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Friday, July 4, 2025
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Masar Badil: We demand the cancellation and boycott of the “Israel Universities Festival” in Brazil!

The Masar Badil, the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement, condemns the “Israel Universities Festival,” a normalization fair being organized at Unicamp – Campinas State University in Brazil on April 3, 2023. This is a Zionist event hostile to the Palestinian people and their rights, and we urge those responsible at the university to cancel this event and boycott the colonial Zionist academy, rather than involving the university in justifying and whitewashing the daily crimes of Zionist colonization throughout occupied Palestine.

Such activities aim to normalize Zionist colonialism and legitimize its presence in our universities and academic institutions and threaten the Palestinian people, their rights and freedoms. We note that this event comes as Palestinians commemorate the massacre that took place on Land Day on March 30, 1976, a date which lives on as Palestinians confirm their commitment to their homeland, the right to return, the liberation of their land and the reclaiming of their national rights over all of Palestine, from the river to the sea.

Zionist colonialism must be opposed and confronted everywhere, in Palestine and wherever its representatives and apologists are found. And our moral, human and legal duty necessitates refusing to participate in the crime of polishing the image of the Israeli occupation by marketing its programs and projects. This is especially important at a time when the Zionist occupation force are carrying out heinous crimes against the Palestinian people, while the dignity and rights of over 4,700 prisoners are being violated inside the occupation prisons and the occupation army is practicing a policy of assassinations, massacres, siege, home demolitions and more crimes in full view of the so-called  “international community” and “international institutions.”

We call upon activists, trade unionists, and students defending the rights of the peoples in Brazil, from all liberation movements and progressive forces, to stand with us in confronting the forces of imperialism, racism, and fascism, and we expect them to take the correct political and moral stance by working to boycott this activity offensive to the Palestinian struggle, and to declare their clear position on the side of justice, freedom and the Palestinian resistance. No more silence on the crimes of colonialism and racism!

We in the Masar Badil will call on all the masses of our Palestinian people and our comrades and friends everywhere to oppose such activities that aim to mislead public opinion in Brazil and justify the crimes of “Israel” against our people and our land.

Boycott Israeli colonialism!

Support the struggle of the Palestinian people for return and liberation!

Support the Palestinian resistance!

Masar Badil, the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
Alkarama Palestinian Women’s Movement
Al Janiah Palestinian Political-Cultural Center, Sao Paulo, Brazil

Land Day 2023: From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!

We mark the 47th Palestinian Land Day on 30 March 2023. On this occasion, the Palestinian people throughout Palestine, from the river to the sea and everywhere in exile and diaspora, express their unity and consistent dedication to the liberation of all of the land of Palestine. This day underlines the reality: that the land and its liberation is the necessary condition for the liberation of Palestine. As it marks the great uprising of Palestinians in occupied Palestine ’48 of 1967, this day also points toward the unity of the land and the struggle for return and liberation, as a day of living struggle to uproot colonialism from Palestine.

This day is an occasion to celebrate, intensify and uphold Palestinian resistance to Zionism, colonialism, apartheid and occupation, recalling those whose lives have been stolen in defense of the land and people of Palestine, and to organize and struggle for return and liberation, from the river to the sea.

As we mark the Palestinian Day of the Land, we salute the Palestinian prisoners, locked behind bars for their defense of their land and people. The prisoners’ movement just won a decisive victory one week ago before launching their mass hunger strike, defeating the attempts of Itamar Ben Gvir and the fascist regime he represents to roll back the rights they have obtained through decades of struggle. At the same time, there are still 4,800 Palestinian prisoners locked away from their land, including 900 jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention.

On Land Day, we particularly urge all to highlight the case of Walid Daqqah, the Palestinian writer, intellectual and struggler for liberation, diagnosed in December 2022 with a rare form of bone cancer. From occupied Palestine ’48, he represents the spirit and the continuity of Land Day, even as he continues to resist for his life from his hospital bed, where he is in critical condition. On Land Day 2023, we affirm: Free the Land! Free Walid Daqqah and all Palestinian prisoners! 

Below we are publishing an updated version of our Land Day annual statement:

The Day of the Land: Land Defense Confronts Imperialism, Zionism and Colonialism

The Day of the Land began as an annual commemoration of the massive uprising of Palestinians in occupied Palestine ’48 against Zionist land confiscation in 1976, targeting tens of thousands of dunums of Palestinian land in the Galilee. The Palestinians of ’48 — Palestinian citizens of the Israeli settler colonial apartheid regime, survivors of the Nakba who remained on their land even as 80% of their fellow Palestinians were expelled — rose up to confront ongoing land confiscation and settlement, and the Palestinian people inside and outside Palestine with them. They launched large-scale protests and a general strike, and on 30 March 1976, six Palestinians were shot dead by the occupation forces as they resisted the expropriation of their land. Since that date, the Day of the Land has always reflected the unity of the Palestinian people and the unity of the land of Palestine.

On the 47th Land Day, we remember Kheir Mohammad Salim Yasin, Khadija Qasem Shawahneh, Raja Hussein Abu Rayya, Khader Eid Mahmoud Khalayleh, Muhsin Hasan Said Taha and Raafat Ali Al-Zheir and all the martyrs of Palestine who have given their lives and their freedom for the defense of Palestine, its land and its people. This day has become a national anniversary for the Palestinian people as a whole, inside Palestine and in exile, and an Arab and international day of Indigenous solidarity, land defense and collective struggle against imperialism and colonialism and the extraction of wealth and resources from the land of the people.

