Palestinian-Canadian artist shot by occupation forces while photographing on the West Bank

16 December 2015

Palestinian-Canadian artist Rehab Nazzal, whose art has addressed themes and experiences of Palestinian political prisoners and extrajudicial assassinations, was shot in the leg with live ammunition by Israeli occupation forces while photographing in Bethlehem, in the West Bank of occupied Palestine. Nazzal is a third-year Ph.D. student at Western University in Ontario, where she is investigating the sonic effect of unmanned robotic weapons and surveillance systems on civilians as part of her research.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network expresses its solidarity with Rehab Nazzal, whose art highlights Palestinian existence and experience, and views the shooting of Nazzal as part of an ongoing occupation war of violence and suppression against Palestinian cultural workers, artists, journalists and photographers. As she notes, “This was not an accident.” It is not separate from the attempts of Zionist organizations in Canada to silence and suppress her artwork and render Palestinian experience and struggle “invisible” and silenced, but part of an ongoing campaign of violence and repression against Palestinian cultural and media voices.

We reprint the following press release in response to the attack on Nazzal:

At approximately 2:00 PM on Friday December 11, Rehab Nazzal was carefully walking along Al Khalil Street, a main avenue in the north of the Palestinian city of Bethlehem, towards where she usually stands with other journalists and photographers. She wanted to document a military “Skunk” truck that spays chemicals with a strong sewage smell. Nazzal, a third year PhD student in Western’s Visual Arts Department who holds a SSHRC Doctoral Scholarship to investigate the sonic effect of unmanned robotic weapons and surveillance systems on civilians, has been documenting the clashes between the Israeli occupation forces and the Palestinian protesters since the beginning of October. Her research focuses on the effect of the Israeli weapons that target human senses: sound bombs, teargas and Skunk chemicals. Rehab’s work has been exhibited nationally in Canada, as well as internationally.

She reports what happened to her on Friday: “While walking, I would take shelter every few meters to avoid the teargas and the “Skunk” army truck that was spraying sewage chemical liquid on the protesters and the surrounding neighborhoods. When I stopped by a corner of one of the shops, and while taking some photographs, I was suddenly shot in the leg. I did not realize what had happened. The last image I photographed shows a sniper hiding on the ground near the entrance to one of the city’s hotels.” (View Nazzal’s photo, above.)

When an ambulance rushed to her aid, it was attacked with teargas grenades, which suffocated the paramedics and Nazzal, creating a cloud of gas that prevented other photographers and journalists from documenting what was happening. Examination at the hospital revealed that a bullet had entered and exited her leg, fortunately without shattering any bones. Nazzal reports that she is now fine, getting the necessary medical help and will soon recover. The wound was identified as being from a .22 caliber bullet, a type of ammunition that is prohibited for live fire against unarmed civilians, according to Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem.

“What shocked me was the fact that I was alone, with no clashes, no stone throwers, absolutely no one around me, and yet I was intentionally shot by a sniper. This was not an accident,” comments Nazzal. Dar Al-Kalima University, where she is lecturing while in the West Bank for her research, sent an official letter about this to the Canadian Embassy in Tel Aviv.

Award-winning London-based artist Jamelie Hassan, who exhibited with Nazzal last year at a gallery
in London, Ontario, comments: “Rehab’s photographic and mixed media installations are significant and powerful works that reveal the structures of occupation and on-going impact of the Israeli occupation on the daily lives of Palestinians. It is vital in this sort of research-based work for artists to be able to document with photography the reality they are studying. I am shocked by this violence against a fellow Canadian artist, and concerned not only for her safety but also for the safety of many other Palestinian journalists and media professionals who are put at risk by the reckless violence of the occupation’s military.”

For further information, please contact:
Rehab Nazzal: <renazzal@gmail.com>
Jamelie Hassan: <jamelieh@rogers.com>
David Heap <djheap@uwo.ca>

Palestinian leader Ahmad Sa’adat from prison: We are struggling for democracy, liberation and justice for all

13 December 2015

The following statement by Ahmad Sa’adat, the imprisoned General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Palestinian Leftist political party, was issued marking the 48th anniversary of the PFLP’s founding, on December 11, 1967, from his cell in Ramon prison where he is imprisoned by the Zionist occupation. It is reprinted here from the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat:

To the masses of our people, to the comrades,

On this occasion, we salute the great 48th anniversary of our Front. And Palestine is rising in intifada and revolution, with martyrs who have sworn to defeat the occupation and pave the way of the people toward real national self-determination, liberation and return, who are determined that Jerusalem will not be stolen from our people. The leaders and militants of our people and our youth and all of our forces are behind this escalating intifada, toward independence and self-determination over our land, rejecting all attempts to stop and deflect this movement from its natural course and from the objectives sought by the uprising of the youth.

