On 6 August, after a long negotiations process between Palestinian prisoners representing the political factions and the Israeli Prison Service, Palestinian prisoners from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the leftist Palestinian political party, have postponed their start date for an open hunger strike until Wednesday, 12 August. The Israeli Prison Service reportedly conceded to numerous demands of the prisoners, including an end to the violent raids, family visits for PFLP general secretary Ahmad Sa’adat – who has been prohibited from them for two years – and other prisoners, a return of transferred prisoners to their sections in Nafha and an end to arbitrary transfers, and the improvement of various living conditions.
Given the history of the IPS in conceding to prisoners’ demands and then immediately violating their agreements, the prisoners are giving the IPS until Wednesday to implement its commitments. If these commitments are not implemented, the open hunger strike will launch as scheduled until the implementation of the prisoners’ demands. The statement from the PFLP prison branch follows:
Following a lengthy meeting with the Israeli prison administration in Nafha, attended by representatives of all Palestinian factions in the prison, the prison branch of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in occupation prisons has decided to postpone its open hunger strike, which was scheduled to begin next Sunday, 9 August, until Wednesday, 12 August, following the commitments of the prison administration to respond to the prisoners’ demands.
The prison administration has promised to allow the leader Ahmad Sa’adat to receive his family visits and to lift the ban on family visits, to stop the general policy of transfers of prisoners, to return the Fateh prisoners to section 10 after they were transferred and removed to other areas, and to make various improvements in prison conditions, including stopping the ongoing nighttime violent raids and inspections.
The PFLP prison branch said that the outcome of the meeting with the IPS management and this response to the demands of the prisoners remains pending; the meaning of these promises will be in their implementation, as long experience has confirmed that the prison administration reneges on its promises to the prisoners. Therefore, the step of postponement of the strike until Wednesday comes in anticipation of the implementation of these demands by the prison administration. If these commitments are disavowed or delayed, the Front’s prisoners will launch an open hunger strike on Wednesday.
The Front’s prison branch emphasizes that the decision to wage a hunger strike is a strategic and difficult decision, and is a last resort undertaken by the national prisoners’ movement after it has exhausted all options, so that if it is possible to obtain our demands through our negotiations and avoid the battle of hunger strike we will do so, but if there is no implementation or a delay in implementation, the prisoners will enter the battle of open hunger strike and will cease only with the implementation of their just demands by the prison administration.
International action and support continues to be urgent to achieve the prisoners’ demands. It is mid-August, and prisoners will be risking their health amid intense heat in an open hunger strike.
2. Send a solidarity statement. The support of people around the world helps to inform people about the struggle of Palestinian prisoners. It is a morale booster and helps to build political solidarity. Please send your solidarity statements to samidoun@samidoun.net. They will be published and sent directly to the prisoners.
3. Hold a solidarity one-day hunger strike in your area. Gather in a tent or central area, bring materials about Palestinian prisoners and hold a one-day solidarity strike to raise awareness and provide support for the struggle of the prisoners and the Palestinian cause. Please email us at samidoun@samidoun.net to inform us of your action – we will publicize and share news with the prisoners.
4. Protest at the Israeli consulate or embassy in your area. Bring posters and flyers about administrative detention and Palestinian hunger strikers and hold a protest, or join a protest with this important information. Hold a community event or discussion, or include this issue in your next event about Palestine and social justice. Please email us at samidoun@samidoun.net to inform us of your action – we will publicize and share news with the prisoners.
On 6 August, prisoners affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine announced that on Sunday, 9 August, they would launch an open hunger strike in all Israeli prisons, led by Sa’adat and demanding an end to the denial of family visits, medical care for sick prisoners, improved living conditions in prisons, the end of administrative detention, and a ban on the storming of prisoners’ cells by Israeli special forces, including the Metsada unit that attacked the prisoners in Nafha. Take action to support the prisoners’ demands and their strike!
The branch of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in Israeli jails, led by the General Secretary Comrade Ahmad Sa’adat, has decided to launch an open hunger strike beginning Sunday, 9 August 2015, due to the continued onslaught of frenzied attacks against Palestinian prisoners by the Prison Administration, and its refusal to accept the just demands of the prisoners.
In this press release, the prison branch of the Front declares that the prisoners of the Front have called for a state of high alert in all prisons to prepare for taking this step, emphasizing that there is no choice but that of confrontatin and steadfastness to confront the policies and practices of the occupation, and that they are determined to continue and struggle through the strike until their demands are met, including:
* allowing family visits for prisoners who have been, until now, prohibited from such visits with their loved ones, including Comrade Ahmad Sa’adat;
* providing necessary and adequate medical care to sick prisoners;
* ending the policy of administrative detentions
* improving the living conditions inside the prisons
* prohibiting invasions and raids by special units of the Zionist forces, including the Metsada unit, on the sections and cells of the prisoners.
The prison branch of the Front also stresses that this step is being taken to defend the rights of our people in the framework of the prisoners’ national movement, and is a challenge by the prisoners to the policies and laws of the occupation, in particular the new law authorizing force-feeding of prisoners on hunger strike, and to the ongoing violations against the prisoners, and also to the recent statements by some Zionist leaders and officials about the issue of Palestinian prisoners.
The PFLP’s prison branch urges the masses of the Palestinian people to engage in the broadest campaign of support and solidarity for the prisoners; this strike is one stage in our ongoing confrontation and struggle with the occupation.
With this statement, hundreds of Palestinian political prisoners are making clear their intention to launch a mass hunger strike on 9 August; Palestinian prisoners from other factions are also expected to escalate their steps of protest as well, up to and including open hunger strikes. Palestinian prisoners from Hamas were suddenly transferred from Nafha to Gilboa prison in the north on Tuesday, sparking a call for disobedience in the prisons from prisoners affiliated with Hamas.
The current hunger strike in Nafha and the strike that will begin on Sunday requires support and solidarity also from people and movements around the world. Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network fully and unconditionally supports the prisoners in their demands and urges actions around the world by friends of Palestine and Palestinian communities to support these prisoners.
2. Send a solidarity statement. The support of people around the world helps to inform people about the struggle of Palestinian prisoners. It is a morale booster and helps to build political solidarity. Please send your solidarity statements to samidoun@samidoun.net. They will be published and sent directly to the prisoners.
3. Hold a solidarity one-day hunger strike in your area. Gather in a tent or central area, bring materials about Palestinian prisoners and hold a one-day solidarity strike to raise awareness and provide support for the struggle of the prisoners and the Palestinian cause. Please email us at samidoun@samidoun.net to inform us of your action – we will publicize and share news with the prisoners.
4. Protest at the Israeli consulate or embassy in your area. Bring posters and flyers about administrative detention and Palestinian hunger strikers and hold a protest, or join a protest with this important information. Hold a community event or discussion, or include this issue in your next event about Palestine and social justice. Please email us at samidoun@samidoun.net to inform us of your action – we will publicize and share news with the prisoners.
