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22 October, Montreal: Action to free Georges Abdallah and Palestinian prisoners

Join us on Saturday October 22 at 2pm in front of the French Consulate to stand in solidarity with Georges Abdallah and Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike since September 25th. We demand Georges Abdallah’s immediate release from Lannemezan prison and recognize that political prisoners — whether they be in Zionist or French jails — are on the frontlines of the Palestinian struggle and we must always amplify their cause.

Embodying the Palestinian ethic of “sumud,” or steadfastedness, Georges Abdallah continues to engage in the very same fight he was targeted for. Indeed, during his detainment, Georges Abdallah has repeatedly participated in hunger strikes and refused meals in solidarity with Palestinian political prisoners inside occupation prisons.

October 24, 2022 marks 39 years since Lebanese revolutionary Georges Abdallah was held as a political prisoner in Lannemezan prison in France. He is considered the longest serving political prisoner in Europe and has been eligible for release since 1999. However, his release has been obstructed by the French and American governments at every turn.

Georges Abdallah was targeted for his commitment to the fight for Palestinian liberation, for his role as a revolutionary thinker, and his involvement in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Lebanese Revolutionary Armed Factions (LRAF). Georges Abdallah’s trial which sentenced him to life imprisonment in 1987 was marked by irregularities. One of his lawyers – Jean-Paul Mazurier – was revealed to be an agent for a French spy service and some of the evidence against Abdallah was also revealed to have been fabricated retroactively by French, American and Israeli intelligence services. Despite this, the validity of the trial and its results have never been formally contested despite numerous attempts.

The French regime continues to detain Abdallah as they have deemed him to be a threat to Zionism stating that “[his release would] be celebrated [by Lebanon ..] and many different movements engaged in the revolutionary struggle.” Indeed, Abdallah is a threat to the Zionist regime — and by proxy its collaborators, namely the French and American regimes — for what he represents: the unity between Lebanese and Palestinian resistance and its revolutionary potential. That unity was a powerful force that, at the time Abdallah was still free, the Zionist Occupation was actively attempting to sabotage and continues trying to destroy to this day.

We must continue to demand the immediate release of Georges Abdallah who consistently resisted against the settler-colonial Zionist regime. We also recognize that political prisoners — whether they be in Zionist or French jails — are on the frontlines of the Palestinian struggle and we must always amplify their cause. Embodying the Palestinian ethic of “sumud,” or steadfastness, Georges Abdallah continues to engage in the very same fight he was targeted for. Indeed, during his detainment, Georges Abdallah has repeatedly participated in hunger strikes and refused meals in solidarity with Palestinian political prisoners inside occupation prisons.

We recognize that his arrest and detainment is an attempt to stifle the Palestinian and Lebanese revolutionary spirit. We also condemn the French regime whose detainment of George Abdallah is only possible because of their collaboration with the Zionist and American regimes. We also condemn the Lebanese regime for its shameful inaction which has allowed Georges to remain hostage to France’s collusion with the Zionist regime. As organisations, movements, and individuals in Quebec we affirm our full and complete solidarity with Georges Abdallah and demand his immediate release from Lannemezan prison. We will continue to honour Georges Abdallah’s persistent fight until full liberation and return.

 

Date 22 October 2022
14 h 00 min – 17 h 00 min
Consulate General of France
1501 Ave. McGill College, Montreal, Quebec H3A 3M8 Canada

29 October, Albuquerque: Monthly Palestine Solidarity Meeting

We invite all in Albuquerque to join us for our first monthly Albuquerque Palestine Solidarity Meeting. 6pm October 29 at El Chante (804 Park Ave SW). Families and Children welcome!

We will be discussing ongoing prisoner struggles, the March for Return and Liberation in Brussels, local NM news, and more.

Feel free to bring snacks to share.

More info: https://www.instagram.com/p/CjrfKRlj1I9/

The Palestinian prisoners: Historical injustice and a crime against humanity by Munther Khalaf Mufleh

The following article was originally published in Arabic by the Handala Center. Munther Khalaf Mufleh is a Palestinian political prisoner, a member of the Central Committee of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. He is director of the Handala Center for the Prisoners’ Movement Affairs and the spokesperson for the PFLP prison branch. He is a Palestinian writer and journalist, and was issued a membership by the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate while imprisoned in recognition of his work.

The Palestinian prisoners: Historical injustice and a crime against humanity

Munther Khalaf Mufleh

The issue of Palestinian prisoners is one of the most severe injustices in the modern era, as the issue of prisoners i an emergent situation related to a conflict or battle, its circumstances and its particular time. That is, captivity as a temporary state as understood normally by people, or as defined by international conventions, or what you know about the human experiences of prisoners and captives in wars, conflicts and disputes around the world.

