For the second week in a row, on 30 October, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network activists in New York City organized a protest in New York City outside the offices of G4S, the Danish/British security corporation that is directly involved in the Israeli imprisonment, repression and violation of the rights of Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails.
G4S is subject to a global boycott campaign because of its involvement in human rights abuses in Palestine – where it provides control rooms and security systems for Israeli “security prisons” and interrogation centers – as well as in the United States, UK, South Africa and elsewhere in the world. Palestinian prisoners and hundreds of Palestinian organizations – as well as the Black 4 Palestine letter – have urged action to boycott G4S.
On 24 October 2015, hundreds marched to Lannemezan Prison in France, demanding freedom for imprisoned Arab struggler for Palestine, Georges Ibrahim Abdallah. This new video from Coup Pour Coup 31 illustrates the strength of the march:
Georges Abdallah issued a statement from prison to the protesters, below (translated from French):
Dear comrades and friends,
A few meters outside the walls, barbed wire and watchtowers, we hear your slogans echoing in our heads, taking us away from these sinister sites. Certainly your mobilization today leaves no person here indifferent; so close to our cells, it brings a lot of warmth to us, raises our emotions and our enthusiasm. As for the guards, they have come to expect it somehow; from the time that political prisoners were brought here, they have become used to it…
At the dawn of the 32nd year of my captivity, Comrades, it is clear that the policy of annihilation which is the goal of the incarceration of revolutionary strugglers is invariably doomed to failure, because of the growing solidarity in the anti-capitalist/anti-imperialist struggle. There is never too much emphasis on this; only by building solidarity in the class struggle in all of its dimensions can we bring the most effective support to our fellow prisoners.
There is a war unleashed against the popular masses here, both inside the centers of the system and in the periphery, the reactionaries of all types seek by all means to bring a final end to the revolutionary prisoners as a living reference of the resistance and struggle. They must absolutely turn them into a frightening example to terrorize recalcitrant young rebels. Without the power to break them down until they recant and denounce their beliefs and convictions, they must be buried alive, and thus be used to influnence the morale of those who struggle.
Comrades, the diverse initiatives of solidarity that you have developed over time, have not only participated effectively in exposing the absurdity of judicial harassment and the revenge of the State, but also they have scathingly refuted all those who were relying on the quick evaporation of the momentum of your solidarity. You are always there,Comrades, on the ground of struggle and your multiple initiatives comfort me and strengthen more than ever my resolve and determination. With me here are the valiant resisting Basque comrades, also held for many years. The suspension of a sentence for medical reasons is systematically refused in the case of a Basque struggler. The case of the comrade Ibon Fernandez is symptomatic in this regard.
As you see Comrades, the beginning of this month the popular Palestinian masses and in particular the youth have managed to highlight Palestine at center stage as they struggle against the barbarism of the Zionist occupier. A third great Intifada is already on the way. There is no need for experts to explain the reasons for this Intifada and its diverse methods of struggle. The level of oppression and humiliation that the Zionists inflict daily on the entire people cannot but arouse an explosion and nourish its affirmation and spread, and even more so its victory…
May a thousand solidarity initiatives bloom in support of Palestine and the promising Intifada.
May a thousand solidarity initiatives bloom in support of the struggling Lebanese youth.
May a thousand solidarity initiatives bloom in support of the popular Kurdish masses and their brave fighters.
Down with imperialism and its Zionist guard dogs and reactionary Arab regimes!
Honor to the martyrs and the peoples in struggle!
Solidarity, all the solidarity to those who resist inside the Zionist jails and also in the isolation cells in Morocco, Turkey and everywhere in the world.
Together Comrades, and together we can achieve victory!
To all comrades and friends, my warmest greetings.
Come and see this powerful photo exhibit highlighting the experiences of Palestinian children in Silwan, East Jerusalem.
Room Number 4 is the name of the Israeli interrogation room at the Russian Compound Detention Center in Jerusalem. The Room Number 4 photo exhibit highlights the violations of Palestinian childrens rights and is accompanied by written testimonies from the children themselves.
The artist, Sahar Abbasi Baidon, will give a presentation on the exhibit.
