinians and are subject to a global boycott campaign.
Photos: Bud Korotzer/Desertpeace
In Albuquerque, New Mexico in the US, Irish Americans for Socialism and Liberation organized a solidarity event at the South West Organizing Project, with information and materials about Sa’adat and fellow Palestinian prisoners.
In Brussels, Belgium, Secours Rouge and Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network held a workshop and discussion on Ahmad Sa’adat and the struggle to free Palestinian prisoners at the new Local Sacco-Vanzetti organizing space. Khaled Barakat of the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat and Charlotte Kates of Samidoun spoke about the prisoners’ struggle and a video interview of Sa’adat was screened.
In Copenhagen, Denmark, the Internationalt Forum’s Middle East Group organized a night of solidarity with Ahmad Sa’adat and the Palestinian prisoners, screening a film on Leila Khaled and discussing the life and struggle of Sa’adat and his fellow prisoners.
In Toulouse, France, Coup Pour Coup 31 organized an information table at Jean Jaures metro station where they distributed information about the case of Ahmad Sa’adat, the case of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, and the struggle of the Palestinian people.
In Sour, Lebanon, Palestinian and Lebanese organizations protested outside the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross, raising Palestinian flags and demanding freedom for all Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Speakers from a number of Palestinian and Lebanese political organizations urged the immediate release of Ahmad Sa’adat and his fellow Palestinian prisoners, urging Palestinian unity and international action for their release.
In Tunis, Tunisia, the Palestine Land Studies Center organized an exhibition and information table on 13 and 14 January about Ahmad Sa’adat, the Palestinian prisoners and Palestine as part of the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights. Activists provided information about the struggle of Palestinian prisoners.
In Damascus, Syria, Palestinians gathered in the headquarters of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine for an event in solidarity with Sa’adat and fellow Palestinian prisoners. Former prisoner Ahmad Abu Saud spoke at the event.
Saturday, 14 January
International events continued widely on the second full day of the actions in solidarity with Sa’adat.
In Istanbul, Turkey, Tutsaklarla Dayanisma Inisiyatifi, the Solidarity Initiative with the Prisoners, organized a vigil at Galatasaray Square in downtown Istanbul, calling for the release of Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian prisoners. The demonstration also called for an end to Turkish normalization with the Israeli state.
In Galway, Ireland, Irish republican socialist organization éirígí organized an information table to demand freedom for Ahmad Sa’adat, distributing literature and materials about the struggle of Palestinian prisoners.
In Wicklow, Ireland, éirígí activists gathered to stand in solidarity with imprisoned Palestinian leader and PFLP General Secretary Ahmad Sa’adat and Palestinian prisoners.
In Glasgow, Scotland, Revolutionary Communist Group activists and friends of éirígí set up an information table and displayed banners and Palestinian flags calling for freedom for Ahmad Sa’adat and fellow Palestinian prisoners. They chalked the streets and spoke through a megaphone, distributing information, and also joined Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign protesters outside Barclays bank demonstrating against its investments in Israeli military technology.
In Manchester, England, Boycott Israel Group activists picketed Barclays bank on Market Street, demanding freedom for Palestinian prisoners and urging the boycott of Barclays bank for its investment and profiteering from British and Israeli war technology.
In London, Revolutionary Communist Group and Samidoun supporters organized two actions to demand freedom for Sa’adat and his fellow Palestinian prisoners. In Brixton, South London RCG held a street meeting, distributing literature and raising awareness about the campaign to free Palestinian prisoners.
In Whitechapel, East London RCG spoke over a public sound system about the struggle of Palestinian political prisoners and distributed campaign materials.
In Hilton Head, North Carolina in the US, Hilton Head for Peace organized a vigil in solidarity with Sa’adat and his fellow Palestinian prisoners, calling for an end to US involvement in the oppression of Palestinians.
In Brussels, Belgium, Intal organized a Palestine Brunch with performances and talks by members of Raj’een Palestinian Dabke Troupe. Mostafa Awad of Samidoun and Raj’een and other members of the troupe performed and visited various tables, speaking about Palestine, the situation of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and Palestinian political prisoners.