This intifada is continuing steadily despite the enormous sacriices and despite attempts by the occupation to stop it with its flagrant crimes and settler terror.

I salute the young men and women, all the young Palestinians, who are rising with stones, Molotov cocktails, knives and guns, and the mothers and systers of the martyrs and the prisoners who are models of strength and resilience, ululating when confronted with the death of their children, who have shown epic steadfastness and sacrifice in their suffering. All of the Zionist occupation state’s repression, bloodshed and attempts to break the will of the people have fallen in the wake of their steadfastness.

I salute all of our struggling people in the trenches of resistance and intifada, confronting the occupier, seeking to build a national future and a political, cultural and human vision, and all those who struggle internationally, for a society that rejects racism and oppression in all of its forms and instead envisions popular relations based on equality, love, cooperation and mutual support.

I would also like to especially greet the comrades as they light the 48th torch, for the anniversary of our Front, the Popular Front, which was based on struggle and sacrifice, and still struggles and sacrifices. And which continues to march, carrying high the banner of the struggle, and the banner of the martyrs and prisoners, generation after generation.

Every greeting to our Palestinian masses in the occupied homeland of 1948, who are fighting the Zionist actions against them and the ongoing attempts to expel them from our ancestral homeland; all salutes to our people in exile and diaspora, and in the camps, who have confirmed that the suffering of forced deportation from our homeland and the pain of oppression and displacement has only made them more determined to end that suffering through victory, and to struggle alongside their people inside Palestine to accumulate the achievements of the struggle, and lead the way on the road to return, the fundamental core of our Palestinian national liberation movement.

To the masses of our people who push forward the flame of the intifada…The intifada has embodied the natural state of our people and their true path, emerging in response to suffering created by heinous crimes, repression and racism, attacking their national identity, their right to self-determination, and a decent life. Accordingly, and in response to calls to bring an end to this intifada, or to domesticate and transform it into a tactical move for manipulation in negotiations, or from true popular resistance to “peaceful resistance,” we affirm the content of our liberation project, that is democratic and human. Our intifada and resistance against this occupation is a continuous strategic struggle in order to achieve the goals and dreams of our people: to full independence and self-determination on the entire land of Palestine, which includes the establishment of a truly democratic state of Palestine, anti-racist, rejecting all forms of discrimination and oppression, and ending the anti-colonial conflict through uprooting the Zionist project from the land of Palestine and therefore, end the basis of oppression and hatred among the population of Palestine, and establishing a democratic political system that respects all individual and collective rights, all cultural, religious and national rights, and equality of opportunity and of rights on the basis of the collective and individual right to freedom of expression and the rights of the individual. This state of Palestine constitutes the product of a comprehensive democratic process involving all inhabitants of Palestine.

This intifada puts before the Palestinian monopolistic leadership a way out from confusion, stagnation and reliance on the illusions of negotiations and political settlement managed by the U.S. State Department. Understandings which still perceive the U.S. government as a partner and friend of the Palestinian people, and which attempt to either suppress the struggle of our people or use it to gain an advantage in this context, are vacuous and irrelevant in the face of the Palestinian blood in the streets of Jerusalem, of our homeland.

The continued political division and attempts to deal with the reconciliation efforts through mere words and not a serious action is an insult to our people, who look to turn the page on this period. Reality has confirmed that such is not possible without undertaking a serious and bold critical review of the political path and line of our people and of the Palestinian national movement, and working to rebuild its base, drawing lessons from the mistakes and working wholeheartedly to support the popular intifada, with full confidence in the ability of our people and their capabilities to defeat aggression and achieve victory over the Zionist project.

Without the unification of the energies of our people, parties and institutions in the service of the goals of the intifada, the goals of the Palestinian revolution, we will remain always prone to cooling-off, to suppression, and to negative developments. There is an objective link between the continuation and escalation of the intifada and the internal Palestinian situation, its internal stability and rejection of division and exclusivity, and building a firm base of national unity.

