Symbolic funerals in Jenin and Gaza mourn Omar Nayef Zayed

12 June 2016

As family, friends and comrades of former Palestinian prisoner Omar Nayef Zayed attended his funeral in Sofia, Bulgaria, mass marches of Palestinians marked his passing as well with symbolic funerals in Jenin – Omar’s hometown – and Gaza City on Friday evening, 10 June.

Large crowds of Palestinians in Jenin joined the symbolic funeral march from the central mosque in Jenin, as comrades of Nayef Zayed from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, alongside his family members, carried a mock coffin, Palestinian flags and PFLP banners, to the cemetery where a mock gravestone was placed commemorating Nayef Zayed.

Nayef Zayed was imprisoned by Israeli occupation forces in 1986 and accused of participation in the killing of a settler in Jerusalem; after four years of imprisonment and a 40-day hunger strike, he escaped from prison. He later made his way to Bulgaria, where he married Rania, a Palestinian Bulgarian, and had three children; as a permanent resident in Bulgaria, he was active in the Palestinian community in Sofia. He was found dead after a fall from a large height inside the Palestinian embassy on 26 February. He had sought refuge in the embassy following an extradition request to the Bulgarian government made by the Israeli state, demanding that Nayef Zayed be arrested after 26 years of freedom and turned over to the Israelis.

Nayef Zayed was affiliated with the Palestinian leftist political party and resistance movement, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Palestinian organizations have demanded justice and accountability from those responsible for his death, primarily the Israeli state and its security agencies, the Palestinian Authority that failed to protect and harassed him, and the Bulgarian government which pushed him into refuge.

A group of Nayef Zayed’s comrades carried a symbolic coffin for Nayef Zayed as they marched through the streets of Jenin leading the large crowd, chanting against the occupation and for justice for the killing of Omar. Speakers at the event included Khader Adnan, former Palestinian political prisoner released twice from administrative detention after long-term hunger strikes; Jaafar Abu Salah of the PFLP; and Alaa al-Saadi.

In Gaza City, large crowds marched with a symbolic coffin for Nayef Zayed carried by Palestinian fighters, marching through the streets and chanting for justice and accountability for the killers of Nayef Zayed.

Allam Kaabi, a former prisoner, spoke on behalf of the PFLP, saluting Nayef Zayed’s life of struggle and sacrifice and vowing to pursue those responsible for his death. Khaled al-Batsh of Islamic Jihad likened the killing of Nayef Zayed to the assassination of Fathi Shiqaqi in Malta, Khalil al-Wazir in Tunisia and Abu Ali Mustafa in Ramallah, urging Palestinian unity to confront the ongoing threats to Palestinian leaders and the Palestinian people.

New York protest demands justice for Rasmea Odeh

11 June 2016

Dozens of New Yorkers gathered on Friday, 10 June to rally and march in support of Palestinian community leader, former Palestinian prisoner, and torture survivor Rasmea Odeh. Odeh will return to court on Monday, 13 June for a closed status hearing following her victory in the Court of Appeals, which rejected Judge Gershwin Drain’s exclusion of expert testimony on her torture by Israeli occupation forces and subsequent PTSD.

Beginning with a protest outside G4S, the security contractor that provides security systems, equipment, and control rooms to Israeli prisons, checkpoints, and interrogation centers, protesters then marched to the Times Square US military recruiting center. The New York protest was part of several actions around the country in support of Odeh, who was convicted of unlawful procurement of naturalization based on charges stemming from her imprisonment and torture by Israeli occupation forces. Odeh, a Palestinian community leader in Chicago renowned for her organizing among Palestinian and Arab women, was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment and deportation; she is free and working in Chicago during her ongoing appeal against the conviction.

Michela Martinazzi of the Committee to Stop FBI Repression read a special statement (below) from Rasmea Odeh to the rally. Speakers included Suzanne Adely of the US Palestinian Community Network, Bill Doares of the NY 4 Palestine Coalition, Sara Flounders of the International Action Center, lawyer Scott Fenstermaker, transit worker activist Marty Goodman, activist Jill Dowling, and Nerdeen Kiswani of New York City Students for Justice in Palestine.

