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Thursday, July 3, 2025
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Revolutionary intellectual and freedom fighter: The living legacy of Basil al-Araj

On the sixth anniversary of the martyrdom of Basil Al-Araj, Palestinian revolutionary intellectual, youth leader and freedom fighter who resisted the occupation until the last moment, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes his living legacy of struggle and resistance that continues to blossom everywhere Palestinians, Arabs and internationals mobilize to seek liberation. He exemplified the integrated approach to resistance, engaging in boycott mobilization and armed struggle, producing thought and intellectual engagement while directly participating in the liberation struggle. Basil al-Araj continues to inspire a new generation of Palestinian youth and supporters of Palestine to follow in his path of struggle, a path that confronted imperialism, Zionism, the Israeli occupation regime and the complicit Palestinian Authority, towards the liberation of Palestine and the liberation of the world. His dedication and commitment has ensured that his name and legacy will always live on, wherever the resistance lives and marches toward victory.

Also read:

We are republishing our earlier statement in honor of Basil al-Araj below:

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network remembers Basil al-Araj, the engaged intellectual and Palestinian revolutionary assassinated by Israeli occupation forces as he continued to resist, refusing to surrender, six years ago today: 6 March 2017. He put into practice his vision of the “struggling intellectual,” writing, thinking and acting, engaging in all aspects of Palestinian struggle, from the boycott movement to the armed struggle. Today, Basil al-Araj is a symbol and a living example of struggle for millions of Palestinians, Arabs and internationalists looking towards a vision of return, liberation and victory in Palestine and around the world.

Basil al-Araj’s life was defined by his commitment to liberation. A prominent writer, thinker and youth activists in protest campaigns and boycott movements throughout occupied Palestine, he was seized by the Palestinian Authority under its security coordination with Israel. In fact, the abduction of Basil al-Araj and five of his comrades was touted by PA President Mahmoud Abbas as an important achievement for PA/Israel security coordination. There, Basil and his comrades were tortured and imprisoned for five months without charge before being released after their hunger strike in September 2016.

After his release, Basil went underground. His family’s home was attacked and invaded over 10 times by Israeli occupation forces before he was assassinated in a hail of bullets on 6 March 2017 in the home where he was staying in El-Bireh, occupied Palestine. He resisted until the end, always refusing to surrender, rejecting the path of Oslo and the dismantlement of the Palestinian cause physically and intellectually.

Basil al-Araj’s final statement was issued after his assassination, as demonstrations took place in Palestinian, Arab and international cities, with marches and protests in New York, Washington, DC, Brussels, Berlin, Vienna, London, Rabat, Tunis, Cairo, Amman, Beirut, Nahr el-Bared refugee camp, Gaza City, Ramallah, Haifa, Dheisheh refugee camp and elsewhere. In Ramallah, Palestinian demonstrators were attacked and beaten by the Palestinian Authority’s security forces.

“Greetings of Arab nationalism, homeland, and liberation. If you are reading this, it means I have died and my soul has ascended to its creator. I pray to God that I will meet him with a guiltless heart, willingly, and never reluctantly, and free of any whit of hypocrisy. How hard it is to write your own will. For years I have been contemplating testaments written by martyrs, and those wills have always bewildered me. They were short, quick, without much eloquence. They did not quench our thirst to find answers about martyrdom. Now I am walking to my fated death satisfied that I found my answers. How stupid I am! Is there anything which is more eloquent and clearer than a martyr’s deed? I should have written this several months ago, but what kept me was that this question is for you, living people, and why should I answer on your behalf? Look for the answers yourself, and for us the inhabitants of the graves, all we seek is God’s mercy.”

Ahmad Sa’adat, imprisoned Palestinian leader and the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, described Basil Al-Araj:

“with his gun in one hand and his pen in the other, a solid, conscious fighter who would not compromise one iota on principles or constants and who did not melt like some intellectuals in the acid of temptations or acceptance of the status quo…He gave his life for Palestine at a time when some traders seek to sell it piece by piece. He never fell or wavered before the rubble of reality, the enormous challenges, the attempts to liquidate the Palestinian cause or divert it from its natural course…His experience of struggle and rich cultural work is an inspiration and compass for revolutionary Palestinian youth, and his luminous flame illuminates their struggle and uprising.”

Khaled Barakat, Palestinian writer and activist, said:

“He saw the relationship between all forms of struggle, and he recognized the right and the duty to participate in all forms of struggle when possible…For him, to be a Palestinian revolutionary intellectual, you must be in confrontation with occupation and struggle to bring down all internal Palestinian chains and blockades, as represented by the PA. Basil studied in Cairo and visited Amman, Beirut and other Arab cities on many occasions. He was working to build bridges between Palestinians inside and outside. That’s why the first demonstrations after his assassination were in Nahr al-Bared refugee camp and in the other camps in Lebanon, as well as in Ramallah. Basil is a representation of an entire Palestinian generation that finds itself today entering 100 years of struggle against colonization, occupation and oppression. And I have no doubt in my mind that they will succeed in liberating their cause and their voice.”