It is true that the issue of Palestine in its entirety is a major historical injustice of this era, but those who bear the burden of this issue, and the arbitrariness of the Zionist occupation towards the Palestinians in exchange for international silence and amid the Palestinian inability to confront or bring to an end the oppression of this group of people, are the prisoners themselves. Perhaps this Zionist arbitrariness towards the issue of the prisoners is like a date and time documented on the fronts of confrontation and on the faces and ages of the prisoners. The prisoner Karim Younes is considered the dean of Palestinian prisoners. He has spent 40 years in prison until today continuously, which perhaps indicates a time and date of the beginning of the official Palestinian inability to act and confront this injustice.

At the same time, the Zionists engage in constant violations and attacks against the prisoners, singling them out, and turning them into hostages of the Zionist obsession with “security.” This situation has extended from inside the prison walls to outside them, with the arbitrariness of the occupation constantly growing according to the state of “security” obsession directed against all Palestinians. This further reinforces the policy of so-called “administrative detention,” words that do not convey the severity of the situation. Administrative detention is a war waged by the Zionist occupation against the Palestinian people, affecting all aspects of their social, economic, cultural and political life…etc.

This policy has targeted thousands of families for destruction. It has contributed to the attempted disintegration and weakening of the Palestinian family by arresting the father or the mother. Since the beginning of the 1967 occupation, one million Palestinians have been arrested, including nearly 26,000 women, and since 1948 the number grows further, almost doubling . If we estimate the average of the number of years of imprisonment from the inception of the 1967 occupation, by averaging the minimum and maximum sentences, dividing by two and multiplying the results by the number of arrests, the results reach 20,500,000 years of arrest and imprisonment served by Palestinians since 1967 alone, with the number becoming far greater if they are calculated since 1948.

Twenty million, five hundred thousand years, wasted years in which the capabilities of prisoners, their communication and their development were imprisoned, locked away. Accordingly, detention, including administrative detention, is a war crime and a practice of ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian people. If an economist looks at this situation in terms of economic feasibility, lost opportunities and wasted energy for work and production, and we realize that this energy can contribute to the development of all of humanity, we must ask: Are these not then crimes against humanity?! This is also an economic war on the Palestinian people. Among those arrested are dozens of writers, journalists, inventors, hundreds of doctors, engineers, graduates, politicians, academics and parliamentarians, all in an effort to squander their efforts to better humanity. Is not this squandering of energy and activity through detention a crime of cultural and ethnic cleansing, and an attempt to eradicate and erase the Palestinian political identity?

The part is a reflection of the whole. Administrative detention is a heinous crime against humanity practiced by the Zionist occupier. It affects all categories and sectors of the Palestinian people, which means the permanent expansion of the struggle to end it and liberate the prisoners to include the entire Palestinian people.

The prisoners’ cause is not a humanitarian issue alone, but instead takes on multiple dimensions. It does not concern only the prisoners themselves and their families; instead, it is an issue of a society, a nation, and one which should concern all of humanity.

 

On the march to Lannemezan: Growing campaign to free Georges Abdallah

Buses are filling up from across France for the annual march on Saturday, 22 October, in Lannemezan, where imprisoned Lebanese Communist struggler for Palestine Georges Ibrahim Abdallah is held. The march will progress from the train station in Lannemezan to the prison, where participants will ensure their voices are heard inside, demanding freedom for Georges Abdallah and all prisoners of the Palestinian cause, and showing support and solidarity to the Palestinian people and their resistance in the liberation struggle. For over 10 years, this march has brought together hundreds and thousands of people to demand the release of Abdallah, jailed in France for 38 years.

The annual march marks the anniversary of his arrest on 24 October 1984, demanding his liberation and return to his homeland Lebanon, which has been repeatedly denied despite multiple judicial and political victories. This year, it will take place on Saturday, 22 October at 2 pm, marching from the train station in Lannemezan to the prison.

Buses and Group Transit to Lannemezan

In Toulouse, the Collectif Palestine Vaincra, a member organization of the Samidoun Network, is organizing a free bus to Lannemezan, leaving at 11:30 am from the Basso Cambo metro in Toulouse and returning in the evening. Participants may register by emailing collectifpalestinevaincra@gmail.com.

Group travel will also proceed from multiple cities throughout France. People may email campagne.unitaire.gabdallah@gmail.com for departures from Paris and liberonsgeorges33@riseup.net for departures from Bordeaux. Carpooling and buses from Marseille, Foix, Montauban, Saint-Girons and Pau are also being organized, with details and contact information at the Facebook event.

Toulouse event for liberation: Georges Abdallah to Palestine

The evening before the demonstration, on Friday, 21 October, the Collectif will host an event in Toulouse linking the struggle for a liberated Palestine with the campaign to free Georges Abdallah. The event will take place the Bourse du Travail, a labour union hall in Toulouse, at 7 pm. Speakers will include Elsa Lefort, the wife of Salah Hamouri and the spokesperson of the committee urging the imprisoned French-Palestinian lawyer’s freedom; Pierre Stambul, of the French Jewish Union for Peace, a longterm struggler for Palestinian liberation, anti-racism and anti-colonialism; and Jaldia Abubakra, of Samidoun Spain and the Masar Badil, the Alternative Palestinian Revolutionary Path.

