Chicago, IL – 8000 people marched here, Aug. 10, for Gaza. This march featured solidarity speeches from activists from many Latin American nations, including Mexico, Chile, and Ecuador, because of the stand their countries have taken in support of Gaza since Israel’s murderous assault began in July.

Marchers cheered for the Palestinian delegation in the peace talks in Cairo. Emcee Muhammad Sankari urged support for the protesters arrested at the Boeing Company last month, who go to court on Tuesday, Aug. 12, to face charges of trespassing. He also announced a protest on Saturday, Aug. 16, at Chicago’s Air and Water Show against sponsor Boeing, maker of Israel’s F15 fighter jets and Apache attack helicopters.

#ChicagoIL #AntiwarMovement #PalestineSolidarity #Zionism #IsraeliOccupation

Durham, NC – Over 60 people gathered at a busy intersection in downtown Durham on Aug. 8 to show solidarity with the Palestinian people. Protesters chanted “Free, free Palestine!” and “End the occupation now!” as hundreds of people witnessed the rally from the road, many honking car horns in support.

The rally, organized by the Triangle Antiwar Committee, is the latest in a wave of protests in the area opposing the ongoing Israeli attacks on Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.

Among the speakers was Genna Cohen, an organizer with Jewish Voices for Peace’s campaign to demand that Durham cut ties with G4S, a private security contractor. “Durham should not do business with a company that profits off the occupation of Palestine,” Cohen said to cheers from the crowd. According to the campaign organizers, G4S profits from providing security services for military checkpoints, Israeli detention centers and illegal settlements.

#DurhamNC #AntiwarMovement #PalestineSolidarity #AntiwarCommittee #IsraeliOccupation #MiddleEast

St. Paul, MN – About 40 people gathered here for Women Against Military Madness’ weekly Friday Palestine vigil, Aug. 8, at the intersection of Summit and Snelling Avenues. Protesters chanted, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!”

The protest coincided with the end of the ceasefire in Palestine. Israel resumed bombing Gaza Aug. 8, killing civilians, including a 10-year-old child. Israeli occupation forces also killed a Palestinian protester during a clash near Ramallah.

#StPaulMN #AntiwarMovement #Palestine #Zionism #WomenAgainstMilitaryMadness #IsraeliOccupation

“Disarming the resistance is out of the question, and all factions hold tight to their weapons as long as there is occupation anywhere on the land of Palestine,” said Comrade Dr. Maher al-Taher, a member of the political bureau of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

“There are various media reports that Israel will not accept the reconstruction of Gaza except after the removal of the weapons of the resistance, and it is demanding to supervise everything that enters the Strip. We have affirmed very clearly that the idea of disarming the resistance is a pipe dream and an illusion that is unacceptable to all. It is unacceptable to even discuss this issue in principle or see it as a debatable question. It is our inalienable right to resist this occupation,” said Taher.

He noted that the Palestinian delegation is united in its insistence to lift the siege imposed on Gaza and allow free movement of goods and people. “This demand is part of the political battle, which must be addressed as competently and with as much steadfastness and clarity as the resistance has done in the military battlefield.”

#Palestine #Zionism #IsraeliOccupation #DrMaherAlTaher #MiddleEast

Durham, NC – More than 200 people rallied and marched in downtown here, July 23, to protest the Israeli occupation's assault on Gaza and the people of Palestine.

A statement from the protest organizers noted, “This most recent Israeli assault on Gaza continues to escalate and the death and casualty numbers continue to rise in a Palestinian territory that has been under a state of siege, including a blockade on building materials and other basic supplies, since 2006.” The statement continued, “We believe that Israel is committing mass murder against all people living in Gaza, using killing as a tactic of ensuring the power of the Israeli settler state and the occupation of Palestine.”

The rally kicked off with rousing speeches from activists and moving testimony from Palestinians whose families have been affected by the ongoing Israeli attacks on Gaza. The rally was held in the busy Five Points intersection in Durham, so hundreds of passersby heard the speeches and saw the demonstration. A petition to demand justice for Palestinian activist Rasmea Odeh was circulated; many people took “Support Rasmea” pamphlets home with them and activists expressed their solidarity and support for the campaign.

After the rally, a vibrant, loud march kicked off through the streets of downtown, with protesters chanting “Free, free Palestine!” and “Gaza, Gaza don't you cry, Palestine will never die!”

The march went to the downtown public library, where speeches were made demanding that Durham county cut ties with G4S, a British private security company which plays a key role in Israel's occupation of Palestine. Durham County has a $1 million contract with G4S. A campaign is currently underway calling on Durham County to join the global Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement by not renewing the contract with G4S.

From there, the march proceeded to the downtown jail. As prisoners tapped on their windows in support, organizers spoke about the repression visited on Palestinians and the struggles to end repression of oppressed nationalities here at home.

The Durham protest is the latest in a wave of actions here in solidarity with Palestine in recent days. Three protests have been held in Carrboro, Durham and Raleigh over the last five days and on July 25 two vigils will be held in Durham.

#DurhamNC #AntiwarMovement #PalestineSolidarity #Zionism #attacksOnGaza #IsraeliOccupation #MiddleEast

Chicago, IL – Hundreds of protesters stood across the street from the Israeli consulate here, July 22, shouting, “Hey, Israel, waddya say? How many kids did you kill today?” They aimed their voices at a smaller crowd that waived Israeli flags and who gathered directly in front of the consulate in a show of support for the murderous assault on Gaza over the past two weeks.

