Emergency Action: 82 days of hunger strike, threat of death for Palestinian journalist Mohammed al-Qeeq

14 February 2016

Imprisoned Palestinian journalist Mohammed al-Qeeq, 33, is showing symptoms of a heart attack or stroke on his 82nd day of hunger strike, said Palestinian lawyer Hanan al-Khatib, who warned that al-Qeeq may “die at any moment.”

Al-Qeeq is held without charge or trial under Israeli administrative detention. He began his hunger strike on 25 November 2015 – four days after he was arrested by Israeli occupation forces – in protest of the torture to which he was subjected under interrogation – and has maintained the strike since he was imprisoned without charge or trial. His body is reaching the limits of human possibility and he is faced with the danger of multiple organ failure at any time. Still, he is determined to continue and to demand his immediate release.

The case of Mohammed al-Qeeq is not about him alone: it is about Palestinian journalists targeted for persecution for exposing the reality of Israeli occupation; it is about the over 660 Palestinians held in administrative detention without charge or trial; it is about the 7000 Palestinians imprisoned by the Israeli state. His struggle for freedom is a struggle for the freedom of the entire Palestinian people.

Palestinians are taking the streets throughout occupied Palestine to demand al-Qeeq’s release. His fellow prisoners are engaging in solidarity strikes. Fellow administrative detainee – and former hunger striker – Jafar Ezzedine, headed immediately to the solidarity tent outside his home upon his own release from 20 months imprisonment without charge or trial. Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders, and an EU parliamentary delegation have called for the end of al-Qeeq’s detention. Still, his case remains silenced.

On Monday, Samidoun is urging people in the United States and around the world to phone the White House to demand action to pressure the Israeli state to free Mohammed al-Qeeq: Call the White House on Mohammed al-Qeeq’s 83rd day of hunger strike to demand his immediate release: 001-202-456-1111. Join protests in Nicosia on 15 February, and New York on 19 February. And sign and distribute this petition from the International Solidarity Movement calling for meaningful EU action.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network calls for EMERGENCY ACTION everywhere in the world to save Mohammed al-Qeeq and secure his freedom, in every city, on every campus, in every community. Events and actions have taken place in London, New York, Montreal, Berlin, Dublin, Brussels, Nicosia, Lebanon, and throughout Palestine. Now is the time for protests, sit-ins, flyering, tabling, and call-in actions to raise the voice and the profile of Mohammed al-Qeeq and create real popular pressure for his immediate release.

Take Action:

1. Contact government officials and demand that they break their silence on Al-Qeeq and support for Israeli violations of Palestinian rights. In the United States, call the Israel Foreign Service Desk
1-202-647-3672 and the White House – 202-456-1111. Demand action on al-Qeeq’s case and an end to aid to Israel. In the UK, call UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Philip Hammond, MP, +44 20 7008 1500. In Canada, call Foreign Minister Stephane Dion: 613-996-5789.

2. Protest at an Israeli consulate or embassy (or federal building, G4S office or public square) and demand freedom for Mohammed al-Qeeq. Raise the issue of this case publicly and distribute information – this flyer is available for you to distribute at protests in your community. Find your closest Israeli consulate: http://embassy.goabroad.com/embassies-of/israel. Please email us at samidoun@samidoun.netto inform us of your action – we will publicize and share news with the prisoners.

3. Boycott, Divest and Sanction. Palestinians have urged an international boycott of Israeli goods and institutions – and corporations that profit from occupation , like G4S, the world’s largest private security company, that sells security equipment to Israeli prisons, checkpoints and police training centers – directly profiting from the occupation that destroys Palestinian lives. At the same time G4S profits from occupation, institutions like the United Nations continue to do business with it. Go to addameer.org/UNdropG4S to take action!