There is growing enthusiasm throughout France for the release of Georges Abdallah. On Friday, 7 October, two activists ran onto the field of Lyon Stadium during a football march, carrying Palestinian flags and t-shirts calling for Abdallah’s freedom. The widely televised and seen incident drew attention to the case, and the two activists were held for two nights in jail before being released:

Another group in Toulon organized a protest on Monday, 17 October to urge the liberation of Abdallah:

These events are building on a number of events and activities marking the month of action for the liberation of Georges Abdallah. On Tuesday, 11 October, the Collectif organized a screening of Fedayin: Georges Abdallah’s Fight, the film by Collectif Vacarme(s) Films that highlights the Abdallah’s life and struggle alongside that of the Palestinian movement. Around 50 people came to the fourth Toulouse screening of the film, which was followed by a lively discussion led by members of the Collectif.

Participants discussed the role and relative inaction of larger French left political parties in calling for Abdallah’s release, noting at the same time increasing levels of commitment and interest in the case from multiple parties. One participant, the brother of a Palestinian prisoner, emphasized in particular the importance of films like “Fedayin” to highlight the lives and resistance of Palestinian prisoners in order to strengthen the solidarity movement. Another participant, a Palestinian refugee from Lebanon, denounced the Lebanese state’s inaction on Abdallah’s case, linking it to the official policies of discrimination targeting Palestinian workers. Others noted that part and parcel of the struggle to free Georges Abdallah is to challenge the French state’s ongoing colonialism and active complicity with the Israeli occupation and the Zionist regime, including political, economic, diplomatic and military cooperation.

Indeed, over 30 organizations in Toulouse have joined the call for the demonstration on 22 October, including: Collectif Palestine Vaincra, Samidoun, Union Juive Française pour la Paix, FSU 31, CGT Haute Garonne, Union Syndicale Solidaires 31, UNEF Toulouse, Parti de Gauche 31, NPA 31, Révolution Permanente 31, Le Poing Levé Toulouse, Secours Rouge Toulouse, Sud Education 31/65, Centre de la Communauté Démocratique Kurde de Toulouse, UCL Toulouse & Alentours, BRIC – Bourrassol Rugby International Club, Solidarité Palestine Toulouse, Action Antifasciste Tolosa, Comité de liberté pour Musa Asoglu Toulouse, Front Anti-Impérialiste Toulouse, Front Populaire (Turquie) Toulouse, ASOMP – Amitié Sahara Occidental Midi-Pyrénées, Groupe Libertad de la Fédération Anarchiste, Attac Toulouse, PCOF 31, Comité 31 du Mouvement de la Paix, DAL 31, LDH Toulouse, Comité Vérité et Justice 31, Union des Etudiant-e-s de Toulouse, Couserans Palestine, Toulouse Anti-CRA

The joint statement follows:

Georges Abdallah is a Lebanese communist and activist for the Palestinian cause. From his youth, he was committed to struggling against the Israeli invasion and occupation of Lebanon in 1978 and 1982. These military invasions caused tens of thousands of civilian victims, such as during the massacre of the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Chatila to Beirut in September 1982. In this context, Georges Abdallah co-founded the Lebanese Revolutionary Armed Fraction (FARL) which claimed responsibility for several operations on French soil, including the executions in 1982 of Yacov Barsimentov and Charles Ray, Mossad and CIA agents respectively.

Arrested in Lyon on 24 October 1984, Georges Abdallah was sentenced to life imprisonment for complicity in murder. But this conviction is affected by many irregularities, in particular direct pressure from Reagan on Mitterrand, and the later revelations of his first lawyer, Jean-Paul Mazurier, that he had been working for the French intelligence services.

Eligible for release under French law since 1999, Georges Abdallah has made eight requests for parole. In 2013, this request was accepted by the sentence enforcement court, subject to his deportation to Lebanon. On this occasion, the United States, through an intervention by Hillary Clinton, once again exerted pressure for Georges Abdallah to be kept behind bars (as revealed by a Wikileaks document). Finally, his release was blocked by a political decision by Manuel Valls, Minister of the Interior at the time, who refused to sign the documents for hi deportation. In January 2022, during a hearing of the administrative court to rule on his request for deportation, the public rapporteur declared “that it is quite obvious that the continued detention [of Georges Abdallah] is subject to considerations of an extra-legal nature”. After, the administrative court refused on 10 February to order his deportation.