Land Day is a day of Palestinian popular and resistance unity. From occupied Palestine ’48, to Jerusalem and the West Bank, to the Gaza Strip, to the refugee camps and everywhere in exile and diaspora, Palestinians commemorate Land Day not only as a historical occasion but as a symbol of the ongoing, living and vibrant resistance that has remained unbroken despite years of military occupation, land confiscation, mass imprisonment, killings and dispossession. Land Day is a day of struggle for the return of Palestinian refugees and for the liberation of every inch of Palestinian land from colonialism.

We urge all supporters of Palestine to join us in Ottawa on 28-30 April 2023 for the Liberation Conference and the March of Liberation, which underline this relationship between the liberation of land and the liberation of peoples from imperialism, Zionism and colonialism of all forms.

In 2018, the Day of the Land once again marked the occasion of a mass outpouring of Palestinians in the streets, as thousands upon thousands gathered in Gaza for the Great March of Return, and occupation forces again shot down Palestinians defending their land and seeking their liberation. 42 years after the first Land Day massacre, Israeli occupation forces killed 16 martyrs of the land and return, with over 200 more shot down in the marches over the months and days to come. Now, Palestinian farmers and fishers in Gaza continue to defend their land under siege, faced with daily attacks and the attempt to starve their resistance economy that nourishes the Palestinian people despite the imperialist, Zionist and reactionary collaboration against the.

As the Masar Badil, the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement, affirmed in its statement for Land Day, “On this day 47 years ago, the masses of our Palestinian people re-aligned the compass of struggle once again, and etched with blood and sacrifice the meaning of the land and its position in the struggle, and in the memory of the entire Arab people from the ocean to the Gulf….Its vanguards remain struggling in Nazareth, Haifa, the Naqab, Yafa and Akka, confronting the war machine of colonialism, racism, exploitation and oppression….There is no place for coexistence with Zionism and racism, and there is no place for the Zionist entity, its institutions and its colonial regime on an inch of our occupied land from the river to the sea.”

Palestinian Resistance Protects the Land and People

Today, it is clear that the Palestinian resistance continues to live and thrive, rooted in the land itself. The May 2021 unity Intifada, the Battle of Seif al-Quds, in which Palestinians outside Palestine took to the streets of every global city with fellow movements fighting injustice and imperialism, in which Palestinians in ’48 rose up and claimed their land and cities, in which the resistance in Gaza led the battle, in which the Palestinians of Jerusalem and the West Bank confronted soldiers and settlers everywhere to defend Sheikh Jarrah, Silwan, Beita, al-Aqsa and all of Palestine — continues to reflect the bright future of resistance and revolution for Palestine and its people, even as the resistance blossoms daily in the West Bank and throughout occupied Palestine.

Today, organizations throughout occupied Palestine and funded in the imperialist powers, including the Jewish National Fund and an array of settler organizations, are using military might, their control of the Zionist regime and their access to funds to displace and dispossess Palestinians. In the Naqab, their actions target Palestinian Bedouins in particular, aiming to seize ever more land for colonization. In countries around the world, the JNF holds “Negev Dinners” to boast of their colonial efforts; many of these dinners and events are attended and celebrated by Western imperialist political leaders, while donations made to further colonialism in the Naqab are tax-deductible. Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates, at the pinnacle of Arab reactionary regimes’ normalization with Zionism, welcomes to Arab land the same JNF responsible for its colonization.

Nevertheless, the Palestinian people and their resistance have made clear that the JNF’s plans and the “normalization” mandate will never be allowed to succeed. Palestinians continue to resist, defend and seek the liberation of their land by all means necessary, a natural right and a right protected even within the framework of international law, with the backing and participation of the people of the Arab nation and their resistance organizations from Yemen to Lebanon, and the support of all friends of justice and liberation movements in the world. Indeed, the  Palestinian resistance gives hope to all people around the world who resist imperialism and colonialism as a symbol of unbroken will in the face of massive military might as well as a material blow against the forces of occupation.

From the River to the Sea, Confronting Imperialism and Zionism

This day also highlights why it is critical to boycott and isolate the Israeli occupation, including agricultural products grown on stolen and colonized Palestinian land, often through the exploitation of Palestinian labour. This Ramadan, the campaign to boycott “Israeli” dates and support Palestinian farmers instead is particularly urgent. Campaigns like those of Palestine Action in the UK targeting Israeli arms dealers like Elbit Systems for direct action, and despite state repression, arrests and persecution, make clear that people’s resistance can defeat the warmongers of the occupation.

The colonization of Palestine is not carried out by the Israeli regime alone; it is funded and backed by Western imperialist powers, first and foremost, the United States, which provides $3.8 billion in annual military aid to the occupation, aiming to shield colonialism from the resistance of the indigenous Palestinian people. Canada, the European Union, the United Kingdom and Australia continue to provide ongoing military, diplomatic and economic aid to the colonial project, ranging from “free trade” agreements that privilege profiteering from stolen Palestinian land and resources to arms sales and joint training to the use of state repression to target Palestinian and Palestine solidarity organizing. Despite the openly fascist forces in power, representing clearly the nature of the Zionist regime, these states have only escalated their security, economic and political cooperation with that regime, even if they issue mild critiques from time to time.