15 February, Cyprus: Protest to Free Mohammed al-Qeeq

14 February 2016

Monday, 15 February
3:30 pm
European House
Nicosia, Cyprus

The Palestinian Community in Cyprus calls the Palestinian community and friends and supporters of Palestine in Cyprus to come out to protest on Monday, 15 February in an emergency action demanding the release of imprisoned Palestinian journalist, Mohammed al-Qeeq, on his 83rd day of hunger strike against administrative detention without charge or trial.

Free Mohammed al-Qeeq on 81st day of hunger strike, urge activists in Dublin and London

14 February 2016

Activists in Dublin, Ireland, protested in an emergency vigil on Saturday, 13 February, demanding the release of hunger-striking Palestinian journalist, Mohammed al-Qeeq, on his 81st day of hunger strike. The Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign called for the urgent action to support Al-Qeeq, 33, who is imprisoned without charge or trial under Israeli administrative detention. He is currently held in HaEmek hospital in Afula under “suspended” administrative detention by a ruling of the Israeli Supreme Court.

However, he is not free to leave the hospital and his detention can be reimposed at any time. Al-Qeeq launched his hunger strike on 25 November 2015 in protest of his torture under interrogation and has maintained it since in protest of his imprisonment without charge or trial.

Al-Qeeq is in severe danger of death at any time; since 10 February, Israeli authorities have ceased all negotiations with his lawyers. The protesters demanded tha the European Union take action to demand al-Qeeq’s immediate release and an end to the practice of administrative detention, calling on the EU to suspend its Association Agreement with Israel, granting free trade and other privileges, because of its violations of international law and Palestinian human rights.

Photos by Fatin al-Tamimi

In addition, activists in London, England projected images from Inminds on the BBC Broadcasting House, highlighting the case of Mohammed al-Qeeq. Despite al-Qeeq’s 81-day hunger strike, the BBC continues to ignore the case of this imprisoned Palestinian journalist:

On 80th day of hunger strike, New York protest calls for freedom for al-Qeeq, all Palestinian prisoners

13 February 2016

New Yorkers protested on Friday, 12 February – Mohammed al-Qeeq’s 80th day of hunger strike – demanding his freedom from administrative detention without charge or trial. The 33-year-old Palestinian journalist has consumed only water since 25 November and is currently facing a dire health crisis, at risk of multiple organ failure.

The protest, held outside of the offices of G4S, the British-Danish security corporation that provides security equipment and control rooms for Israeli prisons, checkpoints and police training systems, called for al-Qeeq’s immediate release. It was one of the weekly protests organized by Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network in New York City.

G4S is subject to an international boycott campaign because of its involvement in mass imprisonment, torture and colonialism in Palestine, as well as its involvement in human rights violations in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa and elsewhere. Palestinian prisoners have urged a boycott of G4S and hundreds of international organizations have called on the United Nations to stop doing business with G4S.

Following pressure, the Gates Foundation divested its G4S holdings, while organizations like the British Labour Party have ended their contracts with G4S. Still, the massive security corporation continues to provide airport security services in Canada and across much of Europe.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network in New York is urging people to take the streets again next Friday, 19 February, outside G4S’ office at 19 W. 44th Street in Manhattan, to demand G4S immediately end its contracts with Israeli prisons and detention centers, occupation and security forces and checkpoints, and that Israel release al-Qeeq, other administrative detainees and all Palestinian political prisoners.

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Brazilian organizations demand freedom for Mohammed al-Qeeq

13 February 2016

A large number of Brazilian progressive, left, Palestinian and solidarity organizations have come together to demand freedom for imprisoned Palestinian journalist Mohammed al-Qeeq, on his 80th day of hunger strike. Al-Qeeq, 33, has been held without charge or trial by the Israeli occupation since 21 November 2015, and on hunger strike since 25 November. His wife and lawyers have warned that he is “on the brink of death.” Held in HaEmek hospital in Afula, he has rejected all medical treatment until he is free in a Palestinian hospital. Among the signers is Brazilian cartoonist Carlos Latuff, whose design below highlights Al-Qeeq’s strike:

Statement follows:

They will not silence our voices!
Immediate freedom for Palestinian journalist Mohammed al-Qeeq!

