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One year on the Freedom Tunnel: Palestinian prisoners leading the resistance

Today, 6 September, marks the one-year anniversary of the Freedom Tunnel, when six Palestinian prisoners liberated themselves from the high-security Gilboa prison of the Israeli occupation. The six Palestinians — Mahmoud al-Ardah, Mohammed al-Ardah, Yousef Qadri, Ayham Kamamji, Munadil Nafa’at and Zakaria Zubaidi — became national and international symbols of resistance and of the Palestinian will to freedom in seemingly impossible circumstances, while the simple spoon became a new icon of the resistance and steadfastness of the Palestinian people and their resistance leaders behind bars. While the six were eventually re-captured, their daring, well-organized escape from Gilboa exposed the weakness and cracks hiding beneath the propaganda exterior of “impenetrable Israeli security,” throwing the occupation prison system into internal crisis.

Five more Palestinian prisoners — Iyad Jaradat, Mahmoud Abu Shreim, Ali Abu Bakr, Mohammed Abu Bakr and Qusay Mar’i — are also imprisoned for their role in supporting the Freedom Tunnel actions. All are faced with solitary confinement and isolation, in a fruitless attempt to prevent their actions from remaining a bright example to the Palestinian prisoners’ movement and the Palestinian people.

Coming as it did so soon after the battle of Seif al-Quds/the Unity Intifada, the Freedom Tunnel captured the imaginations and consciences of the Palestinian people and Arab nation but also of all around the world who struggle for justice and liberation. Despite decades spent behind bars, the occupation was unable to break the will of the Palestinian prisoners or their leadership in resistance, and the six heroes of the Freedom Tunnel have once again demonstrated this clearly to the world.

Following the Freedom Tunnel, the occupation imposed a new series of repressive measures targeting Palestinian prisoners, many of which have once again been defeated in recent weeks.

Palestinian Prisoner Escapes

The Freedom Tunnel built on a long history of Palestinian prisoners’ resistance actions, from hunger strikes to collective rebellions behind bars, as well as successful escapes and self-liberations from occupation prisons. Some of the major escapes in Palestinian history include:

  • Atlit prison, 1938 – One of the leaders of the 1936-1939 revolt in Palestine against British colonialism, who fought alongside Sheikh Izzedine al-Qassam, Issa Hajj Suleiman al-Battat, escaped with several other Palestinian prisoners jailed by the British in 1938 before
  • Shata prison, 1958 – Many estimate this was the largest prison uprising and escape since the Nakba. Approximately 190 Palestinian and Arab prisoners revolted inside the Shata prison in the Jordan Valley on 31 July 1958. 77 prisoners escaped after fierce fighting in which 11 prisoners and two jailers were killed.
  • Hamza Younes prison escapes, 1964, 1967 and 1971 – Palestinian prisoner Hamza Younes, from Ara, south of Haifa, escaped from occupation prisons on three occasions: from Asqelan prison, from a hospital and a third time from Ramle prison. In 1971, he escaped to Lebanon where he joined the Palestinian resistance there.
  • Ramallah prison, 1969 – Mahmoud Abdullah Hammad from Silwad, near Ramallah, escaped during a prisoner transfer in 1969. He evaded occupation forces for nine months and successfully made it to Jordan.
  • Nasser Issa Hamed and Majdi Suleiman Abu al-Safa, 1983 – Nasser was 15 years old at the time and was taken to the occupation court on 27 January 1983. The prisoners launched a confrontation inside the court and Nasser escaped into Ramallah, where he took shelter in an unfinished construction project. He hid in a well as he attempted to make his way home to Silwad, but eventually turned himself in after his mother was arrested by the occupation forces. One month later, learning of the story, Majdi Suleiman Abu al-Safa escaped in the same way from the occupation courts, making his way to Jordan and then to Colombia and Brazil, where he has remained until the present day.
  • Gaza prison, 1987 – Six Palestinian prisoners escaped Gaza prison on 17 May 1987; three were later assassinated by occupation forces and one more was re-imprisoned. Imad Saftawi and Khaled Saleh fled the Gaza Strip and maintained their freedom.
  • Nafha prison, 1987 – Three Palestinian prisoners, Khaled al-Rai, Shawqi Abu Nasir and Kamal Abdel-Nabi escaped Nafha prison successfully in 1987 but were recaptured eight days later as they attempted to make their way to Egypt.
  • Omar Nayef Zayed’s prison escape, 1990 – On 21 May 1990, Omar Nayef Zayed escaped from occupation prisons four years after his arrest as he was transferred to a hospital in Bethlehem. He made his way to Jordan and then to Bulgaria in 1994. In 2016, occupation forces attempted to have him extradited from Bulgaria to occupied Palestine, and he took refuge inside the Palestinian Authority embassy where he was later killed on 26 February 2016. His fight against extradition sparked an international campaign to support him and demand his freedom.
  • Escape of Saleh Tahaineh, 1996 – Saleh Tahaineh escaped from Ofer prison in a complicated plan involving his fellow struggler Nu’man Tahaineh — later also assassinated by the occupation — and another Palestinian prisoner scheduled to be released. He took the place of the prisoner whose release was scheduled, who then noted that he had not been released. He had earlier switched places with Nu’man, who had a much lower sentence. He was pursued and eventually killed by occupation forces after being captured. Both Saleh and Nu’man Tahaineh were mentors of Mahmoud and Mohammed al-Ardah.
  • Kfar Yona prison, 1996 – Two Palestinian prisoners, Ghassan Mahdawi and Tawfiq al-Zaben, escaped through a tunnel in 1996, the first prisoner escape that made use of a tunnel. While Mahdawi was seized the next year, al-Zaben was pursued by the occupiers for four more years.
  • Ofer prison, 2003 – Four Palestinian prisoners escaped from Ofer prison in 2002 during the Al-Aqsa Intifada, including Palestinian student Amjad al-Deek, using spoons and other implements to tunnel their way outside the prison. Three were later recaptured while Riyad Khalifa was killed by occupation forces.
  • Freedom Tunnel, 2021 – Six Palestinian prisoners escaped from Gilboa prison after digging a tunnel beneath the prison. While they were eventually recaptured, their bravery and commitment inspired Palestinians, Arabs and people around the world, especially in an era of advanced technological surveillance.
  • Multiple escape attempts – Over the years, Palestinian prisoners, including Mahmoud al-Ardah, who led the Freedom Tunnel operation, attempted to escape, including digging lengthy tunnels before being blocked. These included prisoners in Shata prison in 1998, Asqelan prison in 1996, Gilboa prison in 2014, and Eshel prison.

