Palestinian student leader’s detention extended by Israeli occupation forces

17 October 2016

Palestinian student leader and media activist Ibrahim Abu Safiya remains imprisoned after his detention was extended by Israeli occupation forces until 5 November 2016. Abu Safiya, the coordinator of the Islamic Association at Bir Zeit University, was arrested at Beit Ur checkpoint west of Ramallah on 28 September by occupation forces.

The Islamic Association at Bir Zeit issued a statement denouncing the arrest of their coordinator, saying that it “reflects the occupation’s arbitrary policy against Palestinian media, activists and organizers, and punitive actions to cover the crimes of the occupation and the settlers.”

Abu Safiya, 21, is a journalism student at Bir Zeit in his final year, an active member of many popular unions and associations who works with a number of media offices as a freelance journalist and researcher.

He is heavily involved in Bir Zeit student union activities, including the 28-day student strike against tuition increases on the campus, in which he engaged in a five-day hunger strike. Just days before his arrest, he spoke to the media about the success of the student campaign in preventing tuition hikes that make education inaccessible to Paletinian youth, and announcing the agreement to end the student strike. Abu Safiya had been one of the four student spokespeople and representatives during the anti-tuition-hike campaign.

abusafiya-agreement Dozens of Palestinian journalists remain imprisoned by the Israeli occupation, including Omar Nazzal, member of the General Secretariat of the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate; Hasan Safadi, media coordinator for Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association; and Ali Oweiwi, journalist held without charge or trial.

Abu Safiya’s arrest also points to the ongoing targeting of Palestinian student activists and organizers for involvement in student union activities, student protests and other student actions on campus.

17-year-old Iman Abu Sbeih banned from Jerusalem for two months; Palestinian mother jailed for one year

17 October 2016

iman-abusbeihh Iman Abu Sbeih, 17, the daughter of Misbah Abu Sbeih, who was shot and killed last Sunday by Israeli forces, was released on Sunday, 16 October. Misbah Abu Sbeih shot two Israelis in occupied Jerusalem, refusing to turn himself in for imprisonment in Israeli occupation prisons after multiple arrests.

However, she was banned from her home city of Jerusalem for two months, banned from using social media and banned from speaking to the press, as well as ordered to pay a bail of 2,500 NIS ($654 USD), reported Palestinian lawyer Mohammed Mahmoud of Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association She was arrested on Monday, 10 October after giving an interview in which she said that she was proud of her father and his resistance. Misbah Abu Sbeih had been a long-time figure in the movement to protect Al-Aqsa Mosque from settler attacks; he had been repeatedly arrested and banned from the mosque.

Iman’s brother Izzedine remains imprisoned and her brothers and uncles have been repeatedly summoned for interrogation, while the family’s businesses and stores in Al-Ram have been forcibly closed by the occupation forces.

The banning of Palestinians from their homes, particularly in Jerusalem, coincides with ongoing Israeli settler colonial policies of ethnic cleansing in Jerusalem that attempt to force Palestinians from their land through home demolitions, land confiscation and the stripping of Jerusalem IDs. Journalist and activist Samer Abu Aisha was recently imprisoned after he refused to acquiesce to an order banning him from his home city of Jerusalem.

On Saturday, Amal Mahmoud al-Shawish, 48, the mother of Mohammed al-Shawish, a Palestinian prisoner, was sentenced to one year in Israeli occupation prisons and a fine of 15,000 NIS ($3800 USD), after being accused of attempting to smuggle a mobile phone to her imprisoned son. She was accused of “providing services” to Palestinian prisoners. Al-Shawish was arrested at the Negev desert prison during her visit in March 2015 and then released to house arrest on 22 April 2015; now she has been sentenced to a year of imprisonment, after she has already spent over one and one-half years under house arrest.

Her other son, Ahmad Shawish, has also been imprisoned since March 2016. She was ordered to turn herself in to occupation forces at the beginning of 2017 to serve the full year at the HaSharon prison. On the same charges regarding potential smuggling of a cell phone, her son Mohammed had 22 months added to his sentence, meaning he is now serving a seven year sentence in Israeli occupation prisons. He has been imprisoned since 22 April 2012.

There are currently approximately 60 Palestinian women imprisoned in Israeli jails, including twelve minor girls under the age of 18. They are among nearly 400 Palestinian children held in Israeli jails.

19 October, Thessaloniki: Palestine resists – Stop the persecution

17 October 2016

Wednesday, 19 October
8:00 pm
Dromos center
Justinian 11
Thessaloniki, Greece
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/885125028288011/

This Wednesday, Dromos hosts the coordinator of Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network in Europe, Palestinian activist Mohammed Khatib.

