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Monday, November 3, 2025
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The Palestinian Authority’s latest attack on the prisoners and the resistance: Cutting financial allocations to 1612 Palestinian prisoners

In the latest implementation of “security coordination” with the Zionist colonial occupation, the collaborationist Palestinian Authority cancelled the payments of financial allocations to 1612 Palestinian prisoners, released prisoners and their families. The cancellation of these payments, which should have been received on 11 May, is meant to undermine the status of the prisoners within the Palestinian national liberation movement, replace their role in the movement with one of charity recipients, and acquiesce to the demands of imperialist powers and the Zionist regime.

On 10 February 2025, Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) issued a presidential decree cancelling the payments of financial allowances to the families of the Palestinian prisoners, martyrs and wounded that had been stipulated in the Prisoners’ Law. The decree further transferred the database, funds and responsibility for support for the families of the martyrs and prisoners from the Ministry of Social Development — and the Prisoners’ Affairs Commission — to the Tamkeen Foundation, the “Palestinian National Institution for Economic Empowerment,” an NGO officially outside the framework of the Palestinian Authority and the PLO.

The Tamkeen Foundation is run by Ahmad Majdalani, a Palestinian Authority official and an ally of Abbas who has become infamous for his anti-resistance, pro-normalization positions, from his 2016 participation in the Herzliya conference, a Zionist “state security and policy” conference, to his January 2024 statement — amid the Zionist genocide — that “Hamas is a terrorist organization in its current form, its current program, and its current political discourse.”

Majdalani’s foundation has been granted the authority to invasively review first the financial status of marginalized and impoverished Palestinians, to “assess” their eligibility for social welfare programs that amount to no more than 700 shekels monthly (approx $200). Now, Abbas is purporting to give this private NGO — run by the official making these same egregious anti-resistance statements — the authority to invasively “assess” the finances of the families of the martyrs, prisoners and wounded of the Palestinian cause.

While the payments to prisoners were released normally in March and April, despite the order, the stripping of prisoners’ support began with the May 2025 payments. To be clear, these payments are provided as a means not merely of social support or assistance, but to honor and respect the role of the freedom fighters in the battle for the liberation of Palestine — which is precisely why they have been under attack by the imperialist powers and the Zionist regime, and why their elimination is now a primary target of “security coordination.”

The Higher Committee of Deported and Liberated Prisoners, formed by the Fateh prisoners liberated in the Toufan al-Ahrar exchange, issued a statement urging a complete boycott of the Tamkeen Foundation:

Our great people, who have for decades sacrificed convoys of martyrs, the wounded, prisoners, and freed detainees in the path of Palestine’s freedom, the nation’s dignity, and the liberation of our people, are today subjected to a new assault targeting the very essence of their cause. This comes in the form of an attempt to liquidate the rights of its strugglers and their families through what is being called the Tamkeen Foundation, an entity that aims to depoliticize our cause, drain it of its national and revolutionary content, and convert it into a superficial “social service file” with a political or humanitarian façade.

Our heroic prisoners have endured in the prisons of the occupation the harshest forms of oppression, isolation, and torture, and have ascended as martyrs on the path of freedom and dignity. The blood of our wounded was shed on the soil of the homeland in pursuit of liberation and honor. How then can we today accept to betray these enormous sacrifices within a suspicious framework of so-called democracy that deals with the just cause of our people through a logic of exclusion and criminalization, not one of recognition and loyalty?

Accordingly, we in the Higher Committee of the Deported and Liberated Prisoners call upon all the families of the martyrs, wounded, prisoners, and freed detainees to refrain from dealing with what is called the Tamkeen Foundation. We consider any engagement with it as actual participation in the crime of liquidating the cause of the martyrs, wounded, and prisoners.

And in this context, we reaffirm our full support for the Commission of Prisoners’ and Ex-Prisoners’ Affairs, and for all national institutions concerned with prisoners’ affairs and their rights, as they courageously confront the policies of the so-called Tamkeen Foundation. We also declare our categorical rejection of filling out any forms issued by this institution, and we will defend our rights and the rights of the martyrs and prisoners with all the strength we possess—even if that demands our blood.

We affirm that our cause is far greater than being diminished or reduced. It is a cause built upon the sacrifices of our people, and we must protect it from every attempt at liquidation and circumvention.

Glory and eternity to our righteous martyrs
Speedy recovery to our heroic wounded
And freedom to the prisoners of freedom and dignity

The Higher Committee of Deported and Liberated Prisoners
Dated: Saturday, May 10, 2025

The Prisoners’ Affairs Commission reported that it had turned over the complete list of prisoners and liberated prisoners to receive their funds and called for the full payments to be made. However, an unidentified committee “from the security services and the Ministry of Finance” identified the first group of names to be removed, arbitrarily cutting these payments without notice or explanation.

Just days before, Palestinian prisoners’ institutions had publicly rejected the “assessment” form distributed to the families of the prisoners by the Tamkeen Foundation. Estimated to be 18 pages long, it asks detailed questions about the families’ food consumption and personal habits.

A wide range of organizations and individuals have condemned this attack on the prisoners and their families. Qaddoura Fares, the former head of the Prisoners’ Affairs Commission, dismissed in February for his objection to the order, said: “The failure to pay the salaries of 1,612 prisoners violates the Palestinian people’s legacy of struggle and the system of norms, traditions, and systems adopted by the national movement over 60 years. This approach is not consistent with the Palestinian people’s struggle based on a commitment to the families of prisoners, the wounded, and martyrs…The Palestinian factions, frameworks, organized forces, and families of martyrs and prisoners bear a responsibility to take action to halt and revoke this decision.”

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine issued a statement, declaring: “These prisoners spent the prime of their lives in the occupation’s prison cells, suffering oppression and torture. They emerged with their heads held high only to be met with economic and psychological punishment at the hands of those supposedly their fellow citizens. This measure can only be described as a reward for the executioner and a punishment for the freedom fighters…This decision represents a blatant submission to Israeli and American conditions and dictates. We affirm that turning the prisoners’ cause into a humanitarian or social aid file—measured by calorie intake as indicated in humiliating application forms—is a direct insult to the sacrifices of the prisoners. These forms reveal a mindset that turns its back on the prisoners and aligns with security coordination agreements, far removed from any national or revolutionary affiliation.”

The Wa’ed Association for Prisoners and Freed Prisoners condemned the action, noting that “these measures are completely inconsistent with national, humanitarian, and moral obligations toward the prisoners’ cause, and represent a dangerous extension of the policies of exclusion and marginalization practiced against a segment of the population that sacrificed its freedom for the dignity and freedom of our people. The Association affirms its absolute rejection of any dealings with the so-called ‘Tamkeen Foundation,’ which is intended to become a tool for humiliating and degrading the families of martyrs, the wounded, and liberated prisoners, while excluding national institutions with a history and credibility in handling these cases.”

The system of financial allocations for the prisoners  — transferred from that of the revolutionary-era PLO — is that of a nation engaged in a liberation struggle, which works to support its prisoners, its martyrs and its wounded as honorable veterans of struggle, who are cherished by the society as the vanguard of resistance and liberation. The attack on this system is intended quite clearly as a new vector of attack on the resistance, by creating a new level of fear among Palestinian strugglers that their families will be left devastated and impoverished if they take action to defend their land and people. This attack is accompanied by the promotion of Hussein al-Sheikh as “vice president” of the PLO in an infamous Central Council meeting widely boycotted by the resistance, vocal and visible attacks on the Palestinian resistance forces battling genocide throughout occupied Palestine, the arrest and even assassination of Palestinian resistance strugglers by PA forces, and new attempts by the PA to force its agenda of “disarming the resistance” upon Palestinians in Lebanon.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network reiterates our position in full and complete condemnation of this attack on the Palestinian prisoners’ movement and, indeed, on the resistance itself, with the prisoners among its leadership. This attack on financial allocations is intended to liquidate the social basis and undermine the status of the Palestinian liberation struggle at a fundamental level, altering the understanding of martyrs and prisoners as leaders and resistance fighters to one of unfortunate victims subjected to intrusive questioning and scrutiny at the hands of normalizers and enemies of resistance.  This is not a crime of the PA in Ramallah alone — the United States, the European imperialist powers, and the Zionist regime share full responsibility in this assault on the prisoners and their families. This is the practice and the reality of “security coordination,” at the same time that the Resistance in Gaza is doing its utmost to liberate all Palestinian prisoners and uproot the occupier’s genocidal boots from the land of Palestine.

We affirm that the Palestinian prisoners and martyrs are not alone and will not be left alone, and we urge all supporters of Palestine around the world to confront and challenge these policies of coercion and impoverishment and to elevate and escalate our support for the prisoners and the resistance struggling daily for the liberation of Palestine despite the highest levels of repression, violence and genocide. 

