Palestinian journalist Samah Dweik has been sentenced by the Israeli Jerusalem court to six months and one day in prison, on charges of “incitement” for posting on her Facebook page. She was arrested on 10 April 2016 from her home in the Ras al-Amud neighborhood of Silwan, Jerusalem, in a pre-dawn raid in which occupation soldiers invaded and ransacked her home, accused of posting in support of the intifada on Facebook.
She is one of hundreds of Palestinians targeted for arrest and persecution on the basis of postings on social media. Dweik, 25, is a freelance journalist who works with Quds News Network. She is one of over 20 Palestinian journalists detained and imprisoned by Israel, including Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate leader Omar Nazzal, Addameer media coordinator Hasan Safadi, and multiple journalists accused of “incitement” for posting on social media.
Dweik is one of over 60 Palestinian women imprisoned by Israel, held in HaSharon and Damon prisons. On Saturday, 16 July, two more Palestinian women were arrested: Banan Mahmoud Mafarjah, 21, a medical student at Al-Quds University in Abu Dis, Jerusalem, was arrested at an Israeli occupation “flying checkpoint” west of Ramallah; while Amal Masalmah of al-Khalil was among 10 Palestinians detained in late night and pre-dawn raids on 17 July.
Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour, held under house arrest and on trial for publishing her poetry on YouTube and Facebook, had a court hearing in Nazareth on Sunday, 17 July. Tatour, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, has been held under house arrest for seven months – after three months’ imprisonment – accused only of her poetry, and in particular her poem “Resist, My People, Resist Them.”
Over 150 writers and artists, including Pulitzer Prize winners and prominent literary figures like Alice Walker, Susan Abulhawa, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Dave Eggers, Ahdaf Soueif, Aja Monet, Edwidge Danticat, and Karen Finley, have signed a petition demanding Tatour’s release. Signers of the letter include nine Pulitzer Prize winners, several National Book Award recipients and United States poet laureates, many Guggenheim Fellowship recipients, an NAACP Image Award winner, many Lambda Literary Award winners, and scores of recipients of the highest U.S. writing, poetry, translation, and arts honors: including Tony Awards, Grammy Awards, Obie Awards, PEN/Open Book Awards, National Book Critics Circle Awards, Kenyon Review Award, Pushcart Awards, LA Times Book Awards, and MLA Prizes.
Award-winning poet, songwriter, and novelist, Naomi Shihab Nye, referred to the way Tatour’s use of the word “resistance” has been criminalized: “The word “resist” – when it is resisting oppression and inequality – will always be a gleaming, beautiful, positive word. In fact, it needs to be said more often.”
At the court hearing on Sunday, the prosecution concluded its case and the presentation of its witnesses, mostly dedicated to the discussion of Tatour’s facebook page, Youtube postings, and performance at public events. The trial will convene next on 6 September for the presentation of Tatour’s defense; in the meantime, she remains under house arrest, forbidden from using the internet, and required to be 40 km away from her hometown. Tatour is challenging the terms of her house arrest and seeking to be allowed transfer to her hometown. As Mondoweiss reported, “Tatour’s brother was obliged to quit his job and his studies in order to fulfil his role as the court appointed ward in an apartment in Tel Aviv rented for that purpose for the duration of her legal proceedings.” Another hearing is expected on 18 July on the issue of her house confinement.
“Imprisonment is tantamount to cutting the cords of feelings and emotions whose letters connect between what they are writing and the people,” said Tatour in a letter to Jewish Voice for Peace reported in the Electronic Intifada, “and if this communication is cut there is no value to all to what is written by this poet, no matter how outstanding their style. Actually there is no value and meaning to the human existence of the individual in this democracy and basically no value to this democracy.”
Tatour is one of over 400 Palestinians arrested since last year for political statements on social media; her arrest came in a pre-dawn raid on 11 October 2015. It was only after twenty days of imprisonment that she was informed of the charges against her. The arrest and prosecution of Tatour also comes in the context of a long history of occupation persecution of Palestinian writers and artists, including such former prisoners as Mahmoud Darwish, Samih al-Qasim and Tawfiq Zayyad, like Tatour, Palestinians from occupied Palestine ’48.
The campaign to free Tatour is growing – in addition to the new petition with the support of hundreds of literary figures, protests for Tatour’s freedom have mounted and public events in Palestine have been organized to demand her release, including protests and poetry evenings. A Hebrew poetry magazine, Maayan, awarded Tatour its prize for “Poet in Struggle.”
The Israeli Ofer military court issued a thee-month administrative detention order against Palestinian journalist Adib al-Atrash on Sunday, 17 July, as the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate launched an international effort to free syndicate leader Omar Nazzal, also held under administrative detention without charge or trial.
Al-Atrash, who recently graduated from Eastern Mediterranean University in Cyprus, was arrested by Israeli occupation forces on Monday, 20 June from his family’s home in Al-Khalil. Al-Atrash and Nazzal are two of over twenty Palestinian journalists detained and imprisoned by the Israeli occupation.
Nazzal was arrested by Israeli occupation forces on 23 April 2016, as he attempted to cross at the Karameh crossing from Palestine’s West Bank to Jordan, to travel to the European Federation of Journalists’ annual general meeting in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Nazzal, a member of the PJS’ general secretariat, was representing the syndicate at the conference; he was also ordered to four months’ administrative detention without charge or trial.