Part of the international week of action for freedom for Georges Ibrahim Abdallah. Read (in Greek) about this Lebanese Arab struggler for Palestine incarcerated in French prisons for over 32 years: http://www.e-dromos.gr/samidoun-askhste-piesh-sth-gallia/

Two new hunger strikers join battle: 6 Palestinians strike against administrative detention

17 October 2016

Two more Palestinian prisoners have launched a hunger strike against their administrative detention without charge or trial: Mohammed Khattab, 28, and Majdi Oweidat, 23, who launched their strike on 8 October 2016. Both are from Jericho and their administrative detention orders for their imprisonment without charge or trial have been renewed twice, reported Palestinian lawyer Louay Akkeh. Both are held in the Ofer prison; Khattab and Oweidat are beginning to experience medical consequences of their strike including joint pain, headache, stomach pain and dizziness.

Khattab and Oweidat join four more Palestinian prisoners also on strike against administrative detention: Anas Shadid and Ahmad Abu Fara, on strike since 25 September; and Majd Abu Shamla and Hasan Rubayah, on strike since 5 October. Shadid, 29 and Abu Fara, 29, are both held in solitary confinement in Nitzan-Magen criminal prison near the Ramle prison clinic. Shadid was repeatedly transferred during his strike, to isolation in Ofer and to Hadarim prison before being moved to Nitzan-Magen with Abu Fara. They have also reported sleep deprivation against them, including the creation of loud noises around them by jailers.

Abu Fara has been imprisoned since 8 August and Shadid since 1 August. Both, from the village of Surif near al-Khalil, are imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention and are demanding their freedom.

Abu Shamla, 24, and Rubayah, 31, are both from Jenin. They launched their strikes on 5 October against their administrative detention after it was renewed; Abu Shamla has been imprisoned since 27 January and Rubayah since 31 March. They are held in solitary confinement in the Negev desert prison.

There are currently nearly 750 Palestinians imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention, out of over 7000 total Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. The end of administrative detention is a prominent demand of Palestinian prisoners; its systematic use by the Israeli occupation violates international law and the uncertainty and arbitrary nature of this detention places extreme psychological stress on prisoners and their families. Administrative detention orders may be issued for one to six month periods, but are then indefinitely renewable; some Palestinian prisoners have spent several years in administrative detention at a time, while many more have been held for years over multiple arrests.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges international support and solidarity for the six hunger strikers in their battle for freedom, and for Palestinian prisoners’ struggle to end administrative detention and gain their freedom.

22 October, Tunis: Freedom for Georges Abdallah, Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian prisoners

16 October 2016

Saturday, 22 October
1:00 pm
French Embassy
Tunis, Tunisia
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1633564300275155/

The Tunisian Solidarity Committee for the Liberation of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, Youth Against Normalization and the Information Office of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in Tunis are organizing a protest to demand the release of Georges Abdallah on the 33rd anniversary of his arrest by the French state. Freedom for Georges Abdallah! Freedom to the leader Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails!

The protest will begin in the middle of Avenue Habib Bourguiba and then head toward the Embassy on France.

21 October, NYC: Celebrate Resistance and a Year in the Streets

16 October 2016

Friday, 21 October
6:30 pm
Solidarity Center NYC
147 W. 24th St
NYC
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1652595028386817/

Join Samidoun activists and friends as we celebrate a year of weekly protests in support of Palestinian political prisoners, launched on October 23, 2015.

And if you can, come earlier our second demonstration during the international week of actions to free جورج إبراهيم عبدالله Georges Ibrahim Abdallah and help us reach a strong end to our first year!

21 October, Athens: Freedom for Georges Ibrahim Abdallah!

16 October 2016

Friday, 21 October
6:00 PM
Outside the French Embassy
Athens, Greece

As part of the Week of Action to Free Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, join the protest to demand his immediate liberation outside the French Embassy in Athens.

18 October, NYC: Justice for Rasmea Organizing Meeting

16 October 2016

Tuesday, 18 October
6:30 pm
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1666253067020520/

The Committee to Stop FBI Repression is calling for a day of action for Rasmea Odeh’s next court date — November 29th. We would like to have an organizing meeting, along with the coalition NY4Palestine, to begin mapping out the details.

This will be a basic meeting where we will figure out preliminary tasks and how we want the event to look. The 29th is also the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, and we would like to incorporate that as part of the event as well.

New York City protest launches week of action for freedom of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah

14 October 2016

New Yorkers kicked off the international week of action in solidarity with Georges Ibrahim Abdallah on Friday, 14 October with a protest outside the Permanent Mission of France to the United Nations.

Demonstrators rallied to demand the French government release Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, a Lebanese activist imprisoned since 1984, before members of the New York Police Department’s Counterterrorism Bureau blocked them from marching into the building. Participants in the protest, organized by Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, continued to demonstrate outside, distributing literature about Abdallah’s case to passers-by, including diplomats representing several countries.