The following call to action to the global movement for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions was issued by the National and Islamic Forces – the alliance of Palestinian factions – comprising the National Palestinian Prisoners’ Movement. In the call to action, Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails urge the growth and development of the BDS movement and in particular the campaign against G4S, the global private security corporation with contracts to provide security systems to Israeli jails and detention centers that imprison nearly 6,000 Palestinians.
Letter from Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention centers to the global boycott movement
We send you this letter with appreciation for the leading role of the boycott movement, which is based on a comprehensive moral and human position that rejects injustice and oppression; confronts racism and policies of discrimination based on race, religion or sex; upholds freedom, human dignity and values of justice; and seeks to counter support and complicity with the Israeli government by international forces.
In this context, the international campaign that you lead is demonstrating its effectiveness and growth, escalating pressure on the Israeli state and its institutions, and has become the main conduit of the voice of the oppressed in Palestine. We send this letter in order to put forward several ideas and proposals, highlighting the inclusion of the issue of the prisoners on the agenda of the boycott movement, and hope to enrich and develop our dialogue.
Our proposals are summarized in the following points:
First, the security corporations that serve the occupation government bear direct responsibility for the crimes committed against the Palestinian people. The boycott and prosecution of these corporations is a means of protection and defense of the Palestinian people under occupation, who face massacres and one aggression after another. In particular, we emphasize the importance of boycotting the security corporation, G4S, which supports the occupation and has established the closest relationship with it, as well as other companies providing similar services in this arena.
Second, we urge the inclusion of our cause, as prisoners of freedom and fighters for the freedom of our people, human dignity, and the right to a dignified life, within the program of the boycott movement as a major issue of paramount importance. In particular, we are prevented from education by the occupation state; education is today considered a basic right of every human being, and we are prevented permanently from the exercise of this right. More than a thousand prisoners are suffering from chronic diseases; their lives are in danger and they do not receive necessary medical treatment. Their care is not subject to any accountability, oversight or follow-up and operates according to the priorities of the Israel Prison Service management. This comes in addition to the use of isolation, the ongoing arrests of hundreds of Palestinians monthly, the arrest of democratically-elected representatives, women and children. Our children and families are exposed to a daily torture through the prevention of family visits, the imposition of impossible conditions and other abuses.
Third, we call on you in the boycott movement to raise the names of the intelligence officers of the occupation and the directors of prison management, to be accused and prosecuted before international courts for arrest and trial for the crimes they have committed, up to the crime of murder, against the rights of prisoners. This is also a project for legal and human rights organizations and there are many issues and violations against the prisoners that can be invoked.
Fourth, we call for the launch and expansion of an international campaign with wide support and participation to demand the freedom of prisoners, beginning with the sick prisoners, administrative detainees, women, and child prisoners, and to end the use of torture in prisons and detention centers.
Finally, we salute you as we see you as the voice of conscience that confronts the killing machine, injustice and oppression.
رسالة موجهة إلى حركة المقاطعة الدولية من الأسرى في سجون والمعتقلات الإسرائيلية
نتوجه لكم بهذه الرسالة لتثمين الدور الريادي الفاعل الذي تؤدونه والمستند والمؤسس على موقف أخلاقي إنساني شامل رافض للظلم والاضطهاد مواجه لسياسات التمييز العنصري القائمة على أساس العرق أو الدين أو الجنس، ويعلو من قيم الحرية والإرادة الإنسانية، ويسعى لمواجهة القوى الدولية الداعمة والمساندة لحكومة الاحتلال.
وبهذا الإطار فإن الحملة الدولية التي تقودونها والتي تثبت فعالية وانتشار يوماً بعد الاخر باتت تشّكل حالة ضغط على حكومة الاحتلال ومؤسساته، وباتت الحامل الرئيسي لصوت المضطهدين على أرض فلسطين، ونتوجه بهذه الرسالة أيضاً بهدف طرح عدة أفكار ومقترحات عنوانها الرئيسي إدراج قضية الأسرى على جدول أعمال الحركة المقاطعة، آملين أن تجد لها مكان لديكم، بحوارها واغنائها وتطويرها.
ويمكن أن نلخص تلك الأفكار بالنقاط التالية:
أولاً: إن الشركات الأمنية الداعمة لحكومة الاحتلال تتحمل مسئولية مباشرة عن الجرائم المرتكبة بحقنا كشعب فلسطيني، وإن مقاطعة وملاحقة هذه الشركات تعني فيما تعنيه الحماية والدفاع عن شعبنا الفلسطيني الرازح تحت نير الاحتلال من مذبحة لأخرى وعدوان لآخر، ونخص هنا بالذكر شركة ( G4S) الأمنية والتي تدعم الاحتلال وتقيم أوثق علاقة معه حتى الآن، وشركات أخرى تعمل في ذات المجال.
ثانياً: إن إدراج قضيتنا كأسرى حرية مناضلين من أجل حرية شعبنا، وكرامته الإنسانية، وحقه في الحياة الكريمة ضمن برنامج حركة المقاطعة كعنوان رئيسي يحمل أهمية قصوى، وبالأخص أن ما نلاقيه من حكومة الاحتلال من منعنا من التعليم، والذي يعتبر اليوم حق إنساني أساسي لكل إنسان، حيث نمنع نهائياً من ممارسة هذا الحق، ويعاني كذلك أكثر من ألف أسير من أمراض مزمنة وحياتهم مهددة بالخطر، ولا يتلقون العلاج الطبي اللازم من قبل جهاز طبي لا يخضع لأي محاسبة أو مسائلة أو متابعة، ويعمل وفق أولويات إدارة مصلحة السجون، إضافة إلى الاعتقال الداخلي واتساع نطاقه ليشمل المئات من أبناء شعبنا الفلسطيني، واعتقال النواب المنتخبين بشكل ديمقراطي، والنساء والأطفال، وما نتعرض له من تعذيب يومي نحن وأبناء عائلاتنا من خلال منع الزيارات وتقييدهم بشروط تعجيزية وغيره من الانتهاكات.
ثالثاً: إننا ندعوكم في حركة المقاطعة إلى إدراج أسماء ضباط مخابرات الاحتلال وإدارة السجون والمتهمين بارتكاب جرائم بحقنا كأسرى على قوائم الملاحقة الدولية لمحاكمتهم وملاحقتهم قانونياً على الجرائم التي اقترفوها، وهناك العديد من جرائم القتل العمد التي تمت بحق أسرى، والتي لم يتم التوقف أمامها أو ملاحقة المسئولين المباشرين عنها، ولدى المؤسسات القانونية والإنسانية الكثير من القضايا والتي يمكن الاستناد إليها.
رابعاً: ندعو إلى إطلاق حملة دولية بمشاركة واسعة لدعم مطلب حرية الاسرى ولتكن متدرجة وتبدأ بالأسرى المرضى والإداريين والنساء والأطفال وإيقاف التعذيب داخل السجون.