The below are just some of the prisoners and freed prisoners who have been subjected to this attack from the first month. They are a diverse group of prisoners and liberated prisoners, including women and men, on multiple occasions entire families (parents and children, sibling sets), members of multiple political parties and resistance movements, administrative detainees, sentenced prisoners, and prisoners facing trial (detained). This is not in any way a comprehensive list of the 1,612 who have been targeted but does provide a view of the broad attack taking place.

Freed prisoner Hanan Barghouti, her husband Mohammed “Abu Anad” Barghouti, and their imprisoned sons Abdullah and Islam Barghouti’s financial allocations were all cut off. Hanan is the sister of the liberated prisoner deported from Palestine, Nael Barghouti, and the late imprisoned leader Omar “Abu Asif” Barghouti.
Freed prisoner Rawda Abu Ajamiyeh, released in the Toufan al-Ahrar exchange. She was previously released in the November 2023 prisoner exchange. From the Dheisheh refugee camp, she is currently suffering from cancer and receiving treatment.
Abbas al-Sayyed, imprisoned leader of the prisoners’ movement, imprisoned since 2022, currently held in isolation and confronting torture, abuse and medical neglect. One of the leaders and most prominent symbols of the prisoners’ movement.
Shukri al-Khawaja, a Palestinian prisoner from Nil’in. He is currently imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention and has spent 25 years in occupation prisons through multiple imprisonments and is a well-known leader in the Hamas movement.
Mahmoud Issa, the Jerusalemite prisoner, who, as a student, established the first military cell for Hamas in Jerusalem. He was arrested in 1993 and sentenced to three life sentences plus 49 years; he has currently spent over 32 years in occupation prisons. He spent over 11 years in solitary confinement and wrote six books inside the occupation prisons.
Obada Salem, from Bazariya near Nablus, detained since 24 February 2024, still facing the military courts
Saad Qassem from Tulkarem, currently detained for the past 24 months; served multiple terms in occupation prisons. In 2022, he was also arrested by the PA under “security coordination.”
The liberated prisoner Azmi Hussein Bani Odeh, brother of the martyr Saddam Bani Odeh and the father of the “wanted” Islam Azmi Bani Odeh,” released 25 March after 2 years in occupation prisons.
Mohammed Alaa Bani Odeh, 22, from Tammoun, imprisoned since 2021 and serving a 20.5 year sentence in occupation prisons.
Mohammed Anas Salhab, a graduate of Hebron University, seized on 9 April 2024 after arresting his entire family to force him to turn himself in. Previously held in administrative detention as a student activist.
Liberated prisoner Abdel-Rahman Qasem al-Saadi, released in March 2025 after four years in administrative detention. He previously spent 7 years in prison for his involvement in the Islamic Jihad movement.
Nour al-Din Daoud of Qalqilya, held in administrative detention since October 2023. His administrative detention was just renewed for another 4 months on 8 May.
Jamal al-Hour, an imprisoned leader in the Izz el-Din al-Qassam Brigades, imprisoned since November 1997 and sentenced to five life sentences plus 18 years in occupation prisons. From the village of Surif, north of al-Khalil, he has written multiple books and articles in occupation prisons; he is married with two children.
Father and son, Hussam al-Hour and Amir al-Hour, both detained in occupation prisons. Both have also previously been detained by the Palestinian Authority as political prisoners under “security coordination.”
Ammar Mohammed Skafi, 18 years old, from al-Khalil, who has been held in administrative detention since January 2024. He was only 16 years old when he was detained. He suffers from heart problems and had heart surgery a few months before he was abducted by the occupation.
Mohammed al-Badan, from Tuqu’ Bethlehem, imprisoned since 2008, serving a life sentence plus 14 years. He was shot at the time of his arrest and injured; his left kidney and a large portion of his intestines were removed and replaced with synthetic medical equipment.
Qusay Ramadan Abu Kwaik, from the Al-Amari refugee camp near Ramallah, arrested in October 2024 and held under administrative detention without charge or trial.
Ahmed Radwan Hamamreh, from Beit Sahour, near Bethlehem, currently held in administrative detention without charge or trial. He was most recently arrested in December 2023. He is ill and has been repeatedly imprisoned, often under administrative detention, and conducted a hunger strike against his arbitrary detention in 2021.
Raed al-Hotari, from Qalqilya, a leader in the Izz el-Din al-Qassam Brigades, currently imprisoned since 2003, and serving 22 life sentences in the occupation prisons. He was shot during his arrest, and he is married and the father of two children.
Omar Talal Srour, from Nil’in near Ramallah, held without charge or trial in administrative detention since December 2023. He was previously imprisoned by the occupation on several occasions in administrative detention, and was also detained by the Palestinian Authority for several weeks.
Imprisoned brothers Mustafa and Qusay al-Qadi, from al-Khalil, both detained by the occupation.
Zuhair Skafi and his son Ali Skafi. Zuhair is currently serving his re-imposed 22-year sentence after he was released in the Wafa al-Ahrar exchange (and should be released this year). His son Ali is being held in administrative detention without charge or trial.
Imprisoned Amr Tawfiq Abu Hleil from al-Khalil, arrested on 19 November 2023, married with one child, born during his imprisonment on 3 March 2024. He has spent a total of 7 years in occupation prisons and has been diagnosed with cancer of the thyroid and vocal cords.
Liberated prisoner Khaled Abu Khazna from Attil, Tulkarem, freed just last month from 3 years in occupation prisons.
Mustafa Diab Nasser and his son, Salah Mustafa Nasser, from Saffa village near Ramallah. Salah’s brother Diab is a former prisoner who spent 10 years in occupation prisons, and both Mustafa and Salah are held in administrative detention in occupation prisons.
Saleh Dar Musa, a liberated prisoner deported from Palestine, released on 25 January 2025 in the Toufan al-Ahrar exchange. From Beit Liqya near Ramallah, he was sentenced to 17 life sentences. He joined the Hamas movement from the time of its founding and established the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades in Beit Liqya.
The imprisoned brothers Baher and Bahij Mohammed Bader from Beit Liqya. Imprisoned since 2004, Baher is serving 12 life sentences, and Bahij, a father of three, is serving 18 life sentences, for their role in the resistance with the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades.
Mohammed Atmiza, from Idhna, west of al-Khalil, imprisoned by the occupation since December 2024.
Ismail Atmiza, from Idhna, currently imprisoned; he has been imprisoned for multiple years on previous occasions. He is married and the father of three children.
Abdelhaq Khadraj, from Qalqilya. He has been imprisoned for nearly two years under administrative detention without charge or trial and has spent a total of over 6 years in occupation prisons. He and his brother, Abdel-Rahman have also been subjected to political detention by the PA.
Nasri Ayed Assi, imprisoned since 2004 and serving 18 life sentences plus 70 years in occupation prisons for his involvement with the resistance through the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades. He was arrested 45 days after his wedding in his hometown of Beit Liqya, while his wife was pregnant with their son Ayed.
Mahmoud Saleh Shraim, from Jenin camp, one of the five prisoners who assisted the Gilboa 6 in creating the Freedom Tunnel. He has spent more than 8 years in prison and remains imprisoned currently.
Anas al-Hathnawi, of Jenin, a Jordanian prisoner, married with three children. He has served 22 years in occupation prisons of a 27-year sentence.
Shadi al-Suqiya of Jenin, imprisoned for 23 years, serving a 30-year sentence for resisting the occupation.
Amin Daoud Khaddour, of al-Khalil, held in administrative detention without charge or trial since December 2023.
The PA cut the salary of imprisoned Palestinian Ali Hussein Yaqoub.
Moatassem Abu Srour of Aida refugee camp, a liberated prisoner who was released one month ago after 18 months in administrative detention; over repeated arrests, he has spent 10 years in occupation prisons.
Palestinian prisoner Omar Badir, currently held in occupation prisons.
The two brothers from Beit Ummar, Qassam ‘Adi, currently held in administrative detention without charge or trial, and the freed prisoner Obaida ‘Adi, recently released from administrative detention.
Assaf Zahran from Tulkarem, imprisoned since 2005 and sentenced to five life sentences plus 22 years. He is one of the ill prisoners who suffers from medical neglect and had a stroke in prison two years ago.
The two brothers, imprisoned Yahya Saleh and freed prisoner Issa Saleh, of Yatta. Yahya Saleh, an imprisoned journalist, is held in administrative detention, and the two brothers have collectively been imprisoned for over 10 years.
Imprisoned journalist Jihad Badawi, from al-Arroub refuge camp, imprisoned by the occupation most recently since October 2024. He has been imprisoned repeatedly over the years.