In Milan, Italy, Fronte Palestina and the Colettivo Contro la Represion joined a rally outside the Opera prison on 14 January against the use of solitary confinement, including imprisoned leftists. They distributed information about the struggle of Palestinian prisoners and the case of Ahmad Sa’adat while joining the broader demonstration against the system of repression and incarceration in Italy, as well as the “Fortress Europe” border “security” initiatives leading to death and deportation for refugees.
In Florence, Italy, Fronte Palestina also engaged in leafleting about the case of Ahmad Sa’adat and the struggle of Palestinian prisoners while joining a demonstration marking the anniversary of Operation Cast Lead, the Israeli 2008-2009 war on Gaza.
In addition, in Padova, Italy, Fronte Palestina displayed banners in solidarity with Ahmad Sa’adat as well as appearing on a radio program to discuss the case and the struggle of the prisoners.
In Vancouver, Canada, activists with the International League of Peoples’ Struggle gathered to stand in solidarity with Ahmad Sa’adat and his fellow Palestinian prisoners. In addition, the ILPS Canada chapter issued a solidarity statement in support of the campaign to free Sa’adat.
Sunday, 15 January
On Sunday, 15 January, while international officials and politicians convened in Paris to promote a “two-state solution” while ignoring fundamental Palestinian rights, events and actions demanded freedom for Palestinian prisoners.
In Berlin, Germany, the Democratic Palestine Committees-Berlin organized a Palestine contingent in the Liebknecht-Luxemburg-Lenin march, which drew over 15,000 leftists to demonstrate on the 98th anniversary of the execution of German revolutionary leaders Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht. Participants carried Palestinian flags and signs demanding freedom for imprisoned strugglers including Ahmad Sa’adat and Georges Ibrahim Abdallah. Ghazi Hamad of the Democratic Palestine Committees spoke about the Palestinian struggle at the central rally.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiJ2uSsalAE
In Paris, France, a number of organizations, including the Unified Campaign to Free Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, gathered to demonstrate at Ménilmontant Metro station. Protesters carried Palestinian flags and signs demanding freedom for Sa’adat and Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, imprisoned in French prisons for 32 years.
In Derry, Ireland, Member of European Parliament Martina Anderson joined Derry Sinn Fein to demonstrate for freedom for Ahmad Sa’adat and Palestinian prisoners as well as Irish republican prisoner Tony Taylor.
In Waterloo, Canada, the 32 County Sovereignty Movement International Office opened on Sunday evening, 15 January. The opening event included a presentation by Aiyanas Ormond of ILPS Canada on the case of Ahmad Sa’adat and the struggle of Palestinian prisoners for freedom.
Monday, 16 January
On Monday, 16 January, in Gaza City, Palestine, the PFLP and its Prisoners Committee organized a large rally in support of Sa’adat and the Palestinian prisoners in front of the International Committee of the Red Cross headquarters in Gaza. Speakers, banners and signs called for freedom for Sa’adat and fellow Palestinian prisoners, while Sumoud Sa’adat, the daughter of Ahmad Sa’adat and an activist for Palestinian prisoners, addressed the participants with a recorded message from her home in Ramallah. She saluted all of the Palestinian prisoners and people around the world participating in these events, with a special salute to Georges Ibrahim Abdallah.
On Wednesday, 18 January, the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat will hold an event in Ramallah, Palestine, featuring Mahmoud Fanoun and lawyer Muhannad Karajah, speaking about the experience of Palestinian imprisonment in Israeli jails.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network and the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat thank all of the organizations and activists that participated in these days of action and look forward to continuing to work together and struggle until the freedom of Ahmad Sa’adat, all Palestinian prisoners and the land and people of Palestine.
The statement for the week of action follows, with the list of endorsers:
January 13-15, 2017 marks the 15th anniversary of the seizure of Palestinian political leader, General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Ahmad Sa’adat, by the Palestinian Authority under the policy of “security cooperation,” at the behest of Israel, the United States and the United Kingdom. Today, after a 2006 attack on the Jericho prison by Israeli occupation forces, Sa’adat is serving a 30-year sentence in occupation prisons, convicted in a military court of leading a prohibited organization and incitement.
