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Friday, June 27, 2025
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New York City marches for Palestine on Land Day, calls to #DefundRacism

On Wednesday, 30 March, Palestinian Land Day, hundreds of marchers took to the streets of midtown Manhattan in New York City to protest organizations funding war crimes in Palestine, including the “Friends of the Israel Defense Force,” the Central Fund of Israel and American Friends of Ateret Cohanim.

The march commemorated Land Day, an annual date marked by Palestinians and supporters of Palestine inside and outside Palestine. Land Day not only recalls the six Palestinians shot and killed by Zionist forces on 30 March 1976 at the mass demonstrations in occupied Palestine ’48 against land confiscation, it also highlights the unity of Palestinians in defending their land from colonialism, occupation and apartheid.

The New York City action came as part of the Campaign to Defund Racism, launched by over 150 groups in Palestine to oppose the tax-exempt status of United States-based organizations funding illegal Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land.

The protest was organized by a coalition of organizations, including Samidoun New York/New Jersey, Within Our Lifetime • United for Palestine, the Palestinian Youth Movement, Existence Is Resistance, Decolonize This Place, CUNY School of Law Students for Justice in Palestine, and the CUNY Law Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CbyYRfGADJM/

The demonstration began outside the “Friends of the IDF” headquarters on 42nd Street before proceeding in a strong march throughout midtown Manhattan. Speakers from Within Our Lifetime, Samidoun, Palestinian Youth Movement, CUNY Law Students for Justice in Palestine sent a clear message against these organizations and in support of Palestinian liberation.

Many organizations participated in the demonstration, including Brooklyn College SJP, the US-Palestine Mental Health Network, NY Boricua Resistance and the anti-Zionist Jewish group, Neturei Karta.

As the demonstration launched, multiple speakers addressed the crowd, including Nerdeen Kiswani of Within Our Lifetime, Fatima Mohammed of CUNY Law Students for Justice in Palestine, Rabbi Dovid Weiss of Neturei Karta and Laila Boutros, coordinator of Samidoun NY/NJ. (Read Laila’s full speech below.)

As the march proceeded to the Central Fund for Israel, Mette Loulou von Kohl spoke representing the Palestinian Youth Movement, while Hassan of Samidoun NY/NJ spoke outside the American Friends of Ateret Cohanim (read Hassan’s speech below.) The demonstration ended with a spirited march to the steps of the James A Farley Building, as chants for Palestinian liberation echoed through the streets of Manhattan.

Demonstrators also carried signs in support of the Collectif Palestine Vaincra and other pro-Palestinian organizations targeted for dissolution — official banning — by the French government, for their advocacy for Palestinian liberation and against apartheid, racism and colonialism, and highlighted the case of Khaled Barakat, Palestinian writer expelled from Germany and subjected to a political ban for his positions on Palestine.

Participants also highlighted the struggle of 4,600 Palestinian political prisoners jailed by occupation forces, including nearly 500 administrative detainees imprisoned without charge or trial by the Israeli occupation and currently boycotting the Israeli military courts. Palestinian prisoners include political leaders and resistance strugglers like Ahmad Sa’adat as well as Ahmad Manasra, the young Palestinian man jailed as a child and subjected to horrendous abuse by his captors. There is an international campaign by global and Palestinian mental health campaigners for his release. Click here to sign the petition.

Organizers in New York and New Jersey will continue to build the Defund Racism and organize for justice and liberation for Palestine, from the river to the sea. To get involved with or learn more about Samidoun NY/NJ, reach out on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.

Laila Boutros’ speech outside the “Friends of the IDF”:

My name is Laila and I’m with Samidoun New York/New Jersey. If you are standing here with us today, I don’t have to tell you that Palestinians and supporters of Palestinian liberation have been brutally repressed for as long as our collective consciousness can recall. 19 years ago this month, Rachel Corrie, a 23 year old American activist, was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer operator while trying to defend a Palestinian home from demolition. The driver saw her and didn’t slow down – he just ran over her. 37 years ago this July – Ghassan Kanafani, beloved Palestinian writer and PFLP leader, was assassinated by the Mossad via a car bomb, along with his 17 year old niece, Lamees. When they are able to, this is what they do. They murder Palestinians and their supporters who speak up for their right to life and land.

Israeli repression is still happening up to this day, and it doesn’t just happen in Palestine – it happens in the diaspora, too. This month, the French Interior Minister ordered the dissolution of Samidoun’s Toulouse chapter, the Collectif Palestine Vaincra, citing baseless claims of “calls to hatred, violence and discrimination.” While this was happening, Palestinian activist Khaled Barakat fought to appeal his unjust political ban from Germany. Khaled was banned from the country because he was not afraid to say he supports Palestinian resistance and he calls for the liberation of Palestine. This is what the enemy does when they can’t literally kill our people, they attempt to kill our spirit and our voices and they attempt to delegitimize our struggle to the rest of the world. This won’t work because the people of the world know the truth and can recognize a common enemy. The same forces that encourage IDF soldiers to murder Palestinian children also encourage United States pigs to kill Black boys and girls, and the same forces that kill Black and Palestinian youth are also upholding the fascist US-backed Duterte regime that wreaks havoc on the lives of the Filipino people.