Sheikh Hussam Harb of the village of Iskaka near Salfit. He has been imprisoned under administrative detention since 9 October 2023, and has been targeted by the occupation multiple times, serving 18 years in occupation prisons over multiple arrests.
Talal Awadallah Abu Asba from Rafat, west of Salfit. He has been held in administrative detention since October 2023 and has spent 12 years in occupation prisons over multiple imprisonments.
Freed prisoner Ashraf Bilal Tabbal from Tulkarem, released two months ago after 28 months in occupation prisons.
Mustafa and Abdullah Shatat, the two imprisoned brothers from the village of Bidya, west of Salfit. Abdullah worked as a journalist for a number of years and Mustafa is a lawyer and human rights defender. Both have been imprisoned since October 2023. Both have been imprisoned by the occupation on multiple occasions, as well as by the PA security.
Ashraf Ibrahim Shamasneh, a political prisoner from the town of Qasna on the outskirts of Jerusalem. He is currently held in administrative detention for almost 2 years and has spent 6 years in occupation prisons through multiple arrests.
Freed prisoner Yousef al-Sheikh from Beit Anan, Jerusalem. He was recently released from administrative detention without charge or trial and has spent a total of 8 years in occupation prisons.
Freed prisoner Amer Yasser Bani Odeh from Tammoun, released months ago from 2 years in administrative detention without charge or trial. He is the father of six children and has spent 12 years in total in occupation prisons.
Freed prisoner Ibrahim Mahmoud Abdel-Majeed Barghouti, released just weeks ago from administrative detention; he has spent a total of over 20 years in occupation prisons.
Munir Talal Saeed Qassem, from Tulkarem, currently imprisoned and serving a 16-month sentence. He previously spent 10 years consecutively in occupation prisons. He is the sole breadwinner in the family and has two daughters attending university.
Mohammed Fuad Obeidallah from Dheisheh refugee camp, arrested by the occupation on 29 October 2024 and currently held in administrative detention without charge or trial.
Karim Ahmad Ayyad of Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem, held under administrative detention without charge or trial. He has been repeatedly imprisoned by the occupation.
Abdullah Mohammed ‘Abayat of Bethlehem, currently imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since October 2023. He previously spent a 7 year sentence in occupation prisons.
Khaled Mohammed Musleh, from Qalandiya refugee camp, currently imprisoned for the last 20 months under administrative detention without charge or trial.
Palestinian prisoner Tariq Aziz Aghrib from Tarqumiya, west of al-Khalil. He is currently held under administrative detention without charge or trial and has previously served 8 years in occupation prisons.
Brothers Ali Shawahneh and Adham Shawahneh from Qalqilya. Both Ali and Adham are currently held in administrative detention. Ali has spent 18 years in total in occupation prisons, and Adham has spent a number of years in occupation jails. Both have been arrested and imprisoned by the PA in the past.
Father and son, Mohammed Abu ‘Adi and Owais Abu ‘Adi, from the village of Kafr Ni’ma west of Ramallah. Mohammed, the father, has spent nearly 14 years in occupation prisons and is currently held in administrative detention without charge or trial. Owais has just been sentenced to 1 year in occupation prisons.
Maher Ali al-Qadi from Ramallah. He is currently imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention and has spent nearly 9 years in total in occupation prisons.
Freed prisoner Ahmed Yacoub al-Shamali from al-Fawwar refugee camp, recently released after 21 months of imprisonment in Zionist colonial jails.
Palestinian prisoner Ali Asafreh.
Palestinian prisoner Ibrahim Abdullah Ghneimat, from Surif near al-Khalil. He has been imprisoned since 2010 and is sentenced to two life sentences for his role in the resistance. He is married and the father of four children and has been repeatedly placed in isolation.
Palestinian prisoner Abdullah Diab Thawabiyeh.
Palestinian prisoners Ziad Awad, sentenced to two life sentences in occupation prisons, and his son Hassan Ziad Awad, held in administrative detention without charge or trial, from Idhna, west of al-Khalil.
Palestinian prisoner Mahmoud Raed Mahmoud Masalma, from the village of Beit Awwa near al-Khalil, held in administrative detention without charge or trial. He was previously arrested and imprisoned as a child prisoner.
Khalil Qassem al-Sheikh, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention in Zionist prisons. From the village of Marah Rabah south of Bethlehem, he has spent years in occupation prisons through multiple arrests. He has also been detained on several occasions by the PA under “security coordination.”
Palestinian prisoner Mahmoud Abdel-Aziz Ahmed Sweiti, detained since 2007 and serving a 27-year sentence. From Beit Awwa near al-Khalil, he went on an open hunger strike to demand visits with his family in 2016.
Rajai al-Amouri, serving an 11-year sentence in occupation prisons since 2014. From Tulkarem, he is married and has a son and a daughter. He was previously arrested on multiple occasions by both the occupation and the PA.
Imad al-Qawasmeh from al-Khalil, imprisoned since 13 October 2024 and sentenced to 16 life sentences in occupation prisons for his role in the resistance with the Izz el-Din al-Qassam Brigades. He is married and the father of three sons and two daughters; his youngest daughter was born through liberated sperm in 2015.
Palestinian prisoner Yasser Mahmoud Abdel-Rahim Briki from Nour Shams refugee camp. He is currently held in administrative detention without charge or trial and has spent over 10 years in prison over multiple arrests. He is married and the father of three children.
Nadi Awad from the village of Budrus. He is currently held without charge or trial in occupation prisons, and he has previously spent nearly 12 years in Zionist jails. He shared his experiences in the 1990s confronting schemes by the occupation intelligence services.
Zaher Radi from al-Lubban al-Gharbi, Ramallah area. He is currently jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention, and both he and his brother Taher have been repeatedly imprisoned by the occupation.
Ghaleb Nidal Fuqaha, from the village of Ain al-Bayda, east of Tubas. He is currently jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention.
Freed prisoner Mohammed Abu Hleil, from Dura near al-Khalil, and his two imprisoned brothers, Hamza and Azmi Abu Hleil.
Nazih Abu Aoun, from Jaba’, south of Jenin. He is currently held in administrative detention without charge or trial, as is his son, Islam Abu Aoun. He has spent over 23 years in occupation prisons in total and played a leadership role in the prisoners’ movement. At one point, he was serving the longest consecutive time in administrative detention, over four years after continuous renewals.
The two imprisoned brothers held in administrative detention, Ali and Mohammed Ba’ran from Beit Ummar.
Alaa Musa Zaaqiq, from Beit Ummar, currently imprisoned in administrative detention without charge or trial.
Ahed Abu Fara, from Surif near al-Khalil, held in administrative detention without charge or trial. He has been repeatedly detained on multiple occasions for years.
Liberated prisoner Ahmad Badran Brioush from Dura, al-Khalil, released in February of this year after several years in occupation prisons. He previously was imprisoned for three years and has also been detained by the PA.
Palestinian prisoner Yousef Amayreh, from al-Burj near Dura, southwest of al-Khalil, held in administrative detention without charge or trial.
Moatassem Billah Oweisat, wounded Palestinian prisoner jailed since 2024, from al-Sawahreh, southeast of Jerusalem, imprisoned for carrying out a resistance operation at the Maale Adumim illegal colonial settlement.
Shaher al-Hayeh from al-Khalil, currently jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention. In total, Shaher, from al-Khalil, has spent over 17 years in occupation prisons.
Al-Murabit Mahmoud Ayyad, from Dheisheh refugee camp, currently imprisoned; he has served a total of 11 years in occupation prisons. He is known as a writer of revolutionary and national songs and nasheed.
The imprisoned brothers Jihad and Qassam Halabiyeh, from Abu Dis.
Freed prisoner Mohammed al-Sous, from Anabta, near Tulkarem.
Freed prisoner Iyas al-Farahin from Dheisheh refugee camp, released a few months ago after 16 months in administrative detention. He has been repeatedly arrested by the occupation and has also been arrested by the PA.
Fadi Badr Amour, from Yatta, near al-Khalil, held in administrative detention without charge or trial since January 2024. He has spent a total of 10 years in occupation prisons over multiple arrests.
Majdi Khader Ighbaria from Jenin, imprisoned since 2022 and serving a 12 year sentence in occupation prisons.
Palestinian prisoner Yazan al-Hattawi from al-Ram, sentenced to 29 months in occupation prisons.
Yazan al-Hayeh from Surif, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention.
Palestinian prisoner Ismail Abu Shukeidam, currently jailed by the occupation. He has been imprisoned on multiple occasions by the occupation and also arrested by the PA.
Saad Atef Qazzaz from Dura, near al-Khalil, who has been repeatedly arrested and held in administrative detention without charge or trial.