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate is working with the International Federation of Journalists and international syndicates of journalists to campaign for freedom for Nazzal and his imprisoned colleagues. The IFJ has called for the release of Nazzal and other imprisoned Palestinian journalists, including former hunger striker and administrative detainee Mohammed al-Qeeq.
Al-Atrash and Nazzal are among nearly 750 Palestinians held under administrative detention without charge or trial, out of a total of 7,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Administrative detention orders, issued for periods of one to six months on the basis of secret evidence, are indefinitely renewable.
Palestinian families from Jerusalem self-funded and organized a trip filling three buses to visit their children in the Israeli prisons of Gilboa and Ramon on Sunday, 17 July, following the cuts in family visits implemented by the International Committee of the Red Cross. The ICRC, claiming budget cutbacks, cut family visits for imprisoned Palestinian men from twice monthly to once monthly beginning in July 2016.
Palestinian prisoners and families have widely protested this action, emphasizing that it coincides with repeated Israeli attempts to cut visits and prohibit family visits for Palestinian prisoners. Amjad Abu Assab, chair of the Jerusalem Families’ Committee, told Ma’an that the families pooled their money to share the bus fares, book buses, and arrange the visit with prison administration, despite the difficult situations expereinced by Palestinian Jerusalemites. He noted that the ICRC’s visit cuts were “shocking to the prisoners and their families, and in line with the goals of the occupation…It would be better for the [ICRC] to reduce other expenses and prioritize the two monthly visits for the prisoners and their families.”
He also noted that even this self-organized and funded trip – which faced multiple obstacles, including refusals of the prison administration to deal with the committee directly as a group, and the imposition of requirements to communicate in Hebrew to coordinate the visit – was not possible for Palestinians from the West Bank, who cannot visit their children and family members without special permits. These permits are generally only obtained through the mediation of the ICRC and take months to process.
The mother of the prisoner Tamer Saadeh said that the families and their children felt sadness and pain due to the decision of the Red Cross, saying that “We are constantly longing to visit our children. The occupation allows us to visit them twice a month and we want to increse these visits…The management of the ICRC shocked us with this sudden decision. We have tried to protest this decision.” She noted that the participants on the trip suffered through long waits and delays at checkpoints and inspections in extreme heat.
Take Action! Sign and share the change.org petition to the International Committee of the Red Cross urging them to change this decision. Palestinian prisoners and their families need support – not yet more roadblocks in the way of family life and family connections!
He was also fined 26,000 NIS (approximately $6,700) and a three-year suspended sentence was imposed; in addition, his family was ordered to pay the fine in cash rather than installments, in a divergence from the plea agreement obtained by his lawyer.
Muawiya and his cousin Ali Alqam, 12, were arrested on 10 November 2015 and accused of attempting to stab an Israeli occupation guard on the Jerusalem light rail. Today, Ali, who was 11 at the time of arrest and turned 12 while imprisoned, is held inside a juvenile detention facility while Muawiya is held in Megiddo prison. Ali was shot three times by Israeli forces and had to undergo surgery to remove a bullet from his stomach. He is being detained for at least one year.
Muawiya was accused of attempted murder and possession of a knife, despite the fact that the guard was only lightly wounded.
He is one of over 350 Palestinian children held in Israeli prisons, including 7 held without charge or trial under administrative detention. An increasing number of Palestinian Jerusalemite children are also being subject to house arrest, as Israeli occupation authorities also issued more than 65 home imprisonment orders against Jerusalemite children since the beginning of the year. The use of home imprisonment against children is a growing phenomenon, and prevents them from leaving the home even for medical treatment or for school.
As hunger-striking Palestinian prisoner Bilal Kayed was hospitalized after a serious deterioration in his health on his 33rd day consuming only water, and as dozens of Palestinian political prisoners began a growing collective hunger strike on Sunday, 17 July, we urge international solidarity and action to support their struggle with events, protests and actions from 20-30 July. Our struggle must rise to meet their level of sacrifice!
The Progressive Student Labor Front in Palestine has called for an international day of student action on 25 July. We join in this call to action and urge students to participate – and non-students and allied groups to organize events and actions on and around this date demanding freedom for Bilal Kayed and his fellow Palestinian prisoners.
Bilal Kayed is now in his second month of hunger strike; on strike since 15 June, he is demanding his freedom from administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial. Kayed was ordered to six months’ administrative detention upon the expiration of his 14.5 year sentence in Israeli jails on 13 June 2016. A leader inside the prisons, he was one of the organizers of the 2012 collective Karameh hunger strike, in which thousands of Palestinian prisoners refused food for nearly one month against solitary confinement and denial of family visits.
Kayed’s case is a threatening precedent to all Palestinian prisoners: of indefinite detention following the expiration of lengthy sentences in Israeli prisons. The Palestinian Prisoners’ Movement has come together collectively – alongside hundreds of Kayed’s comrades in the PFLP – to join in hunger strikes and protest actions inside the prisons demanding Kayed’s freedom.
Organizers and people of conscience have participated in a growing number of events, actions and protests in major cities around the world, demanding freedom for Kayed and his fellow Palestinian prisoners. Kayed is one of 750 Palestinians held in administrative detention and over 7,000 total Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges the convening of public solidarity hunger strikes; protests at government offices, Israeli embassies and consulates, and G4S offices and other complicit corporations; online, media and visual protest actions; and campaigns of joint struggle with other oppressed groups for justice and liberation.
In particular, we urge actions and protests to build the BDS campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel for its violations of Palestinian rights, including the ongoing imprisonment of Bilal Kayed and other Palestinian prisoners: Free Bilal, Boycott Israel!