The greatest thing we can take away from these horrible stories is that the Zionist enemy is afraid of us. If they were not afraid, they would not work so tirelessly to kill and silence our people. It would not matter to them that Ghassan Kanafani wrote truthful stories about Palestinian life and struggle, it would not matter to them that Rachel Corrie was moved to defend a land so far from where she came, it would not matter to them that the Collectif is peacefully organizing its community in support of the Palestinian prisoners. If the Zionist entity was really as strong and unbreakable as it claims to be, it would not need to spend its time killing and repressing our people. So now is not the time for us to cower in fear, it is time for us to fight back.

Photo: Samar/PYM

Hassan’s speech outside the American Friends of Ateret Cohanim:

Right here is the office of the American friends of Ateret Cohanim. Ateret Cohanim operates as a passthrough between Zionist settlers and their state and their “Friends” here give them half a million dollars a year in tax exempt money. Through legal and extralegal means the organization seeks to push Palestinians from their homes and move in what they call “ideologically motivated settlers” — in other words, armed ultra Zionists. Their goal is to “securing a united Jerusalem” by ensuring a demographic majority in al-Quds.

Right now in Silwan, in Jerusalem, the Zionist court is threatening to kick a 26 person Palestinian family off their ancestral land. Zionist settlements are propping up all over on the remains of houses the occupation has forcibly demolished. Ateret Cohanim is directly involved in these heinous acts and that’s why we must hold their “Friends” accountable.

Ateret is doing the same thing luxury housing developers do here in historically Black and Brown neighborhoods but with even more overt violence and intimidation. Whether it’s Bay Ridge or back home, we condemn these acts of ethnic cleansing and support the brave people who dare to resist forced displacement.

We demand that these terrorist organizations be stripped of their tax exempt status. This is a clear case of favoritism on the part of the racist imperialist US government and reflects the two countries’ shared commitment to genocide. But no matter how many millions are poured into their unjust cause, we know the Palestinians’ spirit of resistance will not be broken. We know we will return and reclaim all of Jerusalem as the eternal capital of Palestine.

Palestine is our demand
No peace on stolen land

Charleroi activists bring the case of Georges Abdallah to Belgian media

As part of the International Day of Action to Free Georges Abdallah, activists in Charleroi, Belgium, took the campaign to free the imprisoned Lebanese Communist struggler for Palestine to Belgian media outlets on Friday, 1 April. The Plate-forme Charleroi-Palestine urged Belgian media outlets to cover the case of the longest-held political prisoner in Europe, jailed in France for over 37 years despite being eligible for release since 1999.

Activists gathered outside RTBF and TeleSambre de Charleroi, major media outlets, with signs and banners calling or the immediate release of Abdallah, receiving media coverage in Belgian media outlets and TV reports.

This action builds upon a number of activities, protests, open letters and campaigns in Belgium to call for Abdallah’s liberation. 2 April is Georges Abdallah’s birthday, and he will turn 71 behind bars today. As part of a call from the Unitary Campaign for the Liberation of Georges Abdallah, protests are being held in Tunis, Tunisia, as well as in multiple cities in France.

Protesters will gather in Paris, Bordeaux, Marseille and outside the prison of Lannemezan to call for Abdallah’s immediate release.

One important way that people can express their solidarity directed to Georges Abdallah is to write letters and send them to him:

Monsieur Georges Ibrahim ABDALLAH
2388/A221 CP de Lannemezan
204 rue des Saligues
BP 70166
65307 LANNEMEZAN

“Fedayin: Georges Abdallah’s Fight” is a documentary film that traces the life, struggle and politics of Abdallah’s engagement in the Palestinian and Lebanese revolutionary movements. The film is available in French, English, Arabic, German, Italian, Catalan, Spanish and Turkish. To organize a screening of the film in your area, contact vacarmesfilms@gmail.com and copy samidoun@samidoun.net so that we can help you promote the event.

Photos: Plate-forme Charleroi-Palestine

2 April: Demonstrations in various cities to free Georges Abdallah for international action day

April 2: International Day for the Release of Georges Abdallah

At the call of the Unitary Campaign for the Liberation of Georges Abdallah and various support committees, let’s make April 2 a day of mobilization for the release of the oldest political prisoner in Europe.

