Son of liberated prisoner Nisreen Abu Kamel martyred in Gaza

28 October 2024

The following report is republished from the Dismantle Damon: Free the ReSisters campaign. Follow Dismantle Damon on Telegram and Instagram.

Fares Hazem Abu Kamel, 23, the son of liberated Palestinian prisoner Nisreen Abu Kamel, was martyred in Gaza on 17 October 2024, when ”israeli” warplanes targeted a house belonging to the Al-Halou family in the Tal Al-Hawa neighborhood in Gaza as part of its genocidal bombing campaign. After Nisreen and her children were separated for six years, only reunified in 2021, Fares’s life was taken, alongside those of tens of thousands of Palestinians, by the genocidal Zionist assault on Gaza.

Nisreen Abu Kamel, married to her husband Hazem Abu Kamel and the mother of seven children, was abducted by the occupation on 15 October 2015. She was abducted from the “Erez” crossing after she had traveled to Haifa — where she was born — to visit her family. At the time of her arrest, her youngest son was only 8 months old and her older daughter just 11 years old.

The Zionist regime accused Nisreen of “espionage,” with the occupation intelligence claiming that she had filmed the Haifa port in order to gather information for the resistance. She was sentenced to 6 years in prison.

Hazem, her husband, said that he and his sons set a “calendar” for Nisreen’s last 100 days in prison, and every morning they marked off what had passed. “They were slow days, but they passed with all their bitterness, and now we are waiting for Nisreen to reunite us”.

During her six years in Zionist jails, Nisreen and her family were consistently denied visitation, like many Palestinian prisoners from Gaza. After her 2021 release, Nisreen was originally denied access to Gaza for multiple days, even as her husband, children and loved ones awaited her. Image 5 above depicts the moment her daughters saw their mother for the first time in 6 years.

Nisreen and Hazem lived in Gaza for the entire 20 years of their marriage until her arrest. When the occupation initially refused to allow her to return to her family, Nisreen said: “I have been married in Gaza for 20 years, and I have the right to go back to my home and be reunited with my husband and children… I waited for the days and counted the hours until I returned to them.”

Nisreen affirmed her complete rejection of the occupation’s decision, declaring that she would sit in front of the Beit Hanoun “Erez” crossing, which leads to the Gaza Strip, until she would be allowed to return to her family.

The next day, Nisreen returned to Haifa, where she was greeted by activists of the “Haifa Movement” and Tala’at, a women’s movement. They all sang Palestinian national songs and chanted “Nisreen, we are with you… Freedom is yours.”

Nisreen’s return to her family and loved ones in Gaza was joyous and celebrated as a victory for the Palestinian people. She said: “I say to the occupation, I entered Gaza in spite of you and broke your power, and I salute the resistance that stood with the prisoners at all times.”

Upon her release, Nisreen carried a message from the Palestinian women prisoners, urging support for them against the mechanisms of “israeli“ persecution they face on a daily basis. She urged that the women prisoners be included in any future prisoner exchange with the resistance, calling for an escalation of the popular struggle to support them. During her time in prison, 3 women prisoners, Mona Qa’adan, Shatila Abu Ayad and Amal Abu Kattah started a hunger strike in protest of the deliberate medical negligence practiced routinely against the prisoners, which also affected Nisreen.

Our deepest condolences to Nisreen and Hazem Abu Kamel, their family, and the Palestinian people, on the martyrdom of their beloved Fares.

From Spain — Liberate Palestine, confront repression: Samidoun is under attack

28 October 2024

One year after the launch of the intensified new phase of genocide against the Palestinian people, we see how people of conscience within the Spanish State continue to stand up against injustice and barbarism. The escalating violence and oppression by the Zionist entity towards the Palestinian people and other peoples in the region runs parallel to the alarming escalation of repressive measures against the international solidarity movement with Palestine, in which Spain is no exception.

Toa dvance and protect its colonial project in Palestine, the Israeli entity not only seeks to exterminate the Palestinian people in Gaza and throughout Palestine, but also to silence the voices of millions everywhere who continue to believe in and fight for a free Palestine. To that end, the occupation regime has, through Zionist lobbying organizations and its alliances with reactionary governments and political forces, deployed all available resources to silence, demobilize, marginalize, and eradicate the voices of the people’s movement.

Alongside many Palestinian and pro-Palestinian collectives and individuals worldwide who have been subjected to some or all of these repressive tactics, Samidoun is currently a direct target of the Zionist-reactionary alliance. On 15 October, Canada and the United States launched a coordinated campaign to sanction Samidoun, following the example of Germany or the French Ministry of the Interior’s attempt in 2022 to dissolve the Collectif Palestine Vaincra. In all cases, these bans have stemmed from political decisions that have not bothered to substantiate their accusations through legal processes that require meaningful evidence.

It is ironic that the imperialist countries and reactionary forces most supportive of Israel’s genocidal military machinery would list grassroots Palestinian groups like Samidoun, which oppose Israeli terror and that of its allies, as “terrorists.” This is part of a strategy to criminalize political opposition and weaken the growing social movements that not only oppose Israel’s genocidal project in Palestine and across the Arab Levant but also the Atlantic imperialist axis’s project to impose a new world order, whose first victims will be the peoples of the region.

This repressive context has already reached Spain, where state institutions, together with reactionary movements, have taken a further step by targeting Samidoun activists. In collaboration with reactionary political forces and the Israeli lobby, they seek to prosecute us simply for explaining to society why anticolonial resistance is legitimate, even under current international law, and for defending the rights of all Palestinian political prisoners. Alongside these investigations, other repressive strategies we have seen in international settings are also being implemented, such as:

Using legal frameworks and opening procedures to restrict freedom of expression and political action in the name of counterterrorism, public security risks, or combating antisemitism.
Instrumentalizing bureaucratic repression and economic violence to stifle activists, imposing administrative sanctions during protests to demobilize and financially exhaust them.
Smearing activists and media pressure as a form of collective and individual targeting and creating false narratives, through massive dissemination and distortion by the Zionist lobby and the far right.
Monitoring and tracking activists in their political activities and private lives as a form of psychological pressure and intimidation.
Censoring the organization’s communication channels and the closure of Samidoun’s social media accounts.

In the face of this unprecedented offensive in the recent history of the Palestine solidarity movement, we reiterate that Samidoun is an independent, self-managed collective rooted in social movements and based on building grassroots solidarity with Palestine. Samidoun receives no public funding of any kind and is not part of the structure of any Palestinian or international party or faction. From this position, we speak of the Palestinian people’s cause, their political prisoners, and the right to defend, resist, and liberate themselves from occupation and colonialism.

Now more than ever, we call for solidarity and unity among social movements, specifically Palestinian and pro-Palestinian organizations, against repression.

The attacks on any group working for the liberation of Palestine should be a concern for all those engaged in emancipatory political work. Beyond slogans, history has forcefully shown us that, indeed, when they come for one of us, they come for all of us. Therefore, we encourage all friendly and supportive organizations of the Palestinian cause to endorse this statement, to express their rejection of this wave of repression aimed at silencing anti-Zionist political action.

In Arabic, the word Samidoun means “those who stand steadfast.” We use this idea to refer to Palestinian political prisoners, who are fighting for freedom from behind bars. Today we affirm that we must stand firm and committed to the Palestinian people until victory, return, and liberation.

