Khalida Jarrar, Palestinian leftist and feminist parliamentarian and advocate for political prisoners, has been sentenced by an Israeli occupation military court in Ofer to 15 months imprisonment today, 6 December 2015. Arrested by occupation military forces who invaded her Ramallah home on 2 April, the imprisonment of Jarrar, former executive director and current vice-chair of the board of directors of Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, has sparked widespread Palestinian, Arab and international outrage.
Jarrar is a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council for the Abu Ali Mustafa bloc, the parliamentary bloc affiliated with the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. In 2014, she had been targeted for forced displacement to Jericho from Ramallah by an occupation military order, which she succeeded in defeating after a month-long sit-in at the PLC office and an international support campaign.
In April, she was immediately placed in administrative detention without charge or trial following her arrest. An international outcry – including a vote by the Portuguese parliament demanding her release – followed, and she was then charged in Israeli military courts. While the military courts present an appearance of a “trial,” these trials are in reality no more just or fair than arbitrary administrative detention. 99.74% of Palestinians who come before them are convicted.
Jarrar was charged with twelve entirely political charges relating to her public political activity, including giving speeches, attending public forums, and calling for the freedom of Palestinian political prisoners. She was accused of “incitement” for allegedly calling for the capture of Israeli occupation soldiers by the Palestinian resistance in order to free Palestinian prisoners. Despite this statement by the occupation military, they could produce no witness to confirm that Jarrar had ever said this – and the witnesses they brought forward all indicated that they were threatened and tortured into giving statements against Jarrar.
Despite the obviously political nature of the charges against Jarrar, an internationally-recognized parliamentarian and political leader, and the steadfast advocacy of her lawyers of Addameer, she was convicted by the Israeli military courts – as is entirely standard – and sentenced to fifteen months in Israeli occupation prisons.
“The conviction of Khalida Jarrar comes as no surprise; Israeli military courts serve no function except as an instrument of repression and suppression directed against Palestinians. Khalida Jarrar is a Palestinian political leader and an internationally-renowned struggler for justice. She has dedicated her life to working for freedom for her people and her land, and especially for the freedom of Palestinian political prisoners,” said Charlotte Kates, coordinator of Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network.
“It is urgent that we build the movement internationally to demand freedom for Jarrar and for her nearly 7,000 sisters and brothers held as Palestinian political prisoners inside Israeli jails. Khalida Jarrar is a longtime struggler for freedom and social justice, on Palestinian, Arab and international levels. We must do our utmost to advance her goals – to see Palestine, free of colonialism and oppression, with justice and liberation for all, including protesting, organizing and building the campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions, and international isolation of Israel.”
2. Contact your government officials and demand they pressure Israel to free Palestinian prisoners. 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 that Canada pressure Israel to free Palestinian prisoners, including Khalida Jarrar, 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); demand an end to US aid to Israel and that the US pressure Israel to free Palestinian prisoners. 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 for the EU to pressure Israel to free Jarrar and her fellow prisoners
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network participated in the Fifth International Assembly of the International League of People’s Struggle, held in Manila, Philippines on 14-17 November.
Mohammed Khatib of Samidoun was part of the Palestinian delegation to the ILPS Assembly, and was elected as a member of the new International Coordinating Committee (ICC) of ILPS, representing Samidoun. Aiyanas Ormond of Samidoun, who is also the chair of ILPS Canada, also participated in the Assembly and was elected as an alternate member of the ICC.
The Palestinian delegation at the ILPS assembly also included Palestinian resistance icon and leftist political leader Leila Khaled, of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, who was a keynote speaker at the Assembly, as well as members of the Palestinian Youth Movement. Khaled and Cynthia McKinney were the two headlining speakers of the Assembly.
Khaled also participated – joined by Samidoun representatives – in the mass demonstrations against APEC, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, in Manila, which brought thousands to the streets to demand an end to imperialist and capitalist exploitation and plunder of the peoples of the region. She also spoke at the International Women’s Assembly, to BAYAN, the alliance of mass organizations in the Philippines, and gave numerous media interviews.
See her keynote speech:
Mohammed Khatib of Samidoun joined Khaled in inaugurating the Philippine-Palestine Friendship Association, initiated by mass organizations and movements in the Philippines: the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) labor union, GABRIELA women’s organization, Ecumenical Voice for Peace and Human Rights in the Philippines, BAYAN alliance of mass organizations, KARAPATAN political prisoner advocacy organization, the League of Filipino Students (LFS) and the Philippine Interfaith Solidarity Forum on Palestine. The event, at the University of the Philippines, featured speakers from movements in the Philippines as well as Palestinian delegates discussing joint struggle to confront imperialism.
The Palestinian delegation met with indigenous Lumad people in the Philippines, connecting their struggles against displacement and killings, calling for the return of the Lumad people to their homes, free from killings and plunder, and the right of return of all Palestinian refugees to their homes and lands.
Samidoun also held a meeting with Karapatan, a Philippine organization dedicated to freeing political prisoners of the movement in the Philippines, and planned future joint actions and projects.
The ILPS Assembly adopted a statement on Palestine calling for international actions on November 29 (see full text here) and issued the following report of its activities (see below).
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network looks forward to continuing to work with popular and mass movements in the Philippines and around the world through ILPS, in the struggle against imperialism and oppression and for justice and liberation.
ILPS International Coordinating Committee
The International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) successfully held its Fifth International Assembly (5th IA) from November 14 to 16, 2015 in Manila, Philippines with the theme, “For a Socially Just World, Strengthen the Peoples’ Solidarity and Intensify the Struggle Against Imperialist Plunder, Crisis and War!”
The 5th IA was attended by more than 400 delegates, observers and guests from 180 organizations in 39 countries, territories and autonomous regions; namely, Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Cambodia, Canada, China, Eritrea, France, Germany, Guatemala, Hong Kong (SAR), India, Indonesia, Japan, Kurdistan, Macau, Malaysia, Manipur, Mexico, Nagaland, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Palestine, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Senegal, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan ROC, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela, Vietnam, and West Papua.
