On the first anniversary of the passing of renowned Arab revolutionary writer and intellectual Samah Idriss on 25 November 2021, political, cultural and social events were organized around the world to commemorate his legacy of struggle and vow to follow in the path of his words: ” If we abandon Palestine, we abandon ourselves.”

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network chapters and affiliates organized actions and events in various cities, together with the call of the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement, the Masar Badil, for actions and activities in memory of Samah Idriss between 23 and 30 November, although events are continuing into December.

Samah Idriss, writer, translator and publisher, was the editor-in-chief of Al-Adab magazine and co-founder of the Campaign to Boycott Supporters of “Israel” in Lebanon, he was a leading voice for the Arab boycott movement, a co-founder of the Masar Badil, the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement, and a writer, thinker and revolutionary who inspired many on the road to liberation.

Palestinian prisoners issued a statement upon his passing, which has continued to inspire our activities: “Samah, we know that you have not left the mountain. You are like a mountain in your stances, and your steps are engraved in the path of this long journey.You are our beloved comrade, a companion on the hard path of struggle, a friend on the long road.Your body has left us, but your spirit will remain an inspiration to us.Your words and your positions are a beacon that we raise, debate and discuss as we walk. We will keep walking, comrade, until we get there.”

In Toulouse, France, the Collectif Palestine Vaincra included the commemoration of Samah Idriss in its Palestine Stand on #PalestineDay, 29 November, the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people. The Collectif posted a large sign on the streets of Toulouse in his honor, as well as taking photos of solidarity with posters honoring him.

In Madrid, Spain, Samidoun Spain joined with the Masar Badil, Alkarama Palestinian Women’s Mobilization, and Al-Yudur Palestinian Youth Organization for an event on Sunday, 27 November against the partition of Palestine.

The event included a screening of “Daughters of Nakba,” a film about Palestinian women’s struggle, as well as a presentation and discussion about the imposition of the partition of Palestine in 1947 and the Oslo accords in 1993, exposing Zionist colonialism and racism. The event also included a discussion of the life and work of Samah Idriss and his activities to build the boycott movement.

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In Vancouver, Canada, Samidoun Vancouver organized a public educational event on 21 November about next steps for the Palestine movement, particularly following the City Council’s adoption of the notorious, anti-Palestinian IHRA “definition of anti-Semitism.”

Hanna Kawas of the Canada Palestine Association and Sid Shniad of Independent Jewish Voices spoke about the ongoing struggle against the IHRA, while Hanan Dudin gave a reportback from the Brussels March for Return and Liberation, and Khaled Barakat of the Masar Badil spoke about the life of Samah Idriss and his own memories of his contributions to the struggle.

On December 2, Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights McGill, the Arab Left Forum, the Palestinian Youth Movement and the Commemoration Committee for Samah Idriss will hold a film screening and a discussion with McGill professor Malik Abisaab in Montreal, Quebec, as part of the commemorative activities.

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The Egyptian Socialist Party organized a commemorative event at its headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, honoring Samah Idriss as well as Amin Iskander and Sayed al-Ghadban, two Egyptian intellectuals and journalists committed to the Palestinian and Arab cause. Palestinian and Egyptian speakers discussed the importance of the movement to confront normalization on the Arab level as well as the current situation of the Palestinian cause and what can be done to build greater support and involvement in the Palestinian cause.

In Lebanon, family members, comrades and activists organized a number of events to honor Samah’s memory. The Campaign to Boycott Supporters of “Israel” in Lebanon organized a memorial event that also included cultural performances by Palestinian children and youth.

In addition, the Campaign released a report about its activities since the passing of Samah Idriss, as well as an update to its boycott guide, making clear that the boycott and anti-normalization movement continues to be highly active in Lebanon in defense of the Palestinian people and Palestinian cause.

The Center for Arab Unity Studies organized a virtual forum on Arab intellectuals and the revolutionary struggle, while the Masar Badil organized an internal symposium focused on implementing Samah Idriss’ vision for cultural struggle as part of the liberation project.

In Shatila refugee camp, the Children and Youth Center organized an event and discussion on the life and work of Samah Idriss, including his writings for children.

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Al-Adab magazine, of which he served as editor-in-chief, produced a new issue specifically dedicated to his memory and including many of his writings as well as those by his comrades and colleagues.

سنة على رحيل سماح إدريس:صدر اليوم العدد التكريمي لمجلة الآداب، تلك المجلة التي كانت قرّة عينيه#سماح_إدريس #دار_الآداب pic.twitter.com/fW34mpNq1x

— دار الآداب Dar Al Adab (@DarAlAdab) November 25, 2022

The Lebanese Ministry of Culture held a commemoration at the National Library in Sanayeh in Beirut with the participation of the Culture Minister alongside a number of prominent lawyers, journalists and writers.