Long live Free Palestine!

We are gathering endorsements from organizations. If you support this statement, please leave your signature: https://cryptpad.fr/form/#/2/form/view/IqglaCBU9l2Kg0S1QI9Gg1vO1byFY49+7WhfEpXfaUE/

Far-right Spanish party VOX tries to silence activists for Palestine in the Spanish High Court

28 October 2024

On 29 October 2024, two activists in the Palestine liberation movement are being called to a first hearing at the Spanish High Court, which is investigating an alleged crime of “glorification of terrorism” on the basis of a complaint from far-right political party VOX. 
The accused activists will make a brief statement to the media following the hearing, along with Amnesty International and the Palestinian Community of Madrid.  
Jaldía Abubakra, one of the defendants and a leading activist in Samidoun, Alkarama Palestinian Women’s Mobilization and the Masar Badil, the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement, declares categorically “those who should be taken to court are Netanyahu and Biden, who are carrying out a genocide in real time before the passive gaze of the so-called international community”.

Madrid, 28th October 2024

On the morning of 29 October 2024, two pro-Palestinian activists are being called to a first hearing in the Spanish High Court on the basis of a lawsuit filed by the Spanish extreme right-wing political party, VOX, for an alleged crime of “glorification of terrorism.” The complaint, which has ended up in Court Room number 6 of the Spanish High Court and which is still in the investigation phase, was filed in response to an event organised on 3 June 024 by Podemos in the Spanish Congress under the name “Defence of Palestine and criminalisation in Europe” where the two activists and the Palestinian surgeon Ghassan Abu Sitta spoke and presented analysis on the current situation and the repression of the Palestinian cause in Europe.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network in Madrid will hold a press conference at the Villa de Paris Square outside the Spanish High Court with the participation of Amnesty International, the Palestinian Community of Madrid, and members of the left in the Spanish Parliament.

This is yet another example of the use of “glorification of terrorism” provisions in Spanish law at the expense of freedom of speech and expression; previous such examples of these harmful effects include puppeteers hired by the Madrid City Council in 2016 being pursued under such a complaint, as were Cassandra Vera in 2013 for jokes on Twitter and comedian Facu Díaz, for jokes in a sketch in 2014.

The accused activists have rejected the accusation of “glorifying terrorism” and see this new lawsuit by the far-right-wing group as an attack on the freedom of speech and a manoeuvre to divert attention from the massacres and genocide that are being committed daily against the Palestinian people. Jaldia Abubakra, one of the accused activists and a Palestinian from Gaza, says: “Those who should be taken to court are Netanyahu and Biden, who are carrying out a genocide in real time before the passive gaze of the so-called international community.” She continues: “The lawsuit and the media smear campaign that we have been subjected to by the ultra-right party are a demonstration of the total collusion between the Israeli regime and reactionary movements in Europe.” She concludes: “It is nearly unbelievable that the defence of the Palestinian people takes you to court while certain politicians and journalists in this country trivialise and cheer on genocide”.

Samidoun, in a statement published on 27 October on social networks, denounces this as one more episode in an “escalation of the repressive climate” that is happening both internationally and in Spain. As the statement notes, “Samidoun is a direct target of the Zionist-reactionary alliance,” noting that, on 15 October, Canada and the United States of America sanctioned the organisation, thus joining the example of Germany, or to the attempt to dissolve the Collectif Palestine Vaincra in 2022 by the French Ministry of Interior. In all cases, the bans have come from political decisions that avoid or fail to provide meaningful evidence to sustain their accusations in an open legal process. Samidoun emphasizes that there is an international strategy to silence the voices of Palestinian activists through intimidation, censorship and bureaucratic repression by state institutions.

With this lawsuit, VOX shows its close relations with the Zionist lobby in Spain, which is expressed in a combination of associations and personalities from politics, journalism and the business world. There are many initiatives in which the right wing has unconditionally endorsed Israel’s interests. Now, after a year of intensification of the genocide –and the liberation struggle — in Palestine, this alliance is more dangerous than ever, making a qualitative leap and finding in the persecution and targeting of activists a new front for action.

Northern Gaza Will Not Kneel: Take action in days of rage against Zionist massacres and starvation policy in Gaza

26 October 2024

As we write, the Palestinians of northern Gaza are confronting continuous siege and extermination. Despite its persistence in horror and massacres for over a year, the Zionist-imperialist regime has not succeeded in eliminating the Palestinian resistance, nor in cutting it off from its popular cradle. In northern Gaza, the Zionist genocidal army has been launching a new phase in its genocidal offensive. Entire families are gathered together, surrounded by tanks and soldiers, forcing them to flee at gunpoint and through checkpoints where they separate men and teenage boys from women and younger children. In just one emblematic case, a Palestinian woman was forced by the occupation army to flee from northern Gaza to the southern Gaza Strip. When she arrived at the Netzarim checkpoint, the occupation army shot her in the feet.

Those who refuse to abandon their loved ones are executed or massacred using U.S.-made weapons. The cowardly enemy is seeking to implement what it calls “the Generals’ Plan“, which calls for the complete extermination of the Palestinian population and the establishment of a Zionist “military zone” in the north of the Gaza Strip, as well as the reestablishment of Zionist colonies, which were forced to leave Gaza by the Palestinian resistance in 2005.

Scenes from the genocidal assault on Beit Lahiya

Jabalia refugee camp, a camp whose heart beats with the blood of resistance, the cradle of the great popular Intifada, with a long history of noble and fierce struggle against Zionist invaders, is under siege by the colonial army. The occupation forces are starving the population, blocking all humanitarian aid and intensifying its air strikes to forcibly displace our Palestinian people and the forces of our Resistance in the north, who remain steadfast and committed to true liberation and victory, from the river to the sea. A day ago, colonial army planes committed a new massacre by reducing 11 residential buildings in the camp to ashes, causing the martyrdom of 150 people in just a few hours. Just today, the occupation forces bombed five residential buildings in Beit Lahiya, killing dozens more martyrs. From Jabalia to Beit Lahia to Gaza City, every day comes with new horrors to report in the north of Gaza — massacre after massacre from aerial bombings with U.S.-made bombs and missiles targeting residential homes and shelters, aimed at the elimination of Palestinian families; roundups, strip searches and physical and sexual assault of civilians; field executions; and the mass abduction and enforced disappearance of hundreds of Palestinian men and boys.

The situation at Kamal Adwan hospital — named, like so many Palestinian institutions, for a Palestinian political leader assassinated by the occupation in 1973 — and within the medical complex itself is catastrophic. The hospital has been under siege for two days by the Zionist army, whose vehicles and soldiers opened fire on the building, causing extensive destruction. They deliberately destroyed and confiscated medication necessary for life — another tool of genocide against the Palestinian people. Patients and medical staff were abducted by the soldiers, who burst into the hospital premises and took them to an unknown destination after stripping them to their underwear. Ibrahim Abu Safiya, the son of the hospital’s director, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, who refused to leave his post, his responsibilities and his patients under the brutal assault, was martyred by the occupation. Even after several health care workers were released by the occupation, they returned to abduct Dr. Mohammed Obaid, head of the reconstructive surgery department at Al-Awda Hospital. Several children on life-support have been martyred by the Zionist army’s bombardment of the hospital’s oxygen supply. As in past Zionist assaults on hospitals, including Al-Shifa Hospital, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, Al-Ahli Hospital, the Indonesian Hospital, and many others, doctors and health care workers were particularly targeted for assassination and abduction in a further attempt to deny medical care and support to the Palestinians of northern Gaza.