Saturday April 2 in Lannemezan: Rally for the release of Georges Abdallah

Saturday April 2 in Paris: March in support of the Palestinian resistance

Saturday April 2 in Bordeaux: April 2 – international day for the release of Georges Abdallah

Saturday April 2 in Marseille: Freedom for Georges Abdallah & end of apartheid in Palestine

Saturday April 2 in Tunis from 11:30 a.m.: Gathering in front of the French Embassy

And also: Organize collages of posters, distribution of flyers
Take photos of solidarity alone or in groups with the hashtag #FreeGeorgesAbdallah

Write to him:
Mr. Georges Ibrahim ABDALLAH
2388/A221 CP de Lannemezan
204 rue des Saligues
BP 70166
65307 LANNEMEZAN

Land Day: Return and Liberation for Palestine #PalestineLandDay

We mark the 46th Palestinian Land Day on 30 March 2022. This day is an occasion to celebrate, intensify and uphold Palestinian resistance to Zionism, colonialism, apartheid and occupation, recalling those whose lives have been stolen in defense of the land and people of Palestine, and to organize and struggle for return and liberation, from the river to the sea. As the Palestinian people continue to rise up and take action in resistance to defend their people and liberate their land, the Day of the Land is not only an anniversary but a day of living struggle to uproot colonialism from Palestine.

A History of Struggle

The Day of the Land began as an annual commemoration of the massive uprising of Palestinians in occupied Palestine ’48 against Zionist land confiscation in 1976, targeting 20,000 dunums of Palestinian land in the Galilee. The Palestinians of ’48 — Palestinian citizens of the Israeli settler colonial apartheid regime, survivors of the Nakba who remained on their land even as 80% of their fellow Palestinians were expelled — rose up en masse to confront ongoing land confiscation and settlement. They launched large-scale protests and a general strike, and on 30 March 1976, six Palestinians were shot dead by the occupation forces as they resisted the expropriation of their land.

On the 46th Land Day, we remember Kheir Mohammad Salim Yasin, Khadija Qasem Shawahneh, Raja Hussein Abu Rayya, Khader Eid Mahmoud Khalayleh, Muhsin Hasan Said Taha and Raafat Ali Al-Zheir and all the martyrs of Palestine who have given their lives and their freedom for the defense of Palestine, its land and its people. This day has become a national anniversary for the Palestinian people as a whole, inside Palestine and in exile, and an Arab and international day of Indigenous solidarity, land defense and collective struggle against imperialism and colonialism and the extraction of wealth and resources from the land of the people.

The Day of the Land represents the centrality of the land itself and its full liberation, from the river to the sea, in the struggle for Palestine. It reflects just how precious the land — and the people who care for it, till it, and work with it — is, and how decades and centuries of colonization have been unable to separate the people from their land, in Palestine and everywhere that people fight to defend their land and resources.

Further, Land Day is a day of Palestinian popular and resistance unity. From occupied Palestine ’48, to Jerusalem and the West Bank, to the Gaza Strip, to the refugee camps and everywhere in exile and diaspora, Palestinians commemorate Land Day not only as a historical occasion but as a symbol of the ongoing, living and vibrant resistance that has remained unbroken despite years of military occupation, land confiscation, mass imprisonment, killings and dispossession. Land Day is a day of struggle for the return of Palestinian refugees and for the liberation of every inch of Palestinian land from colonialism.

In 2018, the Day of the Land once again marked the occasion of a mass outpouring of Palestinians in the streets, as thousands upon thousands gathered in Gaza for the Great March of Return, and occupation forces again shot down Palestinians defending their land and seeking their liberation. 42 years after the first Land Day massacre, Israeli occupation forces killed 16 martyrs of the land and return, with over 200 more shot down in the marches over the months and days to come. Now, Palestinian farmers and fishers in Gaza continue to defend their land under siege, faced with daily attacks and the attempt to starve their resistance economy.

Palestinian Resistance Defends the Land

Today, it is clear that the Palestinian resistance continues to live and thrive, rooted in the land itself. The May 2021 unity uprising — in which Palestinians outside Palestine took to the streets of every global city with fellow movements fighting injustice and imperialism, in which Palestinians in ’48 rose up and claimed their land and cities, in which the resistance in Gaza led the battle of Seif al-Quds, in which the Palestinians of Jerusalem and the West Bank confronted soldiers and settlers everywhere to defend Sheikh Jarrah, Silwan, Beita, al-Aqsa and all of Palestine — continues to reflect the bright future of resistance and revolution for Palestine and its people.

As we mark Land Day in 2022, Palestinians in the Naqab are defending their land against colonization, as they have for over 74 years. The attack on the Naqab and the Palestinian Bedouin people is being funded and organized by the Jewish National Fund in order to displace and disposess Palestinian Bedouins and seize ever more land for colonization. In countries around the world, the JNF holds “Negev Dinners” to boast of their colonial efforts; many of these dinners and events are attended and celebrated by Western imperialist political leaders, while donations made to further colonialism in the Naqab are tax-deductible. The so-called “Negev Summit,” bringing together the Israeli regime and the most reactionary Arab states, all under the auspices and guidance of U.S. imperialism, once again reiterates this colonial theme and the attempt to use “normalization” to legitimize the theft of Palestinian land.