Samah Idriss was an Arab fighter and a true internationalist, one who lived his life dedicated to the cause of Palestine. We will continue to honor his life and struggle through organizing, education, mobilization and work for Palestinian and Arab liberation.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, the Collectif Palestine Vaincra, the Canadian BDS Coalition and others joined numerous organizations from around the world in signing on to this collective statement in support of Palestinian prisoners for the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People initiated by Addameer: 

This International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, Addameer calls on the international community to demonstrate support for Palestinian political prisoners, both directly with the actions of the Palestinian Prisoner Movement, as well as through demanding an end to the Israeli occupation authorities’ arbitrary policies and practices of deprivation of liberty; administrative detention, inhumane prison conditions and a crackdown on civil society activism, all of which serve to construct and maintain the Israeli apartheid regime.

The year 2022 has been the deadliest for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since 2015. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, the Israeli occupying forces have killed over 200 Palestinians so far- 51 of that number are children, the majority shot by Israeli forces or armed settlers in the occupied West Bank. At the same time, in August 2022, Israel launched yet another aggression against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, during which 49 Palestinians, including 17 children, were killed, and another 335 were injured.

As recent Israeli elections recorded a swing to the far-right and the targeting of activists and peaceful protesters has vastly increased, the conditions for Palestinian prisoners mirror those on the ground. Currently, 4760 Palestinian political prisoners are held in Israeli occupation prisons, including 160 children and 33 women. Of that number, 820 are administrative detainees, held without charge or trial based on undisclosed “secret information,” four of whom are children and three are women.

Over the last two years, Addameer has documented a significant and rapid increase in Israel’s use of administrative detention, not only as a tool to quash legitimate civil resistance and civic work against the Israeli settler-colonial and apartheid regime but as a form of control and intimidation over the Palestinian people as a whole. From within prisons, Palestinian political prisoners and detainees have used the tools available to them to stand up against the systemic discrimination and violation of their basic rights, engaging in individual and collective hunger strikes, abstentions from medical treatment, and a collective boycott of military courts.

Recently, renowned international human rights organisations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have built on the work and research of Palestinian civil society in recognising Israel’s policies and practices of domination, fragmentation and oppression against Palestinians amount to apartheid. International criminal law defines apartheid as a crime against humanity committed through inhumane acts “in the context of an institutionalised regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group” with the intention of maintaining such a regime. Israel’s establishment of dual bodies of law discriminately governing people based on nationality, and the unequal application of administrative detention, through which thousands of Palestinians have been incarcerated for security offenses in comparison to a “handful” of Israelis, was highlighted by Human Rights Watch as a specific modality of its apartheid regime.

Administrative Detention and the Palestinian Prisoner Movement

Administrative detention, a colonial practice first used by the British Mandate and reappropriated by the Israeli regime, is the indefinite imprisonment of individuals, without trial or charge, whom Israel alleges may pose a future “risk to the security of the area.” The decision is made based on “secret information,” which is neither disclosed to the detainee nor their lawyer. The inherent structure of Israeli military courts, in which Israeli military officers serve as the judge and prosecutor, ruling following Israeli military orders issued by the Israeli military commander precludes any independence and impartiality, violating the essence of fair trial guarantees. It is therefore impossible to mount a defence. A person can initially be detained for six months; however, this order can be extended indefinitely. Detainees, therefore, have no idea when they will be released; taking a major psychological toll on them and their families.

Despite its blatant violation of fair trial standards, Israel acts with impunity and is indiscriminate in the use of administrative detention; targeting university students, former prisoners, children, and vulnerable individuals. The year 2021 saw a surge of 1,695 administrative detention orders, concentrated in May and June, as part of Israel’s campaign of mass arbitrary arrests following the escalation of aggression against the Palestinian people across the occupied territories. On 12 May 2021 alone, the homes of almost 60 Palestinians, a group constituted of journalists, activists, and Palestinian Legislative Council candidates were raided and arrested- 25 of this group were transferred to administrative detention. Between January to October 2022, Israeli occupation authorities issued around 1,789 administrative detention, already surpassing the number of orders from last year. Further, Israel is increasingly renewing detention orders as a method of suppression, ensuring that prisoners remain detained; between June and October 2022, there were 628 renewal orders and 452 new orders.