Agenda:
6-7pm Open Gallery
7pm-9pm Artist Presentation
Monday, 2 November 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm Outside the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC), NYC Facebook event: http://on.fb.me/1LqKA0j
Next No Separate Justice vigil Nov 2nd on the Holy Land Five
The next No Separate Justice (NSJ) vigil will be taking place on Monday, November 2nd from 6-7PM outside the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in lower Manhattan, a federal prison where people accused of terrorism-related offenses have been held in solitary confinement for years, even before they have been tried.
The November vigil will focus on the case of Holy Land Five (HL5), and is co-sponsored by NYC Students for Justice in Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace, Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, Center for Constitutional Rights, Al-Awda NY: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, Islamic Movement for Justice, Brooklyn College Students for Justice in Palestine, Adalah-NY: The New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel, and others.
The Holy Land Foundation was a charity founded in 1989 that provided aid to people in Palestine and across the world. Without defining what its claim even meant, the prosecution alleged that the charity commissions in Palestine that the HL5 used to distribute aid through were controlled by Hamas. This enabled the US government to argue the men were guilty of providing material support to a terrorist group, even though the same charity commissions were also used by the UN and the Red Cross to distribute aid. Five former employees of the HL5 are currently serving between 15 and 65 years in prison.
The prosecution and incarceration of the Holy Land Five underlines three pressing issues in how terrorism suspects are tried and convicted in post 9/11 America:
1) the criminalization of Muslims’ giving as well as political organizing around the issue of Palestine: The HL5 were prosecuted even though the same charity committees were used by high profile agencies including the UN and USAID to get aid into Palestine.
2) due process issues: At the HL5 retrial (the first trail resulted in a hung jury), the prosecution used an anonymous expert testimony—believed to be a first in US judicial history—as well as classified evidence which the defendants were not allowed to review. Also, the government can make an allegation, like one organization “controlling” another, with no specific definition, and without even specifying the requirements to prove its claim.
3) conditions of confinement: Members of the HL5 are now held in Communication Management Units, which the Center for Constitutional Rights has called an “experiment in social isolation” as prisoners are denied physical contact with family members and phone calls are severely limited.
The five members of the HL5 include Ghassan Elashi, co-founder and board chairman; Shukri Abu-Baker, president and CEO; Mohammad El-Mezain, co-founder and California HLF office representative; Mufid Abdulqader, volunteer fundraiser and Abdulrahman Odeh, New Jersey office HLF representative.
Please join us on November 2 to learn more about these issues and hear from:
– Noor Elashi, Ghassan Elashi’s daughter
– statements from other family members, as well as statements written by the HL5 members themselves especially for the vigil
– Joe Catron, journalist for Electronic Intifada and other outlets
– Nerdeen Kiswani from NYC Students for Justice in Palestine
– Lamis Deek from Al-Awda NY: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition
– Omar Shakir from the Center for Constitutional Rights
– Thomas DeAngelis, Brooklyn College Students for Justice in Palestine
– words from JVP and other groups
– MC’d by Irene Siegel, Arabic Studies scholar, educator and longtime Palestine activist
Directions to Vigil: The closest subway to MCC is the 4,5, or 6 train to Brooklyn Bridge – walk up Centre Street to Foley Square and look for Pearl Street which is in between the two huge federal courthouses on Foley Square. Walk down Pearl Street one block to where it dead ends on Park Row – the vigil takes place there on the corner across from the entrance to MCC.
Since the beginning of October, Zionist occupation forces have detained more than 1,000 Palestinians, raising the number of Palestinian political prisoners held by the Zionist state to over 6,000.
This surge in detentions is part of a brutal wave of Zionist repression that has killed 57 Palestinians, and injured over 2,000, in an attempt to crush a new Palestinian uprising through the collective punishment of an entire occupied population.
British/Danish prison and occupation profiteer G4S, the world’s largest security company and second-biggest private employer, equips and maintains the Zionist detention centers and jails where Palestinians are held and tortured.
Join us outside its New York office as we demand an immediate halt to the company’s participation in Zionist war crimes, an end to the Zionist state’s latest onslaught against the Palestinian people, the freedom of all Palestinian prisoners, and the liberation of Palestine.
The night before, please join us and the Coalition To End Broken Windows as we protest Mayor Bill de Blasio’s recent trip to occupied Palestine in support of the Zionist occupation, as well as his championing of repression and displacement from New York to Palestine: https://www.facebook.com/events/1080734921967374
Events around the world demanded freedom for Ahmad Sa’adat, Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, and all Palestinian prisoners. 24 October 2015 marked the beginning of Abdallah’s 32nd year in French prison; it was also an international day of action for his freedom, with actions in Lannemezan, Lille, New York City, Brussels, Berlin, Milan, Tunis, Beirut, Algiers and Gaza City, as well as Bordeaux, Neuss, Rome, Naples, and Liege.