Held in administrative detention by Israel since November 2015, Palestinian journalist Mohammed al-Qeeq has been on hunger strike for 80 days, at risk of death. He is facing his third imprisonment at the age of 33.

Administrative detention – without charge, and renewed arbitrarily by Israel every six months – is often used to silence journalists. Currently, there are 17 imprisoned journalists, and 660 Palestinians held in administrative detention.

“Israel is sending a message to all Palestinian journalists,” Yousef Aljamal, researcher at the Center for Policy Studies and Development in Gaza, told Mintpress. “If you talk, we know how to silence you. Administrative detention is there.”

Since the start of the new Intifada (Palestinian uprising against the occupation) last October, this already common action by Israel has only grown. In total, there are almost 10,000 political prisoners, including women and children.

In addition to imprisoning Palestinian journalists, these professionals are subject to daily Israeli attacks. In the massacre in Gaza in 2014, 15 were murdered and broadcasting stations were bombed. Foreign journalists who denounced the genocidal attack were replaced by the media outlets where they worked or dismissed at Israeli request.

In the present Intifada, such methods used by Israel against freedom of speech and expression, in order to silence the outcries against apartheid and violations of the fundamental human rights of Palestinians, have been applied with intensity. Recently, the Israeli occupation destroyed and closed radio and television channels in occupied Palestine. In 2015, there were 574 attacks on these sites and 194 wounded journalists. Two cameramen were killed and Israel threatened to close 21 Palestinian news outlets. The criminalization of posts on social networks has also become customary. “The best treatment they might get from Israel is being tear-gassed,” Aljamal said. “The worst treatment is shooting them to death.”

The prolonged hunger strike of Al-Qeeq is an important rejection and denunciation of this situation. In protest against arbitrary detention and torture inflicted upon him in interrogations (common to all Palestinian political prisoners), Al-Qeeq has refused to consume even the most basic substances to stay alive, consuming only water. During the prolonged protest, Israel imposed forced treatment (intravenous nutrition) on him in the hospital, which violates the Geneva Conventions on the rights of political prisoners. Even having lost more than 20 kilos, Al-Qeeq tried to resist and was strapped to his hospital bed while a member of the Israeli medical team inserted a forced infusion of salt and vitamins. He was kept in this position for four days, during which he was pressured to end his hunger strike; he refused to give in.

Israel continues to reject granting his freedom. Meanwhile, there is an increase in Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike and protesting in solidarity with Al-Qeeq.

In the fight against the occupation of Palestine and for media democracy, organizations of Brazil and the world add their voices to demand immediate freedom for Mohammed al-Qeeq and denounce the attacks on freedom of speech and expression by Israel.

End Administrative Detention in Israel!
Freedom for all Palestinian Political Prisoners!
Boycott Israel!