In January 2022, all Palestinian administrative detainees, around 500 at that time, initiated a collective boycott of the Israeli military judicial system. The detainees refused to participate in military court proceedings at all levels, and their legal counsel did not appear on their behalf. The boycott called for an end to administrative detention. Officially, the collective military court boycott ended in July 2022; however, many detainees continue their boycott, emphasizing the lack of trust in any judicial process and fair trial guarantees under the Israeli judicial system. As Israeli military judges refuse to acknowledge the protest, military court hearings and judicial reviews of administrative detention orders continue to be held in the absence of the detainees.

Hunger strikes have long been used as a peaceful and legitimate means to demand basic rights. During 2021, Addameer documented an increasing number of 60 detainees undertaking hunger strikes- many of whom sustained permanent health consequences or imminent threats to life. In August this year, Palestinian detainee Khalil Awadeh ended his 172-day hunger strike. The following month, 30 detainees, including Palestinian-French human rights lawyer Salah Hammouri, launched an open hunger strike in protest of administrative detention. The hunger strike was suspended in October, following an agreement with Israeli occupation authorities to prioritise discussions on administrative detention and release elderly and sick detainees by the end of the year. The latter has yet to act on this promise.

Methods of Oppression of Palestinian Prisoners

Any resistance from the Palestinian Prisoner Movement is in the face of a brutal apparatus of unlawful policy, systematically wielded with absolute impunity to quash Palestinian spirits inside prison. Whilst administrative detention is one of Israel’s most unjust policies, it is just one of the cruel processes levied on Palestinian prisoners. Once arrested, detainees are regularly subjected to physical, positional, and psychological torture, a practice effectively legalised through which “physical pressure” is permissible in situations of “necessity.” Beatings, solitary confinement, and sleep deprivation are also used. Such practices are regularly obscured through the complicity of medical professionals, and military courts, a point documented by Addameer in its Cell No.26 report this year.

The torture and ill-treatment of Palestinian prisoners are not limited to interrogation and are a threat levied on prisoners throughout their incarceration. Prison raids are well-documented, and used as a form of collective punishment by the Israeli Prison Services (“IPS”); systematically exploiting any excuse to deploy special forces into prisons to attack and harass Palestinian prisoners and detainees. In September 2021, six Palestinian prisoners escaped from the high-security Gilboa prison. The escaped detainees were eventually remanded, but not before the IPS embarked upon a campaign of collective punishment against all Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. 350 prisoners were transferred to unknown locations (notwithstanding that the illegal forcible transfer of protected persons from occupied territory into the occupying state constitutes unlawful deportation in contravention of international law). A lockdown on all prisons and detention centres was implemented, denying prisoners access to lawyers and family visits, in addition to conducting violent raids.

Designation of Addameer as a “Terrorist” Organization

Further, Israel has employed new methods to restrict those acting to defend the rights of Palestinians. On 19 October 2021, Addameer, along with five other Palestinian civil society organisations, was designated as “terrorist” organisations by the Israeli Minister of “Defense.” The offices of the six organisations based in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah were raided by the Israeli occupying forces the following year. The designation, which has a profound impact on the safety of both the organisations’ staff and service users, is the latest event in Israel’s crackdown on Palestinian civic space and targeted campaign to silence Palestinian voices. The designation has been widely condemned by the international community, including the United Nations and European Union, for its attack on legitimate human rights work and lack of evidential basis. Despite this, Israel has refused to amend its position. As long as the designation remains in place, Addameer’s work in providing crucial legal representation for Palestinian prisoners, as well as documenting human rights abuses to hold Israel accountable on an international scale, remains at risk. Without the presence of civil society organisations, Palestinian prisoners lose vital support on the ground.

While various UN experts have attempted to hold Israel to account, it has repeatedly refused to abide by international law principles and engage with their demands. As a concluding remark, we recall the case of Ahmad Manasra, arrested in 2015 at the age of 13, and has been detained in Israeli occupation prison since. His publicly circulated violent interrogation drew widespread condemnation. Following years of imprisonment, including sustained periods of solitary confinement, medical reports have found that Ahmad now suffers from serious mental health problems, including schizophrenia and suicidal ideation.