Dr Hussam Abu Safiya and other medical personnel being abducted by occupation forces

Ibrahim Abu Safiya, the martyred son of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital

This comes hand in hand with the systematic assault and targeting of civil defense workers, social workers, municipal workers, security workers, mayors, aid coordinators and other Palestinians serving their community. Palestinian workers have been a specific target of the genocidal forces as they provide necessary services to their communities. This is a deliberate effort to prevent Palestinians from providing aid to one another, coordinating the distribution of international aid, and preserving the organization of their society amid a constant assault of genocidal bombing attacks.

Dr. Mohammed Obaid, head of the reconstructive surgery department at Al-Awda Hospital, abducted from Kamal Adwan Hospital

The Gaza Government Media Office denounced the role of international organizations in Gaza, which, rather than supporting Palestinians on the front lines providing health care, civil defense, aid, and other urgent needs, have been standing aside watching the genocide and allowing it to continue:

“These organizations have not made even the minimum effort to provide medical support to help hospitals, healthcare facilities, and medical staff withstand the brutal “israeli” occupation. They have not supplied the essential materials and medical equipment required, but rather watched the humanitarian catastrophe in North Gaza unfold without taking action. Additionally, they have failed to provide support to medical teams facing severe shortages of medicine, equipment, food, and water, leading to the accelerated collapse of the healthcare system in North Gaza.

International organizations have also failed to defend and protect human rights, nor have they played any practical role in addressing violations against civilians. They have shown themselves incapable of facilitating communication between families separated due to the genocide, particularly in cases of detention and displacement, where their role is non-existent. More than 250 individuals have been kidnapped by the “israeli” occupation, and thousands of families have been forcibly displaced without any meaningful response from these organizations.”

We cannot remain silent and allow the Zionist enemy and its imperialist partners and directors to normalize the terror and inhumanity they inflict on the Palestinians of northern Gaza and the whole of Palestine. Nor can we allow our enemies to normalize the kidnapping, torture and execution of Palestinians, particularly Palestinian men and boys, most of whom are generational Palestinian refugees since 1948 who have been denied the right to return to their homes in occupied Palestine for over 76 years. Both the mass popular Great March of Return and Breaking the Siege in Gaza in 2018-2019, and the heroic Al-Aqsa Flood operation both highlighted the struggle for return as central for the struggle for liberation.

Indeed, the horrors of the assault on northern Gaza is only paralleled by the heroism of its resistance, targeting D9 bulldozers, armored personnel carriers and tanks, sniping genocidal soldiers and fighting back heroically to defend and liberate the land of Palestine from the genocidal colonial onslaught of the “Generals’ Plan.”

Patients and health workers forcibly abducted from Kamal Adwan hospital

According to Gaza government reports, over 200 Palestinian men have been forcibly abducted in recent days. Dozens of them were taken from the vicinity of the Kamal Adwan hospital, where at least 30 doctors, nurses and employees are currently in the hands of the Zionist army (see list of current names below). Several journalists are also among the people who witnesses have seen kidnapped by Zionist soldiers. These people are among the few whose disappearances are still documented by their colleagues, at the same time that at least six Palestinian journalists — Anas al-Sharif, Talal Aruki, Alaa Salama, Hossam Shabat, Ismail Farid and Ashraf Saraj — have been specifically targeted and threatened by name and photo as they refuse to abandon northern Gaza; and at the same time that the Zionist regime bombed first the Beirut studios of Al-Mayadeen and then a group of residences serving as a media base in Hasbaya, where journalists in southern Lebanon were staying to report on the battle against the invaders.

Palestinian prisoners from Gaza are subjected to even more torturous and severe conditions than the over 10,000 Palestinian political prisoners held inside Zionist prisons. They are stripped and rounded up by occupation soldiers, abducted to the notorious Sde Teiman prison camp and similar facilities, subjected to severe torture, abuse, physical and sexual assault, starvation, stress positions and other forms of inhuman treatment. The testimonies of those Palestinians from Gaza released have only underlined the multiple reports documenting the horrors to which Palestinians from Gaza are exposed inside Zionist detention camps. In addition, their names are not released by the occupation, they are denied access to any kind of legal or medical support, and their families have no idea whether they are being imprisoned by the occupation or have been subjected to field executions.

The mass arrest campaigns carried out in Gaza by the genocidal Zionist army also target the dead. According to the Gaza government, since the start of its genocidal offensive, the Zionist entity has stolen 2,300 bodies from several cemeteries in the Gaza Strip and partially/completely destroyed 19 cemeteries. Some of these bodies, together with those of martyrs stolen by the occupation, are being returned in batches, in an advanced state of decomposition, often unidentifiable. Most of the bodies returned are mutilated, showing signs of organ removal and other post-mortem surgical operations. These desecrations are a common practice of the Zionist entity towards the bodies of Palestinian martyrs, and date back several decades before the start of the genocidal offensive in Gaza. Even before the aggression on Gaza over the past year, the occupation imprisoned hundreds of bodies of Palestinian martyrs, including martyrs of the prisoners’ movement whose lives were taken behind bars, as well as martyred resistance leaders and fighters whose bodies were stolen following battles where they confronted the invading occupation forces.

Let’s be clear: Israel is a genocidal regime operating with the full support and cover of the U.S. empire and its imperialist partners in Britain, France, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands and others. Western media attempts to distort the facts and invent fictions about what is happening in northern Gaza are a tactic long used by imperialism. Western mainstream news channels and complicit journalists must also be seen as part of the many forces seeking to destroy the Palestinian cause and our struggle. Rather than commit to the principles of truth and integrity, these entities and individuals attempt to “pass off” the burning of people alive, the execution of women and children in cold blood, and the attempted displacement of hundreds of thousands of people from their homes as legitimate and justified acts on the part of the Zionist entity.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network calls on all organizations and groups supporting the struggle of the Palestinian people to document and inform about the reality of the genocide in Gaza, to mobilize and escalate in support of the tens of thousands of Palestinian prisoners currently in the hands of the Zionist entity, and to organize actively in support of the resistance and the Palestinian and Lebanese people in this decisive phase of the national liberation struggle unfolding before our eyes today. Like the principle of Sinwar’s stick (Asa al Sinwar), we must take upon ourselves the duty to resist zionism and imperialism from wherever we are, however we can, to our very last breath, until the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea, and the liberation of the region and the people of the world from imperialism.

