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Sunday, April 19, 2026
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Confronting the IHRA definition and the attack on the Palestine movement: Israel is a racist endeavour

For several years, apologists and supporters of colonialism and Zionism in Palestine have promoted the adoption of the “International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism.” The primary function of the IHRA definition serves to link anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism.

Rather than addressing the main sources of anti-Semitism today (primarily the Western far right), seven of the eleven examples associated with the definition mention Israel. Thus, it would be anti-Semitic to “deny the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.”

As Palestinian activist, chair of the Canada Palestine Association, Hanna Kawas points out,”to claim that a state founded on exclusive privilege for one group over another is not a racist endeavor is the ultimate insult to the Palestinian lived experience.”

In the same vein, Liliana Córdova Kaczerginski, Jewish anti-Zionist activist and founding member of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, states that, in her view, “the question of criticizing Zionism is not a new thing, an original or exotic invention, but it was born together with the creation of the Zionist movement within the Jewish communities that did not want to be dragged into that nationalist project…In Germany or the United Kingdom, where the movement was especially strong, from 1880 to 1945, these people expressed themselves as German or British, but with a Jewish confession or identity as well. But not in a Jewish national project. The propaganda apparatus says this is total heresy, it makes us bad Jews, which is almost funny because, for example, there is a group of very, very religious Jews, the Neturei Karta, who are really very observant and are militant anti-Zionists and pro-Palestinians. Anti-Zionism can be of all kinds: liberal, religious, leftist, revolutionary… but it is a common criticism and it is not new.”

The aim of the project to push adoption of this definition is, first and foremost, to legitimize the Zionist project in Palestine and criminalize anti-Zionist voices, especially Palestinians themselves. Any real fight against anti-Semitism has nothing to do with these transparent political manoeuvres!

This IHRA definition has been adopted by various national and international institutions, but it has also been the object of firm anti-racist opposition (such as in the municipality of Strasbourg, which rejected this definition).

Despite significant mobilization in opposition , Vancouver City Council in Canada also adopted the IHRA definition on November 16 after rejecting it in 2019. On this occasion, the Canada Palestine Association recalled that “the primary purpose of the IHRA definition is to legitimize Israel and slander all those who expose its illegal and inhumane activities, curbing Palestinian solidarity work and covering up Israeli war crimes. The “three Ds” of Israeli Hasbara are at work: they distort the nature of the Palestinian struggle, they deflect attention from the colonialist nature of Zionism and defame as anti-Semitic all those who denounce and condemn Israeli atrocities. This has always been the modus operandi of the Israeli establishment; we must not forget the original motto of the Mossad ‘By deceit, you will make war’.”

Elsewhere in Canada, the Waterloo Regional District School Board is soon expected to pass a motion to adopt this definition. Faced with this deadline, several associations are calling for action, pointing out that “the IHRA definition is used by its supporters to silence Palestinians, censor the way Palestinians express their common history, restrict academic freedom and repress expressions of Palestinian solidarity. In short, the IHRA definition is being used to covertly embed systemic anti-Palestinian racism in our society.”

Similarly, a Spanish legislative proposal aims to exclude organizations deemed “anti-Semitic” from subsidies. On the initiative of the right-wing MP Isabel Diaz Ayuso, this project incorporates the IHRA definition and therefore directly threatens the solidarity movement with Palestine in the Spanish state. Living in Madrid, Liliana Córdova Kaczerginski is firmly opposed to this project and believes “that there is a coordinated attempt by the Israeli foreign ministry to confuse legitimate criticism and solidarity with the Palestinian people with anti-Semitism because Israel wants to have a free pass in its disrespect for international law”.

It is more urgent than ever to confront the ongoing efforts to implement the IHRA definition, which seeks, through the adoption of its definition of anti-Semitism, to normalize the policy of occupation in Palestine and to criminalize the Palestine solidarity movement and stigmatize Palestinian history, identity and liberation struggle. It is the responsibility of the entire anti-racist movement to take up this fight and to reaffirm its support for the Palestinian people and their resistance confronting occupation, apartheid, Zionism and colonialism.

