25 September, Istanbul: Hunger Strikes and Resistance in Palestine

25 September 2016

Sunday, 25 September
5:00 pm
Nostalji Kitap Kahve
Ergenekon Caddesi, Teyyareci Fehmi Sokak, No: 12 / c – Pangalti, Sisli
Istanbul, Turkey
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1051765131605462/

A number of recent hunger strikes by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails have escalated the struggle against the policy of administrative detention and the fight to bring this policy to an end. Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network invites you to a discussion with Charlotte Kates, international coordinator of Samidoun, on this issue and the struggle of Palestinian prisoners.

Malik al-Qadi freed, transferred to Palestinian hospital after 68-day hunger strike

25 September 2016

Former hunger striker and freed prisoner Malik al-Qadi was transferred on Saturday, 24 September to the Palestinian Istishari Arab hospital in Ramallah from the Israeli Wolfson medical center following his release from administrative detention in an agreement concluded on 21 September. Al-Qadi, 20, a journalism student at Al-Quds University, conducted a hunger strike for nearly 70 daya, beginning on 16 July. Arrested on 23 May, he was ordered to four months in administrative detention without charge or trial. The agreement concluded on 21 September secured the release of al-Qadi and fellow hunger strikers Mohammed and Mahmoud al-Balboul at the termination of their administrative detention periods.

Al-Qadi’s detention term ended on 22 September after four months of imprisonment; he has previously served another four-month term in administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial. His health condition was very severe by the end of his hunger strike and included nearly a week of unconsciousness. He is expected to stay in the hospital for some time to come as he recovers from the effects of his hunger strike on his body.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes Malik al-Qadi and his fellow strikers, Mahmoud and Mohammed al-Balboul, on their steadfastness and determination to struggle for their freedom, and we congratulate Malik al-Qadi on his freedom – an achievement which must come for all Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.

Samidoun demands accountability for Israeli medical neglect in the death of Palestinian prisoner Yasser Hamdouna

25 September 2016

Palestinian prisoner Yasser Diab Hamdouna, 41, died on Sunday morning, 25 September, in Israeli Ramon prison, apparently as a result of a stroke; he had reported medical problems for years and had gone on hunger strike against isolation in Nafha prison, reported fellow prisoners. In 2003, he has been beaten by prison guards and suffered significant injuries to his head and left ear; he was in the Ramle prison clinic on multiple occasions. Asra Voice reported that several months ago, he finally received a heart catheterization procedure and has remained in a delicate health situation.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network condemns the ongoing medical neglect and mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners by the Israeli occupation prisons and demands the immediate release of the sick prisoners in Israeli jails.

Hamdouna, imprisoned since 19 June 2003 on charges of involvement in the armed resistance to Israeli occupation and involvement in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of Fateh, was from Yabad in Jenin area. He was serving a life sentence in Israeli jails and was transfered to Soroka hospital after his death.

Palestinian prisoners from all political factions announced a three day hunger strike in mourning for Hamdouna; the prisoners will also boycott recreation, visits and legal meetings during those three days.

208 Palestinian prisoners have died in Israeli jails since 1967 and eight more shortly after their release; 55 of these deaths are directly atteributable to Israeli medical neglect or mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners. Palestinian prisoners are routinely denied appropriate health care and surgeries, denied necessary tests, or given only painkillers rather than relevant treatment for serious health issues. There are over 700 sick Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, including 150 seriously ill prisoners suffering from cancer, heart disease and other illnesses.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network affirms the responsibility of the Israeli occupation state for the medical neglect, mistreatment and death of Yasser Hamdouna and dozens of fellow Palestinian prisoners. We express our full solidarity with the prisoners’ movement hunger strike and demand international accountability for the death of Hamdouna and the ongoing threats to Palestinian prisoners’ lives due to medical neglect. We also demand the immediate release of sick Palestinian prisoners to receive appropriate treatment and immediate medical assistance.