Nevertheless, the Palestinian people and their resistance have made clear that the JNF’s plans and the “normalization” mandate will never be allowed to succeed. Palestinians continue to resist, defend and seek the liberation of their land by all means necessary, a natural right and a right protected even within the framework of international law. This Palestinian resistance gives hope to all people around the world who resist imperialism and colonialism as a symbol of unbroken will in the face of massive military might as well as a material blow against the forces of occupation.

Poster of the Global Campaign to Return to Palestine

Imprisonment: A Colonial Weapon

In an attempt to crush the Palestinian people’s resistance, criminalization and mass incarceration has always been a colonial tool of the occupier. This colonial weapon is directed against the entire Palestinian people, including Palestinians from occupied Palestine ’48. Approximately 70 of the 4,400 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails were seized from their homes and lands in ’48, from the Naqab to Umm al-Fahm. This form of repression has escalated in the past year, with over 1,000 Palestinians of ’48 detained after the Unity Uprising of May 2021 and ongoing raids and attacks on Palestinian cities, towns and villages. The purpose of these arrests, interrogations and charges is to terrorize Palestinians inside occupied Palestine ’48 and to attempt to impose the “Israeli Arab” identity that has been widely rejected. In addition to traditional imprisonment, Palestinians are subjected to house detention, exclusion from their cities, stripping of access to communication and other forms of political repression, as in the case of Somaya Falah.

Karim Younis, one of the longest-imprisoned Palestinian prisoners, is from Occupied Palestine ’48 as is his cousin Maher; indeed, many Palestinian prisoners imprisoned over 30 years for their role in the Palestinian resistance are from Occupied Palestine ’48: Karim and Maher Younis, Walid Daqqa, Ibrahim Abu Mokh and Ibrahim Bayadseh. They are leaders in the Palestinian prisoners’ movements, those who struggle daily on the front lines and behind bars for the liberation of Palestine, confronting the jailer and representing resistance, unity and anti-colonial struggle.

Defund Racism – Confront Land Confiscation and Settler Colonialism

The Day of the Land is a day when support for Palestinian land defenders, from the river to the sea, is critically important. One campaign that is playing a major role in defending Palestinian land from settlements is the Defund Racism campaign, supported by grassroots Palestinian organizers. Organizations like Ir David/Elad, the Hebron Fund, Ateret Cohanim, the Israel Land Fund, Regavim and others target Palestinian communities for ongoing displacement engineered to confiscate Palestinian land for the development of colonial settlements. The Defund Racism campaign aims to confront the use of “charitable” funds raised by these settler organizations to confiscate Palestinian land and build illegal colonial settlements, supporting Palestinian grassroots resistance by cutting off the flow of funds that enables ongoing colonization.

This day also highlights why it is critical to boycott and isolate the Israeli occupation, including agricultural products grown on stolen and colonized Palestinian land, often through the exploitation of Palestinian labour. As Ramadan dawns, the campaign to boycott “Israeli” dates and support Palestinian farmers instead is particularly urgent. Campaigns like those of Palestine Action in the UK targeting Israeli arms dealers like Elbit Systems for direct action, and despite state repression, arrests and persecution, make clear that people’s resistance can defeat the warmongers of the occupation.

From the River to the Sea, Confronting Imperialism and Zionism

The colonization of Palestine is not carried out by the Israeli regime alone; it is funded and backed by Western imperialist powers, first and foremost, the United States, which provides $3.8 billion in annual military aid to the occupation, bolstered this year by an additional $1 billion in “Iron Dome” funds, aiming to shield colonialism from the resistance of the indigenous Palestinian people. Canada, the European Union, the United Kingdom and Australia continue to provide ongoing military, diplomatic and economic aid to the colonial project, ranging from “free trade” agreements that privilege profiteering from stolen Palestinian land and resources to arms sales and joint training to the use of state repression to target Palestinian and Palestine solidarity organizing.

In France, President Emmanuel Macron has declared anti-Zionism an “enemy of the Republic,” ordering the dissolution of the Collectif Palestine Vaincra and several more pro-Palestinian, anti-racist and anti-fascist organizations, while continuing to imprison Georges Ibrahim Abdallah for over 37 years. In almost all Western states, Palestinian resistance organizations are designated as “terrorist” and criminalized while those who fund settler-colonial terror against the Palestinian people are celebrated, protected and granted preferential charitable status. The Holy Land Foundation Five are imprisoned with sentences of up to 65 years in high-security U.S. prisons for doing nothing more than raising charitable funds for Palestine, while the “Friends of the IDF” are permitted to raise funds for an occupation army.

Imperialism and Zionism also rely on Arab reactionary regimes and the program of normalization not only to grant false legitimacy to the colonization of Palestine but to attack and target Arab peoples and states that resist the dictates of imperial rule. In Yemen, thousands come to the street regularly to march for Palestine even as they face the bombs and siege imposed by reactionary Arab regimes, at the behest of and with weaponry provided by the Western powers, including the U.S. and Canada.