We echo the call of the Progressive Student Labor Front for a World Student Day of Solidarity with Bilal Kayed and Palestinian prisoners on 25 July, for “all student supporters of justice for Palestine to participate in this day of solidarity… and for this to become an international student day of solidarity with the prisoners in Israeli jails.”
Now, as Bilal is hospitalized and dozens of prisoners have joined him in open hunger strike – with hundreds more in ongoing protest actions – it is time for an international escalation of struggle, to take to the streets and raise our voices in support of this critical battle for freedom. We urge all international supporters of justice and liberation for the Palestinian people to meet the prisoners’ sacrifice with organizing and struggle for freedom for Bilal Kayed and his fellow Palestinian prisoners.
Please use the form, email samidoun@samidoun.net or post to Samidoun on Facebook about events on 20-30 July, including existing events, protests, literature distributions or tables incorporating materials about Bilal Kayed and administrative detention.
30 July, Manchester: Free all Palestinian political prisoners! Boycott Israel!
ACTION ITEMS:
1. Organize or support a student action or event for 25 July in response to the Progressive Student Labor Front’s call for a World Student Day of Solidarity with Bilal Kayed and Palestinian prisoners – including both on and off-campus events, literature distribution, tabling, or any other activity to center the work and organizing of youth and students.
2. Hold a protest, literature distribution, picket or demonstration, or bring this issue to broader social justice protests, including building the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign to internationally isolate Israel, its institutions, and the corporations – like G4S -that profit from imprisonment, occupation, racism, colonialism and injustice. Demand freedom for Bilal Kayed and all Palestinian prisoners.
3. Participate in or Organize a Call-In Day – People across the US called the White House to demand freedom for Bilal Kayed. On 20-30 July, call your government officials and demand action on Palestinian prisoners and Palestinian rights – and the immediate release of Bilal Kayed.
In the US, Call the White House: 001-202-456-1111 In Australia, Call Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Julie Bishop: + 61 2 6277 7500 In the UK, Call the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Philip Hammond, MP: +44 20 7008 1500 In Canada, Call the Canadian Foreign Minister Stephane Dion: +1-613-996-5789. In the EU countries, Call the office of EU Commissioner Federica Mogherini at +32 (0) 2 29 53516 or email federica.mogherini@ec.europa.eu
As Bilal Kayed enters his second month on hunger strike in Israeli prisons, events and actions were organized around the world on 8-15 July in a coordinated week of action organized by Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network in support of Kayed’s struggle and that of fellow Palestinian prisoners, and in memory of Ghassan Kanafani, the Palestinian writer, artist and political leader and thinker assassinated on 8 July 1972 in Beirut.
Events were organized in New York City, Arklow, Enniscorthy, London, Naples, Tampa, Milan, Beirut, Amman, and Berlin, as well as events inside occupied Palestine – in Gaza, Haifa, Nablus, El Bireh, Asira al-Shamaliya, Dheisheh camp, and elsewhere. Online advocacy for Kayed’s release also escalated with a “Twitterstorm” on 14 July, in which thousands of tweets highlighted #freedom4bilal.
The week of action also came as the Palestinian Prisoners’ Movement – representing all the Palestinian political parties inside Israeli jails – affirmed their support for Kayed and intention to escalate their protest steps within the prison, viewing Kayed’s struggle as the struggle of all Palestinian prisoners. Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners – mainly Kayed’s comrades in the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – are engaging in solidarity hunger strikes and protest actions inside the prison, demanding Kayed’s immediate release.
Kayed has been on hunger strike since 15 June in protest of his administrative detention – imprisonment without charge or trial – imposed upon him on 13 June 2016, at the expiration of his 14.5-year sentence in Israeli prisons. Held in isolation in Ashkelon prison, he is consuming only water and rejects salt and vitamin supplements and medical examinations. He is also refusing to speak with his jailers. His health has deteriorated significantly; he has lost a substantial amount of weight and suffers constant dizziness, fatigue and insomnia. He was transferred to hospital on 17 July.
During the week of action, Black4Palestine, the Black movement for joint struggle and solidarity among the Black and Palestinian communities and liberation movements, issued an important statement in support of Bilal Kayed. Over 150 Palestinian and international organizations have joined in the call for Kayed’s release.
On 8 July in New York City, Samidoun activists gathered outside the offices of G4S in Manhattan to demand freedom for Bilal Kayed and an end to G4S’ profiteering from the imprisonment and oppression of Palestinians. Protesters carried signs and distributed literature and information demanding Kayed’s immediate release and denouncing the administrative detention policy, under which 750 Palestinians are held – out of a total of over 7,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. G4S, the world’s largest security corporation, is a British-Danish multinational that contracts with the Israeli Prison Service to provide control rooms, equipment and security systems for Israeli prisons. It is subject to a global boycott call from Palestinian prisoners, civil society organizations and international groups for its profiteering from oppression, apartheid and imprisonment.
Coup Pour Coup 31, a French anti-imperialist collective, released a statement urging freedom for Kayed and recognizing the 44th anniversary of the assassination of Palestinian writer Ghassan Kanafani. “Israel has always waged a war without mercy against the Palestinian people. Killing the leaders of the resistance, as was the case with Ghassan Kanafani, or jailing and torturing them, as is the case today for Bilal Kayed.”