The Palestinian people are determined to continue the intifada for all of the national rights of our people. This position is naturally consistent with the struggle of all progressive global forces confronting global imperial arrogance and struggling for independence, self-determination and liberation, for social justice, equality and socialism, based on a fair distribution of the wealth and human principles of peace, rejection of war, imperialism and all forms of oppression and exploitation, principles to which the Popular Front is committed in its political strategy.

In conclusion, I confirm to the masses of the Palestinian people, the Arab nation, and the world, that the PFLP will always remain faithful to the principles, values and national vision and objectives embodied by the leaders of our party, led by the founder, Dr. George Habash, the martyr Abu Ali Mustafa, Ghassan Kanafani, Wadie Haddad, Guevara Gaza, Abu Maher al-Yamani, Ribhi Haddad, Shadia Abu Ghazaleh and all of the martyrs, from the first martyr of the Front, Khaled Abu Aisha, until the last martyr of the Front fallen in the field of struggle.

Long live the 48th anniversary of the launch of this struggling front – forward the intifada, resistance and unity to defeat the colonial Zionist entity.

General Secretary Ahmad Sa’adat
Ramon Prison

18 December, NYC: Demand the #UNDropG4S and Israel free the Hares Boys and all Palestinian prisoners

13 December 2015

Friday, 18 December
4:00 pm
G4S Offices – NYC, 19 W. 44th Street
Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/events/449996935192671/

Please join Samidoun New York…

Tell the United Nations to end its contracts with G4S, a British-Danish security firm that supports Israeli checkpoints, detention centers, military and security forces, and prisons, and demand Israel release the Hares Boys, fine Palestinian teenagers blackmailed into accepting 15-years prison terms and exorbitant ‘fines’ for a crime that never happened, and all Palestinian political prisoners.

The five teenagers are being sentenced to 15 years in prison and are to pay a total of NIS 150,000 (~US $39,000 or €35,000) to the Israeli authorities. Failure to provide the exorbitant sum would, it is implied, result in more years of prison added to the boys’ sentences.

Ali Shamlawi, Mohammed Kleib, Mohammed Suleiman, Ammar Souf, and Tamer Souf have been kept in prison for 2 years and 8 months and are now being sentenced.

The five teenagers (16-17 years old at the time) from the village of Hares (Salfit governorate, West Bank, occupied Palestine) were kidnapped from their homes by the Israeli army in March 2013. The teens were accused of throwing stones at illegal settler cars, one of which drove under a truck that was parked along Route 5 near the village of Hares. The driver’s children were injured during the accident and one of them died two years later after pneumonia complications. The boys denied throwing stones but were forced to sign ‘confessions’ following torturous interrogations at the hands of Israeli secret services. There was never any evidence of the boys’ guilt but it is sadly a reality in the Israeli military court system that does not comply with due process and convicts Palestinians at a 99.7% rate.

After almost 3 years of routine hearings at Israeli military courts, where the boys were initially accused of ‘attempted murder’, they were told on 26 November 2015 that they are now being charged with manslaughter and are being sentenced to prison terms of 15 years, provided their families pay ‘fines’ of NIS 30,000 [US $7,750 or € 7,100] each by the deadline of 28 January 2016. Failure to pay the amount requested by the Israeli military court would, it is understood, result in each boy’s sentence being prolonged, possibly to at least 25 years in prison.

There is no other way to describe this situation the five teens and their families have endured other than as criminal activity on behalf of the Israeli system of ‘justice’. Pressing the families to agree to a court ‘deal’ and threatening them with harsher sentences if they don’t accept is nothing less than extortion. Demanding that families pay large sums of money as a ‘fine’ or a ‘compensation’ to the occupying power is nothing less than a demand for ransom.

G4S, the world’s largest security company and second-biggest private employer, equips and maintains the Israeli detention centers and jails where Palestinian political prisoners, including children like the Hares Boys, are held and tortured, as well as the occupation forces and infrastructure that routinely massacre Palestinians while holding millions under military rule.

While professing commitment to both Palestinian rights and ethical contracting, UN agencies lavish G4S with lucrative business deals, after seven months of appeals by Palestinian human rights groups to end them, and despite the company’s participation in Israeli atrocities.