Israeli authorities have repeatedly rejected requests for Ahmad’s release, citing the retrospectively applied counter-terrorism law as a reason preventing his early release. UN human rights experts have called for Ahmad’s release, saying:

“Ahmad’s imprisonment for almost six years has deprived him of childhood, family environment, protection, and all the rights he should have been guaranteed as a child. This case is haunting in many respects and his continuous detention, despite his deteriorating mental conditions, is a stain on all of us as part of the international human rights community […] To Ahmad we say, we regret we failed to protect you”

The impunity with which Israel is able to commit systematic human rights violations must end, before we fail to protect the Palestinian people, including prisoners. Amidst an aggravating political climate, the situation for Palestinian prisoners is only worsening. Addameer seeks to amplify the Palestinian Prisoner Movement’s demands to end Israel’s systematic and widespread reliance on administrative detention on the international stage; without this work, Israel’s regime will further isolate and silence the voices of Palestinian prisoners. Vocal international solidarity with the movement is urgent and essential. It should further extend, not only to the civil society organisations who work to document and amplify the struggles of prisoners but through condemnation of Israeli apartheid and its use of administrative detention as a method of oppression.

Local Organizations:

1. Academics for Palestine- Concordia University, Montreal (Canada)
2. Al Dameer Association for Human Rights (Palestine)
3. Al Mezan Center for Human Rights (Palestine)
4. Al Salam Förening (Sweden)
5. Al-Haq, Law in the Service of Man (Palestine)
6. Applied Research Institute- Jerusalem (ARIJ) (Palestine)
7. Arab Women Organization for Jordan (Jordan)
8. Baltimore Nonviolence Center (U.S.A)
9. BDS Mexico (Mexico)
10. BDS Vancouver/ Coast Salish Territories (Canada)
11. Bisan Centre for Research and Development (Palestine)
12. Canada Palestine Association, Vancouver (Canada)  
13. Center for Defense of Liberties & Civil Rights “HURRYYAT” (Palestine)
14. Chrysalis Theatre Incorporated (UK)
15. Coalició Prou Complicitat amb Israel (Catalonia)
16. Collectif Palestine Vaincra (France)
17. Comité de Solidaridad con la Causa Árabe (Spain)
18. Comité Universitario Solidaridad Pueblo Palestino (Mexico)
19. Community Action Center, Al-Quds University (Palestine)
20. Defense for Children International- Palestine (Palestine)
21. Gaza Action Ireland (Ireland)
22. Harvard Law School Advocates for Human Rights (U.S.A)
23. Human Rights & Democracy Media Center “SHAMS” (Palestine)
24. Indian Association of Lawyers (India)
25. Lebanese Women Democratic Gathering (RDFL) (Lebanon)
26. NYU Law Students for Justice in Palestine (U.S.A)
27. Oakville Palestinian Rights Association (Canada)
28. Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (New Zealand)
29. Palestinian and Jewish Unity (PAJU) (Canada)
30. Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (Palestine)
31. Palestinian Prisoners Society (Palestine)
32. Regina Peace Council (Canada)
33. SANA for Special Individuals (Jordan)
34. Swedish Friends of the Freedom Theatre (Sweden)
35. The Freedom Theatre (Palestine)
36. The Palestine Institute for Public Democracy (Palestine)
37. The Palestine Performing Arts Network (Palestine)
38. The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy – MIFTAH (Palestine)
39. The Palestinian NGOs Network (PNGO) (Palestine)
40. The Women’s Center for Legal Aid and Counselling (Palestine)
41. Union of Agricultural Work Committees (Palestine)
42. Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees (Palestine)

Regional Organizations:

43. ACAT-France
44. Arab Network for Civic Education- ANHRE
45. Arab Resource & Organizing Center (AROC)
46. Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
47. California Coalition for Women Prisoners
48. Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME)
49. Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA) Victoria
50. Comunitat Palestina de Catalunya
51. Corporación Jurídica Libertad
52. European Legal Support Center (ELSC)
53. Freedom Archives
54. Friends of the Jenin Freedom Theater
55. GreaterToronto4BDS
56. Harvard Advocates for Human Rights
57. Human Rights for Law (HR4A) Saskatchewan
58. Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign
59. Irídia – Center for the Defense of Human Rights
60. Jewish Network for Palestine
61. Jewish Voices for Peace
62. Justice Peace Advocates/ Mouvement Pour Une Paix Juste
63. Law Students for Justice in Palestine, Georgetown Law
64. Niagara Movement for Justice in Palestine-Israel (NMJPI)
65. Palestine House
66. Project South
67. Rising Tide North America
68. RootsAction Education Fund
69. Socialist Action/ Ligue pour l’Action Socialiste
70. Students for Justice in Palestine, Chicago
71. The Canadian BDS Coalition
72. U.S Palestinian Community Network
73. US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USPCR)

International Organizations:

74. Africa4Palestine
75. Arab Organization for Human Rights
76. Association France Palestine Solidarité (AFPS)
77. ATL Jenine
78. Critical Resistance
79. Early Childhood Development Intercultural Partnerships
80. European Jews for a Just Peace (EJJP)
81. Eyewitness Palestine
82. International Organization for the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (EAFORD)
83. International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
84. Kali_Feminists
85. National Students for Justice in Palestine
86. NOVACT- International Institute for Nonviolent Action
87. Observatorio de Derechos Humanos de los Pueblos
88. Palestine Solidarity Campaign UK
89. Paz con Dignidad
90. Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
91. SUDS – Associació Internacional de Solidaritat i Cooperació
92. The Freedom Theater
93. United Methodists for Kairos Response (UMKR)
94. War on Want
95. World BEYOND War

On the first anniversary of his passing on 25 November 2021, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network remembers Arab intellectual and struggler Samah Idriss, who dedicated his life to the liberation of Palestine and the Arab region. The editor-in-chief of Al-Adab magazine and co-founder of the Campaign to Boycott Supporters of “Israel” in Lebanon, he was a leading voice for the Arab boycott movement, a co-founder of the Masar Badil, the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement, and a writer, thinker and revolutionary who inspired many on the road to liberation.

Listen to Samah Idriss interviewed on Voice of Palestine, by Hanna and Marion Kawas, in 2014:

In this interview for the Collectif Palestine Vaincra, Samah discusses the mutually supportive relationship between boycott and all forms of resistance:

Less than a month before his passing, his final speech was delivered to the inaugural conference of the Masar Badil in Beirut, ending with the words — a call for Arab unity, action and rejection of normalization — that have come to represent his legacy: “If we abandon Palestine, we abandon ourselves.”

In the year since Samah’s passing, Samidoun fundraised to open and create the Samah Idriss hall at the chess club in Shatila camp where Samah would read weekly to Palestinian children, even at his busiest moments. This year, the Masar Badil and many organizations — including Samidoun — are involved in over 20 events in honour of his life in struggle, including events in Shatila camp, Beirut, Vancouver, Madrid, Berlin, Malmo and elsewhere.

Samah Idriss never hesitated to stand with the prisoners and their struggle for freedom, organizing actions and Arab campaigns, editing issues of Al-Adab dedicated to the liberation of the prisoners, not to mention meeting with and organizing with Samidoun delegations to Lebanon. He was an Arab struggler committed to Arabic language and Arab liberation with one approach, a true internationalist, and one who lived his life dedicated to the cause of Palestine.

He continues to present us with an inspiration and an example as we work to achieve those goals he shared, and we join in the salute of the Palestinian prisoners: “We mourn you as a writer, an intellectual, a comrade, and a fighter for the freedom for which you died. Sleep with clear eyes, and know that the road to freedom will never be cut off for free people.”

As we remember him today, we republish the letter from the Palestinian prisoners’ movement in honour of Samah Idriss on his passing:

The prisoners’ message in memory of Samah Idriss

It is an unusual morning, when the news of your departure comes to sink its teeth into the delicateness of love and emotion, the morning turns into sunset and your soul sets there, Samah. We remain in its shade as it flutters and fills the space on this exceptional morning. The news of the tragedy of your departure replaces for now our thoughts of liberation and freedom. Your absence keeps us transfixed in time, we look around us and remember you, and we still need your words and your committed, principled positions. We are still in the middle of the road to freedom, Samah.

Your news has traveled and reached us as the dew drops fade from the prison fences and bars. With it, our feelings crept in, and we felt the wound of losing you publicly. We want you to hear our last cry, you, who always spoke with our voice and our screams, or perhaps we want to bid you farewell with a whisper of screaming.

Our words will certainly reach you. We are in the prisons of the Zionist colonizer, and we wanted to meet you. You can see and, as you taught us, the journey is still long, and our lamp still needs a lot of oil, so why have you left now?!

Samah, we know that you have not left the mountain. You are as a mountain in your stances, and your steps are engraved in the path of this long journey. You are our beloved comrade, a companion on the hard path of struggle, a friend on the long road. Your body has left us, but your spirit will remain an inspiration to us. Your words and your positions are a beacon that we raise, debate and discuss as we walk. We will keep walking, comrade, until we get there.

From behind bars, behind walls, behind fences, in the clutches of the Zionists, we salute your family, your loved ones, your comrades and your companions. We mourn you with pride and admiration, and the highest commitment to the struggle. We mourn you as a writer, an intellectual, a comrade, and a fighter for the freedom for which you died. Sleep with clear eyes, and know that the road to freedom will never be cut off for free people.

Your comrades in the occupation prisons

26 November 2021