Inside the Prisons: Confronting the Occupier

The Freedom Tunnel action not only captured the imagination of Palestinians, Arabs and internationals seeking justice, in an era in which such actions had come to seem nearly impossible due to the high level of technological and electronic surveillance, it also sparked a crisis for the occupation. It exposed the weaknesses and failures in the system of military occupation that could not be protected by technology alone and remained highly vulnerable to the human element of the drive for freedom.

Since the Freedom Tunnel, the occupation has deployed large sums of money and resources to “enhance security” in the prisons, especially as they completed their self-liberation from Gilboa Prison Section 5, which had been constructed in 2004 and was touted as “invulnerable” to escape attempts. Over a period of time, the six prisoners dug the tunnel to the outside below the toilet area. They proceeded through the tunnel at approximately 1:49 am, and they were discovered not by an alert within the prison but by a settler who reported the presence of a “suspicious person” nearby. Images of occupation soldiers staring at the hole in the ground left by the tunnel and puzzling over the prisoners’ route were widely distributed.

The prison administration immediately began to implement measures against the prisoners following their public security humiliation. When the six heroes of the Freedom Tunnel were re-arrested, they were thrown in solitary confinement in difficult conditions, not provided medical care for their obvious injuries from beating and torture upon arrest, and transferred from prison to prison. However, they were not alone; the prisoners’ movement inside the prisons rose up, taking protest actions and burning cells to demand the rights of the Freedom Tunnel heroes. Outside, the Palestinian resistance announced that the six Freedom Tunnel prisoners would be at the top of the list for any upcoming prisoner exchange agreement.

Prison officials imposed a lockdown on many prisoners, particularly those of the Islamic Jihad movement and all prisoners with high or life sentences. Five of the six Freedom Tunnel prisoners are part of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, while the sixth, Zakaria al-Zubaidi, is a longtime Fateh leader; all six are from Jenin. The occupation authorities attempted to impose transfers every six months on those with high sentences, engaged in mass transfers of the Islamic Jihad prisoners, blocked family visits and engaged in ongoing raids, invasions and aggressive searches throughout the prisons.

In March 2022, the united Palestinian prisoners’ movement escalated toward a collective open hunger strike to stop such measures from going into effect, and the occupation was forced to back down. When it attempted to do the same again in August 2022, the prisoners’ movement again planned for an open hunger strike to begin on 1 September 2022, which was again averted as the occupation backed down. Further, the Islamic Jihad prisoners also achieved an end to the ongoing transfers of their prisoners and to return the prisoners to the sections from which they were originally transferred, while two prisoners, Abdullah al-Ardah and Abed Obaid, were returned to the general prison population from isolation.

In May 2022, the six heroes of the Freedom Tunnel were sentenced to five additional years of imprisonment, while five more Palestinians — Mohammed Abu Bakr, Iyad Jaradat, Ali Abu Bakr, Mahmoud Abu Shreim and Qusai Mar’i — were sentenced to four years for assisting their fellow prisoners.

In response to the sentences, Yaqoub Qadri affirmed: “We do not care what the sentence is. The important thing is that we made the impossible possible; we were able to break through the Israeli security services and dealt a blow. We were able to achieve something that was unthinkable for Israel and its security mechanisms.”

Even the judge in the court essentially affirmed Qadri’s comments that the sentence is a form of revenge for exposing the fragility of colonial domination in Palestine, noting that their self-liberation, “paralyzed the nation for days” and caused large financial expenditures, imposing additional costs on the occupation.

The response to repression following the Freedom Tunnel has been increased resistance inside the prisons, strong unity between all Palestinian political forces and a continued promise of freedom that no amount of repression has been able to suppress.

The Freedom Tunnel and The Resistance

Estimates indicate that the occupation spent tens of millions of dollars in less than 12 days in their pursuit of the Freedom Tunnel heroes. They further launched a project to fortify the prisons at a cost of $2.5 million. Thousands of police and army forces participated in the searches, with 720 police patrols, dozens of military vehicles and 250 checkpoints set up in the panicked reaction to the self-liberation of these Palestinian prisoners.

The effect of this action on the occupier and the self-liberation of these six Palestinians from Jenin has continued to inspire and inflame the growing resistance in Jenin, which has been the site of harsh battles as occupation forces attempt to suppress the resistance. Many referred to the Freedom Tunnel heroes as the Jenin Brigade, the name also used for the fighters resisting the occupation in Jenin.

The Freedom Tunnel came only months after the Seif al-Quds Battle/Unity Intifada throughout Palestine and served to confirm once again that the prisoners are at the heart of the resistance and are a truly unifying factor for the Palestinian people and the Palestinian cause. The Palestinian resistance upheld the centrality of the prisoners in the defense of Gaza in the Unity of the Fields battle of August 2021 amidst massacres by the occupation and through the placement of the Freedom Tunnel prisoners at the top of the list for an exchange agreement.

Internationalism and the Freedom Tunnel

The message of the Freedom Tunnel was not confined to occupied Palestine nor even to Palestinians in exile and diaspora around the world. In protests and demonstrations in many international cities, the symbol of the spoon and the images of the Freedom Tunnel heroes inspired people to take to the streets to demand justice and liberation for Palestine and the Palestinian prisoners and an end to Western imperialist complicity with and support for occupation crimes.

From the Philippines to Colombia to France, where Georges Abdallah has been jailed for 38 years, the message of the Freedom Tunnel resonated among political prisoners and those fighting for their liberation. It proved the indomitable will of revolutionary prisoners and of the Palestinian people in seeking freedom in the most unfavorable circumstances, inspiring many to mobilize and join the movement to liberate Palestinian prisoners — and Palestine itself, from the river to the sea.

The Freedom Tunnel and the six heroes of the self-liberation operation represent the irrepressible hope of freedom and commitment to liberation that no amount of militarized repression and Zionist colonization has suppressed, for over 74 years. The actions of this “Freedom Brigade” are not only a symbol of hope for Palestinians but also for everyone in the world who seeks justice and freedom.