The Oslo Accords and their annexes and the entire so-called “peace process” were meant to wipe out the legacy and ongoing reality expressed on the Day of the Land, to replace Palestinian unity and resistance from the river to the sea with a limited claim to only a portion of Palestine, overseen by the “security coordination” subcontractors to the occupation, the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinian Authority continues to detain and arrest Palestinians in a “revolving door” with the Israeli occupation, criminalize and condemn Palestinian resistance, while the Palestinian people inside and outside Palestine work to develop their true unity in struggle, for return and liberation. The purpose of the Palestinian Authority is to undermine, rather than represent, the defense of the land and people of Palestine.

While the Palestinian struggle to defend land and seek full liberation is met with harsh repression, criminalization, assassination and imprisonment at the hands of the occupation and its backers and allies, it is also met with unified struggle, solidarity and collective support by the regional and global camp of resistance, nations, peoples and popular movements confronting imperialism, capitalism and exploitation, from Yemen to Iraq, from Brazil to the Philippines, from Zimbabwe to Wet’suwet’sen.

On Land Day, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network honours and celebrates the struggle of the Palestinian people to liberate their land from the river to the sea and to resist all forms of colonization. Land Day marks the unity of the Palestinian land, people, and cause, everywhere inside and outside Palestine, for defending and liberating the land and people of Palestine.

April 17 is Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, a national and international day of action for the freedom of all Palestinian political prisoners, the prisoners of freedom, the prisoners of return and liberation. We urge all to organize and mobilize for 17 April and the week that follows, to liberate Palestinian prisoners. free the land and people of Palestine from the river to the sea, and confront imperialism and Zionism.

Read more: 

Join these Land Day Actions:

Historical References:

2 April, Vancouver: Revolutionaries Are Not Terrorists Campaign Launch

DATE: Saturday, April 2nd, 2022
TIME: 3-5 PM PDT
LOCATION: Grandview Church, 1803 E 1st Ave, Vancouver, BC, Unceded Coast Salish Homelands

Join Canada Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights for our campaign launch of “Revolutionaries Are Not Terrorists”, where we’ll learn about revolutionary Filipinos and other groups who are unjustly criminalized & labelled as terrorists for defending themselves against imperialist state violence.

The human rights situation in the Philippines is ever worsening as activists and land defenders are routinely targeted with violence, intimidation, and red-tagging by the Government of the Philippines for simply standing up and asserting their rights. Our campaign seeks to ask the question “Who are the real terrorists in the Philippines?” while highlighting those in the Philippines fighting for revolutionary change. We will examine the root causes of the ongoing civil war in the Philippines, the connections with imperialism and other liberation movements worldwide, and shed light on Canadian imperialism and its role in the situation.

Speakers:

  • Coni Ledesma, National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and negotiating member of the NDF Peace Panel
  • Charlotte Kates, International Coordinator of Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
  • Natalie Knight, urban Indigenous organizer with the Friends of the Filipino People in Struggle (Vancouver/Coast Salish territory)

2 April 2022: International day for the liberation of Georges Abdallah

The appeal below was issued by the Unitary Campaign for the Liberation of Georges Abdallah.

Because Georges Abdallah is an Arab resistance fighter, a Lebanese communist who fought against the invasion of his country, Lebanon, by the troops of the Zionist occupier, and because resistance is a right!

Because Georges Abdallah is a fighter for the just cause of national liberation of the Palestinian people, he has never denied his fight for a free Palestine from the river to the sea, and because Palestine will live, Palestine will win!

Because Georges Abdallah is a political prisoner, held hostage to the imperialist-Zionist policy of imprisonment or liquidation of the strugglers of the Palestinian cause and more generally of the revolutionaries, and because the revolutionary political prisoners are the torches of the resistance.

Because Georges Abdallah is our comrade and we recognize ourselves fully in his unfailing revolutionary internationalist commitment to the end of colonialism throughout the world, for the end of capitalism and exploitation, and in support of the peoples’ struggle against all forms of oppression.

Because Georges Abdallah – a whole life of struggle for justice – combines in himself all the struggles of the anti-Zionist, anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist, anti-fascist resistance and against the reactionary Arab States, and that today, strong in this political line with clear contours and without any concession on his principles, we refuse the trappings of their imperialist wars and their strategy of chaos: their wars, our dead!

We refuse the frantic race of their moribund capitalist system and all its barbarism: capital is waging war on us! War on capital! We refuse all forms of their fascism, which has entered the country head-on and distilled intravenously into the media: fascism – “is not the opposite of democracy but its evolution in times of crisis (Brecht) – it’s gangrene: you amputate it or you die of it! We urge war on their class war, by the people, for the people, for the peoples.

Because Georges Abdallah is no longer just a symbol for revolutionaries around the world but a universally recognized symbol of resistance whose release everyone demands in the name of the just and legitimate right to revolt and resist.