Danger to Raja Eghbarieh’s life and health as occupation refuses to bring him to court

Serious concerns about the health and well-being of imprisoned Palestinian leader Raja Eghbarieh are being raised by his family and comrades. Eghbarieh, 73, is a leading figure in Abnaa al-Balad, the Left Palestinian movement in Occupied Palestine ’48. He was seized by occupation forces from his home in Umm al-Fahm on 9 April 2025, followed shortly thereafter by the issuance of a 4-month administrative detention order for him to be imprisoned without charge or trial.

Administrative detention orders were introduced to Palestine by the British colonial mandate and then adopted by the Zionist regime. They are issued for up to six months at a time but are indefinitely renewable, and Palestinians spend years at a time jailed on the basis of a “secret file” with no charge or trial. There are currently over 3,600 Palestinians held in administrative detention among at least 10,000 Palestinian political prisoners.

While he had a court hearing scheduled in the Haifa district court on 8 May 2025 — these hearings are often held behind closed doors, with the public denied access to the sessions — Eghbarieh was not brought to the court either in person or via video link. Held in Megiddo prison since his arrest, he had suddenly been moved to Ramon prison. When his family and lawyers demanded a picture of him to be sent to the court, the prison administration refused to turn over a picture. They stated that he was now being held in the closed section of Ramon prison where he, alongside other prisoners, has developed the scabies skin disease. Scabies is rampant in the Zionist prison system, because the occupation refuses to provide proper medical care or even basic hygiene supplies to the imprisoned Palestinians. He was also denied a legal visit on the pretext that he could not be exposed to others due to scabies.

In addition, his lawyers and family received reliable reports from fellow detainees who had been held with Eghbarieh that he has been beaten, abused on transfer, and suffered a broken leg. The Abnaa el-Balad movement issued a statement urging “immediate action by legal and national bodies, because he is in danger of assassination…We hold ‘Israel’ and all its security and intelligence agencies and prison authorities responsible for his fate and underline that our nation and people stand strongly for victory, to cry out in the face of administrative detention and for a victory of the prisoners’ movement that is confronting unprecedented crimes.”

Since 7 October 2023, over 66 Palestinian prisoners have been martyred in the occupation prisons due to torture, denial of medical care and starvation, the process of “slow assassination.” These numbers do not include Palestinians from Gaza held in the notorious military torture camps, where severe physical, psychological and sexual torture, malnutrition, beating and a complete absence of healthcare are well-documented.

In their prior call to action, the Abnaa el-Balad movement stated:

The administrative detention against Eghbarieh comes in the context of the ongoing genocide that is carried by the Israeli occupation forces against the Palestinian people, especially in Gaza. Since October 7, 2023, Israel is conducting a relentless campaign of murder, ethnic cleansing, and terror against the Palestinian people. This terror campaign is not limited to Gaza and the West Bank, but is also directed against Palestinians in the areas that are occupied by Israel since 1948, aiming to silence any protest. Attempts to demonstrate against the genocide are brutally oppressed.  Many were persecuted for simple social media expressions of solidarity with the people of Gaza. Hundreds were arrested, tortured, sentenced to prison, and expelled from work and universities.

Eghbarieh has been very active in the Palestinian liberation movement since the 1980s, and was one of the leaders in organizing a general strike of ’48 Palestinians on 9 December 1987, named “Palestine Day,” two days after the outbreak of the great Intifada on 7 December 1987. He was ordered to administrative detention alongside several other leaders; he was elected as Abnaa el-Balad’s first general secretary two years later, in 1990.

As Abnaa el-Balad noted in their call, “While all efforts should be concentrated to end the genocide in Gaza, defending the freedom of those who struggle against this genocide is an integral part of this vital world-wide struggle. Political repression in ’48 Palestine is designed to terrorize and paralyze an important part of the Palestinian people.”

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges all to act in solidarity for the liberation of Raja Eghbarieh and all Palestinian prisoners jailed for their struggle for liberation. We emphasize that the occupation regime — and the imperialist powers that sponsor it as a base of Western imperialism in the region, including the US, France, Canada, Britain, and Germany — are fully responsible for the ongoing crimes against humanity being carried out in the occupation prisons, and for the lives and health of the Palestinian prisoners being subjected to torture, starvation and “slow assassination” through medical neglect. 

Free Raja Eghbarieh poster (Download PDF):

Libertad Raja Eghbarieh

Asmaa Abu al-Haija, mother of prisoners and liberated prisoner, passes away days after arrest of her daughter Banan

On Monday morning, 12 May, Asmaa Mohammed Sabaaneh (Abu al-Haija), liberated prisoner, the wife of imprisoned leader Sheikh Jamal Abu al-Haija, the mother of her imprisoned children Abdel-Salam, Asem and Banan (all held in administrative detention in Zionist jails) and Imad (held in PA political detention for 5+ months), and the martyr Hamza Abu al-Haija, passed away after a lengthy battle with cancer. Her passing comes just days after Banan Abu al-Haija, her daughter, was arrested by occupation forces on 7 May at Jabara checkpoint south of Tulkarem, while traveling to see her mother at the Istishari Hospital in Ramallah, where she was hospitalized. Banan was one of the major supports and caregivers for Asmaa, and she — alongside her brothers — were taken away from their mother in her last days, preventing them from bidding farewell to their beloved mother.

A banner for Jamal, Asmaa, Abdel-Salam, Asem, Imad and Hamza Abu al-Haija hanging in Jenin refugee camp

Asmaa, 61, was held in administrative detention for nine months in 2003. She battled serious illness for years; she underwent surgeries for brain tumors in 1992 and 1998 and she was hospitalized in 2014 at the time of her son Hamza’s martyrdom. His last words to her were to apologize for being unable to bring her a Mother’s Day gift because he was wanted by the occupation, the day before he was martyred. Over the years, Asmaa was prevented from traveling to Jordan to receive specialized treatment for her recurrent cancer; she was even prevented from visiting a French hospital in Jerusalem for surgery, even after she lost sight in her left eye.

On Wednesday, 7 May, Zionist occupation forces arrested Palestinian lawyer Banan Abu al-Haija — Asmaa’s daughter — as she passed through the illegitimate Jabara checkpoint south of occupied Tulkarem, in the West Bank of occupied Palestine to support her mother through ongoing cancer treatments.

Asmaa’s husband, Sheikh Jamal Abu al-Haija, is a Palestinian resistance leader and political prisoner serving 9 life sentences in occupation prisons,  currently held in isolation alongside fellow leaders of the prisoners’ movement. One of the prominent leaders of the Hamas movement and a hero of the Jenin refugee camp battle of 2002, he has been imprisoned since August 2002, sentenced for his leadership of the Izz el-Din al-Qassam Brigades in the northern West Bank.

Her eldest son, Abdel-Salam Abu al-Haija, has been imprisoned by the occupation regime in administrative detention, without charge or trial, since August 2022, under repeatedly renewed orders. Over multiple arrests, he has spent 15 years in occupation prisons and was also detained by the Palestinian Authority under “security coordination” for multiple months.

Her son, Asem Abu al-Haija, has been imprisoned by the occupation regime under administrative detention, with no charge or trial, since June 2023. He has spent over eight years in occupation prisons.

Her third son, Imad Abu al-Haija, has spent over seven years in occupation prisons, last released in April 2023. He is currently imprisoned by the Palestinian Authority under its “security coordination” with the occupation for over five months, held in Junaid prison since 3 December 2024, separated from his wife, their four children and his ill mother.

Banan Abu al-Haija, her elder daughter, a lawyer, was ordered to administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial, just like her brothers, by 9 May 2025, just days after her arrest, almost seemingly timed to deprive her mother of her support in the last days of her life.

Hamza Abu al-Haija, the youngest son of Jamal and Asmaa, was assassinated by occupation forces after multiple years pursuing him. He resisted the occupation forces, which fired a missile at his apartment, until the last moment. He was martyred alongside two fellow resistance fighters, Yazan Jabarin and Mahmoud Abu Zeina, at dawn on 22 March 2014. He had been imprisoned by the occupation under administrative detention, and, upon his release, was imprisoned by the Palestinian Authority for one month. At the time of his assassination, he was wanted by both the occupation and the PA.

Asmaa Mohammed Sabaaneh (Abu al-Haija)

The Prisoners’ Media Office said on her passing, “The mother of martyrs and prisoners has departed, but she left behind a legacy of pride and dignity, and a family and home that continues to embody the ongoing Palestinian epic of captivity and martyrdom.”

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network expresses its mourning and salutes, and extends its condolences to the Abu al-Haija family and the Palestinian people on the passing of Asmaa, a symbol of steadfastness in Jenin and throughout Palestine, a liberated prisoner, lifelong struggler, wife of a prisoner and a leader serving nine life sentences in occupation prisons, and the mother of martyrs and prisoners. 