In fact, in almost all Western states, Palestinian resistance organizations are designated as “terrorist” and criminalized while those who fund settler-colonial terror against the Palestinian people are celebrated, protected and granted preferential charitable status. The Holy Land Foundation Five are imprisoned with sentences of up to 65 years in high-security U.S. prisons for doing nothing more than raising charitable funds for Palestine, while the “Friends of the IDF” are permitted to raise funds for an occupation army. In France, while the government attempts to dissolve Palestine solidarity organizations like the Collectif Palestine Vaincra, it has imprisoned Georges Abdallah, the Lebanese struggler for Palestine, for nearly 39 years. In Germany, Palestinian activists — and sometimes, simply Palestinian students — face criminalization, deportation threats and even arrest for commemorating the Nakba and demonstrating for Palestine. Nevertheless, Palestinians in exile and diaspora continue to hold fast to their return to their land, and all movements for justice and liberation globally continue to build support for its liberation.

Imperialism and Zionism also rely on Arab reactionary regimes and the program of normalization not only to grant false legitimacy to the colonization of Palestine but to attack and target Arab peoples and states that resist the dictates of imperial rule. In Yemen, thousands come to the street regularly to march for Palestine even as they face the bombs and siege imposed by reactionary Arab regimes, at the behest of and with weaponry provided by the Western powers, including the U.S. and Canada.

The Oslo Accords and their annexes and the entire so-called “peace process” were meant to wipe out the legacy and ongoing reality expressed on the Day of the Land, to replace Palestinian unity and resistance from the river to the sea with a limited claim to only a portion of Palestine, overseen by the “security coordination” subcontractors to the occupation, the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinian Authority continues to detain and arrest Palestinians in a “revolving door” with the Israeli occupation, criminalize and condemn Palestinian resistance, while the Palestinian people inside and outside Palestine work to develop their true unity in struggle, for return and liberation. The purpose of the Palestinian Authority is to undermine, rather than represent, the defense of the land and people of Palestine.

While the Palestinian struggle to defend land and seek full liberation is met with harsh repression, criminalization, assassination and imprisonment at the hands of the occupation and its backers and allies, it is also met with unified struggle, solidarity and collective support by the regional and global camp of resistance, nations, peoples and popular movements confronting imperialism, capitalism and exploitation, from Yemen to Iraq, from Brazil to the Philippines, from Zimbabwe to Wet’suwet’en.

On Land Day, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network honours and celebrates the struggle of the Palestinian people to liberate their land from the river to the sea and to resist all forms of colonization. Land Day marks the unity of the Palestinian land, people, and cause, everywhere inside and outside Palestine, for defending and liberating the land and people of Palestine.

April 17 is Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, a national and international day of action for the freedom of all Palestinian political prisoners, the prisoners of freedom, the prisoners of return and liberation. We urge all to organize and mobilize for 17 April and the week that follows, to liberate Palestinian prisoners. free the land and people of Palestine from the river to the sea, and confront imperialism and Zionism.

Read more: 

Join these Land Day Actions:

Historical References:

Free the Land, Free Walid Daqqah! Take action to liberate imprisoned Palestinian writer with rare cancer

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges all organizations and communities advocating for justice in Palestine to join the campaign to free Walid Daqqah, Palestinian writer, thinker and political prisoner. One of the longest-held Palestinian prisoners, he was diagnosed on 18 December 2022 with myelofibrosis, a rare form of bone marrow cancer that requires a bone marrow transplant. He is currently in critical condition in the intensive care unit of Barzilai Hospital after developing pneumonia after a stroke last month, for which he received delayed treatment.

Walid Daqqah’s family have launched an official campaign page for him on Facebook and urge all to follow this page for official updates on his medical treatment and the struggle for his freedom: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100091256805982

The Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council noted, about his medical condition:

The only curative treatment for Walid is a bone marrow transplant—one of the most difficult and dangerous medical procedures currently known. Gatt also recommended that Walid be put in a clean place where exposure to infections can be minimized, neither of which is possible inside the miserable conditions offered by Israeli prisons.

In mid-February 2023, Walid suffered from a severe cardiovascular stroke that led to a physical injury on his chest. Not only did the IPS in Askalan prison refuse to transfer him to a hospital for emergency treatment, the in-house prison clinic, despite diagnosing a blood clot as the cause of the stroke, refused to provide him with a necessary blood transfusion. Consequently, Walid lost a lot of blood through a minor tongue wound in the days that followed. Further, his medical records indicated that he lost over 10 kilos (22 pounds) in one and a half months. Only after his hematologist visited Askalan for a routine appointment, nearly two weeks after the stroke, was Walid finally transferred to Barzilai Medical Center. Similarly, as Walid developed symptoms of severe pneumonia over the past couple of weeks, the IPS once again ignored his health and evaded hospital admission until his lawyers and doctors intervened. Walid is currently being held in a private room at Barzilai, suffering from pneumonia, kidney failure, and a life-threatening drop in blood cell count.

Daqqah is one of the most prominent and long-time Palestinian prisoners, known widely for his writing and cultural work from behind bars. Born in 1961 in Baqa’ al-Gharbiyya in occupied Palestine ’48, he has been imprisoned since 25 March 1986. He was recently highlighted as part of the Pre-Oslo Prisoners campaign as one of the longest-held Palestinians behind occupation bars.