Today, he has become one of the longest-held political prisoners in Europe and a notable figure in the Palestinian prisoners’ movement. Alongside them, he regularly engages in hunger strikes or declarations of support for the release of the 4,650 Palestinian political prisoners, of whom more than 740 are in administrative detention (imprisoned without charge or trial), such as French-Palestinian lawyer Salah Hamouri.

On October 24, 2022, Georges Abdallah will have spent 38 years in French prisons. A broad campaign demands his immediate release and his return to his country, Lebanon, on the occasion of a month of international mobilization in October 2022.

In Toulouse, we call for widespread participation in the national demonstration on Saturday October 22, 2022 from 2 p.m. from the train station to the Lannemezan prison (65) where he is being held.

On 8 October, the Collectif Palestine Vaincra organized a Palestine Stand in central Toulouse focusing on the campaign to free Abdallah.

https://twitter.com/Collectif_PV/status/1578678778481770496

They spoke over the sound system about Georges Abdallah, his life and struggle, and his commitment to the Palestinian cause. While many passrs-by came to show solidarity with Abdallah and participate in a solidarity photo campaign, the stand faced harassment by city police.

Despite the stand being an authorized outdoor political activity, a dozen police arrived and attempted to interrupt the action and eventually forced the organizers to unfold the canopy above the stand, while the protest continued with flags and banners for another 30 minutes. As the Collectif noted, “In order to open a frank discussion with the city authorities, and thus allow us to settle the contentious administrative aspects, we have sent several emails to the relevant department since 18 May. Since then, the town hall has ignored our messages and instead sent the municipal police to us as soon as our activities displease them. This practice, which is a form of political censorship, is unacceptable, and we will not allow ourselves to be intimidated!“

50 Palestinian prisoners suspend hunger strike: A new stage of struggle against administrative detention

On Thursday, 13 October, the 50 Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike against detention without charge or trial suspended their strike, declaring a new stage of struggle against the policy of administrative detention. Thirty Palestinian prisoners launched their strike on 25 September, with 20 more joining on 9 October, demanding an end to the system in which Palestinians are routinely jailed for years at a time with no charge or trial under so-called “secret evidence.” With their brave struggle and commitment to put their bodies and lives on the line to challenge colonial injustice and oppression, the hunger strikers have opened up a new stage of struggle against administrative detention and against the settler colonial occupation regime.

In a statement issued by the Higher Emergency Committee of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement, which includes all factions and political forces, the prisoners declared that “the strikers made their voices heard to all of the free people of the world. This latest strike, which lasted for 19 days, represents a cry of rejection and intifada in the face of the unjust administrative detention that steals lives as well as land and history.”

The strike was supported by events and actions throughout Palestine, the Arab region and internationally, with many organizations issuing statements, organizing demonstrations and pressuring government officials to end their complicity and support for the regime imprisoning Palestinians without charge or trial. Samidoun activists organized events in New York, Vancouver, Berlin, Toulouse, Paris, Athens, Amsterdam, Gothenburg, Charleroi and multiple locations to show solidarity with the hunger strikers.

The hunger strikers sent a clear message to the occupation that the Palestinian prisoners will not back down in the face of the sharply escalated use of administrative detention — reaching 800 administrative detainees out of 4,650 total Palestinian political prisoners in September 2022. Instead, the prisoners’ movement will continue to build on this milestone to escalate the struggle to resist administrative detention until it is ended.

This includes reviving the boycott of the occupation courts, launched on 1 January by all administrative detainees and continuing until suspended in June. They announced that they will continue to boycott the courts and urge all administrative detainees to once again join the collective boycott.

The prisoners announced that they were suspending their strike and would continue to address each administrative detainees’ case through the representatives of the prisoners’ movement and would continue to engage in escalating the struggle until freedom and liberation is achieved. They linked the struggle behind occupation bars to the growing resistance throughout Palestine, saluting the beseiged people and strugglers in Shuafat refugee camp and Nablus. They further announced that the sick and elderly administrative detainees would be released within two months, with their detention not being renewed an additional time.

In their statement, the 30 administrative detainees who launched the strike said:

“We started it with a loud cry, and our loyal and dedicated people turned it into a massive demonstration, the echoes of which reached all over the world. Our manifestation is here reaching its goals in its first episode. Our choice is continuous confrontation and resistance against arbitrary administrative detention. While the occupier’s main goal is to subjugate and control our people, and to erase their historical narrative and national identity, our battle against administrative detention is a continuous confrontation that includes all our people in Palestine and in the diaspora, all the way to making the issue of administrative detention one of the Palestinian priorities in confronting the Zionist colonial project.

The second episode of our struggle is our commitment to boycotting the Zionist courts at all levels, which is the cornerstone of confronting racist administrative detention. We will make all efforts to transform our boycott of the courts into a position for all administrative detainees and a position that includes the national and Islamic forces, human rights institutions, the bar association and lawyers in occupied Palestine 1948, to prevent the occupation from whitewashing the policy of administrative detention, and at the same time examining the possibility of raising this before international courts. We affirm the continuation of our confrontation of administrative detention based on the ongoing boycott of the courts. We further announce that there are multiple steps for a continuous program of struggle that we will announce later.”