The assassination of Nour al-Bitawi and Hikmat Abdel-Nabi: Targeting the liberated prisoners and the resistance

Nour al-Bitawi

On Friday, 9 May 2025, occupation forces launched an assassination raid on Nour al-Bitawi, referred to as “the most wanted man in the West Bank” for his role in leading the Jenin Brigades resistance fighters confronting the occupation. He and his comrade, Hikmat Abdel-Nabi, a struggler with Saraya al-Quds in Nablus, resisted the attack of the occupation for hours, fighting until their last moment in a house to the east of Nablus where they had taken refuge, which the occupation bombed with a drone. He had previously evaded multiple assassination and arrest attempts.

Hikmat Abdel-Nabi

Nour al-Bitawi was a commander of the Jenin Brigades and a leader in Saraya al-Quds, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement. Like his fighting brothers and comrades in arms in Jenin, he was part of the leadership of a new generation of Palestinian resistance in the West Bank of occupied Palestine that is determined to resist the occupation forces by all means, rejecting the path of Oslo on the road to liberation. The occupation forces are currently waging an assault on the refugee camps, particularly in the north of the West Bank of occupied Palestine, seeking to eradicate the resistance and liquidate Palestinian refugees’ camps and their commitment to their right to return to their original homes and lands in occupied Palestine ’48 from which they were forcibly displaced in the Nakba of 1947-48.

As in many other cases, leaders of the resistance are liberated prisoners who spent years targeted by the Zionist-imperialist regime. Nour al-Bitawi was arrested by the occupation for the first time in 2011, serving 7 years in occupation prisons before his release in 2018.

On 8 February 2021, occupation forces arrested him after shooting him with live bullets inside his home in Jenin. He was in critical condition for days following the attack, and parts of his intestines were removed due to the severity of his injuries. He was held in detention for one year, mostly in the infamous Ramleh prison clinic, and repeatedly denied appropriate medical treatment for his wounds. Upon his release, he issued a call, urging that “All Palestinians, in the West Bank, Gaza, in occupied Palestine ’48 and in diaspora must work to release the prisoners and end their suffering.”

The martyr, Sheikh Khader Adnan, welcomes Nour al-Bitawi upon his release as a wounded prisoner in 2022

Later, on 3 November 2023, the occupation forces exploded al-Bitawi’s home in Jenin camp, and one year later, on 6 November 2024, they set fire to his father’s house, preventing civil defense crews from extinguishing the blaze that spread to three neighboring homes.

He was repeatedly pursued by both the occupation and the collaborationist “Palestinian Authority” as part of its “security coordination” with the occupation regime, especially as the PA and then the Zionist military intensified their attacks on Jenin, Tulkarem and Nour Shams camp in December 2024. In January of this year, the occupation arrested his father in an attempt to force him to surrender himself. He was also subjected to a campaign of “moral assassination” and smears by the PA, which attempted to label him a “criminal” and an “Iranian agent.” These tactics have been used frequently by the PA against resistance leaders who are also being pursued by the occupation, such as in the well-known case of Abu Shujaa of Nour Shams camp (Mohammed Jaber, whose mother, Haneen Jaber, is currently imprisoned by the occupation while diagnosed with cancer.)

Indeed, just days ago, PA “security forces” surrounded al-Bitawi’s home in Jenin, seeking to arrest him; he has been one of the “most wanted” for the PA as well, following their December 2024 attack on Jenin camp.

This type of assassination raid and attack targeting resistance fighters and leaders — often liberated prisoners themselves — often overlaps with “arrest raids” targeting the Palestinian people. The attack on Nour al-Bitawi and Hekmat Abdel-Nabi mirrors many such assassination raids against fighters who refuse to surrender themselves to the occupation or to return to Zionist prisons, such as the cases of the “engaged intellectual” and freedom fighter Basil al-Araj, Ibrahim Nabulsi, Mohammed al-Azizi, Abdel-Rahman Soboh, Islam Odeh, Saleh Barghouthi, Ashraf Na’alwa, and Moataz Washaha, to name only a few of the recent targets of the current generation of resistance.

In response to the assassination, the Palestinian resistance organizations, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, pledged to intensify their resistance, urging broad mobilization in the ranks of the resistance to confront the genocidal occupier. As Nour al-Bitawi declared, “We are a people who seek liberation. We will fight until liberation for our dignity, our people, and for God Almighty.”

The assassination raid on Sheikh Nour al-Bitawi and Hikmat Abdel-Nabi echoes the stories of many martyred Palestinian resistance fighters, particularly former prisoners who refuse to return to the dungeons of the occupation. Their commitment to fight until martyrdom in the face of the assassination forces echo those of the resistance fighters from Gaza to Yemen to Lebanon and everywhere throughout the region, of the prisoners who fight with their bodies behind bars, of the Palestinians who insist to remain on their land confronting the genocidal Zionist-imperialist aggression. Despite the massive array of US-made and -provided weaponry arrayed against them by the genocidal occupation regime, they fought heroically until their last breath, resisting for their people, their land, and their liberation.

Victory to the Resistance! From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free! 

Lebanon’s Popular Democratic Party and Arab Socialist Labor Party: We Hold the Zionist Entity Fully Responsible for the Life of Leader Sa’adat

The following statement was issued by the Popular Democratic Party and the Arab Socialist Labor Party in Lebanon, in solidarity with Ahmad Sa’adat, the imprisoned General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Sa’adat, alongside fellow leaders of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement, is being subjected to isolation, beatings, torture, starvation and denial of medical care — targeted for “slow assassination.” 

To the sons and daughters of our nation,
To the free people of the world,
To our comrades in the path and in resistance,

From the isolation cells in Megiddo prison, where the Zionist executioner attempts to break the will of a man the size of a homeland, we raise our voice loudly, in the name of the joint leadership of the Popular Democratic Party and the Arab Socialist Labor Party – Lebanon, to condemn the systematic torture and brutal isolation inflicted upon the national and internationalist leader, the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the imprisoned comrade Ahmad Sa’adat, in a clear attempt to eliminate him physically and morally.

This aggression does not target an individual, but a symbol of Palestinian and Arab resistance, a mind and a heart in the battle for freedom that our people have waged for decades. The torture of comrade Sa’adat is torture of all resisters, and his isolation is a failed attempt to isolate the voice of truth in a time of complicity.

We hold the fascist Zionist entity—along with its imperialist sponsor, the United States, and the regimes involved in normalization—fully responsible for the life and safety of comrade Sa’adat. What is taking place is part of a war of extermination against a people being killed in Gaza, tortured in the West Bank, and pursued in exile.

The silence of the official world, the complicity of the nations, and the cowardice of the regimes will only make us hold tighter to the trench of resistance, until the last breath.

We direct our call to all the free people: in the nation, in the diaspora, and around the world — to trade unionists, intellectuals, students, and all forces of liberation:
Strengthen the resistance. Raise your voices for Ahmad Sa’adat and for all the prisoners. Confront the Zionist-imperialist machine of repression with full force.

Our battle is one of existence, dignity, and identity, and it will not end except with the liberation of all of Palestine, from the river to the sea, and the sweeping away of the settler-colonial project from our land.

Glory to Sa’adat, symbol of revolutionary defiance,
Freedom for the prisoners and detainees,
And victory to the struggling peoples.

Beirut – 10 May 2025

80 years after the massacres of Setif, Guelma and Kherrata: Algeria has won, Palestine will win!

On 8 May 2025, we commemorate the 80th anniversary of the massacres of Setif, Guelma, and Kherrata, during which 45,000 Algerians were assassinated by French colonial troops and European militias on 8 May 1945 and in the days that followed.

We commemorate this bloody date this year, as at the same time, in Gaza, the Zionist occupation army has been committing genocide for 19 months, still preventing humanitarian aid from entering the blockaded enclave, condemning the Palestinian population to famine and disease, while continuing to bomb what remains of ruins and tents, and announcing an imminent massive ground invasion of Gaza. At the same time, a bloody offensive has been carried out for over 100 days on the refugee camps of Jenin and Nour Shams, forcing tens of thousands of residents into exile, in an attempt to annihilate the resistance and liquidate Palestinian refugee camps and the right to return.

Despite this violence, the Palestinian resistance continues to inflict significant losses on the occupying forces and to defend its people and land with courage and dignity.

The French colonial empire carried out its massacres in Algeria, in Madagascar, in Indochina, in Cameroon—more than a century and a half after having drowned in blood Delgrès and his comrades in Guadeloupe, and nearly a century after the crushing of the great Kanak uprising.