Cover photo credit ( “Israel is a racist endeavour” ): Michael YC Tseng
Translated and adapted from original: Collectif Palestine Vaincra

Leading Palestinian prisoner Walid Daqqa diagnosed with cancer after lengthy delays in medical care

Palestinian prisoner, writer and thinker Walid Daqqa is facing a serious deterioration in his health; on 7 December 2022, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society announced that he was diagnosed with leukemia after medical examinations. The Palestinian prisoners’ movement declared that the delay in identifying his condition is due to Israeli occupation medical negligence and a policy of “slow killing” directed against the Palestinian prisoners as a whole — noting that the Israeli occupation and its prison administration is fully responsible for his life and health. On 15 December 2022, this condition was updated — in fact, he has myelofibrosis, a rare form of bone marrow cancer.

Walid Daqqa has suffered from health problems and concern about his blood for years; two years ago, he was told that he should receive regular blood tests two years ago. However, due to the constant delays in health care experienced by Palestinian prisoners as part of the occupation’s policy of medical negligence, he did not receive the ordered regular testing until now and his cancer remained undiagnosed.

Palestinian prisoners developing cancer, not being diagnosed in a timely manner, not receiving proper treatment and even being denied compassionate relief on their deathbeds — as in the case of Nasser Abu Hmaid, who has been near death in Ramla prison clinic and has been repeatedly denied release.

Daqqa is one of the most prominent and long-time Palestinian prisoners, known widely for his writing and cultural work from behind bars. Born in 1961 in Baqa’ al-Gharbiyya in occupied Palestine ’48, he has been imprisoned since 25 March 1986 along with Ibrahim Abu Mukh, Rushdi Abu Mukh and Ibrahim Bayadseh, for forming a military cell of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine that participated in a Palestinian resistance operation in 1985 in which an occupation soldier was captured and killed.

Once behind bars, he obtained a master’s degree in political science and wrote several books in the realm of political theory as well as fiction, including children’s fiction. On multiple occasions, he has faced harsh repression, including solitary confinement, especially targeted toward his expressive work. For example, Daqqa was thrown into solitary confinement when he published a new children’s book, “The Secret of Oil”; a launch event for the book in the town of Majd al-Kurum was shut down by far-right Israeli minister Aryeh Deri. In the preface to the book, Daqqa wrote, “I write until I am freed from prison, with the hope of freeing the prison from me.” This followed the defunding of a Haifa Palestinian theater that exhibited a play based on his work “Parallel Time.”

As Khaled Barakat wrote about Daqqa’s work, “This novel has been widely distributed among children and youth and is a living example of the need to move beyond the ‘symbolic relationship’ with iconic prisoners to a deeper, closer relationship between the reader and the writer. The prisoner in this case is a creative human first and also a writer and a struggler.”

In the book, Daqqa tells an imaginative story about a child born through smuggled sperm, where Palestinian prisoners smuggle sperm to their wives to allow them to have children from behind bars. In 1999, Daqqa married Sana’ Salameh, even as he was behind bars, and in 2020, Sana’ gave birth to their daughter, Milad, conceived from Daqqa’s smuggled sperm.

Sana’ Salameh and Milad Walid Daqqa waiting for a visit with their husband and father

Speaking about Milad’s birth, Sana’ Salameh said, “First, Milad was our dream and the idea of having a baby is possible for any couple who does not live in our circumstances. In other words, it is obvious for a married couple to have children after marriage. However, behind Israeli bars, it was kind of impossible to be a father or a mother. The dream of having Milad one day has been with us for 20 years. We even named her before her birth. In fact, the lack of possible liberation pushed us to the challenge and we succeeded in bringing a child that was one day a dream; 2020 was the birth of our beautiful daughter Milad. It was necessary to confront injustice and deprivation and not submit to despair. Milad’s birth was the candle that lit the world and the realization of the dream, so it became real.”