Frente em Defesa do Povo Palestino (Front in Defense of the Palestinian People)
Comitê Brasileiro em Defesa dos Direitos do Povo Palestino (Brazilian Committee to Defend the Rights of the Palestinian People)
Comitê Cearense de Solidariedade ao Povo Palestino (Ceara Committee in Solidarity with the Palestinian People)
Comitê Catarinense de Solidariedade ao Povo Palestino (Santa Catarina Committee in Solidarity with the Palestinian People)
Comitê Gaúcho de Solidariedade ao Povo Palestino (Gaucho Committee in Solidarity with the Palestinian People)
Comitê da Palestina Democrática – Brasil (Committees for a Democratic Palestine – Brazil)
Comitê de Solidariedade ao Povo Palestino Abcdmrr/SP (Committee in Solidarity with the Palestinian People ABCDMRR/Sao Paulo)
Campanha Global pelo Retorno à Palestina (Brasil) (Global Campaign to Return to Palestine – Brazil)
Campanha Free Ahmad Sa’adat e Khalida Jarrar (Brasil) (Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat and Khalida Jarrar – Brazil)
Centro Cultural Árabe Brasileiro (Brazilian Arab Cultural Center)
Centro Cultural Árabe Palestino do Rio Grande do Sul (Palestinian Arab Cultural Center of Rio Grande do Sul)
Sociedade Árabe Palestina de São Paulo (Palestinian Arab Society of Sao Paulo)
Instituto Jerusalém do Brasil (Jerusalem Institute of Brazil)
Comitê Contra o Genocídio da Juventude Preta, Pobre das Periferias de São Paulo (Committee Against the Genocide of Black Youth, the Poor and the Peripheries of Sao Paulo)
Comitê Estadual de Luta Contra a Repressão-SP (State Committee of Struggle Against Repression – Sao Paulo)
Grupo Tortura Nunca Mais do Estado de São Paulo (Torture Never Again Group of the State of Sao Paulo)
Ciranda Internacional de Comunicação Compartilhada (Ciranda International for Shared Communication)
Associação Internacional de Comunicação Compartilhada (International Association for Shared Communication)
Intervozes – Coletivo Brasil de Comunicação Social (Intervozes – Brazil Collective for Social Communication)
Anel – Assembleia Nacional dos Estudantes Livre! (ANEL – National Assembly of Free Students)
Assisp – Associação Islâmica de São Paulo (Islamic Association of Sao Paulo)
Associação Vida Brasil (Vida Association Brazil)
CSP-Conlutas – Central Sindical e Popular (Trade Union and Popular Central)
FST/SP – Fórum Sindical dos Trabalhadores no Estado de São Paulo (Trade Union Forum of Workers in the State of Sao Paulo)
MDD – Movimento Democracia Direta (Direct Democracy Movement)
Marcha Mundial de Mulheres (Global March of Women)
Movimento Mulheres em Luta (Movement of Women in Struggle)
Movimento Mulheres pela P@z! (Movement of Women for Peace)
MLC – Movimento Luta de Classes (Class Struggle Movement)
MST – Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (Landless Workers’ Movement)
POR – Partido Operário Revolucionário (Revolutionary Workers Party)
PSOL – Partido Socialismo e Liberdade (Party for Socialism and Freedom)
PSTU – Partido Socialista dos Trabalhadores Unificado (United Socialist Workers Party)
Corriente Roja (Espanha) (Red Current – Spain)
Quilombo Raça e Classe (Race and Class Quilombo)
Refundação Comunista (Communist Refoundation)
Soweto Organização Negra (Soweto Black Organization)
Unipop – Universidade de Políticas do Movimento Popular (Political University of the Popular Movement)
UP – Unidade Popular pelo Socialismo (Popular Unity for Socialism)
Carlos Latuff, cartoonist
State deputy Carlos Giannazi (PSOL-SP)
State deputy Raul Marcelo (PSOL-SP)

**

Não vão calar a nossa voz!
Liberdade imediata ao jornalista palestino Mohammed Al-Qeeq!

Em detenção administrativa por Israel desde novembro de 2015, o jornalista palestino Mohammed Al-Qeeq está em greve de fome há 80 dias e corre risco de morte. Aos 33 anos de idade, é a terceira prisão que enfrenta.

A detenção administrativa – sem qualquer acusação formal e renovada por Israel de seis em seis meses, arbitrariamente – é usada com frequência para silenciar jornalistas. Atualmente, há 17 nessa situação, entre os 660 presos políticos palestinos também em detenção administrativa.

“Israel está enviando uma mensagem a todos os jornalistas palestinos”, afirmou à agência Mintpress o pesquisador do Centro de Estudos Políticos e Desenvolvimento em Gaza, Yousef Aljamal. “Se você falar, nós sabemos como silenciá-lo. A detenção administrativa está aí.”

Desde que teve início a recente Intifada (levante palestino contra a ocupação), em outubro último, cresce a perseguição já comum por parte de Israel. No total, são quase 10 mil presos políticos, incluindo crianças e mulheres.