In Naples, Italy, activists with the Comitato di solidarietà con il popolo palestinese and the Comunità Palestinese Campania took the streets on Friday, 8 July to urge freedom for Kayed, carrying Palestinian flags and campaign posters and leaflets with information about Kayed’s case and administrative detention, distributing information and working to build a campaign for Kayed and his fellow Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
In Tampa, Florida, activists with Love Has No Borders began a solidarity hunger strike to express their support for freedom for Kayed and his fellow Palestinian prisoners. They hung a banner in Tampa to demand freedom for Bilal Kayed and refused food in a days-long hunger strike in support of Kayed and his fellow Palestinian prisoners.
In Arklow, Ireland, socialist Irish republicans affiliated with eirigi gathered to demand freedom for Kayed and mark the 35th anniversary of the death of Joe McDonnell, an Irish republican political prisoner in British jails, in 1981. McDonnell joined the 1981 hunger strike just days after Bobby Sands gave his life in the H-Blocks. After 61 days on the strike, the 29 year old volunteer became the 5th hunger striker to die. They emphasized the importance of boycotting Israeli goods and supporting the prisoners’ struggle.
In London, at a rally of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign demanding an end to the siege on Gaza on the second anniversary of Israel’s 2014 attack, speakers highlighted the cause of Palestinian prisoners and Kayed’s case.
A new issue of the Arabic-language literary magazine Al-Adab was issued on 9 July, dedicated to freedom for Bilal Kayed and imprisoned Lebanese struggler for Palestine Georges Ibrahim Abdallah. Among the pieces in the new issue is a prose writing by Mohammed Khatib of Samidoun Europe, reflecting the thoughts of a Palestinian refugee on Kayed’s case and the Palestinian situation today.
On Saturday, 9 July, protesters in Manchester, including Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! (FRFI) Manchester and RCG – Revolutionary Communist Group, marched to commemorate the second anniversary of the 2014 Israeli attack on Gaza, demanding justice for Gaza and all of Palestine, and freedom for Bilal Kayed and his fellow 7,000 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails. Participants occupied a Barclays Bank branch in Manchester over the bank’s investment in the Israeli arms trade, including Elbit Systems.
On the same day, eirigi republican socialists in Enniscorthy, Wexford, Ireland, gathered to protest outside the offices of TD Paul Kehoe, Irish Minister for Defence, protesting his participation in a NATO conference and the Irish government’s continuing arms deals with the Israeli state. The Irish republican socialists expressed their solidarity with Palestinian prisoners, posting photos of Kayed on the windows of Kehoe’s office.
Italian activists launched a “relay fast” for Kayed organized online throughout the week of action, from 9-16 July, with participants engaging in daily hunger strikes, sharing information, and advocating to demand Kayed’s freedom.
Former US-held political prisoner Laura Whitehorn spoke on Monday, 11 July in New York City at a vigil across from the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, focusing on the struggle of Palestinian political prisoners and the case of Bilal Kayed. The vigil, organized by No Separate Justice: A Post-911 Domestic Human Rights Campaign, highlights state repression, imprisonment, and surveillance in so-called “War on Terror” cases. Whitehorn, a participant in the Anti-Prison, Labor and Academic Delegation to Palestine earlier this year, urged people to support Bilal Kayed in his hunger strike protesting the imposition of administrative detention.
In Berlin, Germany, on 13 July, the Democratic Palestine Committees met with the German Foreign Ministry, delivering a letter on behalf of Palestinians in Berlin urging action on the case of Bilal Kayed and the issue of administrative detention. They also held a protest outside the office of the Foreign Ministry. This was the second protest in Berlin demanding freedom for Kayed, and Palestinians in Berlin are preparing further actions to advocate for his release.
On Thursday, 14 July, Kayed’s 30th day of hunger strike, protesters gathered outside the Pine Residence in Beirut, the home of the French Ambassador to Lebanon, on the French National Day to demand freedom for Lebanese Arab struggler for Palestine, Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, imprisoned in French prisons for 32 years. They connected Abdallah’s case to that of the over 7,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, especially Kayed’s case.
On the same day in Milan, Italy, Fronte Palestina organized a rally and event in support of Kayed and his fellow Palestinian prisoners, demanding their freedom. They carried posters and banners of Kayed and fellow Palestinian prisoners, including imprisoned PFLP General Secretary Ahmad Sa’adat, demanding their freedom.
In Amman, Jordan, the youth of the Wihda Party (Popular Democratic Unity Party) protested outside the offices of the United Nations in Jordan, demanding freedom for Kayed and the Palestinian prisoners, and international action to hold Israel accountable for its violations of Palestinian rights. They denounced UN and other official international silence on the suffering of Palestinian prisoners and the Palestinian people.
Thursday, 14 July also saw a large online action, or “Twitterstorm,” organized by Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Righrs Association, in which activists and organizers from Palestine and around the world highlighted the case of Bilal Kayed in thousands of tweets with the hashtag #freedom4bilal.
On Friday, 15 July, hundreds of people packed the Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz Center (the former Audubon Ballroom, where Black liberation leader Malcolm X was assassinated in 1965) in Washington Heights, New York City for “Imprisoned Resistance,” an event highlighting prisoners’ struggle and resistance from the US to Palestine. The event was co-hosted by numerous organizations and highlighted the experiences of the U.S. Prison, Labor and Academic Delegation to Palestine. Speakers, including Samidoun organizer Joe Catron; Laura Whitehorn; Rabab Abdulhadi; Johanna Fernandez; Jaime Veve; Nyle Fort; Nancy Mansour; Susie Day; and specially recorded interventions from US Black Liberation prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal and Palestinian resistance icon Leila Khaled, highlighted the struggles of oppressed and colonized people against imperialism, imprisonment, occupation and oppression. Several speakers, including Khaled, Whitehorn, and Catron particularly highlighted Kayed’s struggle within the context of Palestinian imprisonment and the liberation struggle.