Building on the experiences of Palestinian prisoners who liberated themselves in the past, they exposed the crumbling edifices of the Israeli occupation and forced them to waste tens of millions of dollars in their massive manhunt. Their bravery and commitment to freedom is celebrated throughout Palestine, from the river to the sea, and everywhere around the world. Spoons – symbols of the rusty kitchen tools they used to dig their way to liberation – have come to represent the irrepressible drive to freedom.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges all to build on the example of the Freedom Tunnel to stand with the Palestinian prisoners’ movement and the Palestinian people to demand justice and liberation for Palestine, from the river to the sea. We urge all to join us on 29 October in Brussels and in several cities around the world in the March for Return and Liberation, marching for the liberation of Palestinian prisoners as a key demand and central core of the Palestinian struggle.

The Freedom Tunnel prisoners

Mahmoud al-Ardah

Mahmoud Abdullah al-Ardah, the leader of the Freedom Tunnel escape, was born on 8 November 1975 and grew up in Arraba, Jenin. He first became active as a boy during the great popular intifada of 1987 and was seized and imprisoned for the first time in 1992 on allegations of targeting occupation jeeps and military patrols with Molotov cocktails. He became a part of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement in prison before his release in 1996. Eight months later he was arrested again by the occupation forces for shooting a military officer invading Salfit and harbouring the martyr leader Saleh Tahaineh, who had himself escaped from occupation prisons. He was already sentenced to 99 years in occupation prisons before the Freedom Tunnel operation.

After his imprisonment, he attempted to escape on multiple occasions, in 2001, 2011 and 2014. In the latter instance, he was accused of digging a tunnel to escape from Shata prison and on each occasion he was placed in isolation. He obtained both his high school diploma and bachelor’s degree in prison and became a leader of the prisoners’ movement before designing and planning the Freedom Tunnel self-liberation.

Mohammed al-Ardah

Mohammed Qasem al-Ardah, is 39 years old, from Arraba, Jenin. He has been imprisoned since 14 May 2002 and is sentenced to 3 life sentences and 20 years (now 25 years) in occupation prisons for his role in the military resistance to occupation, particularly during the Al-Aqsa Intifada. He is a struggler with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement. His brother, Ahmad, said that Mohammed was like a second father to their family after the death of their own father. He became the imam of the mosque in the area and a beloved, respected figure in Arraba. Like Mahmoud al-Ardah, Mohammed al-Ardah knew Nu’man Tahaineh, involved with Saleh Tahaineh in his escape, closely, as well as fellow escapees Iyad Sawalha and Iyad al-Hamran, both of which were involved in the 2002 escape from Ofer prison.

Yaqoub Qadri

Yaqoub Mahmoud Qadri (Ghawadra) was born on 22 December 1972 in Bir al-Basha, Jenin, growing up in Bir al-Basha and neighboring Arraba. As a teen, he was active in the great popular intifada of 1987. Seized by the occupation forces, he became more active following his imprisonment. He was later detained by the Palestinian Authority in 1996 under its “security coordination” with the Israeli occupation, and with the Al-Aqsa Intifada, became active in the resistance with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement, fighting to defend his village and neighboring villages and refugee camps from invasions by occupation soldiers.

He participated in the battle to defend Jenin camp in 2002 when it was subjected to massacres by occupation forces, and in operations targeting illegal settlers stealing Palestinian land. He was “wanted” and pursued by the occupation for over a year before he was seized in October 2003 in a cave near Zababdeh. He was sentenced to two life sentences and 35 years after spending four months under severe torture in interrogation in Jalameh interrogation center. He joined Mahmoud al-Ardah in the attempt to escape Shata prison in 2014 before once again joining in the Freedom Tunnel escape. He described the days of his self-liberation as the most beautiful of his life.

Munadil Nafa’at

Munadil Naf’at, 26, is one of four brothers from Ya’bad, Jenin. His family is heavily involved in the struggle for Palestine, and the four brothers have not been able to meet in one room for 16 years, as one has always been imprisoned. He and his family are farmers; he has been arrested repeatedly since he was 14 years old. He had been detained for 19 months without trial on allegations of involvement with the resistance and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement at the time of his self-liberation through the Freedom Tunnel.

Ayham Kamamji

Ayham Fouad Kamamji, 36 years old, is from Kufr Dan, Jenin. He has been imprisoned since he was 20 years old in 2006 on the basis of involvement in the resistance with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement. Sentenced to two life sentences, he said that the inspiration for his escape was to see his mother’s grave, as he had been denied permission to attend her funeral in 2019. He had been active in the Palestinian prisoners’ movement since his arrest. On 14 April 2022, again only weeks before the additional sentencing of the Freedom Tunnel prisoners, his brother Shas Kamamji was killed by the occupation forces in Kfar Din. Many of Ayham’s brothers are also former prisoners for their role in resisting occupation.

Zakaria Zubaidi

Zakaria al-Zubaidi, born in 1976 in Jenin refugee camp, became one of the most prominent leaders of Fateh’s armed wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, during the Al-Aqsa Intifada. Both his mother and his brother were killed by occupation forces in 2002. He was repeatedly pursued by the occupation and was eventually promised an amnesty brokered by the Palestinian Authority. He married and had two children, a son and a daughter, and became a prominent advocate for Palestinian arts with the Freedom Theatre in Jenin. In this capacity, he met with many international activists and supporters of Palestine. His amnesty was revoked in 2011 and he was detained without charge by the Palestinian Authority for six months and then later held in a PA jail in “protective custody.” In 2018, he began his master’s degree studies at Bir Zeit University, but in 2019, he and his lawyer, Tariq Barghout, were seized by occupation forces and detained on allegations of armed resistance to the occupation. He finally obtained his master’s degree behind prison bars.

In May 2022, shortly before he was re-sentenced, occupation forces killed Daoud al-Zubaidi, Zakaria Zubaidi’s brother, a former Palestinian prisoner and a longtime struggler of the Palestinian resistance in Jenin.

Samidoun statements on the Freedom Tunnel

Free Ahmad and Adal Musa: Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike for 29 days

Two Palestinian prisoners — brothers from al-Khader, west of Bethlehem — have been on hunger strike for 29 days against their administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial. Ahmad Hussein Musa, 44, and his brother Adal, 34, went on hunger strike when they were seized by occupation forces on 6 August 2022 and have continued their strike since that time, after both were ordered to administrative detention (Ahmad for 4 months and Adal for 3 months.)