The gathering confirms the League’s status as the largest and most consolidated global formation of militant, anti-imperialist and democratic organizations in the world today.
Before a packed audience at Sequoia Hotel, Len Cooper, Vice Chairperson of the ILPS, opened the 5th International Assembly by welcoming the delegates from all the global regions. He noted that the timing of this conference was chosen to coincide with the leaders meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference (APEC) in Manila. He put forward the people’s demand that APEC and its imperialist agenda be scrapped.
Cynthia McKinney, former member of the US Congress, delivered the first keynote speech. She recounted the numerous ways that US President Obama has betrayed and thwarted the aspirations of the peoples in Asia. She concluded by warning the audience, “Beware President Obama’s Pivot to Asia! Don’t get tricked and don’t be fooled!”
Also keynoting the Assembly was Leila Khaled, the celebrated Palestinian freedom fighter. She spoke of the intifada emerging in Palestine today, “an intifada that like its predecessors is based among those who are most marginalized, most oppressed and most determined to seek their freedom.” She called on the international movement of the peoples of the world to support the Palestinian people in materially changing the balance of power and escalating the cost of occupation – through escalating the boycott of Israel economically, militarily, politically, academically and culturally.
After the open forum with the keynote speakers, the Assembly approved the Agenda and the Rules of Participation including the Rules for Nominations and Elections to guide the conduct of the whole proceedings.
ILPS Chairperson Jose Ma. Sison then gave his report on the work of the ILPS through a recorded video.
Sison said that the Assembly is deliberately timed to oppose the APEC summit and the neoliberal economic policy of imperialist globalization which continues to brutally exploit the working people and plunge the world further in an ever worsening economic and social crisis. He discussed the major aspects and trends regarding the current global crisis of the capitalist system, the intensifying exploitation and oppression of the people by imperialism and reaction, and the growing resistance of the people.
He then summarized the accomplishments of ILPS over the last 14 years covering the 17 concerns of the alliance. He concluded by outlining the important tasks of the ILPS in terms of information campaigns and political education; mobilization around burning issues; cooperation with other organizations, institutions and international alliances; and expanding the membership of ILPS.
Malcolm Guy, General Secretary of the ILPS, delivered the report of the work of the general secretariat. He made a rundown of the speeches and statements made by the Chairperson; the major actions and meetings organized by ILPS members or attended by ICC members; and changes in the website. He noted the challenges faced by the League as it develops more as a multilingual, multinational anti-imperialist united front. He concluded by pointing out the major tasks for the ILPS in terms of political education, organization, mass mobilization and establishment of ILPS Chapters.
Lyn Meza, Auditor of ILPS, shared the report prepared by ILPS Treasurer, Theo Droog, on the financial situation of the League. She noted the increase in the “reserve funds” of the League due to membership and assembly fees collected during the last 4th IA. Nevertheless, she noted the ongoing weakness in terms of the irregular collection of membership dues. For a while, the Treasurer lacked knowledge of tax obligations but the secretariat was able to consult tax experts knowledgeable about tax laws and private foundations.
Workshops on the different concerns of the League were successfully held, combining theoretical discussions and sharing of practical experience in peoples’ struggles. They passed important resolutions and approved major campaigns on their respective areas of concern. In the tradition of ILPS assemblies, the results of the workshops were presented in the plenary through creative and militant presentations by the respective commissions. These were all enthusiastically received and approved by acclamation.
The 5IA was also a fighting assembly with delegates joining mass actions after or in-between sessions. ILPS delegates joined the “kampuhan” (people’s camp) of the Manilakbayan from Mindanao at the Baclaran Church to express solidarity with the struggle of the Lumad against intensifying militarization, killings and imperialist plunder of their lands.
ILPS delegates also held a candle-lighting ceremony at the Boy Scouts Memorial Rotunda for the victims of the recent bombings in Beirut and Paris. Speakers condemned the Daesh (or ISIS) for targeting and killing civilians but also blamed the US and its NATO allies for waging imperialist wars on the peoples of Southwest Asia and North Africa and beyond while arming and training terrorist groups like ISIS in order to help bring down independent regimes and destroy societies that do not fit in their imperialist schema.
International delegates also joined Hacienda Luisita farmers and supporters to mark the 11th year of the Hacienda Luisita massacre with a protest at the Ninoy Aquino Memorial Shrine on November 16. On the same day, ILPS delegates joined workers at the Boy Scouts Rotunda for the International Day of Action against trade union repression. Briefings were also held for the Peoples Caravan Against Imperialist Globalization and the big march against APEC to be held two days after the Assembly. All these actions were well covered by the media.
On the last day, the Assembly discussed and approved the General Declaration of the 5th IA by acclamation. It reflects the Assembly’s analysis of the major contradictions in the world capitalist system today, the increasing brutality of imperialist powers led by the US, and the rising tide of people’s resistance in all corners of the globe.
The Declaration also took note of the recent spate of bombings in Beirut and Paris. The Assembly warns that US imperialism and its NATO allies will be using or taking advantage of these criminal terrorist attacks against the people as a pretext for further aggression and intervention and to justify intensifying fascism and state terror, as they did with the 9/11 attacks. The ILPS resolved to thoroughly expose this duplicity and be prepared to confront more imperialist attacks.
As in previous assemblies, the major documents from the 5th International Assembly such as the Report of the Chairperson, the Report of the General Secretary, the ILPS Charter as amended, the General Declaration and the resolutions resulting from the workshops on the various Concerns and other special resolutions approved by the assembly will be published as a book.