Known names of detainees from the Kamal Adwan Hospital medical team:

Mahmoud Labad
Mahmoud Abu Amsha
Ahmed Radwan
Mohammed Assaf
Abdullah Al-Qattati
Hatem El Jammal
Mohammed Al Khatib
Jafar Abu Al-Moazah
Hatem Al Ajrami
Wissam Abu Nada
Abdullah Awkal
Samir Al-Ajrami
Abdullah Abu Rafie
Ahmed Shaheen
Dr. Mohammed Obaid
Dr. Hassan Al-Muqayed
Dr. Mohammed Zaher
Dr. Mosaab Ruwaished
Nidal Al-Muqayed
Mahmoud Al-Muqayed
Mahmoud Saleh
Abu Hassan Al Kurd
Mahmoud Hammad
Farouk Odeh
Maher Ahmed
Hussein Abed
Ahmed Nassar
Moataz Nassar
Hassan Nassar
Imad Al-Khatib

The Government Media Office published an update of the most important statistics of the genocidal war waged by the occupation on the Gaza Strip for the 385th day, Friday, October 25, 2024:

385 days of genocide.
3,738 massacres committed by the occupation army.
52,885 martyrs and missing persons.
10,000 missing.
42,885 martyrs who arrived at hospitals (Ministry of Health).
17,210 child martyrs.
171 infants were born and martyred in the genocidal war.
786 children were martyred during the war and they were less than one year old.
1206 Palestinian families, all of whose members were killed by the occupation and erased from the civil registry.
37 were martyred as a result of famine.
11,742 female martyrs.
1047 martyred health care workers (Ministry of Health).
85 martyrs from the Civil Defense
177 martyred journalists.
7 Mass graves were established by the occupation inside hospitals.
520 martyrs were recovered from 7 mass graves inside hospitals.
100,544 wounded and injured people arrived at hospitals. (Ministry of Health).
396 journalists and media professionals were injured and wounded.
69% of the victims are children and women.
197 shelters were targeted by the “Israeli” occupation.
35,055 children living without their parents or without one of them.
3,500 children are at risk of death due to malnutrition and lack of food.
171 days after the closure of all Gaza Strip crossings.
12,000 wounded people need to travel abroad for treatment.
12,500 cancer patients are facing death and need treatment.
3,000 patients with various diseases need treatment abroad.
1,737,524 people infected with or at risk of infectious diseases as a result of displacement.
71,338 cases of viral hepatitis infection due to displacement.
60,000 pregnant women are at risk due to lack of health care.
350,000 chronic illness patients are at risk due to the prevention of drug imports.
5,280 detainees from the Gaza Strip during the genocide war.
310 cases of arrest of health personnel (3 doctors were assassinated).
38 cases of arrest of journalists whose names are known.
2 million displaced people in the Gaza Strip.
100,000 tents are worn out and no longer suitable for the displaced.
205 government headquarters were destroyed by the occupation.
126 schools and universities were completely destroyed by the occupation.
339 schools and universities were partially destroyed by the occupation.
12,700 students were killed by the “Israeli” occupation during the war.
785,000 students were deprived of education by the “Israeli” occupation.
750 teachers and educational employees in the education sector were killed by the occupation during the war.
130 scientists, academics, university professors and researchers were executed by the occupation.
814 mosques were completely destroyed by the occupation.
148 mosques were severely destroyed by the occupation and need to be restored.
3 Churches targeted and destroyed by the occupation.
19 cemeteries were completely or partially destroyed by the occupation out of (60) cemeteries.
2,300 bodies were stolen by the occupation from many cemeteries in the Gaza Strip.
150,000 housing units were completely destroyed by the occupation.
80,000 housing units destroyed by the occupation are uninhabitable.
200,000 housing units were partially destroyed by the occupation.
85,500 tons of explosives were dropped by the occupation on the Gaza Strip.
34 hospitals were put out of service by the occupation.
80 health centers were put out of service by the occupation.
162 health institutions were targeted by the occupation.
132 ambulances were targeted by the occupation.
206 archaeological and heritage sites destroyed by the occupation.
3,130 kilometers of electricity networks were destroyed by the occupation.
125 Number of destroyed underground electricity distribution transformers.
330,000 linear meters of water networks were destroyed by the occupation.
655,000 linear meters of sewage networks were destroyed by the occupation.
2,835,000 linear meters of road and street networks were destroyed by the occupation.
36 athletic facilities, playgrounds and sports halls were destroyed by the occupation.
700 water wells were destroyed by the occupation and put out of service.
86% is the percentage of destruction in the Gaza Strip.
36 billion dollars is the direct initial losses of the genocidal war.

Hands off Palestinian activists: Netherlands imposes entry ban on Samidoun’s Europe coordinator Mohammed Khatib

26 October 2024

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network strongly condemns the Dutch state decision to ban Samidoun’s European Coordinator Mohammed Khatib from entering the Netherlands for a period of two years. We believe this decision has no legal ground, just like civil servants of Dutch anti-terror and immigration institutions who advised against issuing this ban.We are fighting this ban on a legal and political level and we call upon the Palestinian people and their friends and supporters in the Netherlands to continue and intensify the struggle to end the genocide, end the occupation and liberate Palestine from the river to the sea.

The entry ban issued against Mohammed comes while the Zionist genocide in Gaza is killing tens of thousands of Palestinians with unlimited support from the Dutch government. This repression is another form of support for the genocide and an attempt to shut down every voice of opposition to Dutch complicity with the occupation. Furthermore, the ban is a racist and colonial tool used to limit the freedom of movement of a Palestinian refugee who already cannot enter his homeland. It is also intended as an attack on the Palestinian liberation movement as a whole and specifically on the thousands of Palestinian prisoners struggling and organizing under torture and severe abuse from the Zionist regime inside its colonial jails.

The Dutch Minister of Asylum and Migration, Marjolein Faber, belongs to the PVV, the most outspoken Zionist party in the Netherlands and the largest party in the current governing coalition. The PVV is a supporter of implementing occupation-style administrative detention, meaning imprisonment without charge or trial, in the Netherlands. The party has close ties with the most extreme “Israeli” political parties.

The decision to bar Mohammed Khatib from entering the Netherlands is not only an attack against him personally, but against the Palestinian diaspora and people as a whole. It is an attack on refugees and immigrants that speak out against the colonial and imperialist interventions in their home countries. Amid a time that millions of Palestinians, Arabs and internationals around the world are confronting the genocide, the imperialist states feel the need to not only support Israel with money and weapons, but to actively repress any dissenting voice. The repressive attacks on the movement around the world, especially in the imperial core, are part and parcel of the full imperialist participation in the genocide in the United States, Canada, Germany, France, Britain, the Netherlands and elsewhere.

Mohammed Khatib was invited to speak at Radboud University Nijmegen this Monday, 28 October, about “Criminalisation, Diaspora & Starvation,” ironically made even more relevant by the decision to deny him entry to the Netherlands. As Samidoun, we reiterate our support to the Student Intifada and all those who are standing up against genocide, Zionism, colonialism and imperialism. We invite everyone to come to Radboud University this Monday 28 October at 12:15 pm.

From Nijmegen to Palestine: resistance is not a crime!

Hands off Palestinian Activists! Defend Palestinian Resistance!

Palestinian prisoners’ movement statement mourning the martyr leader Yahya Sinwar

19 October 2024

The Palestinian prisoners’ movement issued a statement in honour of Yahya Sinwar, the martyred leader of the Palestinian movement and liberated prisoner, on 18 October 2023. We are republishing the statement below.

The Prisoners’ Institutions and the National Prisoner Movement in Occupation Prisons Mourn the National Leader Martyr Yahya Sinwar

The Prisoners’ Institutions, the National Prisoner Movement in Occupation Prisons, and the freed prisoners at home and abroad mourn to our great people the martyr and national leader Yahya Al-Sinwar (chair of the political bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas), who ascended as a martyr after a life full of struggle and giving until the last moment of his life.