Ahmad Sa’adat is a leader of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement and a leader of the Palestinian national liberation movement, held behind bars with 7,000 fellow leaders of the Palestinian people. There are thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, on the front line of the struggle for freedom. In the past year, over 6,000 Palestinians were arrested by Israeli occupation forces. These Palestinian political prisoners are the leaders of resistance to occupation, targeted for their role in refusing racism, colonialism, apartheid and occupation.
The imprisonment of Ahmad Sa’adat and his fellow Palestinian political prisoners is aided and assisted by the complicity of international states and major corporations. The United States and United Kingdom guarded Sa’adat in a Palestinian Authority prison and cleared the way for an Israeli attack, ensuring Sa’adat and his comrades came under fire. And the political, military and economic support these and other states, including the European Union and Canada, provide to the Israeli occupation allows the continued imprisonment and extrajudicial execution of Palestinians with impunity. Further, corporations like Hewlett Packard (HP) profit from the imprisonment of Palestinians by selling their services to the Israeli Prison Service.
On January 13-15, 2017, we join in a 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.”
We echo the call to organize events, actions and protests in cities, town squares, campuses and public spaces to break the isolation of the prisoners, and demand freedom now for Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian political prisoners.
Endorsing organizations:
Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network Handala Center for Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners Palestinian Prisoners’ Committee Coup Pour Coup 31 International Red Aid / Secours Rouge International Collectif pour la Libération de Georges Ibrahim Abdallah – Paris
32CSM International Department
ACAT France
Al-Awda: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition (National)
Al-Awda NY: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition
Alternative Information Center
ANPI Torre del Greco
Asociacion Biladi
Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR)
Association Switzerland Palestine
BACBI (Belgian Academic and Cultural Boycott)
Boycott! Supporting the Palestinian BDS Call from Within (Israeli citizens for BDS)
Canada Palestine Association-Vancouver
Cátedra de Estudios Palestinos “Edward W. Said” – Facultad de Filosofía y Letras- UBA
Citizens International
Communist Party (Sweden)
Corvallis Palestine Solidarity
De-Colonizer
Demokratische Komitees Palästinas – Berlin
éirígí
Exeter PSC
Filipino Refugees in the Netherlands
Freedom Archives
Freedom Road Socialist Organization
Fronte Palestina
Global Campaign for Palestinian Political Prisoners (GCPPP)
Groupe Non-Violent Louis Lecoin
Hilton Head for Peace
ILPS in Canada (Country Chapter)
International Action Center
International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal
Internationalt Forum – Middle East Group
International Movement for a Just World (JUST)
Invicta Palestina
Izquierda Unida
Jewish Voice for Peace, San Diego
Justice for Palestine Matters
Le Cri Rouge
Middle East Crisis Response
Mouvement Citoyen Palestine
National Jericho Movement
National Students for a Democratic Society
NYC Students for Justice in Palestine
Ölümsüzlerin ve Tutsaklarin Sesi Platformu
Palestina Rossa
Pakistan USA Freedom Forum
Partido Comunista de España
Plate-forme Charleroi-Palestine
Red Sparks Union
Revolutionary Communist Group
Solidarity with Novorossiya & Antifascists in Ukraine
The New Jewel Movement
Unadikum Association
Union juive française pour la paix (UJFP)
Unione Democratica Arabo Palestina (UDAP) – Italy
United National Antiwar Coalition
Vlaams Socialistische Beweging
Already Trump’s election has signalled a boost for Israel’s fascist president Netanyahu. While the new leader of US imperialism promotes right wing Zionists, promises an embassy in occupied Jerusalem and supports settlements on Palestinian land, Britain is offering no opposition. In fact, British banks are profiting from the occupation and from wars on Syria and Yemen that are backed by most MPs. Palestinians are ready to resist, even as 7000 are locked up in Zionist prisons. We must stand with them on the streets and build a movement against racism and imperialism.
Barclays bank is a symbol of the warmongering of the British ruling class. It invests in arms companies that are complicit in the war crimes of the Israeli, Saudi and Turkish regimes. Its funding for Boeing, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin and BAE Systems show that years after providing loans to the apartheid regime in South Africa, Barclays is still supporting racism, war and occupation. It has to be a focus of BDS campaiging and of protest against imperialist attempts to redivide the Middle East.