24 September, NYC: The Clock is Ticking for Leonard Peltier

24 September 2016

Saturday, 24 September
2:00 pm
Project Reach
39 Eldridge St, NYC
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/328823927452715/

Leonard Peltier’s actual birthday, Sept. 12, President Obama will be in office for only129 more days. We must work harder than ever for Leonard’s release.

Join us on the afternoon of Saturday, Sept. 24. Fill out a postcard asking the President for clemency for Leonard. Enjoy some light refeshments. Get updates on Leonard and other political prisoners.

Among our speakers will be:
Pam Africa. Chair, International Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal,
and
Peter Clark, Co-Director, International Leonard Peltier Defense Committee.

Among our performers will be:
spiritchild
The Coatlicue TheaterCompany
and
Harmonic Insurgence

Note: The Certain Days political prisoner calendar will be able to purchase. For more information: www.certaindays.org/

In the meantime, it’s never too late to
send Leonard a birthday card:
Leonard Peltier
#89637-132
USP Coleman 1
PO Box1033 Coleman, FL 33521

Samidoun participates in Madrid event on Palestinian prisoners and liberation struggle

22 September 2016

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network participated in a discussion in Madrid, Spain, organized by the Forum Against Imperialist War and NATO, focused on the struggle of Palestinian prisoners in the Palestinian liberation struggle, on Monday, 19 September.

Charlotte Kates, international coordinator of Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, and Khaled Barakat, Palestinian leftist writer and spokesperson of the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat, discussed the situation of the Palestinian struggle today.

Kates discussed the situation of Palestinian prisoners today, including the imprisonment of over 7,000 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails, nearly 750 of them under administrative detention without charge or trial. She also noted that nearly 400 Palestinian children are currently held in Israeli prisons. She noted that Palestinian prisoners are leaders of the Palestinian liberation movement being isolated from their communities by the Israeli occupation in an attempt to suppress the Palestinian people’s struggle for freedom, and that they represent the Palestinian resistance and Palestinian national unity.

In conclusion, she emphasized the importance of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement and the international isolation of Israel in solidarity with the Palestinian people’s struggle. She also noted that the role of complicit states is not limited to political, military and economic support, but through repression and imprisonment themselves, in particular noting the case of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, Lebanese communist struggler for Palestine in French jails for 32 years and urging participation in the week of action 15-22 October for his liberation.

Khaled Barakat presented a historical and present-day view of the Zionist settler colonial project in Palestine, noting that the Palestinian people’s struggle has continued for 100 years from the beginning of British colonization and the Balfour declaration. He also noted the leading role of Palestinian prisoners in cultural resistance from the earliest days of British colonialism, producing poetry, literature and music behind colonial bars.

Barakat presented a political analysis of the current situation, beginning with a confrontation of the settler colonial nature of the Zionist project in Palestine and its fundamental illegitimacy as a project to serve imperialism while dispossessing the indigenous people of the land. He compared the Zionist project specifically with settler colonialism in the United States, Canada, Australia and elsewhere, noting the ongoing support and links that bind these countries together in interests and international positions.

He also emphasized the long history of international struggle with the Palestinian resistance, including mutual support among liberation movements throughout the 1960s and 1970s, tracing the history of the Palestinian revolution and the devastating effects of the 1993 Oslo agreement and the so-called “peace process” on the Palestinian national liberation movement.

Barakat discussed the role of various Palestinian political forces, noting that Fateh and Hamas represent “two right wings” of the Palestinian experience, noting that “a bird cannot fly with two right wings,” and urging the importance of the strengthening of the Palestinian left. In particular, he discussed the role, vision and perspective of the leading organization of the Palestinian left, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, in terms of the necessity for the liberation of all of historic Palestine, the leading role of youth and women in the liberation movement and a historic vision of justice and liberation.