Because Georges Abdallah – one of the longest-held political prisoners in Europe, detained in France since 1984 – does not surrender, faces his 38 years of detention and remains standing in the face of the prison hell that is the “little eternity of life imprisonment”; because he has been eligible for release for 23 years and must be released!

Because since the end of 2012, when French justice gave, for the second time, a favorable opinion on the release of Georges Abdallah, no Minister of the Interior, since then, has agreed to sign the decree of expulsion allowing his release when Lebanon is now ready to welcome him; because he must sign!

Because on February 10, the Paris administrative court rejected the request filed by Georges Abdallah’s lawyer to enjoin the current French Interior Minister, Gérard Darmanin, to sign this decree and because Darmanin will not do so!

Because the refusal by the French State to release Georges Abdallah is indeed a political decision, and the fight for his release must, therefore, mainly be fought on the ground of the political balance of power so that his incarceration begins to outweigh the political threats inherent in his release.

Because on the ground of the struggle, everywhere in France and internationally, the mobilization to highlight the situation and the fight of Georges Abdallah and to demand his release, continues to grow but it is imperative to develop this movement, and because it is together and only together, in the diversity of our expressions, that we will win!

Because, Georges Abdallah, your comrades are here!

We call on all the forces involved in the release of Georges Abdallah to make April 2, 2022 –  the birthday of our comrade – the international day for the release of Georges Abdallah. That a thousand initiatives, that day, flourish everywhere in France and internationally to make visible, by this new high point of coordinated struggles, the demand for the liberation of our comrade. From Albertville to Aubagne, from Bordeaux to Grenay, from Grenoble to Lille, from Lyon to Marseille, from Montpellier to Nanterre, from Nîmes to Paris, from Pau to Saint-Denis, from Saint-Etienne to Tarbes, from Toulouse to Ajaccio, from Finistère to Gers, from Lot-et-Garonne to Pas-de-Calais, from Poitou-Charentes to Puy-de-Dôme, from Algeria to Germany, from Ireland to Argentina, from Belgium in Brazil, from Canada to Spain, from Greece to India, from Italy to Lebanon, from Morocco to occupied Palestine, from Peru to Turkey via Tunisia, everywhere in France and in the world, on this 2 April 2022,

General mobilization! Such is the cry, at a time when all antagonisms enter into direct confrontation, thrown into all the barracks, on all the TV sets, in all the hemispheres, and taken up in chorus by all the dupes of 8 p.m. on all the places of Europe – their cry of general mobilization for their dirty war of their repartition of the world. General mobilization! This is the cry that we must make heard with one voice: Our determination to resist which inevitably involves the release of our comrade.

“Solidarity, inscribed in the dynamics of ongoing struggles, is a weapon that breaks the chains of isolation behind the abominable walls and allows incarcerated comrades to transcend their conditions of detention to effectively join the movement as revolutionary protagonists operating under their special conditions”. (Georges Abdallah)

Because Georges Abdallah is Georges Abdallah, general mobilization for his release, for victory or victory!

Solidarity is our weapon! Freedom for Georges Abdallah!

For a new great leap forward! Let’s amplify, coordinate and intensify  the mobilization for the release of Georges Abdallah!

One, two, three, a thousand initiatives, on April 2, 2022, for the international day for the release of Georges Abdallah!

Paris, 11 March 2022

United Campaign for the Liberation of Georges Abdallah

campaign.unitary.gabdallah@gmail.com

Vancouver Palestine stand commemorates Land Day, urges boycott of apartheid wines

On Saturday, 26 March, activists in Vancouver gathered at the Broadway/Commercial Skytrain station for a Palestine Stand highlighting the 46th anniversary of Land Day, the campaign to boycott “Israeli” wines, and confronting the criminalization of Palestine activism in France and elsewhere.

Despite the rainy weather, Palestinian flags and large banners calling to “Free All Palestinian Prisoners,” “End Israeli Apartheid” and win “Freedom for Palestine” drew attention from passers-by at the busy transit hub. Participants solicited signatures for the campaign to pull Israeli wines produced on occupied Palestinian and Syrian land from the shelves at publicly owned BC Liquor Stores. Palestinian music and songs in solidarity with Palestine from artists like Lowkey and Kofia played over the sound system.

The stand was organized by Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network in Vancouver together with Canada Palestine Association, BDS Vancouver – Coast Salish and the Palestinian Youth Movement. Organizations such as Independent Jewish Voices, Canada Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights, the International League of Peoples’ Struggle, the Communist Party of Canada and the Communist Party of Canada Marxist-Leninist delivered solidarity messages at the event.