Daqqa is also one of the longest-held Palestinian prisoners and one of 26 who were held back from release through Israeli violations of the notorious Oslo accords; in the case of Daqqa and other long-term prisoners from Palestine ’48, the Israeli regime has refused to treat their release as a collective matter with other Palestinian prisoners because they are Israeli citizens. However, behind prison bars they are subjected to the same treatment as all other Palestinian prisoners, without the privileges granted to Jewish Israeli prisoners, such as weekend release and conjugal visits.

The Palestinian prisoners’ movement issued a statement upon Daqqa’s diagnosis: “We knew when we made our decision to resist this occupation what we could face, whether martyrdom or captivity, and all that entails. At the forefront of that are the diseases that ravage our bodies, but today we affirm that despite the pain that squeezes our hearts when we see disease ravage our brothers’ bodies, we are even more determined and committed to continue the struggle until liberation and self-determination.”

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network joins with the Palestinian prisoners’ movement in highlighting the ongoing policy of medical neglect targeting the Palestinian prisoners, underlining that the occupation is fully responsible for Walid Daqqa’s life and health, as it is for the situation of all sick and ill prisoners. We demand the immediate release of Walid Daqqa and all Palestinian prisoners!

10 December, Vancouver: Human Rights Day Rally — Defend the Defenders, Stop State Terror

Saturday, 10 December
12 pm
Commercial/Broadway Skytrain Station
Vancouver
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/448358687274121

Defend The Defenders, Stop State Terror

On the International Day for Human Rights, join local organizations from the International League of People’s Struggles (ILPS) for a solidarity rally. Hear reports from peoples’ struggles for justice and liberation across the world as we unite to demand people’s basic democratic rights and economic justice.

Disasters caused by capitalism, which include the climate crisis, the economic crisis and constant imperialist wars, are only getting worse. Human rights advocates, land defenders and other people committed to justice are facing increasing repression in the form of red-tagging, militarization of communities, imprisonment and extrajudicial killings.

As 2022 draws to a close, working people around the world are faced with inflation and rising costs of living, low wages, and precarious work. Unions in Canada have had to mobilize to defend things as basic as the right of workers to go on strike and negotiate their contract with their employer. Peasants throughout the global south struggle for basic subsistence as big landlords and international corporations monopolize their rightful lands and exploit their labour. While world leaders hesitate to pursue even the most moderate reforms to address climate change, the farmers who grow our food are driven to desperation by droughts, hurricanes and floods caused by imperialist global warming. We affirm that economic rights and environmental justice are part of the basic rights of all people!

Although our problems are worsening, our capacity to stand up and fight back is also growing. We are part of a broad wave of people’s resistance around the world that is rising up to stop imperialist aggression, block capitalist plunder, liberate the land and resist state terror! Defend People’s Rights! Long Live International Solidarity!

9 December, Online Event: Free Mumia Abu-Jamal and All Political Prisoners

Friday, 9 December
7 pm Eastern (4 pm Pacific)
Register online: Linktr.ee/mumia to attend the event. Click on “DEC. 9 RSVP”

A virtual rally calling for freedom for Mumia and all political prisoners will be held Dec. 9, 7 p.m. EST. Speakers will include representatives of the Ed Poindexter Campaign, Samidoun Palestine Prisoners Network, Imam Jamil Al-Amin Campaign, Leonard Peltier Campaign, Veronza Bowers Campaign, Kamau Sadiki Campaign and incarcerated environmental activist Bryant Arroyo who was with Mumia at SCI Mahanoy.

Register at Linktr.ee/mumia to attend the event.

15 December, London: Boycott M&S! Victory to Palestinian resistance!

Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! supporters and Victory to the Intifada! call this monthly picket outside the flagship M&S store on Oxford Street.

6.30pm, Thursday 15 December
M&S, Marble Arch, Oxford Street
WC1 1AP
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/s/boycott-ms-victory-to-palestin/1195418464379941/

M&S is a symbol on Britain’s high streets of British collaboration with the racist, settler state of Israel. Its founders and early bosses were complicit in drafting the Balfour Declaration, with Arthur Balfour and Chaim Weizmann, a Zionist leader and first prime minister of Israel. This declaration gave British imperial support for a Zionist-backed state on one of Britain’s colonial properties.