The election of the new members of the International Coordinating Committee was held and the following were elected as regular members of the ICC:
Michelle Allison – Kurdistan
Ramon Bultron – Hong Kong
Jang Chang Weon – South Korea
Len Cooper – Australia
Rudi Daman – Indonesia
Demba Dembele – Senegal
Bill Dores – USA
Pascual Duarte – Argentina
Bernadette Ellorin – USA
Malcolm Guy – Canada
Nelson Herazo – Ecuador
Takane Ikeda – Japan
Mohammed Khatib – Palestine
Mustafa Kilinc – Germany
Elmer Labog – Philippines
Florentino Lopez Martinez – Mexico
Liza Maza – Philippines
Lyn Meza – USA
Nadia Mora – Venezuela
Peter Murphy – Australia
Chennaiah Poguri – India
Paloma Polo – Spain
Sarojeni Rengam – Malaysia
Jose Maria Sison – Netherlands
Antonio Tujan – Philippines
Veerle Verscheuren – Belgium
Samuel Villatoro – Guatemala
And the following as alternate members:
Inti Barrios – Mexico
Fatima Burnad – India
L Muh Hasan – Indonesia
Dennis Maga – New Zealand
Rafael Mariano – Philippines
Malem Ningthouja – Manipur
Aiyanas Ormond – Canada
Tess Tesalona – Canada
Two books were launched on the last evening of the Assembly – “More Than a Red Warrior: Arnold Borja Jaramillo, Beloved Son of Abra”, a tribute to a Red fighter captured, tortured and summarily executed by the Philippine military last year; and the book of proceedings of the International Peoples’ Tribunal recently held in Washington, DC. This Tribunal concluded that the governments of the Philippines and the US were guilty of systematically violating the rights of the Filipino people, including such crimes as the extra-judicial killings and massacres of critics of these governments.
The 5th International Assembly was concluded and a Solidarity Cultural Night was held to celebrate the achievements of the League with the participants expressing their continuing commitment to the struggle. Delegates and guests from all participating countries and from various mass organizations in the Philippines sang, rapped, delivered poems, performed music, danced and celebrated international solidarity and the spirit of resistance. Highlights included a duo between and rapper from the US and a young Lumad singer along with a performance remembering the Ayotzinapa 43 in Mexico. Participants thanked the hosts of the 5IA – the ILPS Philippine chapter supported by Hong Kong and Macau – for the well-organized Assembly and warm hospitality and collected and presented a donation to the hotel staff who looked after the needs of the delegates and guests.
ILPS allied networks also held their own international assemblies before and after the 5IA. These include the International Women’s Alliance, the International Migrants Alliance, the Peasant Anti-Imperialist Solidarity Conference and the International Festival for Peoples Rights and Struggles.
Inspired and revitalized by the resounding success of the 5th International Assembly, the delegates reaffirmed their commitment to raise higher their political will and capabilities in facing up to the challenges and in effectively advancing the work of the League in every arena of the anti-imperialist and democratic struggle of the world’s peoples.
– See more at: http://ilps.info/index.php/en/office-of-the-chairperson/125-communique/901-communique-of-the-ilps-fifth-international-assembly#sthash.5uxHvzec.dpuf
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges people to join actions and events in your local areas:
We, Palestinian youth in exile, call on all Palestinians and our allies to defend our homeland and support the resistance and steadfastness of our people in Palestine. In recent weeks, Al-Aqsa Mosque has been the target of particularly brutal assaults while arbitrary killings are committed daily by the Zionist military and settlers and mass youth arrests are implemented in all historic Palestine. In response to this Zionist violence, we must recognise that resistance is a mandatory element to surviving in the face of an ongoing project of ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.
The intersections of Zionist military enforcement, settler encroachment, and a complacent Palestinian leadership who are serving as the gatekeepers to occupation and no longer the forerunners of the liberation project, culminate to ensure the suppression of resistance and the acceleration of ethnic cleansing. In this unbalanced struggle between a racist ideology and the heroic resistance of the Palestinian people, Israel still enjoys the support of its allies whom we hold accountable for all these crimes.
However, we as Palestinian youth must assume our full rights and responsibilities to defend our people and our land and take action wherever we are. The current struggle in all of Palestine is ours; it is a question of making justice prevail over a colonial project, and of standing against colonialism in all its forms and manifestations. This struggle is the uprising of a new generation of Palestinians, united everywhere around principles of dignity, justice and the liberation of all Palestine!
Palestinian resistance everywhere shall not end as long as the colonization of historic Palestine is perpetrated, the Zionists imprison and torture our people and impose a brutal occupation and embargo in the West Bank and Gaza strip. Our resistance shall not end as long as our exile endures and we cannot return to our land.
The resistance in Palestine is sustained by our mobilization in the street, and by intensifying the campaign for the boycott against Israel and the sanctions against the Zionist state everywhere. Let us assume our responsibilities and continue to bring together all genuine support to our cause!
While Palestinian youth are constantly organizing locally with a framework of justice, dignity and the liberation of all of Palestine, we call on all the Palestinians in exile, the solidarity movement and all the people who believe in justice, to join us in an international mobilisation in support of the Palestinian resistance on 29 November 2015.
By choosing the “UN international Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People” we re-affirm that solidarity is only genuine if it respects the full Palestinian national principles, the role of all Palestinian communities everywhere in their liberation struggle, and the legitimacy of Palestinian resistance. We, as Palestinian youth assert that our struggle and cause is not one in which solidarity allies can displace their guilt and privilege into their solidarity with Palestine. For this mobilisation and the broader struggle, we mandate a critical analysis of understanding solidarity that operates through the “saviour” complex in which the UN and international law is directly responsible for perpetuating. Our mobilisation challenges the ways in which solidarity with the Palestinian people is only done when we are silent in the face of our own oppression. Rather, we have chosen this day for Palestinian youth of the Shatat to take our role in our struggle, lead our allies with justice-centered principles to stand in unconditional support for Palestinian methods of resistance and survival.