In a statement, the institutions said, “Today, we mourn, on behalf of the prisoner movement in the ‘israeli’ occupation prisons, our companion in imprisonment and leader who dedicated his life to the freedom of his land and people. He is the prisoner, the freed, the martyr, and the martyr whose body remains held, alongside hundreds of martyrs in the cemeteries of numbers and the occupation’s refrigerators.”

The Prisoners’ Institutions pointed out that Al-Sinwar spent more than 23 years of his life in the occupation’s prisons, with his first arrest in 1982, followed by his arrest in 1985, and then again in 1988. He was sentenced to four life terms by the occupation and remained imprisoned until his release in the Loyalty of the Free (Wafa’ al-Ahrar) exchange deal in 2011. Today marks the 13th anniversary of the Loyalty of the Free deal, in which the martyr Al-Sinwar was among those released.

The Prisoners’ Institutions emphasized that the martyrdom of Yahya Sinwar will not deter our people from continuing the path of struggle for their freedom, the freedom of their land, and their right to self-determination.

The institutions also called on our people, wherever they are, to rise in support of the blood of the martyrs and the suffering of the prisoners in occupation prisons, who are facing systematic and unprecedented levels of killing and torture since the start of the ongoing war of genocide.

Glory to the martyrs of Palestine and freedom to the prisoners

18/10/2024

Prisoner, Leader, Martyr: Yahya Sinwar, the great hero of Palestine

18 October 2024

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes the leadership, martyrdom and heroism of the great Palestinian leader, Yahya Sinwar, Abu Ibrahim, martyred in battle against occupation forces on 17 October 2024. Sinwar, who was martyred as he fought until the last breath alongside his comrades, advancing and not retreating, wounded, forcing a whole battalion of occupation soldiers to retreat, resisting still as they fired tank shells at him, throwing debris at a drone targeting him even though he had already lost an arm, epitomized the courage, heroism and bravery of the resistance fighter in battle against the colonialist, imperialist oppressor.

Chair of the Political Bureau of Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement, commander of the Battle of Al-Aqsa Flood, son of the Palestinian popular classes and Khan Younis refugee camp, liberated prisoner and leader of the prisoners’ movement, struggling mujahid, refugee denied his right to return home, resistance fighter and organizational and grassroots leader, Sinwar was and remains renowned on the Palestinian, Arab and international level for his brilliance, strategic thinking, and deep commitment to the liberation of Palestine, its prisoners, its people and its land.

We extend our condolences and congratulations to the Palestinian people, Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement and its leadership, members and supporters, the resistance fighters on the front lines, all of the forces of resistance in the region, the revolutionary movements of the world, and his family and loved ones on the martyrdom of Yahya Sinwar, the hero of Palestine. He arose as a leader from the prisoners’ movement, through 23 years in Zionist prisons, and liberated by the resistance exactly 13 years ago today. In his strategic approach, his unremitting courage and heroism, his broad national approach and his refusal to abandon or compromise the principles of Palestinian liberation, he represented the promise and the role of the prisoners as leaders of the resistance and of the liberation struggle as a whole.

Yahya Sinwar was born on 29 October 1962 in Khan Younis, a Palestinian refugee from Majdal Asqelan, whose parents were forced from their homes and lands in al-Nakba, one of the over 70% of the Palestinian people in Gaza who are themselves refugees denied their right to return home. He grew up in Gaza, a cradle of resistance throughout the years and decades, where in the 1960s and early 1970s, Mohammed al-Aswad, “Guevara Gaza,” and his resistance fighters protected and controlled the Strip by night even as occupation forces aimed at control it by day; on his road to leading the resistance in Gaza to a great battle that has already changed the world.

Sinwar was part of the founding generation of Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement, in Gaza, from his student days in the early 1980s, when he first became active in the Islamic Bloc at the then-new Islamic University of Gaza, the first higher education institution founded in the Gaza Strip. He was Secretary of the Bloc’s Technical Committee, then the Sports Committee of the Student Council, before becoming Vice-President and then President of the Council. It was for his student activities and leadership that he was first arrested by the Zionist regime at the age of 20; he was ordered to administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial, for four months. After he was released, he was abducted once again only one week later and ordered again to six months of administrative detention. This is the same policy of pursuit of the leadership of the student movement that the occupation continues to pursue, 40 years later, on campuses throughout occupied Palestine, seeing the student movement as a site of development of the future national leadership of the Palestinian liberation movement. Again in 1985, he was arrested and held for 8 months in Zionist prisons.

In 1986, prior to the launch of the Hamas movement in December 1987, he founded Majd alongside Khaled al-Hindi and Rawhi Mushtaha, at the behest of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the leading founder of Hamas. Majd was a security framework that would develop into the movement’s internal security, tracking Zionist intelligence officers, security services, and collaborators and agents engaged in dealings with the enemy, in order to protect the people and the resistance.

He was once again seized by occupation forces on 20 January 1988, less than two months after the announcement of the formation of the Islamic Resistance Movement and some of its early operations, including the liquidation of two occupation soldiers. Sinwar was accused of leading and directing the operation to attack and kill the soldiers as well as four collaborators arrested by the resistance for spying and conspiring against the Palestinian resistance.

At that time, a zionist interrogator who was tasked with questioning Sinwar remarked that he was told defiantly, “You know that one day you will be the one under interrogation, and I will stand here as the government, as the interrogator. I will interrogate you.” After the launch of the battle of Al-Aqsa Flood on 7 October 2023, Ha’aretz published a self-congratulatory interview with one of Sinwar’s former torturers. While it, as always, aims to demonize Sinwar as a confident, brave leader of the resistance who refused to crumble in the face of the interrogators, the reality of anti-colonial revolutionary consciousness nonetheless shines through in the narrative:

“He was not in awe of the interrogator – on the contrary: He was defiant all the time. I can read you what I wrote about him in the first interrogation. I kept it. ‘Definitely an anomalous figure in his personality, wisdom and level of intelligence. Religiously extreme, a believer, one who is at peace with his words and his deeds.’…He is super-intelligent…The fact that he was placed behind bars didn’t undermine his leadership abilities or affect his determination to take action against the Zionist enemy. On the contrary: In prison he simply kept working. He activated people, recruited militants.”

Sinwar endured decades of torture and brutality in the zionist prisons. Rather than allowing his soul and spirit to be crushed by the abhorrent circumstances in which he found himself in, Sinwar turned prison into a trench of combat. He withstood interrogation, torture and took the opportunity to study the enemy. During his time in prison, Sinwar achieved the remarkable feat of teaching himself Hebrew, and engaging in an extensive study of the enemy’s security system and repression apparatus. He knew well the tactics of the colonizer and its vulnerabilities and was determined to share this knowledge to develop the resistance movement as a whole. Deeply dedicated to the advancement of the Hamas movement on the structural, political and military level, he was also deeply committed to Palestinian, Arab and Islamic national unity in confronting the occupation, pursuing the development of joint resistance across all factions and advancing the relationship of Hamas with all of the resistance forces in the region, primarily those that make up the Camp of Resistance: Hezbollah and the Lebanese Resistance, the Iraqi Resistance, Yemen and its people, government, armed forces and the AnsarAllah movement, Syria and Iran. His commitment to unity in resistance and in the liberation struggle was partially developed through his time as a leader in the prisoners’ movement across political lines in confrontation with the colonizer.