The decades-long struggle for Palestinian liberation challenges Israeli occupation, land theft and massacres, as well as British imperialist ambitions for the Middle East.

Join our long-standing picket standing with the determined, organised, resilient resistance of the Palestinian people. Demand freedom for all Palestinian political prisoners! Victory to the Palestinian resistance! Break the chains of British imperialism in the Middle East! No to Arab-Israeli normalisation!

Hosted by:
London supporters of the Revolutionary Communist Group and Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism!
Samidoun – Palestinian Prisoners Solidarity Network
Victory to the Intifada!

More info:
frfi.co.uk // @rcgfrfi
samidoun.net

 

New Video: The Weekly Palestine from Al-Falasteniyeh

Al Falasteniyeh Media Network has released a new series, “The Weekly Palestine.” Hosted by Rumzi Farooqi, the video provides a weekly update on the Palestinian struggle, resistance and the prisoners’ movement, among other news. Check out the first episode here, which covers topics including the campaign to free the Holy Land Five, support for Palestine at the World Cup and administrative detainees’ boycott of the occupation military courts:

Under the slogan, “From the river to the sea to the world,” Al Falasteniyeh is an independent English and Arabic language media network with in-country Palestinian journalists collaborating with staff around the globe to produce creative and journalistic content guided by our values.

Al Falasteniyeh works to inform the world of the vast plurality of the Palestinian and Arab people, share the richness of their history, and highlight the present realities of their resistance and struggle for freedom.

Al Falasteniyeh’s website, with more stories and updates, is available at afmn.org. The media network is also launching a campaign to fund the opening of an office in Gaza, providing sustainable support for Palestinian journalists while presenting live from Palestine to the world.

Salah Hamouri returned to detention until January as persecution of French-Palestinian lawyer continues

The Israeli occupation regime is continuing the persecution of French-Palestinian lawyer Salah Hamouri, ordering him back to administrative detention — imprisonment without charge or trial — at two hearings conducted today, 6 December 2022, where the Israeli interior minister’s order to forcibly deport him to France was considered.

The Committee to Support Salah Hamouri reported that Salah and his lawyers were present at both hearings today and presented their arguments; at this time, the occupation court did not rule on the deportation case. The French consul to Tel Aviv also attended the hearing on the forced deportation order. The next hearing focused on the order to strip his Jerusalem ID — despite the fact that he is an indigenous Palestinian born, raised and living in Jerusalem. Another hearing was ordered for 1 January 2023 on the order to revoke his residency.

Until that time, Salah was ordered once again to administrative detention and returned to Hadarim prison, classified by the Israeli occupation authorities as a “high security detainee” — that is, a Palestinian political prisoner. Throughout the hearings, Salah was handcuffed at the hands and the feet, with both sets of cuffs joined together by a metal chain.

Hamouri is now once again one of approximately 820 Palestinians jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention, out of 4,750 total Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli occupation jails. Arbitrary administrative detention orders are indefinitely renewable and based on a “secret file” denied to both prisoners and their lawyers, and Palestinians are routinely jailed for years at a time under such orders.

This is only the latest incident in the ongoing persecution of Hamouri, a French-Palestinian lawyer who has been repeatedly targeted for administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial. He has been jailed arbitrarily since March 2022 and has been fighting the attempt to strip him of his residency rights and deport him from his native Jerusalem since 2021 on the basis of “breach of allegiance” to the colonial occupation, an act constituting a war crime. His wife and children are barred from entering Palestine, forcing him to live apart from his family. He was one of six Palestinian human rights defenders who were proven to be surveilled through the infamous “Pegasus” spyware sold by the NSO group. He was imprisoned for 7 years until his release in 2011, in a case that became well-known, especially in France, as an example of the illegitimacy and injustice of the Israeli system of incarceration.