Abdallah, a Lebanese Arab struggler for Palestine, is held in Lannemezan Prison. Eligible for release since 1999, political pressure and alliances between the United States, Israel and France have seen him remain in prison despite being approved for release on several occasions by French judges.
Lannemezan, France: A national protest to free Georges Abdallah drew hundreds in France to demand his freedom, bringing the call to the prison where Abdallah is held:
Lille, France: Hundreds marched in support of the Palestinian struggle, led by a giant banner demanding Abdallah’s immediate release:
New York City: Part of the Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat, Georges Ibrahim Abdallah and all Palestinian prisoners, activists protested outside the offices of G4S, the British/Danish security profiteer which profits from the imprisonment of Palestinian prisoners.
Brussels, Belgium: Secours Rouge organized a protest outside the French Consulate in Brussels, demanding freedom for Georges Abdallah:
Berlin, Germany – The Left Solidarity with Palestine and the Democratic Palestine Committees organized a protest outside the French Embassy in Berlin, demanding freedom for Georges Ibrahim Abdallah:
Milano, Italy. Activists protested for freedom for Georges Ibrahim Abdallah at the French consulate, then joining a large mass rally and march for Palestine and for Georges Abdallah’s freedom:
Tunis, Tunisia. The Tunisian Campaign to Free Georges Abdallah protested in Tunis at the French embassy for freedom for Georges Ibrahim Abdallah on 24 October 2015:
Beirut, Lebanon. From the home of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, protest at the French embassy demanding his freedom and his release to Lebanon.
This event came after a protest at the Francophone Book Fair in Biel, in which Lebanese activists interrupted the president of the French senate, demanding freedom for Georges Abdallah. The activists were harshly arrested, raising serious questions about the prioritization of French colonial interests in Lebanon over a Lebanese prisoner who struggled against Zionism and imperialism:
Algiers, Algeria: The Socialist Workers’ Party (Parti Socialiste des Travailleurs) held an event at its office on 24 October, demanding freedom for Georges Abdallah, with the participation of Palestinians from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Bordeaux, France: Protesters for Palestine and for the freedom of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah gathered in the center of the city on 23 October to support Palestine and demand Abdallah’s liberation. A bus from Bordeaux then travelled to Lannemezan on 24 October.
Neuss, Germany: Palestinian community activists and organizers from the Democratic Palestine Committees and a number of Palestinian local community organizations came together to call for freedom for Georges Abdallah:
Naples, Rome and Liege: In Naples and Rome, Italy,Noi Saremo Tutto hung banners to demand Georges Abdallah’s freedom:
In Liege, Belgium,Secours Rouge reported that a banner was hung over the highway N671 demanding freedom for Abdallah:
Robert Abdallah, the brother of imprisoned Arab struggler for Palestine Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, addressed the following message of solidarity to the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, on 24 October, the anniversary of his brother’s arrest in France in 1984. Robert, based in Beirut, is internationally active and a leader of the Campaign to Free Georges Abdallah:
Georges Abdallah is entering his thirty-second year in the prisons of French imperialism; there has been no implementation of justice in France since the life sentence was pronounced against him in 1987.
Since then, Georges has proclaimed that this “justice” is designed to criminalize all those who defend the rights of the people, particularly against the US and the Zionist executioners. This justice has made the Arab peoples, especially in Lebanon and Palestine, into lab rats on which to test the latest products of the arms factories, leaving hundreds of thousands of dead and wounded in Lebanon and Palestine, in the eyes of the justice of the West: victims of their projects of control. Anyone who criticizes the Zionist project – even just criticizing – is accused of anti-Semitism in the civilization of the colonial West.
On the thirty-second anniversary of the arrest of the prisoner Georges Abdallah, the Palestinian people have been fighting the battle of their right to life, to freedom, confronting the most notorious criminals of the times. However, despite their blood and suffering, the hunger of their families, and the mass arrest of their people, the Palestinian people have always responded to those who are struggling with salutes and solidarity. Georges Abdallah, his comrades, his family and loved ones, salute the prisoners of freedom in Palestine, the activists imprisoned in Zionist jails, and express their strongest and full solidarity with their strruggle for freedom.