As his family notes:

“In March 1987, the military court of Lod sentenced him to life in prison. In 2012, his sentence was fixed at 37 years instead of life in prison, and, as such, he was due to be released on 24 March 2023. However, on 28 May 2018, the military court of Bi’r al-Sabi‘ wrongfully added two years to his sentence on the basis of his alleged role in the case of smuggling cell phones to his fellow prisoners for them to keep in contact with their families. Therefore, his ‘new’ date of release cruelly became 24 March 2025…Political prisoner Daqqah has been subjugated to the endless injustices of the israeli court system. From the first moment of his imprisonment to this day, nearly four decades later, the courts have refused all of his appeals including tens of appeals for his most basic and humanitarian rights including: family visits, even for his father before his death (Nimer Daqqah, his father, passed away in 1998) or for his ailing mother (his mother, Faridah Daqqah, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2013); conjugal visits; early release [shliesh]; and, most recently, early release for treatment for Leukemia of which he was diagnosed in 2015. Daqqah, was also actively excluded from release through prisoners’ exchange four times, in 1994, 2008, 2011 and 2014.”

Walid Daqqah should be free in a liberated Palestine; even according to his original sentence, he should have been released a week ago. Instead, he continues, imprisoned, in critical condition, in desperate need of advanced medical care.

Once behind bars, he obtained a master’s degree in political science and wrote several books in the realm of political theory as well as fiction, including children’s fiction. On multiple occasions, he has faced harsh repression, including solitary confinement, especially targeted toward his expressive work. For example, Daqqah was thrown into solitary confinement when he published a new children’s book, “The Secret of Oil”; a launch event for the book in the town of Majd al-Kurum was shut down by far-right Israeli minister Aryeh Deri. In the preface to the book, Daqqa wrote, “I write until I am freed from prison, with the hope of freeing the prison from me.” This followed the defunding of a Haifa Palestinian theater that exhibited a play based on his work “Parallel Time.” His family’s official campaign page asserts:

“In spite of all the injustices and discriminations inflicted upon Daqqah throughout the 37 years of his incarceration, he has managed remarkable achievements that have made him in to the political, intellectual and cultural icon that he is. He has been a leader among the Palestinian Prisoners’ Movement and is a prominent figure in the Palestinian, Arab and international cultural scene, in particular in the field of prison studies. Even his intellectual life has been deemed dangerous as prisoner authorities subjected Daqqah to extra punishment due to his political, social and intellectual activism, in particular solitary confinement.

Daqqah is a prolific author. Among his works: Testimonies of Resistance: The Battle of Jenin Camp 2002 (2004); Consciousness Molded or the Re-identification of Torture (2010); The Story of the Forgotten in Parallel Time (2011); The Oil’s Secret Tale (2018); The Sword’s Secret Tale (2021); The Spirit’s Secret Tale/ The Martyrs Return to Ramallah (2022). In addition, Daqqah published several translations, and tens of articles both in Arabic and Hebrew, most prominently: “Parallel Tine” (2005); “Milad: I Write to a Childe Yet to Be Born” (2011); “Liberate Yourself by Yourself” (2020), and “Control through Time” (2021). Daqqah also has several unpublished manuscripts, paintings, poetry, lyrics, and autobiographical and theatrical writings.

Under these harsh circumstances, Daqqah married the activist, journalist and translator Sana’ Salamah on 10 August, 1999 in Askalan Prison. The occupation state denied them conjugal visits and their right to be parents, in spite of all the appeals. Undeterred, on 3 March 2020 their daughter Milad was born in Nazareth from liberated semen for artificial insemination.”

Walid Daqqah is a Palestinian political prisoner among over 4,800 of his brothers and sisters. He is an internationally renowned intellectual and writer whose contributions are part of the global literature of liberation and social justice, and he continues to resist for his very life and for the life of Palestine behind bars. He is resisting the policy of medical neglect and “slow killing” that has taken the lives of hundreds of imprisoned Palestinians as a systematic practice of the occupation.

As we commemorate Land Day 2023, we say: Free the Land! Free Walid Daqqah! We urge Palestinian communities around the world and supporters of Palestine to include the campaign to free Walid Daqqah in your events and activities for Land Day, representing the unity of all Palestinians and of Palestine from the river to the sea, and initiated by Palestinians of occupied Palestine ’48 in 1976. Use these signs below in your actions and campaigns, and send us your photos on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter or via email at samidoun@samidoun.net.

Use the hashtags:

Download below, in English, French, German, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Portuguese and Italian — or Download all PDFs (A3) or (11×17).

 

Demonstrators at Gent-Wevelgem cycling race: Stop normalization, boycott Israel!

On Sunday, 26 March, the Gent-Wevelgem cycling race took place in Belgium. This cycling race is a semi-classic of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI Worldtour).

Members of the Plate-Forme Charleroi-Palestine and the Käthe Kollwitz Collective, as well as Palestinian and Irish friends, were present to denounce the participation in the race of the Israel Premier Tech propaganda team. (*)

The Plate-Forme and fellow demonstrators declared: We cannot allow Israeli propaganda to have carte blanche in popular sporting events in our communities! They gathered in the villages and countryside surrounding Ypres, in Mesen and later in Voormzele. (The Plate-Forme Charleroi-Palestine is an affiliate organization of the Samidoun Network.)

As a finale, demonstrators unfurled their flags and banners at the women’s race in Voormzele where the Israeli propaganda team was also present. A Cuban cyclist participated in this race, and the presence of the Cuban flag was there to show support.

Israel Premier Tech is the representative of Israel in professional cycling and should be treated as such.

The Israel Premier Tech cycling team was formed in 2014, when Israeli businessman Ron Baron and former professional cyclist Ran Margaliot started the Israel Cycling Academy.

Sylvan Adams, a Canadian-born billionaire and amateur cyclist, soon became co-owner of the team, which Canadian industrial manufacturing company Premier Tech joined as title sponsor in early 2022.