Stop the Zionist occupation and colonization of all Palestine!
Full support to the Palestinian resistance!
Freedom for the Palestinian prisoners!
Return of Palestinian refugees!
Stop the complicit silence of the International Community!
Support for BDS – Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions against Israel!
The largest number of Palestinian women political prisoners since the Wafa al-Ahrar prisoner exchange in 2011 is currently imprisoned in Israeli jails. They are from the West Bank, Jerusalem, and Palestinians from occupied Palestine ’48 (citizens of Israel.)
Hasharon prison, which imprisons most women prisoners is now “overcrowded;” three Palestinian girls – Jihan Ereikat, Marah Bakri and Istabraq Nour – are now being held in Asqelan prison, which is primarily a men’s prison; some Palestinian boys are held there as well. They have demanded their immediate transfer to a women’s prison.
Six of the Palestinian women prisoners are injured by Israeli soldier and settler bullets: Shurouq Dwayyat, Hilweh Darwish Hamamreh, Israa Ja’abis, Marah Bakri, Istabraq Nour and Amal Taqatqa.
Two Palestinian women are being held under administrative detention, arbitrarily imprisoned without charge or trial. They are among over 400 administrative detainees, Palestinians imprisoned under secret evidence. Jurin Qadah from Ramallah and Asmaa Hamdan from Nazareth – a Palestinian citizen of Israel – are both held in administrative detention.
Khalida Jarrar, the imprisoned Palestinian parliamentarian, feminist, leftist and advocate for prisoners, had been held in administrative detention; an international outcry pushed her case to Israeli military courts (which are no more just than administrative detention) where she faces 12 purely political charges against her for speaking, writing, talking to the media and attending events. Jarrar’s case has been postponed repeatedly as the military prosecution fail to produce witnesses to support their charges.
There is a long history of the imprisonment and resistance of Palestinian women from the earliest days of Palestinian organizing and resistance. The film “Women in Struggle” by director Buthaina Canaan Khoury and “Une Vie Suspendue,” a photographic exhibition by Algerian-Belgian photographer Asmaa Seba are two of the artistic projects based on expressing the stories of Palestinian women political prisoners over the years.
Nahla Abdo, Arab feminist scholar, has released a new book, Captive Revolution, on the struggles of Palestinian women political prisoners in Israeli jails. Read an article by Abdo here. Reham Alhelsi, a Palestinian writer, has written about the lives of Palestinian political prisoners: read her article at this link.
Addameer reported that “they are held in overcrowded cells, with lack of access to basic human needs such as hygiene, nutritious food and proper clothing and blankets. Furthermore, female prisoners are subjected to harsh conditions during their interrogation, including beatings, insults, threats, sexual harassment and humiliation by Israeli interrogators. Often they must undergo degrading and intrusive body searches during transfers to court hearings and sometimes during the middle of the night as a punitive measure.”
G4S, a British-Danish security company – the largest in the world – and the target of a massive international boycott campaign for its involvement in human rights violations, provides the security system at HaSharon prison.
It is also important in this context to note the case of Rasmea Odeh, former Palestinian political prisoner in Israeli jails and torture survivor, who is currently subject to persecution in the United States on the basis of her former imprisonment by the Israeli occupation regime. She has been convicted of immigration violations and faces imprisonment and deportation; her case is currently on appeal. Rasmea’s case is also that of a Palestinian women political prisoner, continuing to struggle for justice against oppression.
Profiles of Palestinian Women Prisoners:
1. Lina Jarbouni, 41, from Akka, is a Palestinian citizen of Israel who worked in sewing workshops and was arrested in 2002. She is ill and suffers from a number of diseases. Lina is often the spokesperson and representative of women prisoners in HaSharon; sentenced to 17 years, she has five years remaining in her sentence. She received this lengthy sentence for “aiding the enemy” – Palestinian resistance.
She has been subjected to medical neglect and mistreatment and was denied essential surgery until women prisoners launched a hunger strike for her medical treatment. She has applied for compassionate release due to her medical situation, which has been denied. In 2011, when the other women Palestinian political prisoners were released in the Wafa al-Ahrar prisoner exchange, the Israeli state refused to release her, saying that as an Israeli citizen, she wss not eligible to be released in the exchange. Click here to download Samidoun’s Lina Jarbouni poster.
2. Mona Qa’adan, 43, was sentenced to 70 months (nearly six years) imprisonment and a fine of 30,000 NIS (approximately 7,500 USD), convicted of membership in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement and running a women’s organization allegedly associated with the movement.
Qa’adan has been detained since November 13, 2012, and her trial was postponed repeatedly, over twenty times. She has been denied family visits continually since her arrest, for two and one-half years. Both her brother and her fiance are also held in Israeli prisons.
3. Khalida Jarrar, 52, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council for the Abu Ali Mustafa Bloc, a prominent leftist, feminist and advocate for Palestinian prisoners – a board member of Addameer – was arrested by the Israeli occupation military in her home on 2 April. This arrest came following her rejection – and defeat – of an attempt to forcibly displace her from her Ramallah home to Jericho by the Israeli military in August 2014.
Jarrar was initially held under administrative detention without charge or trial; following an international outcry, she was then charged in an Israeli military court with 12 charges, all of which are entirely political in nature and many of which directly pertain to her advocacy to free Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Her trial has been repeatedly delayed as the military prosecution have been unable to present witnesses speaking to the accusations against her. Click here to visit Samidoun’s Khalida Jarrar resource page, visit the Free Khalida Jarrar campaign, or download a poster for her case.
4. Hala Musallam Abu Sal, 18, from Al-Arroub refugee camp near Hebron, was arrested on 28 November 2014 because she refused to be searched at a military checkpoint set up in Hebron’s Old City. When she was forcibly searched after being threatened with guns, she was accused of possessing a small knife. It should be noted that illegal Israeli settlers regularly walk around Hebron, where they have occupied and expelled Palestinians, carrying large guns and other weapons.