October 24, 2015 marks the 32nd anniversary of the imprisonment of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah. An international day of action calling for the freedom of the longest-serving political prisoner in Europe, events calling for his release will occur in Lannemezan (outside the prison where he is held), Lille, Brussels, New York City, Berlin, Milan, Tunis, Beirut, Gaza City and Algiers.
Who Is Georges Ibrahim Abdallah?
A Lebanese Arab struggler for Palestine, he has been imprisoned in French prisons since 1984, convicted on charges of participation in armed actions by the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Faction, working to fight off colonialist and Zionist invasions in Lebanon.
From his youth, Georges Abdallah was an activist, working first with the Syrian Social Nationalist party and then with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). With the PFLP, he resisted and was injured by Israeli forces invading Lebanon in 1978. A committed Communist and internationalist, he views the Arab struggle for liberation from Zionism and imperialism as part and parcel of the international workers’ struggle for liberation from capitalism.
The Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Faction (LARF) was formed to fight off and resist U.S., Israeli and other imperialist attacks on Lebanon. Georges Abdallah was accused of participating in attacks on U.S. and Israeli military officials in France.
He has been eligible for release since 1999 yet continues to be denied parole, despite having parole requests approved several times by French judges. The Lebanese government has officially asked for his release, and he is asking to be deported to Lebanon. Yet the French state has intervened at the highest levels, alongside the U.S and Israeli regimes, to deny Georges Abdallah’s parole requests.
In fact, in 1985, the French government agreed to a prisoner exchange – to release Abdallah in exchange for a captureed French diplomat. Instead, the diplomat was released – and Abdallah remained in prison. His own original lawyer was in fact a spy working for the French state and reporting on him to the highest levels of French intelligence; all of which was used against him in court.
People throughout France and around the world have campaigned for his freedom for decades. His brothers and loved ones in Lebanon lead the International Campaign to Free Georges Ibrahim Abdallah. He is considered as part of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
His case represents also the coherence of U.S., Israeli and European colonialist interests in the imprisonment of Palestinian and Arab strugglers for liberation and the attack on the Palestinian people.
ACTIONS AND EVENTS TO FREE GEORGES ABDALLAH!
Lannemezan: National Protest, 2 PM at the train station, march to Lannemezan Prison.
Cars leaving from Paris, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Pau, Marseille
Lille, France – Place de la Republique, 2 PM
Brussels, Belgium – 5:30 pm, French Consulate, 42 Boulevard du Regent
Berlin, Germany – 2 PM, Pariser Platz (French Embassy)
Palestinian youth in Gaza and French anti-imperialist activists have joined together in a campaign demanding freedom for Georges Abdallah, a Lebanese Arab struggler for Palestine imprisoned in French prison for 32 years.
The Palestinian Progressive Youth Union and Coup Pour Coup 31, an anti-imperialist collective in France, are joining together for an action to rename Charles De Gaulle Street in Gaza City to Georges Ibrahim Abdallah Street, in honor of the imprisoned struggler and to protest his continued imprisonment by the French state.
This event took place on Saturday, October 24 at 11:00 am in Gaza, beginning with a march from Beirut Street in Gaza City, in order to place a sign symbolically identifying the street as Georges Ibrahim Abdallah Street.
This event is taking place simultaneously with the national march in France to Lannemezan prison, demanding Abdallah’s freedom. It also comes after an event in Toulouse, France in solidarity with this action in Gaza, symbolically renaming Charles De Gaulle Square in honor of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah.
The PPYU and Coup Pour Coup issued a joint statement on the occasion:
For over thirty years, France has imprisoned the struggling Arab comrade Georges Abdallah, despite continuous calls by political forces and activists for freedom demanding his release. France has refused to release him, in cooperation with U.S. imperialist and Zionist demands.
Coup Pour Coup 31, an anti-imperialist collective, and the Palestinian Progressive Youth Union affirm that Georges Abdallah is an activist fighting for the values of freedom, justice and humanity, against the crimes committed by imperialism and Zionism. Georges Abdallah is part of the history of the Palestinian struggle against Zionist occupation; this is why his continued imprisonment exposes the true face of imperialism and French pseudo-democracy.