Both were previously detained; in 2019, Ahmad Musa launched a hunger strike for 29 days against his administrative detention without charge or trial. Adal has previously spent 7 years in occupation prisons, including 5 years in one sentence. Ahmad is married and the father of seven children, while Adal is also married and a father of two.

Ahmad has been moved to Kaplan hospital on several occasions from Ofer prison, where both he and Adal are detained. He is a heart patient who has undergone several heart surgeries in the past, but still committed himself to a hunger strike in order to fight back against the policy of administrative detention and demand freedom. He required hospitalization as he did not receive several medications that were necessary for his health, part of the systemic policy of medical negligence and neglect against Palestinian prisoners.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges all supporters of Palestinian liberation to organize and act to free Ahmad and Adal Musa, end the policy of administrative detention and free all Palestinian prisoners. Every day on hunger strike poses a further risk to the health and life of the Musa brothers as they take this brave resistance action behind bars for justice and liberation not only for themselves, but for Palestine from the river to the sea.

Their hunger strike continues as Palestinian prisoners continue to collectively resist behind bars. For 11 days, over 400 prisoners of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement in Ramon, Eshel, Nafha, Ofer, Hadarim and the Naqab desert prison have been held in “double isolation”; their sections are locked down and they are denied access to the daily recreation yard, marking the upcoming first anniversary of the Freedom Tunnel operation, in which six Palestinian prisoners liberated themselves from Gilboa Prison. The prisoners emphasized that these tactics will neither succeed in breaking their will or in dividing the prisoners from various Palestinian resistance organizations from one another.

What Is Administrative Detention?

Administrative detention was first used in Palestine by the British colonial mandate and then adopted by the Zionist regime; it is now used routinely to target Palestinians, especially community leaders, activists, and influential people in their towns, camps and villages.

There are currently approximately 650 Palestinians jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention, out of 4,450 Palestinian political prisoners. These orders are issued by the military and approved by military courts on the basis of “secret evidence”, denied to both Palestinian detainees and their attorneys. Issued for up to six months at a time, they are indefinitely renewable, and Palestinians — including minor children — can spend years jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention.

Download these distributable flyers and posters to highlight the case of Ahmad and Adal Musa and the struggle to free Palestinian prisoners:

[embedpress_pdf]https://samidoun.net/site/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Musa-solidarity-poster.pdf[/embedpress_pdf]

1. Mobilize actions, demonstrations and creative interventions – Take to the streets to defend the Palestinian people and their resistance! As was made clear during the Unity Intifada/Seif al-Quds in May 2021, there is a vast depth of support for the Palestinian people everywhere around the world, including inside the imperialist powers. It is our responsibility to act and make it impossible to continue their support for the crimes against the Palestinian people.

2. Build the boycott of Israel – This is a critical moment to escalate the campaign to isolate the Israeli regime at all levels, including through boycott campaigns that target the occupation’s economic exploitation of the Palestinian land, people and resources as well as those international corporations, like HP and G4S, that profit from the ongoing colonization of Palestine.

 

 

Palestinian worker Musa Abu Mahameid’s life taken by colonial imprisonment and exploitation

On Saturday, 3 September, another Palestinian prisoner’s life was taken by the Israeli occupation regime’s policy of medical neglect targeting the Palestinian people, particularly Palestinian detainees. Musa Abu Mahameid, 40, from Bethlehem, died in Assaf Harofeh hospital early this morning after his health had significantly deteriorated. Before his arrest, his family told Palestinian media that he had already suffered from neurological problems and other physical ailments.

Abu Mahameid was a Palestinian worker who was detained approximately two months ago for being in occupied Jerusalem “without a permit” granted by the occupation regime, as he is a Palestinian from Beit Tamar, east of Bethlehem. At any given time, there are hundreds to 1,000 of Palestinian workers who are detained simply for being in another part of their own homeland, occupied Palestine, without the permits of the occupier. These Palestinian workers are not included in the counts of Palestinian political prisoners most frequently used — currently, approximately 4,450 — because that number refers to those labeled as “security prisoners,” jailed for their role in defending Palestine politically, from a child throwing a stone to a student organizer holding events on campus to a fighter engaged in armed struggle.

Palestinian workers imprisoned for “entering Palestine without a permit” are not classified as security prisoners; instead, they are jailed for “violating” the occupier’s regulations preventing the free movement of indigenous Palestinians throughout their homeland. Palestinian workers who enter Jerusalem and occupied Palestine ’48 without a permit in order to work to support their families also often face threats and superexploitation by Israeli employers, due to their particularly vulnerable status.

The imprisonment of these Palestinian workers is a deeply colonial project based on the colonizer’s control of Palestinian land and the barring of indigenous Palestinians from accessing various parts of their land, much as the siege on Gaza and the construction of the apartheid wall serve this function. Simultaneously, the permit regime created by the colonial project is another path for ultra-exploitation of Palestinian workers. Workers seeking permits may be coerced into paying for permits or taking jobs for low pay or in unacceptable conditions, all because of the colonial fragmentation and segmentation imposed on Palestinian land.

Permitting for Palestinian workers is also linked to the Palestinian Authority’s “security coordination” with the Israeli occupation — namely, attacking and imprisoning Palestinians for involvement in the resistance — and trumpeted by the U.S. and other imperialist powers as a form of “economic peace.” Meanwhile, Palestinian workers excluded by the system are subject to severe exploitation, colonial violence from soldiers and settlers, and imprisonment, medical neglect and death, as in the case of Musa Abu Mahameid.

Abu Mahameid was himself a former political prisoner jailed by the occupation for five years over various arrest periods and shot by occupation forces in the foot in 2013, reflecting the continuity between Palestinian workers and the Palestinian resistance. The vast majority of Palestinian political prisoners are from the Palestinian working and popular classes, and workers have been particularly targeted by Zionist colonialism from its inception in Palestine, from the forced labor camps created during and after the Nakba to the exploitation of Palestinian labor to construct colonial settlements.

Abu Mahameid’s case is not an isolated example. Medical neglect and negligence is an ongoing tactic of the occupier against Palestinian prisoners, with detained Palestinians receiving poor treatment or no treatment, denied tests or delayed medical attention for urgent conditions. In July of this year, Saadia Farajallah Matar’s life was taken by medical neglect.