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes the courageous Palestinian prisoners who carried out this battle for the past 19 days. This suspension of the strike, as it is for the prisoners, is not an end to the campaign against administrative detention. Instead, it is an urgent call to rise to the new phase of struggle laid out by the prisoners’ sacrifice and commitment to bring an end to administrative detention once and for all — and for the freedom of all Palestinian prisoners and the liberation of Palestine. As we salute the strength and dedication of those resisting behind bars, we emphasize that all who seek justice and liberation in Palestine must escalate our struggle and organizing to support the rising and resisting Palestinian people, from al-Naqab to Nablus to Shuafat to Gaza to the refugee camps to those behind prison bars, and confront imperialism, Zionism and the reactionary regimes that collaborate with them.

We urge all to join us on 29 October in Brussels for the March for Return and Liberation and to take to the streets everywhere around the world to march for Palestinian liberation from all bars and colonial prisons, and from Zionism and colonialism, from the river to the sea.

**

Statement of the Higher Emergency Committee of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Movement: 

To our heroic people, our salutes full of challenge and steadfastness…

In light of the blessed uprising of our people in the streets and squares of the homeland, rejecting the aggression of the occupier against our people and our prisoners, an expression of the renewal and vitality of our people with their sacrifices and daring. The prisoners’ movement rose up inside the prisons in an uprising of another kind, through the strike of the administrative detainees rejecting this ongoing policy of aggression.

In light of the developments that have taken place inside the prisons, we would like to emphasize the following:

First: Our last strike, which lasted for 19 days, represented a cry of rejection and intifada in the face of the unjust administrative detention that steals lives as well as land and history.

Second: After the strikers made their voice heard to all the free people of the world; The striking prisoners decided to suspend their strike to give an opportunity to address the strikers’ files through the representatives of the prisoners’ movement.

Third: We affirm that our quest to confront the policy of administrative detention through a hunger strike and other escalatory steps will not stop unless this policy is halted and the occupation is uprooted from our land and our lives.

Fourth: We thank all those who supported this movement and strike, all institutions and individuals inside and outside Palestine, and emphasize the need for this support to continue.

Fifth: We salute our besieged people in Shuafat camp and the city of Nablus, who are waging the most wonderful epics of heroism, challenge and redemption confronting the hateful Zionist war machine.

Glory to the martyrs, freedom to the prisoners, and healing to the wounded

Higher National Emergency Committee
Palestinian Prisoners’ Movement

14-23 October: Global Week of Action for Palestinian Political Prisoners on Hunger Strike

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is joining the Palestinian Youth Movement and over 30 other organizations, to call upon all supporters of the Palestinian struggle to join us on October 14th – 23rd for a week of action in support of Palestinian political prisoners and their fight for freedom and dignity.

On September 25th, 30 Palestinian political prisoners held in Israeli military prisons began an indefinite hunger strike calling for an end to their “administrative detention.” Administrative detention is a systematic policy of arbitrary imprisonment whereby the Zionist state detains Palestinians and incarcerates them, without charge or trial, for an indefinite period. The policy is one of the many colonial tactics used by the occupation to routinely target, harass, intimidate, and silence Palestinian youth and organizers who become a symbol of hope for their people. In this way, administrative detention is ultimately an effort to dampen Palestinians’ collective spirit and deter them from continuing to organize for liberation.

 Following the announcement of their collective open hunger strike, the Israeli Prison Services has punitively transferred all the detainees to isolation cells, away from the rest of the Palestinian prisoners and detainees. Out of the 30 detainees, 28 of them are held in Ofer Prison and are currently in collective isolation, divided into four separate prison cells. Of the other two, Salah Hammouri is being held in solitary confinement in Hadarim while Ghassan Zawahreh is being held in solitary confinement in Naqab Prison. Salah Hammouri, is a recognized Palestinian/French human rights defender and political prisoners lawyer working at Addameer, who has been the subject of the Israeli occupation harassment for over 22 years now and is currently facing an imminent threat of forced deportation from his hometown Jerusalem in an attempt of the Israeli occupation to further ethnically cleans Jerusalemites from Jerusalem.

Nonetheless, in the face of unspeakable repression, Palestinian political prisoners including Salah continue to demonstrate their courage and steadfastness on the frontlines of our struggle, using their bodies and their physical autonomy as tools to liberate themselves, and empowering others to do the same. Indeed, following the initial announcement and statement from the 30 hunger strikers, on October 9th, 20 more prisoners joined them — with a total of 50 Palestinian political prisoners now on hunger strike in protest of their detention.