These events were organized alongside demonstrations throughout occupied Palestine, including a protest in Haifa on 14 July joined in by a broad alliance of Palestinian organizations in the city; a mass march in Gaza , led by Palestinian children, on 13 July, demanding Kayed’s freedom; marches in Nablus city and in Asira al-Shamaliya, Kayed’s hometown, and the creation of a solidarity tent; the erecting of a solidarity tent in Dheisheh refugee camp near Bethlehem; and a vigil in El-Bireh outside the offices of the International Committee of the Red Cross. These actions follow an earlier set of international actions on 24-25 June, and ongoing events and protests in Amsterdam, The Hague, Brussels, Turin, Toulouse, Paris, Toronto, Dublin, Belfast, and elsewhere demanding freedom for Kayed.
On 8-15 July, the struggle of Bilal Kayed was supported around the world as he entered his second month of hunger strike. Now, as Bilal is imprisoned and dozens of prisoners have joined him in open hunger strike – with hundreds more in ongoing protest actions – it is time for an international escalation of struggle, to take to the streets and raise our voices in support of this critical battle for freedom. The Progressive Student Labor Front in Palestine has already called for an international day of student action on 25 July. We urge all international supporters of justice and liberation for the Palestinian people to meet the prisoners’ sacrifice with struggle: organize protests, actions and demonstrations, and escalate BDS campaigns and the boycott of Israel and complicit corporations like G4S, to demand freedom for Bilal Kayed and his fellow Palestinian prisoners.
INTERNATIONAL SUPPORTERS OF THE CAMPAIGN TO FREE BILAL KAYED
Over 150 organizations signed on to the previous call to action to free Bilal Kayed! See the list of organizations below. Events were organized in Berlin, Paris, Brussels, New York, London, Dublin, Belfast, Galway, Amsterdam, The Hague, Toulouse, Torino, Milan, Vancouver and more. Participating organizations have made the call to action about this case available in: French | German | Greek | Italian | Spanish | Turkish | Czech | Dutch Join in!
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
Abna’a el-Balad Movement – Palestine
ACAT France
Actions4Palestine – Toronto, Canada
AFPS Association France Palestine Solidarité
Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition NY
Al-Awda Palestine Right to Return Coalition – US
Alternative Information Center
Asociación Palestina BILADI
Association Belgo-Palestinienne
Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR) – India
Association of Academics for the Respect of International Law in Palestine – AURDIP
Association of the Palestinian Community in Scotland
Associazione Amicizia Sardegna Palestina
BAYAN USA
BDS Action Calgary
BDS Amsterdam
BDS Austria
BDS Berlin
BDS Hamburg (Germany)
BDS Nederland
BDS Oudàh
BDS Slovenija
BDS Trieste
BDS Turkey (Filistin Için Israil’e Boykot Girisimi)
BDS Vancouver
Belgian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (BACBI)
Black Lives Matter Rockland Orange Alliance
Boycott! Supporting the Palestinian BDS Call from Within (Israeli citizens for BDS)
Byron Friends of Palestine
Campaign to Boycott Supporters of “Israel” in Lebanon
Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat
Campaign to Free Georges Ibrahim Abdallah
Canada Palestine Association
CAPJPO – EuroPalestine
Cátedra de Estudiso Palestinos Edward W. Said
Citizens International – Malaysia
Coalition for Justice and Peace in Palestine (Sydney)
Collectif Judeo Arabe et Citoyen pour la Palestine
Collettivo Autogestito CASAROSSA40
Comité Palestina Libre / Uruguay
Comite Salta de solidaridad con Palestina
Committee of the Greater ABC/SP of Solidarity with the Palestinian People – Brazil
Committee to Stop FBI Repression
Committees for a Democratic Palestine – Brazil
Communist Party, Sweden
Contemporary Lawyers Association (Çagdas Hukukçular Dernegi)
Corvallis-Albany Palestine Solidarity
Coup Pour Coup 31
Democratic Lawyers’ Alliance – Palestine
Democratic Palestine Committees – Germany
docP (Diensten en Onderzoek Centrum Palestina , Netherlands)
éirígí
Education Equals Making Community Connections
European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine (ECCP)
Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor
Faculty for Palestine (Canada)
February 20 Movement – USA
Filipino Refugees in the Netherlands
Finnish-Arab Friendship Society
Football Against Apartheid
Freedom Archives
Freedom Road Socialist Organization
Free Gaza Movement
Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC)
Friends of Ain el-Helweh, Grenoble
Fronte Palestina
Gaza Action Ireland
Gerechtigkeit und Frieden für Palästina
Gesellschaft Schweiz Palästina
Grandmothers for Peace
Groupe Non-Violent LOUIS LECOIN
Grupo de Tecnología Alternativa S.C.