He led the Higher Leadership Committee of Hamas prisoners within the Zionist prisons for two terms and was part of the leadership of collective hunger strikes in 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004. He was held in multiple prisons, including Majdal, Hadarim, Bir al-Saba and Nafha prisons. He attempted to escape on multiple occasions, digging a hole in the wall of his cell in Majdal prison with a wire and a small saw, and cutting the bars from his window in Ramla prison. After these attempts, he was held in solitary confinement for four years and deprived of family visits; his father visited him twice in 13 years, while his brother was prevented from visiting him for 18 years. During his imprisonment, he survived brain cancer; later, the Zionist regime and its spokespeople publicly lamented the fact that he received medical treatment behind bars.

He aimed to translate some of the books of the occupiers, particularly on security and intelligence into Arabic, such as “Shabak Among the Ruins” by Carmi Gillon, and “Israeli Parties in 1992,” which introduced Zionist political parties. He wrote “Hamas: Trial and Error” on the development of the Hamas Movement, and the book “Al-Majd”, detailing the occupation’s security apparatus and intelligence efforts. It is in this book he also wrote about methods of interrogation of Palestinian political prisoners and the role of colonial intelligence agencies in planting and recruitng agents, in order to develop the level of knowledge and resilience within the liberation movement to resist such efforts. Sinwar was a shining example of the struggle for freedom of political prisoners. His freedom from zionist prisons was a result of his incredible will behind the bars of occupation, and the political victories brought by the resistance.

In 2004, he published his novel while in Bir al-Saba prison, “Thorns of Carnations,” which told a fictionalized personal narrative of the Palestinian struggle between 1967 and the development of the Al-Aqsa Intifada, amid the rise of the Hamas movement in its social context. Haneen Odetallah writes:

“The choice of the writer, primarily a political and military figure, to document this pivotal stage in the history of armed resistance and transmit it in this creative, novelistic form indicates that it is an attempt that goes beyond merely recounting history and its events. The historical novel is not just a reflection of the events of the past; it is a deep exploration of the philosophical and moral forces that shape historical movements….As for the writer, he is one of the pioneering figures in Hamas who witnessed its inception and contributed to its formation and development from youth to the present day. His departure from the confines of traditional historiography to address innovative dramatic struggles in history allows him to explore its philosophical dimensions; specifically, the impact of beliefs on history. In the context of the history of Hamas, this enables him to formulate a philosophy for the Islamic Resistance Movement.”

Yahya Sinwar was liberated from Zionist prisons on 18 October 2011, exactly 13 years ago today, in the Wafa’ al-Ahrar — “Loyalty of the Free” — prisoner exchange, alongside 1,026 fellow Palestinian prisoners, in exchange for Gilad Shalit, the occupation soldier captured by the Izz el-Din al-Qassam Brigades. Nabih Awada captured the leadership role Sinwar played in the exchange from behind bars, including thwarting attempts by the occupation to divide the prisoners from each other, and his commitment to achieving the liberation of all of the heroic fighters serving long sentences in Zionist jails, like Ibrahim Hamed, Hassan Salameh, Ahmad Sa’adat, and Abdullah Barghouthi. “Sinwar specified from inside his prison the price for the release of Gilad Shalit. The agreement was concluded on October 11, 2011, with the Netanyahu government announcing its approval of the deal with Hamas which achieved the liberation of 1,027 Palestinian prisoners, including Yahya Sinwar,” Awada wrote. Sinwar always firmly recognized the necessity of and remained committed to securing prisoner exchanges in order to liberate all of the Palestinian prisoners held in Zionist jails. In 2015, he was officially appointed by Hamas to hold the file of prisoner exchanges and captives held by the resistance.

When he exited the Zionist prisons, he was greeted with a hero’s welcome, and resumed his leadership role in the resistance, directly from his leadership in the prisoners’ movement. Upon his release, he married Samar Mohammed Abu Zamar and had one son, Ibrahim, and immediately took up tasks of leadership. In 2012, he was elected member of the Political Bureau of Hamas, with responsibility for its military wing, the Izz el-Din al-Qassam Brigades, and coordinating between the political and military leadership of the movement, playing a particularly distinguished role in resisting the 2014 zionist assault on Gaza. In 2017, he was elected as the chair of the Hamas movement in Gaza, and re-elected in 2021. His home was bombed and destroyed by occupation airstrikes in 2012, 2014 and again in 2021, yet he refused to retreat in his positions in any way and frequently spoke publicly about his commitment to remain on the front lines of struggle and his welcoming of martyrdom for Palestine. As was befitting of his status as a son of the popular classes of Palestine, he lived a modest life like that of his people. He was filled with compassion for his people and all of the oppressed of the world at the same time that he confronted the oppressors with fiery speeches and escalating military developments.

Sinwar was one of the leaders and originators of the Great March of Return in 2018-2019, the mass marches of Palestinians to the colonially imposed “border” to demand their natural and internationally recognized right of return. As demonstrated in his commitment to the liberation of the prisoners, here he once again emphasized the fundamental principles of the Palestinian cause — breaking the siege on Gaza, yes, but inextricably linked to the return of Palestinian refugees expelled from their lands during al-Nakba (the catastrophe), the liberation of the people and the land. This popular mobilization also emphasized his commitment to the unity of resistance, including popular mass mobilization and led by the armed struggle, in a comprehensive resistance and revolutionary effort for the liberation of Palestine and the defeat of Zionism and imperialism.

In 2021, in the Battle of Seif al-Quds/the Unity of the Fields, Sinwar, his movement, and the Palestinian people in Gaza joined the battle taking place in Jerusalem to defend the land against settlers and to defend Al-Aqsa Mosque against repeated attacks and incursions. The resistance in Gaza responded to the call of the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Jerusalem, and were joined by an uprising in occupied Palestine ’48, marches of return from Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria approaching Palestinian borders, and worldwide mobilization of the Palestinian refugees in the diaspora and supporters of the Palestinian struggle, in a heroic moment of the battle that reaffirmed once more the unity of the Palestinian people and land despite over seven decades of occupation and colonialism.

The launch of the Battle of Al-Aqsa Flood on 7 October 2023 was a pivotal moment in the history of the Palestinian cause, of the Arab revolution, and of the international struggle against imperialism. When the time was right, in the midst of social strife in the occupation state stemming from conflict over Netanyahu’s rule, Sinwar and the Al-Qassam Brigades launched Operation Al-Aqsa Flood to break the siege, make way for a prisoner exchange, and open the road to the liberation of Palestine. In mere minutes, the billions of dollars in defenses, “elite troops”, and “iron walls” that were supposed to keep Gaza locked up ended up being destroyed. The world once again saw the power of the Palestinians when they fight. The operation was planned in detail and brilliantly executed, targeting key military sites and, in particular, the intelligence divisions of the occupation military besieging Gaza. The genocidal assault of the Zionist regime we have witnessed since then is an attempt to complete the always-genocidal intentions of the colonial occupation of Palestine and an attempt to erase the victorious power of the Palestinian people and their heroic Resistance, revealed before the world on 7 October. It became clear on that day that it was indeed possible for the resistance to defeat the zionist military and create a Palestine free of Zionist colonialism — and for the forces of resistance in the region to liberate the Arab nation, Iran and the entire region from imperialist hegemony. The imperialist-Zionist alliance has since unleashed a bloodbath in an attempt to render that future impossible.