Joe Catron of Samidoun spoke about the role of G4S today as a profiteer and enabler of torture, continuing the same oppression that Rasmea Odeh suffered in Israeli prison. He also addressed the role of US foreign policy and the Pentagon in supporting Israeli aggression and imperial attacks on people around the world. He noted that at the same time Rasmea Odeh – former Palestinian prisoner once again facing persecution in the United States – was returning to court, fellow former Palestinian prisoner Omar Nayef Zayed was being laid to rest in Sofia, Bulgaria. Nayef Zayed was found dead in the Palestinian embassy in Bulgaria on 26 February after a fall from several stories; he had taken refuge in the embassy for 72 days from an attempt to extradite him back to the Israeli state.

Catron noted that the death of Omar Nayef Zayed indicated “the lengths that the Zionist regime would go to pursue its enemies, as well as the complicity of its state allies. Rasmea’s prosecution by the US is part of the same dynamics.” Focusing in on G4S, he said that the security corporation “exemplifies the Zionist torture regime from which both Rasmea and Omar had escaped or been liberated.”

Catron also noted the funeral of famed athlete and cultural phenomenon, Muhammad Ali, taking place at the same time. He recalled Ali’s words and actions in support of the Palestinian struggle: “I declare support for the Palestinian struggle to liberate their homeland and oust the Zionist invaders.”

Goodman, of the Transit Workers Union Local 100, discussed a demand by progressive transit workers to challenge Governor Andrew Cuomo’s recent Executive Order seeking to suppress BDS activism in New York in solidarity with Palestine by prohibiting state funds’ investment in corporations or entities identified as supporting BDS, and producing a state “blacklist” of organizations and companies supporting the BDS campaign. Progressive transit workers are planning to attend an upcoming MTA (Metropolitan Transit Authority) meeting and demand that it defy the Executive Order by divesting instead from funds invested with the Zionist occupation.

The protesters were joined in Times Square by a street performer dressed in a Spiderman costume, expressing his support for their demands. As they rallied and marched, they engaged in spirited chants demanding freedom and justice for Rasmea Odeh and the Palestinian people.

The rally and march were endorsed by Al-Awda New York: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, American Muslims for Palestine, the Committee to Stop FBI Repression NYC, the International Action Center, Jews for Palestinian Right of Return, Labor for Palestine, New York City Students for Justice in Palestine, NY4Palestine, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Palestine Solidarity Alliance of Hunter College, Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, and the US Palestinian Community Network.

Rasmea Odeh’s statement to the protest:

To my wonderful friends and colleagues in NY:

I thank you all for coming out in support of my freedom, in support of justice, in support of Palestinian rights. Because make no mistake–this is not an immigration case or a case of lying on an application. It’s a case, like so many others, of Palestinians coming under political and legal attack for who we are, because of our nationality, because we have struggled so long and hard for our national and human rights.

In three days, I’ll be appearing again in front of Judge Drain in Detroit. It will be in closed court, in his chambers, but dozens of my family, friends, and supporters will be outside the courthouse nonetheless. This is only a status conference, but when it’s over, we will have a better idea of what’s next in the case. We are going to need you over and over again in the next many months, because there will be more status and evidentiary hearings, and ultimately, if things go as we hope, a BRAND NEW TRIAL.

And at that trial, the TRUTH about Israel will be revealed. The truth about its military courts, its racist and sexist soldiers, its use of rape and torture and collective punishment. When a jury of my peers hears that story, the story of apartheid and terrorist Israel, I know that I will be exonerated. And I know it will be a victory for me, for all of you, and for Palestinians and our supporters across the world.

Thank you. I love you all!

Photos by Joe Catron and Michael Letwin

Family and comrades of Omar Nayef Zayed come together for funeral of resistance

10 June 2016

The family, comrades and friends of the Palestinian martyr Omar Nayef Zayed gathered in Sofia, Bulgaria for his funeral on Friday, 10 June. The burial, at the Islamic cemetery in Sofia, came alongside a powerful speech by Palestinian leader, famed symbol of resistance Leila Khaled, who pledged commitment to the path of struggle of Nayef Zayed.