“Basil was alert and aware of the struggles taking place outside Palestine. He participated in the boycott campaigns, actions against the apartheid wall, against normalization, led a campaign called ‘youth for dignity,’ confronted PA policies, negotiations and security coordination in the streets, presented in colleges and universities, worked to build research institutions, and he also carried a gun. These forms of struggle do not contradict each other; in fact, they complement each other…It is revolutionary knowledge that directs the guns, and not the other way around.”

Thousands of Palestinians marched in Basil al-Araj’s funeral of resistance in al-Walaja village, saluting and pledging to continue Al-Araj’s legacy of struggle, chanting against Zionist colonization, the Israeli assassination policy, and the Palestinian Authority’s complicity and security coordination with the occupation regime.

Today, Basil al-Araj remains a towering representative of justice and of the Palestinian liberation struggle. His commitment and vision lives on in the ideas, organizing and action of Palestinian, Arab and international youth organizing and struggling to confront colonialism and achieve victory. Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes the living legacy of Basil al-Araj, revolutionary intellectual, freedom fighter and Palestinian, Arab and international symbol of justice and liberation.

9 March, NYC and Online: People’s Hearing on Racism and Repression at CUNY

Register here for the People’s Hearing on Racism and Repression at CUNY & NYC as spaces are limited! 

WHEN:        Thursday, March 9, 6-9PM
WHERE:     Proshansky Auditorium, Concourse Level CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Ave

We have an amazing list of co-sponsoring organizations (see below) as well as a fantastic line-up of speakers for the launch, including Suzanne Adely, Karanja Keita Carroll, Omawale Clay, Lawrence Johnson, Nerdeen Kiswani, Rachel Pincus, Conor Tomás Reed as well as speakers from DRUM, Anakbayan-Manhattan, Boriqua Resistance and more! Keep an eye out for our social media posts (@PeoplesCUNY Instagram and Twitter) for the full list of speakers and bios and please share widely!

The People’s Hearing seeks to build solidarity between our existing struggles, and germinate new forms of collaboration and mobilization to link the fight for a true People’s University with a fight for a People’s NYC. It develops out of organizing that took place in the summer of 2022 to challenge the sham NYC council Higher Education committee hearing that targeted successful Palestine liberation organizing across CUNY.

This launch event will bring together different groups from across CUNY and NYC to share and build on past and ongoing organizing efforts around combating systemic racism, the politics of austerity, gentrification, the multi-tier exploitative academic labor system, academic freedom attacks, surveillance, and policing across CUNY and NYC more broadly. We will make connections with liberation struggles in Palestine, Puerto Rico, Philippines, Haiti and elsewhere as well as build solidarity with abolition, reparations, decolonization/ landback, and anti-imperialist movements in New York and globally. The aim is to work towards a public hearing in the near future to stop CUNY and NYC administrations from perpetuating numerous forms of violence and hold them accountable to us. Collectively, we have the power to radically transform our public institutions such as CUNY and the broader communities in which they are embedded.

Let’s come together to build a People’s CUNY and a People’s NYC!

Please RSVP here: tinyurl.com/PCRSVPForm
View the full statement here: bit.ly/PCLaunchStatement

Participating Organizations

  • Al Awda- New York
  • Amazon Labor Union
  • Anakbayan Manhattan
  • Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) – NYC
  • Black Latinx Faculty Staff Alliance, Queens College
  • Brooklyn College Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP)
  • Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine
  • Critical Palestine Studies Association
  • CUNY for Palestine
  • CUNY Rank and File Action
  • College of Staten Island SJP
  • Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM)
  • Jewish Law Students Association, CUNY Law
  • Macaulay Peace Action
  • National Lawyers Guild
  • NY Boricua Resistance
  • Palestine Solidarity Alliance
  • Palestine Youth Movement (PYM)-NYC
  • Prisoner Solidarity Network NYU A/P/A BRIDGE
  • Reclaim the Commons, Graduate Center
  • Students for Justice in Palestine, CUNY Law
  • The Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Studies, San Francisco State University Teaching Palestine: Pedagogical Praxis and the Indivisibility of Justice
  • Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
  • Within Our Lifetime
  • Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP)-NYC
  • JVP-Westchester

Take Action: Send a Letter — Tell International Cellars to Stop Profiting off Israeli War Crimes

Join the Canada Palestine Association, Canadian BDS Coalition and Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network to expose and denounce companies and governments complicit in Israeli war crimes — specifically International Cellars. End War Crimes Profiteering! #BoycottIsraeliApartheid

Take one minute to send your letter here: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-international-cellars-to-stop-profiting-off-israeli-war-crimes

Send your protest letter today!