Além de prender também grande número de jornalistas palestinos, Israel ataca cotidianamente esses profissionais – nos massacres em Gaza em 2014, foram assassinados 15. Estações de radiodifusão foram bombardeadas. Jornalistas estrangeiros que denunciaram o genocídio foram substituídos pelos meios de comunicação em que trabalhavam ou demitidos, a pedido de Israel.

Neste momento de Intifada, tais métodos empregados por Israel contra a liberdade de expressão e manifestação – de modo a silenciar a denúncia de colonização, apartheid e violações a direitos humanos fundamentais dos palestinos – têm sido aplicados com intensidade. Recentemente, foram destruídos e fechados canais de rádio e televisão na Palestina ocupada. Em 2015, houve 574 ataques a esses locais e 194 jornalistas feridos. Dois cinegrafistas foram mortos e Israel ameaçou fechar 21 agências de notícias palestinas. A criminalização por postagens em redes sociais também tem sido praxe. “O melhor tratamento a esses profissionais por Israel são bombas de gás lacrimogêneo. O pior é atirar para matar”, disse Aljamal.

A greve de fome prolongada de Al-Qeeq é importante denúncia dessa situação. Em protesto contra a detenção arbitrária e as torturas infringidas a ele em interrogatórios (comuns a todos os presos políticos palestinos), Al-Qeeq tem se recusado até mesmo a consumir suplementos básicos para se manter vivo, ingerindo apenas pouca quantidade de água. Diante do protesto prolongado, Israel impôs a ele, no hospital, alimentação forçada, o que viola as convenções de Genebra sobre direitos dos presos políticos. Mesmo tendo perdido mais de 20 quilos, Al-Qeeq tentou resistir e foi amarrado à maca enquanto um membro da equipe médica de Israel realizava infusão forçada de sal e vitaminas. Ficou amarrado por quatro dias, tempo em que tentaram pressioná-lo pelo fim da greve de fome, sem sucesso.

Israel mantém-se irredutível em conceder sua liberdade. Enquanto isso, aumenta o número de presos políticos palestinos em greve de fome em solidariedade a Al-Qeeq.

Em luta contra a ocupação palestina e pela democratização das comunicações, as organizações do Brasil e do mundo somam-se às vozes que exigem liberdade imediata a Mohammed Al-Qeeq e repudiam os ataques à liberdade de expressão e manifestação por parte de Israel.

FIM DAS DETENÇÕES ADMINISTRATIVAS POR ISRAEL!
LIBERDADE A TODOS OS PRESOS POLÍTICOS PALESTINOS!
BOICOTE A ISRAEL!

Frente em Defesa do Povo Palestino
Comitê Brasileiro em Defesa dos Direitos do Povo Palestino
Comitê Cearense de Solidariedade ao Povo Palestino
Comitê Catarinense de Solidariedade ao Povo Palestino
Comitê Gaúcho de Solidariedade ao Povo Palestino
Comitê da Palestina Democrática – Brasil
Comitê de Solidariedade ao Povo Palestino Abcdmrr/SP
Campanha Global pelo Retorno à Palestina (Brasil)
Campanha Free Ahmad Sa’adat e Khalida Jarrar (Brasil)
Centro Cultural Árabe Brasileiro
Centro Cultural Árabe Palestino do Rio Grande do Sul
Sociedade Árabe Palestina de São Paulo
Instituto Jerusalém do Brasil
Comitê Contra o Genocídio da Juventude Preta, Pobre das Periferias de São Paulo
Comitê Estadual de Luta Contra a Repressão-SP
Grupo Tortura Nunca Mais do Estado de São Paulo
Ciranda Internacional de Comunicação Compartilhada
Associação Internacional de Comunicação Compartilhada
Intervozes – Coletivo Brasil de Comunicação Social
Anel – Assembleia Nacional dos Estudantes Livre!
Assisp – Associação Islâmica de São Paulo
Associação Vida Brasil
CSP-Conlutas – Central Sindical e Popular
FST/SP – Fórum Sindical dos Trabalhadores no Estado de São Paulo
MDD – Movimento Democracia Direta
Marcha Mundial de Mulheres
Movimento Mulheres em Luta
Movimento Mulheres pela P@z!
MLC – Movimento Luta de Classes
MST – Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra
POR – Partido Operário Revolucionário
PSOL – Partido Socialismo e Liberdade
PSTU – Partido Socialista dos Trabalhadores Unificado
Corriente Roja (Espanha)
Quilombo Raça e Classe
Refundação Comunista
Soweto Organização Negra
Unipop – Universidade de Políticas do Movimento Popular
UP – Unidade Popular pelo Socialismo
Carlos Latuff, cartunista
Deputado estadual Carlos Giannazi (PSOL-SP)
Deputado estadual Raul Marcelo (PSOL-SP)