Join us to answer a united appeal by Palestinian prisoners for escalated boycotts of G4S, and to build a new global campaign against the UN’s support for this notorious prison and occupation profiteer.

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

Hares Boys – 5 Palestinian teens – sentenced to 15 years imprisonment and high fines for nonexistent “crime”

13 December 2015

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is re-publishing here the statement of the Free the Hares Boys Campaign on the sentencing and imprisonment of five Palestinian teens, from the village of Hares. These five young men, Ali Shamlawi, Mohammed Kleib, Mohammed Suleiman, Ammar Souf and Tamer Souf, were accused of throwing stones near their village and causing a settler’s car accident with a truck. The claim of stone throwing did not even arise until days after the accident, and became an occasion for Israeli occupation forces terrorizing the village, rounding up teen boys and torturing five into false confessions. We urge all to join in actions called by the Free the Hares Boys Campaign and draw attention to these five Palestinian youth and the massive injustice against them:

Five Palestinian Teens Blackmailed Into Accepting 15 Years Prison Term and Exorbitant ‘Fines’ for a Crime That Never Happened

PRESS RELEASE

by Free The Hares Boys campaign

12 December 2015

It is with great sadness and anger that we hereby inform you of the outcome of the Hares Boys case: the five teenagers are being sentenced to 15 years in prison and are to pay a total of NIS 150,000 (~US $39,000 or €35,000) to the Israeli authorities. Failure to provide the exorbitant sum would, it is implied, result in more years of prison added to the boys’ sentences.

Ali Shamlawi, Mohammed Kleib, Mohammed Suleiman, Ammar Souf, and Tamer Souf have been kept in prison for 2 years and 8 months and are now being sentenced for a crime that never happened.

The five teenagers (16-17 years old at the time) from the village of Hares (Salfit governorate, West Bank, occupied Palestine) were kidnapped from their homes by the Israeli army in March 2013. The teens were accused of throwing stones at illegal settler cars, one of which drove under a truck that was parked along Route 5 near the village of Hares. The driver’s children were injured during the accident and one of them died two years later after pneumonia complications. The boys denied throwing stones but were forced to sign ‘confessions’ following torturous interrogations at the hands of Israeli secret services. There was never any evidence of the boys’ guilt but it is sadly a reality in the Israeli military court system that does not comply with due process and convicts Palestinians at a 99.7% rate.

After almost 3 years of routine hearings at Israeli military courts, where the boys were initially accused of ‘attempted murder’, they were told on 26 November 2015 that they are now being charged with manslaughter and are being sentenced to prison terms of 15 years, provided their families pay ‘fines’ of NIS 30,000 [US $7,750 or € 7,100] each by the deadline of 28 January 2016. Failure to pay the amount requested by the Israeli military court would, it is understood, result in each boy’s sentence being prolonged, possibly to at least 25 years in prison.

There is no other way to describe this situation the five teens and their families have endured other than as criminal activity on behalf of the Israeli system of ‘justice’. Pressing the families to agree to a court ‘deal’ and threatening them with harsher sentences if they don’t accept is nothing less than extortion. Demanding that families pay large sums of money as a ‘fine’ or a ‘compensation’ to the occupying power is nothing less than a demand for ransom.

On behalf of the Free the Hares Boys campaign we condemn such acts of injustice committed by the Israeli military court.

We invite local and international human rights organizations, the world’s democratic government institutions and people of conscience to stand up to this injustice inflicted on the Palestinian people by the Israeli occupation and to demand justice for the Hares Boys. Please consider contacting your country’s diplomatic representatives in Tel Aviv or occupied Jerusalem; the Israeli Ministry of Justice; your local politicians; asking them to intervene and condemn such injustice and disrespect for the rule of law. Organize events in your community to highlight the Hares Boys case and the situation of hundreds of other Palestinian children who are being kept in occupation prisons.

Do not stay silent in the face of what is not right.

PDF VERSION: PRESS HERE

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Cinco adolescentes palestinos están siendo chantajeados para aceptar 15 años de prisión y ‘multas’ exorbitantes por un crimen que nunca ocurrió**

COMUNICADO DE PRENSA
de la Campaña por la Libertad de los Chicos de Hares
12 de diciembre de 2015

Con gran tristeza e indignación queremos informarles sobre el resultado del caso de los Chicos de Hares: los cinco adolescentes están siendo condenados a 15 años de prisión y tienen que pagar un total de 150.000 shekels (US$ 39.000 o € 35.000) a las autoridades israelíes. Si no se entrega esta suma exorbitante, se les ha dado a entender que serán condenados a un período significativamente más largo de prisión.