We ask our people in the diaspora and our joint struggle partners, along with Palestinian/Arab organizations, collectives, and unions, to join us for a week of action in support of the hunger strike. We call on you to organize actions at Israeli embassies and consulates, engage politicians on all levels, mobilize media channels, organize twitter storms including influencers and others, release your own statements in solidarity, host educational events in your area with unions, students and policy makers, and issue public demands to your governments to apply sanctions against the settler-colonial state of Israel.

We will continue to uplift the courage, determination and steadfastness of Palestinian political prisoners by amplifying their demands: an end to administrative detention and the immediate and unconditional release of all Palestinian political prisoners held hostage in Zionist jails.

Until Return and Liberation,

Palestinian Youth Movement

Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network

Collectif Palestine Vaincra

Anakbayan

Canada-Philippines Solidarity Organization

SJP at CSUF

SJP at X University

Faculty for Palestine

INSAF uOttawa

Al-Awda PRRC

National Students for Justice in Palestine

BDS Boston

Solidarity with Palestinian Human Rights McGill (SPHR McGill)

Arab Left Forum – Canada

Jewish Voice for Peace – NYC

The Mapping Project

Academics for Palestine-Concordia

USPCN- Northern California

SJP at CSUN

Pan-African Community Action (PACA)

Yemeni Liberation Movement

Thowra Dabke

Spring Socialist Network

Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights Concordia

Labour For Palestine

DSA North Texas

Dallas Anti-War Committee

Malaya Movement Texas

Mount Royal University

Students Allied For Freedom and Equality

Students for Justice at Palestine at Mason

Giovani palestinesi d’Italia (GPI)

Solidarity Across Borders (SAB)

Claudia Jones School for Political Education

American Muslims for Palestine

Just Peace Advocates/Mouvement Pour Une Paix Juste

Independent Jewish Voices

South Asian Diaspora Action Collective (SADAC)

To add your organization’s signature, fill out the form here.

 

New York demonstration amplifies call to #ShutElbitDown and support Palestine Action

Demonstrators in New York City gathered on Sunday, 9 October to stand in solidarity with Palestine Action and build the campaign to #ShutElbitDown. The demonstration, organized by Samidoun NY/NJ, Within Our Lifetime and the Palestinian Youth Movement, gathered outside the MetLife building, which has offices of both the Bank of New York Mellon Corporation and Barclays. The two banks are major investors in Elbit Systems, the notorious Israeli arms manufacturer marketing and profiting from the death, colonization and oppression of the Palestinian people.

Elbit Systems has been targeted in a strong, successful campaign by Palestine Action, particularly in Britain. Direct actions at the company’s arms factories and offices have cost it significant amounts of damage, while preventing the factories from producing weapons for days on end. Two of Elbit’s British facilities have already been closed as a result of Palestine Action’s direct actions and advocacy.

Following these direct actions and the hit to their bottom line, the British government is collaborating with Elbit to prosecute Palestine Action activists. The “Elbit Eight” are facing felony charges, with trumped-up allegations of “blackmail” that could carry serious prison terms. Many Palestine Action activists have already faced lesser charges, with the vast majority defeating these charges in court or having them thrown out or cancelled before the hearings even begin due to lack of evidence, unlikelihood of a conviction or improper police actions.

The Elbit Eight trial was scheduled to begin on 10 October, but was postponed days before until November 2023. The New York City action not only demanded an end to the prosecution of Palestine Action activists but also emphasized why people in the U.S. — and New York in particular — will be organizing and building to #ShutElbitDown globally. The defense campaign is highlighting that in reality it is #ElbitIsGuilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, in Palestine and internationally, not Palestine Action.

After the rally outside the MetLife building, participants marched through the building on the ground floor to Grand Central Terminal as the large station echoed with chants and calls for Palestinian liberation. Demonstrators then marched to the British consulate, rallying in a courtyard in the tower’s property and demanding British officials end their ongoing prosecutions of Palestine Action activists in support of Elbit’s arms manufacturing.

Demonstrators also drew attention and expressed their solidarity and support for the 30 Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike, with an additional 20 joining the strike on 9 October. The hunger strikers are demanding an end to administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial, resisting the occupation from behind bars.

During the demonstration, Laila Boutros, Joe Catron and Hassan spoke on behalf of Samidoun NY/NJ.

Joe Catron provided an overview of the #ShutElbitDown campaign, Palestine Action’s activities and the power of direct action to extract a meaningful cost from occupation arms dealers.

Laila Boutros delivered the following speech:

Starting in July 2021, Palestine Action’s #ShutElbitDown campaign has utilized direct action to shut down Elbit Systems factories and headquarters throughout Britain. Elbit has taken Palestine Action to court many times over their direct action campaigns targeting the Elbit factories and headquarters, but none of these attempts have led to significant legal consequences. A number of these cases have been delayed significantly, while many activists being charged have walked free after charges being dropped due to “unrealistic prospects of conviction” and Elbit’s continuous failure to provide adequate evidence to the courts. Just last month, five activists had all of their charges dropped following action taken in July at Elbit subsidiary ‘UAV Engines’, where combat drone parts and engines are manufactured.

