Palestine Tour in Toulouse, France, commemorates 75 years of Nakba and resistance!

19 May 2023

On Saturday, 13 May, crowds of people gathered in Toulouse, France at the Jeanne d’Arc metro station for a Palestine Tour organized by the Collectif Palestine Vaincra, a member organization of the Samidoun Network. The Tour commemorated the 75th anniversary of the Nakba and affirmed our support for the Palestinian resistance as the Israeli occupation army continued to bombard Gaza.

During one speech at the Tour, an activist noted: “every year, on 15 May, we commemorate the Nakba – the 1948 catastrophe when 800,000 Palestinians were ethnically cleansed and more than 500 villages were destroyed or depopulated by Zionist terrorist militias to make way for their settler colonial project, ‘Israel.'” Speakers emphasized that the resistance has remained continuous for 75 years, continuing today for return and for the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea. The activist concluded his speech by holding up a key, a symbol of this right of return for millions of Palestinian refugees.

The Tour set off through the streets of Toulouse’s city center, displaying maps of Palestine and Palestinian flags alongside many signs and banners demanding the end of the blockade of Gaza, supporting the Palestinian resistance or calling for a boycott of Israel.

Arriving in front of the Primark store, participants expressed their solidarity with Gaza as an activist spoke, stressing that “as we speak, the Zionist occupation is continuing a new military offensive against the Gaza Strip, which has been under blockade for over 15 years. Faced with this attack, the Palestinian people have responded in a unified and collective manner to the aggression with their legitimate right to resistance!” Finally, she concluded her speech by paying tribute to the 33 martyrs who were murdered during the 5 days of this attack.

The Palestine Tour continued to the Capitole metro station where the street was packed with people on a busy Saturday afternoon. One activist reaffirmed “that today supporting the Palestinian people and their resistance also means supporting the release of the 4,900 Palestinian prisoners who are on the front line in the fight against the occupation.”

The speaker paid homage to the martyr Khader Adnan, emphasizing that his family is fighting today to recover his body which the occupation still holds, like that of hundreds of other Palestinians. In addition, he denounced the policy of medical negligence which affects many prisoners including Israa Jaabis, Ahmad Manasra or Walid Daqqah. During his speech, the activist also condemned the recent transfer to solitary confinement of Ahmad Sa’adat, Ahed Abu Ghoulmeh and Walid Hanatsheh and called for intensifying the campaign for the release of Georges Abdallah. Finally, the speaker called upon all to participate widely in the event on 16 May in order to hear the words of the lawyer and former Palestinian prisoner Salah Hamouri.

The Palestine Tour extended further to rue Saint Rome where participants continued to chant slogans in solidarity with Gaza and against France’s criminal complicity with the Israeli occupation. Stopping in front of the Foot Locker store, an activist from the collective promoted the international campaign to boycott Israel reaffirming “that today the Palestinian people call on the whole world to boycott Israeli and international companies that are accomplices of this criminal state. This is the case, for example, of HP, fruit and vegetable brand Jaffa Orri, Sodastream or even the Carrefour group.

In particular, she called for stepping up the boycott of PUMA which is sold in this store. PUMA, the German sports apparel manufacturer, is a sponsor of the Israeli Football Association, including several teams in West Bank settlements. PUMA concretely supports the oppression of the Palestinian people despite years of demands to end this shameful complicity. Marchers distributed various stickers and leaflets to people passing by and received widespread and vocal support.

The Palestine Tour ended at the Esquirol metro where marchers gathered in front of the German Consulate to denounce the recent ban on demonstrations commemorating the Nakba in Berlin. On this occasion, a Palestinian activist read in Arabic a message from Samidoun Deutschland stating that “today you are our voice! And you are a natural expression of the popular position of every Palestinian! If they oppress us in one city, we will take to the streets of ten other cities and express what the Palestinian people demand everywhere: from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!”

Thank you to all the people and organizations (like Révolution Permanente and the Parti Ouvrier Indépendant) who participated as well as those who showed their support! The Collectif Palestine Vaincra regularly organizes actions and various initiatives to support the Palestinian people in Toulouse. Do not hesitate to contact the Collectif if you wish to participate and to follow CPV on its various social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and Telegram).

