17 November, Choisy-le-Roi: Palestine: The Prison Case – Film and discussion

9 November 2015

Tuesday, 17 November
7:00 pm
Espace Langevin
31-33 rue Albert 1er, 94600 Choisy-le-Roi, France

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1716903991878398/

Film Screening and Discussion – Free Admission

What is our role in solidarity with Palestinian youth held as political prisoners in Israel? 1/3 of young Palestinians are detained by Israeli soldiers, and each year between 500-700 minors are imprisoned. They have no right to a fair trial, and can be detained without charge under the system of administrative detention. Palestinian political prisoners are subject to mistreatment and even physical or psychological torture under interrogaation, and are held in unacceptable conditions of detention, denied medical care and at times of access to their families.

We will view and discuss the documentary, “Palestine: The Prison Case.” We will discuss what kinds of solidarity we can build for Palestinian political prisoners, and discuss the Association France-Palestine Solidarite’s program to support Palestinian prisoners.

Event organized by the ‘Association Solidarité Choisy Palestine, as part of the “Our One World” week of international solidarity.

Contact : solidarite.choisy.palestine@gmail.com

Soirée ciné-débat
MARDI 17 NOVEMBRE A 19H
A l‘Espace Langevin
33 rue Albert Ier, Choisy-le-Roi
Entrée libre

Jeunes palestiniens, prisonniers politiques en Israël, quelle solidarité ?

1/3 des jeunes palestiniens sont incarcérés dans les prisons israéliennes, dont chaque année entre 500 et 700 mineurs.La majorité des prisonniers n‘a pas le droit à un procès équitable, ils sont parfois enfermés sans chef d‘inculpation, sous le régime totalement injuste de la détention administrative. Les prisonniers politiques palestiniens sont soumis à de mauvais traitements voire à de la torture physique ou psychologique durant la période d‘interrogatoire et vivent ensuite dans des conditions de détention inacceptables, privés de soins, parfois privés de la visite de leurs proches…

Nous en parlerons autour du documentaire « Palestine : La Case Prison », de Franck Salomé, mardi 17 novembre, à 19h, à l‘Espace Langevin ( 33 rue Albert Ier).

Quelle solidarité pouvons-nous mener ici envers les prisonniers politiques palestiniens ? Nous en débattrons, notamment en présentant le projet de parrainage de prisonniers politiques palestiniens, de l’Association France Palestine Solidarité.

Soirée organisée par l‘Association Solidarité Choisy Palestine, dans le cadre de la semaine de la solidarité internationale “Un Notre Monde“.

Contact : solidarite.choisy.palestine@gmail.com

13 November, NYC: Protest G4S support for Israeli political detention, repression and occupation

8 November 2015

Friday, November 13
4:00 PM
G4S Office – 19 W. 44th St, NYC
https://www.facebook.com/events/1705936796305505/

British/Danish prison and occupation profiteer G4S, the world’s largest security company and second-biggest private employer, equips and maintains the Israeli detention centers and jails where Palestinians are held and tortured, as well as training facilities that prepare occupation forces for their attacks on Palestinians.

Support recent calls by the Palestinian prisoners’ movement and the BDS National Committee for escalated actions against the company over its support for Israeli repression.

NYC, 6 November Tell G4S #HandsOffAlAqsa! End corporate support for Israeli repression!

2 November 2015

Protest Friday, November 6 at 4:00 pm

G4S Secure Solutions- New York City

19 W 44th St, New York, New York 10036

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1515259155464295/

Protest the New York office of British/Danish security company G4S, which supports both occupation forces’ raids on al-Aqsa mosque in occupied Jerusalem and the jailing of its Palestinian defenders in Israeli prisons and detention centers.

G4S, the world’s largest security firm and second-biggest private employer, recently won contracts to help build, equip and operate a new “Police Academy” for occupation forces just outside Jerusalem.

Since the beginning of October, such forces have not only killed dozens of Palestinians with impunity and injured thousands more, but have also participated in repeated, armed invasions of al-Asqa mosque.

These violent incursions, along with occupation forces’ brutal suppression of Palestinian protests against them, have resulted in the detentions of countless Palestinians for defending the holy site, among over 1,000 captured in the last month alone.

Palestinian political prisoners are held, and often tortured, in Israeli prisons and detention centers similarly equipped by G4S.

Most recently, occupation forces have expanded their use of “administrative detention” to imprison Palestinians without charge or trial to target children, a move human rights groups called unprecedented.

Support recent calls by the Palestinian prisoners’ movement and the BDS National Committee for escalated actions against G4S over its support for Israeli repression.

Demand an immediate end to the company’s contracts with Israel’s military, prison and occupation agencies, as well as Israel’s attacks on Palestinian holy sites and brutal repression of the Palestinian people’s heroic uprising; the freedom of all Palestinian prisoners; and the liberation of Palestine.