The team and its training projects aim to recruit renowned riders and gain access to the most prestigious cycling events. Israel Premier Tech’s results in the Tour de France in 2022 show that these efforts are starting to bear fruit and that the team may remain visible in the upper echelons of professional cycling in the years to come. However, the team showed poor results later in 2022 in Montreal, where Adams and his team were met with protest.

Despite its name, Israel Premier Tech does not represent the Israeli state in an official capacity. Sylvan Adams insists that this team is “not a state project,” stressing that sport and politics “should never mix”. Nevertheless, the businessman also presents himself as the “self-proclaimed ambassador of the State of Israel” and takes an aggressive approach to fighting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, viewing sports as a mechanism to combat the boycott.

Along with Israel Premier Tech, Sylvan Adams was the main driving force behind organizing the launch of the 2018 Giro d’Italia in Israel, an event he described as “the antidote to BDS.”

And his work to normalize Israel through sport extends beyond the world of cycling: having helped bring Lionel Messi and the Argentina national football team to Israel in 2019 for a game against Uruguay, as well as the organization of the last two editions of the Champions Trophy in Tel Aviv, a match between the reigning Ligue 1 champion and the winner of the Coupe de France. He also is involved in organizing the Middle East Ironman championship, scheduled for the end of the year in occupied Tiberias. 

Members of the Israel Premier Tech team have attempted to distance themselves from the actions of the Israeli government, saying they just want to “ride their bikes.”

The fact that most of the riders on the team are not of Israeli nationality helps them in this respect. Of the 31 riders entered in the World Tour, only four are Israeli and only one appeared in the list of eight cyclists entered by the team in the Tour de France 2022.

Nonetheless, the modus operandi of this cycling project fundamentally involves promoting Israeli soft power goals. According to Sylvan Adams, riders understand that they are “ambassadors of their team’s home country.” Some traveled to Israel to participate in photo ops and reach millions, and even rode in the occupied West Bank and Golan Heights.

Moreover, despite the image it intends to project, Israel-Premier Tech often seems to be treated as an official Israeli organization.

At the start of the latest Tour de France, the squad benefited from the security arrangements  provided for Israeli delegations, while the Israeli media presented any sporting success as a “first for the Jewish state”. The team’s activities were also congratulated by the Israeli Minister of Tourism. 

Israel-Premier Tech is thus part of the normalization train as an unofficial ambassador of the Israeli regime. (based on the article “Cycling, new terrain for Israel’s normalization efforts?” , published on this site on September 12, 2022.

*****

(*) The action was also supported by Palestina Solidariteit, Vrede vzw, WSM, Intal, Ilps Belgium, ICS vzw and Peace Village Mesen

Source: Plate-Forme Charleroi-Palestine

Palestine and Georges Abdallah at the heart of demonstrations against Macron’s anti-worker “reforms” in Toulouse

On Thursday, 23 March, cities throughout France, including Toulouse, were home to a ninth day of demonstrations and strikes against the Macron government’s anti-worker “pension reform.” These brought together nearly 150,000 people in Toulouse and 3.5 million people throughout France. In this historic mobilization which gathered a large crowd determined to confront the arrogance of Emmanuel Macron and his anti-social program, the Collectif Palestine Vaincra once again organized a stand alongside the route to emphasize the unity of struggles between standing for social justice and supporting the Palestinian people.

https://twitter.com/Collectif_PV/status/1638916864519680003

Displaying several banners denouncing the twinning of Toulouse and Tel Aviv, calling for the boycott of Israel and demanding the release of Georges Abdallah, the Lebanese Communist struggler for Palestine imprisoned in France for the past 38 years, the Collectif’s members distributed thousands of leaflets. They affirmed that “fighting the government and employers here also means denouncing the unconditional support of the French government for Israeli apartheid and its close and privileged diplomatic, political and economic relations.” The leaflet also highlighted the declaration of several Palestinian trade unions affirming their solidarity with the mobilization in France. (The Collectif Palestine Vaincra is a member organization of the Samidoun Network.)

The stand drew a great deal of attention and interest from participants in the mass mobilization, and many people stopped at the Collectif’s stand to chat, collect free stickers and flyers or to obtain more information on its campaigns. For example, many people took “Boycott TEVA” stickers to put on their health cards to inform pharmacists of their refusal to finance a company that supports the economy of the Israeli occupation.

Dozens of protesters took solidarity photos to demonstrate their commitment to  the international campaign to boycott Israel and complicit international companies (such as PUMA, HP and Carrefour).

As they passed in front of the Collectif’s stand, many contingents in the mass march expressed their support by chanting “Algeria has won, Palestine will win,”  “Solidarity with the Palestinian people” or “Palestine will live, Palestine will win”. These growing expressions of solidarity demonstrate that the Palestinian people can rely on the international solidarity of peoples in their struggle against colonialism, occupation and apartheid for the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea.

https://twitter.com/Collectif_PV/status/1638985408204931073

Throughout the demonstration, the Collectif denounced the scandalous cooperation between France and Israel and called for the development of solidarity with the Palestinian resistance confronting intense repression today. They urged all to participate in the rally on Thursday March 30 at 6:30 p.m. at the Capitole metro station in support of the Palestinian people and to denounce the twinning of Toulouse with Tel Aviv, a call now supported by over 30 local organizations.

https://twitter.com/Collectif_PV/status/1638978073709146122

 

Samidoun Vancouver hosts Liberation Iftar, celebrates victory of Palestinian prisoners

On Saturday, 25 March, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network in Vancouver organized a Liberation Iftar/Dinner to commemorate Palestinian Land Day, celebrate the victory of Palestinian prisoners over the jailer, and raise funds to support the upcoming Liberation Conference for Palestine in Ottawa. The event included an abundant iftar meal, political speeches, and cultural performances, all in a warm atmosphere of international solidarity and collective struggle.