As France attempts to criminalize the boycott of Israel and ban organizations working for justice in Palestine, such as the Collectif Palestine Vaincra (a member organization of the Samidoun Network), it once again shows its complicity with Israeli apartheid by its near total inaction to uphold the rights of Salah Hamouri despite the positive positions taken by the mobilization of hundreds of associations, parliamentarians and local elected officials. French officials have expressed that Salah should be able to live free with his family in Jerusalem, but France must impose real pressure to defend its citizen’s rights — including imposing sanctions on the Israeli regime, cutting off the arms trade and, practically and immediately, refusing to accept a deportation flight for Salah Hamouri.

Indeed, the spokesperson of French diplomacy faced serious questions from journalists at a press briefing on 5 December, who asked. “What are you doing concretely to prevent Israel from expelling Salah Hamouri, since words are not enough and the intervention of the President of the Republic with the former Prime Minister, Yaïr Lapid, obviously had no effect? Do you envisage sanctions against Israel? Are you asking for the suspension of the cooperation agreement between Israel and the European Union as provided for in the texts when human rights are not respected, as is clearly the case with Salah Hamouri? Or, on the contrary, are you going, once again, to let Israel mock international law and, in this case, France?”

The spokesperson responded that “We made our position clear to the Israeli authorities: Salah Hamouri should not be expelled. He must be able to exercise all his rights and lead a normal life in Jerusalem, his city of birth and residence. Steps were taken very recently with the Israeli government to recall our opposition to the expulsion of our compatriot. Our mobilization continues, as does our assistance for consular protection.”

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network denounces the attempt to strip Salah Hamouri of his Jerusalemite identity and his Palestinian presence in the land of Palestine. We demand an end to the ongoing imprisonment of Salah Hamouri, the use of administrative detention to target Palestinian leaders and human rights defenders, and the ongoing Israeli ethnic cleansing project in Jerusalem targeting the Palestinian people and identity of the city, the capital of Palestine. We urge all supporters of Palestine to take action to demand the liberation of Salah Hamouri and every Palestinian prisoner jailed in the occupation prisons. 

Detained French-Palestinian lawyer Salah Hamouri faces forced deportation at any time #JusticeforSalah

Detained French-Palestinian lawyer Salah Hamouri is threatened with deportation from his homeland, occupied Palestine, at any moment by Israeli occupation regime officials. While his deportation was originally announced for 4 December, he was then ordered held for further hearings on 6 December 2022. However, rather than legally delaying his deportation, he was ordered transferred from the Hadarim prison, where Palestinian political prisoners (labeled “security detainees”) are held, to pre-deportation detention  at 2:30 am on Tuesday, 6 December.

Salah Hamouri, a Palestinian human rights defender and lawyer working for the freedom of political prisoners, has been jailed without charge or trial since March 2022 and his arbitrary administrative detention repeatedly renewed.

On Monday, 5 December, the Justice for Salah campaign reported that Hamouri was taken to another hearing at Givon prison in al-Ramleh, where he was once again denied access to his lawyers or legal representation, as was the case at the earlier hearing on 1 December, following Israeli interior minister Ayelet Shaked’s order for his deportation. The campaign reported that the French consul in Tel Aviv was able to speak only briefly to Salah.

Two hearings have been scheduled in the occupation courts on 6 December: the first at 11:00 am and the second at 1:30 pm, with the first hearing concerning the order of deportation imposed on him and the second regarding his detention prior to deportation. “As of today, Salah is held in detention as a deportee,” the campaign noted. His family has been denied access to both hearings, but he is expected to have access to his legal counsel as well as the French consul. The campaign affirmed that Salah Hamouri rejects any deportation from Palestine and all of the illegitimate measures and procedures against him by the occupation regime.

Since June 2021, the human rights defender has been fighting against the attempt by the Israeli authorities to forcibly deport him by depriving him of his identity and residence in Jerusalem, the city in which he was born and where he lives. The fascist interior minister Ayelet Shaked signed the order to revoke his Jerusalem identity and forcibly expel him in 2021 — and he was arrested and thrown in administrative detention only days after publishing a major international essay fighting back against the attempt to expel him from his homeland and home city. She announced on 1 December that she had signed an order revoking his residency and ordering his deportation, which Salah Hamouri completely rejects.