Gruppo Azione Palestina – Parma
Handala Center for Prisoners and Former Prisoners
Handala Cultural Center – Vienna
Hilton Head for Peace
Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (Türkiye Insan Haklari Vakfi)
Human Rights Institute – Bratislava, Slovakia
Human Rights March – Denmark
Hunter College Students for Justice in Palestine
Initiative for a Just Peace in the Middle East – Slovakia
Inminds.com
intal
International Action Center
International Committee for Peace, Justice and Dignity
International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal
International League of Peoples Struggle in Canada
International Movement for a Just World (JUST)
International Solidarity Movement – Palestine
International Solidarity Movement – Northern California
International Solidarity Movement Czech Republic group
Internationale Socialisten
Internationalt Forum/Middle East Group
InvictaPalestina – Torino
Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Irish Republican Prisoners Welfare Association
Isçi Demokrasisi Partisi (IDP)
Jewish Voice for Peace, San Diego
Jews for Palestinian Right of Return
Labor for Palestine
LADH (Liga Argentina de los Derechos del Hombre)
Landless Workers ‘ Movement (MST) – Brazil
Lefterianews – Greece
Left Perspective – Czech Republic
Leuvense Actiegroep Palestina
Libertarian Lawyers Association (Özgürlükçü Hukukçular Dernegi)
London Palestine Action
Los Otros Judios
Merton PSC – London
MRAP Vaucluse
Mouvement Citoyen Palestine
National Jericho Movement
National Lawyers Guild – Palestine Subcommittee
Netherlands Palestine Committee (NPK)
New York City Students for Justice in Palestine
Northeast Political Prisoner Coalition
NY 4 Palestine Coalition
NYC Free Peltier
NYC Friends of MOVE
OPIRG Carleton
Palästinensische Kulturzentrum Schweiz
Palestijnse Gemeenschap in Nederland
Palestina Kommitee Rotterdam
Palestina Rossa
Palestina Solidariteit
Palestine Platform Human Rights and Solidarity (PPMS)
Palestine Solidarity Campaign of South Africa
Palestinian Arab Cultural Center in Brazil – Rio Grande do Sul
Palestinian Arab Cultural Center in Brazil – Sao Paulo
Palestinian Arab Society – Corumba (Brazil)
Palestinian Child and Youth Institute – Lebanon
Palestinian Club in the Czech Republic
Palestinian Democratic Coalition – Chicago
Palestinian Documentation Center
Palestinian Prisoners’ Committee – Palestine
Palestinian Youth Organization
Plate-forme Charleroi-Palestine
Plateforme des ONG françaises pour la Palestine
Philippines-Palestine Friendship Association
Progressive Palestinian Youth Union – Palestine
Progressive Student Labor Front – Palestine
Proletaren FF, sports club, Sweden
Raja’een Folkloric Dance Troupe
Red Sparks Union
Release Aging People in Prison
Resistance for Free Palestine – Greece
Rete Nazionale “Noi Saremo Tutto”
Revolutionaire Eenheid
Revolutionary Communist Group/Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism!
Revolutionary Communist Youth, Sweden
Sawt al-Shaab (Voice of the People Radio) – Palestine
SODePAZ Balamil
Solidarity with Novorossiya and Antifascists in Ukraine – NYC
Stanford Students for Justice in Palestine
Stichting Groningen-Jabalya
Studenten Voor Rechtvaardigheid in Palestina- Nijmegen
Studenten voor Rechtvaardigheid in Palestina (SRP) – Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
SJP at Sacramento State University
Students for Justice in Palestine – Maastricht
Students for Justice in Palestine at the College of Staten Island
Students For Justice in Palestine – Rotterdam
UDAP – Unione Democratica Arabo-Palestinese
UJFP French Jewish Union for Peace
Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees – Palestine
United for Palestine
USC Students for Justice in Palestine
US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN)
Vlaams-Socialistische Beweging
Voice of Palestine
West Valley Neighborhoods Coalition
Women In Black International(Seattle USA chapter)
Women in Black (Vienna)
Women in Black The Netherlands
Palestinian hunger striking prisoner Bilal Kayed was moved to Barzilai Hospital today, 17 July, on his 33rd day of hunger strike. Kayed, 35, has been on strike since 15 June, demanding freedom from Israeli administrative detention without charge or trial.
Addameer lawyer Farah Bayadsi confirmed that Kayed was transferred to the hospital after further deterioration in his health condition, who is experiencing nausea, inability to walk, dizziness, fatigue and insomnia, while losing a significant amount of weight. She confirmed that Kayed will remain in the hospital for at least one day and that Addameer is working to visit Kayed in the hospital to confirm his medical condition directly. Kayed is consuming only water; he rejects all vitamin or salt supplements and has rejected all medical examinations. He is also refusing to speak to his jailers since his 30th day of hunger strike, Thursday, 14 July.
This comes as at least 37 fellow Palestinian prisoners of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine launched an open hunger strike – 10 in Ofer, 10 in Ramon, 2 in Eshel, and 15 in Megiddo and Gilboa – in solidarity with Kayed and demanding his freedom. Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners are on limited-term hunger strikes to demand Kayed’s freedom, while prisoners from all factions have affirmed that they will be escalating their ongoing protest actions throughout the week.
This morning, repressive forces of the Israeli prison administration broke into section 5 in Ramon prison, where Ahmad Sa’adat, the imprisoned General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation, Kayed’s party, is held; they also seized Kamil Abu Hanish, one of the leaders of the strike movement demanding Kayed’s freedom, and transferred him from Ramon to Gilboa prison.
Kayed has been on hunger strike since 15 June demanding his freedom from administrative detention. A six-month administrative detention order – for imprisonment without charge or trial – was imposed upon him after 14.5 years of imprisonment, when he was scheduled to be released on 13 July. Protests throughout Palestine and internationally are demanding Kayed’s immediate release. Prisoners view Kayed’s case as a dangerous precedent in which Palestinian prisoners are ordered to indefinite administrative detention following lengthy sentences. He is one of 750 Palestinians held without charge or trial under administrative detention and over 7,000 total Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Administrative detention orders are indefinitely renewable.