Ali Shamlawi, Mohammed Kleib, Mohammed Suleiman, Ammar Souf y Tamer Souf están en prisión desde hace 2 años y 8 meses, y ahora están siendo condenados por un crimen que nunca ocurrió. Los cinco adolescentes de la aldea de Hares (distrito de Salfit, Cisjordania, Palestina ocupada) fueron secuestrados de sus hogares por el ejército israelí en marzo de 2013, cuando tenían 16 y 17 años de edad. Los chicos fueron acusados sin pruebas de arrojar piedras a vehículos de colonos ilegales, uno de los cuales chocó contra un camión que estaba estacionado en la Ruta 5, cerca de Hares. Las hijas de la conductora del coche resultaron heridas en el accidente, y una de ellas murió dos años más tarde a causa de complicaciones derivadas de una neumonía. Los chicos negaron haber tirado piedras, pero fueron obligados a firmar “confesiones” después de largos interrogatorios y torturas a manos de los servicios secretos israelíes. Nunca se obtuvo prueba alguna de su culpabilidad, pero lamentablemente eso es una realidad habitual en el sistema de tribunales militares israelíes, que no cumplen con las garantías del debido proceso y tienen una tasa de condena de los palestinos del 99,7%.

Después de casi 3 años de audiencias de rutina en los tribunales militares israelíes, donde los chicos fueron inicialmente acusados de “tentativa de homicidio”, el 26 de noviembre de 2015 se les informó que ahora están siendo acusados de homicidio no intencional y serán condenados a una pena de prisión de 15 años, siempre que sus familias paguen la penalización de 30.000 shekels (US$ 7.750 o € 7.100) cada una antes de la fecha límite del 28 de enero de 2016. Se les ha dado a entender que si no pagan en ese plazo la cantidad exigida por el tribunal militar israelí, la sentencia de cada chico se extendería, posiblemente, a por lo menos 25 años de prisión.

No hay otra forma de describir esta situación que los cinco adolescentes y sus familias están sufriendo que de actividad criminal por parte del sistema israelí de ‘justicia’. Presionar a las familias a que acepten un ‘acuerdo’ y amenazarlas con penas más severas si no lo hacen no es otra cosa que extorsión. Exigir que las familias paguen grandes sumas de dinero como ‘sanción económica’ o ‘compensación’ a la potencia ocupante no es otra cosa que una exigencia de rescate.

En nombre de la campaña por la Libertad de los Chicos de Hares condenamos tales actos de injusticia cometidos por el tribunal militar israelí.

Exhortamos a las organizaciones locales, nacionales e internacionales de derechos humanos, a las instituciones y gobiernos democráticos del mundo y a todas las personas de conciencia a protestar ante esta injusticia infligida al pueblo palestino por la ocupación israelí, y a exigir justicia para los Chicos de Hares. Les pedimos que contacten a sus políticos locales, a los representantes diplomáticos de sus países en Tel Aviv o Jerusalén ocupada, a los organismos internacionales, al Ministerio de Justicia de Israel, pidiéndoles que intervengan y condenen semejante injusticia y falta de respeto al estado de derecho.

Les pedimos que organicen eventos en sus comunidades para dar visibilidad al caso de los Chicos de Hares y denunciar la situación de cientos de otros niños palestinos que están en las cárceles de la ocupación. No guardemos silencio frente a lo que no es correcto.

Versión PDF para bajar: AQUI

New Yorkers protest to free Khalida Jarrar and all Palestinian prisoners, #StopG4S

12 December 2015

New Yorkers protested on Friday, December 11 outside the offices of British-Danish security multinational G4S, demanding an end to its provision of security equipment and services to Israeli prisons and detention centers holding Palestinian prisoners and to the Israeli checkpoints and police training centers that imprison the Palestinian people as a whole. The protesters also demanded the immediate release of Khalida Jarrar, Palestinian leftist parliamentarian, feminist and advocate for political prisoners, sentenced by an Israeli military court to 15 months imprisonment for her public political activity on 6 December, and all Palestinian prisoners.