5. Maysoun Moussa, 19, a university student from Shawawra village near Bethlehem, was arrested on 30 June 2015 and accused of carrying out a resistance action against an occupation soldier at a checkpoint in Bethlehem. Maysoun’s wedding was coming up within two months and she had upcoming appointments to look at wedding dresses the day she was arrested. Her family has discussed the raid on their home and their experience of their home being ransacked .
6. Asmaa Hamdan, 19, is a Palestinian citizen of Israel who is being held under administrative detention without charge or trial for sending a text message to her family expressing her wish to struggle and die for Jerusalem and Palestine, saying “I want to defend Jerusalem. I prefer to stand beside my people.” She is the first Palestinian woman citizen of Israel in fifteen years to be placed under administrative detention .
7. Amal Saadeh, of Halhoul, was arrested on 18 November 2014, accused of attempting to smuggle a mobile phone to her imprisoned brother Mohammed, who is serving a 17 year sentence in Iraeli occupation prison. She was sentenced to 14 months imprisonment on 18 July.
8. Shurouq Dwayyat, 18, a first year university student at Bethlehem University, from Sur Bahir south of occupied Jerusalem, was shot with live bullets on 7 October by an illegal Israeli settler colonist. Israeli occupation forces raided her home and detained her gfather and sister; she was cuffed to the bed in her hospital room and denied family visits. As she walked towards Al-Aqsa Mosque, a settler taunting Palestinians attempted to remove her hijab, she pushed him away in self-defense and he then shot her and accused her of attempting to stab him. Shurouq now remains injured and imprisoned. Shurouq’s brother has been issued an order to demolish his home by the Israeli occupation, under the pretext of building without a permit.
9. Haniyeh Nasser, 25, is a Palestinian political prisoner who was released in 2011 as part of the Wafa al-Ahrar prisoner exchange with the Palestinian resistance. She was rearrested on 10 December 2014 as part of large-scale raids targeting former prisoners and releasees. Israeli Military Order 1651 allows former prisoners to be reimprisoned on previous charges on the basis of secret evidence. Her original sentence was reimposed upon her on 30 April 2015.
10. Ihsan Dababseh, 29, a former Palestinian prisoner who was arrested on 15 October 2014 after she refused to report for interrogation. Her computer was seized. Riham Alhelsi reported, “Israeli occupation soldiers raided her house several times, sent her 4 summons and threatened to blow up her house of she didn’t come to interrogation center. She went with her mother to detention center and was detained and her personal computer was confiscated, while her mother told to leave. ”
During her prior arrest from 2007 to 2009, the Israeli occupation soldiers who had arrested and blindfolded her made this video of themselves dancing around her as she was blindfolded and against the wall:
11. Jurin Qadah, 19, of Shiqba, near Ramallah, is the second Palestinian woman subject to administrative detention without charge or trial. A second-year media student at Bir Zeit University, Qadah was ordered by an Israeli occupation military court to three months imprisonment without charge or trial on 4 November. Her home was invaded by Israeli occupation forces on 28 October; Jurin was injured by Israeli soldiers taken away and sent almost immediately to administrative detention.
12. Nurhan Awad, 14, was shot and severely injured by Israeli occupation forces on 23 November, while her cousin Hadeel was killed by occupation forces. Nurhan and Hadeel were accused of attempting to stab Israeli settlers with scissors, and running away, after which they were shot by Israeli occupation forces. Video clearly shows Nurhan being shot as she lay motionless on the ground, the occupation forces above her. Nurhan is currently being detained while hospitalized for her severe injuries:
13. Sabreen Abu Sharar, 25, a doctor, has been imprisoned by Israeli occupation forces since 7 June. Abu Sharar graduated with her medical degree from Kasr al-Aini medical school in Cairo in 2014 and was working an the Al-Khalil public hospital; her home in al-Khalil was raided by 15-20 soldiers in the middle of the night and she was taken by occupation forces. Sabreen’s mother is an American citizen, but Sabreen renounced her U.S. citizenship in protest of U.S. support for the occupation. She has spoken about being subject to physical and psychological torture and abuse in prison, including being imprisoned in a cell one and a half meters by one and a half meters, given only a dirty mattress, denied sleep, threatened and attacked by her interrogators.
14. Filastin Nijm, 28, from Nablus, was arrested on 27 November 2013. A former prisoner who served 16 months in Israeli prisons, she was again arrested by Israeli occupation soldiers at a checkpoint under charges of possessing a small knife and sentenced to four years imprisonment and fined. Reham Alhelsi quoted Filastin discussing the conditions in Israeli prisons:
It is a journey of slow death; an iron structure with iron chairs and walls, smell of vomit is everywhere, and there is no toilet or ventilation despite the fact that the journey in the “bosta” lasts hours and the weekly “journey” for some prisoners… It is very cold, seats are very close to each other to the point of causing pain to the knee, joints and back. The prisoner cannot sit in a comfortable position, because of the restrictions and hand and leg shackles. She also remembers the waiting rooms at the Ofer prison before the court session: “My court session ends in the morning hours, but they keep me held in the dirty waiting rooms until the end of all trials, i.e. at around 17:00, to send me back to Hasharon…. These rooms are as dirty as a dumpsite; there are insects and cockroaches, the smell of humidity is stark, there is lack of air and sun, you cannot use the toilet, even if you need it urgently, because of its dirtiness and the filth is beyond description.”
15. Wiam ‘Aseeda, 23, 22, a student at Al-Najah University from Tel village near Nablus, was beaten to the ground by Israeli soldiers at Zaatara checkpoint ouside Nablus on 11 November 2013, then handcuffed and taken away in a police car, accused of possessing a knife. She is now held in HaSharon prison, sentenced to 32 months imprisonment. Wiam’s brother Asem was killed by Israeli occupation forces.