However, their vicious and bloody assault has done nothing to erase the Palestinian people and their commitment to struggle and to liberation. Their assassinations of great leaders like Saleh al-Arouri, Ismail Haniyeh, Fouad Shukr, Ibrahim Aqil, Ali Karaki, and Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has failed to achieve their military goals and kill the resistance; instead, their martyrdom has inspired and urged onward a new generation of resistance fighters confronting the occupier, burning their tanks, and repelling their assaults. Hezbollah, leading the Lebanese resistance, is once again creating a graveyard for Merkava tanks, even as Germany shoots down its drones and the US sends over THAAD missiles, joining even more overtly the battle for the imperialist outpost in the region.

The assassinations of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Dr. Abdel-Aziz al-Rantisi, Yahya Ayyash, Abu Ali Mustafa, Ghassan Kanafani, Fathi Shiqaqi, Samir Kuntar, Abbas al-Musawi, Imad Mughniyyeh, Sheik Khader Adnan, Kamal Nasser, Mohammed al-Najjar and Wadie Haddad did not kill their cause nor the Palestinian and Arab liberation movement; the resistance is more deeply rooted than ever before, while the Zionist project remains a fragile implantation, imposed at the force of billions of dollars in colonial weaponry on a daily basis. Of course, we know also that his martyrdom came on 17 October 2024, 23 years after the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine assassinated the infamous racist tourism minister of the occupation, Rehavam Ze’evi, in response to the assassination of Abu Ali Mustafa, to impose a mechanism of justice and accountability — and the prisoners of the 17 October operation are among those that the Resistance is currently seeking to liberate in a prisoner exchange.

As in all anti-colonial resistance struggles, assassinations can never kill the resistance, but only confirm the immortality of great leaders who give their lives in struggle. Yahya Sinwar’s martyrdom was unique, joining his comrades and fellow resistance fighters on the front lines of struggle, advancing to confront the genocidal invaders, wearing a kuffiyeh and military gear, his gun in his hand, a legendary image and material manifestation of the collective unyielding will to liberate Palestine.

Yahya Sinwar was martyred like Sheikh Izz el-Din al-Qassam himself in November 1935, in a firefight with the occupier — then the British, now the Zionist colonizer. Today’s Qassam, will, too, inspire generations to rise, until the defeat of zionism and imperialism and the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea.

The zionist entity and the imperialists have released images of Sinwar in his final hours in hopes of demoralizing the Palestinian resistance and its people. From “Genocide Joe” Biden and “Holocaust” Kamala Harris, to Justin Trudeau, to Anthony Albanese, Keir Starmer, Olaf Scholz and Emmanuel Macron, imperialist officials saluted, praised and boasted about Sinwar’s death, making clear once again that the genocide in Palestine is a US-led imperialist priority.

The image of a great political and military leader, fighting on the front lines for his people, living to fight again despite their bullets, their drones and their tank shells, engaged as a field commander until his last breath, stands before the Palestinian people, the Arab people, and all free people of the world, as one of unparalleled courage, self-sacrifice and bravery.

These images will serve as a beacon of heroism and inspiration for the resistance of today and future generations. Unlike the cowardice that marks the leaders of the zionist entity and the imperialists who cower at the face of the resistance, Sinwar was unyielding in facing the enemy head-on. Shattering all myths that the resistance “hides behind civilians”, the images and circumstances of Sinwar’s martyrdom proves that the resistance is on the frontlines against the enemy, acting as the first barrier between genocidal forces and the whole Palestinian people. Sinwar’s martyrdom proved beyond doubt his incredible courage and will, fighting with blood and soul until the very end.

He is an international icon of resistance, of refusal to submit to colonialism, of readiness to act in all circumstances, of commitment to sacrifice for God, the people and liberation, of the march of martyrs, from Che Guevara to Chris Hani to Sayyed Nasrallah to Yahya Sinwar.

The al-Qassam Brigades said in a statement issued today:

“When the resistance factions, with Hamas at the forefront, decided to enter this major, decisive battle in the history of the Palestinian people’s struggle and our nation’s journey, they knew the price of liberation was very high, a price all nations paid before freeing themselves from their occupiers. They were ready to lead the ranks of the sacrificers, offering both leaders and soldiers, refusing to submit to the enemy or remain silent about its oppression and theft of our people’s legitimate rights….This criminal enemy is delusional if it thinks that by assassinating the great leaders of the resistance such as Sinwar, Haniyeh, Nasrallah, Al-Arouri and others, it can extinguish the flame of the resistance or push it to retreat. Rather, it will continue and escalate until the legitimate goals of our people are achieved. Martyrdom is the highest thing our leaders desire, and their blood will be a beacon that lights the path to liberation and a fire that burns the aggressors.”

Yahya Sinwar’s life, struggle and commitment live on, until the defeat of the Zionist regime and its imperialist partners and sponsors, and until victory: the liberation of Palestine, and the liberation of the Arab people and the region from Zionism, imperialism and their agents and collaborators.

Glory to the martyr Yahya Sinwar and all the martyrs of Palestine and the Resistance. Return, liberation and victory to Lebanon, to Yemen, to all of the forces of the Resistance. Victory for Palestine, all of Palestine, from the river to the sea.

We keep resisting: US and Canada sanction Samidoun

16 October 2024

On October 15, the United States and Canada sanctioned Samidoun in an attempt to repress political organizing in support of the Palestinian people’s struggle against genocide, colonialism and occupation, and the more than 10.000 Palestinian political prisoners that are being tortured and killed by the Zionist entity. In the US, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced the sanctions, while the Canadian governmenthas listed Samidoun as a “terrorist entity” under its criminal code.

These decisions come at a time when the Zionist entity continues its genocide and massacres in Gaza, all of Palestine and Lebanon with full support from the US, Canada and the European Union. It is a coordinated attempt by the enemies of the Palestinian people to stop every form of solidarity with the Palestinian people and political organizing efforts to end Israel’s genocide, crimes against humanity and occupation.

Our response to this designation is clear: we will keep struggling to stop the genocide, stop imperialist support for Israel, until the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea.

Besides sending weapons and money to the Zionist entity, imperialist powers are repressing the Palestinian diaspora, Arab community and international activists for Palestine that are resisting these countries’ support for the occupation. Thousands of activists in North-America and Europe have been arrested, their houses raided or imprisoned. Palestinians in various countries have received deportation orders for their political activism. In Germany, a ban has been implemented against the slogan “from the river to sea, Palestine will be free”.

This designation and sanctions should be of serious concern to all who carry out political work, especially for Palestinian liberation, just like the banning of Samidoun in Germany in November 2023. It is meant to introduce a norm in which organizations may be designated as “terrorist” for organizing demonstrations, lectures, publishing posters and engaging in entirely public and political work that challenges imperialist states’ complicity in Israeli war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ongoing genocide in Gaza. It comes at a time when more people than ever are speaking out for justice and liberation in Palestine and is meant as an attack on the movement as a whole.