19 February, NYC: Protest to demand freedom for Mohammed al-Qeeq

12 February 2016

Friday, 19 February
4:00 pm
G4S Offices, NYC – 17 W 44th St, NYC
Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/992955017465666/
Organized by Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network

This Friday, Palestinian journalist Mohammed al-Qeeq, one of 650 administrative detainees held by Israel, will enter the 87th day of an open hunger strike against his indefinite imprisonment without charge or trial.

On 4 February, al-Qeeq rejected the decision of the Israeli Supreme Court to “suspend” his administrative detention due to his health, for later reimposition. He announced that he was continuing his hunger strike and rejecting medical treatment until he is freed from administrative detention without charge or trial without conditions.

In an urgent press conference convened on Friday night, 12 February, al-Qeeq’s wife, Fayha Shalash, called for meaningful action to free her husband at official and popular levels. Saying that al-Qeeq is “closer to death than to life,” Shalash called for people to take the streets in protest, and demanded action from Palestinian Authority officials as well as Palestinian political parties and factions.

G4S, the world’s largest firm company and second-biggest private employer, equips Israeli prisons and detention centers where 6,800 Palestinian political prisoners are held and tortured, as well as the occupation forces and infrastructure that routinely massacre Palestinians while holding millions under military rule.

Join us to answer a united appeal by Palestinian prisoners for escalated boycotts of G4S.

Demand G4S immediately end its contracts with Israeli prisons and detention centers, occupation and security forces and checkpoints, and that Israel release al-Qeeq, other administrative detainees and all Palestinian political prisoners.

Support the Palestinian people, the Palestinian prisoners, the Palestinian Resistance, and the liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea.

13 February, Dublin: Emergency Protest for Mohammed al-Qeeq

12 February 2016

Saturday, 13 February
2:00 pm
GPO,O’Connell Street, Dublin, Ireland
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/481094418760879

Join us tomorrow for an emergency vigil for hunger striking Palestinian Journalist Muhammad Al-Qiq.

We wil be assembling from 2pm to 3pm at the GPO on O’Connell Street, Dublin. All welcome.

Muhammad Al Qiq is 79 days on hunger strike and near to death. He is a Palestinian journalist who has been jailed under administrative detention by Israel, without charge, for about three months now and is striking in protest at this illegal arbitrary use of internment. He is demanding that he either be released or charged. More details here: http://www.ipsc.ie/press-releases/hunger-striking-palestinian-journalist-close-to-death-in-israeli-jail

سيقوم التضامن الإيرلندي الفلسطيني ضمن وقفة السبت الأسبوعية بتخصيص ساعة بين ٢-٣ بعد الظهر للتضامن مع الأسير الصحفي محمد القيق الذي يخوض إضراب الكرامة منذ ٧٩ يوما على التوالي لتعيش فلسطين بحرية
كان القيق ينقل لنا رسالة الشهداء والأسرى وواجبنا اليوم ان ننقل صوته الذي اختفى للعالم
شاركونا الوقفة الداعمة غدا السبت عند مكتب البريد الرئيسي وسط البلد

Canadian organizations demand CATSA drop G4S

12 February 2016

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network joined three more Canadian organizations in an official letter to the Canadian Air Transportation Security Authority on 1 February, calling on CATSA to dump G4S, the British-Danish security corporation that provides security systems, equipment and control rooms to Israeli prisons where Palestinian political prisoners are interrogated, tortured and jailed. G4S is the subject of an international boycott campaign; the boycott has been urged by Palestinian prisoners and is supported by hundreds of international organizations.