Fayha Shalash, al-Qeeq’s wife and a fellow journalist, emphasized that he began his open hunger strike from the moment of his arrest. Al-Qeeq, 35, earlier engaged in a 94-day hunger strike against his administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial with widespread Palestinian and international support, winning his release in May 2016. Since his release, al-Qeeq has been active in prisoner support efforts and was arrested returning from a demonstration in Bethlehem for the release of the bodies of Palestinians killed by Israeli occupation forces.
Shalash and al-Qeeq have two children, Islam and Lour. A rally took place on Monday, 16 January at Ramallah’s Manara Square demanding al-Qeeq’s immediate release; the journalist has reportedly been transferred to Ofer prison.
Al-Qeeq is among over 20 Palestinian journalists held in Israeli prison. Among these imprisoned journalists is Omar Nazzal, member of the General Secretariat of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, held without charge or trial under administrative detention. Nazzal was seized by Israeli occupation forces on 23 April 2016 as he attempted to cross the Karameh/Allenby crossing to Jordan to travel to Sarajevo for a conference of the European Feeration of Journalists. His administrative detention has been renewed three times.
Also held under administrative detention is Adib Al-Atrash, imprisoned since 20 June 2016. He was arrested by Israeli occupation forces only a few days after he returned from studying abroad at Eastern Mediterranean University in Cyprus, where he had just received his masters degree in media studies. His administrative detention without charge or trial has been renewed twice.
Just yesterday, Palestinian writer Walid Hodali was seized by Israeli occupation forces amid a large number of arrests in the Ramallah area. He previously spent 15 years in Israeli prison and is currently the director of the Jerusalem Literary Office and a member of the Palestinian Writers Union.
Al-Qeeq is demanding his immediate release from re-arrest and is pledging to continue his hunger strike until he is freed.
Nadia Abu Jamal, the widow of Ghassan Abu Jamal, was seized early Tuesday morning by Israeli occupation forces from her home in Jabal Mukabber in Jerusalem. Abu Jamal, 32, was arrested in front of her three children, Walid, 8, Salma, 6, and Mohammed, 5.
Abu Jamal’s husband, Ghassan, was killed by Israeli occupation forces after carrying out a Palestinian military resistance operation with his cousin Uday in November 2014, killing five Israelis. Both Ghassan and Uday Abu Jamal were killed by Israeli forces. Their family home was demolished and relatives, including Nadia, stripped of their Jerusalem identity cards, part of the policy of collective punishment carried out against the families and extended families of Palestinians involved in resistance attacks that includes the demolition of family homes, stripping of IDs and arrests of family members. She will be brought before a court hearing on Wednesday, 18 January. Her father-in-law was also summoned to an area police station and informed of her arrest. Nadia Abu Jamal is reportedly now being held in Ofer prison.
Muhyi Falah Abu Maria
At least 13 more Palestinians were arrested throughout the West Bank in addition to Abu Jamal, including Muhyi Falah Abu Maria, the son of Falah Abu Maria, 53, who was shot dead by Israeli occupation forces in 2015 as they invaded his home allegedly seeking to arrest one of his sons, Muhyi’s older brother. The list of those arrested in pre-dawn raids is below:
Ehab Nofal
1. Ahmad Damanhouri Kamil, from Qabatiya in Jenin
2. Jaser Tayseer Kamil, from Qabatiya in Jenin
3. Mohammed Malik Kamil, from Qabatiya in Jenin
4. Mohammed Khaled Kamil, from Qabatiya in Jenin
5. Mahmoud Walweil, from al-Feraa refugee camp in Tubas
6. Muhyi Falah Abu Maria, from Beit Ummar in al-Khalil
7. Dakhlallah Habis Amour, from Tekoa in Bethlehem
8. Ahmad Adnan al-Qutaish, from Jalazon refugee camp in Ramallah
9. Moatassim Farid al-Zinati, from Jalazon refugee camp in Ramallah
10. Anas al-Rojbi, from Shuafat refugee camp in Jerusalem
11. Ehab Nofal, from Shuafat refugee camp in Jerusalem
12. Mohammed al-Fasfous, from Shuafat refugee camp in Jerusalem
13. Ayman al-Adawi, from Shuafat refugee camp in Jerusalem.
Khadija Khuys
In addition, Jerusalemite activist Khadija Khuys was given a two-month travel ban on Monday, 16 January. She was summoned to interrogation at the Moskobiyeh interrogation center in Jerusalem and presented with the travel ban under the pretext of “security reasons.” Khuys is heavily active with the Murabitat, the group of women activists who seek to defend Al-Aqsa Mosque from settler attacks. She has been banned from travel for 13 months under similar “security” orders with no additional reason, as well as barred from entering the West Bank for 6 months and banned from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound due to her inclusion on a “blacklist” created by the Israeli occupation police chief. She and her children are also denied access to national insurance due to her activities in defense of Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Palestinian prisoners are demanding that ill prisoner Anas Jaradat be released from isolation and provided with medical treatment. Jaradat, 36, from the village of Silat al-Harthiyeh near Jenin, is sentenced to 35 life sentences for his participation in armed resistance during the second Intifada. He has been held in isolation in Ashkelon prison for more than nine months under allegations that he is a “threat to security,” with no further details provided. Jaradat has been imprisoned since 11 May 2003, and he has been denied family visits for the past two years.
Palestinian lawyer Karim Ajwa said that Jaradat suffers from liver disease and jaundice and is not receiving appropriate treatment. He said that the clinic doctor at Ashkelon prison said that he will be given a blood test for his liver function, and he is calling for legal and medical urgency to speed up the procedure. This is especially urgent as he was first tested and found to have liver disease in 2009, but was not informed of the result or provided with treatment. Instead, he discovered the diagnosis only in May 2016 when asked about liver medication by the infirmary doctor in Megiddo prison, reported Mohja al-Quds. Jaradat asked what was meant and he learned that he had been discovered to have a liver disease years before.
The prisoners’ leadership from the Islamic Jihad Movement said that they were declaring an emergency inside the prisons and giving the prison administration until 1 February to remove isolated prisoners from solitary confinement in Eshel prison, and in particular, to return Anas Jaradat to the general population and provide him with medical care. The statement came after a meeting between Jihad leader Ziad Bseiso and the Ramon prison administration and highlighted the cases of Hosni Issa, Munir Abu Rabie, Abdullah Abu Zaher and Said Saleh in addition to Jaradat. If Jaradat remains in isolation after 1 February, prisoners throughout Israeli prisons will begin protests and strikes.
On Monday morning, Palestinian Jerusalemite youth Abdel-Karim Shiyoukhi, 18, was ordered to 6 months in administrative detention without charge or trial. Despite earlier being ordered released by the Israeli police without conditions or a court hearing, several hours later, he was ordered to administrative detention for a six-month period. Palestinian lawyer Mohammed Mahmoud said that these actions indicate a clear lack of evidence despite earlier allegations of “incitement on Facebook.”
Shiyoukhi was arrested on 10 January from his home in Silwan and accused of posting a positive Facebook comment about the Palestinian resistance action of Fadi al-Qanbar, who ran over uniformed Israeli soldiers in Jerusalem with his truck, killing four soldiers and injuring 15. Shiyoukhi, a former prisoner who spent 18 months in Israeli prison, denied the allegation; apparently unable to substantiate it, Israeli occupation forces instead ordered him to administrative detention.
In addition, the imprisonment of Palestinian Legislative Council member Hassan Yousef without charge or trial was extended for the fourth time on Monday, 16 January. There are seven members of the PLC currently held in Israeli jails; Yousef, 62, has been imprisoned since 20 October 2015. He has now spent 15 months in administrative detention; his renewal order is for a three-month period. Yousef is a member of the PLC for the Change and Reform bloc associated with the Hamas movement
Throughout his life, he has spent 21 years in Israeli prison; recently, much of that has been in administrative detention. He had been held without charge or trial and released on 27 June 2015, only four months before his re-arrest. His fellow imprisoned PLC members include Ahmed Mubarak, arrested on Monday morning; exiled Jerusalemite Mohammed Abu Teir, serving a 17-month sentence; PFLP General Secretary Ahmad Sa’adat, serving a 30-year sentence; Fateh leader Marwan Barghouthi, serving multiple life sentences; and Mohammed Natsheh and Azzam Salhab, both held in administrative detention without charge or trial.