As we mourn Musa Abu Mahameid, we also call upon the labor movement of the world to take action and support Palestinian workers against the system of permitting, targeting and repression that is part and parcel of the colonization of Palestine. A growing number of labor unions have already taken positions in support of Palestinian rights and in opposition to Zionist war crimes and Israeli occupation and colonization. Palestinian workers facing a colonial permit system, imprisonment and death at the hands of the occupier must receive solidarity from workers’ movements around the world to confront this system — and to struggle for the liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea.

New victory for Palestinian prisoners’ movement as occupation retreats from repressive measures

The Palestinian prisoners’ movement announced a new victory on Thursday, 1 September 2022, in which the occupation prison administration retreated from its new repressive measures imposed upon the prisoners. In light of this achievement, the united prisoners’ movement announced that they would not head into a collective mass hunger strike, saluting the prisoners, the Palestinian people and all forces of support and solidarity who had pledged to stand with them in their escalating battle with the occupier.

Specifically, the Israeli occupation prison administration retracted its announcement that prisoners with life sentences and lengthy sentences would be transferred from one prison to another every six months. This repressive policy, along with a series of raids and invasions of the prisoners’ rooms, was launched by the prison administration after the 2021 Freedom Tunnel, in which six Palestinian prisoners liberated themselves from Gilboa prison, highlighting both Palestinians’ dedication to achieve freedom in the most difficult circumstances and the failure of the Israeli occupation’s much-heralded “high-security” system.

In March of 2022, the prisoners’ movement once again came close to launching a mass hunger strike against these repressive policies, but the occupation retreated in advance of the strike’s planned launch. However, they once again announced that they would implement this policy of transfer, with the heaviest impact on those prisoners with lengthy sentences, continually disrupting their lives. In the lead-up to the announced strike, prisoners from all Palestinian political parties and factions returned meals on several days, dissolved their official representative bodies and closed their sections as the protest grew among the prisoners.

If the demands of the prisoners’ movement had not been met, 1,200 prisoners had planned to launch an open hunger strike on 1 September, to be followed by future batches of strikers. The prisoners’ movement declared in a statement (below) that “We decided to stop the open hunger strike after the prison administration retracted its order to periodically arbitrarily transfer prisoners with life sentences.”

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes the prisoners’ movement on this important achievement, coming one day after the victory of Khalil Awawdeh after 182 days of hunger strike.

The Palestinian prisoners are engaged in a daily confrontation with the jailer and the occupier and are leaders of the Palestinian resistance movement, reflecting a true unity without compromise or corruption. The steadfastness of the prisoners themselves, their united front, and the strong support of the Palestinian resistance all made it clear that this was a confrontation in which the occupier had no route forward and was forced to retreat by the unbreakable will of the prisoners’ movement.

This moment must also be an occasion for all supporters of justice and liberation for Palestine and the Palestinian people to build on this accomplishment to escalate the campaign for the liberation of all of the nearly 5,000 Palestinian prisoners, part and parcel of the liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea.

**

Statement No. 6

Issued by the Higher National Emergency Committee of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Movement

Dear people of our great nation…
Greetings of victory and loyalty to you and to all the free people of the world…

God Almighty has honored us with a new victory, that is accomplished for the principled people of the cause, the people of steadfastness and pride in confronting the forces of aggression and violation of agreements.

The Zionist enemy and its prison management agents realized that the prisoners are ready to pay the highest price for their dignity and rights. And that, behind them, is a people and a resistance willing to pay the highest price in order to support their fighters in the prisons of the Zionist occupation. This is why the enemy decided to retract its unjust decisions and arbitrary measures against your imprisoned sons and daughters, and to give in to their demands.

In this regard, we are sending you the following messages from behind bars, from the arenas of confrontation in the dungeons of imprisonment:

First: We decided to stop the open hunger strike after the prison administration retracted its order to periodically arbitrarily transfer prisoners with life sentences.

Second: We extend our heartfelt thanks to all of our people and to all the free people of the world who supported us in these steps, and our thanks are also extended to our factions for their high level of willingness to support our struggle.

Third: If the enemy retreats from its measures, if this indicates anything, it is that this enemy does not retreat from its aggression except when it sees our steadfastness and unity that is continually embodied within the dungeons of imprisonment, and we hope that this unity will be extended and realized in all arenas of the homeland in confrontation of the occupation.

Fourth: We salute the prisoners for their patient steadfastness and constant readiness to confront aggression, who have shown the highest degree of willingness to sacrifice in order to preserve their dignity and rights.

Glory and mercy to the martyrs, freedom to the prisoners
Victory for our people and their just cause
It is jihad, victory or martyrdom
It is a revolution until victory

Higher National Emergency Committee of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement

Thursday evening, 1 September 2022

Victory for Khalil Awawdeh: Palestinian prisoner suspends hunger strike, to be released 2 October

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes Khalil Awawdeh, Palestinian prisoner jailed without charge or trial, who suspended his hunger strike today, 31 August, on the occasion of his victory that confirms his upcoming liberation. Awawdeh will be released on 2 October 2022 and his administrative detention will not be renewed. In a video message filmed in his hospital room in Assaf Harofeh hospital, Awawdeh salutes the Palestinian people and the free people of the world for their support throughout his lengthy strike.

“This victory is an extension of the victories achieved by the great Palestinian people,” Awawdeh declared in the video, where he confirmed he will remain in Assaf Harofeh hospital until his health recovers and he can stand and walk.

Awawdeh’s strike persisted for six months as he refused to end his strike without a firm commitment to his liberation. The images of his body reaching an extreme level of emaciation and his message to Palestinians and the world only a few days ago propelled even greater levels of outrage and action, with even the European Union calling for his release as his health condition became increasingly critical.

Centrally, the Palestinian resistance continually prioritized Awawdeh’s release, with an agreement for his liberation a major part of the “Unity of the Fields” battle in Gaza earlier this month, in which the Palestinian armed resistance defended Gaza from a series of massacres and assassinations perpetrated by the occupation. The agreement also comes as the Palestinian prisoners’ movement approaches a collective hunger strike to reject ongoing Zionist repression and attacks on the prisoners throughout the prison system.