Here is a copy of the letter sent by 4 groups to the CATSA Chairperson regarding their contract with G4S.
Please sign and share our online petition if you would like to help the campaign.

https://www.change.org/p/canadian-air-transportation-security-authority-chairperson-lloyd-mccoomb-drop-g4s-don-t-support-war-crimes-in-palestine

Lloyd McCoomb
Chairperson Board of Directors
Canadian Air Transportation Security Authority
99 Bank St
Ottawa, Ontario
K1P 6B9
FAX: 613-990-1295

01/02/16

Dear Mr. McCoomb:

We are writing to share our concern that currently the Canadian Air Transportation Security Authority has a $416 million contract with G4S Canada to provide security at over 20 Canadian airports until March 31, 2017.

Because of contracts with Israel which make it complicit in the maintenance of the repressive infrastructure of the occupation and apartheid state, G4S is the target of an international campaign for boycott and divestment.

G4S provides security systems for the Ketziot and Megiddo prisons, which hold Palestinian political prisoners from occupied Palestinian territory inside Israel. Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits the transfer of prisoners from occupied territory into the territory of the occupier.
G4S also provides equipment for Ofer prison, located in the occupied West Bank, and for Kishon and Moskobiyyeh detention facilities, where human rights organisations have documented systematic torture and ill treatment of Palestinian prisoners, including child prisoners. Defence for Children-Palestine (DCI-Palestine) has released an urgent appeal to end the practice of holding Palestinian children from the West Bank in solitary confinement in facilities in Israel.
Beyond Israel’s prison system, G4S provides equipment and services to Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank along the route of Israel’s illegal apartheid Wall and to the terminals isolating the occupied and besieged territory of Gaza. G4S also contracts for equipment and services for the West Bank Israeli Police headquarters and to private businesses based in illegal Israeli settlements. A panel of legal experts has concluded that G4S may be criminally liable for its activities in support of Israel’s illegal Wall and other violations of international law.

Internationally, G4S has been implicated in human rights violations against indigenous people and poor rural communities, particularly in the Global South where the company provides security to international mining and oil and gas companies.

In recent years numerous institutions and governments have heeded the call for boycott and divestment from G4S including the Bill Gates Foundation, the British Broadcasting Corporation, the US United Methodist Church and the municipality of Durham County in North Carolina.

G4S profits daily from occupation, war crimes and human rights violations. Since other security options are available for Canadian airports, it is time for CATSA to side with human rights and refuse to deal with such an internationally disgraced company. We and other concerned people in Canada call for and insist that CATSA cancel their contract with G4S.

We look forward to your early reply,

Aiyanas Ormond
Campaign Coordinator, Boycott and Divest from G4$ Campaign

BDS Vancouver – Coast Salish Territories
Independent Jewish Voices – Vancouver
Samidoun Political Prisoners Solidarity Network
International League of Peoples Struggle (Canada Chapter)

Call to action as hunger-striker al-Qeeq “closer to death than to life”

12 February 2016

The Palestinian Prisoners Society has submitted an appeal to the Israeli Supreme Court calling for the transfer of imprisoned Palestinian journalist Mohammed al-Qeeq from HaEmek hospital in Afula to a Palestinian hospital.

Al-Qeeq has now been on hunger strike for 80 days against his administrative detention without charge or trial. His administrative detention was “suspended” and he was unshackled; however, his detention was not ended and he is essentially held as a prisoner in the hospital. He has lost much of his hearing and ability to speak; doctors describe him as in danger of death at any time, experiencing medical consequences that will continue after his detention.

