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

iman-abusbeihhIman 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.

amal-shawishOn 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

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/

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

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

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

tunis-giaThe 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

cel-resistFriday, 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!

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.

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18 October, NYC: Justice for Rasmea Organizing Meeting

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

rasmeanycThe 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

ny-gia4New 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.

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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.

ny-gia5Abdallah, 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.

ny-gia6He 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-gia7Events 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.

nyc-gia8Photos 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

nasser-abukhdeir4Longtime 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.

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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.

nasser-abukhdeeirAbeer 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.

Week of Action for Georges Ibrahim Abdallah: Materials and Resources

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Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges all friends and supporters of Palestine and the Palestinian prisoners’ strugle for freedom to join in the international week of action on 15-22 October in support of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, Lebanese Arab struggler for Palestine, imprisoned in French prisons for over 32 years. Georges Abdallah’s case has built significant support in Lebanon and in France, and Palestinian prisoners have highlighted the importance of Abdallah’s case as part of the struggle of the Palestinian political prisoners for freedom and liberation.

Abdallah was sentenced to life imprisonment in France, accused of participating in actions in France targeting U.S. and Israeli interests during the Israeli invasion and occupation of Lebanon. During his arrest and trial, one of his original lawyers was a spy against him, working for French intelligence. He has been eligible for release under parole since 1999; he has been repeatedly refused, and at times when his release to Lebanon has been approved by the French judiciary, the highest forces of the state, including then-Interior Minister Manuel Valls – with the clear involvement of the U.S. government, including the personal intervention of Hillary Clinton – have intervened to keep Georges Ibrahim Abdallah locked up in French prison.

Throughout his time in prison, Georges Ibrahim Abdallah has remained politically active and, indeed, a leader, extending solidarity and full support to struggling prisoners and peoples’ movements around the world. He and fellow prisoners – Basque and Arab, among others – in Lannemezan prison returned their meals in solidarity with Palestinian hunger striker Bilal Kayed, and he has previously participated in hunger strikes in solidarity with Palestinian individual and collective strikes for justice and freedom. He recently expressed his solidarity with Toulouse BDS activists under attack and has constantly remained an active thinker on Arab, Palestinian and international liberation struggles.

He has always refused to in any way capitulate or renounce his political vision and commitment to the Palestinian cause, to the people of Lebanon, and to international struggles for liberation. He remains a committed anti-Zionist, anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist. In part because of that very refusal, he remains today imprisoned in the French prison of Lannemezan.

The imprisonment of Georges Abdallah comes alongside the persecution and arrest of BDS activists in France for urging the boycott of Israel in solidarity with the Palestinian people, ongoing racist targeting of Arab and Muslim communities in France and the “state of emergency” being used to repress popular movements for justice, while the French state promotes itself as a supporter of “peace” in the region while acting directly in support of the Israeli occupation and Zionist colonization.

We urge friends and supporters of Palestine around the world to organize events and protests and engage in actions on 15-22 October for the freedom of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah and all Palestinian prisoners, and to join in the collective march on 22 October in Lannemezan at 2 pm outside the prison, demanding the immediate release of Georges Abdallah.

The statement in French by the Unified Campaign for the Liberation of Georges Abdallah is published below, urging participation in the week of action. Samidoun joins in this call and urges all to take part as well. Please email us at samidoun@samidoun.net or message us on Facebook about your actions in solidarity with Georges Abdallah. (Suggested actions include protests at French embassies and consulates; deliveries of letters to French officials; and protests of official French visits or activities.)

Who Is Georges Ibrahim Abdallah?

A Lebanese Arab struggler for Palestine, he has been imprisoned in French prisons since 1984, convicted on charges of participation in armed actions by the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Faction, working to fight off colonialist and Zionist invasions in Lebanon.

From his youth, Georges Abdallah was an activist, working first with the Syrian Social Nationalist party and then with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). With the PFLP, he resisted and was injured by Israeli forces invading Lebanon in 1978. A committed Communist and internationalist, he views the Arab struggle for liberation from Zionism and imperialism as part and parcel of the international workers’ struggle for liberation from capitalism.

The Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Faction (LARF) was formed to fight off and resist U.S., Israeli and other imperialist attacks on Lebanon. Georges Abdallah was accused of participating in attacks on U.S. and Israeli military officials in France.

He has been eligible for release since 1999 yet continues to be denied parole, despite having parole requests approved several times by French judges. The Lebanese government has officially asked for his release, and he is asking to be deported to Lebanon. Yet the French state has intervened at the highest levels, alongside the U.S and Israeli regimes, to deny Georges Abdallah’s parole requests.