ختاماً، إننا إذ نحييكم فإننا نعتبركم صوت الضمير الإنساني الحي في مواجهة آلة القتل والظلم والاضطهاد.
İsrail hapishane ve gözaltı merkezlerindeki tutsaklardan Uluslararası Boykot Hareketi’ne bir mektup
İşgal hükümetine destek sunan uluslararası güçlerin karşısında, insan iradesini ve özgürlük değerlerini yükselten, cinsiyet, din veya ırk ayrımcılığı üzerinde inşa edilmiş politikaların karşısında insani ahlaka, ve zulümle sömürüye mutlak bir reddedişe yaslanan, etkin ve üstün rolünüzü kutlamak için bu mektubu sizlere iletiyoruz.
Bu bağlamda yürüttüğünüz bu uluslararası kampanya, gün geçtikçe etkinliğini ve yayılma kabiliyetini ispatladı. İşgal hükümeti ve tüm kurumlarına yönelik önemli bir basınç oluşturdu ve Filistin toprağında baskı altında olanların temel seslerinden biri haline geldi.
Bu mektup, aynı zamanda, sizlere tutsaklar meselesini Boykot Hareketi gündemine taşımakla ilgili bazı önerilerde bulunma ve fikir verme amacıyla kaleme alındı. Sizlerde bir karşılık bulması ve tartışmalarınızla zenginleşmesi ve geliştirilmesi umuduyla…
Düşüncelerimizi aşağıdaki noktalarda özetlemek mümkün:
Birinci olarak: İşgal hükümetine destek veren güvenlik şirketleri Filistin halkımıza karşı işlenen suçlarda birincil dereceden sorumluluk sahibidir. Bu tür firmaların boykotu, işgal altında olan ve günden güne yeni katliamlara maruz kalan Filistin halkını korumak ve savunmak anlamına geliyor. Bu sektörde, işgale katkı sunan diğer şirketlerin yanında, özel olarak G4S güvenlik şirketini kast ediyoruz.
İkinci olarak: Halkımızın özgürlüğü, insani onuru ve onurlu bir yaşam sürdürme hakkı için mücadele yolunda tutsak düşmüş Filistinli tutsaklar meselesinin Boykot Hareketinin ana başlıklarından biri olarak ele alınması. Özellikle, artık temel bir insani hak sayılan eğitimden mahrum bırakılmamız, binden fazla kronik hastalığı bulunan ve hayati tehdit altında olan hasta tutsakların gerekli tedavileri görmemeleri ve buradaki sağlık aygıtının bu konuda herhangi bir sorumluluk üstlenmemesi, demokratik seçimlerde seçilmiş milletvekillerinin tutuklanması, kadın ve çocukların tutuklanması, bizlere ve ailelerimize, ziyaretten mahrum bırakılma gibi toplu işkence politikalarının uygulanması bu gündemin esasını oluşturur.
Üçüncü olarak: Boykot Hareketini yürüten sizleri, istihbarat teşkilatlarındaki ve hapishane idaresindeki şeflerin, bizlere karşı işledikleri suçlardan dolayı yargılanmaları için uluslararası mahkemelere başvurulması ve yakalanmaları için isimlerinin uluslararası takip listelerine alınması için mücadele vermeye çağırıyoruz. Hukuk ve insan hakları kuruluşlarında kayıtları bulunan, başta kimi tutsakların kasten öldürmesine ilişkin ve takip edilmemiş bir dizi davadan yola çıkılabilinir.
Dördüncü olarak: İşkencelerin durdurulması, idari ve hasta tutsakların serbest bırakılması, kadın ve çocuk tutsakların serbest bırakılması ile başlamak üzere Filistinli tutsaklar ile uluslararası geniş bir dayanışma kampanyasının örülmesi.
Son olarak sizlere selamımızı iletirken şunu da ifade edelim; sizleri hep, zulüm, sömürü ve cinayet aygıtının karşısında mücadele eden insan vicdanı olarak göreceğiz.
Lettera dei prigionieri palestinesi nelle carceri e nei centri di detenzione rivolta al movimento internazionale di boicottaggio.
Vi inviamo questa lettera con apprezzamento per il ruolo di primo piano del movimento di boicottaggio che, basandosi su presupposti sia morali che umani, rifiuta l’ingiustizia e l’oppressione, si batte contro il razzismo e le politiche di discriminazione basate su razza, religione o genere, difende la libertà, la dignità e i valori della giustizia umana, e cerca di contrastare il sostegno e le complicità col governo israeliano da parte delle forze internazionali.
In questo contesto, la campagna internazionale che state portando avanti sta dimostrando la sua efficacia e crescita, sta incrementando la pressione sullo stato sionista e sulle sue istituzioni, ed è diventata il principale strumento per amplificare la voce degli oppressi in Palestina. Inviamo questa lettera al fine di proporre una serie di idee e proposte, mettendo in evidenza l’inclusione della questione dei prigionieri all’ordine del giorno del movimento di boicottaggio, sperando di arricchire e sviluppare il nostro dialogo.
Le nostre proposte sono riassunte nei seguenti punti:
In primo luogo, le società di sicurezza a servizio del governo di occupazione hanno responsabilità dirette nei crimini commessi contro il popolo palestinese. Il boicottare e perseguire queste aziende è un mezzo di protezione e difesa del popolo palestinese sotto occupazione, che affronta massacri e aggressioni continue. In particolare, si sottolinea l’importanza del boicottaggio della società di sicurezza G4S che sostiene l’occupazione e ha stabilito un rapporto più saldo con essa, così come altre società fornitrici di servizi simili in questo settore.
In secondo luogo, come prigionieri di libertà e combattenti per la libertà del nostro popolo, per la dignità umana e il diritto ad una vita dignitosa, chiediamo l’inclusione della nostra causa all’interno del programma del movimento di boicottaggio in quanto questione di grande rilevanza e di fondamentale importanza. In particolare, ci viene negata l’istruzione da parte dello Stato di occupazione; l’istruzione è oggi considerata un diritto fondamentale di ogni essere umano, ma ci viene impedito l’esercizio di questo diritto. Più di un migliaio di prigionieri sono affetti da malattie croniche; le loro vite sono in pericolo e non ricevono le cure mediche necessarie. Le loro cure non sono soggette ad alcuna responsabilità, attenzione o verifiche di controllo secondo le priorità della Gestione dei Servizi dell’Amministrazione Carceraria sionista. Questo si aggiunge alla pratica dell’isolamento, ai continui arresti di centinaia di palestinesi ogni mese, all’arresto di rappresentanti democraticamente eletti, di donne e bambini. I nostri bambini e le famiglie sono esposti a una tortura quotidiana attraverso il divieto delle visite familiari, l’imposizione di condizioni impossibili e altri abusi.