In an urgent press conference convened on Friday night, 12 February, al-Qeeq’s wife, Fayha Shalash, called for meaningful action to free her husband at official and popular levels. Saying that al-Qeeq is “closer to death than to life,” Shalash called for people to take the streets in protest, and demanded action from Palestinian Authority officials as well as Palestinian political parties and factions.

On Wednesday, 10 February, a group of supporters of al-Qeeq arrived at Afula hospital with an ambulance demanding al-Qeeq’s release to Ramallah hospital. They were surrounded by large numbers of police, who attacked their raising of the Palestinian flag. The day before, hundreds of demonstrators, mostly ’48 Palestinians, gathered outside the hospital, demanding al-Qeeq’s release. Another protest will gather outside the hospital on Saturday, 13 February.

Protests across Palestine today, Friday 12 February, demanded al-Qeeq’s release – from Ramallah, to Jenin refugee camp, to Nabi Saleh, to Gaza, to al-Khalil. Father Manuel Hanna Musallam, priest of the Latin Church in Palestine, launched a three-day fast in solidarity with al-Qeeq.

Addressing al-Qeeq, Musallam said “Israel will be brought before international courts for its counterfeit condemnations of Palestinians….Your message has reached the entire world. Stop at death’s door but never cross it. We need you to teach our younger generations the true meaning of patience and resistance. You forced the enemy to concede defeat. We would like you to live for Palestine.”

As voices in Palestine grow to demand the release of Al-Qeeq and international movements join the call, Makarim Wibisono, UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, said on Thursday 11 February: “Hundreds of Palestinians being held, now including children, often under secret evidence, and for up to six-month terms that can be renewed indefinitely, is not consistent with international human rights standards.”

However, international official voices have been limited to words, while grassroots movements have been demanding real action: boycott, divestment and sanctions against the Israeli state. People around the world called in to the White House demanding that the U.S. pressure Israel to release al-Qeeq, while protesters in New York marched outside the offices of security corporation G4S, calling for a boycott of the human-rights abusing company and an end to its involvement in the torture and imprisonment of Palestinians.

In Berlin, BDS Berlin organized an information table at Internationalism Days focusing on al-Qeeq and calling for his immediate release.

Event in Maastricht highlights experiences, struggles of Palestinian refugees

12 February 2016

Mohammed Khatib of Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network spoke at an event organized by Students for Justice in Palestine – Maastricht and Not Just a Number on 4 February, on the situation of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, Syria and Europe.

Khatib, a member of the International Coordinating Committee of the International League of People’s Struggle representing Samidoun, discussed the struggle of Palestinian and other refugees in Europe, confronting institutional policies of exclusion, militarization and a “security” framework, as well as a growing extreme right and fascist threat. He discussed institutional racism and oppression as manifestations of colonialism and imperialism, directed towards marginalized communities within Europe.

The growing militarization and securitization of life in Europe is a process that cannot be disconnected from European support for and joint projects with the Israeli state, Khatib said, highlighting European-Israeli cooperation on security and military technology. He noted that militarization is never rolled back without a massive popular struggle; the placement of soldiers on the streets for “security” quickly becomes normalized and “states of emergency” become the framework of daily life. Police brutality and oppression experienced by communities in Europe is the product of a institutional racism and oppression that is developing its technologies in coordination with the racist state of Israel, he noted, pointing out the US-Israeli joint police training and information sharing being used against Black communities. He noted that these technologies are frequently first tested on Palestinians under occupation, emphasizing that the struggle against militarization should come hand in hand with the struggle for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel.

He also discussed the situation of Palestinian refugees in Syria, Lebanon and everywhere in diaspora, providing an overview of the crises and siege faced by Palestinians in exile and emphasizing that the cause of the Palestinian refugees’ crisis and the goal of their struggle is the right of return to Palestine which has been denied them for the past 68 years, and the liberation of Palestine, not merely humanitarian reforms or accommodations.

SJP-Maastricht is planning future events to continue educating the university community about Palestine and the struggle of the Palestinian people for liberation.

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