Beginning from the home of the former Palestinian prisoner and his family, the funeral moved to the Islamic Center of Sofia and then the city’s Muslim cemetery, where he was laid to rest, his coffin covered in a Palestinian flag and the banner of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Members of the Palestinian and Arab communities in Sofia, representatives of Palestinian organizations in Europe, and a Samidoun delegation joined Nayef Zayed’s family and friends for the funeral. The funeral was covered by Arab and Palestinian media, including Al-Quds TV.

Palestinian leftist writer Khaled Barakat spoke with Palestinian media at the funeral, emphasizing that the struggles of Palestinians like Omar Nayef Zayed are part of “one struggle for return and liberation – a struggle that is continuing in Palestine, and in exile, including everywhere in Europe.”

Kashef Nayef Zayed, Omar’s brother, spoke at the funeral, followed by Leila Khaled, speaking on behalf of the PFLP. In her speech, Khaled said that Nayef Zayed was a “victim of occupation and traitors,” pledging that “Omar’s spirit will always be with us” in the struggle for return and liberation of Palestine. Addressing his wife Rania and three children, Khaled pledged that the Front would always be with them, and that those responsible for Nayef Zayed’s death would be held accountable.

Nayef Zayed, 52, was a former Palestinian prisoner who was imprisoned in 1986, as a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, accused with his brother Hamza and Samer Mahroum of being part of an attack on an Israeli extremist settler in Jerusalem. Sentenced to life imprisonment, he escaped in 1990 after a 40-day hunger strike. After traveling in the Arab world for 4 years, he arrived in Bulgaria in 1994. Nayef Zayed was married to Rania, a Palestinian Bulgarian; they had three children. He owned a grocery store and was a leader in Sofia’s Palestinian community. In December 2015, the Israeli embassy in Sofia sought Nayef Zayed’s extradition, demanding his arrest. He took sanctuary in the Palestinian embassy in Sofia while engaged in a campaign against the extradition demand. Throughout this time, he was constantly subject to pressure by PA representatives to leave the embassy. On 26 February, Nayef Zayed’s body was found on the ground of the garden of the embassy; he had fallen from the top story of the building. Since that time, his family and comrades have been engaged in ongoing struggle to hold those responsible for Nayef Zayed’s death accountable and uncover the truth.

Photos and videos by Mostafa Awad and Hatem Abu Shammala

19 June, Paris: Demonstration for the freedom of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah

10 June 2016

Sunday, 19 June
2:00 pm
Place des Fetes, march to Place de la Republique
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/716680151767947/

National Demonstration
Sunday, 19 June

19 June is the international day of revolutionary prison, an important occasion to express our solidarity with Georges Abdallah, Arab communist militant, struggler for national liberation of Palestine and jailed in the prisons of the French state for over 31 years. He is sentenced to a life sentence for alleged participation in operations carried out by the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Faction (LARF), at the time when his country, Lebanon, was invaded by Zionist forces. He has been eligible for release since 1999. Twice, his liberation has been ordered by the parole court, however, Georges Abdallah remains in prison in France, due to the intervention of the US government.

Today, the violence and the repression of the French state has not ceased and instead is growing, the militarization taking place under the cover of the “state of emergency”: searches at all hours, house arrest, “preventive detention,” prohibitions of demonstrations, arrests, charges, trials, escalation of police violence, used immediately and without hesitation with the right to kill given to the repressive forces, institutionalized and generalized repression. The worst of this repression is exerted against the youth of the popular neighborhoods, the political activists and the labor unions. Confronting a repressive state and the killing of freedom, it is just and legitimate to revolt. This is the ground of resistance and struggle in which we express our solidarity in struggle with Georges Abdallah, one struggle for all life, against imperialism and for a free Palestine.

We call on all who stand with the peple in struggle, on the side of the Palestinian resistance, to fight capitalism, imperialism, Zionism, and colonialism, to join us on Sunday, 19 June to affirm our struggle for liberation.

Gather at 2 pm
Place des Fetes Paris 19e (metro Place des Fetes)

The march will go to the Place de la Republique for speeches and a concert.