In terzo luogo, chiediamo a voi del movimento di boicottaggio di raccogliere i nomi degli ufficiali dell’intelligence dell’occupazione e dei direttori dell’Amministrazione Carceraria affinché vengano accusati e processati davanti ai tribunali internazionali, per arrestarli e processarli per i crimini che hanno commesso, omicidi inclusi, contro i diritti dei prigionieri. Questo è un progetto condiviso con le organizzazioni legali e per i diritti umani, in quanto vi sono molteplici questioni e violazioni contro i detenuti a cui appellarsi.
In quarto luogo, chiediamo il lancio e l’espansione di una campagna internazionale di grosso sostegno e partecipazione che esiga la liberazione dei prigionieri, a cominciare dai prigionieri malati, dei detenuti amministrativi, delle donne, dei bambini prigionieri, e la fine del ricorso alla tortura nelle prigioni e nei centri di detenzione.
In conclusione, vi salutiamo in quanto vi vediamo come la voce della coscienza che affronta la ‘macchina assassina’, l’ingiustizia e l’oppressione.
Nationale und islamische Kräfte Brief von palästinensischen Gefangenen in israelischen Gefängnissen und Hafteinrichtungen an die globale Boykottbewegung
Wir schicken euch diesen Brief in Anerkennung der führenden Rolle der Boykottbewegung, die auf einer umfassenden moralischen und menschlichen Haltung basiert. Die Boykottbewegung lehnt Ungerechtigkeit und Unterdrückung ab; tritt Rassismus und jeglicher Politik von Diskriminierung aufgrund von Rasse, Religion oder Geschlechts entgegen; verteidigt Freiheit, Menschenwürde und Gerechtigkeit und sucht der Unterstützung und Komplizenschaft entgegenzuwirken, die der israelischen Regierung international zuteilwird.
In diesem Zusammenhang demonstriert die von euch geführte internationale Kampagne ihre Wirksamkeit und ihren Zulauf, in dem sie den Druck auf den israelischen Staat und seine Institutionen erhöht und zu einer der wichtigsten Stimmen der Unterdrückten in Palästina geworden ist. Wir schicken diesen Brief, um mehrere Ideen und Vorschläge zu unterbreiten, in denen die Einbeziehung der Gefangenen auf die Agenda der Boykottbewegung hervorgehoben wird. Wir hoffen, unseren Meinungsaustausch zu bereichern und ausbauen zu können.
Unsere Vorschläge sind in folgenden Punkten zusammengefasst:
Erstens:
Die Sicherheitsunternehmen, die der Besatzungsregierung dienen, tragen direkte Verantwortung für die Verbrechen, die gegen das palästinensische Volk begangen werden. Der Boykott und Verfolgung dieser Unternehmen ist ein Mittel zum Schutz und Verteidigung der Palästinenser_innen unter der Besatzung, die Massakern und einer Aggression nach der anderen ausgesetzt sind. Insbesondere betonen wir die Bedeutung des Boykotts des Sicherheitsunternehmens G4S, das die Besatzung unterstützt und engste Beziehung mit ihr unterhält, wie auch weitere Unternehmen, die ähnliche Dienstleistungen in diesem Bereich anbieten.
Zweitens:
Wir fordern die Einbeziehung unserer Sache, als Gefangene und Kämpfer_innen für die Freiheit unseres Volkes, für Menschenwürde und für das Recht auf ein menschenwürdiges Leben, als einen herausragenden Bestandteil der Boykottbewegung. Wir werden vom Besatzungsstaat insbesondere an Bildung gehindert; Bildung gilt jedoch als ein Grundrecht für jeden Menschen, was uns jedoch permanent vorenthalten wird. Mehr als 1000 Gefangene leiden an chronischen Krankheiten; ihr Leben ist in Gefahr, dennoch erhalten sie nicht die erforderliche medizinische Behandlung. Der israelischen Strafvollzugsbehörde zufolge ist ihre Versorgung nicht vorrangig Gegenstand einer Rechenschaftspflicht, Aufsicht oder Kontrolle. Hinzu kommen Isolationshaft, andauernde Verhaftungen hunderter Palästinenser_innen jeden Monat, die Festnahme von demokratisch gewählten Vertreter_innen, von Frauen und Kindern. Unsere Kinder und Familien sind durch die Verweigerung von Familienbesuchen täglicher Folter ausgesetzt, durch Auferlegung unmöglicher Bedingungen und anderer Misshandlungen.
Drittens:
Wir fordern euch innerhalb der Boykottbewegung auf, die Namen der Nachrichtenoffiziere, der Besatzung und der Direktoren der Strafvollzugsbehörde hervorzuheben, damit diese für die Verbrechen bis hin zu Mord vor internationalen Gerichten angeklagt und strafrechtlich verfolgt werden, die sie gegen die Rechte der Gefangenen begangen haben. Dies ist auch ein Vorhaben für rechtliche sowie Menschenrechtsorganisationen und es gibt viele Dimensionen und Verstöße gegen die Gefangenen, die geltend gemacht werden können.
Viertens:
Wir fordern die Einführung und Ausweitung durch breite Unterstützung und Beteiligung einer internationalen Kampagne, um Freiheit für die Gefangenen geltend zu machen, zu aller erst für kranke Gefangene, für Administrativ-Häftlinge sowie Frauen und Kinder. Wir fordern darüber hinaus die Anwendung von Folter sowohl in Gefängnissen als auch in Haftzentren zu beenden.
Schließlich verneigen wir uns vor euch als der Stimme des Gewissens, die der Tötungsmaschinerie, der Ungerechtigkeit und der Unterdrückung entgegentritt.
Palestijnse Nationale beweging van gevangenen Nationale en Islamitische groeperingen
Brief van Palestijnse gevangenen in Israelische detentiecentra aan de wereldwijde boycotbeweging
Hierbij willen wij onze waardering uitspreken voor de leidende rol van de boycotbeweging. De beweging baseert zich op een breed moreel en menselijk standpunt dat onrecht en onderdrukking verwerpt; gekant is tegen racisme en het beleid van discriminatie op grond van ras, godsdienst of geslacht; het recht op vrijheid, menselijke waardigheid en rechtsbeginselen bevestigt; en de steun en medeplichtigheid van internationale mogendheden aan de Israëlische regering wil beëindigen.
Door deze samenhang kan de internationale campagne die u leidt effectief zijn en groeien, verhoogt zij de druk op de Israëlische staat en zijn instellingen, en is zij uitgegroeid tot de belangrijkste spreekbuis van onderdrukten in Palestina.
Om onze discussie over de gevangenenkwestie te verdiepen sturen wij een aantal ideeën en voorstellen daarover aan de BDS beweging. Onze voorstellen zijn samengevat in de volgende punten:
Ten eerste dragen de beveiligingsbedrijven in dienst van de bezettingsmacht directe verantwoordelijkheid voor de misdaden tegen het Palestijnse volk. De boycot en juridische vervolging van die bedrijven is een middel om het onder de bezetting levende Palestijnse volk, geconfronteerd met bloedbaden en de éne na de andere agressie, te beschermen en te verdedigen.
