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Samidoun Albuquerque Highlights Defense of Al Aqsa and Palestine Solidarity Struggle

Around 30 people gathered in front of the University of New Mexico bookstore, on Tiwa Territories (Albuquerque, New Mexico) to highlight the Zionist invasion of Al Aqsa during the holy days of Ramadan and to show solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for liberation.

Micheáilín Buitléir, longtime activist and member of Samidoun ABQ welcomed the group, spoke about the work of Samidoun with its focus on the Palestinian prisoners’ struggle. They explained that we support all forms of resistance, including armed resistance, and that we encourage people to get involved with us through Facebook or Instagram.

We want to thank the Answer Coalition for providing the sound system and their members for attending the event.

Samidoun Albuquerque (Samidoun ABQ) member and longtime anti-Zionist Jewish activist Benay Blend closed the event by encouraging everyone to check out the Samidoun webpage for articles about the prisoners’ movement as well as the movement’s events around the world.

15 April, Toronto: Al-Quds Day – Stop Anti-Palestinian Racism in Canada, Free Palestine!


What: Al-Quds Day 2023
Theme: STOP Anti – Palestinian Racism in Canada
When: Saturday, April 15 at 3:00 pm
Where: Opposite U.S. Consulate 361 University Ave, Toronto

Speakers at this event will include Charlotte Kates of Samidoun and Khaled Barakat of the Masar Badil.

Endorsed By:
Greater Toronto for BDS
Neturei Karta International (NKI)
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
Oakville Palestinian Rights Association
Socialist Action
Just Peace Advocates/Mouvement Pour Une Paix Juste

Join us at FB: https://tinyurl.com/Al-QudsToronto
Instagram: alqudsdaytoronto
Contact us: alqudstoronto@gmail.com

Free Walid Daqqah! Palestinian prisoner in intensive care after lung surgery

Palestinian prisoner, revolutionary intellectual and writer Walid Daqqah is currently in intensive care in Barzilai Hospital after a surgery to remove part of his lung, a statement by his family, his family reported in a new statement on 12 April. Daqqah, 62, has been imprisoned since 25 March 1986 and has been diagnosed with a rare bone marrow cancer, myelofibrosis. He was recently highlighted as part of the Pre-Oslo Prisoners campaign as one of the longest-held Palestinians behind occupation bars. He is held in Barzilai medical center now, still a prisoner, after repeated delays in proper treatment for his cancer as well as for a stroke, which led to pneumonia.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network reiterates our call for Daqqah’s immediate release from Zionist prisons, and the release of all Palestinian prisoners. The policy of long-term medical neglect is a policy of the slow execution of Palestinian detainees, with Walid Daqqah the latest example of this brutal policy.

We are republishing below the statement of the family:

Following new medical examinations during the past two days, the prisoner Walid Daqqah underwent surgery in the lungs and, according to the available information, part of his right lung was removed. He is currently in intensive care at Barzilai Hospital in Asqalan.

This came after the serious deterioration that he suffered since 20 March 2023, as a result of the policy of medical negligenc, carried out for the purpose of deliberately killing him in the occupation prisons. He was diagnosed with myelofibrosis (a rare cancer of the bone marrow) on 18 December 2022, which developed from leukemia that was diagnosed in 2015. Walid needs intensive health treatment for the lungs, kidneys and blood, and he also needs a very sensitive bone marrow transplant procedure (noting that more than one donor is available). This requires a therapeutic environment that is not available at a minimum level, in light of the conditions of his captivity and the strict guarding practiced by the prison administration.

Therefore, we demand:

First: The official Palestinian and Arab political level and local, regional, and international human rights organizations must work for the immediate release of the prisoner Walid Daqqah for him to receive treatment without restriction in a hospital where the necessary conditions are met for the success of the medical procedures he needs, in the presence of his family.

Second: The urgent formation of a medical team from his family, prisoners’ institutions, and human rights organizations to visit Walid, in order to break the medical blackout about his condition.