Charlotte Kates of Samidoun opened the event, highlighting the 46th commemoration of Land Day, when six Palestinians demonstrating to defend their land from Zionist colonization in occupied Palestine ’48 were shot dead by occupation forces. Since that day, Palestinians and supporters of Palestine mark Land Day to support the ongoing struggle to defend and liberate Palestinian land. She noted that the event also stands in solidarity against Canadian settler-colonialism and in support of Indigenous land and water defense struggles in Turtle Island, for sovereignty, self-determination and land back.

Hanna Kawas, president of the Canada Palestine Association, spoke about the campaign to boycott Israeli wines, highlighting the BC government’s double standards in pulling Russian vodka and liquor from the shelves while holding that Israeli settlement products are a valid “consumer choice.” He urged all to participate in the campaign to boycott Israeli wines and hold the BC government accountable, especially as it is governed by the NDP, which adopted a federal position against trade in settlement products.

He also emphasized the importance of solidarity with the people of Yemen, noting that this demonstration fully supports the days of action in solidarity with Yemen, including the demand that Canada stop selling weapons to Saudi Arabia.  He also emphasized how strongly the Yemeni people have repeatedly affirmed solidarity with Palestine despite the horrific siege and brutal war imposed upon them by Arab reactionary regimes at the behest of the U.S., Canada and other imperialist powers.

Samidoun activists spoke about the current struggles of Palestinian political prisoners, noting that there are over 4,650 Palestinians currently imprisoned in Israeli occupation prisons, including approximately 500 jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention. The administrative detainees are currently boycotting the Israeli occupation military courts and have been since 1 January 2022 and demand an end to this system of injustice.

Speakers from BDS Vancouver – Coast Salish, Independent Jewish Voices and Canada Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights emphasized the importance of collective solidarity in defending Palestinian rights, holding the Canadian government accountable and confronting imperialism and the use of so-called “terror” designations to repress popular movements from Palestine to the Philippines.

The rally also included solidarity with the Collectif Palestine Vaincra and other pro-Palestine and progressive organizations facing “dissolution” or banning by the French government. Participants took solidarity photos with signs in English, French and Arabic against the dissolutions and in defense of Palestinian rights. A speaker from La France Insoumise, the French left political movement, spoke about France’s role in Palestine and the need to hold the government accountable for its alignment with Israeli oppression and colonialism.

Dozens of people signed letters to BC members of the legislative assembly calling on the government to act and pull Israeli wines from BC liquor stores as part of the action, and hundreds of flyers about the campaign to boycott Israeli wines and the campaign to free imprisoned Palestinian students were distributed to passers-by.

An action in Victoria, Vancouver Island, was also organized by the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA) Victoria outside a BC Liquor Store. Activists reached out to passers-by to inform them about how BC Liquor Stores are involved in war crimes against the Palestinian people by selling these wines from stolen land, and called on people to sign on to the letter campaign.

Samidoun Vancouver will be working to organize more events and actions for Palestine in the Vancouver area. To get involved with Samidoun Vancouver, reach out to us via email at vancouver@samidoun.net.

Albuquerque Land Day rally highlights anti-colonial struggle

Around 40 people gathered to commemorate the Palestinian Day of the Land in Albuquerque, Tiwa Territories. It was an open mic with many people coming up to speak and offering reflections and fierce words.

Samidoun Albuquerque (Samidoun ABQ) member and longtime anti-Zionist Jewish activist Benay Blend welcomed everyone and grounded the space with history around the importance of commemorating Land Day. The first speaker was a Native man who had just been driving by, he saw the flags and wanted to express his solidarity. He spoke about how Palestine is getting no media coverage and how we need to be active and continue to speak out for Palestine.

Onyesonwu with the All African Peoples Revolutionary Party reminded us about how zionism is our common enemy as the state of Israel has funded, trained, and armed racist and US backed states from Azania (South Africa) to El Salvador. Siihasin with the Giniw Collective spoke about the connections to defend Palestinian land and Indigenous land here specifically about how they have been involved in defeating pipelines and also how they had travelled to Palestine. Jerome with La Raza Unida reminded us that we indeed have a common enemy and that we also have common friends i.e. Palestine.

Kah, a Pueblx comrade from the newly formed K’owa Collective, gave the most rousing speech fiercely inviting everyone to be active. They specifically called upon people to study about Palestine and the ongoing struggle, to participate in ongoing boycotts and actions called for by Palestinian comrades, and to join organizations to build anti imperialist movement. Micheailin with Samidoun ABQ closed the day’s event by speaking about the work of Samidoun, the importance of supporting our comrades in prison, and thanking everyone for participating.

Samidoun Albuquerque was honored to participate and hold space with comrades who have been involved and continue to be involved in the Palestinian solidarity movement. We announced our intention to co-launch a Palestine Solidarity Committee to coordinate popular education, future events, and solidarity actions. We look forward to growing the movement, to the defeat of imperialism, and the liberation of Palestine within our lifetime.

To get involved with Samidoun Albuquerque, please reach  out to Samidoun ABQ on Facebook or Instagram.