We benadrukken vooral het belang van de boycot van het beveiligingsbedrijf G4S, dat de bezetting ondersteunt en er de nauwste band mee heeft, maar ook andere bedrijven die soortgelijke diensten leveren.
Ten tweede verzoeken wij u, als gevangenen en strijders voor vrijheid, menselijke waardigheid en het recht op een waardig leven voor onze mensen , onze zaak op te nemen binnen het programma van de boycotbeweging als een zaak van het allergrootste belang. Met name worden we door de bezettende staat verhinderd om onderwijs te volgen; onderwijs wordt tegenwoordig beschouwd als een grondrecht van ieder mens, maar wordt ons permanent onthouden.
Meer dan duizend gevangenen lijden aan chronische ziekten; hun levens zijn in gevaar en zij krijgen niet de noodzakelijke medische behandeling. De zorg voor hun gezondheid is niet onderworpen aan enige verantwoording, toezicht of follow-up en is onderhevig aan de willekeur van de ‘Israel Prison Service’ . Dit komt bovenop het gebruik van isolatie, de voortdurende arrestaties van honderden Palestijnen per maand, de arrestatie van de democratisch gekozen vertegenwoordigers, en van vrouwen en kinderen.
Onze kinderen en gezinnen worden dagelijks gekweld door het verhinderen van familiebezoeken, het opleggen van onmogelijk omstandigheden en andere vormen van misbruik.
Ten derde, verzoeken wij u in de boycotbeweging de namen bekend te maken van de medewerkers van de inlichtingendiensten en de directeuren van het gevangeniswezen, zodat ze aangeklaagd en vervolgd kunnen worden voor internationale rechtbanken, gearresteerd en berecht voor de misdaden die zij hebben begaan, inclusief de misdaad van moord, in weerwil van de rechten van gevangenen.
Dit is ook een project voor juridische en mensenrechten organisaties. Er zijn veel gevallen van schendingen die kunnen worden aangeroerd.
Ten vierde, roepen we op tot het opzetten en uitbreiden van een internationale campagne met brede en actieve steun voor de eis tot vrijlating van gevangen, te beginnen met de zieken, ‘administratieve gevangenen’, vrouwen en kinderen, en een einde aan het gebruik van marteling in gevangenissen en detentiecentra
Tot slot groeten wij u als de stem van het geweten die de confrontatie aangaat met een moordmachine, het onrecht en de onderdrukking.
Palestijnse Nationale beweging van gevangenen Nationale en Islamitische groeperingen
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Actions and Resources to Stop G4S:
Learn about G4S activities and contracts in your area and build a campaign to Stop G4S: G4S provides security services for universities, credit unions, government buildings, airline security and other institutions – even the United Nations. It has been implicated in human rights abuses not only in Palestine but also in the UK, Canada, the United States, Australia and South Africa. Successful campaigns have Stopped G4S at the Gates Foundation, dozens of South African businesses, universities in Norway and the UK, and the US Methodist church. Build a campaign in your area, or protest G4S offices. Learn more and get the resources you need to build your local campaign with the following linls:
Solidarity statements with Ahmad Sa’adat and his fellow Palestinian prisoners attacked in Nafha by Israeli guards and special forces have come in internationally: see the following three statements from France, Greece and Denmark:
Lundi 27 juillet 2015 au soir, les Forces spéciales de l’administration pénitentiaire israélienne (Mitzada) ont fait irruption dans la prison de Nafha, située dans le désert du Néguev, en Palestine occupée. L’attaque fait suite à des actions menées par les prisonniers palestiniens pour protester contre leurs conditions de détention. Devant la résistance des prisonniers, les brigades Mitzada ont donc envahi les cellules, déplacé certains prisonniers et blessés une trentaine d’entre eux.
Parmi les blessés se trouve Ahmad Saadat, secrétaire général du Front Populaire de Libération de la Palestine (FPLP), incarcéré depuis 2002 par l’Autorité Palestinienne puis, depuis 2006 par l’occupation. Des communiqués de soutien et des actions solidaires ont vu le jour, que ce soit dans les différents prisons de l’occupation ou en dehors.
Plus de 6000 palestiniens et palestiniennes sont aujourd’hui enfermés par les forces israéliennes. Leurs combats pour leur libération est le combat pour la libération de la Palestine !
Libérez Ahmad Saadat
Libérez tous les prisonniers palestiniens !
Palestine vivra, Palestine vaincra !
On the evening of Monday, July 27, 2015, the Special Forces of the Israeli Prison Service (Mitzada) raided Nafha prison, located in the Negev desert in occupied Palestine. The attack follows the protest actions of Palestinian prisoners against their detention conditions. Faced with the resistance of prisoners, Mitzada special forces attacked and invaded the cells, transferred prisoners and wounded approximately thirty.
Among the wounded is Ahmad Sa’adat, General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), imprisoned since 2002 by the Palestinian Authority and since 2006 by the occupation. Solidarity statements and actions of support are taking place, both inside the prisons of the occupation and outside.
More than 6,000 Palestinians are now imprisoned by Israeli forces. Their struggle for liberation os the struggle for the liberation of Palestine!
Stop overgreb på palæstinensiske fanger i israelske fængsler –
Løslad Ahmad Sa’adat og alle palæstinensiske fanger i israelske fængsler
(English Below)
Den fængslede PFLP-leder, Ahmad Sa’adat, og 30 af hans medfanger i det israelske Nafha fængsel blev om morgenen den 28. juli angrebet af fangevogterne der gik ind i cellerne, sårede fangerne og pågreb og konfiskerede deres personlige ting. Angrebet, der skulle straffe fangerne for deres udholdenhed og kampvilje, blev mødt med militant modstand fra Ahmad Sa’adat og de andre fanger.
Internationalt Forums Mellemøstgruppe protesterer over overgrebene på Ahmed Sa’adat og de andre fanger i Nafha fængslet. Vi kræver løsladelse af alle palæstinensiske fanger i de israelske besættelsesfængsler.
Der er pt. 5.820 palæstinensiske politiske fanger i israelske fængsler, herunder studenterledere, græsrodsaktivister og medlemmer af det palæstinensiske parlament. Mere end 400 af dem er administrativt tilbageholdt, 500 er børn, og 16 er medlemmer af det palæstinensiske parlament. Mange af fangerne – som Ahmad Sa’adat fra PFLP – er fængslet fordi de tilhører en palæstinensisk organisation der af Israel betragtes som en terrororganisation.
Vi, Internationalt Forums Mellemøstgruppe, betragter Israel som en terrorstat. Palæstinensere, der bekæmper besættelsen, betragter vi som frihedskæmpere.