This attack on Salah Hamouri is an integral part of the policy of ethnic cleansing perpetrated by Zionist colonial forces in the Palestinian capital, Jerusalem. Indeed, Israel has withdrawn residence permits from more than 14,600 Palestinians since 1967, which constitutes a war crime.

As France attempts to criminalize the boycott of Israel and ban organizations working for justice in Palestine, such as the Collectif Palestine Vaincra (a member organization of the Samidoun Network), it once again shows its complicity with Israeli apartheid by its near total inaction to uphold the rights of Salah Hamouri despite the positive positions taken by the mobilization of hundreds of associations, parliamentarians and local elected officials. French officials have expressed that Salah should be able to live free with his family in Jerusalem, but France must impose real pressure to defend its citizen’s rights — including imposing sanctions on the Israeli regime, cutting off the arms trade and, practically and immediately, refusing to accept a deportation flight for Salah Hamouri.

Both Salah’s mother, Denise Hamouri, and his wife, Elsa Lefort, have made appeals to French officials to take meaningful action to stop the deportation of Salah.

Denise Hamouri wrote, “Salah must not be deported, he must be able to stay in Jerusalem with his family as he wishes, this must be a strong demand on your part, Salah is French, I am French, my children are French, his wife and children are French, it is your responsibility Mr President. Moreover, the withdrawal of Salah’s residency card and his deportation from Jerusalem are very serious facts and an open door to other similar actions on other Palestinians in the city with the long-term objective of emptying Jerusalem of its Arab inhabitants. A hearing is to be held on Tuesday to finalize the terms of his expulsion, so we have a few days left and a little hope, we ask you to act as firmly as possible Mr. President.”

Elsa Lefort wrote, “20 years that France does not do much, not enough to defend its citizen, also Palestinian. If Salah were expelled from his native land, it would be a pain for him and for all those who love him and who know how much Salah and Jerusalem are one. That he walked each of the alleys of the old city, that a journey with him in Jerusalem is punctuated by dozens of greetings, exchanges and smiles. Salah is a son of Jerusalem, Jerusalem will never leave Salah, that’s for sure. If he were to be forcibly expelled, Israel would be committing a war crime. One more. Emmanuel Macron , France should be proud to have among its children a man who stands up against the occupation, despite the blows, despite the suffering, he refuses to bend. France must not remain silent in the face of this war crime which affects one of its own. Mr. President, you are the only one who can obtain justice and freedom for Salah Hamouri….Mr. President, why have you never publicly mentioned Salah’s name? Doesn’t he deserve to be defended with as much vigor as the other French people?”

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network denounces the attempt to strip Salah Hamouri of his Jerusalemite identity and his Palestinian presence in the land of Palestine. We demand an end to the ongoing imprisonment of Salah Hamouri, the use of administrative detention to target Palestinian leaders and human rights defenders, and the ongoing Israeli ethnic cleansing project in Jerusalem targeting the Palestinian people and identity of the city, the capital of Palestine. We urge all supporters of Palestine to take action to demand the liberation of Salah Hamouri and every Palestinian prisoner jailed in the occupation prisons. 

Adal and Ahmad Musa relaunch hunger strike after their administrative detention is renewed

Adal and Ahmad Musa, two Palestinian prisoners and brothers jailed without charge or trial by the Israeli occupation regime, have relaunched their hunger strike on 5 December 2022 after both of their detention orders were renewed, despite both brothers concluding agreements for their release in order to end their prior hunger strikes. Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges action and solidarity to demand the immediate release of the Musa brothers and all Palestinian prisoners.

The Musa brothers launched their original hunger strike on 6August 2022, immediately after they were seized by Israeli occupation soldiers from their homes in Al-Khader, near Bethlehem in occupied Palestine. Ahmad Musa, 44, and Adal Musa, 34, were ordered to administrative detention — imprisonment without charge or trial — shortly thereafter, with Ahmad ordered to 4 months in administrative detention and Adal ordered detained for 3 months.