Today, France is part of the imperialist powers which, in various ways and on different scales, support, finance, equip, enable, and legitimize the ongoing genocide in Gaza. At the same time, it is participating in attempting to impose by force the disarmament of the resistance in Palestine and in Lebanon and the governance of a corrupt and collaborationist Palestinian Authority, while it continues to imprison the Palestinian resistance fighter Georges Ibrahim Abdallah after 40 years of political and judicial persecution. This same government also represses the solidarity movement with Palestine, by demanding the dissolution of Urgence Palestine and, before it, the Collectif Palestine Vaincra.

This genocide is made possible only through the support and direct participation of imperialist and colonial powers such as France, the USA, Canada, Britain and Germany, and the complicity of the Arab normalization regimes.

The martyrs we see in Palestine, whose bodies and blood flood our screens and minds, for whom our eyes no longer have enough tears, and whose memory tears our hearts apart with incomparable pain, are in every way like our martyrs of Algeria, of Vietnam, of Cameroon, of Guadeloupe, and of Kanaky.

In one week, on 15 May 2025, we will commemorate the 77th anniversary of the Nakba. In memory of our martyrs, in memory of the ancestors and peoples cut down by colonial and imperialist violence, mobilizing against genocide, Zionism, colonialism, and in support of the Palestinian resistance is the greatest tribute.

“Each time one of us gives their life, they become a promise we are responsible for keeping” — Mohamed Boudia

Faced with the ongoing genocide in Gaza, where horror follows horror, where the martyrs water the land with their blood, where dismembered bodies appear before our eyes, we must remember that neither mass rapes, nor massacres of entire villages, nor torture and assassinations, nor smoke killings were able to break the resistance of the Algerian people.

We must remember that neither Napalm, nor Agent Orange, nor massive bombings across the entire Vietnamese territory were able to crush the determination and resistance of the Vietnamese people.

Today more than ever, in tribute to those whose lives were taken and crushed by colonial savagery, we must continue to mobilize in support of the Palestinian resistance and echo, here, its struggle against genocide, colonialism, and imperialism. Awaiting the day when the Palestinian people will taste freedom, when colonialism and oppression will be erased from their land, when the dreams of the martyrs will bloom through the smiles and hands of future generations. That day when the colonizer will be truly defeated and pay for their crimes. On that day, a part of the promise to the martyrs will be fulfilled.

Glory to the martyrs, may the infinite love of their people soothe the pain of their loved ones, and may their memory accompany the living along the long road to liberation.

Glory to the martyrs of Gaza, those whose memory is everything, those whose ruins are their dwellings, whose land weeps for their absence and for not being able to embrace their remains.

Glory to the martyrs with cold hands, to the mothers with hearts of fire, to those whose faces cover the walls and whose names are inscribed in the register of the eternal.

Algeria has won, Palestine will win!

Liberated prisoner Moatassem Raddad martyred in Egypt after years of medical neglect in occupation prisons

One year ago, in the occupation prisons, severely ill prisoner Moatassem Raddad sent a message, saying: “I feel like the next martyr in the occupation’s prisons.” Tonight, 8 May, Moatassem Raddad was martyred, after years of struggle against cancer and years of medical neglect and mistreatment in the occupation prisons, in hospital in Egypt, where he has been for the past several months. Liberated by the Resistance in the Toufan al-Ahrar exchange on 26 February, he has spent his entire time in Egypt hospitalized due to his advanced cancer.

Born in 1982 in Saida, near Tulkarem, he was an athlete in his youth, with three brothers and six sisters. He was one of many youth in Palestine who got involved in the resistance and the liberation movement amid the Al-Aqsa intifada in 2000. He was arrested for the first time in 2002 and sentenced to 17 months in prison. Upon his release, he deepened his involvement with the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine, working in student and popular organizing, before joining its military wing, Saraya al-Quds. On 12 January 2006, Moatassem Raddad was severely injured when he and his comrades, the martyrs Ali Abu Khazna and Moataz Abu Khalil, resisted an attack by occupation forces assaulting the Hittin building in Jenin city.

The occupation forces bombed the house with shells and missiles, and arrested Moatassem while he was wounded and bleeding. He was severely injured in his abdomen and had shrapnel throughout his body. He was subjected to a harsh military investigation and sentenced to 20 years in occupation prisons by a Zionist military court. A few years after his imprisonment, following severe weight loss and multiple intestinal infections and bleeding, he was diagnosed with colon cancer, which advanced rapidly. His medical treatments were frequently delayed, and he was repeatedly denied early release. Since 7 October 2023, he was transferred from the Ramle prison clinic to Ofer prison, held in a cell without the basic needs for human life, and many of his medications were stopped. In May 2024, he issued an anguished call for his release, urging action so he would not be left behind to be martyred in prison.

He was included in the Toufan al-Ahrar exchange agreement, but after years of medical neglect and severe complications, he was martyred tonight, in Egypt. While he passed away in freedom, the circumstances were caused by years of systematic medical neglect and abuse at the hands of the occupation.

We salute the martyr Moatassem Raddad and extend our condolences to his loved ones, comrades, family and the Palestinian people on the loss of Moatassem Raddad, after years of medical neglect in the occupation prisons. We urge that his story and legacy be taken as a call to action to our entire movement to escalate our work and action to free all Palestinian prisoners, particularly the seriously and chronically ill prisoners threatened daily with martyrdom behind bars and subjected to systematic medical abuse and neglect.

We are republishing the following statement below from the Prisoners’ Media Office:

In the name of God, the most gracious, the most merciful
Press release issued by the Prisoners’ Media Office

The Prisoners’ Media Office mourns the martyrdom of liberated prisoner Moatassem Raddad, who was martyred a short while ago in Egypt. Raddad’s death came after a long and painful struggle with illness, caused by deliberate medical negligence by the Israeli prison administration.

Martyr Raddad, from the town of Saida in the Tulkarm district, is considered one of the most difficult medical cases the prisoners’ movement has witnessed. He had been diagnosed with cancer for more than 16 years and spent most of his captivity in the Ramleh prison hospital, without receiving even the slightest modicum of medical care.

He was arrested in 2004 and released as part of the final batch of the Toufan al-Ahrar prisoner exchanges, after a long and agonizing journey behind bars. Today, he has ascended as a martyr outside prison, suffering from complications resulting from medical negligence.

We hold the Israeli occupation fully responsible for the martyrdom of freed prisoner Raddad, and we affirm that the policy of deliberate medical neglect against prisoners is nothing more than a slow death tactic whose effects extend even after their release.

We call on the international community and human rights and humanitarian organizations to assume their responsibilities and pressure the occupation to halt this criminal policy, which violates all international laws and conventions.

Mercy for the martyr and freedom for our prisoners.

Prisoners’ Media Office
Thursday, May 8, 2025

Occupation forces arrest Palestinian lawyer Banan Abu al-Haija as her family fights imprisonment and injustice

On Wednesday, 7 May, Zionist occupation forces arrested Palestinian lawyer Banan Abu al-Haija as she passed through the illegitimate Jabara checkpoint south of occupied Tulkarem, in the West Bank of occupied Palestine. Banan was traveling, at the time, to visit her mother, Asmaa Abu al-Haija, who is receiving cancer treatment and has suffered from recurrent brain tumors, and is currently hospitalized in the Istishari Hospital in Ramallah.

Banan Abu al-Haija is the daughter of Jamal Abu Al-Haija, the Palestinian resistance leader and political prisoner serving 9 life sentences in occupation prisons and currently held in isolation alongside fellow leaders of the prisoners’ movement. She is the sister of Abdel-Salam and Asem Abu al-Haija, both of whom are currently held in administrative detention, arbitrary imprisonment without charge or trial; her third brother, Imad, a freed prisoner, has been imprisoned by the collaborationist “Palestinian Authority” for months on end, under “security coordination” with the Zionist regime. Their fourth brother, Hamza, is a martyr who was assassinated in 2014 by the occupation regime.

Banan herself was detained by the occupation in the past, and her mother Asmaa served nine months in administrative detention without charge or trial. Her husband is Abdullah Rusrus, who is also a liberated prisoner who spent six years in occupation prisons and was also detained by the PA as a political detainee under the “security coordination” regime.

Banan’s father, Jamal Abu al-Haija, is one of the prominent imprisoned leaders of the the Hamas movement. A hero of the Jenin refugee camp resistance in 2002, he is serving 9 life sentences plus 20 years in occupation prisons for his role in the Izz el-Din al-Qassam Brigades. Prior to his arrest in 2002, he had been arrested four more times since he returned to Palestine in 1990. He was born in Jenin refugee camp in 1959 to a family forcibly displaced from Ein Hod, near occupied Haifa, in the Nakba.