The names of the striking prisoners who joined the open hunger strike in Ofer, Ramon and Eshel prisons have been released; organizers have announced that the names from Megiddo and Gilboa prison will be announced later. The names are:
Rajeh Ahmad Abu Ajamiyeh – Al-Fuwwar Camp – Ofer
Mohammed Nidal Abu Aker – Dheisheh camp – Ofer
Ahmed Osman Sarraj – Silwad – Ofer
Firas Abdel Jaber Shtayyeh – Kafr Naama – Ofer
Mohammed Daoud Badr – Abu Dis – Ofer
Ahmed Hassan Odeh – Deir Ammar – Ofer
Amer Raafat Salah – Khodr, Bethlehem – Ofer
Alaa Abdel Latif Bani Shams – Beita, Nablus – Ofer
Mounir Othman Zahran – Deir Abu Meshaal – Ofer
Ishaq Yousef Karam – Aida Camp – Ofer
Thaer Hanani – Nablus – Ramon
Bashar Al-Obeidi – Al-Quds – Ramon
Rami Halabi – Ramallah – Ramon
Awwad Sultan – Gaza – Ramon
Jamil Yousef – Ramallah – Ramon
Tayseer Al-Omari – Nablus – Ramon
Nidal Daghlas – Nablus – Ramon
Bassam Kandakja – Nablus – Ramon
Mohammed Ramadan – Ramallah – Ramon
Abdallah Al-Abbasi – Al-Quds – Ramon
Yasser Sabatin – Bethlehem – Eshel
Nader Abu Akel – Ramallah – Eshel
Palestinian prisoners announced that their collective protest for the freedom of imprisoned Bilal Kayed will escalate as of Sunday, when dozens of prisoners will join a collective open-ended hunger strike.
In a new statement issued by Palestinian prisoners associated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, they announced that on Sunday, 17 July dozens of prisoners will begin an open hunger strike in solidarity with Kayed, as the first group to join a collective open hunger strike that will grow on an escalating basis until Kayed achieves his freedom. At the same time, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society and the Palestinian Prisoners Center for Studies affirmed that prisoners of all Palestinian factions will participate in escalating steps of protest in the coming week for freedom for Kayed.
Kayed, 35, a leader inside the prisons and one of the organizers of the 2012 mass collective Karameh hunger strike against solitary confinement and denial of family visits, has been on hunger strike for 32 days, since 15 June. He was ordered to six months’ administrative detention – imprisonment without charge or trial – on 13 June, immediately upon the completion of his 14.5 year sentence in Israeli prisons. Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners are involved in protests to free Kayed, including mass hunger strikes of two and three days across all prisons.
PFLP prisoners have been hit by repressive raids by prison forces, denial of family visits, confiscation of personal belongings and electronic appliances, and financial fines. Meanwhile, two days into his second month on hunger strike, Kayed remains in solitary confinement in Ashkelon prison, in a 1.5 x 2 meter cell with no window. His health has deteriorated, he has lost significant weight, and he experiences constant feelings of dizziness, fatigue and insomnia. Still, he has announced that his morale remains high despite the physical costs of his strike – he refuses all vitamin or salt supplements and medical examinations, and is consuming only water.
Protests have taken place throughout Palestine demanding Kayed’s immediate release; his case is seen as a dangerous precedent of the indefinite imprisonment of Palestinian prisoners upon the expiration of their sentences.
Around the world, over 150 organizations have signed on to the call to free Bilal Kayed, and dozens of cities have seen protests, events, and actions demanding his release, including New York, Vancouver, Toronto, Tampa, Berlin, Brussels, Turin, Milan, Naples, Paris, Toulouse, Amsterdam, The Hague, Amman, Beirut, Istanbul, Athens, Vienna, Dublin, Belfast, Arklow, Enniscorthy, London, and Manchester.
Samidoun urges all to respond to the escalation of the prisoners with an international escalation of struggle. As dozens of Palestinian prisoners begiin an open-ended hunger strike to demand freedom for Bilal Kayed from administrative detention, it is time to take to the streets and raise our voices in support of this critical battle for freedom. The Progressive Student Labor Front in Palestine has already called for an international day of student action on 25 July. We urge you to meet the prisoners’ sacrifice with struggle: organize protests, actions and demonstrations, and escalate BDS campaigns and the boycott of Israel and complicit corporations like G4S, to demand freedom for Bilal Kayed and his fellow Palestinian prisoners.
Eleven prisoners in Eshel prison have announced an open hunger strike in protest of the sanctions against them, prohibiting them from recreation and confiscating their belongings due to their hunger strike and protests in solidarity with Bilal Kayed. Kayed, 35, has been on hunger strike from isolation in Ashkelon prison since 15 June, demanding his freedom from administrative detention imposed upon him after the completion of his 14.5-year sentence in Israeli prisons.
The eleven prisoners on open hunger strike are:
Sami Subeh
Yasser Sabatin
Ibrahim Mousa
Mahmoud Mousa
Noureddine Faraon
Basil Washaha
Nader Abu Akel
Mohammed Odeh
Mohammed Marrar
Ali Hussein
Safwat al-Rimawi
The hunger strike comes as hundreds of Palestinian prisoners are engaged in a two-day hunger strike to demand Kayed’s freedom. Prisoners affiilated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – Kayed’s leftist party – have been subjected to a campaign of repression inside the prisons that has included the denial of family visits, confiscation of personal items and electrical appliances, transfers and isolation of leaders, lockdown of prison sections, and fines. The PFLP prisoners are expected to escalate their steps of protest in the coming week in solidarity with Kayed, demanding his immediate release.