Organized by Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, NYC.

University of New Mexico students call for freedom for Palestinian political prisoners

31 October 2015

In Albuquerque, New Mexico, Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of New Mexico hosted an exhibition of “Room Number 4” and a visit from Suhair Abbasi Baidon of Madaa Center, discussing the abuse and targeting of Palestinian children by Israeli soldiers and the Israeli occupation prisons.

The organizers expressed their solidarity with all Palestinian prisoners struggling for freedom:

“With Sahar Baidon learning about child prisoners in Israeli prisons and the current extreme situation in Palestine where young Palestinians are being slaughtered daily by the occupier.

‪#‎FreePalestine‬ ‪#‎FreeGeorgesAbdallah‬ ‪#‎FreeAhmadSaadat‬‪#‎FreeKhalidaJarrar‬ ‪#‎FreeMarwanBarghouti‬ ‪#‎BoycottIsrael‬ ‪#‎Silwan‬‪#‎Jerusalem‬ ‪#‎UNMSJP‬”

Wisconsin, Delaware, Philadelphia: Room Number 4: Exhibit on Israeli arrests of Palestinian children

31 October 2015

Following events in Oakland and Albuquerque, the Room Number 4 tour with Sahar Abbasi Baidon, organized by the Middle East Childrens Alliance, is continuing in Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Greenville, Delaware; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania over the coming week.

Room Number 4 is a photographic campaign prepared by Madaa Center and War Child Holland that illustrates the violations of Palestinian children’s rights in East Jerusalem. The 12 staged photos are accompanied by written testimonies from the children themselves. Room Number 4 is the name of the Israeli interrogation room at the Russian Compound Detention Center in Jerusalem.

An additional 10 documentary photos of life in occupied East Jerusalem taken by Majd Ghaith will further demonstrate the violations of children’s rights from home demolitions to settler violence.

Come hear from Sahar Abbasi Baidon – Direct from Palestine! Sahar is a mother of four and the deputy director of MECA’s partner, Madaa Silwan Creative Center, in East Jerusalem. Born and raised in Silwan, Sahar and has worked at Madaa focusing on projects to improve life for children and women. She works directly with children who are arrested, and her interviews and research (“The Impact of Child Arrest” a study published by Sahar and Dr. Kasahun) are the basis for the Room Number 4 photo exhibit.
TOUR EVENTS:

MILWAUKEE, WI:

Networking Brunch and Discussion with Sahar
Friday, October 30th, 10 am – 12 pm
Islamic Resource Center
5235 S. 27th St.
Milwaukee, WI 53221
$10 fee, Open to the Public

Exhibit and presentation
Friday, October 30, 7pm
Ballroom East, 1st Floor
Student Union, UW Milwaukee
2200 E. Kenwood Blvd
Milwaukee, WI 53201
Sponsored by: Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition, Friends of Palestine, Students for Justice in Palestine – UW Milwaukee
Contact: Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition, 414-727-4900, staff@mmwconline.org
Facebook event

MADISON, WI:
Sunday, November 1, 1:30pm
First Unitarian Society of Madison
900 University Bay Drive
Madison WI 53705
Contact: rafahsistercity@yahoo.com

GREENVILLE, DE:
Wednesday, November 4^th, 6:30pm
Room No. 4 Photo Exhibit and Presentation
St. Joseph on the Brandywine in the St. Joseph Family Center
10 Old Church Rd, Greenville, DE 19807
Contact: delnato@gmail.com
Facebook event

PHILADELPHIA, PA:
Thursday, November 5, 7pm
Claudia Cohen Hall (map)
249 S 36th St, Philadelphia, PA
University of Pennsylvania
Sponsored by Penn Students for Justice in Palestine
Contact: Anan Zahr ananzahr@gmail.com
Co-sponsors Amnesty International at Penn and Penn Arab Student Society
Facebook event

New York City protest demands end to G4S abuses against Palestinian prisoners

31 October 2015

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.

Photos by Joe Catron

Video and Statement: Protest to Free Georges Abdallah in Lannemezan

31 October 2015

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:

Manifestation à Lannemezan pour la libération… by coup-pour-coup

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.

Your comrade, Georges Abdallah

28 October, Albuquerque: Room Number 4 – Israeli Arrests of Palestinian Children

26 October 2015

Wednesday, 28 October
6:00 pm
SouthWest Organizing Project
211 10th St SW, Albuquerque
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1185534601460460/

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

2 November, NYC: Vigil for the Holy Land Five

26 October 2015

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.

Learn more at no-separate-justice.org, and follow the Campaign on Twitter @NSJCampaign, and Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/NoSeparateJustice

30 October, NYC: Protest to end Zionist political detentions and free all Palestinian prisoners

25 October 2015

Friday, 30 October
4:00 PM
G4S Office, 19 W 44th St, New York, NY, US
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/179964329010549/

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

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