The latest development in the #ElbitIsGuilty campaign has been spurred by the #Elbit8 case, in which 8 Palestine Action activists were set to face trial on October 10th for charges of burglary, criminal damage and blackmail. The 3 activists facing blackmail charges could face up to 14 years imprisonment each. Last week, the activists were informed that their trial has been postponed to next year, November 2023.

The #ElbitIsGuilty campaign is a campaign that encompasses all of Palestine Action’s legal battles. This campaign seeks to expose Elbit’s violent crimes against the Palestinian people and expose the truth that Elbit is guilty. Elbit would like to hold the Palestine Action activists accountable for their acts of resistance against Elbit, but they are hypocrites. Elbit advertises their products as battle-tested in Gaza, battle-tested on Palestinian people in Gaza, they are proud of the crimes they have committed. They say the Palestine Action activists are the criminals, but they are the real criminals.

I will now read a passage from comrade George Habash, Al Hakim, the speech that he delivered at the Jordan International Hotel in Amman in 1970 to hostages following a resistance operation in the face of US-backed Jordanian regime attacks against the Palestinian revolution.

Al Hakim says – “After 22 years of injustice, inhumanity, living in camps with nobody caring for us, we feel that we have the very full right to protect our revolution. We have all the right to protect our revolution. Our code of morals is our revolution. What saves our revolution, what helps our revolution, what protects our revolution is right, is very right and very honorable and very noble and very beautiful, because our revolution means justice, means having back our homes, having back our country, which is a very just and noble aim.”

Al Hakim was speaking of the brave Palestinian resistance in Palestine and elsewhere in the Arab world, but we know that in order to win, we must fight back everywhere – whether it is in Palestine, New York City, London, or anywhere else in the world. We all have a right and a duty to resist the murderous Zionist entity and all institutions that support and benefit from the Zionist entity’s genocide of the Palestinian people. Our comrades in Palestine Action have taken this duty very seriously and we will not let them fight alone.

Hassan delivered the following speech:

Elbit systems essentially wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for the constant siege of Gaza which is punctuated by regular full scale assaults. In the 2014 war on Gaza Elbit supplied all manner of missiles drones and surveillance technology that were crucial to the offensive. In addition, shortly thereafter in 2015, Elbit was contracted to build a new “smart wall” around Gaza that included a 130-foot deep underground wall.

Both the Bank of NY Mellon and Barclays, whose major offices in the US are right in this building, underwrite these murderous quote unquote innovations. They assure Elbit continues to profit from the genocide of Palestinians.

During the July peak of the 2014 war Elbit’s profits increased by over 6%, a huge increase for a single month. The war on Gaza is not just it’s main source of income, it’s also a primary source of marketing. Since this was the first time Elbit’s drones were used in a full-scale ground assault their drones were now marketed as ‘battle-tested’, a moniker that is deeply attractive to repressive governments the world over.

After the 2014 war the Swiss government approved a 280 million dollar deal to purchase the ‘battle-tested’ Hermes 900 drones. Shortly thereafter, the UK Ministry of Defense signed a contract for a joint venture to the tune of 1.6 billion dollars with Elbit and a French company, Thales systems, to produce drones similar to the Hermes drones. The same drones were then purchased by the Brazillian government for use against protests during the World Cup. About half of Elbit’s revenue come from these weapons exports.

Again in 2021, during the most recent assault on Gaza, Elbit saw a huge revenue boost, this time over 30% leading to record-breaking sales that year. It is this constant deluge of war that has allowed Elbit Systems to become the largest exporter of drones in the world.

The biggest threat to that market dominance and to the company as a whole is Palestine Action in the UK and that’s why we support them.

Repressive forces around the world have applauded Elbit systems for making it easier to quash protests and oppress poor and struggling people. That’s why the work of the Elbit eight is so crucial. They’re fighting not just for Palestine but so that all of us, the world over, are not subjected to these death machines for the simple crime of wanting to be free.

Is it right to rebel, Elbit Systems go to hell!

Nerdeen Kiswani, chair of Within Our Lifetime, spoke at the conclusion of the rally, emphasizing: “It is Elbit that is guilty! It is Elbit that must be shut down!” highlighting that Palestine Action’s direct actions interrupt the flow of weaponry to occupied and colonized Palestine.

Samidoun NY/NJ, Within Our Lifetime and the Palestinian Youth Movement will continue to organize to #ShutElbitDown and support Palestine Action in New York City. Please contact Samidoun NY/NJ on Twitter and/or Instagram to get involved in the campaign. Visit Palestine Action’s website to find out more about how you can support #ShutElbitDown, donate to their work and expand the pressure on Israeli arms dealers.