Bekæmp besættelsen af Palæstina– Boykot Israel – Frit Palæstina
Stop the Attacks on Palestinian Prisoners in Israeli Prisons –
Free Ahmad Sa’adat and All Palestinian Prisoners in Israeli Prisons
Ahmad Sa’adat, the imprisoned General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and 30 other prisoners in the Nafha prison were injured in the morning July 28 when they were attacked violently by prison guards who entered their cells and examined and confiscated their personnel belongings. The attacks, which should punish the prisoners for their steadfastness, were met with fierce resistance from the prisoners.
We, Internationalt Forum/The Middle East Group, protest against the violent attacks in the Nafha prison on Ahmad Sa’adat and the other prisoners. We demand the release of all Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli occupation prisons.
There are 5,820 Palestinian political prisoners detained in Israeli jails, including student union leaders, grassroot activists and children. More than 400 are held on ‘administrative detention’, over 160 are children, and 16 are members of the Palestinian Legislative Council. , Many of them, like Ahmad Sa’adat, are imprisoned on the basis of their membership in Palestinian organizations that Israel considers ‘terrorist’. .
We in Internationalt Forum/the Middle East Group, consider Israel a terror state. The Palestinians who resists the occupation are freedom fighters.
Fight the Occupation of Palestine – Boycott Israel – Free Palestine
ΚΑΤΕΧΟΜΕΝΗ ΠΑΛΑΙΣΤΙΝΗ: Ενώ η Ελλάδα γίνεται η μοναδική χώρα στον κόσμο, πλην των ΗΠΑ, που συνάπτει “Status of Forces Agreement” με το ισραήλ (συμφωνία η οποία θα επιτρέπει τη στάθμευση ισραηλινών δυνάμεων σε ελληνικό έδαφος…), στις σιωνιστικές φυλακές οι ανθρωποφύλακες χτυπούν Παλαιστίνιους φυλακισμένους, περιλαμβανομένου του Αχμάντ Σααντάτ, ηγέτη του Λαϊκού Μετώπου για την Απελευθέρωση της Παλαιστίνης (PFLP). Παραμένουμε στο πλευρό της Παλαιστίνης και απορρίπτουμε την πολιτική της κυβέρνησης, που ντροπιάζει τον Ελληνικό Λαό και θέτει σε κίνδυνο τα συμφέροντα της Ελλάδας.
OCCUPIED PALESTINE: While Greece becomes the only country in the world (apart the USA) who signs a “Status of Forces Agreement” with israel, in the zionist prisons the guards attack Palestinian prisoners, including Ahmad Sa’adat, Palestinian political leader and General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. We remain on the side of Palestine and reject the government’s policy, which brings shame to the Greek People and endangers the interests of Greece.
Uday Isteiti suspended his hunger strike on 29 July, reported his lawyer Ashraf Abu Sneineh follwoing an agreement with the Prison Service; an agreement was signed that Isteiti will be released on 20 October 2015. Isteiti spoke with his family via telephone and informed them of the agreement.
Isteiti is currently held under administrative detention without charge or trial. His health weakened considerably in the several days prior to the agreement; he was denied a wheelchair and was unable to walk.
Muhammad Allan, a lawyer who is also held in administrative detention without charge or trial, has now been on hunger strike for 45 days. His strike is continuing amid the passage by the Knesset on 30 July of a law allowing the force-feeding of hunger strikers, a practice rejected by the Israeli Association, World Medical Association and International Committee of the Red Cross as inhumane, cruel and degrading treatment amounting to torture. Three Palestinian prisoners were killed by Israeli force feeding in the early 1980s and the new force-feeding law is clearly intended to undermine the gains and accomplishments of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement obtained through hunger strikes, the most recent being the release of Khader Adnan on 12 July.
Take Action! Demand freedom for Muhammad Allan. Sign on here:
To Brigadier General Dani Afroni, Military Judge Advocate General and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu;
I write today to call for an immediate release of Palestinian hunger striker Muhammad Allan, held without charge or trial under administrative detention. He has been on hunger strike for over 45 days.
I also demand the end of the use of administrative detention. Like over 400 other Palestinians, Allan is being held without charge or trial and under secret evidence.
Dozens of Palestinian administrative detainees are boycotting the military courts that produce these arbitrary sentences with no charge and no trial. I join their call to end this detention.
The life of Muhammad Allan – and the lives of thousands of Palestinian prisoners- is precious to me and to people around the world. The eyes of the world are on these case, and the government of Israel is fully responsible for the hunger strikers’ health and lives.
Administrative detention violates the right to a fair trial as recognized in the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights. It is a practice that is used to silence Palestinians without ever exposing the reality of such actions to the light of day – even in the rigged military court systems.
Allan must be released immediately and without condition, along with his fellow administrative detainees.
Imprisoned Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) Ahmad Sa’adat told Addameer’s lawyer Farah Bayadsi, who visited him earlier today, that the prisoners in Nafha prison will continue their disobedience measures including closing the cell blocks, refusing recreation time in the yard and ending all communication with the prison administration until their demands are met. The prisoner’s demands are:
For the administration to meet with the chosen representative Alaa Abu Jazar
End the punitive measures that are imposed on the sections
Remove prisoners from isolation
End all night raids and searches
Sa’adat told Adv. Bayadsi that at 4:00 AM on 27 July 2015, the Massada Unit conducted a surprise raid in Nafha prison in cell #85, prompting the prisoners to burn the cell down. A collective decision across all political parties determined that any cells that are raided should be promptly burned down as an act of disobedience and as a protest of the violent and arbitrary raids.
Due to the fire, a number of the prisoners experienced difficulty briefing, and were then transferred into isolation cells. Simultaneously, the Massada Unit also raided Section 10 in the same prison. Prisoners testified that they heard screams, loud noises and knocking on the doors. Prisoners in Section 10 were transferred to Section 1 in the same prison.
Sa’adat further stated that he believed this attack on the prisoners in Nafha is part of the mass raids regularly conducted by the occupying forces, especially after the formation of the new government earlier this year. He added that the prison’s administration justified the violent raids by claiming that they wanted to confiscate mobile phones that were near the prison’s perimeter, that would be ultimately transferred to the prisoners. No cell phones have been produced in the raids.
Sa’adatalso confirmed that he was not attacked personally, and the attack was on all of the prisoners in Nafha. He also confirmed that he is in good health.
Addameer affirms that this attack is part of the mass attacks and punitive measures practiced by the occupying forces against Palestinian prisoners and detainees, which include harsh punishments during the attack on Gaza, proposing and approving discriminatory laws and legislations that violate international law.
According to Addameer’s statistics, there is a marked increase in the number of raids that are implemented by the IPS Special Units. In 2010 there were a total of 120 raids reported by the prisoner’s movement, which rose to 180 annually by 2014. Addameer believes that these systematic, violent raids are an attempt to break the unity of the Palestinian prisoner’s movement by attempting to prevent them from forming a unified position or strategy to oppose the daily violation of their human rights.
Free all Palestinian Prisoners in the Occupation Prisons! Free Ahmad Sa’adat!