Bringing the Fruits of Colonization to Your Store Shelves!
Wine Merchants or War Crimes Profiteers

The Palestinian people are facing increasing and brutal oppression in a continuing Nakba; it is our responsibility to highlight and hold accountable all those who maintain and profit from the dispossession and theft of Palestine and its resources.

The import and sale of Israeli wines in provincial liquor stores across Canada is a microcosm of how apartheid maintains “business as usual”, despite changing political conditions. The war crimes profiteering from the sale of Israeli products has been tracked for many years in BC by #BoycottIsraeliWine campaigners.

Much of the focus has been on the illegal Israeli settlements, be they in the occupied West Bank or annexed Golan, and on the successive provincial and federal governments complicit in legitimizing this plunder of stolen Palestinian natural resources. However, there is also corporate complicity involving the wine distributors that bring the fruits of colonization to local liquor store shelves.

Most Israeli wine distributed to all of Canada’s four western provinces comes through one Vancouver-based company, International Cellars Inc. They promote wines from the Golan Heights Winery and its joint venture, Galil Mountain Winery, as well as the Teperberg 1870 Winery (which openly shows its vineyards in occupied Palestinian territory on its website). In 2007, they launched several Israeli wines in BC government liquor stores under the condition that there would be a separate “Israeli” section; principal director, Norman Gladstone, stated at the time that the BC Liquor Distribution Board (BCLDB) approached him about the project and were very “supportive”. “Normally, it is up to a company like International Cellars to go into each and every liquor store to get them to sell their wines, but, because the BCLDB is so supportive of this venture, ‘the liquor board is doing an initial introduction to 23 stores and our [International Cellars’] sales staff are going out to get it into more stores as well,’ said Gladstone.”

A look at International Cellars wines from other countries brought forth this gem: one of their partner Chilean wineries is owned by the founder of the Golan Heights Winery, Shimshon Welner. Welner Wines website in its “our story” section, proudly shows photos of Welner with former Israeli leaders including Ariel Sharon, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin.

After seeing the hypocrisy of the BC NDP government last year in rushing to pull Russian liquor products off store shelves in just 2 days, while refusing for 14 years to deal with Israeli apartheid wines, it is clear the BC government always was, and is, a full partner in this travesty. A travesty that spans multiple provincial governments, from the Liberals in 2007 to the Horgan NDP government to the current one under Premier David Eby, all promoting the same policy of enabling Israeli war crimes. And anyone who thought that the NDP would take a different stance once in power was sorely disappointed, even though their official party policy is now committed to end “all trade and economic cooperation with illegal settlements in Israel-Palestine”.

Palestinian activists will continue to highlight and hold accountable all those involved in this infamous chain of war crimes profiteering, who play a part in the dispossession and usurpation of Palestine, its natural resources, and its people. Palestinian blood is on all their hands.

Sponsored by:

Canada Palestine Association
Canadian BDS Coalition
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network

Take one minute to send your letter here: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-international-cellars-to-stop-profiting-off-israeli-war-crimes

Send your protest letter today!

 

4 March, Online Hearing: Libya hearing of the International People’s Tribunal on U.S. Imperialism

Join the International People’s Tribunal on US Imperialism: Sanctions, Blockades, Coercive Economic Measures for a hearing on the effects and impacts of these policies and practices on the people of Libya. We will hear testimony and reports from expert and direct witnesses, with questions and discussion from our jurors.

The hearing will take place on Saturday, March 4 at 10:30 AM EST (7:30 AM PST, 3:30 PM UTC) Register to listen online: https://bit.ly/libyatribunal

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is a co-sponsor of the Tribunal. Visit the Sanctions Tribunal website for more details or to sign up for additional hearings.

Join us in Ottawa! April 28-30, 2023: Liberation Conference for Palestine – Confronting Colonialism, Envisioning Liberation

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is honoured to join with the Masar Badil, the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement, in calling all activists, organizers and supporters of Palestine in North America to join us in Ottawa on Algonquin Anishinaabe Land, April 28-30, 2023, for the Liberation Conference.

The conference will focus on collective liberation and confrontation of colonialism linking Indigenous, Black, Palestinian and workers’ liberation movements. Topics include: Anti-Imperialism and the International People’s Tribunal on U.S. Imperialism, Palestinian Prisoners and the Resistance, Organizing for Return to Palestine, Building the Boycott Movement, Anti-Zionism: An Anti-Colonial Struggle, Palestine and Working-Class Struggle Across Borders, and the Free the Holy Land 5 Campaign.

This gathering will focus specifically on building the liberation struggle in North America.  Organizations and activists working to achieve this and in support of our key principles are invited to attend and participate.