Carrying lighted signs bearing the slogan “Stop G4S,” protesters also called upon the United Nations to cancel its contracts with G4S. G4S, the world’s largest security company and second-biggest private employer, equips and maintains the Israeli detention centers and jails where Palestinian political prisoners, like Jarrar, are held and tortured, the occupation forces and infrastructure that routinely massacre Palestinians while holding millions under military rule, and the military checkpoints that prevent ethnically-cleansed Palestinian refugees from returning to their homes. Click here to take action and demand the UN drop G4S.

Samidoun New York protests weekly on Fridays outside the offices of G4S, demanding an end to its involvement in the oppression of the Palestinian people and an end to contracts with G4S from the United Nations, CUNY and other public institutions. The Palestinian prisoners’ movement recently issued an unprecedented appeal for escalated boycotts of G4S over its participation in Israel’s colonial policies of occupation and repression.

Video via OWS People’s Kitchen, who participated in the protest with the lighted “#StopG4S” signs:

Photos by Joe Catron:

20 December, NYC: Certain Days 2016: A night of internationalism, solidarity, and global struggle

12 December 2015

Please join Samidoun for this evening event following the Rally against Trump’s Racism!

Saturday, 20 December
7:00 pm
Solidarity Center
147 W. 24th St, 2nd Fl, NYC
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/931385000232678/

Join us to celebrate the end of one year of resistance and the promise of another, and for your last chance in 2015 to buy copies of Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar.

The calendar is a joint fundraising and educational project between outside organizers in Montreal and Toronto, and three political prisoners being held in maximum-security prisons in New York State: David Gilbert, Robert Seth Hayes and Herman Bell. The initial project was suggested by Herman, and has been shaped throughout the process by all of our ideas, discussions, and analysis. All of the members of the outside collective are involved in day-to-day organizing work other than the calendar, on issues ranging from refugee and immigrant solidarity to community media to prisoner justice. We work from an anti-imperialist, anti-racist, anti-capitalist, feminist, queer and trans positive position.

The calendar is a fundraiser for:

Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association is a Palestinian non-governmental, civil institution which focuses on human rights issues (Addameer is Arabic for conscience). Established in 1992 by a group of activists interested in human rights, the center’s activities focus on offering support for Palestinian prisoners, advocating the rights of political prisoners, and working to end torture through monitoring, legal procedures and solidarity campaigns.

The New York State Task Force on Political Prisoners is dedicated to winning the release of political prisoners in New York prisons. The Task Force includes representatives of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement,New Afrikan Liberation Front, The Jericho Movement and Resistance Brooklyn.

There will be calendars on sale for $12.

Khairy Abudayyeh returning to the U.S., but State Department has to answer for Israeli impunity!

12 December 2015

The following action alert was issued by the US Palestinian Community Network:

Thank you all for your immediate attention to the plight of Khairy Izzat Abudayyeh, a 75-year-old Chicago community elder, U.S. citizen, and father of USPCN co-founder Hatem Abudayyeh, who had been detained for over 24 hours by the Israeli authorities at Ben Gurion airport in Al-Lydd, Palestine. He is on a flight back to the U.S., and should be safely amongst his family very soon!

Friends, colleagues, and conscientious supporters of Palestinian rights made targeted inquiries to DC legislators and hundreds of calls to the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv and the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem. These, no doubt, helped pressure the respective embassy and consulate staffers to inquire about Abudayyeh, and even helped his children speak to him for a few minutes.

But why did Israel send him back to the U.S.? Why does Israel get to treat Palestinians the way it treated him? Abudayyeh is only one of many U.S. citizens of Palestinian descent who are or have been discriminated against by Israeli authorities over the years. Of course Israel acts with impunity against Palestinians regardless of passport, but it is incredible that it treats U.S. citizens this way, and even more incredible that the U.S. State Department DOES NOTHING ABOUT IT!

Abudayyeh was just trying to return for a visit to his childhood home–which he had recently remodeled–in El Jib in the occupied West Bank. He was detained despite the fact that he has chronic illnesses, including diabetes and high blood pressure, and is a recent cancer survivor.

Other U.S. citizen Palestinians like Sandra Tamari, Nour Joudah, the family of Orwa Hammad, and of course the child Tariq Abu Khdeir, who was beaten almost to death by Israeli police, have similar and sometimes much worse stories.

And we’re not even able to report these stories to the State Department, because the link on the website was broken for years and still doesn’t appear to be functioning properly.