Samidoun statement on smear campaign in Germany

A statement by Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network: 

On Saturday, 8 April, nearly 1,000 people marched through the streets of Berlin in solidarity with Palestine. The reality of this demonstration was that it was strong and organized, an expression of outrage and internationalism against the war crimes and crimes against humanity being committed against the Palestinian people by the Israeli occupation regime. 

Despite the presence of an excessively large number of police as well as Arabic translators specifically brought by the police to surveil the crowd, there were no incidents reported by anyone while the demonstration took place. Instead, images of the demonstration spread around the world, a sign that Palestinians, Arabs, and internationalists in Germany have not forgotten the ongoing injustice in Palestine.

As always, when there is a large demonstration for Palestine, and particularly when the Palestinian and Arab community in Berlin speaks out for justice and against racism and repression, the attacks and attempts to criminalize the demonstration soon follow. We have seen this same rhetoric play out time and time again, and every time a new pretext is used to incite the suppression of the Palestinian voice in Berlin — as well as the suppression of all voices for justice. 

This time, the pretext is a sensationalized video that is widely circulated by German media. The video in question contains deliberate translation errors, open demonization of Palestinians in general and Samidoun Network in particular, and openly vilifies political prisoners on hunger strike fighting blatantly political charges as civilians before occupation military courts, elderly political prisoners being murdered in Israeli prisons due to medical neglect, and child prisoners. The video attempts to highlight a single voice allegedly shouting an anti-Semitic slogan during the demonstration. The individual that allegedly shouted this statement is never shown in the video, they were not joined by any other person, the chant did not come from the front of the demonstration nor over the microphone, and this individual voice in a mass demonstration of a thousand people just happened to be close enough to these “journalists” for them to pick up his chant and use it to launch an extensive smear campaign against organizing for Palestine in Germany. 

The identity of this person is entirely unclear, as is their reason for shouting this or even whether they were a participant in the demonstration at all. One thing is clear: they had nothing to do with the organization, direction, leadership or political framework of the mobilization and this statement does not reflect our clear anti-racist, anti-colonial vision for a liberated Palestine. Every single Palestinian demonstration in Germany is routinely and falsely targeted and smeared as anti-Jewish, when it is in fact anti-racist and pro-liberation. This is also being used to try to criminalize Samidoun, our member organizations and our initiatives in other countries thousands of kilometers away, which shows the true intentions of this campaign.

This smear tactic aims at putting in question our clear stance against anti-Semitism and all forms of racism, and by extent, our natural stance against the statement allegedly shouted by a single individual in the vicinity of the demonstration. Principled organization for Palestine is by definition anti-Zionist, against this racist and colonial system that oppresses and attempts at eliminating the Palestinian people. And we are joined in this struggle with our anti-zionist Jewish comrades, because our struggle is not in the context of a religious conflict, but is a liberation movement against colonialism, occupation, and oppression.

Two very important points about the weaponization of such incidents that are impossible to account for in a mass demonstration: 

  • We view such statements as a tool in the hands of reactionary and repressive forces, including pro-apartheid organizations that seek to criminalize support for Palestine.
  • Zionism and its ongoing drive to designate this fascist ideology as “Jewish” has long played a nefarious role in confusing Zionism, a racist political ideology, with Judaism and Jewishness. The same is true of Western powers that repeatedly refer to the Israeli occupation as the “Jewish state”, attempting to tar all Jews with the brush of Zionist crimes. It is the Palestinian liberation movement that rejects the equation of Jews with Zionists and the Zionist movement that seeks to institutionalize that same equation. 

Further, we are also clear that these coordinated attacks do not reflect any desire to act against racism, including anti-Semitism, in Berlin or in Germany. Instead, they exist to achieve three main objectives:

  • Attempt to manufacture a pretext to prohibit organizations working for justice and liberation in Palestine, like the Samidoun Network, or to ban demonstrations, like the upcoming marches to commemorate the 75th anniversary of al-Nakba, the catastrophic occupation of Palestine, as we experienced in May 2022. 
  • Attempt to manufacture anti-Palestinian racism and repression on the streets of Berlin and to intimidate our community from participating in actions and demonstrations. 
  • Attempt to draw attention away from the topic of the demonstration itself — that is, the ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Palestine, justified by the German government and its political parties, up to and including the extreme settler movement that marched through the West Bank of occupied Palestine today, the calls to occupy all of Jordan as well as all of Palestine by Israeli Minister Bezalel Smotrich and the attacks on Palestinians at prayer in Al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan. 