16. Alia Abbasi, 50, of Jerusalem, the mother of Palestinian political prisoner Issa Daoud Abbasi, is serving a 26-month prison sentence, accused of attempting to stab an Israeli occupation soldier at a checkpoint in Shuafat in 2012. She spent two years under house arrest and was sentenced in June 2014.
17. Shifa Obeid Shallodi, 35, was arrested with her 11-year-old child and other young relatives in Silwan on 21 October, when their home was stormed by Israeli occupation forces. Her detention has been extended repeatedly; on 20 November, she was ordered released subject to house arrest and 10,000 NIS bail, but the occupation military continues to hold her and is appealing the order of her release.
18. Najwan Odeh works in the Qatar Charity Palestine Office in Al-Bireh, and presents a women’s radio program on Ramallah FM Radio. She was arrested by Israeli occupation forces after a dawn raid on her home on 7 September. She was arrested along with two other employees of the foundation, Jawdah al-Jamal and Fadi Manasra, accused of transferring funds to “hostile organizations.” When she came to court, she delivered a number of messages from other women prisoners, urging they be broadcast on the radio to reach their families.
19. Shireen Issawi, 32, is a Palestinian lawyer who has been imprisoned since 6 March 2014, along with her brother Medhat. Her other brother, Samer Issawi, is also imprisoned and was previously freed due to a 260+ day hunger strike. He has now had his former sentence reimposed under an Israeli military order that provides for sentence reimposition under secret evidence.
Shireen and Medhat are being accused of providing extra funds to imprisoned Palestinians to spend at the canteen (prison commissary) from their friends and supporters. There is an international campaign for the release of Shireen, who was awarded the Al-Karama Human Rights Award in Geneva, Switzerland on 10 December 2014.
20. Ibtisam Hamarsheh, 60, from Yaboud near Jenin, was sentenced to six months imprisonment by an Israeli occupation military court on 25 July, after being accused of attempting to smuggle a mobile phone to her imprisoned son.
She had been under house arrest in her sister’s home in Umm al-Fahm since 25 May.
21. Fathiyeh Khanfar, 61, from Jenin, is serving an 11-month sentence in Israeli occupation prisons after years of house arrest and hearings accusing her of sending a SIM card to her imprisoned son. She is suffering from poor health, including high blood pressure, and had several recent surgeries. She has been denied access to proper ventilation or clean water and is suffering heavily.
22. Nisrin Hassan, 40, a Palestinian citizen of Israel married to a Palestinian from Gaza, was arrested by Israeli occupation forces on 5 November and accused of photographing Israeli military sites in order to benefit the Palestinian resistance.
23. Dunia Waked, 36, from Tulkarem refugee camp, was arrested from her home in a night-time raid by Israeli occupation forces on 27 May 2013. She was denied lawyer visits until 16 June 2013. She is engaged to Palestinian political prisoner Mohammed Waked, who has served 11 years of a 29 year sentence. She has been sentenced to 42 months in prison, accused of attempting to provide imprisoned Palestinians additional funds in their canteen accounts on behalf of their political organization, Hamas. Two of Dunya’s brothers were killed by Israeli occupation forces. The Palestine Prisoners Center for Studies denounced the sentence as arbitrary and based on little evidence. She has developed diabetes only since her arrest and suffers from asthma.
24. Amal Taqatqa, 23, of Beit Fajjar near Bethlehem, was shot and arrested on 1 December 2014 near Gush Etzion illegal settlement south of Bethlehem after a settler approached Israeli occupation soldiers in the area and accused her of attempting to stab him. Despite sensationalistic media reporting, the settler in question was in fact uninjured and required no medical treatment, and Amal denies even touching the settler. She was shot with live ammunition and seriously injured and hospitalized. She was charged on 19 December with “attempted murder” despite the clear lack of evidence. Amal’s family was harrassed, interrogated and abused by Israeli soldiers following her shooting, with testimony provided to Al-Haq.
25. Thurayya Taha, 21, is a student in media and technology at Al-Quds Open University. From Beit Ilu in Ramallah area, she was arrested on 26 July 2014 in the Old City of Jerusalem; she was sentenced to 22 months imprisonment on 12 February 2015.
26. Rawan Abu Matar, 17, was arrested on 16 July 2015, accused of engaging in a resistance action of stabbing an occupation soldier at a military checkpoint outside the illegal Nahliel settlement northwest of Ramallah. Rawan is from Beit Ilu in Ramallah area.
27. Marah al-Bakri, 17, was shot up to ten times by an illegal Israeli settler on 14 October as she and her friend walked from the Abdullah Ben Hussein Girls School in Jerusalem. She was then accused of attempting to stab an occupation border police officer. She remains imprisoned following hospitalization for her wounds.
28. Jihan Ereikat, 17, from Eizariyya east of Jerusalem, was taken by Israeli occupation forces from outside the Ibrahimi Mosque on 27 October. She and her sister Nour were passing in front of the mosque when occupation soldiers stopped and demanded to search them. They refused and were arrested, accused of possessing knives in their bags. Two guards of the mosque, Salah Jabari and Jehad Jabari, were also arrested when they intervened and prevented the occupation soldiers from shooting the girls.
29. Hilweh Darwish Hamamreh, 25, from Husam village near Bethlehem, was shot and severely injured by Israeli occupation forces outside the settlement of Beitar Illit near Bethlehem on 8 November. She remains hospitalized and her detention has been extended repeatedly; she has been in a coma, is married and a mother. She is accused of attempting to stab a settlement security guard in a Palestinian resistance action, who was lightly injured.
30. Istabraq Noor, 15, from Madama, south of Nablus, was shot on 21 October by Israeli occupation forces near the illegal Israeli settlement of Yitzhar built on occupied and confiscated Palestinian land. Israeli forces claimed that she was attempting to sneak into and attack the settlement. She remains imprisoned after hospitalization for her wounds. “The Yizhar settlement where Noor was shot overnight has gained notoriety among both Israelis and Palestinians as a bastion of extremists and its Israeli residents regularly carry out attacks on Palestinians and their property.”