The International League of Peoples’ Struggle condemns the vicious attack by occupation prison guards on Palestinian prisoners, including Ahmad Sa’adat, the jailed General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The attack started on July 27 in the Nafha prison in the south of Palestine, occupied by the Zionist State since 1948, when Israeli prison guards raided cells in the middle of the night, ransacking and destroying the prisoners belongings and attacking the resisting prisoners.
The attack, intended to punish the prisoners for their steadfastness, was met with militant resistance by Comrade Sa’adat and the other targeted prisoners, a number of whom were injured.
Incarceration is one of the main mechanisms used by Israel to maintain its criminal occupation of Palestine, targeting activists, political leaders, militants and their family members. There are currently over 5700 Palestinian prisoners in the occupation jails, including more than 400 held on ‘administrative detention’, over 160 children along with 25 women and 16 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council. Many of them, like Ahmad Sa’adat, are imprisoned on the basis of their membership in Palestinian organizations that Israel considers ‘illegal’.
ILPS stands in militant solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners in their steadfast resistance to the occupation! ILPS members organizations can show solidarity by:
Organizing or joining protests at Israeli consulates or embassies in your area.
Answering the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israeli economic, political and cultural institutions and corporations that participate and profit from the Israeli occupation and apartheid.
Joining actions and campaigns that target UK based security firm G4$ who have a lucrative contract to provide ‘security services’ to the occupation jails, checkpoints and the apartheid wall.
Palestinian hunger strikers Muhammad Allan and Uday Isteiti have now entered the critical sixth week of complete hunger strike, to protest Israel’s illegal practice of Administrative detention – of caging Palestinians indefinitely without charge or trial. It is medically understood that at six weeks the gruelling symptoms of a hunger strike become life-threatening with great risk of death from heart failure. Please join us on Friday 31st July, day 46 of their hunger strike, for an emergency protest outside the world headquarters of the BBC, to demand freedom for Muhammad Allan and Uday Isteiti, and to demand the BBC lift its reporting blackout of the hunger strikers. As with previous hunger strikes the BBC have remained silent over the plight of Palestinian hunger strikers, similarly during Khader Adnan’s recent hunger strike the BBC never once reported on it until he had achieved victory and Israel agreed to release him.
The latest information we have on the health of the hunger strikers is that Muhammed Allan is suffering from substantial weight loss, uncontrollable constant vomiting, shortness of breath and severe headaches. Uday Isteiti is suffering from extreme pain in his joints and can hardly move, but the prison is refusing to provide him with a wheelchair. He is also now suffering pain in his kidneys and blue spots have began to appear on his body. When the body runs out of vitamins and minerals, the cells don’t have the energy to perform basic functions and basic systems begin to break down. Their lives are in critical condition and we must act now to save them.
Previous protest for hunger strikers, 24th July 2015
This protest is being organised in co-ordination with our friends at the ‘Prisoner’s Center for Studies’ in Gaza as part of a joint protest with one they are holding this week in Gaza outside the International Red Cross to show global united solidarity with the hunger strikers. We thank them for the help they have provided in vital information that has helped us mount this protest.
United protest in Gaza for the hunger strikers by the ‘Prisoner’s Center for Studies’
At the protest we will also be condemning today’s (28th July 2015) violent attacks on Palestinian political prisoners in Nafha and Ramon prison by Israeli Special Forces which left 30 Palestinian prisoners including Palestinian MP Ahmad Sa’adat injured. In the early hours of the morning more than a thousand Special Forces soldiers of the Dror and Metzada brigades carried out the attack by breaking into the prisoners cells, and savagely beating the defenceless detainees. They ransacked the rooms, smashing and stealing the detainees belonging.
BACKGROUND ON HUNGER STRIKERS
Muhammad Allan, a 31 years old lawyer from Nablus has been caged by the occupation since 6th November 2014 without charge or trial under administrative detention. He has in total suffered 3 years in occupation prisons and several administrative orders having been issued against him. Muhammad Allan went on hunger strike after the occupation again renewed his administrative detention. As punishment for refusing food he has been locked up in isolation confinement at Ayala prison near Tel Aviv.
Uday Isteiti is from Jenin refugee camp. He has been caged by the occupation since 17th November 2014 without charge or trial, under administrative detention, at Israel’s G4S secured Ketziot prison in the Negev. G4S provides and maintains the entire security system that keeps this hell hole operational. Isteiti went on hunger strike after the occupation again renewed his administrative detention. As punishment for refusing food he has been transferred to Eshel prison and locked up in solidarity confinement with severe measures being imposed on him. He is not permitted to bathe for more than two weeks now and is being refused a change in cloths. Vindictively the Israeli jailers have also taken away his Holy Qur’an during the month of Ramadan.
Both Allan and Isteiti started their hunger strike on 15th June 2015, and by friday 31st July they will have been without food or nutrients for 46 days. Their hunger strike follows the manner of Khader Adnan’s hunger strike in that they are refusing everything apart from water so their bodies cannot survive long.
Muhammad Allan and Uday Isteiti’s hunger strike follows on the heels of Khader Adnan’s recent victorious 55 day hunger strike that resulted in his freedom. Upon his release Khader Adnan has made a short video appeal urging action to demand the release of Muhammad Allan and Uday Isteiti:
Administrative detention is a practice used by Israel to imprison Palestinians indefinitely without charge or trial.
Prisoners are given rolling detention orders which can be anything from 1-6 months, renewable indefinitely. This is against international law. For example administrative detainee Mazen Natsheh has been locked up cumulatively for nearly 10 years without ever being charged with anything.
Detention orders are based on so called “secret information” which never needs to be produced, either to the detainee nor their lawyer.
Administrative detention is often used to arbitrarily jail Palestinians where there is no evidence for a trial, or for punishment as in the case of 8 Palestinian MPs.
Israel has on average issued over 2000 detention orders every year (2007-2011). Today there are around 450 administrative detainees. Most of them, like hunger strikers Allan and Isteiti, having been transferred from the West Bank into Israel in contravention of Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Full photo-video report of protest on 24 July: United London – Gaza Protest Demands Freedom For The Hunger Strikers, End To Administrative Detention http://inminds.com/article.php?id=10679
LIVE UPDATES DURING PROTEST
We will, inshAllah, be tweeting live from the protest with live photos being uploaded to our twitter and facebook page. So if you can’t join us on the day, please help us by sharing the photos as they get uploaded.
Universities Canada turning a blind eye on Palestinian cases
By Alan Sears and Gregory Shupak, rabble.ca, July 29, 2015
No one wants their mother to be a “case.” But that is what happened to our friend Yafa Jarrar. Her mother, Palestinian legislator Khalida Jarrar, was arrested by a force of Israeli troops from her home in Ramallah. She has so far been denied bail or clear knowledge of the charges against her.