We will not be silenced or suppressed, and we will not stand by as our community is targeted for repression and criminalization. We urge all to join us on Sunday, 16 April for the March to Free Palestinian Prisoners. With our collective clarity and voice, we once again affirm, from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!

7 April, Vancouver: Banner Drop for Palestine

Friday, April 7
3:30 pm
Gather at Main and Prior (5 minute walk from Main Street – Science World Skytrain), Vancouver

Defend Al-Aqsa, Al-Quds, Palestine! Long Live the Resistance! Vancouver solidarity-resistance-liberation banner drop for Palestine. All welcome to join us: the more folks we have, the more banners and flags we can display!

Defend Al-Aqsa, Defend Jerusalem, Defend Palestine! Protests and actions around the world

On 4 and 5 April, the scenes of Israeli occupation forces invading Al-Aqsa Mosque during the holy month of Ramadan and brutally attacking Palestinian worshipers were displayed around the world on video. The beatings, the mass arrests, the vicious assault on Palestinians gathering in the mosque or in prayer once again exposed the reality of the Zionist colonial project in Palestine — that of the most vicious colonial assault that aims to strip the land, identity and holy sites away from the Palestinian and Arab people in order to make way for an invasion by a few fanatical settlers a few hours later. 

In the attack on Al-Aqsa, hundreds of Palestinians were forced to the ground, tied and subjected to mass arrest. Once again, arrest, imprisonment, detention and interrogation were clearly colonial tools used in an attempt to suppress the Palestinian people and their resistance. In fact, many of these had been beaten or injured during the assault on the mosque amid the holy month, when tens of thousands gather every night to worship together. 

The open brutality of the assault and its clear direction for the interests of the most fanatical sector of the Zionist regime — that represented by Itamar Ben Gvir, Bezalel Smotrich and their constituents in the “hilltop youth” — sparked outrage around the world. First, and most profoundly, the outrage by Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims, part of over 75 years of struggle against Zionist colonialism, occupation and apartheid, with this new assault keenly recognized as an attempt to confiscate holy sites and attack even the celebration of Ramadan by the occupier, and by progressive forces around the world standing with the Palestinian people. However, even many of the very imperialist states and officials that routinely defend Israeli colonialism and continue to sell it weapons, provide it with aid, and give it a privileged status in trade, were compelled to issue statements of condemnation: The reality was all too clear, and the outrage too great. 

The attacks on Al-Aqsa Mosque are an attack on the Palestinian, Arab and Muslim identity of the holy site as well as an attack on the identity of Jerusalem. Palestinians in Jerusalem are subjected to ongoing campaigns of ethnic cleansing, forced displacement, mass arrests and attempts to strip them of their residency in their own home city. Jerusalem has been illegally “annexed” by the settler colonial project, the same future it envisions for the entire West Bank of occupied Palestine.

During this time, the Palestinian and Lebanese resistance have made clear, verbally and in action, their commitment to the defense of Al-Aqsa and Jerusalem — and all of Palestine, from the river to the sea. The strength of the Palestinian people and their resistance in all of its forms, inside and outside Palestine, is on full display as many tens of thousands more came to Al-Aqsa Mosque to continue their worship, as the people of Gaza stand with pride with their resistance despite the terror bombings of the occupation military, and as the occupation openly expresses its fear of confrontation with the Lebanese resistance led by Hezbollah that has defeated it multiple times in the past. The prisoners’ movement just won a significant victory over a divided Zionist camp, while Khader Adnan continues his hunger strike for over 2 months behind bars.