Around the world, Awawdeh’s strike inspired people to take to the streets in cities from New York, Toronto and Vancouver to Berlin, Toulouse, Paris and Amsterdam, in Belgium Manchester, Madrid, Stockholm, and Madison, while Palestinians throughout occupied Palestine from the river to the sea raised their voices to join with Awawdeh’s for liberation.

Awawdeh’s victory is another blow struck by the Palestinian people and their resistance — at the heart, the prisoners’ movement — for the end of administrative detention. Administrative detention orders are issued for up to six months at a time on the basis of alleged “secret evidence,” and they are indefinitely renewable. Originally introduced to Palestine by the British colonial mandate before being adopted by the Zionist regime, administrative detention orders are frequently used against community leaders and organizers, and there is a growing campaign to force a permanent end to this policy. Currently, there are nearly 700 Palestinians held without charge or trial in occupation prisons of approximately 4,500 Palestinian prisoners, the largest number of administrative detainees in 14 years.

Awawdeh, 40, from Ithna, al-Khalil, is married and the father of four daughters. Throughout his strike, his wife, daughters, mother and father have done all they can to highlight his struggle and draw attention to the prisoners’ cause. He briefly stopped his strike on the 111th day, when he was told an agreement had been reached to secure his release. Instead of releasing him, however, the occupation forces instead extended his detention, and he re-launched his hunger strike. Today, he and his loved ones, the Palestinian people and all strugglers for justice mark his victory.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes Khalil Awawdeh on his victory over the jailer, a victory of steadfastness and resistance that points a compass not only toward his liberation but the liberation of all of Palestine, from the river to the sea. We urge all those who have supported Awawdeh in this victory to remain alert and ready to act in support of the just struggle of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement in the coming days. 

 

Khalil Awawdeh’s message to the world: “Our cause is just, regardless of the high price paid”

Palestinian prisoner Khalil Awawdeh, on his 180th day of hunger strike, issued a video message to the people of the world, where he speaks slowly and laboriously, with his emaciated body visible, highlighting the justice of the Palestinian cause:

“Oh, free people of the world, this suffering body, of which nothing remains but skin and bones, does not reflect a weakness and vulnerability of the Palestinian people, but rather is a mirror reflecting the true face of the occupation, which claims to be a ‘democratic state’, at a time when it holds a prisoner without any charges in the brutal administrative detention, saying with his body and his blood: No to administrative detention! No to administrative detention!

We are a people who have a just cause that will remain a just cause, and we will always stand against administrative detention, this injustice, even if the skin is gone, even if the bone deteriorates, even if the soul is gone.

Be assured, be confident, that we have the right and our cause is just, regardless of the high price paid.

Bless you and peace be upon you.”

The sight of Awawdeh’s frail body, almost a skeleton after six months of hunger strike, has prompted outrage and demands for action for his immediate release.

Awawdeh has pledged to continue his hunger strike until freedom. He is jailed without charge or trial under Israeli “administrative detention,” which is indefinitely renewable. The occupation military commander “suspended” his administrative detention while he is held in Assaf Harofeh hospital due to his severe medical condition — however, this detention, imprisonment without charge or trial, would be reimposed as soon as his health improves. Israeli occupation military courts have already denied Awawdeh’s appeals on multiple occasions, but have scheduled another hearing on Tuesday, 30 August in his case.

The Palestinian resistance and the prisoners’ movement as a whole — moving into a wide-scale confrontation, with the potential for an open hunger strike to begin 1 September — have identified Awawdeh’s struggle against administrative detention as a key priority. His situation has drawn growing international outrage and there is a demonstration scheduled today, 29 August, at 5 pm in Washington Square Park in New York City to demand his release:

https://www.instagram.com/p/Chz6truO-Gy/

Awawdeh is among approximately 700 administrative detainees out of nearly 5,000 Palestinian political prisoners in total; two brothers, Ahmad and Adel Musa, have now joined Awawdeh on hunger strike against their administrative detention for the past 22 days. Administrative detention orders are issued for up to six months at a time on the basis of alleged “secret evidence,” and they are indefinitely renewable. Originally introduced to Palestine by the British colonial mandate before being adopted by the Zionist regime, administrative detention orders are frequently used against community leaders and organizers, and there is a growing campaign to force an end to this policy.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges all to organize, speak out, protest and demand the immediate release of Khalil Awawdeh and all Palestinian prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons. 

Khalil Awawdeh is confronting the Zionist occupation forces with his body and life on the line. We urge action to free Awawdeh and all Palestinian prisoners struggling for freedom, for themselves and for Palestine and its people, from the river to the sea.

A note on the strike dates of Khalil Awawdeh: Some media sites report that this is the 80th day of Khalil Awawdeh’s strike while others report it as the 170th day. By saying 180 days, we are following the lead of Awawdeh’s family and loved ones, who do not recognize and cannot confirm the interruption in his hunger strike when he was told an agreement had been reached for his release on 21 June. Both of these are valid dates and both emphasize the importance of urging his freedom. Notably, his family never confirmed a suspension or end of his hunger strike at that time. Instead, his administrative detention was extended and he officially reported resuming his strike to his lawyer on 2 July.

Download these distributable flyers and posters to highlight the case of Khalil Awawdeh and the struggle to free Palestinian prisoners:

1. Mobilize actions, demonstrations and creative interventions – Take to the streets to defend the Palestinian people and their resistance! As was made clear during the Unity Intifada/Seif al-Quds in May 2021, there is a vast depth of support for the Palestinian people everywhere around the world, including inside the imperialist powers. It is our responsibility to act and make it impossible to continue their support for the crimes against the Palestinian people.

2. Build the boycott of Israel – This is a critical moment to escalate the campaign to isolate the Israeli regime at all levels, including through boycott campaigns that target the occupation’s economic exploitation of the Palestinian land, people and resources as well as those international corporations, like HP and G4S, that profit from the ongoing colonization of Palestine.

 

Solidarity with Khalil Awawdeh and all Palestinian prisoners in Toulouse, France

On Friday, 26 August, the Collectif Palestine Vaincra organized a Palestine Stand at the Bagatelle metro station in Toulouse, France. This action took place amid a day of mobilization called for by the Palestinian prisoners’ movement in support of the growing struggle behind occupation bars. Since 22 August, the struggle has escalated to confront Israeli occupation prison authorities’ attacks on the prisoners and to demand the release of Khalil Awawdeh, a Palestinian administrative detainee on hunger strike for 178 days.