Abdallah, 65, is a longtime Lebanese Communist and struggler for Palestine. He was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1987, accused of participating in several Paris actions of the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Faction – which existed in order to repel US and Israeli invasions of Lebanon – in which two US and Israeli officials were killed. He had been involved in the Palestinian struggle from his teen years in Lebanon. He was originally only arrested for having a false passport; his lawyer was later revealed to have been in the employ of French intelligence.

He has been eligible for release since 1999, but his parole bids have been repeatedly denied. Even when his release to Lebanon was approved by the French judiciary, French interior minister (today the prime minister) Manuel Valls refused to sign the documents for his deportation, keeping him imprisoned. US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton also intervened with the French state in order to prevent the release of Abdallah. Valls is also well-known for his anti-Palestinian positions, including advocacy for the prosecution of BDS activists in France.

As he enters his 33rd year in French prison, activists around the world and in Palestine are demanding his release. He joined the hunger strike of Palestinian prisoner Bilal Kayed this summer from Lannemezan, where a mass march will convene on 22 October to demand his freedom.

ny-gia7 Events are planned throughout the week in Paris, Toulouse, Marseille, Bordeaux, Grenay, Lyon, Berlin, Hamburg, Athens, New York City, Milan and elsewhere.

In New York, Samidoun will be organizing two events next Friday, 21 October, as part of the week of action for Georges Ibrahim Abdallah and ongoing actions in support of Palestinian political prisoners and the Palestinian struggle. At 4:00 pm, demonstrators will gather at the Consulate General of France at 934 5th Ave to demand Abdallah’s release. Following the protest, Samidoun is hosting a celebration and gathering to mark one year of its weekly New York City protests for freedom for Palestinian prisoners, at 6:30 pm at the Solidarity Center, 147 W. 24th Street. New participants are welcome to join in and attend.

Photos by Joe Catron. Final photo by Anne Pruden. Video by Sara Flounders.

Jerusalemite Palestinian organizer Nasser Abu Khdeir freed after 5 1/2 years imprisonment

14 October 2016

Longtime Palestinian struggler, Nasser Abu Khdeir of Shuafat, was released yesterday, 13 October from Israeli prison after serving a sentence five and one-half years.

Abu Khdeir, 55, was arrested by occupation forces on 15 April 2011, and subject to a prolonged and cruel interrogation period before his conviction for involvement in “hostile organizations,” the Palestinian leftist political party the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and its military wing.

[fbvideo link=”https://www.facebook.com/ShehabAgency.MainPage/videos/1589455017763579/” width=”800″ height=”” onlyvideo=”1″]

He was welcomed back to Shu’afat by his family, friends and comrades and a large tent of celebration which filled the evening hours with music and dancing.

Abu Khdeir is a prominent figure in Jerusalem and in the Palestinian struggle generally; he has spent over 15 years in Israeli prisons over multiple arrests, and bears the injuries of an explosion from decades ago. He is very active in popular and community organizing in Jerusalem; his wife, Abeer Abu Khdeir, a prominent leader in her own right, have also been arrested and imprisoned by Israeli occupation forces, as has their son, Anan Abu Khdeir; their daughters Asala and Sumoud were attacked by the soldiers during the occupation forces’ raid on their home.

Abeer Abu Khdeir spoke to the media upon her husband’s release, emphasizing that there are thousands of Palestinian women whose lives are spent becoming mother, father, brother and sister for their children due to the mass imprisonment of Palestinian men. She also noted that “this is part of our existence and daily life as Palestinians.” She expressed her joy at her husband’s release and noted her desire for every Palestinian woman and mother to also have that joy at the liberation of the prisoners. Nasser and Abeer have five children.

Abu Khdeir is a member of the General Secretariat of the National People’s Congress and a lecturer at Al-Quds University.

He was imprisoned from:
17 October 1977 – 18 April 1978
1 April 1981 – 10 March 1986
16 October 1994 – 24 May 1995
21 February 2001 – 17 June 2002
14 December 2003 – 9 June 2004
7 June 2005 – 16 March 2006
15 April 2011 – 13 October 2016

Abu Khdeir was held in Nafha prison before his release and was transferred on multiple occasions. During his imprisonment; he participated in multiple collective hunger strikes and protests during this time, including the 2011 strike against isolation; the 2012 Karameh hunger strike and the 2016 strike in solidarity with Bilal Kayed, during his 71-day hunger strike.

Abu Khdeir has also extended his time and support to international activists in solidarity with Palestine, discussing the situation of Jerusalem, Palestinian politics and history and the current situation with many internationals traveling to Palestine.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network congratulates Nasser Abu Khdeir upon his release and urges escalated action to free all over 7,000 Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli jails.

Follow us on Instagram @samidounnetwork