Sadly, the “case” of Khalida Jarrar is not unusual. There are 5,820 Palestinian political prisoners detained in Israeli jails, including student union heads, community organizers, members of the Palestinian National Council and children. For Palestinians, simply speaking up for basic rights is enough to bring Israeli troops to the door.
There is a lot for Palestinians to speak up about. The people of Gaza have been starved of the supplies that would allow them to rebuild after last summer’s massive Israeli assault that, according the UN, killed 2,205 Palestinians including at least 1,483 civilians. There’s also 47 years of illegal occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, the second-class status Palestinian citizens in this “Jewish” state, and the approximately 7 million refugees who have been denied their right to return their family homes and towns in Palestine since the initial Israeli expulsion over 60 years ago. Israeli military check-points, house demolitions, school closures, chronic water and electricity shortages, 8 year blockade on Gaza, the so-called “security-wall” –- the list is long.
Israel has silenced Palestinian activists, ignored international law and refused to comply with the decisions of the United Nations with impunity. Our friend Yafa’s mother spoke up against these living conditions, and now she is a “case.” Fortunately, Yafa is in a position to raise the international profile of her mother’s case around the world because she went abroad to study at Canadian universities. But in Canada she finds herself threatened by another kind of silencing. Stephen Harper’s government has made it clear that they want to go after activists who support the call for a campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) to pressure Israel to recognize basic Palestinian rights. Justin Trudeau has signaled that he is similarly hostile to BDS activists.
The Harper government is boosting Canada’s support for these much-criticized violations, most recently by implying that hate speech laws could be used against people who trying to take a “zero tolerance” approach to BDS advocacy in Canada. This threat to Palestine solidarity activists is closely aligned with the Harper government’s Bill C-51 which threatens to crack down on all kinds of political expression in the name of fighting “terrorism.”
The case of Khalida Jarrar reminds us of the timeliness of the BDS campaign as a means to exert pressure on Israel to recognize basic Palestinian rights. This is certainly no time to be increasing links to Israeli institutions. Yet that is precisely what Universities Canada, the umbrella group for universities in Canada, is now in the business of promoting. In July 2013, Universities Canada signed a framework agreement to this effect with the Israeli Association of Heads of Universities. Such institutional links make Canada complicit in the Israeli silencing of Palestinian activists such as Khalida Jarrar and in Israel’s refusal to respect international law.
All Israeli academic institutions serve the occupation and silencing through activities like direct military research, the architectural planning of settlements, and the development of Hebrew place names to replace those of destroyed Palestinian villages. Meanwhile, the educational rights and academic freedom of Palestinians are undermined by their experience of occupation, of second-class status in Israeli educational institutions, and of exile.
The troubling trend in recent years of increasing institutional links between Canadian and Israeli universities strengthen the complicity that is already expressed by the Harper government’s unconditional support for Israel. These ties bind us to the Israeli regime that is making Yafa Jarrar’s mother yet another Palestinian “case.”
Yafa Jarrar asks us to try a different approach. “My sister and I are asking for international pressure to get my mother released on bail, and ultimately to have the case against her dismissed.” International pressure is crucial to freeing Khalida Jarrar. But a case by case approach is not enough. It is time to break the ties of international complicity. Universities Canada should rescind their memorandum of agreement with the Association of Heads of Universities (Israel) to promote institutional links as over 290 academics working in Canada have demanded in a petition circulated by Faculty for Palestine.
Alan Sears teaches at Ryerson University and Greg Shupak teaches at the University of Guelph. Both are members of Faculty for Palestine.
Ahmad Sa’adat, the imprisoned General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Palestinian national political leader, issued the following call to international supporters of Palestine to escalate the campaigns for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions at all levels in support of the prisoners’ struggle. Sa’adat was injured on Tuesday, 28 July when Israeli prison guards and special units attacked Palestinian political prisoners held in Nafha.
An Appeal to all international forces for freedom, peace, democracy, equality and social justice
The racist, settler-colonial occupying power persists in its ongoing war against the Palestinian people and its ongoing violations of international law and United Nations resolutions which criminalize the practices of the occupation state and its apartheid nature. This aggression is given cover by international support, collusion and silence, the strategic alliances and hypocrisy of the dominant international and imperialist powers in international political forums and institutions, who have closed all doors to a just political solution that respects international law and the fundamental rights of our people. Our people are left only the option of resistance, in a disproportionate battle against a massively armed enemy that wages war against the people, the land, the trees and the stones.
The daily crimes and racist policies of the Israeli occupier against our people recall the crimes and violations of apartheid as it was practiced by the white minority government against the people of South Africa; and we recall also the broad support of international popular forces against racism, oppression and apartheid, as well as the struggle of the South African people and the ability of this alliance to besiege the racist apartheid project, to disassemble it and struggle to build a democratic project.
Today, it is critical to besiege the racist, settler-colonial Zionist project, and indeed, to delegitimize this project, and to support the struggle of our people for liberation, self-determination and return as the pathway to a democratic political solution for Palestine. Our people will not bow to the governments of “Israel,” including the current government which represents the will of the colonizers and the ultra-extremist Zionist terror.
Accordingly, today I call on all forces of progress, freedom and democracy to stand by the struggle of our people through:
1) Acting to condemn the war of aggression carried out by “Israel” against our people in all international forums and to bring “Israeli” officials to justice and accountability;
2) All forms of boycott: political, economic, academic and cultural of the occupation state and the creation of a real economic cost for its industries of colonization and settlement;
3) Escalating the global campaigns for boycott of all corporations that support and invest in the occupation militarily and economically;
4) Working to prosecute the political and military leaders of the occupation in all legal arenas and international courts, and try them for their crimes;
5) Supporting the struggle of the prisoners of the Palestinian people, to defend their rights, demand their freedom, and provide political and legal support for their struggle, including recognizing them as prisoners of war and implementing the relevant clauses of the Geneva Conventions
Dear friends, with your support and the will and determination of our people and their resistance and steadfastness, victory will be achieved.
Ahmad Sa’adat
Nafha Prison
Take Action!
Please share this statement with all supporters and friends of Palestine, of social justice and of human rights. Palestinians from inside Israeli jails are calling for your support: Boycott Israel!
1. Protest at the Israeli consulate or embassy for Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian prisoners. Bring posters and flyers and hold a protest, or join a protest. Hold a community event or discussion, or include Ahmad Sa’adat’s statement in your next event about Palestine and social justice. Email us at samidoun@samidoun.net to inform us about your events or actions.
2. Contact your Member of Parliament, Representative, or Member of European Parliament. The attack on Sa’adat and his fellow prisoners must not be allowed to continue with international silence. Contact your parliamentarian and urge them to support justice for Palestinian prisoners.
3. Boycott, Divest and Sanction. Take action as Ahmad Sa’adat urges above: hold Israel accountable for its violations of international law. Don’t buy Israeli goods, and campaign to end investments in corporations that profit from the occupation. Learn more at bdsmovement.net.