Our friends at the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), and Right to Enter, respectively and together, have done a lot of work on this issue, so we should also continue to press the U.S. State Department to End Israeli’s Impunity.

TAKE ACTION NOW!

Email this letter below to: amctelaviv@state.gov & UsConGenJerusalem@state.gov.

Also copy and paste it into the DC office contact form.

“Dear U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem, and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry:

In the wake of the detention of Khairy Izzat Abudayyeh, and the denial of his entry into Palestine–one in a long line of egregious examples of Israeli discrimination against U.S. citizens–I strongly urge you to hold Israel accountable for a racist policy that has continued unabated for decades.

As a first step, and even though you have rejected this recommendation in the past, it is critical for the State Department to begin tracking and reporting incidents of discrimination and denial of entry to ensure Israel’s compliance with the Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation between the U.S. and Israel, and also to determine Israel’s eligibility for the United States Visa Waiver Program.

Lawmakers, civil society organizations, and numerous Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim institutions have long called on the State Department to begin tracking and responding to Israel’s interrogation, detention, and denial of entry to U.S. citizens, and I encourage you to heed that call.

The State Department must go beyond issuing condemnations of Israel’s policies, and take concrete action to address this decades-long pattern.

We have seen the most vicious racism personified in Israel’s apartheid policies, continued occupation of Palestinian land, siege on Gaza, and recent military support of its settlers’ attacks on West Bank and Jerusalem Palestinians. Israel’s crimes extend to its treatment of U.S. citizens as well.

The status quo is unacceptable and I sincerely hope the State Department will ensure that all U.S. passport holders are treated equally, regardless of their national origin, race, ethnicity, religion, or political beliefs.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]
[City, State]”

Please also bcc uspcn@uspcn.org so we can keep track of the letters sent.

Thank you all for helping to force Israel to release our elder Khairy Izzat Abudayyeh, and your continued support for the Palestinian rights of Return, Self-Determination, and Independence.

Take Action: Help get Chicago Palestinian community elder Khairy Izzat Abudayyeh out of Israeli Detention

11 December 2015

UPDATE: As of 12 December 2015, Khairy Abudayyeh has been returned to the United States. Further action is called for here.

Khairy Abudayyeh, 75 year old Chicago community elder,US citizen, and father of US Palestinian Community Network founder and leader Hatem Abudayyeh has been detained by the Israeli authorities at Ben Gurion airport.

Khairy was detained trying to return to his childhood home in El Jib in the occupied West Bank. He also has chronic illnesses, including diabetes and high blood pressure and is a recent cancer survivor.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network joins USPCN in asking all of our friends to call the US consulate in Jerusalem at (011) +97226227230 and the US embassy at (011) +97235197551 also email them at JerusalemACS@state.gov and demand that they have the Israelis immediately release him and allow him to travel to his home in the West Bank. Join the Facebook Event for updates and to connect with others making these calls and joining the action: https://www.facebook.com/events/1685189308383405/

For more information regarding the rights of people denied entry please visithttp://www.righttoenter.ps/

Dheisheh refugee camp welcomes freed Palestinian prisoner, journalist Nidal Abu Aker

11 December 2015

Nidal Abu Aker, formerly imprisoned Palestinian journalist, organizer and leader of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in Dheisheh refugee camp was released from Israeli prison last night, 10 December. Abu Aker had been held under administrative detention; with his comrades Ghassan Zawahreh, Shadi Ma’ali, Munir Abu Sharar and Badr al-Ruzza, he launched the “Battle of Breaking the Chains”, a 40-day hunger strike in protest of the policy of imprisoning Palestinians without charge or trial.

Zawahreh, freed one week earlier, is the brother of Muataz Zawahreh, killed by Israeli occupation forces as he protested outside the camp in October. He joined the crowds of Palestinians welcoming Nidal Abu Aker home and free. Before attending a packed popular welcoming rally, where he gave a speech, Abu Aker visited the mother of slain Palestinian Malek Shahin, killed by occupation forces just days before when they invaded the camp in “arrest raids.” Shahin was a comrade of the Zawahreh brothers and Abu Aker in the revolutionary leftist Palestinian political party, the PFLP.

Abu Aker’s son, Mohammed, 20, was not present at the rally to welcome his father home because he is currently arrested by Israeli occupation forces, just weeks ago.