The event was opened by Dave Diewert of Samidoun Vancouver, who delivered a strong message of solidarity and joint struggle between Palestinian liberation and the Indigenous struggle for sovereignty and self-determination throughout Turtle Island. He urged the importance of strengthening these relations of struggle and building a broad popular movement that supports the Palestinian people and their resistance confronting Zionism, imperialism and reaction. Emphasizing that the struggle is for return and the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea, he noted that it is important to be clear and critical in order to uphold a meaningful vision of justice and liberation for Palestine.

This was followed by a speech by Hanan Dudin, addressing student and youth organizing for Palestine, especially the work of students at the University of British Columbia in winning a boycott and divestment resolution targeting companies profiting from Israeli occupation as well as other corporate rights violators. She discussed the growth in this movement in the recent period and the victories obtained by the student movement over Zionist organizations attempting to block its progress, and emphasized the importance of student work in building an effective movement to support Palestinian liberation.

She also discussed the work of the Masar Badil, the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement, especially its establishment in 2021 and the March of Return and Liberation in Brussels in 2022, urging participation in the Masar’s upcoming Liberation Conference in Ottawa.

Charlotte Kates, international coordinator of the Samidoun network, spoke about the achievement of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement just days ago, emphasizing that the Palestinian prisoners are actively participating in the resistance. She noted that the prisoners recognized the opportunity for new achievements amid the internal contradictions in the Zionist state and defeated the notorious fascist Itamar Ben Gvir and the prison administration with their serious unity, commitment and determination.

She also called on participants to join the struggle in every way possible, including by building boycott campaigns that support the Palestinian people’s return and the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea, in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance and uprising in occupied Palestine. In particular, she urged all to join the Canada Palestine Association on 1 April in the demonstration to boycott Israeli wines at the BC Liquor Store, which sells Zionist products from both the occupied West Bank of Palestine and the occupied Golan Heights of Syria.

Khaled Barakat, Palestinian writer and co-founder of the Masar Badil,  the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement, spoke about the Palestinian political scene today, noting that “The Palestinian people are inspired by the experiences and struggles of peoples internationally, including the Indigenous liberation struggle, the Black Liberation struggle, and liberation movements around the world.” He noted that today, the Palestinian liberation struggle presents a living example of the ability to continue to escalate a revolution and pursue a liberation struggle in the face of colonialism and occupation throughout Palestine, backed up by imperialist powers.

He condemned the Canadian government’s complicity and active participation in the crimes of the occupation, including its ongoing silence on the recruitment for the Israeli occupation military taking place in Canada as well as the tours of Zionist military officers to Canadian campuses. He called for action to confront such visits and escalating the boycott campaign in all universities and academic institutions.

The event concluded with a musical performance by Callum of Samidoun Vancouver, who performed several revolutionary songs, including one in honor of Ghassan Kanafani, the Palestinian leader, writer, struggler and martyr. The songs were met with warm and enthusiastic applause by all present.

The evening was a successful event on multiple levels, with attendees joining in a warm spirit of camaraderie, joint struggle and collective solidarity. To get involved and learn more about Samidoun Vancouver, email vancouver@samidoun.net or visit us on Twitter or Instagram.

 

Brussels: Confront police killings, state repression, and racist violence with internationalist solidarity!

Photo: Abdullah Awad

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network — Brussels expresses our outrage at the latest police killing in Belgium, the killing of Imad, 42, a father of two in Seneffe. This follows the still unexplained death of Sourour in the cells of the Brussels police in January and comes only days after the shooting of an as-yet unidentified Black man in a psychiatric hospital by the Belgian police.

As Palestinians and supporters of Palestine, we express our solidarity with all communities struggling against police violence, brutality and killing. Just as imperialism, including Belgian imperialism, has long been a partner of Zionism in Palestine, we view state racism and police repression here as also a function of the imperial state and its militarization against our communities. We demand justice, accountability and an end to racist and colonial police terror.

Here in Belgium, our communities — fleeing Zionist colonialism, forced from our homes and lands by invasion and imperialist attack — continue to face state repression, criminalization and police violence. Black, Arab and Muslim communities in Belgium are particularly subjected to a high level of police violence and state racism. This is inseparable from Belgian imperialism and colonialism, historically and in the present day.

Today, we honour Imad, Sourour and all victims of police violence as martyrs in the struggle for justice. We are dedicated to struggling together here for justice, accountability and liberation for all of our communities, oppressed peoples and the working class as a whole. The struggle to confront police violence, state racism, criminalization and repression is part and parcel of our struggle for the liberation of Palestine.

Photo: Abdullah Awad

Munther Khalaf Mufleh: Prisoners’ movement victory is an implementation of unity and true partnership

The following article, by Palestinian prisoner leader Munther Khalaf Mufleh, is republished from the original Arabic, from the Handala Center. 