31. Israa Jaabes, 31, of Jabal Mukaber, living in Al-Tur, is hospitalized with severe burns after a fire in her car near Al-Zayem checkpoint near Jerusalem on 12 October. Her car stopped before the checkpoint; there was a fire in the car, her airbag exploded and she was injured and hospitalized. Israeli occupation forces are accusing her of attempting to engage in a resistance operation and exploding her car; the car did not explode and Israa was the only person injured in the fire inside the car. Witnesses have stated that it looked as if the car suffered an electrical fault.
32. Donya Musleh, 19, Palestinian refugee and university student living in Dheisheh refugee camp near Bethlehem, was arrested by Israeli occupation forces invading the camp on 16 November, who invaded her home and took her away. Donya is an activist with the Progressive Student Labor Front, a leftist Palestinian university students’ organization.
33. Samiya Mahahreh, 30, was arrested on 9 November as she entered Eshel prison to visit her imprisoned husband Fahmi, accused of attempting to smuggle a mobile phone to her husband. Her detention has been repeatedly extended.
34. Leen al-Hih, 18, of Surif, was arrested by Israeli occupation forces on 19 November at the Container checkpoint near blocked-off Shuhada street, accused of trying to cross the roadblock there.
35. Abeer al-Qadi, 45, was taken from her home in Surif near al-Khalil on 17 November in a late-night raid by Israeli occupation forces. Her husband, Ahmad, said that Israeli forces ransacked the home and took 65,000 NIS ($20,000).
36. Hiba Jubran, 16, a student, was arrested near Beit Sahour east of Bethlehem as she walked to school, along with Hadeel Qalbiya and Nour Salama. The three were arrested by Israeli occupation forces on 19 November and are being accused of “possessing knives.”
37. Hadeel Qalbiya, 16, a student, was arrested near Beit Sahour east of Bethlehem as she walked to school, along with Hiba Jubran and Nour Salama. The three were arrested by Israeli occupation forces on 19 November and are being accused of “possessing knives.”
38. Nour Nidal Salama, 16, a student, was arrested near Beit Sahour east of Bethlehem as she walked to school, along with Hiba Jubran and Hadeel Qalbiya. The three were arrested by Israeli occupation forces on 19 November and are being accused of “possessing knives.”
Tell British-Danish security firm G4S to stop supporting Israeli checkpoints, detention centers, military and security forces, and prisons, and the United Nations to end its complicity in Israel’s crimes against Palestinians, including over $22 million in annual 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, including children, 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.
Demonstrators rallied in Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza on Monday, 23 November to mark the United Nations’ International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People and protest the UN’s contracts with British-Danish security company G4S, which also equips Israeli checkpoints, detention centers, military and police forces, and prisons. The demonstration, organized by Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, was the first event in a global week of protests demanding the UN end its ties to the company.
Forthcoming actions will take place in Ireland, Belgium, Italy, Amman, Jordan and elsewhere, alongside a social media campaign in the coming week. 220 organizations have called on the UN to cancel its contracts with G4S, worth millions of dollars annually.
The British Labour Party is the most recent G4S client to cancel its contracts because of its involvement in Israeli repression in Palestine, following the Gates Foundation’s divestment of a $170 million stake after a prolonged campaign, and universities in the UK and Europe rejecting G4S contracts due to its human rights record.
Photos by Joe Catron of Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network.
Status Hour and Addameer produced this five-part audio testimony on the experiences of Palestinian political prisoners.
Four former political prisoners – Ayman Nasser, Ahmad Attoun, Mokhles Borghal and Mohammad Mogharbi – recount their arrests, interrogations, and time in Israeli occupation prisons. The Arabic testimonies are accompanied by a supplemental introduction in English with Sahar Francis, the general director of Addameer, who discusses the climate of control Israeli authorities create and enforce, as well as if and how tactics have changed throughout the years.
The British Labour Party will no longer be doing business with G4S. The National Executive Committee of the party voted 12-4 to boycott G4S over its involvement with Israeli repression against Palestinians – providing security systems and control rooms to Israeli prisons imprisoning Palestinian prisoners and equipment to Israeli police training centers in Jerusalem.
Campaigners have long called upon the Labour Party to stop doing business with G4S, whose human rights abuses are not limited to Palestine but include its record on forced deportations from the United Kingdom, prisons in South Africa, mining companies in Canada and elsewhwere. Protests have taken place outside Labour Party conferences calling for an end to the contracts with G4S. Palestinian political prisoners have urged international action to boycott G4S.
“This is great news. The role of G4S in the Israeli occupation of Palestine includes complicity in the detention of children and the torture of Palestinian prisoners, breaking international law in the process. The Labour Party has always stood for social justice, fairness and decency, this decision shows we will stand up and act ethically and responsibly when working with businesses,” said Grahame Morris, Labour Member of Parliament and chair of Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East.
This comes as 220 Palestinian and international organizations are calling on the United Nations to stop doing business with G4S. The UN provides G4S, the world’s largest private security corporation, with $22 million in business annually. A week of action is beginning today with a protest in New York City during the UN’s commemoration of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, calling on the UN to join the boycott of G4S.
G4S security systems and control rooms are used in the Israeli prisons that imprison Palestinian political prisoners, and in the interrogation centers where Palestinians – including children – are tortured and abused. G4S is also providing equipment to the Israeli police training center in Jerusalem, training Israeli police in the suppression of Palestinians in Jerusalem. Through these contracts, G4S is involved in the imprisonment of over 6,500 Palestinian political prisoners and the Israeli attacks on Palestinians in Jerusalem, including Israeli attacks on Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The Gates Foundation divested its $170 million investment in G4S in 2014 after a global campaign, and universities in Europe and the UK have rejected contracts with G4S over its actions in Palestine.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes the campaigners whose years of work have led to one less contract for G4S and a politically significant victory, and urges the UN to follow the Labour Party, dump G4S from its approved contractors list and cancel its G4S contracts.