Accompanied by a banner and many posters highlighting the Collectif’s commitment to the liberation of all 4,450 Palestinian prisoners, participants in the Stand distributed hundreds of flyers highlighting the urgent situation of Awawdeh, whose life is at risk. He weighs only 35 kg and has vowed to continue his hunger strike until his release, while the occupation has been forced to “suspend” his administrative detention as he is hospitalized.

Posters also denounced the criminalization and raids on Palestinian civil society and popular organizations in occupied Palestine and internationally through the use of Israeli “terrorist” designations attempting to suppress the Palestinian cause and all attempts to uphold Palestinian rights.

Many people visited the stand to learn more about and discuss the current situation in Palestine, including the centrality of organizing for the release of Palestinian prisoners. The prisoners embody the front lines of the Palestinian resistance fighting Zionist colonialism and for the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea.

Dozens of people participated in taking solidarity photos with the slogan “Free them all!” in solidarity with the Palestinians spending years behind bars due to their commitment to defend their people and their land.

Later in the day, several large mural posters were put up in the Bagatelle neighborhood calling for the liberation of all Palestinian prisoners.

The Collectif Palestine Vaincra regularly organizes information stands 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 the Collectif on our various social networks (Facebook,  Twitter,  Instagram,  TikTok and  Telegram).

Abu Ali Mustafa: A life in struggle for the liberation of Palestine

The 21st anniversary of the martyrdom of Abu Ali Mustafa

This Saturday 27 August we mark 21 years since the martyrdom of Abu Ali Mustafa, the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, targeted for an Israeli assassination raid with a U.S-made and -provided missile in occupied Al-Bireh, Palestine, in 2001. 

As Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, we remember and honor Abu Ali Mustafa’s legacy as a popular and revolutionary leader of the Palestinian liberation movement, a principled struggler who organized, upheld and defended the Palestinian resistance and the Palestinian people until his last breath.

Abu Ali was born in 1938 in Arraba, Jenin, Palestine. At the age of 17, he joined the Arab Nationalist Movement, the Arab liberation movement founded by Al-Hakim, Dr. George Habash, Wadie Haddad, Abu Maher al-Yamani, Basil al-Kubaisi, Ahmad al-Khatib, Hani al-Hindi and their comrades. He played a leading role in the Arab Nationalist Movement in the 1950s and 1960s and confronted the repression of the Jordanian regime, which banned political parties; in fact, he was arrested and imprisoned for five years in Jordanian prison, sentenced by a military court for his organizing. Throughout his life in struggle, he consistently upheld the centrality of the liberation of the political prisoners from Zionist, imperialist and reactionary regime prisons. 

The PFLP prison branch issued a statement from behind Zionist bars connecting the anniversary to the struggle taking place inside the prisons today:

“The 21st anniversary of the martyrdom of the leader Abu Ali Mustafa comes at a sensitive moment in the history of our people, in which the Zionist enemy continues its comprehensive war against our people. It comes at a shameful moment for the normalizing Arab reactionary forces in a U.S. plot against our people and our cause. These aggressions and schemes are being met with steadfastness and resistance, and amid this battle, the prisoners are confronting the so-called ‘Prison Authority’ with legendary steadfastness, to teach it lesson after lesson despite all of the forms of oppression and abuse, the confiscation of the prisoners’ rights and the barest necessities of life…In your memory, Abu Ali, we raise our fists in the face of the occupier, announcing the continuation of our resistance. We raise our fists as a greeting from Palestine to all Palestinian, Arab and international resisters. We raise our fists in salute to the masses of our people who are united with the resistance.”

After his release from Jordanian prison in 1961, Abu Ali continued to work with the Arab Nationalist Movement. He became responsible for the northern district of the West Bank of Palestine before joining with Habash and his comrades in co-founding the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The founding of the PFLP followed al-Naksa in 1967, the occupation of the remainder of Palestine as well as the Syrian Golan Heights and the Egyptian Sinai. 

Abu Ali Mustafa played a key role within the PFLP and, thus, within the Palestinian revolutionary movement as a whole. He was renowned for his humbleness, sincerity and dedication; he did not like to be the center of attention. Amid his dedication to establishing the underground organizations of the Front, he consistently listened to his comrades and, indeed, the Palestinian people, sharing their experiences and ideas in order to deepen his understanding and leadership. 

As Khaled Barakat explains:

“Abu Ali Mustafa treated the Popular Front as his ‘daily workshop’ that does not rest and does not sleep. […] Abu Ali Mustafa was not only fighting for the rights of his people to liberation and return, but he was equally as strongly building the revolutionary tools that could create the act of liberation and help people to extract their confiscated rights: from the women’s institutions to the youth organizations, to the institutions for students, workers and charity, and for military action. These tools are the vehicles of revolutionary organization.”

Upon his return to the occupied West Bank of Palestine in 1999, Abu Ali Mustafa stated: “We return to the homeland to resist, not to compromise.” It was this commitment to resistance, including the armed resistance, that led the occupation to plan for his assassination. The occupation viewed his role as a principled national leader as a threat to its continued military domination throughout occupied Palestine, as well as to the Oslo so-called “peace process” and the “Palestinian Authority” acting as a subcontractor for the occupier.. 

On 27 August 2001, only two years after his return to Palestine, Abu Ali Mustafa was killed by occupation forces firing two missiles, produced and provided by the United States, into his office in occupied Al-Bireh. His martyrdom was saluted by over 50,000 people attending Abu Ali’s funeral. 

As a response to the targeted assassination of Abu Ali Mustafa, the PFLP targeted the notoriously racist Zionist tourism minister Rehavam Ze’evi several weeks later on 17 October. Ze’evi was widely known for his demands for the complete ethnic cleansing of Palestine. This response sent a clear message from the Palestinian resistance – that the Israeli assassination policy would not be tolerated and that an assassination of Palestinian leaders would be met with an equal response.

Today, the Israeli assassination policy continues to target Palestinian leaders. Indeed, the Palestinian resistance’s battle for the Unity of the Fields, fought just weeks ago and centred in Gaza, emphasized the response to the assassination of Palestinian leaders such as Tayseer al-Jabari and Khaled Mansour, of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement. 