Listen to the recording of the event:

Kates and Barakat also participated in a meeting of Association Unadikum in Madrid on Saturday, 17 September. There, Kates briefly discussed the situation of Palestinian prisoners and the importance of international solidarity, while focusing on the cases of the three Palestinian hunger strikers, Mahmoud al-Balboul, Mohammed al-Balboul and Malik al-Qadi. Barakat discussed the current Palestinian situation and presented the perspective of the Palestinian Left on key questions, including the illusions of the so-called “peace process,” the role of the Palestinian Authority and the importance of the international boycott, divestment and sanctions movement.

Take Action: Palestinian human rights defender Issa Amro faces imprisonment in Israeli military court

22 September 2016

Palestinian human rights defender and activist with Youth Against Settlements in Al-Khalil Issa Amro has been hit with 18 charges in an Israeli military court relating to his participation in demonstrations against settlements and Israeli occupation forces in his city.

These charges reach from 2010 to 2016 and cover a wide range of activities, such as organizing demonstrations, entering a closed military zone and “incitement,” the catch-all charge commonly used in Israeli military courts related to any form of Palestinian speech contrary to the occupation. He faces one to three years in Israeli prison, especially facing military courts with an over 99% conviction rate.

Amro’s work is well-known internationally; he has been repeatedly arrested and then released shortly thereafter by Israeli occupation forces.

Video via IMEU:

[fbvideo link=”https://www.facebook.com/theIMEU/videos/1492466517436925/” width=”800″ height=”” onlyvideo=”1″]

“In our occupied city, we don’t have any basic rights…everyone is a target. Every single stone and tree here is a target for the Israeli occupation,” said Amro. Amro’s military trial is scheduled to begin on 25 September (he is released on bail).

Take Action!

There is an emerging international campaign in support of Palestinian human rights defender Issa Amro. Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is a participant in this campaign alognside many international organizations.

1. Sign the online petition to US Secretary of State John Kerry to demand action and accountability on the case of Issa Amro and other Palestinian human rights defenders.

2. Sign the online petition to UN High Commissioner on Human Rights Ra’ed Zeid al-Hussein to demand international action on this case.

The following statement was sent to al-Hussein by a wide array of international organizations, coordinated by Scales of Justice:

Mr. Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
Palais Wilson 52 rue des Pâquis
CH-1201 Geneva, Switzerland

Urgent appeal on behalf of Youth Against Settlements (YAS) coordinator Issa Amro

Date: 21 September 2016

Dear Mr. High Commissioner,

The undersigned organizations and individuals are writing to you to express their concern about the case of Palestinian Human Rights Defender (HRD) Issa Amro, who will be tried in an Israeli occupation court on 25 September 2016 for specious charges that place him under imminent risk of imprisonmen.

Issa Amro is an EU recognized HRD and coordinator of Youth Against Settlements who has won the OHCHR award “Human rights Defender of the year in Palestine 2010.” Issa Amro is well-known by the UN and has been in Geneva several times, where he met with officials from the OHCHR, offered presentations during side-events at the UN, and delivered oral statements before the Human Rights Council.

The recent charges brought by the Israeli government against Issa Amro are the latest in a series of attempts by the Israeli authorities to punish him for his effective advocacy for his people Over the years he has been arrested, detained, threatened and beaten numerous times, and almost daily he receives death threats from side of the Israeli army and settlers alike. Already in 2013 a group of United Nations independent human rights experts warned that “Israel must stop harassment, intimidation and abusive treatment of rights defender Issa Amro”

Despite these warnings Issa Amro continues to be targeted. In December 2015 several United Nations independent experts expressed “grave concerns at continued reports that human rights defenders particularly in Hebron in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), are being subjected to physical attacks, harassment, arrest and detention, and death threats, in an apparent bid by Israeli authorities and settler elements to stop their peaceful and important work.”

Although none of the 18 charges against Issa, dredged up from incidents between 2010 and 2016, is serious in itself (e.g. incitement, entering a closed military zone, organizing illegal demonstrations) and include incidents the UN has already expressed concern about, the sheer number of charges might lead to a sentence between one and several years. It is further feared that Issa Amro will be taken into custody at the start of the trial on 25 September 2016.