During his childhood, he was influenced by his father, Sheikh Abdel-Salam Abu al-Haija, the imam of the mosque in the camp. Their home was known, then and decades later, to shelter resistance fighters from Jenin and all areas of the West Bank of occupied Palestine. He graduated from Jenin’s high school before attending university in Amman. After his graduation, he taught in Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait until returning to Jenin in 1990, amid the great popular Intifada. He joined the Hamas movement, founded in 1987, and became its spokesperson and coordinator with other national and Islamic resistance forces during that period.

Throughout the 1990s, he became a leader in the Hamas movement in the northern West Bank and a member of the Jenin refugee camp support committee, a body established to defend the rights of its residents. During this time, he was arrested first in 1992, then held for five months in 1993, for another four months in 1995, and for over a year between April 1998 and July 1999. He was also imprisoned by the Palestinian Authority in 1996 for six months under its “security coordination” with the occupation for protecting members of the resistance in his home.

Amid the outbreak of the Al-Aqsa Intifada, he was heavily involved in leading and organizing the resistance, including in the 2002 battle to defend Jenin refugee camp against the invading occupation forces. The occupation openly declared their intent to assassinate him; while they failed to do so, he was hit with an explosive bullet in his left hand, which caused shrapnel to spread throughout his body. His left arm was amputated due to his injuries.

Jamal Abu al-Haija with his children before his imprisonment.

Upon his arrest on 26 August 2002, he was held under “military interrogation” and tortured for months. The occupation directly targeted the family’s home with a missile and later destroyed their home in Jenin camp, which they rebuilt. During his imprisonment since 2002, he has been repeatedly held in isolation and solitary confinement. Classified by the occupation as a “dangerous prisoner,” he was held in isolation for 10 years until he was returned to the general population by the 2012 Karameh hunger strike, alongside other isolated leaders. Today, like fellow leaders of the prisoners’ movement, he has been held in isolation repeatedly following Al-Aqsa Flood and the escalated Zionist-imperialist genocide in Gaza since 7 October 2023.

Both of her brothers, Asem and Abdel-Salam Abu al-Haija, are currently held in administrative detention and have spent years in occupation prisons, and both have also been repeatedly pursued and detained by the collaborationist Palestinian Authority under its “security coordination” with the occupation. Asem Abu al-Haija was last released by the occupation on 24 January 2023, where he received a warm reception from the resistance fighters and the people of the camp. However, he was re-arrested only six months later, in July 2023, and has now been held under administrative detention once again, without charge or trial, for nearly two more years. He has spent over eight years in occupation prisons, mostly under repeatedly renewed administrative detention orders.

Abdel-Salam Abu al-Haija has been held in administrative detention since August 2022; his detention has been repeatedly renewed. During this time, he has gone on hunger strikes to demand to be reunited with his brothers and father. He has spent around 15 years in occupation prisons over multiple arrests and was also detained by the Palestinian Authority for multiple months.

Imad Abu al-Haija was held in administrative detention, imprisoned by the occupation for multiple years alongside his brothers and father, until being released in April 2023. His detention came after a previous release after two and a half years in occupation prisons, and he has spent over seven years in occupation prisons.  Like his brothers, he also went on a hunger strike to be reunited with his family members, a demand that was repeatedly denied inside the occupation prisons. He has now been imprisoned by the Palestinian Authority under its “security coordination” with the occupation for over five months, held in Junaid prison since 3 December 2024, separated from his wife, their four children and his ill mother.

The martyr Hamza Abu al-Haija

Hamza Abu al-Haija, Jamal and Asmaa’s youngest son, born in 1992, was also a struggler in the Al-Qassam Brigades. He was martyred in March 2014, assassinated by occupation forces after multiple years pursuing him. He resisted the occupation forces, which fired a missile at his apartment, until the last moment. He was martyred alongside two fellow resistance fighters, Yazan Jabarin and Mahmoud Abu Zeina, at dawn on 22 March 2014. He had been imprisoned by the occupation under administrative detention, and, upon his release, was imprisoned by the Palestinian Authority for one month. At the time of his assassination, he was wanted by both the occupation and the PA.

Asmaa Abu al-Haija, the wife of Jamal and mother of Banan, Abdel-Salam, Asem, Imad, Hamza and Sajida, currently receiving cancer treatment

In 2003, Asmaa Sabaaneh Abu al-Haija, Jamal’s wife and the mother of Banan, Abdel-Salam, Asem, Imad, Hamza and their sister Sajida, was held in administrative detention for nine months. Asmaa, 61, has battled serious illness for years. She underwent surgeries for brain tumors in 1992 and 1998; she was hospitalized in 2014 at the time of Hamza’s martyrdom. His last words to her were to apologize for being unable to bring her a Mother’s Day gift because he was wanted by the occupation, the day before he was martyred. Over the years, Asmaa was prevented from traveling to Jordan to receive specialized treatment for her recurrent cancer; she was even prevented from visiting a French hospital in Jerusalem for surgery, even after she lost sight in her left eye.

Banan was previously detained for 23 days in 2007 in the Jalameh interrogation center; like her mother, she has been subjected to travel bans preventing her from traveling abroad. Banan emphasized that she chose to study law in order to support the prisoners, attending their court hearings, following up with their families and highlighting their cases. She, like her brothers and mother, inside and outside prison, has been repeatedly denied permission to visit her father. They have only had a few family visits over the years, and almost all of their applications are routinely denied.

Sajida, Banan’s sister, shared the message that her father had sent to her for her wedding day in 2022, when Jamal, Asem, and Imad were all imprisoned, speaking about the reasons for their sacrifice and struggle:

“This is for you, my daughter, and for the sake of all young men and women. We accept captivity today so that tomorrow we may bequeath to you a free homeland without captivity or restrictions. We accept fear and deprivation today so that tomorrow you may live in safety, where there is no occupation or aggression. This is for you, my daughter.

Tomorrow, when you tell your children the story of the liberation before bed, you will tell them: Raise your heads to the clouds, for this dear, free homeland in whose shade you enjoy, your grandfathers and uncles sacrificed their lives for the sake of God to expel the occupier from its soil.”

A banner for Jamal, Asmaa, Abdel-Salam, Asem, Imad and Hamza Abu al-Haija hanging in Jenin refugee camp

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network demands the immediate release of Banan Abu al-Haija, her brothers and father from the occupation prisons. The arrest of Banan is another form of targeting of the family and an attempt to deprive her beloved mother of support at a critical time for her health. It also represents the ongoing targeting of Palestinian lawyers defending the Palestinian prisoners, their resistance and the Palestinian people as a whole. It also comes as Jenin refugee camp, where Banan was born, is under attack by the occupation alongside all of the refugee camps of the northern West Bank, with thousands displaced in an attempt to steal more land for settler-colonial confiscation, suppress the Palestinian resistance, and liquidate the core Palestinian right to return to their original homes and lands.

It is those who resist the occupation who are on the front lines fighting the genocide, and they are targeted for mass slaughter, assassination and imprisonment by the Zionist-imperialist genocidal occupation forces. As in the ongoing genocidal slaughter in Gaza, which has taken the lives of over 52,000 precious Palestinian martyrs, including well over 100 in just the past day, these crimes are carried out with the full support, complicity and responsibility of the imperialist powers: the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany and other EU countries. We urge all supporters of Palestine to raise your voices for the Abu al-Haija family and for all Palestinian prisoners. Their liberation is part and parcel of ending the genocide in Gaza and throughout Palestine — on the road to the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea.

Over 100,000 sign petition to stop the dissolution of Urgence Palestine

Over 100,000 people have already signed on to the petition to stop the French state’s planned dissolution of Urgence Palestine, the large national coalition and collective for Palestine that has risen to the forefront of the movement in France over the past 18 months of resistance to Zionist-imperialist genocide.

On the evening of 29 April, Urgence Palestine revealed that the French state had delivered a notice of dissolution, stating that the organization would be dissolved effectively on 7 May if the attack is not blocked by legal action. While Urgence Palestine’s legal team has already declared that it will file the necessary legal documents as soon as any ban is implemented, the campaign is also focusing on building mass, popular support to stop this latest attack by the French state against the Palestinian diaspora and the Palestine solidarity movement.

This attack also comes alongside another dissolution attempt — announced by French Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau in the National Assembly, also on 29 April — on Jeunes Gardes, a youth antifascist organization. Of course, it also follows the dissolution of the Collectif Palestine Vaincra and multiple similar attacks on anti-fascist groups, Muslim organizations, local mosques and campaigns against Islamophobia, and as France continues to imprison Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, the Lebanese Arab struggler for Palestine jailed in French prisons for the past 40 years and awaiting yet another hearing on his case in June, despite being eligible for release since 1999.