After the escalation of Zionist attacks against the achievements gained by the prisoners’ movement over the years, and the attempts of the fascist Ben Gvir to seize our rights by enacting laws and policies such as the laws for the execution of prisoners, revocation of nationality, and deportation of prisoners and former prisoners, as well as the attacks on the achievements of daily life of the prisoners’ movement, such as cutting access to water, setting brief times for bathing and the imposition of dozens of punitive measures, such as repeated transfer and isolation, led the prisoners’ movement to take action. These policies express the hateful, racist nature of Zionism, revealing its true face and its mechanisms that always aim to target all that is Palestinian. The prisoners’ movement implemented a series of escalating tactical measures, and prepared and threatened to launch an open, collective hunger strike on the first day of Ramadan.

With these steps, the prisoners’ movement aimed to teach the enemy a new lesson, and began to implement this by announcing the names of Palestinian national leaders who would begin the open hunger strike, led by the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the leader Ahmad Sa’adat, and leaders of all factions, headed by Mohammed Al-Tus, Abu Shadi; Hassan Salameh; and a long convoy of heroes of the prisoners’ movement.

For the first time since 1993, the equation of direct dialogue was imposed with the presence of the full Higher Emergency Committee, representing all Palestinian factions, under the slogan of “national unity and true partnership.” Through its first message to the masses, it signed a charter of honor to consolidate this concept of partnership and unity, especially as it was the first emergence of the name of the emergency committee. This aims to promote unity, not only at the level of the prisoners’ movement, but at the level of our Palestinian people everywhere they are.

During its marathon discussions with the Zionist prisons authority, the Emergency Committee formed a strong and solid model in which the demands of the prisoners’ movement were presented with boldness and revolutionary fervor, defying all obstacles with the firm commitment that rights are not begged for, but rather taken.

This was implemented in practice during these sessions, and the outcomes were as follows:

  1. Decisions about the living conditions are taken by the full Zionist cabinet and not by a sole decision of the criminal Ben Gvir and his office.
  2. The removal of two prisoners from solitary confinement, who have been involved in resistance.
  3. Return of the water supply to normal without limitations on time.
  4. Returning kitchen access to prisoners in Ofer Prison.
  5. Opening public facilities (“canteen” or prison store, laundry, barber, etc) in the Negev prison on Friday.
  6. Allowing communication on the public telephone from the Ramle prison clinic five times a week.
  7. Closing the files of a number of administrative detainees [and ensuring their detention is not renewed], especially elderly detainees.
  8. Opening a special section for detained prisoners after their arrest.
  9. In addition to a number of demands that require follow-up from the emergency leadership to be implemented within the sections, and they will need periodic follow-up from the section representatives.

All of these achievements would not have been realized if it had not been for the will of our Palestinian people and their valiant resistance that was present with us and always pushes us to greater action, but this achievement is a step on the road of a thousand miles to our goal of freedom and liberation. It can be built upon to escalate the pressure on the occupation, to extract further achievements and to stop the policies of harassment and oppression by the prison authority, in order to achieve the dream of liberation.

Munther Khalaf Mufleh is a Palestinian political prisoner, a member of the Central Committee of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. He is director of the Handala Center for the Prisoners’ Movement Affairs and the spokesperson for the PFLP prison branch. He is a Palestinian writer and journalist, and was issued a membership by the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate while imprisoned in recognition of his work.

Palestinian prisoners declare victory over the jailer in advance of planned hunger strike

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes the Palestinian people and the prisoners’ movement as the prisoners declare their victory in the “Volcano of Freedom or Martyrdom.” In the late night hours of Wednesday, 22 March, the leadership of the prisoners’ movement announced that the Zionist prison service had backed down from all of the sanctions imposed upon the prisoners in a new agreement, suspending the hunger strike that had been scheduled to begin with 2,000 prisoners on 23 March with the beginning of the month of Ramadan.

We extend our highest salutes and greetings of solidarity to the prisoners’ movement, who continue to resist and defend the land and people of Palestine from behind prison walls, and whose battle of wills continues to produce new achievements. The prisoners’ unity and commitment to struggle, including the commitment of the leadership of the prisoners’ movement, the imprisoned leaders of the Palestinian people, once again demonstrated its strength.

We further affirm that we will remain vigilant — alongside the Palestinian prisoners, the resistance and the people as a whole — for all attempts by the occupier to breach these agreements, and our commitment to continue to struggle until the liberation of all Palestinian prisoners and until return and the liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea.

Samidoun salutes the Palestinian people in Palestine and the Palestinian people everywhere in exile and diaspora mobilizing and organizing in response to the prisoners’ call for their liberation in the cities and the countries of the world, the Arab people confronting normalization and upholding the prisoners’ call, and all of the forces of solidarity with the Palestinian people ready to act for the prisoners’ freedom and victory.

We further salute Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan, who is continuing his hunger strike for freedom, now on the 47th day, struggling alongside each of the 4,750 prisoners in the occupation jails for justice and liberation.

We republish the statement below, issued by the Higher Emergency Committee of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Movement:

Announcing the victory of the prisoners in the battle of “Volcano of Freedom or Martyrdom”

To our great people, salutes of pride and victory.

We take advantage of this opportunity to congratulate our people on the beginning of the blessed month of Ramadan, and we pray to God to bring it back when the prisoners and detainees have been liberated.

With this entry into the month of victories, your imprisoned children wrote a new page in the book of glory and honor, as the Zionist enemy was forced to stop its measures against us that it sought to impose upon us. Thanks to God first, and then thanks to the unity of the prisoners and the support of their people for them, the prisoners’ movement was able to record a new victory on the pages of glory and steadfastness.