United Campaign for the Freedom of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah

MANIFESTATION NATIONALE
DIMANCHE 19 JUIN 2016

Le 19 juin est la journée internationale des prisonniers révolutionnaires. Une occasion de plus pour exprimer notre solidarité à Georges Abdallah, militant communiste arabe, combattant pour la lutte de libération nationale de la Palestine et incarcéré dans les geôles de l’État français depuis plus de 31 ans. Condamné à perpétuité pour complicité dans des actes de résistance revendiqués par les Fractions armées révolutionnaires libanaises, alors que son pays le Liban, était envahi par les troupes sionistes, il est libérable depuis 1999. Malgré deux libérations prononcées par le tribunal d’application des peines, Georges Abdallah est maintenu en prison en France, sur injonction du gouvernement étatsunien.

Aujourd’hui, la violence et la répression de l’État français ne cessent de se renforcer, se militarisant même sous couvert de l’état d’urgence : perquisitions à toute heure, assignations à résidence, répression préventive, interdictions de manifester, arrestations, gardes à vue, procès, amplification des violences policières, utilisation immédiate et sans contrôle du droit à tuer donné aux forces de répression, contrôles au faciès institutionnalisés et généralisés. Ce harcèlement et cette répression sont dirigés contre la jeunesse des quartiers populaires, contre les militants politiques et syndicaux. Face à un tel État répressif et liberticide, il est juste et légitime de se révolter. C’est sur ce terreau de résistance et luttes que s’inscrit légitimement notre solidarité au combat de Georges Abdallah, un combat de toute une vie, contre l’impérialisme et pour une Palestine libre.

Que tous ceux et celles qui sont du côté des peuples en lutte, du côté de la résistance palestinienne, qui combattent le capitalisme, l’impérialisme, le sionisme, le colonialisme, se joignent à nous dimanche 19 juin pour affirmer l’exigence de sa libération.

Rendez-vous à 14h
Place des Fêtes Paris 19e (métro Place des Fêtes)

? Le cortège se dirigera vers la Place de la République où s’enchaîneront prises de parole et concert.

Campagne unitaire pour la libération de Georges Ibrahim Abdallah.

18 June, Toulouse: Evening of support for the 4 accused BDS activists

10 June 2016

Saturday, 18 June

5:00 pm
La Chapelle, L’Atelier Ideal
36 rue Danielle Casanova
Toulouse, France
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/290785321254264/

As more and more voices are raised around the world to defend the right to boycott as a legitimate means of action against the criminal policies of the Israeli state, in Toulouse, France, 4 people are being prosecuted in the courts for distributing flyers in support of the BDS Campaign (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions).

The Committee in Support of the 4 Accused BDS activists invites you to learn about their situation and support their freedom of expression and opinion, by participating in this solidarity event.

5 pm: Screening of the film, “The Land Speaks Arabic,” by Maryse Gargour. “The film of Maryse Gargour combines the roles of the director and the historian to review the origins of the conflict: the expulsion of the Palestinian people and the dispossession of their land.”

6 pm: Presentation on the situation of the accused and the repression of the Palestine solidarity movement

7:30 pm – Concert by Mymytchell

De plus en plus de voix s’élèvent à travers le monde pour défendre le droit au boycott comme moyen d’action légitime et non-violent contre la politique criminelle de l’état d’Israël. A Toulouse, 4 personnes sont poursuivies en justice pour une distribution de tracts dans le cadre de la campagne BDS (Boycott – Désinvestissements – Sanctions).

Le comité de soutien aux 4 inculpéEs de la campagne BDS vous invite à venir vous informer sur leur situation et, plus généralement, à soutenir la liberté d’expression et d’opinion en participant à cet événement de solidarité.

17h00 : Projection du film “La Terre Parle Arabe” de Maryse Gargour
“Le film de Maryse Gargour croise les regards de l’historien et du cinéaste pour revenir aux origines du conflit : à savoir l’expulsion des Palestiniens et la spoliation de leurs terres.”

18h00 : Débat – Situation des inculpéEs et pénalisation du mouvement de solidarité avec la Palestine.