19 and 21 May, San Diego: Free the Holy Land Five! Documentary screenings and events

19 May 2023

Friday, May 19 at 6:00 PM
Guest speakers: Nida Abu Baker and Miko Peled

UC San Diego
North Torrey Pines Living and Learning Neighborhood
Arts and Humanities Building
De Certeau Room – 3rd Floor
San Diego, CA

https://forms.gle/5uVhRx2WUUkjnnZN7

Sunday Event: Free the Holy Land Five

Documentary Screening

Sunday, May 21, 6:30 PM
Guest speakers: Nida Abu Baker, Tasnim El-Mezain and Mohammed El-Mezain

Majdal Center
327 E. Main St.
El Cajon, CA

https://bit.ly/HLF5doc

Events organized by the Coalition for Civil Freedoms, Palestinian Youth Movement, Majdal Center, American Muslims for Palestine, SJP SDSU, SJP UCSD

27 May, Brussels: Resistance Festival – Palestinian cultural and political festival

19 May 2023

On Saturday, 27 May, in Brussels, Belgium, Samidoun Brussels is organizing the Resistance Festival from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m at Place de Bethléem. The program includes concerts (Lowkey, Achille and Osloob & Issa Mourad), a dabke show by Raj’een Dabkeh Troupe, exhibitions, political and cultural stands and games for children. Many organizations support this initiative and will be present.

Every year on May 15, we commemorate the Nakba – the 1948 catastrophe when an estimated 800,000 Palestinians were ethnically cleansed and over 600 villages were destroyed or depopulated by terrorist Zionist militias to make way for the settler colonial project of “Israel”. 75 years later, the resistance of the Palestinian people in Palestine, in exile and in the diaspora continues until the return of all the refugees and the liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea.

The Resistance festival aims to celebrate Palestinian resistance in all its forms and to emphasize that resistance with Palestine, an anti-racist and anti-colonialist cause, is more alive than ever in Brussels!

Join us for this cultural, festive and political event on May 27, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Place Bethléem in Brussels (near the Gare du Midi) !

22 May, Toronto: Annual Walk Against “Israel” – Confronting Zionist Racism

18 May 2023

TORONTO: The annual walk of shame is happening again!

On Victoria Day, 22 May, zionists will be celebrating 75 years of occupation in North York!

Will we remain silent? Absolutely not!

On Monday, 22 May, We will show up to disturb their event and make sure they regret celebrating the ethnic cleansing and genocide of Palestinians.

We are keeping the exact location and time confidential. Contact Toronto 4 Palestine for time and location, see you all ON MONDAY MAY 22nd!

18 May, Webinar: The Just Cause of National Liberation

17 May 2023

“The Just Cause for National Liberation” brings together speakers from current revolutionary struggles in Kurdistan, Palestine and the Philippines. Samidoun will be participating in this event!

From the basic principles of national liberation struggles in these countries to their position in relation to the terrorist-tagging and -designation of revolutionary movements, this webinar offers a people-centred perspective in understanding organized resistance against the violent attacks of United States imperialism and its puppet states in semi-colonies, occupied territories and self-governing regions.

Register in advance for this webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_hvto6h7PTVCUy9ESNpdSlA#/registration

18 May, Ottawa: Stop CANSEC! Public Forum against weapons profiteering

17 May 2023

OTTAWA: This May 18th at 7pm there will be a public anti-militarization forum and an educational event at the Happy Goat (35 Laurel St)!

This will be a session on what the upcoming CANSEC event is, the impacts of Canadian arms trade on the working class around the world, and how we can organize against it. In addition to Samidoun, we will have speakers from our allied organizations! Mark the day down in your calendars!

Munther Khalaf Mufleh transferred to interrogation after isolation of fellow imprisoned leaders

16 May 2023

On Tuesday, 16 May, Israeli prison administration transferred Palestinian prisoner Munther Khalaf Mufleh to interrogation, one week after they invaded Ramon prison and transferred Ahmad Sa’adat, Ahed Abu Ghoulmeh and Walid Hanatsheh to interrogation. The three leaders are still being held isolated in interrogation at this moment.