On this occasion, we send the following messages:

The first message: To our prisoners, our troops who always show their complete readiness and solid unity. You have all our appreciation and pride for this unparalleled readiness and fedayee bravery.

The second message: To our resisting people who supported us throughout our past movement; you have a message of thanks and gratitude, to a people who know the meaning of loyalty, practicing it as a behavior and adopting it as a method.

The third message: To our brutal enemy, you must realize and understand well that the prisoners are not alone, and they are not easy prey for every invader on our land.

Finally: We extend our thanks and appreciation to all those who support us among the free people of the world, the supporters of our just cause.

Mercy for the martyrs, healing for the wounded, freedom and victory for the prisoners.

The Higher National Emergency Committee for the Palestinian Prisoners’ Movement

Thursday 1 Ramadan 1444
23 March 2023

 

On Arab Mother’s Day: Palestinian mothers demand the return of their children; a message from women prisoners

“The woman is a mother and fighter on the path to liberation”

On 21 March, Palestinians and Arabs celebrate Mother’s Day, honoring the many contributions of mothers to the lives of their children and to society as a whole. In Palestine and in exile and diaspora, however, mothers face particular challenges and forms of oppression by the Zionist regime, from imprisonment to the destruction of their homes, the confiscation of their land and the detention of their martyred children’s bodies. Nonetheless, Palestinian mothers remain on the front lines of struggle for the liberation of themselves, their children and all of Palestine, from the river to the sea.

On Mother’s Day, the mothers of the martyrs gathered in Ramallah to demand the liberation of their children’s bodies detained by the occupation. This manifestation came days after the launch of the International Campaign to Liberate the Remains of Palestinian Martyrs, endorsed by over 180 organizations, including events and actions in multiple cities as well as five webinars highlighting the testimonies and experiences of the families of the martyrs.

The mothers of the martyrs read a statement, in which they declared, “The Palestinian mother is the mother wishing for a dignified burial for her martyred son. She digs with her hands an open grave that she visits every day, sharing with him her longing, as she is denied even the knowledge of the fate of her son, whether he is a martyr or a owounded, kidnapped prisoner. We have suddenly become the mothers of martyrs, without preparation. We wage a fierce battle to bury our children, standing in the squares, shouting, chanting, writing statements and writing texts…This is a rightful cry that we make to the occupation that will not hear, to the world that deals in double standards, and to the Palestinian political leadership, factions, organizations, movements and unions.”

Of the 29 Palestinian women prisoners held in the Israeli occupation prisons, five are mothers. On this Mother’s Day, they are deprived, as every year, of the embrace of their children and loved ones. Of course, this Mother’s Day also comes only days before over 2,000 prisoners will launch a collective hunger strike, the Battle of Freedom or Martyrdom. The imprisoned mothers are:

  • Israa Jaabis, mother of the child Muatassem, is serving an 11-year prison sentence. She is severely wounded and suffers from burns all over her body and continues to require intensive surgeries which are denied by the occupation as part of its systematic policy of medical neglect and abuse.
  • Fadwa Hamadeh, sentenced to 11 years in occupation prisons, is the mother of five children: Hamada, 12, Sadeen, 11, Mohammed, 9, Adam, 8 and Maryam, 6.
  • Amani al-Hashim, sentenced to 10 years in occupation prisons, is the mother of two children. She was shot by occupation forces at the Qalandiya checkpoint in 2016 and has been detained ever since.
  • Etaf Jaradat, is the mother of two sons who are also imprisoned by the occupation, Omar and Ghaith. From the town of Silat al-Harthiyeh, her home was demolished after her sons were seized on charges of participating in the Palestinian armed resistance in 2022.
  • Yasmine Shaaban, the mother of four children, receives Mother’s Day this year with additional pain, due to the death of her father only days earlier as he awaits her freedom. Detained since March 2022, she was previously arrested for five years continuously and was seized once again only months after her release.

In many cases, imprisoned mothers are denied family visits, just as mothers outside prison are denied visits with their imprisoned children, as a mechanism of collective punishment. Many of these visits must take place through glass, without the opportunity to touch or embrace their loved ones.

All of the women prisoners issued a message to the mothers of the Palestinian people on Mother’s Day, written by Yasmine Shaaban (below):

Here is another year and another March, passing in our homeland and bringing with it more cries of our mothers and pains of our bodies. It is no coincidence that March is the time of Mother’s Day, Women’s Day, Land Day and the spring season, bringing day and night to equal length, and our pain a symbol of life in a homeland that weaves the threads of dawn into shields to protect our chests from a relentless and arrogant enemy.

To our mothers, who illuminated the light of our lives with their patience, to those who give us strength from the beating of their hearts, to those who ignited a revolution in us, to those who taught us how to live like olive trees planted in a barren land, to extend roots into the depths of the earth, to seek the freedom of our homeland that represents all homelands.

On this day each year, the world celebrates Mother’s Day for each person to express their feelings for their mother. As for our beloved homeland, we express on this day to our mothers in our own way, as on each occasion, and from our small cells, we draw and chart our path with the blood of the martyrs, the pains of the prisoners and the endless suffering of our people.

To our mothers, to our children, we miss you like the earth longs for droplets of rain, we miss you like the expressions of a lover whose wings overflow with love, passion, appreciation and reverence.

To all of Palestine, to those who challenge the prison walls and confront the jailer, who make their suffering a bright beacon to guide them, every year, our greetings to the mothers of the world, and to the mothers of Palestine, and this year, as every year, we are approaching our liberation.

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