17 June, NYC: Protest ICRC restrictions on family visits to Palestinian prisoners

10 June 2016

Friday, 17 June
4:00 pm
ICRC delegation tho the United Nations
801 2nd Ave
New York, NY 10017
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1745860798993592/

The International Committee of the Red Cross has announced nearly 50% cutbacks in Palestinian prisoners’ family visits beginning in July 2016, in an action widely condemned by Palestinian prisoners’ associations and family groups. Join Samidoun in taking action to call on the ICRC to restore twice-monthly family visits for Palestinian prisoners.

Palestinian prisoners are separated from their families by multiple facets of Israeli imprisonment. In clear violation of Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which provides that ‘persons accused of offences shall be detained in the occupied country, and if convicted they shall serve their sentences therein,’ Palestinian prisoners are imprisoned inside the territory of the occupying power. Thus, rather than prisoners being directly accessible to family members, Palestinian prisoners’ family members must seek special permits in order to be able to visit their imprisoned loved one.

These permits are often delayed and denied, and take months to process – when they are approved. Addameer notes that ‘any male family member aged between 16 and 35 is typically prevented from visiting.’ The process of the visit itself is lengthy and difficult, especially for the elderly parents or young children of prisoners. Sumoud Sa’adat describes her visit to her father, imprisoned Palestinian leader Ahmad Sa’adat, here – the joy of connection, but the pain of seeing her mother’s visit denied, the humiliation imposed by guards, and the arduous process and lengthy waits involved.

The ICRC notes that it is taking this step first because of budget cuts, and second, because of ‘efficiency,’ noting that families do not always take advantage of the opportunity for the second visit. From the denial of permits, to the multiple checkpoints and searches, to the dirty and uncomfortable waiting areas, to the sudden denial of visits, to the prohibition of goods, to the long wait times, Israel engages in systematic practices designed to discourage Palestinian family visits. By denying Palestinian families their second monthly visit, the ICRC is participating in the Israeli policy of undermining, minimizing and denying family visits.

The International Committee of the Red Cross should be working to bring an end to the Israeli obstructions of family visits, and the Israeli violations of the Geneva Conventions, beginning with the location of imprisonment for the vast majority of Palestinian prisoners, rather than placing the weight of budget cuts on those most vulnerable and least able to bear it – Palestinian prisoners and their families. Palestinian families have no other means of securing family visits. The ICRC family visit program is their only option – and this decision removes 50% of Palestinian families’ access to this essential lifeline.

14 June, NYC: Solidarity with General Strike in France + Mumia Abu Jamal Commemoration Event

10 June 2016

Tuesday, 14 June
4:00 pm – 6:00 pm – Solidarity Protest with General Strike in France
French Consulate
934 Fifth Avenue (between 74th and 75th Sts), NYC

6:30 pm – 10:00 pm – Reportback from solidarity delegation to 10th anniversary celebration of Rue Mumia Abu-Jamal in Saint-Denis, France
LOCAL 1199, SEIU
310 West 43 Street, 7th floor. NYC

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1746102895635237/

Samidoun is a signer of this call and endorser of this event:

We, the undersigned, express our support for the ongoing mobilization of France’s workers in a coalition led by the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), and of the Nuit Debout movement consisting primarily of youth and students, against austerity attacks contained in that country’s so-called Labor Reform Law. This law, which was pushed through by the government and corporate vultures, will only serve to drive down the standard of living for current and future generations.

The demand to retain a 35-hour work week, with overtime paid after that, is part of the continuum that includes the often raised ‘30 hours work for 40 hours pay’ as a solution to unemployment in the U.S., and the current low-wage workers’ demand for $15 an hour and predictable scheduling.

The multinational French working class is using many forms of strikes, occupations and street protest, all of which illustrate who has the real power in society. On one day, no corporate newspapers were printed and on another, 40% of mass transit was shut down. This is happening despite the extension of a state of emergency (six months after the concert hall tragedy), the extreme militarization of the French police forces, and use of chemical gases– such as our sisters from SEIU 1199 and our brother from APWU suffered from while in Paris waiting to join the 2016 May Day parade.