In fact, in 1985, the French government agreed to a prisoner exchange – to release Abdallah in exchange for a captureed French diplomat. Instead, the diplomat was released – and Abdallah remained in prison. His own original lawyer was in fact a spy working for the French state and reporting on him to the highest levels of French intelligence; all of which was used against him in court.

People throughout France and around the world have campaigned for his freedom for decades. His brothers and loved ones in Lebanon lead the International Campaign to Free Georges Ibrahim Abdallah. He is considered as part of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

His case represents also the coherence of U.S., Israeli and European colonialist interests in the imprisonment of Palestinian and Arab strugglers for liberation and the attack on the Palestinian people.

ACTIONS AND EVENTS TO FREE GEORGES ABDALLAH!

FRIDAY, 14 OCTOBER
New York City, US
4 pm: Protest at French Mission to the United Nations

Magdeburg, Germany
7 pm – Freedom for Georges Ibrahim Abdallah

SATURDAY, 15 OCTOBER
Paris, France
10 am – 1 pm: Information at the Barbès market
2 pm: Stand with Palestine, place de la Republique

Marseille, France
8 pm: Concert for Georges Ibrahim Abdallah

SUNDAY, 16 OCTOBER
Paris, France:
10 am – 1 pm: Information at the Saint-Ouen market
2 pm: Emergency event in solidarity with all of the accused of the social movements

MONDAY, 17 OCTOBER
Paris, France
6 pm – Gathering at Saint-Michel bridge to link between 17 October 1961 and the struggle of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah

Grenay, France
6 pm – Banner display for Georges Abdallah

TUESDAY, 18 OCTOBER
Paris, France
6 pm – Gathering outside the Prison Administration at 35 Rue de la Gare, Paris

WEDNESDAY, 19 OCTOBER
Paris, France
12 pm – 3 pm – information at Saint-Denis university

Toulouse, France
7 pm – Palestine Evening for Georges Abdallah, Blind Tiger, Toulouse

Thessaloniki, Greece
8 pm – Palestinian Resistance Continues – Stop the Persecution, Dromos Center

THURSDAY, 20 OCTOBER
Paris, France
5:30 pm – 8:00 pm – Gathering in Belleville

Milan, Italy
4 pm – Freedom for Georges Abdallah! At Universita Statale

FRIDAY, 21 OCTOBER
Paris, France
6 pm – Protest at place de la Republique before bus departure to Lannemezan at 10 pm

Bordeaux, France
8:30 pm – Screening of Film and Discussion about Georges Abdallah, Cinema Utopia

Hamburg, Germany
7:30 pm – Solidarity Meeting with Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, Brigittenstrasse 5

New York City, US
4 pm – Protest to Free Georges Ibrahim Abdallah

Athens, Greece
6 pm – Protest for Georges Abdallah, French Embassy

Istanbul, Turkey
7 pm – Solidarity with Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, French Embassy, Istiklal St.

Vienna, Austria
3 pm – Freedom for Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, French Embassy

SATURDAY, 22 OCTOBER
Lannemezan, France
2 pm – Protest from the Gare de la Prison, Lannemezan to the Prison, in solidarity with Georges Ibrahim Abdallah

Buses to Lannemezan

Lyon, France
3 pm – Protest to Free Georges Ibrahim Abdallah

Berlin, Germany
1:30 pm – Protest to Free Georges Abdallah, French Embassy, Berlin

Tunis, Tunisia
1 pm – Protest to free Georges Abdallah, Ahmad Sa’adat and al Palestinian Prisoners, French Embassy

Beirut, Lebanon
11 am – Protest for Freedom for Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Manchester, England
12 pm – Protest for Palestine, Piccadilly Gardens

Vienna, Austria
12 pm – Freedom for Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, French Embassy

Padua, Italy
5:00 pm – Documentary and discussion in support of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, Marzolo Occupata

MONDAY, 24 OCTOBER

Gaza, Palestine
10 am – Protest for freedom for Georges Abdallah, ICRC

TUESDAY, 25 OCTOBER

Ramallah, Palestine
5 pm – Lecture on Georges Abdallah: Lebanese national, Palestinian cause

FRIDAY, 28 OCTOBER
Paris, France

8 pm – Evening for Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, 61, 3 rue de l’Oise, Paris

 

 

 

Rome, Italy
8 pm – Film screening, dinner and discussion, Comitato Populare Garbatella

Download Materials for Your Events for Georges Abdallah!

Flyer for distribution: Click here to Download PDF

Posters for Georges Abdallah Protests

Poster 1: Click here to Download PDF

Poster 2: Click here to Download PDF

Poster 3: Click here to Download PDF

Poster 4: Click here to Download PDF