We also express our strongest solidarity with Khaled Barakat, Palestinian writer and executive committee member of the Masar Badil, the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement, who was targeted by the US in the same order as a “specially designated global terrorist.” This is meant to silence his effective work and activity in organizing Palestinians in exile and diaspora in the struggle for return and liberation for Palestine.

The repression of Samidoun is part of a larger attack against the Palestinian diaspora, the Arab community and all internationalists that struggle for Palestine. All mainstream political parties, from Democrats to Republicans, and from social democrats to the extreme right-wing, have used the past year to propagate more racist, Islamophobic and repressive measures against the Palestinian people, Arabs, Muslims, refugees, migrants and activists. This repression reflects the interests of the US and Canada, themselves settler-colonial states built on genocide, ethnic cleansing and continued oppression of the Indigenous peoples, and Europe, the birthplace of the Zionist movement.

It is part of the global struggle against colonialism and imperialism that will continue until the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea, the right of return for all Palestinian refugees and the liberation of all oppressed peoples and nations.

Like the Zionist entity fears the Palestinian resistance, so do the imperialist powers fear the Palestinian diaspora and their supporters that have been rising up again and again, especially since the start of operation Al-Aqsa Flood and the Zionist genocide. They fear a strong, popular movement that threatens their economic and political interests in Palestine and the region.

The repression is a sign of strength for the Palestinian movement and the international solidarity movement. This movement has mobilized the largest demonstrations for Palestine in history, has costed Israeli and Zionist companies billions of dollars in losses, it has united millions of people from across the world, and it has united virtually all social movements in every country for the Palestinian liberation struggle.

Samidoun is particularly targeted because of our political and vocal support for the Palestinian prisoners movement and the Palestinian people’s right to resistance. While the US and Canada are two of Israel’s biggest material supporters with weapons and money and repress the Palestinian movement in their own countries, their official outposts abroad have frequently sought to influence and direct Palestinian politics through conditional funding and similar colonial enterprises. Through these sanctions, the US and Canada wish not only to support genocide but to criminalize even verbal resistance to that genocide. The Palestinian people, like all colonized and oppressed peoples, have the right to resist to liberate themselves and their land from colonialism and occupation, from the river to the sea. Those who resist occupation and oppression — the Palestinian resistance — are not only heroes of the Palestinian people, they are defenders of all of humanity.

As Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, we reiterate our support for the Palestinian people, the prisoners and the Palestinian, Arab and Islamic resistance, who are confronting the genocide and occupation on a daily basis.

At the same time, we want to stress that Samidoun does not have any material or organizational ties to entities listed on the terrorist lists of the United States, Canada or the European Union.

We reiterate our words upon German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’ announcement of the demand to ban Samidoun: In Arabic, the word “Samidoun,” means those who are steadfast. We use this name to refer to the Palestinian prisoners, who remain behind bars, struggling for freedom. Today we affirm that we shall remain steadfast and committed to the Palestinian people, until victory, return and liberation.

October 2024, Seattle: Al-Aqsa Flood Month of Action

3 October 2024

The PNW stands with Palestine and the Palestinian Resistance!

Join us and our fighting organizations as we come together to honor the sacrifices of our heroic martyrs and uplift the victory of Al-Aqsa Flood.

This month, there will be a series of events, teach ins, marches, and prop builds in the lead up to a mass mobilization on October 13th, when we will come together as an entire region to take the streets and show the ruling elites that the Pacific Northwest stands with the Palestinian Resistance!

Details, calendar and more at https://floodpnw.com. Below are just a FEW of the events during the month:

Saturday, October 5 – One Year of Genocide, One Year of Resistance Rally — Prisoners’ Contingent!

1 pm, Pier 62 Seattle Water Front⁩ ⁨

JOIN US IN UPLIFTING OUR PRISONERS! 🇵🇸

Currently there are around 10,000 Palestinians being held hostage in occupation prisons.
Nearly 100 of them are women, 240 are children and nearly 3,500 are being held WITHOUT CHARGE OR TRIAL. This doesn’t even include those from Gaza being held captive in Zionist concentration camps.

From Seattle to Palestine it is our duty to demand the freedom of ALL Palestinian prisoners!

Bring your flags, signs, or grab one of ours!

We take to the streets this October 5th at 1pm to show the word that after one year of genocide, the Palestinian people, prisoners and resistance is strong and steadfast in their path towards liberation.⁩

Join Samidoun Seattle on October 9th to gain a deeper understanding of the Al-Aqsa flood operation on October 7 of 2023 and bust myths and understand the facts. This event includes a lecture by author and journalist Dr. Ramzy Baroud, small group discussions, and the opportunity to write letters to Palestinian prisoners – the compass of our struggle. Location sent after registration. Register at tinyurl.com/Oct7PolEd

The Defend the Palestinian and Lebanese Resistance Rally is officially taking place in front of the Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI) on Sunday, October 13th, and 1pm.

This rally is the culmination of collaborative events this past month with the larger goal of defending and uplifting the resistance in Palestine and Lebanon, amidst Zionist bombardment and genocide.

Come and demonstrate the power of those allied with the resistance in the greater Seattle area.

One of our build up events is the Month of Action Art Build on October 6, 2-5pm (slide 2), where we invite anyone to join us in creating amazing art and props for the rally on the 13th. You can register at TINYURL.COM/ResistancePropParties.

In the meantime, please keep sharing and signing up for our other calendar events on floodpnw.com

6 October, ALL OUT IN MADRID. Palestina Libre. End the Genocide. Victory to the Resistance!

3 October 2024

📍 Legazpi, Madrid
🕓12:00 h
🗓️6 October 2024

76 years of GENOCIDE, 76 years of RESISTANCE

We will meet on October 6 to show that one year after the beginning of the newest Palestinian intifada, we are still fighting, demanding that the Spanish state cut all kinds of relations with a genocidal and apartheid state that seeks not only to exterminate the entire Palestinian population, but also, as we have seen in recent days, to exterminate the Arabs of the entire region and steal and occupy their land.

Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen will continue to resist. This is a war against humanity and we must take a position against the massacres that we are seeing live.

We know that it is a long and constant struggle, but if the Palestinian comrades continue to fight until their last breath, it is our responsibility to do so as well.

Palestine lives, the struggle continues

NOTE: This march is part of the fourth convening of the Masar Badil Movement in Madrid. Check out these events on October 4, 5 and 7!

Friday, October 4th, 2024:
- Press conference, in C/ Gran Vía 40 2 Local ASC (local 2 y 3), 12.00 CET.
- “A Revolutionary Path for Palestinian Liberation”, in Espacio El Rastro (Madrid), at 5pm CET.

Saturday, October 5th, 2024:
- “Anti-Colonial Women Congress: Weaving Networks of Resistance”, in Espacio El Rastro (Madrid), at 09.30 am CET.
- “Voices for Palestine: Culture, Art and Resistance” in Espacio El Rastro (Madrid), at 5.30 pm CET.

Sunday, October 6th, 2024:
- March “76 Years of Genocide, 76 Years of Resistance”, from Legazpi to Plaza Reina Sofía, at 12.00 pm CET.

Monday, October 7th, 2024:
- Demonstration in front of the US Embassy (Madrid), at 7 pm CET.

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