Nidal Abu Aker upon his release from Israeli prison in 2015; he was re-arrested eight months later.

Audio: Number of imprisoned Palestinian children doubles; join campaign to free 13-year-old Ahmad Manasrah

9 December 2015

The number of Palestinian children in Israeli prisons has more than doubled, reported the Electronic Intifada. There are over 420 Palestinian children currently held in Israeli jails, and the number continues to escalate; one-fifth of those arrested since October have been children. In fact, the Israeli occupation prison system has opened a new wing for children in Givon prison, housing 75 children, which is itself now full.

Three Palestinian girls, Marah Baker, Istabraq Nour and Jihan Erekat, are currently being held at Ramle prison with Israeli women “criminal” prisoners, separated from the other women Palestinian prisoners, who are held at HaSharon prison. Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association has denounced the girls’ situation, noting that they are being held in de facto isolation, that their belongings – including hijab headscarves – have been confiscated, and they are shackled during recreation. They are living in fear due to taunts and threats in the prison. Baker and Nour are also injured from being shot by Israeli soldiers and are not receiving necessary follow-up treatment for their injuries.

“Between January and June 2015, 86 percent of Palestinian children reported some kind of physical violence after their arrest, according to data collected by Defense for Children International–Palestine – an increase of 10 percent from the prior year,” noted Electronic Intifada.

Ahmad Manasrah, 13 years old, is currently being imprisoned by the Israeli military. He was subject to a videotaped interrogation which was viewed around the world, provoking outrage. An international campaign is calling for his freedom: https://www.facebook.com/Help-Ahmad-Manasrah-1662097660702732/

As part of the #FreeAhmadManasrah campaign, Stefan Christoff of CKUT in Montreal interviewed Irish activist Robby Martin from Dublin, Ireland, speaking on the international campaign. “Ahmad’s case is getting global focus within Palestinian solidarity networks within the context of a wave of political arrests facing Palestinians in the West Bank. Also this interview places the arrest within the larger context of trying to work build support globally for Palestinian human rights.”

Listen to the interview online:

Manasrah’s lawyer, Tareq Barghout, was himself arrested and held for several days by the Israeli military before being released.

Take action:

1.Support the Free Ahmad Manasrah campaign. Photograph yourself or your colleagues with a sign that says #FreeAhmadManasrah and share widely. Join the official campaign facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/Help-Ahmad-Manasrah-1662097660702732/

2. Contact your government officials and demand an end to international silence and complicity with the attacks on Palestinian children. In Canada, Call the office of the new Foreign Minister, Stéphane Dion, at 613-996-5789 and demand an end to Canadian support for Israel and justice for Palestinian children, or email: stephane.dion@parl.gc.ca. In the US, call the White House (202-456-1111) and the US State Department (202-647-9572); raise your concern about the treatment of Palestinian children and demand an end to US aid to Israel. In the EU, contact your MEP – you can find your MEP here, or use the tool at http://freepalestine.eu/ to both call for an end to the EU-Israel Association Agreement and highlight the abuse of Palestinian children.

3. Protest at the Israeli consulate or embassy in your area. This is a time of uprising and intifada – protests are happening around the world and are more urgent than ever. see our list of actions here:https://samidoun.net/2015/10/take-action-rise-up-with-palestine-global-protest-actions/ Hold a community event or discussion, or include this issue in your next event about Palestine and social justice. Please email us at samidoun@samidoun.net to inform us of your action – we will publicize and share news with the prisoners.

4. Boycott, Divest and Sanction. Hold Israel accountable for its violations of international law. Don’t buy Israeli goods, and campaign to end investments in corporations that profit from the occupation. G4S, a global security corporation, is heavily involved in providing services to Israeli prisons that jail Palestinian political prisoners – there is a global call to boycott it. Palestinian political prisoners have issued a specific call urging action on G4S. Learn more about BDS at bdsmovement.net.

Five Palestinian Teens Blackmailed Into Accepting 15 Years Prison Term and Exorbitant ‘Fines’ for a Crime That Never Happened

*** Cinco adolescentes palestinos están siendo chantajeados para aceptar 15 años de prisión y ‘multas’ exorbitantes por un crimen que nunca ocurrió

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Cinco adolescentes palestinos están siendo chantajeados para aceptar 15 años de prisión y ‘multas’ exorbitantes por un crimen que nunca ocurrió**