A large protest took place on Thursday, 14 July in Nablus, as a solidarity tent was set up at Martyrs’ Square to support Kayed, who hails from Asira al-Shamaliya, a village outside Nablus. Mahmoud Kayed, Bilal’s brother, declared that Bilal was refusing to speak to the jailers, in a move of isolation, and refuses all attempts to end the hunger strike short of his freedom.
Another significant march in solidarity with Kayed took place in Haifa on 14 July, as a number of organizations, including Abnaa al-Balad, the Communist Party, Hadash, Herak Haifa, and the National Democratic Alliance, came together to demand freedom for Kayed.
In Beirut, protesters gathered outside the Pine Residence, the home of the French Ambassador, on the French National Day to demand freedom for Lebanese Arab struggler for Palestine, Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, imprisoned in French prisons for 32 years. They connected Abdallah’s case to that of the over 7,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, especially Kayed’s case.
Speakers at the demonstration included Hanna Gharib, General Secretary of the Lebanese Communist Party; Marwan Abdel-Al, leader of the PFLP in Lebanon; Samah Idriss of the Campaign to Boycott Supporters of Israel in Lebanon; and Robert Abdallah, George’s brother. Abdallah and fellow activists were arrested and later released when Lebanese police suppressed the demonstration. Samidoun organizers and activists participated in the protest and rally.
In Milan, Fronte Palestina organized a rally and event in support of Kayed and his fellow Palestinian prisoners, demanding their freedom. They carried posters and banners of Kayed and fellow Palestinian prisoners, including imprisoned PFLP General Secretary Ahmad Sa’adat, demanding their freedom; while in Amman, the youth of the Wihda Party (Popular Democratic Unity Party) rallied outside the offices of the United Nations in Amman, demanding Kayed’s freedom.
These events came as part of an international week of action from 8-15 July demanding freedom for Kayed and his fellow Palestinian prisoners that has included events in New York, Tampa, Istanbul, Arklow, Enniscorthy, London, Naples, Manchester, and Berlin; the anti-imperialist collective in France Coup Pour Coup 31 produced a French translation of the new video of Palestinian women leaders supporting Bilal Kayed.
Thousands of tweets were made online as part of a “Twitterstorm” electronic campaign to support Kayed on 14 July, using the hashtag #freedom4bilal as part of the ongoing campaign for his freedom.
The Progressive Student Labor Front in Palestine has issued a call for international student actions in support of Bilal Kayed on 25 July as prisoners inside Israeli jails continue to escalate their protests.
Palestinian journalist Samah Dweik has been sentenced by the Israeli Jerusalem court to six months and one day in prison, on charges of “incitement” for posting on her Facebook page. She was arrested on 10 April 2016 from her home in the Ras al-Amud neighborhood of Silwan, Jerusalem, in a pre-dawn raid in which occupation soldiers invaded and ransacked her home, accused of posting in support of the intifada on Facebook.
Dweik is one of over 60 Palestinian women imprisoned by Israel, held in HaSharon and Damon prisons. On Saturday, 16 July, two more Palestinian women were arrested: Banan Mahmoud Mafarjah, 21, a medical student at Al-Quds University in Abu Dis, Jerusalem, was arrested at an Israeli occupation “flying checkpoint” west of Ramallah; while Amal Masalmah of al-Khalil was among 10 Palestinians detained in late night and pre-dawn raids on 17 July.
At the court hearing on Sunday, the prosecution concluded its case and the presentation of its witnesses, mostly dedicated to the discussion of Tatour’s facebook page, Youtube postings, and performance at public events. The trial will convene next on 6 September for the presentation of Tatour’s defense; in the meantime, she remains under house arrest, forbidden from using the internet, and required to be 40 km away from her hometown. Tatour is challenging the terms of her house arrest and seeking to be allowed transfer to her hometown. As 
The Israeli Ofer military court 
Al-Atrash, who recently graduated from Eastern Mediterranean University in Cyprus, was arrested by Israeli occupation forces on Monday, 20 June from his family’s home in Al-Khalil. Al-Atrash and Nazzal are two of over twenty Palestinian journalists detained and imprisoned by the Israeli occupation.
During the week of action, Black4Palestine, the Black movement for joint struggle and solidarity among the Black and Palestinian communities and liberation movements, issued 
In Naples, Italy, activists with the
In Tampa, Florida, activists with 
On Saturday, 9 July, protesters in Manchester, including 
On Friday, 15 July, hundreds of people packed the Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz Center (the former Audubon Ballroom, where Black liberation leader Malcolm X was assassinated in 1965) in Washington Heights, New York City for “Imprisoned Resistance,” an event highlighting prisoners’ struggle and resistance from the US to Palestine. The event was co-hosted by numerous organizations and highlighted the experiences of the U.S. 
Palestinian prisoners announced that their collective protest for the freedom of imprisoned 
Another significant march in solidarity with Kayed took place in Haifa on 14 July, as a number of organizations, including Abnaa al-Balad, the Communist Party, Hadash, Herak Haifa, and the National Democratic Alliance, came together to demand freedom for Kayed.
These events came as part of an 