This conference is taking place on the unceded and unsurrendered land of the Algonquin Anishinaabe Nation. We stand in full solidarity with Indigenous struggles for self-determination and sovereignty and against Canadian and U.S. settler colonialism.

The program will include:

  • Friday, April 28: Palestine Forum  – A gathering of activists, organizers and strugglers developing a strategic plan for our collective movement.
  • Saturday, April 29: Liberation Conference –  Workshops, panel discussions and strategy sessions on a variety of topics, including the People’s Tribunal on US Imperialism, the Holy Land 5 and Palestinian Prisoners, Indigenous and Black Liberation, Filipino and Palestinian Struggles, and Labour and Working-Class Organizing. Full details and schedule TBA.
  • Sunday, April 30: Return And Liberation March in Ottawa – Take the streets in a march against settler colonialism and imperialism and for liberation! On the 75th anniversary of the ongoing Nakba, we march for collective liberation.

This congregation will build on the learnings and internationalist network of the Masar Badil, the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement, especially its week of actions in Brussels during October 2022 and its founding conference in Madrid, Sao Paulo and Beirut in October 2021.

Do you have questions? Would your organization like to have a workshop, table or presentation? Email us at info@liberationconference.org.

March of Palestine: Join the campaign! Unity of the land, the people and the resistance

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network calls upon all supporters of Palestine and Palestinian and Arab communities to join us in the March of Palestine: Unity of the Land, the People and the Resistance. This campaign, initiated by the Masar Badil, the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement, calls on all to take action for Palestine during the month of March, especially in the lead-up to Ramadan and amid major commemorations for the Palestinian cause, including: International Women’s Day, Martyrs’ Day, and Land Day.

In particular, we urge all to join us on 8 March, International Women’s Day, to demand freedom for all Palestinian women prisoners. On 11-18 March, join us in the International Campaign to Liberate the Bodies of the Palestinian Martyrs by holding events, demonstrations and actions in your cities. Click here to endorse the campaign.

Of course, the month of March 2023 is shaping up to be a major period of confrontation inside the occupation prisons, as the prisoners’ movement fights back against the frenzied attack by the fascist Israeli regime. There are over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners out of 4,750 in total held in administrative detention without charge or trial, while the Zionist government proceeds daily with a new attack on the prisoners, from laws to strip citizenship from Palestinian prisoners in occupied Palestine ’48 to the “execution law” currently being promulgated in the colonial Knesset. These attacks come because the Palestinian prisoners are at the core of the Palestinian resistance and the Palestinian people’s struggle for return and liberation. As Ramadan approaches amid the escalating confrontation and protest steps by the prisoners, we urge all to organize and stand with the prisoners as they put their bodies and lives on the line for freedom.

We are republishing below the statement calling for the March of Palestine and urge all organizations to join us in circulating it:

Towards a global campaign in March to support the Palestinian people and the prisoners’ movement!

The Masar Badil, the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement, calls upon all of its organizations and supporters to participate widely in organizing the March of Palestine: The Campaign to Defend the People and the Land and Support the Prisoners’ Movement, and to confront the criminal policies of the racist, Zionist colonial project throughout occupied Palestine. We emphasize the importance of developing broad popular participation in the international Campaign for the Liberation of the Bodies of the Martyrs, the commemoration of International Women’s Day and the 47th anniversary of Land Day.

The Masar’s Executive Committee affirmed that the month of March 2023 is a critically important occasion for participating in the events organized by the Alkarama Palestinian Women’s Mobilization to highlight the struggle of Palestinian and Arab women in defending the land, people and resistance and in upholding the Palestinian identity and collective memory.

The movement further urges all Palestinian and Arab communities and organizations, and the student and youth movements in universities, colleges and secondary schools to participate in supporting the historical battle waged by the Palestinian prisoners’ movement to confront the policies of the criminal Ben Gvir, to respond swiftly to the calls issued by the leadership of the prisoners’ movement in the occupation jails and to participate in the activities and mobilizations organized by the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network in Europe, North America and Latin America.

The Masar further calls on all organizations and supporters to respond to the call of the national Palestinian duty by strengthening the steadfastness of the impoverished popular classes in the refugee camps and other marginalized areas, especially in the holy month of Ramadan, and to consider this a month of steadfastness and unity that strengthens national and social solidarity among the Palestinian people inside and outside Palestine, in the homeland and in exile and diaspora.

Further, it is critical to confront, boycott and isolate the corporations and institutions involved in the crimes of plundering and stealing Palestinian and Arab land, especially those active around the world in supporting settlement projects in the Naqab, Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Golan Heights and the entire occupied homeland.