We call on United States and other countries’ unions and other workers’ organizations, community groups and youth groups to exchange information with the French CGT and student leaders via satellite, radio, and written interviews with reliable translators. We further urge everyone to support the June 14 general strike in France via resolutions, educational meetings, and rallies at the nearest French consulate. [Those of us in the New York City area intend to gather near the French Consulate at 934 5th Avenue that day between 4:00 and 6:00 p.m. EDT].

To sign on to this call, please contact the Ad Hoc Committee to Support French Workers c/o Johnnie Stevens at nysckrs@gmail.com.

Report back from U.S. solidarity delegation to
10th anniversary celebration of Rue Mumia-Abu Jamal
in Saint-Denis France, April 30, 2016.
Powerful example of international solidarity.

Also: report on delegation’s participation
in French workers´ militant resistance to government´s vicious attacks on long-standing union
and workers’ rights in France.

Delegation: Estela Vazquez, Vice President of Local 1199/SEIU; Keith Cook, Mumia’s brother; Johnnie Stevens, videographer, longtime labor reporter, International Action Center; Betsey Piette, International Action Center; Rev. Renee McKenzie, Minister, Church of the Advocate, Phila.; Marylin Zuniga, teacher fired for allowing her students to send Mumia get well cards; Nyle Forte, worked with Black Lives Matter in Ferguson, recently returned from Palestine; Alma Pendleton, Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC), Freedom Party; Suzanne Ross, Coordinator of delegation, representing International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Speakers: Estela Vazquez, Marilyn Zuniga, Nyle Fort, Johnnie Stevens, Betsey Piette, Rev. McKenzie, Pam Africa

MC’s: Suzanne Ross, Alma Pendleton

Videos, slide show, photos and banners
will be part of the evening’s presentation.

LOCAL 1199, SEIU
310 WEST 43 Street, 7th floor. NYC
«««»»»

Light supper will be available at minimal cost

For more information, leave a message at
Mumia Coalition Hotline
212.330.8029. Your call will be returned!

Journalist and human rights defender Hasan Safadi ordered to six months administrative detention

10 June 2016

Palestinian journalist and human rights defender, Hasan Safadi, the Arabic Media Coordinator for Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, was ordered to six months imprisonment without charge or trial under administrative detention by Israeli occupation forces today, Friday, 10 June.

Safadi, 24, who has been imprisoned since 1 May while crossing the Karameh bridge between Jordan and Palestine’s West Bank, has been under interrogation consistently at Al-Moskobiya interrogation center since that time. His detention had been repeatedly renewed. Prior to the issuance of the administrative detention order, the Jerusalem Magistrate Court had decided to release him today on a bail of 2500 NIS (approximately $650 USD), which had already been paid.

Safadi’s administrative detention order is scheduled to be confirmed by a judge at a time set in the next 48 hours, reported Addameer, making him one of approximately 750 Palestinians held without charge or trial under administrative detention. Administrative detention orders are indefinitely renewable and issued for one to six month periods at a time; some Palestinians have spent years at a time in administrative detention, on the basis of secret evidence submitted by the Shin Bet.

The detention of Safadi is part of the continued attack on Palestinian journalists and media workers, which includes the administrative detention without charge or trial of Omar Nazzal, member of the General Secretariat of the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate; Musab Kafisheh, freelance journalist; Mohammed Kaddoumi, freelance journalist; and Ali Al-Oweiwi, an announcer on Arabah radio station.

Other Palestinian journalists like Samer Abu Aisha, Sami al-Saee and Samah Dweik are imprisoned on “incitement” charges for posting on Facebook about Palestinian politics and struggle, while Abu Aisha also faces charges for visiting neighboring Lebanon, an “enemy country.” Other imprisoned journalists targeted for membership in political parties include Hazem Nasser and Mujahid Saadi. They are among 19 journalists imprisoned in Israeli jails.

Further, the imprisonment of Safadi also continues attacks on Palestinian human rights defenders, particularly those who work to free Palestinian prisoners, including recently released Addameer vice-chair and Palestinian Legislative Council member Khalida Jarrar; imprisoned land defender and advocate Samer Arbeed, held without charge or trial; civil society leader Eteraf Rimawi, executive director of Bisan, imprisoned without charge or trial; and repeatedly targeted prisoners’ advocates like Ayman Nasser of Addameer and Osama Shaheen of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Center for Studies.