Abu Ali Mustafa was known throughout his life as an organizer and a builder of organizations. Thus, it is appropriate that many institutions have been named to honor him after his martyrdom, from schools and sports clubs to the armed wing of the Popular Front, reflecting his wide-ranging legacy in the Palestinian liberation struggle.

This legacy lives on in the Palestinian, Arab and international revolutionary organizations and movements, and the people, always his compass, who continue to struggle for the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea, for the return of the refugees, for the defeat of Zionism. These strugglers lead and fight so heroically from behind bars, under siege and in exile, despite all the internal and external difficulties that are being imposed upon them, confronting the forces of imperialism, Zionism and Arab reaction, as Abu Ali Mustafa did throughout his life.

He said: “We are all targets as soon as we start mobilizing. We do our best to avoid their weapons but we live under the brutal Zionist occupation of our lands and their army is only a few meters away from us…We have a job to do, and nothing will stop us.”

Today, Palestinian prisoners are engaged in a collective struggle behind bars, putting their bodies and lives on the line for justice and liberation, on hunger strike and in resistance. The assassination policy that targeted Abu Ali Mustafa, with the armament and backing of the imperialist powers, continues today, aiming to deprive the Palestinian people of their beloved leaders and courageous fighters, even as the resistance grows. The legacy of Abu Ali Mustafa must inspire us all to action: to support the prisoners in their struggle, to fight back against imperialism, and to organize to bring an end to the assassination policy. Most fundamentally, Abu Ali Mustafa, a truly revolutionary Palestinian national leader, firmly upheld the Palestinian and Arab resistance, making clear that the people say “No” to normalization and negotiations, their eyes fixed on return and liberation. 

When we act and organize on the path of Abu Ali Mustafa and his fellow Palestinian leaders targeted for assassination and imprisonment, we make clear that the assassination policy will never succeed in defeating the Palestinian people and the Palestinian, Arab and international liberation movement. This anniversary is not merely a historical occasion, but a call to action – to act together with the Palestinian prisoners, to support the Palestinian people and their resistance, and  to realize the vision of Abu Ali Mustafa and of the Palestinian people – for victory, and for the liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea.

More resources:

An unstoppable optimist for the Palestinian cause

Raja Eghbarieh in the offices of Proletären

The following article and interview of Raja Eghbarieh is republished from Proletären newspaper. The article, written by Marcus Jönsson, was translated to English by Samidoun Sweden. Eghbarieh is a former Palestinian political prisoner who recently spoke at public events in Sweden.

– I’m sad that all the Europeans who support Ukraine don’t care as much about the children of Palestine, Raja Eghbarieh of the Abna’a al-Balad organisation tells Proletären.

Last Thursday, the Israeli military attacked seven human rights and aid organisations in the West Bank. Israeli forces struck their offices in Ramallah, confiscated their belongings and shut them down.

Six of the organisations were labelled terrorists by Israel last autumn, accused without evidence of links with the terrorist-designated Marxist party PFLP, a decision even the Swedish government has objected to.

Just the day before the Israeli attack, Proletären meets Raja Eghbarieh from the organisation Abna’a al-Balad (Movement for the People of the Homeland), who is still involved in a trial with the same accusations.

The now retired teacher from the town of Umm al-Fahm, which lies within the 1948 borders, i.e. inside Israel, has spent several years under house arrest and in prison for his political activism, but this is the first time he has actually been prosecuted. Because of some comments on Facebook, where lawyers are arguing over the correct translation from Arabic to Hebrew.

– Israel has always used these methods, and now even more so. 20-30 years ago they used them against political leaders. But now they use military laws against any young person they think might take militant action, just because of something they wrote on Facebook, and put them under arrest.

When we meet, it’s less than two weeks since Israel’s last bloody attack on the Gaza Strip, where they struck at the armed group Islamic Jihad, and as usual didn’t care that women and children were also murdered. Raja Eghbarieh says the main purpose was for Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who unlike other Israeli leaders has no military background, to show that he too is a tough man who can lead military operations.

– It was a war for the Israeli election campaign, says Raja Eghbarieh, and the Israelis achieved all their goals. They were the ones preparing for war. They moved Jews from southern Israel two or three days before, and they carried out their attack. They killed Islamic Jihad leaders, but also their children.

– I’m sad that all the Europeans and others who support Ukraine don’t care as much about the children of Palestine, he adds.

Raja Eghbarieh laments the lack of a united response from all Palestinians this time, unlike last summer when Palestinians inside Israel went on a general strike when Israel bombed Gaza indiscriminately.

– But there is unity. Throughout historic Palestine, we are under occupation, within the 1948 borders, in Gaza and in the West Bank. The entire Palestinian people are united in struggle – or the majority of the people, to be honest. For there are Palestinians who recognise Israel as a Jewish state and who hope for equality and democracy inside Israel.

A pure illusion, say Raja Eghbarieh and Abna’a al-Balad.

– We as a movement do not believe that an occupying apartheid state can create equality and democracy.

He says the Arab party that is even in the government, the United Arab List, did not say a word about the Israeli attack in Gaza.

For Abna’a al-Balad, which is essentially an organisation for strengthening both Palestinian identity and class consciousness for Palestinians inside Israel, it is obvious not to stand in the elections for the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, which will be held on November 1. They refuse to normalize the Israeli state by standing for election.

– We boycott the elections and stand together with everyone in the world who fights against imperialism, Zionism and the reactionary Islamist forces in the Arab world. We are a Marxist and socialist left organisation. A liberation movement, because we are under occupation. All of Palestine is occupied.

Raja Egbarieh calls for more international solidarity with the Palestinians, at a time when several Arab states have normalised relations with Israel and the so-called international community turns a blind eye to Israel’s abuses.

The situation of the Palestinians may seem bleak and almost hopeless, but Raja Eghbarieh is not prepared to accept that.

– I’m an optimist, he says with a smile. Otherwise I wouldn’t be here.

29 August, NYC: Emergency rally to free Khalil Awawdeh and all Palestinian Prisoners

Monday, 29 August
5 pm
Washington Square Park, NYC
Meet under the Arch
Info: https://twitter.com/samidounnynj/status/1562945466777899011

Come show your support for Khalil Awawdeh, on hunger strike for over 177 days, and all Palestinian prisoners!

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Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
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