This comes one day after the Palestinian prisoners’ movement engaged in a one-day hunger strike to demand freedom for Walid Daqqah, the imprisoned Palestinian freedom fighter and intellectual diagnosed with a rare cancer, myelofibrosis, and in a very dangerous health condition without access to proper treatment and care. They also demanded an end to the isolation of Sa’adat, the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine; Abu Ghoulmeh, a fellow PFLP leader; and Hanatsheh, also a PFLP leader and a member of the Higher Emergency Committee of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Movement.

Mufleh is the director of the Handala Center for Prisoners and Former Prisoners, a member of the Central Committee of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and a spokesperson for the PFLP prison branch. He is a Palestinian writer and journalist, and was issued a membership by the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate while imprisoned in recognition of his work.

Born in Kuwait in 1976, Mufleh is from Beit Dajan, Nablus, occupied Palestine. He was arrested by Zionist occupation for the first time in 1994, several weeks before his final high school exams, which he then passed after his release. He received a journalism degree from An-Najah University in 2001, and as he continued his work in the Palestinian resistance, was seized in 2003 amid the Al-Aqsa Intifada and sentenced to 33 years in occupation prisons. He earned a masters’ degree from Al-Quds University in Abu Dis in 2018 while imprisoned in the occupation jails, and in 2020, published a novel, “The Bead.”

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network condemns in the strongest terms the attacks on Mufleh, Sa’adat, Abu Ghoulmeh, Hanatsheh and all Palestinian prisoners.

The use of isolation, interrogation of long-term prisoners and attacks on leaders is an ongoing tactic of the occupier used to disrupt the prisoners’ movement and undermine communication between the prisoners and the outside world. We urge all friends and supporters of Palestine to organize, protest and speak out against the isolation of these imprisoned leaders and all nearly 5,000 Palestinian political prisoners locked inside the Zionist jails.

In addition, please share the following articles online by Munther Khalaf Mufleh and make clear that the occupation regime will not be able to isolate the voices of resistance leaders and imprisoned strugglers:

Video: Resisting the Silencing of Palestinian Voices in Germany

16 May 2023

In this new video, Samidoun Deutschland provides a visual overview of the ongoing work for Palestine in Germany, from postering in the streets, to banner actions, to mass demonstrations — and the attacks by police, particularly in Berlin, also home to likely the largest Palestinian community in Europe.

This video comes following the Berlin police’s banning of Palestinian Prisoners’ Day demonstrations after a Zionist smear campaign, and now the banning of two demonstrations to commemorate al-Nakba on 13 and 14 May.

More than 160 organizations, unions, and political parties around the world joined the call issued by Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, as part of the “Revolutionary Solidarity Coalition”, against the extreme anti-Palestinian repression taking place in Germany.

To add your organization’s signature to the campaign, please click here.

Accompanying this international campaign, we formed a team of lawyers that will be undertaking the legal battle against the demonstration bans and the court cases for those who are targeted by the state for their struggle for a liberated Palestine. Support us and donate to:

Name: Rote Hilfe e.V.
IBAN: DE55 4306 0967 4007 2383 17
BIC: GENODEM1GLS
Note: Palaestina gegen Repression

Outrageous assault on Palestinian speech at Hunter College – CUNY: Take action today

15 May 2023

On 15 May — the commemoration of 75 years of ongoing Nakba — CUNY administration at Hunter College announced that they were censoring an event by the Palestine Solidarity Alliance, for the outrageous reason that Nerdeen Kiswani, CUNY alumna, chair of Within Our Lifetime – United For Palestine, and 2022 CUNY Law School graduation speaker, would appear on the program and was “banned from speaking at Hunter.”