Charleroi activists commemorate Land Day, call for freedom for Georges Abdallah

On Wednesday, 30 March, Palestinians will commemorate the 46th Land Day. The annual commemoration of Land Day  symbolizes the rootedness of Palestinians in their land. 30 March 1976  was a moment of unprecedented protest against expropriations of Palestinian land in the Galilee, in occupied Palestine ’48. Palestinian citizens of the Israeli state organized nationally to put up fierce resistance to the plan, following years of political and civil organizing against land confiscation. During these protests, six unarmed Palestinians were shot and killed by Israeli forces and dozens more were injured. Since then, the Day of the Land has been commemorated every year by Palestinians around the world.

Poster produced on the occasion of the 46th anniversary of Land Day, by the Global Campaign for the Return to Palestine

Land Day is a day of struggle and resistance against the continuing Nakba, land confiscations and ethnic cleansing. But as much as the Israeli regime persists in carrying out its attempt to empty Palestine of its original population and control its land, the Palestinian people are only increasingly determined to resist this settler colonial project.

This is the message that the Plate-forme Charleroi-Palestine brought forward on Saturday 26 March at its  “Elle s’appelle Palestine” (The name is Palestine) stand in Charleroi, Belgium.

Distribution of flyers, lots of discussions around the stand, the pleasure of seeing long-time friends, meeting young people who are mobilizing, people who have their pictures taken with the poster for Land Day, many others who leave us their contact details, selling dates exported by Palestinian farmers, playing Palestinian music and a small action with the large Palestinian flag… in short, our awareness campaign was a real success.

Free Georges Abdallah and Salah Hamouri

We also took the opportunity to, once again, draw attention to the longest-held political prisoner in Europe,  Georges Abdallah, unjustly imprisoned for more than 37 years in Lannemezan prison in France. This action also took place within the framework of the international day for his release which takes place on 2 April.

Further, the Collectif Palestine Vaincra, recently dissolved in France by Emmanuel Macron alongside the Comite Action Palestine, has been a major part of the campaign for the release of Georges Abdallah. Indeed, the participation of Collectif Palestine Vaincra in the campaign for the release of Georges Abdallah was one of the reasons given by the government to justify its decision. Despite this attack on organizing for Georges Abdallah and his freedom, this campaign is growing and is supported by hundreds of organizations in France. As a former member of the Collective said in an interview:The dissolution will not end this struggle!

At our stand we also highlighted the case of Salah Hamouri, a French-Palestinian lawyer who has been consistently targeted by the occupation authorities for arrest, imprisonment and expulsion from his homeland, and who was arrested again on 7 March. He is now being held in administrative detention without charge or trial. 

We have many upcoming actions and events planned in Belgium. Do you want to be informed of the actions of the Plate-forme Charleroi-Palestine? Write to us at charleroi.palestine@gmail.com and follow us on FB on the Pour la Palestine page.

Source: Pour la Palestine / Plate-forme Charleroi-Palestine

Solidarity stand in Aubervilliers, France, supports Palestinian prisoners

On Saturday, 26 March during the weekly market in the Paris suburb of Aubervilliers, France, Samidoun Région Parisienne held its monthly stand. These stands provide an opportunity to launch discussions with residents about the need for solidarity with the Palestinian resistance and the current reality of Israeli occupation and apartheid. As usual, the group met with a very warm welcome, with many people stopping at the stand to pick up literature or learn more about our activities.

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Several posters of the Unified Campaign for the Liberation of Georges Abdallah underlined the importance of mobilizing for the Paris demonstration on 2 April, the international day for the release of Georges Abdallah, the Lebanese Arab struggler for Palestine and the longest-held political prisoner in Europe. Georges Abdallah has been jailed in France for 37 years despite being eligible for release since 1999.

In parallel with the actions and rallies in Palestine in support of prisoners and mothers of prisoners as part of Palestinian Mother’s Day, we expressed our support for the 31 women unjustly imprisoned in Damon prison. Many people showed solidarity for these imprisoned women, including members of France Insoumise and the Anti-Imperialist Front .

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We also collected many words of support and solidarity for our monthly letter-posting to Palestinian female prisoners. The card addressed to Nafeth Hammad, a 16-year-old girl (14 at the time of her arrest) detained at Damon, received particular attention. Here are 14 of the 19 letters sent this month by Samidoun RP :

In addition, we displayed two banners against the dissolution of the Collectif Palestine Vaincra, which has filed a legal appeal against this extremely serious attack against the entire solidarity movement with Palestine. Please sign the petition of support an circulate it!

Finally, we distributed many flyers to call for mobilization on Saturday 2 April from 3 p.m. at the Barbès metro station for the march in support of the Palestinian resistance organized by the Palestine Resistance Support Coordination.

Samidoun Région Parisienne would like to warmly thank all the people who met at the stand. To participate in sending letters of support to women prisoners at Damon, do not hesitate to contact us on our social networks (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter) or by email at samidoun.rp@gmail.com.

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Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
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