Prominent Palestinian sheikh and Islamic Movement leader Raed Salah from Palestine ’48 was released from Israeli prison on Tuesday morning, 17 January after 9 months of imprisonment, during which he was held in solitary confinement. When he was first released, his location was unknown; his lawyers, Omar Khamaiseh and Khaled Zabarqa, said that he was supposed to be released at 6:30 am at Ramon prison, and a crowd was outside the prison to wait for him, but the Israeli prison administration refused to reveal his current location except that he is not in the custody of the IPS. Apparently, however, Salah was transferred to another prison after his release and was put on a public bus to Umm al-Fahm in Palestine ’48 without a means of communication and without notifying his lawyers or the crowds waiting for him. Even now, his lawyers are awaiting full contact with him to ensure his safety.
Though released, he will not be entirely free; just yesterday, he was placed on a six-month travel ban. In addition, Israeli police have stated that they are “investigating” additional allegations of “incitement” against Salah and may request new charges against him.
Salah was imprisoned for “incitement” in the case of a sermon he delivered in 2007 in Wadi Joz after Israeli occupation officials demolished a bridge leading to the Maghareba gate. Despite legal challenges and a hunger strike, his solitary confinement was retained throughout his imprisonment and he was denied access to newspapers and books.
On Monday, far-right Interior Minister Aryeh Deri signed an order prohibiting Salah from travel for a 6-month period. Earlier, lawyer Khaled Zabarqa stated that Salah was repeatedly interrogated while in prison about other potential charges of “incitement,” saying that Israeli interrogators were “opening new files concerning his speeches and activities in Al-Aqsa.” The Islamic Movement, Salah’s political movement, was banned in Palestine ’48 and many associated institutions closed and raided. Palestinian organizations across the political spectrum denounced the ban on the Islamic Movement as an attack on all Palestinians.
The most prominent recent example of this attack on prominent Palestinians in ’48 has been the prosecution of Member of Knesset Basel Ghattas of the Joint List, accused of attempting to bring cellular phones to imprisoned Palestinians. Ghattas was released from house imprisonment, but barred from participating in parliamentary activities. Now, the Knesset is beginning procedures to remove him altogether using a law that had earlier been highlighted as targeting Palestinians.
Palestinian prisoner Anas Jaradat will be released from isolation to the general prison population by mid-February along with four other isolated Palestinians, reported Muhja al-Quds Foundation. The agreement was reached on Wednesday, 18 January to resolve Jaradat’s hunger strike and the announced steps of protest by Islamic Jihad prisoners.
Re-arrested Palestinian journalist and former long-term hunger striker 
In Whitechapel, East London RCG spoke over a public sound system about the struggle of Palestinian political prisoners and distributed campaign materials.
In Florence, Italy, Fronte Palestina also engaged in leafleting about the case of Ahmad Sa’adat and the struggle of Palestinian prisoners while joining a demonstration marking the anniversary of Operation Cast Lead, the Israeli 2008-2009 war on Gaza.
In Berlin, Germany, the Democratic Palestine Committees-Berlin 
Already Trump’s election has signalled a boost for Israel’s fascist president Netanyahu. While the new leader of US imperialism promotes right wing Zionists, promises an embassy in occupied Jerusalem and supports settlements on Palestinian land, Britain is offering no opposition. In fact, British banks are profiting from the occupation and from wars on Syria and Yemen that are backed by most MPs. Palestinians are ready to resist, even as 7000 are locked up in Zionist prisons. We must stand with them on the streets and build a movement against racism and imperialism.
Shalash and al-Qeeq have two children, Islam and Lour. A 
Palestinian prisoners are demanding that ill prisoner 
On Monday morning, Palestinian Jerusalemite youth 
In addition, the imprisonment of Palestinian Legislative Council member 
Prominent Palestinian sheikh and Islamic Movement leader 