17 October, Vancouver: Film Screening: Fedayin, the Struggle of Georges Abdallah + Support Palestinian Hunger Strikers

Monday, October 17
7 pm
1803 E 1st Ave
Vancouver
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/645019576977269

On 24 October 2022, Georges Abdallah — the Lebanese Arab struggler for Palestine — will enter his 39th year in French prisons. Join us to mark the International Month of Action to Free Georges Abdallah and to learn about his story by joining us for a screening of “Fedayin,” the powerful documentary highlighting the Palestinian struggle through the life and resistance of Georges Abdallah.

We will also focus on the 50 Palestinian prisoners currently on hunger strike in Israeli occupation prisons to demand an end to administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial. 30 Palestinian prisoners have been on hunger strike since 25 September and 20 more since 9 October to demand justice and freedom. This event is also part of the global week of action for the hunger strikers.

Free admission, donations welcome

This event is taking place on the unceded and occupied territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) peoples. The organizers stand in full solidarity and support of Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination and with the ongoing movements to defend land, water and Indigenous peoples from plunder and settler colonialism.

New website for Brussels actions: 29 October, March for Return and Liberation!

The Masar Badil (Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement) launched a new website today to highlight the March for Return and Liberation taking place in Brussels, Belgium, on 29 October 2022, as well as the Week of Action for Palestinian Liberation leading up to that date. Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is one of the endorsers of the March and is organizing an event on Thursday, 27 October on the struggle of Palestinian prisoners.

The site includes details about how to participate in the annual mass march in front of Lannemezan prison in France to demand the liberation of the Lebanese Arab struggler Georges Ibrahim Abdallah on Saturday, 22 October, as well as the program of political, cultural and media seminars from 24 to 29 October in Brussels, culminating in the mass rally and march on 29 October, the March of Return and Liberation: Free Palestine from the River to the Sea. The march will proceed from Lumumba Square at 2 pm to the European Parliament.

Also included are a series of video messages and special invitations from Palestinian public figures, resistance and political spokespeople and Arab and international movements, calling for broad participation on 29 October in order to restore the voice of the Palestinian masses in exile and diaspora, and to work to expand and develop a boycott of the Zionist project in occupied Palestine, confronting normalization projects and the so-called “Palestinian Authority” in the occupied West Bank.

The site also highlights various demands, activities and contingents in the rally, especially the demand to break the siege on Gaza, where CAPJPO-EuroPalestine will organize multiple buses from France to attend the rally, as well as for freedom for all Palestinian prisoners and the liberation of Georges Abdallah. Organizations are invited to join the current endorsers — including Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, Collectif Palestine Vaincra, CAPJPO-EuroPalestine, Secours Rouge, Classe Contre Classe, Plate-forme Charleroi-Palestine, Alkarama Palestinian Women’s Mobilization, Al-Yudur Palestinian Youth, Canada Palestine Association and many more. Click here to add your endorsement.

Visit the website:

returnandliberation.org

Hamburg: Activities in solidarity with Georges Ibrahim Abdallah

The following is a republication of a report by Bündnis gegen imperialistische Aggression (BgiA) and Netzwerk Freiheit für alle politische Gefangenen on two actions organized in Hamburg, Germany, as part of the “action month for the release of Georges Ibrahim Abdullah”. Samidoun Germany participated in these actions:

On 06 and 07 October 2022, different organisations carried out different actions in the framework of the international month of action for the immediate release of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah. For example, the Bündnis gegen imperialistische Aggression (BgiA) from Hamburg organised a manifestation together with Samidoun on Hamburg’s Steindamm, a street where there are many Arab and Turkish shops.

Hamburg Aktivitäten in Solidarität mit Georges Ibrahim Abdallah 2

Hamburg Aktivitäten in Solidarität mit Georges Ibrahim Abdallah 4

The manifestion was very well received by passers-by and Arab youth from Palestine, Morocco, Algeria and Syria joined the rally. Slogans for the Palestinian liberation struggle and for the release of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah were shouted vigorously. Other political prisoners such as Ahmad Saadat were also addressed in speeches and their release was demanded. Thus, a good contribution to the international month of action could be brought and it is shown that the potential for the anti-imperialist struggle is also big here in the heart of the imperialist beast.

Hamburg Aktivitäten in Solidarität mit Georges Ibrahim Abdallah 5

The evening before, the Freedom for All Political Prisoners Network organised an information and discussion event in solidarity with Georges Ibrahim Abdallah. A representative of Samidoun and a representative of Ak Palestine spoke on the topic. Anti-imperialist forces from different organisations and countries came to listen to the speakers and show solidarity with Georges Ibrahim Abdallah. In a lively discussion, all participants affirmed the need to strengthen anti-imperialist work in the FRG again and to develop a common practice.

Hamburg Aktivitäten in Solidarität mit Georges Ibrahim Abdallah 6

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