Desmond Tutu joins nomination of Marwan Barghouthi for Nobel Peace Prize

10 June 2016

Archbishop Desmond Tutu joined the campaign to nominate imprisoned Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouthi for a Nobel Peace Prize, writing to the Nobel Committee on 6 June in support of Barghouthi’s nomination.

Barghouthi, a leader in Fateh who, along with Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Secretary Ahmad Sa’adat, is one of the most prominent Palestinians in Israeli jails, was first nominated by Nobel laureate Adolfo Perez Esquivel, Argentine human rights activist who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1980.

Leading Belgian parliamentarians Gwenaëlle Grovonius (PS), President of the bilateral section Belgium-Palestine of the Belgian group to the Inter-Parliamentary Union and federal parliamentary deputy, Dirk Vandermaelen (sp.a.), President of the External Relations Committee, Vincent Van Quickenborne (Open-VLD), President of the Social Affairs Committee, Jean-Marc Delizée (PS), President of the Economy Committee, Benoit Hellings (Ecolo), Vice-President of the National Defence Committee, and Senators Piet De Bruyn (N-VA) and Nadia El Yousfi (PS), joined in the nomination of Barghouthi in May.

The Tunisian Quartet, who were awarded the Prize in 2015, chose to dedicate their prize to Barghouthi at an event in Tunisia marking Palestinian Land Day.

Tutu – the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize laureate – is world-renowned for his struggle against apartheid in South Africa. Tutu has been a consistent supporter of Palestinian rights and justice for Palestine, supporting the campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel.

Along with other prominent South African leaders like Ahmad Kathrada, Tutu has been a longtime supporter of the campaign to free Marwan Barghouthi and the 7,000 other Palestinian prisoners.

Tutu’s letter follows below:

Norwegian Nobel Committee
Henrik Ibsens gate 5
0255 Oslo, NORWAY

I hereby nominate the imprisoned Palestinian leader, Marwan Barghouthi, for the Nobel Peace Prize. Marwan Barghouthi was first imprisoned when he was 15 years old, and has spent over two decades of his life in Israeli jails. He was the first Palestinian parliamentarian to be abducted in 2002. Many of his colleagues would follow with nearly half of the members of the Palestinian Legislative Council being arrested in the last decade. These arrests against elected representatives constitute a blatant attack against the Palestinian nation, democracy and rights.

Israel has arrested since 1967 over 850,000 Palestinians in the most striking example of mass arbitrary arrest in contemporary history. It has arrested leaders, militants, academics, journalists, children, women, the elderly and human rights defenders in an attempt to break the will of an entire people striving for freedom and independence. The 7,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails today are a reflection of the imprisonment of a nation and the negation of its rights, through occupation, oppression and siege. The freedom of the Palestinian prisoners is a pre-requisite for the freedom of the Palestinian people.

The nomination of Marwan Barghouthi, a symbol of the Palestinian people’s struggle for freedom, constitutes a clear signal of support for the realisation of the Palestinian people’s inalienable rights, including to self-determination. There is an international consensus around these rights but there is a need to support them through symbolic and practical steps that would precipitate the end of the occupation as an indispensable step to achieve peace. Marwan Barghouthi has fought for freedom and peace and has formulated the correlation between these two struggles by stating that the last day of this Israeli occupation will be the first day of peace. He has drafted from behind bars the prisoners’ document signed by Palestinian leaders from across the political spectrum, which constitutes till today a basis for the efforts towards national reconciliation enjoying wide national consensus, as well as a political programme to achieve unity, freedom and peace. Marwan is also an active advocate and defender of democracy and human rights, including women rights, and of pluralism, both religious and political, in a region and a world that desperately needs such advocates.

Palestine will soon be commemorating 70 years since the Nakba, which lead to the dispossession and displacement of the Palestinian people, as well as the negation of their rights. Palestine remains today a symbol of the international community’s failure to assume its obligations to respect, and ensure respect for, international law and to achieve international peace and security. I call on the members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee to seize this occasion to bring attention back to the question of Palestine and to the calls for a just and lasting peace, a prospect Marwan Barghouthi continues advocating and acting for, despite years of imprisonment and isolation.