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

Ahmad Musa, who suffers from a heart condition, suspended his hunger strike after 33 days, on 8 September 2022, with an agreement for his release on 6 December 2022. Four days later, Adal Musa suspended his hunger strike after 37 days, with an agreement for his release on 6 November 2022. Both were to be released upon the expiration of their original administrative detention orders; Adal Musa’s detention order was renewed in November, and today, Ahmad and his family were informed that his detention would also be renewed, sparking the brothers to begin their hunger strike once more.

Hanadi Musa, Ahmad’s wife, told Muhja al-Quds that both brothers’ detention was extended for an additional four months. “We cannot leave them alone to confront this, and all must join efforts to stop this latest crime,” she said.

Sheikh Khader Adnan denounced the actions of the Israeli occupation, which claimed that there are now “confessions against” the two brothers, noting that this is a “failed attempt to cover up their blatant repudiation of the written agreement with the prisoners and their lawyers….what has happened with brother Ahmad Musa is a dangerous precedent..their return to the strike is a demand for immediate freedom,” he said.

This is only the latest example of the Israeli occupation regime suddenly repudiating agreements for the release of Palestinian hunger strikers. In other recent cases of what appears to be a policy targeting hunger strikes, Raed Rayan‘s administrative detention was renewed, while Khalil Awawdeh was accused of attempting to smuggle a mobile phone from the hospital where he was held after ending his own lengthy hunger strike. Awawdeh is currently detained on these allegations.

What Is Administrative Detention?

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

There are currently approximately 820 Palestinians jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention, out of 4,750 Palestinian political prisoners.

Administrative detention orders are issued by the military and approved by military courts on the basis of “secret evidence”, denied to both Palestinian detainees and their attorneys. Issued for up to six months at a time, they are indefinitely renewable, and Palestinians — including minor children — can spend years jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention. Hundreds of Palestinians have gone on hunger strike to win their liberation from this form of arbitrary detention, which is not only illegal under international law but a form of psychological torture and collective punishment targeting Palestinian families and communities, as detainees are unable to predict or plan for their release.

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

Musa solidarity poster

1. Mobilize actions, demonstrations and creative interventions – Take to the streets to defend the Palestinian people and their resistance! There is a vast depth of support for the Palestinian people everywhere around the world, including inside the imperialist powers. It is our responsibility to act and make it impossible to continue their support for the crimes against the Palestinian people.

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

6 December, Ottawa: Film Screening, “Resistance: Why?”

Tuesday, December 6
7 p.m. EST
DARC, formerly known as the SAW Gallery
67 Nicholas St, Ottawa

OTTAWA: Come join Samidoun Ottawa and the Palestinian Youth Movement Ottawa as we screen the documentary film “Resistance, Why?” (1970) directed by Christian Ghazi.

“Resistance, Why” is one of the most recent restorations of Beirut-based non-profit @nadi_lekolnas, who found an old ruined copy of the film in Sweden and recovered it.

In the film, a number of Arab political figures, especially Palestinians residing in Lebanon, share their vision of the Palestinian revolution, tracing its history back to the early 20th century. These testimonies describe the numerous strikes and popular protests that took place in Palestine under the Ottoman occupation, followed by the British colonization and the establishment of the Zionist entity in 1948. They enumerate the objectives of the struggle, emphasizing the necessity for a free and democratic Palestine, defended through armed or non-armed struggle by all its citizens, men and women of various affiliations.

Some of the figures interviewed in this film include Sadiq Jalal Al-Azm, Nabil Shaath, and Ghassan Kanafani. In fact, the film includes exclusive footage of Ghassan Kanafani apart from his famous interview.

The screening will take place at the @digitalartsresourcecentre (DARC, formerly known as the SAW Gallery) on Tuesday, December 6 at 7 p.m. EST and will be followed with a Q&A session.

Tickets are $5 each (though you may pay what you can) and can be purchased at the door in cash or via e-transfer. All proceeds will go to sponsoring the event.

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