The undersigned organizations and individuals believe that Issa Amro is being unfairly targeted because of his human rights activities. His case stands symbolic for the systematic reprisals against HRDs by Israel in the oPt that requires your immediate attention.

We call on you to urge Israeli authorities to drop the trumped up charges against Issa Amro, to end their systematic harassment against him, and to take all necessary measures to guarantee his protection and safety as well as guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in the West Bank are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals.

Yours Sincerely,

Albertville Jourdain Vallée Solidarité

Alliance of Jewish Progressives

American Friends Service Committee

Australian Jewish Democratic Society (AJDS)

Center for Jewish Nonviolence

Codepink

Dr. Curtis FJ Doebbler, Professor of law (visiting), University of Makeni, Sierra Leone

Prof. Dr. Richard Falk, Professor of International Law, Emeritus, Princeton University and former UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine

Friends Of Sabeel North America (FOSNA)

Geneva International Center for Justice (GICJ)

Human Rights Defenders Fund

Interfaith Peace Builders

International Youth and Student Movement for the United Nations (ISMUN)

International-Lawyers.Org

Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP)

Jewish Voice for Peace – Atlanta Chapter

Jewish Voice for Peace- Austin Chapter

Jewish Voice for Peace – Los Angeles

Jewish Voice for Peace – North Bay Chapter

Jewish Voice for Peace – Pittsburgh

Jewish Voice for Peace – Central Ohio

Jewish Voice for Peace – So Florida

Jews for Justice for Palestinians

KURVE Wustrow – Center for Training and Networking in Nonviolent Action

National Lawyers Guild

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network

South African Jews for a Free Palestine (SAJFP)

Scales for Justice

The International Organization for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (EAFORD)

Youth Forum Kashmir (YFK)

9 October, Manchester: Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Campaign Launch

22 September 2016

Sunday, 9 October
2:00 pm
Cross Street Chapel
M2 1 Manchester
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1108326102608916/

Samidoun: Palestinian prisoners solidarity network
Be part of launching a Manchester supporters group

with Shadi Daana – Palestinian youth activist
& Louis Brehony – FRFI writer on Palestine

More than 7,000 Palestinians are locked up by the Israeli occupation regime, including children, as the Zionist state builds more illegal settlements and holds Gaza in a state of siege. British imperialism continues to support the Zionist state politically and economically, but Palestinians are standing up in defence of their rights and demanding freedom for prisoners. The Samidoun network was set up to provide solidarity with Palestinian political prisoners locked up in Israeli jails. Come along to the launch of the Manchester support group for the Samidoun campaign and be part of this crucial struggle.

organised by Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! (FRFI) Manchester withSamidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network

www.frfi.co.uk
www.samidoun.net

24 September, Manchester: Boycott Israel – Palestine Solidarity Picket

21 September 2016

Saturday, 24 September
12:00 pm
Piccadilly Gardens
Manchester
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1765287470386362/

Meet in Piccadilly Gardens for a rolling picket of the British stores and companies supporting the Israeli occupation. Palestine has been out of the news, yet the Zionist regime has shelled Gaza, murdered West Bank Palestinians and continued its colonisation of Jerusalem. Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike have exposed the brutality of a British-supported state which locks people up without charge or trial. While Britain continues to support Israel, we have to act to break the links in the chain.

Boycott apartheid Israel!
Victory to the Palestinian resistance!

Manchester Boycott Israel Group – Victory to Palestine!
Manchester Palestine Action
Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! (FRFI) Manchester
RCG – Revolutionary Communist Group
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network

23 September, NYC: Support Standing Rock Defenders and Palestinian Prisoners

21 September 2016

Friday, 23 September
4:00 pm
G4S NY Office – 19 W. 44th St, NYC
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/332605103753305/

On September 6, Latin American news channel teleSUR confirmed that British-Danish security company G4S has deployed personnel to guard construction sites for the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline (http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/G4S-Admits-It-Guards-Dakota-Pipeline-as-Protesters-Get-Attacked-20160906-0036.html).