We are honoring Leonard Peltier and Rasmea Odeh on Thursday 10th December, International Human Rights Day.
Both Leonard and Rasmea are political prisoners who have worked tirelessly for years struggling for freedom, justice and liberty – basically human and civil rights – for their people. Both were bogusly charged and wrongfully convicted by the U.S. Federal in trials which violated many of their Constitutional rights. Leonard Peltier and Rasmea Odeh are innocent!
Join us to find out more about their cases.
This is a potluck event. If you can bring something to share, it must be prepackaged, that is you cannot cook it at home.
This event is sponsored by Leonard Peltier Support Group Silicon Valley.
Co-sponsors:
South Bay Committee Against Political Repression (SBCAPR)
San Jose Peace & Justice Center (SJPJC)
Nick Maniace, of Fight Imperialism Stand Together (FIST) and Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, speaks on Friday, 20 November about the campaign to demand the United Nations stop doing business with G4S, the British/Danish security corporation that provides security systems and control rooms to Israeli prisons that hold Palestinian political prisoners and equips Israeli police training centers in Jerusalem.
Maniace spoke at a Workers World Party forum in New York City about G4S, the global call for actions in the coming week to end its UN business, and the upcoming protest in New York, Monday, November 23 at 4:00 pm, at Dag Hammarskjold Square, outside the UN, calling for an end to the UN’s G4S deals.
Mohammed Khatib of Samidoun was part of the Palestinian delegation to the ILPS Assembly, and was elected as a member of the new International Coordinating Committee (ICC) of ILPS, representing Samidoun. Aiyanas Ormond of Samidoun, who is also the chair of ILPS Canada, also participated in the Assembly and was elected as an alternate member of the ICC.
Khaled also participated – joined by Samidoun representatives – in the mass demonstrations against APEC, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, in Manila, which brought thousands to the streets to demand an end to imperialist and capitalist exploitation and plunder of the peoples of the region. She also spoke at the International Women’s Assembly, to BAYAN, the alliance of mass organizations in the Philippines, and gave numerous media interviews.
1. Lina Jarbouni, 41, from Akka, is a Palestinian citizen of Israel who worked in sewing workshops and was arrested in 2002. She is ill and suffers from a number of diseases. Lina is often the spokesperson and representative of women prisoners in HaSharon; sentenced to 17 years, she has five years remaining in her sentence. She received this lengthy sentence for “aiding the enemy” – Palestinian resistance.
2. Mona Qa’adan, 43, was 
3. Khalida Jarrar, 52, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council for the Abu Ali Mustafa Bloc, a prominent leftist, feminist and advocate for Palestinian prisoners – a board member of Addameer – was 
8. Shurouq Dwayyat, 18, a first year university student at 
10. Ihsan Dababseh, 29, a former Palestinian prisoner who was 
11. Jurin Qadah, 19, of Shiqba, near Ramallah, is the second Palestinian woman subject to administrative detention without charge or trial. A second-year media student at Bir Zeit University, Qadah was ordered by an Israeli occupation military court to 
13. Sabreen Abu Sharar, 25, a doctor, has been imprisoned by Israeli occupation forces since 7 June. Abu Sharar graduated with her medical degree from Kasr al-Aini medical school in Cairo in 2014 and was working an the Al-Khalil public hospital; her home in al-Khalil was raided by 15-20 soldiers in the middle of the night and she was taken by occupation forces. Sabreen’s mother is an American citizen, but Sabreen renounced her U.S. citizenship in protest of U.S. support for the occupation. She has spoken about being subject to physical and psychological torture and abuse in prison, including being imprisoned in a cell one and a half meters by one and a half meters, given only a dirty mattress, denied sleep, threatened and attacked by her interrogators.
15. Wiam ‘Aseeda, 23, 22, a student at Al-Najah University from Tel village near Nablus, was 
18. Najwan Odeh works in the 
19. Shireen Issawi, 32, is a 
20. Ibtisam Hamarsheh, 60, from Yaboud near Jenin, was sentenced to
21. Fathiyeh Khanfar, 61, from Jenin, is serving an 
23. Dunia Waked, 36, from Tulkarem refugee camp, was arrested from her home in a night-time raid by Israeli occupation forces on 27 May 2013. She was denied lawyer visits until 16 June 2013. She is engaged to Palestinian political prisoner Mohammed Waked, who has served 11 years of a 29 year sentence. She has been sentenced to 42 months in prison, accused of attempting to provide imprisoned Palestinians additional funds in their canteen accounts on behalf of their political organization, Hamas. Two of Dunya’s brothers were killed by Israeli occupation forces. The Palestine Prisoners Center for Studies denounced the sentence as arbitrary and based on little evidence. She has developed diabetes only since her arrest and suffers from asthma.
24. Amal Taqatqa, 23, of Beit Fajjar near Bethlehem, was shot and arrested on 1 December 2014 near Gush Etzion illegal settlement south of Bethlehem after a settler approached Israeli occupation soldiers in the area and accused her of attempting to stab him. Despite sensationalistic media reporting, the settler in question was in fact uninjured and required no medical treatment, and Amal denies even touching the settler. She was shot with live ammunition and seriously injured and hospitalized. She was charged on 19 December with “attempted murder” despite the clear lack of evidence. Amal’s family was harrassed, interrogated and abused by Israeli soldiers following her shooting, with 
26. Rawan Abu Matar, 17, was arrested on 16 July 2015, accused of engaging in a 
32. Donya Musleh, 19, Palestinian refugee and university student living in Dheisheh refugee camp near Bethlehem, 