Please take action by sending an email to the administration, using the action alerts below created by CUNY 4 Palestine:

CLICK HERE FOR A SAMPLE EMAIL FROM CUNY FOR PALESTINE

CLICK HERE ON MOBILE

In the United States, it is illegal — in violation of the U.S. Constitution — for public universities like CUNY to censor events or speakers based on their political position or viewpoint. To target a Palestinian organizer on 15 May, the day of commemoration of Nakba and the Day of Palestinian Struggle, further raises this action to a clear example of discrimination, following on multiple repressive actions by CUNY administration. It is also important to note that this comes after students and faculty at multiple CUNY Campuses have voted in support of boycott, divestment and sanctions resolutions and solidarity motions for Palestine despite repeated attempts to suppress this solidarity. For the second year in a row, students at CUNY elected a Palestinian speaker in 2023 as the student commencement speaker, with the graduation ceremony just days ago.

Palestine Legal issued a statement on the matter here.

This attack on Nerdeen Kiswani and the Palestinian Solidarity Alliance at Hunter College is part and parcel of the ongoing Nakba, alongside the ban on Nakba commemoration demonstrations in Berlin, targeting Palestinians in exile and diaspora with silencing and repression for calling for return and liberation for Palestine. Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network expresses our full solidarity with Nerdeen Kiswani, the students of Hunter College and the CUNY 4 Palestine organizers as they fight repression, build community power and continue to put forward a clear perspective for the liberation of Palestine.

Berlin bans Nakba demonstrations once again in 2023

12 May 2023

The German state intensifies its attack and bans demonstrations on Nakba Day 2023

A statement from the Revolutionary Solidarity Coalition

The German state authorities are escalating their attack on all Palestinians, Arabs and supporters of the Palestinian cause in Germany, with the Berlin police’s banning of this year’s demonstration in Berlin to mark the 75th anniversary of the Nakba, scheduled for Sunday, 14 May 2023. This repressive attack is taking place as Israeli fighter jets bomb the besieged Gaza Strip, killing 33 Palestinians to date, including 6 children and 3 women. More than 100 people have been injured in the aerial bombing and hundreds of people were denied emergency medical care due to siege and enforced border closures. The number of martyrs in Palestine has risen to 147 since the beginning of the year.

Around 80,000 Palestinians live in Berlin. Despite having lived in Germany for many years, many of them do not have a secure residence status and are often precariously employed and exposed to discrimination and harassment by the state. The German state also criminalizes protest against the ongoing war crimes in their homeland and their involvement in the struggle for their liberation and return. This attack is not only aimed at them, but also at the millions of people who demonstrated across Germany in 2021 during the “Saif Al-Quds”/Unity uprising in Palestine in 2021.

Such domestic political decisions by the German state are inseparable from its ongoing diplomatic, economic and military support for Israel at the international level. With its support of the Zionist colony in Palestine, Germany is not a spectator but a complicit participant in the ongoing Nakba and genocidal war against Palestinians.

The Revolutionary Solidarity Coalition was formed last year around the same time that the 2022 Nakba demonstrations were banned. A spokesperson for the alliance notes that demonstration bans are part of “a long chain of repression by the German state, which serve as an instrument for crushing progressive and revolutionary forces.”

The justifications for the ban build on the racist practices of the state. Anti-Palestinian racism is instrumentalized by describing the Palestinian diaspora and participants in the demonstration as “highly emotionalized men” and thus wanting to dictate to the Palestinians, in full colonial tradition, a dehumanized, emotionally-cold attitude towards the occupation, their exile and the attempts at annihilation to which they are exposed.

Four days before our demonstration planned for May 14, 2023, the Berlin police had already attempted to intimidate us. We were threatened that all Arabic speeches, songs and chants would be recorded for later use in law enforcement.

This ban is an attack on us all! The right to freedom of expression and association is a fundamental human right and as such must not be arbitrarily curtailed.

As a Coalition, we therefore call on everyone to show solidarity and break the ongoing silence on the criminalization of Palestinian, revolutionary and anti-imperialist struggles!

Support our team of lawyers who will take on the legal fight against the ban on demonstrations and the court cases for those who are being prosecuted by the state for their struggle for a liberated Palestine.

Support the fight for Palestine and donate to:

Name: Rote Hilfe e.V.
IBAN: DE55 4306 0967 4007 2383 17
BIC: GENODEM1GLS
Note: Palaestina gegen Repression

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