In support of the imprisoned struggler Georges Abdallah and in response to the international week of solidarity with the prisoners organized by the International Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat and the Campaign to Free Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, October 17-24, it was decided to rename “Charles de Gaulle Street” in Gaza to “Georges Abdallah Street.”
This is a symbolic action, with the primary objective of shedding light on the case of Georges Abdallah and attracting the attention of the French public to this issue. Georges Abdallah is a symbol of Arab and internationalist struggle, and it is only just to place his name on streets and places in Palestine, especially in Gaza. This action comes in unity with the demonstration in Lannemezan, France.
In this context, we, the Union of Progressive Palestinian Youth and Coup Pour Coup 31, affirm the following:
1. Renaming Georges Abdallah Street is a symbolic act that aims to send a strong message from the Gaza Strip to France for the immediate release of Georges Abdallah.
2. This action affirms the unity of the struggle of the Palestinian people and those fighting for freedom around the world against imperialism, including in France.
3. Coup Pour Coup 31 takes this opportunity to salute the Palestinian people and express its continued support for the just struggle for liberation and an end to Zionism. The Progressive Palestinian Youth Union in turn thanks Coup Pour Coup 31 for their efforts to support the Palestinian people and their just cause, especially the prisoners and in particular Georges Abdallah, and to stand firm despite pressure by the French government.
4. Coordination between Coup Pour Coup 31 and all Palestinian progressive and revolutionary forces, and with Arab and internationalist organizations will continue and will not cease.
5. We will continue our struggle and coordination side by side with the Palestinian, Arab and international revolutionary and progressive forces to fight imperialism and Zionism and continually pressure the French government until Georges Abdallah is released.
6. We must organize the broadest possible campaign of support and popular pressure on the French government to immediately release Georges Abdallah.
Palestinian Progressive Youth Union – Gaza Strip
Coup Pour Coup 31 – Toulouse, France
The following statement was issued by the Progressive Palestinian Youth Union and the Progressive Student Action Front in the Gaza Strip, Palestine, urging international action to free Georges Ibrahim Abdallah:
The French state persists in its imprisonment of Arab struggler, Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, in its jails for over 30 years, refusing to release him despite a prior decision of French courts to do so.
The Palestinian Progressive Youth Union and the Progressive Student Labor Front consider the continued imprisonment of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah as a disgrace on the French state, revealing the ugly face of imperialism to the world as a permanent partner of Zionism, continuing to commit crimes against the Palestinian people and the people of the region with a full sanction, green light and absolute support from world imperialist powers.
Despite the cruelty and the development of events and conditions inside our occupied homeland, the bleeding wounds of Palestine, this will not prevent us from continuing our support with the imprisoned Arab and internationalist struggler Georges Abdallah, and organizing events and actions to pressure France for his release, as a fighter for freedom and justice and for the liberation of peoples and the end of occupation and oppression. His case is inseparable from the cause of the Palestinian people.
In this context, we, in the Palestinian Progressive Youth Union and the Progressive Student Labor Front, emphasize the following:
1. We are continuing our preparations for solidarity actions with the struggler Georges Abdallah, with the particular goal to change the name of Charles De Gaulle Street in Gaza City, to Georges Abdallah Street, in order to send a message to the French state that the struggler Georges Abdallah is a symbol of Arab and international struggle, who deserves to have his name on the streets and squares of Palestine, especially in the Gaza Strip.
2. We emphasize the inherent value of the imprisoned radical revolutionary struggler Georges Ibrahim Abdallah’s consistent support for the resistance of our people against the Zionist entity. The struggle against imperialism and Zionism is one and indivisible.
3. We direct our salutes to the international solidarity campaigns to free Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, Ahmad Sa’adat and Khalida Jarrar, and also to Coup Pour Coup 31, the anti-imperialist collective in France which is playing a leading role in organizing events in France to free Georges Abdallah, as well as the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, and the Handala Center of Prisoners and Released Prisoners, and all of the comrades, solidarity groups, popular organizations and activists around the world who are taking up these campaigns.
4. We reaffirm the unity and cohesion of the struggle against imperialism, including the issue of the imprisoned freedom fighter Georges Abdallah, and the struggle of the Palestinian people against Zionism.
Robert Abdallah, the brother of imprisoned Arab struggler for Palestine Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, addressed the following message of solidarity to the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, on 24 October, the anniversary of his brother’s arrest in France in 1984. Robert, based in Beirut, is internationally active and a leader of the 