It is critical for people around the world to come together to defend Al-Aqsa, to defend Jerusalem, and to defend Palestine from the river to the sea from the colonialist onslaught. The imperialist powers, despite some words of condemnation, continue to practice a policy of strategic alliance with the Zionist regime. They continue to sell weapons to the occupation and buy its weapons, “battle-tested” on Palestinians, Lebanese and Syrians. The occupation weapons factories continue to produce their machines of death, while corporations profit from their ties with the occupation. Now is the time to make clear that this is unacceptable and that the people of the world stand with Palestine and the Palestinian people, to bring this injustice of over 75 years to an end — toward the liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea. 

We urge you to join the events and actions below in your city to defend Al-Aqsa, defend Jerusalem and defend Palestine. If your event is not listed here, please email us at samidoun@samidoun.net or DM us on Instagram or Twitter and we will add it. Please note, these events are organized by many different groups and wherever possible, we have linked to the post of at least one of the original organizers so that you can contact them with any questions or for any changes: 

Friday, 7 April 

Saturday, 8 April 

Sunday, 9 April

Wednesday, 12 April

Friday, 14 April

Saturday, 15 April

Sunday, 16 April

Monday, 17 April

Tuesday, 18 April

Wednesday, 19 April

7 April, Ottawa: Hands off Al-Aqsa! Emergency Protest

🚨OTTAWA — EMERGENCY PROTEST FOR AL-AQSA🚨

In the past two nights, Zionist Occupation Forces stormed the al-Aqsa mosque and brutally shot, assaulted, detained and forcibly removed Palestinian Muslim worshippers. The worshippers were in al-Aqsa performing i`tikaf, a part of Ramadan’s rituals where Muslims remain in mosques overnight to pray. The desecration of one of Jerusalem’s holiest sites during Ramadan is a yearly occurrence that depicts the brutality of the occupation. The occupation has currently detained over 400 Palestinians, mostly youth, who steadfastly confronted the occupation forces.

We call on our community members and allies in Ottawa and Gatineau to join us this Friday at 2:30 p.m. at the Human Rights Memorial (220 Elgin Street) to affirm that Al-Aqsa belongs to the steadfast Palestinian people and to uplift our land defenders.

بالروح بالدم نفديك يا اقصى

°°°

🗓Friday, April 7 — 2:30 pm
📍Human Rights Memorial (220 Elgin Street), Ottawa

8 April, Berlin: Demonstrate for Al-Aqsa and the Palestinian People

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network and the Masar Badil, the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement, call for broad participation in the popular demonstration on Saturday, April 8, in Berlin, Germany “to declare with one voice that our Palestinian people will respond to the call of duty in defense of their people and sanctities, and in order to liberate their land from the river to the sea.” The demonstration and march will take place on Saturday, 8 April at 4 pm (16h), beginning at Rathaus Neukolln and marching to Kottbusser Tor.

Jaldia Abubakra, a member of the Executive Committee of the Masar Badil, called on all Palestinian and Arab communities and supporters of the Palestinian people to express their anger at what is happening in Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque. The movement called on all its organizations and committees to announce a continuous popular, trade union and media movement in various locations and arenas.

 

8 April, Cologne: Solidarity with Palestine, Defend Al-Aqsa

The armed resistance, based on popular support, has shown that it is the only legitimate protector of Al-Aqsa and Palestine. And just as the masses of our people in the occupied homeland rose up in all the squares of Palestine, the time has come for our people in the diaspora to rise up to express the unity of the Palestinian people and to support their legitimate right to defend themselves and their rights.

The Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement and the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network invite you to participate in a demonstration and a popular stand on the road to return and liberation, in the city of Cologne, Germany, on Saturday 4/8/2023 at 4 pm at Heumarkt.

8 April, Online Event – Palestine, Land, Liberation and Return: Learn about the Ottawa conference

Join us Saturday, April 8 at 10 AM Pacific, 1 PM Eastern, 5 PM UTC to discuss Palestine, the next steps in the struggle on Turtle Island/in North America, and the Ottawa Liberation Conference, coming up at the end of the month.

The news from Palestine — the outrageous attacks on Al-Aqsa, the vicious settler militias on rampage, amid the growing and strengthening resistance from the river to the sea — must move us to organize, mobilize and take action. Join us this Saturday to hear from speakers and share your ideas about next steps. Register here to join online: https://bit.ly/landpalestine