Only three days earlier, private security forces working for the project attacked Native land and water defenders, using dogs and pepper against protests that have united thousands from over 200 indigenous tribes against the pipeline (http://www.democracynow.org/2016/9/6/full_exclusive_report_dakota_access_pipeline).

G4S admitted on September 9 that it had dispatched a “unarmed security personnel” for “patrol and response” duties, but refused to say what responsibilities were (http://www.alternet.org/reckless-security-firm-hired-protect-dakota-pipeline-company-has-dark-past-palestine).

G4S, the world’s largest security firm and second-biggest private employer, also services Israel’s checkpoints, its occupation and security forces, and the prisons and detention centers where 7,000 Palestinian political prisoners are held and tortured.

They include 750 “administrative detainees” interned without in Israeli prisons charge or trial.

Demand that G4S end its participation in settler-colonial violence against Native and Palestinian people, and that it cut its ties to the Dakota Access Pipeline and Israel’s occupation regime immediately.

Join us to answer a united appeal by Palestinian prisoners for escalated boycotts of G4S (https://samidoun.net/2015/08/stop-g4s-a-call-to-the-global-boycott-movement-from-palestinian-political-prisoners) and calls from Standing Rock for solidarity.

From Standing Rock to Palestine, support indigenous resistance, self-determination and liberation, and fight settler-colonialism, racism and repression!

Balboul brothers and Al-Qadi end hunger strike in agreement securing their freedom

21 September 2016

The three Palestinian hunger strikers, Mahmoud al-Balboul, Mohammed al-Balboul and Malik al-Qadi, have ended their hunger strike today, 21 September in an agreement securing their release and the non-renewal of their administrative detention, announced Palestinian Prisoners Affairs Commission chair Issa Qaraqe.

Mahmoud al-Balboul and Mohammed al-Balboul, brothers, have been on hunger strike since 4 July and 7 July, respectively. Both were ordered to administrative detention without charge or trial after a pre-dawn armed raid on their home on 9 July. In the agreement, the two will be released on 8 December 2016, at the expiration of their detention period; their detention will not be renewed.

Malik al-Qadi, a journalism student at Al-Quds University, launched his hunger strike on 16 July. He was arrested by Israeli occupation forces on 23 May and ordered to four months in administrative detention without charge or trial. This arrest came only weeks after his release from a previous four months of imprisonment without charge or trial, from December 2015 to April 2016. In the agreement, he will be released on 22 September 2016, at the expiration of his administrative detention, which will not be renewed.

Mahmoud al-Balboul, a student who works with the Palestinian police and Mohammed al-Balboul, a dentist, are the brothers of Nuran al-Balboul, a 15-year-old girl imprisoned for three months by the Israeli occupation earlier this year and the sons of Ahmad al-Balboul, a Fateh leader assassinated by Israeli occupation forces in 2008. Al-Qadi, a journalism student, has had his education repeatedly delayed as a result of harassment by occupation forces. He is one of dozens of Palestinian journalists imprisoned by Israel. He emerged from a coma on Sunday and was subjet to forced treatment during his unconsciousness. All three have suffered serious impacts to their health well into their third month of hunger strike, including threats to their hearts and other major organs, vision damage and other lasting health impacts.

All three are among nearly 750 Palestinians imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention, and 7000 total Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails. Over 100 fellow Palestinian prisoners joined the three in protests and hunger strikes to support their strike for freedom.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes the courage, strength and steadfastness of Mahmoud al-Balboul, Mohammed al-Balboul and Malik al-Qadi, and congratulates them upon their coming freedom. We urge all international supporters of Palestinian freedom to continue to highlight the struggles and escalate support for the Palestinian prisoners, battling daily for freedom, justice and liberation, for the prisoners and for the Palestinian people.

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