25 March, Vancouver: Liberation Iftar/Dinner to Support Palestine Conference in Ottawa

Saturday, 25 March
Doors open at 6:30 pm
1803 E 1st Ave
Vancouver
Tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/liberation-iftardinner-fundraiser-for-palestine-conference-2023-tickets-568739423927

Celebrate Ramadan and mark Palestinian Land Day with an inclusive, internationalist iftar/dinner in solidarity with Palestine. Join us for an evening of solidarity and celebration in support of the Palestinian liberation movement. Tickets include food and beverage.

The evening’s program will include presentations, music and cultural performances, videos and auctions. All proceeds will go to support the Liberation Conference in Ottawa: https://liberationconference.org

Learn about the Palestinian prisoners’ struggle, find out how you can get involved, and enjoy a delicious meal together with comrades, friends and family.

PLEASE NOTE: Tickets are limited! Please purchase your ticket online for a 100% confirmed attendance.

Questions? Want to get involved? Contact vancouver@samidoun.net.

3 and 11 March, Vancouver: International Women’s Day Panel and Demonstration

WORKING WOMEN OF THE WORLD, UNITE! On March 3rd and March 11th, join GABRIELA BC, Defund 604 Network, Worker Solidarity Network, UNITE HERE Local 40, BAYAN BC, and Samidoun in celebrating International Working Women’s Day with a worker’s panel + discussion and rally!

International Working Women’s Day was established 112 years ago and is commemorated around the world on March 8th by women workers from varied industries and workplaces to broaden global solidarity and strengthen ties among women workers. This year, we proudly uphold its working-class roots and theme of global solidarity.

FRIDAY, MARCH 3, 6-7:30 PM, 312 Main St: Panel + Discussion | Come listen to the stories of four working women and non-binary folks. We invite all working women and gender nonconforming folks to participate in the post-Q&A discussion and strengthen our ties and solidarity in the fight for liberation. Connect our stories to the broader fight against racism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, capitalism, and imperialism, and ultimately, how we can build a better world together. Light refreshments will be served and childcare will be available for the duration of the event!

**RSVP HERE:
tinyurl.com/3DEE82AT

SATURDAY, MARCH 11, 2-3 PM, BURNABY CIVIC SQUARE: Rally | IWWD demonstrations worldwide have opposed imperialist war and oppression. On Saturday, we continue that legacy by highlighting the contributions of working women here and abroad, including millions of women migrant workers, incarcerated workers, and all people demanding economic, social, and political rights. Join us at Burnaby Civic Square and let us unite for genuine change!

Hosted by: @_gabrielabc, @defund604network, @workersolidaritybc, @unitehere40, @sulong.ubc, @anakbayanbc, @migrantebc, & @samidounnetwork

Over 30 Years: Pre-Oslo Prisoners – profiles of Mohammed Adel Daoud, Mahmoud Abu Kharabish and Bashir Abdullah al-Khatib

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is providing the materials for the third week of the educational campaign, Over 30 Years: Pre-Oslo Prisoners.
Read the previous two sets of materials:

This week, we will highlight the Palestinian prisoners: Mohammed Adel Daoud, Mahmoud Abu Kharabish and Bashir Abdullah al-Khatib. You can print the posters below, hang them in your cities and communities, and share this link to highlight the struggle of long-held Palestinian prisoners for justice and liberation.

This campaign highlights the “deans of the prisoners,” a term used by Palestinians to describe those who have been held in Israeli occupation jails for over 20 years continuously. Over the years, many Palestinian prisoners were liberated through prisoner exchange deals or other forms of political concession, such as those released in 1995 after the Oslo Accords; the prisoner exchange deal imposed by Hezbollah in 2004 with which 400 Palestinian prisoners were freed; the Wafa al-Ahrar prisoner exchange in 2011, where 1027 Palestinian prisoners were liberated in exchange for the release of the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit captured by the resistance; or in 2013 when the occupation announced the release of 104 Palestinian prisoners coinciding with the return of the Palestinian Authority to negotiations and the continuation of its security coordination with the occupier under the terms of Oslo and its corollaries.

This campaign aims to ensure that these veteran Palestinian prisoners are not only not forgotten but highlighted and central to the prisoners’ struggle and the Palestinian liberation movement as a whole. Contact us at samidoun@samidoun.net to let us know about actions and events in your area.

Mohammad Adel Daoud (Abu Ghazi)

Muhammad Adel Hassan Daoud (Abu Ghazi) has been detained by the occupation since his arrest on 18 December 1987. A dedicated resistance struggler born in 1962, he was sentenced to life in prison for targeting the cars of illegal settlers on the Qalqilya bypass road, including the head of the Qalqilya area settlement council and for his role in the Fateh armed resistance. His family was subjected to collective punishment after his arrest and imprisonment, as the occupation confiscated their family home.