In 2013, an International Campaign for the freedom of Marwan Barghouthi and all Palestinian prisoners was launched by one of the icons of our struggle against apartheid, Ahmed Kathrada, from the cell of the universal symbol of freedom, Nelson Mandela, on Robben Island. I decided to support this Campaign alongside 7 other Nobel Peace Prize laureates as a reflection of our belief that freedom was the only path to peace. This Campaign was also endorsed by 115 governments around the world, over 15 former heads of states and governments, parliamentarians, artists and intellectuals, academics and human rights organisations, as well as thousands of citizens across the globe. This wide international support will gain new momentum if Marwan is granted the Nobel Peace Prize.

I hope the Nobel Committee will take a bold decision bringing us closer to the day this holy land, charged with unique symbolic value, can stop being a living testimony of injustice and impunity, occupation and apartheid, and can finally be a beacon of freedom, hope and peace. God Bless You.

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu
Cape Town, South Africa
06 June 2016

Protests begin in support of Rasmea Odeh, persecuted torture survivor and former prisoner

10 June 2016

On 13 June, Rasmea Odeh – former Palestinian political prisoner, torture survivor, and Palestinian community leader – will have a status hearing in chambers in Detroit before Judge Gershwin Drain. This hearing is the first after Odeh and her lawyers won a victory in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, sending her case back to trial after her conviction on immigration charges stemming from her imprisonment and torture by Israeli occupation forces beginning in 1969. Protests are taking place in multiple cities beginning today, 10 June, in New York City, to support Odeh’s struggle for justice.

Odeh was convicted of unlawful procurement of naturalization, based on not disclosing her time as a Palestinian political prisoner in Israeli jails to US immigration officials. Judge Drain prohibited Rasmea not only from discussing her sexual, physical and psychological torture in court, but from admitting any evidence, including expert testimony, that she suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). She was convicted and sentenced to eighteen months imprisonment and deportation. Rasmea and her legal team appealed immediately – and the appeals court ruled that it was an error to exclude the PTSD evidence from the jury – which means that Rasmea now has a strong path for a new trial.

Odeh has received support from across the United States and around the world since her arrest. The Rasmea Defense Committee, including the Coalition to Stop FBI Repression and the US Palestinian Community Network and many other organizations, has organized legally and politically to support Rasmea’s case. She is currently free, living and working in Chicago while the appeal is pending.

Supporters of Rasmea are organizing protests, actions and events to support Rasmea, while the Rasmea Defense Committee is organizing for the rally in Detroit. In New York, a large coalition of groups, including Al-Awda New York: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, American Muslims for Palestine, the Committee to Stop FBI Repression NYC, the International Action Center, Jews for Palestinian Right of Return, Labor for Palestine, New York City Students for Justice in Palestine, NY4Palestine, Palestine Solidarity Alliance of Hunter College, Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, and the US Palestinian Community Network, will protest on 10 June. The protest will begin at G4S Secure Solutions (a contractor with Israeli prisons), 19 West 44th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues, followed by a march to the US Armed Forces recruiting station (part of the Defense Department which provides Israel with US military aid), 200 West 43rd Street at Broadway. Protests are also planned for Tampa and Detroit, outside the closed hearing.

“The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Judge Gershwin Drain wrongfully barred the testimony of a torture expert that was critical to Rasmea’s defense,” said Suzanne Adely, an attorney and member of the US Palestinian Community Network. “During her trial, Rasmea was not allowed to tell her story of arrest, torture and forced confession in 1969. If Judge Drain cannot determine new legal avenues to exclude the expert testimony, Rasmea will be granted a new trial. It was recently announced that this status hearing will take place in chambers and not in open court, but Rasmea’s supporters will still be outside the courthouse on June 13.”

“We’re going all out in Detroit for Rasmea because solidarity is the strongest way to support people who are being attacked by the state,” said Michela Martinazzi, a member of the Committee to Stop FBI Repression NYC. “For those who can’t go, rallies and events show that Rasmea is supported nationally and has a whole movement of people behind her. Rasmea is not facing the state alone, but has hundreds, from New York to Tampa, rallying for justice.”

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