People from all walks of life have expressed their opposition to the dissolution order, with prominent trade unionists, artists, elected officials, musicians, actors, writers, athletes and public intellectuals joining the campaign, documented on the Urgence Palestine Instagram.

A mass outdoor public meeting against the dissolutions drew thousands in Paris alongside multiple elected officials, while demonstrations and public meeti

ngs against the dissolution are also being organized in Lyon, Strasbourg, Chambery and many other French cities.

Like its fellow imperialist powers, France fully supports the Zionist project in occupied Palestine as an outpost of Western imperialism in the region. After aligning with Britain and the Zionist regime in 1956 — and being defeated by Egypt — France collaborated with “Israel” to develop its nuclear weapons program that it continues to use today to threaten the entire region. Today, this same alliance is reflected in the ongoing arms trade conducted by the French state with the Zionist regime amid the escalated genocide in Gaza and throughout occupied Palestine.

France is fully complicit with that genocide, through its provision of arms, aid and support to the Zionist regime, but it is also aiding and abetting genocide by engaging in a concerted attack on the freedom of expression of all in order to suppress, criminalize and silence those working to bring an end to the genocide, epitomized by the latest attack on Urgence Palestine.

We urge all in France and around the world to stand with Urgence Palestine and Jeune Garde.

  • Sign on to the Urgence Palestine collective petition, join over 100,000! https://stop-dissolution.fr/
  • Demonstrate at a French embassy, consulate, or Alliance Française (official government representative of French cultural activities) in your area against the dissolution and repression — and against France’s ongoing complicity with Zionist genocide throughout occupied Palestine. Use the signs below!
  • For more information, read our full statement.

In this moment, it is clearer than ever that it is critically important to build the broadest, strongest alliance for Palestine, insisting on full and clear support for the Palestinian resistance to occupation by all means, led by the armed resistance forces; the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea; and a firm commitment to anti-imperialist organizing and solidarity. These attacks must mobilize us to escalate our actions and build the international popular cradle of the Resistance. We must not back down or seek to comply with these illegitimate and indeed, illegal attacks, but only escalate our international solidarity to defend freedom of expression, defend Palestine, and defeat the repression — and, of course, to defeat imperialism and Zionism.

Stop the dissolution of Urgence Palestine!

End the genocide in Gaza and throughout Palestine!

Stop the aggression against Yemen, Lebanon, Syria and the people of the region!

Haiti won, Algeria won, Vietnam won, and Palestine will win!

Victory to the Resistance!

From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!


Download PDF Signs (English and French)

Imprisoned Palestinian leader Mohammed Arman isolated, starved and tortured

As part of the ongoing assault on the Palestinian prisoners’ movement leadership, one of the prominent leaders of the movement, Mohammed Arman, is being subjected to ongoing physical and psychological torture, starvation and medical neglect in solitary confinement in Megiddo prison. At least 66 identified Palestinian prisoners have been martyred in Zionist occupation prisons amid the ongoing Zionist-imperialist genocide in Gaza.  Palestinian prisoners with high sentences who are priorities in a prisoner exchange with the resistance, like Arman, face particularly cruel and inhuman conditions as part of the “slow assassination” policy, part and parcel of the ongoing Zionist-imperialist assassination regime targeting the Palestinian national leadership and all resistance forces.

Mohammed Arman has been imprisoned since 18 August 2002, sentenced to 36 life sentences for his role in the Palestinian resistance during Al-Aqsa Intifada in the Izz el-Din al-Qassam Brigades of the Hamas movement. Since Al-Aqsa Flood, he was transferred to solitary confinement in Megiddo prison. In his dark solitary cell, he faces repeated incursions and attacks by repressive units, who storm the cell, tie his hands and feet and beat him, accompanied by police dogs.

He has lost tens of kilograms in weight and now weighs around 65 kg, while being provided with very little food insufficient to sustain his life and health. Despite repeated injuries due to beatings and his ongoing health deterioration due to malnutrition, he is being denied medical care or treatment.

A number of leaders of the prisoners’ movement have been targeted, held in isolation, repeatedly beaten, starved and denied medical care, including Abdullah Barghouti, Hassan Salameh, Ahed Abu Ghoulmeh, Ibrahim Hamed, Muammar Shahrour, Abbas al-Sayyed, Marwan Barghouti, Mohammed al-Natsheh, Muhannad Shreim and Ahmad Sa’adat.

In a statement, the Prisoners’ Media Office said:

“In the depths of the dark cells, where light barely reaches, the symbols and leaders of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement in the occupation’s prisons are waging an unequal battle against a systematic machine of death, specifically designed to eliminate the remaining living consciences that embody the memory and will of Palestinian struggle…The leaders of the prisoners’ movement are not merely names topping prisoner lists. They are the nucleus of resistance consciousness and the symbols of this stage, and of Palestinian steadfastness behind bars. They face a vicious assault targeting their very human and revolutionary existence, under the cover of international silence and moral complicity…

These men were never mere numbers in the registers of captivity; they are lanterns that lit the path for an entire generation of strugglers, bearing the responsibility of preserving Palestinian human dignity inside the occupation’s cells…

We, at the Prisoners Media Office, are not merely warning — we are crying out to the world: the leaders are being killed slowly, and we are losing the pillars of patience and steadfastness one after the other.

The Media Office further stated, urging “immediate action”:

“The leader Mohammed Arman is being subjected to a slow assassination attempt in isolation, and today he stands between life and death, fighting hunger and resisting pain, alone in a narrow cell.

As we sound the alarm, we warn that the horrific violations committed against the leaders of the prisoners’ movement will lead to a destiny that may reach their martyrdom at any moment.

We hold the occupation fully and directly responsible for the lives of the imprisoned leaders, and we affirm that the torture and abuse committed against them is a full-fledged war crime that history will mark the disgrace of the silent international community.

We join the call of the Prisoners’ Media Office and urge all supporters of Palestine and the Palestinian cause to speak out actively and take action through demonstrations, mass actions and direct actions to confront the abuse of Palestinian prisoners. The imperialist powers, like the US, Canada, Britain, Germany, France and the Netherlands, that continue to arm, support and provide cover for the Zionist genocide in Gaza and throughout occupied Palestine, are fully implicated in these inhuman actions.

Mohammed Arman

Born on 22 November 1975 in the village of Beitlu, Mohammed Arman is from a family forcibly displaced in the Nakba from the village of al-Burj near occupied Ramla in occupied Palestine ’48. His family now lives in the village of Kharbatha Bani Harith west of Ramallah. He has been imprisoned since 18 August 2002, sentenced to 36 life sentences for his role in the Izz el-Din al-Qassam Brigades. Like other residents of Kharbatha Bani Harith, he daily passed through a checkpoint outside his village, where he witnessed the routine cruelty, assaults and abuse directed at his fellow Palestinians at the hands of the occupation forces, and was motivated to join the resistance.

He was arrested for the first time in 1994 as a university student, and held in administrative detention for four months; in 1998, he was arrested again and sentenced to 14 months in occupation prisons.

He worked as a technician in the Palestine Telecommunications Company, and escalated his involvement the ranks of the resistance with the emergence of the Al-Aqsa Intifada and soon began working alongside the leaders Ibrahim Hamed and Abdullah Barghouti to plan, execute and carry out resistance operations. They formed the Silwan cell of the al-Qassam Brigades, the resistance cell that the occupation described as “the most dangerous” to its security.

He was subjected to harsh interrogation for over three months after his arrest, and has repeatedly been held in solitary confinement; he was returned to the general prisoners’ population in 2012 in the Al-Karameh hunger strike alongside dozens of other imprisoned leaders.

Mohammed Arman is married and the father of a son, Bilal, and two daughters, Iman and Salsabil; his youngest was only a year old at the time of his arrest. Inside the prisons, he has been heavily involved with the prisoners’ movement, serving on multiple occasions as the head of the leadership council of the Hamas prisoners, or as a member of the leadership body. During his time in isolation, he wrote a book, “A View of the Resistance from Within.”

His father passed away in 2019 and Mohammed was denied the ability to bid him farewell; he was barred from visiting Mohammed for years.

The Palestinian prisoners and their leadership — and the entire Palestinian people — is under Zionist-imperialist genocidal attack. Our entire movement must respond collectively to such aggression by organizing even more loudly, clearly and effectively to shut down the imperialist-Zionist war machine, to support the Palestinian resistance and all forces of resistance in the region, and to ensure that the Palestinian prisoners are not now and will never be isolated from the Palestinian people, the Arab, Islamic and regional liberation causes, and the international movement for justice.

Freedom for all Palestinian prisoners in occupation jails! Victory to the Resistance!

From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!

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Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
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