Despite multiple prisoner exchanges and a supposed agreement to release prisoners accopanying the Oslo Accords, the occupation has refused to release him. He was denied family viits altogether for many years and continues to be allowed family visits only once a year. During his time behind bars, he lost both his father and mother and was prohibited from attending their funerals. In fact, his father suffered a fatal heart attack the night before he was to visit Mohammed. He had gathered family photos to take to Mohammed in prison and died with the photos still in his pocket, not having seen his beloved son.

In 2021, the occupation prison administration transferred Mohammed Daoud from Gilboa prison to Afula hospital by ambulance after his health deteriorated, only after pressure and demands from his fellow prisoners about the deterioration of his health. He has suffered from continuous illness due to long and harsh conditions of detention in addition to the systematic policy of medical negligence that affects all sick prisoners. During his time behind occupation bars, he has lost most of his teeth and relies on eating soups and liquids. He has suffered from severe abdominal pain for some time and later developed chronic stomach problems that required surgery. He also suffers from psoriasis, a skin condition that caused cracks and bleeding, and he requires additional surgery to address his ongoing medical issues.

Mohammed’s family considers that the prison, its windows, stones, and prisoners have been replaced, and generations of the family have come into the world, and generations have gone, and generations have married and given birth, and their son, Mohammed, remains behind bars.

Mahmoud Abu Kharabish

Palestinian prisoner Mahmoud Abu Kharabish was born in the city of Jericho, Palestine, in early June 1965. He was a farmer, affiliated with the Fateh movement, and is the longest-held Palestinian prisoner from the Jericho area. He was seized by occupation forces at the age of 23 on 31 October 1988 for throwing Molotov cocktails at a settler bus in Jericho during the great popular Intifada. He was seized by the Zionist authorities and sentenced to life imprisonment. Currently detained in the occupation’s Ramon prison, he has been held behind bars for nearly 35 years.

During his detention, he has been repeatedly isolated in solitary confinement cells, leading him to conduct several hunger strikes against these abuses. Despite all of the harassment intended to isolate the prisoners from the outside world, Mahmoud Abu Kharabish did not give up and focused on educating himself during these years. He finished his high school studies inside the occupation prisons and completed his undergraduate studies at Al-Quds University by correspondence, despite the occupation’s attempts to bar Palestinian prisoners from continuing their education. He also managed to learn several languages behind bars, including English, Hebrew, Spanish and German.

During his time behind bars, Abu Kharabish has been transferred to several prisons, including Junaid, Ramle, Beersheba, Hadarim and Ashkelon prison, during which he has been subject to torture, mistreatment and poor conditions, all of which are committed against prisoners with the aim of forcing them to back down from their positions and coerce them away from participating politically in the Palestinian cause. Despite all of this, he is known for his cheerful personality and his laughter among his fellow Palestinian prisoners.

When he was seized by occupation forces, he was married and his daughter, Asma, was born only 40 days before his arrest. His family home was demolished the same year in an act of collective punishment against his family. While Mahmoud has remained behind bars, Asma finished her university studies, got married and had children. She is still waiting for the day that the sun of freedom will shine upon hr father, who she has been deprived of by the prisons and jailers for nearly 35 years.

In an interview, Asma said: “No matter how old I become, I still have that child inside me who was deprived of her father, who was forbiddent to share his life with his family…The occupation did not only deprive me of my father, but also of having a larger family. My father was seized when I was an infant no more than 40 days old. How I wished to have sisters and brothers to share in the love of our beautiful family…I am proud of my father. He is my hero, from whom I derive greater steadfastness, especially as he continues his steadfastness against the occupation authorities and their crimes. He has the right to freedom no matter how long he has spent behind occupation bars. As long as his will remains, his freedom is certain.”

Mahmoud Abu Kharabish was not only deprived of the embrace of his daughter Asma, but also of his connection to the palm trees of Jericho. For him, agriculture was much more than just a profession to mke his livelihood. He had a stor for every palm tree and every date he tasted. His name was among those of the veteran prisoners who were supposed to be released after the signing of the Oslo accords in 1993, but the occupation authorities violated their promises to release the remaining prisoners, and Mahmoud and his brothers remain imprisoned until the present day.

Asma recalled that “They killed our joy and happiness after we prepared to celebrate, and my grandmother ululated outside our home waiting to receive him. We had prepared our home to receive well-wishers and distribute sweets.”

During the long years behind bars, he has suffered from multiple diseases, which have worsened due to systematic medical neglect and denial of medical treatment. He suffers from heart disease and joint problems with the bones of his foot, which has led to great pain that makes it difficult for him to walk. The transfers to multiple prisons and to solitary confinement cells have further injured his health, with Abu Kharabish taking up hunger strikes to achieve his just demands.

His father passed away in 1993 while he remained behind bars, denied attendance at his funeral. He is repeatedly denied family visits due to “security” excuses. His mother, who is ill and has only one kidney, visited him only once after seven years of interruption. She was brought to the prison in an ambulance for the family visit.

Bashir Abdullah al-Khatib

Palestinian prisoner Bashir Abdullah al-Khatib, 62 years old, from Ramla in occupied Palestine ’48, has been jailed for 34 years in the occupation prisons.

He was seized on 1 January 1988, amid the rise of the great popular intifada throughout occupied Palestine, and charged with membership in a prohibited organization, possession of weapons and explosives, and participating in the armed Palestinian resistance. He was sentenced to life imprisonment; in 2012, the term of his sentence was set to 35 years. Like other Palestinian prisoners from occupied Palestine ’48, he is targeted by the new Zionist law that aims to render Palestinian prisoners stateless after their release.

He has been moved repeatedly between multiple prisons and subjected to various types of violations by the occupation prison administration. Like his fellow prisoners of occupied Palestine ’48, the occupation refused to include him in the prisoner exchanges, such as the Wafaa al-Ahrar exchange, claiming that his imprisonment is an “internal Israeli” matter.

During the long years of his captivity, Bashir lost all his teeth and could only eat with great difficulty.

When Al-Khatib was arrested, his five children were in their early years. They have grown up and married while he remains behind bars. He was only able to receive visits from his grandchildren after a lengthy legal battle; they had been denied on the pretext that they are not “relatives of the first degree.”

Poster of the prisoner Muhammad Adel Daoud (Abu Ghazi)

Poster of the prisoner Mahmoud Abu Kharabish

Poster of the prisoner Bashir Abdullah Al-Khatib

Announcing the launch of the International Campaign to Liberate the Remains of Palestinian Martyrs

Announcing the launch of the international campaign to liberate the remains of Palestinian martyrs held in the morgues and “cemeteries of numbers” of the Zionist occupation

Call to action, 11 March through 18 March 2023

“We will not abandon the last duty we owe our sons, to bury them with dignity”
– Azhar Abu Srour, the mother of the martyr Abd al-Hamid Abu Srour who has been imprisoned in the Morgues of the occupation since 2016

Click here to endorse and support the campaign

Join us to take action between 11 and 18 March to demand the release of the remains of Palestinian martyrs held in the Zionist occupation’s morgues and “numbers cemeteries.” This week of action aims to combat the Palestinian, Arab and international official silence and neglect of this critical issue and internationalize the struggle to free these imprisoned martyrs and end the collective punishment of Palestinian families and communities.

There are 256 Palestinian martyrs whose bodies are documented to be held in the “numbers cemeteries,” where Palestinians are buried with numbers, rather than their names, while another 131 Palestinian martyrs’ bodies are held in the occupation’s morgues.

These martyrs gave their lives in the Palestinian resistance movement, and their bodies remain imprisoned even after their death. A number of the martyrs were imprisoned before their death, and this battle remains an integral part of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement.

We announce the launch of an ongoing, open international campaign to release the remains of the Palestinian martyrs that continue to be detained by the Zionist occupation. 11 March through 18 March 2023 are days of action and struggle to recover the Palestinian martyrs’ remains. As 18 March also marks an International Prisoners’ Day, we also highlight that our martyrs in the morgues and the “numbers cemeteries” are also prisoners of the Zionist project. 

The occupation pursues a fascist policy in its treatment of the Palestinian and Arab martyrs. By refusing to give their families the opportunity to bury their loved ones, the occupation uses the remains of the martyrs as a mechanism for psychological torture of their families by detaining them for years and using them as a card for negotiation with the Palestinian resistance.

The Palestinian people have made clear that this barbaric policy will never “deter” Palestinian youth from taking part in the resistance. These martyrs remain prisoners of the occupation even after death, and their families and the Palestinian people as a whole have every right to liberate, honour and bury them in ceremonies worthy of the sacrifices they made for the cause of Palestine, for return and liberation.

The Morgues

After occupation forces kidnapped the bodies of Palestinian fighters or killed Palestinians on the streets and in the fields, or after the death of a prisoner due to medical negligence or torture, the occupation transfers the martyr’s body to a morgue until a decision is made on the fate of their remains, which may take years.

The occupation uses this type of detention as a mechanism for the collective punishment of Palestinian families, to put pressure on them and make their daily lives even more painful. This policy of the detention of the remains of the martyrs is combined with home demolitions, targeting relatives of the martyrs for arrest and persecution, forcing these families from their homes and residences, and tightening the level of security control and surveillance of the families.

The occupation also uses the martyrs’ bodies as hostages and as a negotiating card for potential prisoner exchange agreements with the Palestinian resistance forces, an official policy upheld by the Israeli Supreme Court on 9 September 2019.

The occupation authorities also adopt a policy of refraining from issuing death certificates to the martyrs, which hinders the lives of their families and prevents them from taking any legal action regarding the martyr. In many cases, the occupation refrains from any announcement after clashing with the fighters, kidnapping them or kidnapping their bodies, so some parents still have hope for the return of their children or at least their survival, especially those who did not have any photos or videos proving the martyrdom of their son or daughter.

The policy of withholding the remains of the martyrs has a lengthy history throughout the occupation, and especially after 1967. While the policy was temporarily suspended in 2008, many martyrs from before this era continue to be held in the “numbers cemeteries.” Since 2015, the Zionist entity has returned to holding the remains of Palestinian martyrs in morgues as part of a systematic policy of collective punishment. Palestinian families of the martyrs question how their loved ones’ bodies are being treated, especially given the documented evidence that through the 1990s, Palestinian martyrs’ organs were harvested or used for studies at the Israeli National Center of Forensic Medicine.

From 2015 to the present day, there are approximately 120 martyrs’ remains improperly detained by the occupation in its morgues. Sometimes more than one body is placed inside the same chamber, and they are kept at a very low temperature that freezes the body and may also deform it or cause harm to it.

After detaining the body of the martyr for several years, the Zionist courts may decide to transfer the remains to the so-called “numbers cemeteries” without notifying their families or lawyers. This is a particularly devastating nightmare for the families because it will increase the difficulty of retrieving their loved ones’ remains.

Numbers Cemeteries

The term “numbers cemeteries” is applied to secret burials surrounded by stones, without tombstones, where a metal plate bearing a specific number is installed on the top of the grave. These are called “numbers cemeteries” because they use numbers rather than the names of the martyrs, and each number has a special file with information and data on the martyr kept by Israeli institutions.

The occupation authorities pursue a policy of deliberate negligence in regard to the remains of the martyrs. They do not keep or provide adequate information about the remains and at times claim that they do not have the information at all! At other times, they do not record where the martyr’s body was buried. No DNA samples are kept to identify the martyrs. These come in addition to other policies aimed at intentionally harming the martyr’s family and the Palestinian people as a whole.

The numbers cemeteries are under the auspices of the Israeli Ministry of War – this means that they are “closed military zones” that are prohibited from being approached or photographed. The occupation calls these “cemeteries of the fallen enemy,” and the families of the martyrs, the media and representatives of international human rights or humanitarian organizations are forbidden to visit them.

The numbers cemeteries are distributed over four locations, in addition to the martyrs bodies held in morgues at hospitals, military camps and prisons under the occupation army. The bodies held by the occupation include hundreds of Palestinians and Arabs martyred at various historical stages of the national liberation struggle in addition to prisoners killed under torture or who died due to medical neglect and negligence.

According to human rights institutions, the policy of holding the bodies of Palestinian martyrs in the “numbers cemeteries” has been used since the occupation of Palestine in 1948 and has been significantly escalated since the development of the Palestinian armed revolution after 4 June 1967. There is no outside monitoring to allow these institutions to confirm the complete number and location of the “numbers cemeteries” or verify the number and identity of the Palestinians buried there. In fact, some of the remains may have been lost due to soil erosion and weather, according to Zionist media reports.

The occupation is key to highlight its own barbaric practices in dealing with the remains of the martyrs, as these practices are meant as methods of “deterrence,” collective punishment and state terror against the Palestinian people as a whole. In various cases, bodies have been buried in sand or mud in a plastic bag without cement or other insulation. At times, multiple martyrs have been buried in a single grave. After a series of legal battles, the occupation released dozens of bodies in 2012 and refused to release the rest, which remain in the “numbers cemeteries” to this day.

We reject the role and approach of the Palestinian Authority to the remains of the martyrs; the Authority continues to participate in “security coordination” which has led to the detention and martyrdom of Palestinian resisters, while it has largely abandoned the issue of retrieving the martyrs’ remains.

It is critical that we take action on an international level to popularize this campaign. We call on resistance organizations, Palestinian and Arab networks, solidarity groups supporting the prisoners’ struggle and boycott campaigns around the world to join us in this international campaign to recover and release the remains of Palestinian martyrs. This campaign aims to expand the support and solidarity for Palestinian prisoners and martyrs everywhere around the world, for their liberation and the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea.  

Click here to endorse and support the campaign

Hold an event: You can organize stands and demonstrations, prepare seminars, distribute leaflets and hang posters, and send your activities to samidoun@samidoun.net or to our Facebook, Twitter or Instagram pages.

These crimes must be exposed. It is time to defrost and warm the hearts of the mothers and fathers of the martyrs. End imprisonment and apartheid in death!

With loyalty to our prisoners and martyrs,

The International Campaign to Liberate the Remains of Palestinian Martyrs in the Morgues and “Numbers Cemeteries” of the Zionist Occupation

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Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
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