While the pro-Israel rally was only a few hundred people, compared to the 700 that came out to support the people of Gaza, that didn’t stop the Zionists from acting aggressively. According to Hatem Abudayyeh of the U.S. Palestine Community Network and the citywide Coalition for Justice in Palestine, “The most rabid of them came across the street when their event ended to confront us.”

The Chicago Police Department sent their mounted police and others to face off, not with the approaching crowd from the Israeli side, but against the Palestinians and their allies. Abudayyeh said, “If our side had done that, gone across the street to disrupt the Israeli demo, the cops would’ve been all over us.”

Women leaders of Students for Justice in Palestine-Chicago led most of the rally’s chants.

After the Zionist event dispersed, the youthful protesters took off on a march across the Loop to the Chicago Tribune building. They held a die-in there to dramatize that Palestinians in Gaza are still dying under the guns, bombs and missiles of the Israeli attack.

For the Palestinian community in Chicago and the solidarity movement, Chicago won’t be quiet until the U.S.-backed siege of Gaza is over.

#ChicagoIL #AntiwarMovement #PalestineSolidarity #Zionism #HatemAbudayyeh #attacksOnGaza #USImperialism #IsraeliOccupation #MiddleEast

Milwaukee, WI – Dozens of Palestine solidarity activists gathered on the lakefront here, May 15, during rush hour to commemorate Nakba Day.

Al-Nakba or “The Catastrophe” refers to May 15, 1948, the day after Israeli “Independence Day.” In 1948, 700,000 Palestinians were expelled by Zionist troops under the pretext of establishing a Jewish state of Israel on Palestinian land. 400 Palestinian villages were depopulated and taken over or destroyed by the Israelis, laying the foundation for the continuing occupation of Palestine.

In response to continuing occupation and oppression of Palestinian people by the U.S. and Israel, activists held signs demanding “End U.S. aid to Israel,” and “Drop the charges against Rasmea Odeh!”

Members of the Milwaukee Palestine Solidarity Coalition responded to the national call to action to support Rasmea Odeh, a veteran Palestinian activist. Odeh is a 66-year-old community organizer who has dedicated her life to the empowerment of Palestinians, especially Palestinian women. She is the victim of a U.S. government attack which is intended to jail or deport her for allegedly lying on a 20-year old immigration form. Her trial is set to begin on June 10 in Detroit.

As the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel grows more successful by the day, activists are facing repression from the U.S. government. Activists in Milwaukee say they will continue to win victories for the BDS movement while defending Palestinian community leaders like Rasmea Odeh from political attacks.

#MilwaukeeWI #PalestineSolidarity #alNakba #IsraeliOccupation #BDS #RasmeaOdeh #MilwaukeePalestineSolidarityCoalition

Salt Lake City, Utah – Students and international solidarity activists held a protest, May 15, to mark the 66th anniversary of Al Nakba. The students called for an end to U.S. aid to Israel and demanded justice for Palestinian American activist Rasmea Odeh. Protesters stood on the corner of the William Bennett Federal Building during rush hour waving signs and holding Palestinian flags. The protest featured speeches by local anti-war, Palestine solidarity and Palestinian activists. The rally, organized by the Utah Valley University Revolutionary Student Union, united groups that want to cut U.S. taxpayer money that goes to war and occupation.

May 1948 marks the Zionist establishment of Israel. For Israelis, it's a time of celebration. For Palestinians and Arabs it commemorates a time they call Al Nakba – Arabic for “the Catastrophe.” During the 1948 war, at least 750,000 Palestinian men, women and children were ruthlessly attacked, massacred and driven from their homes into refugee camps by Zionist terror groups. In a gross violation of international law, Palestinians continue to be denied the right to return to their own land. At the same time, the establishment of Israeli settlements steals more Palestinian land every day. The U.S. government does nothing to stop it.

Bill VanWagenen, representing The Mormon Worker explains, “Though the Israeli government constantly demands that Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state, we must of course wonder when Israel will recognize the crimes which allowed the Jewish state to come into existence. Also the crimes Israel has committed since that time to keep the Jewish state in existence that allows it to continue to confiscate and colonize more and more Palestinian land each year.”

After outlining possible ‘solutions’ to the conflict, Utahns for a Just Peace in the Holy Land member Mahan Khalsa said, “Israel will be an apartheid state until 100% of the people have access to 100% of the land. Apartheid is a legal crime against humanity.”

Protesters also demanded justice for Rasmea Odeh, a leader of Chicago’s Arab community who faces serious charges in a case that is part of a long-standing campaign of repression against Palestinians and those who work in solidarity with them. Her case is tied to the FBI and grand jury investigation of the Antiwar 23 and others. Rasmea Odeh’s case is set to come to trial in Detroit on June 10.

Freedom Road Socialist Organization member Chris Manor said, “It’s outrageous that the U.S. government arrested and is prosecuting Rasmea Odeh for refusing to recognize the military occupation of her country. It’s important that people understand what she’s facing. We need to stand in solidarity with Rasmea Odeh as she goes to trial. We need to stop U.S. taxpayer funding of Israeli apartheid.”

#SaltLakeCityUT #PalestineSolidarity #alNakba #FreedomRoadSocialistOrganization #Apartheid #RevolutionaryStudentUnion #IsraeliOccupation #RasmeaOdeh

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Milwaukee Palestine Solidarity Coalition.

The Milwaukee Palestine Solidarity Coalition is celebrating a major victory this week as the People’s Books Cooperative bookstore joined a growing list of organizations that endorse the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.

The People’s Books Co-op board voted in favor of “instituting a consumer, cultural and academic boycott of the Israeli state due to significant human rights concerns involved with Israel’s policies against the Palestinian community,” according to a statement released on their website (http://tinyurl.com/kcuubky).

People’s Books becomes the second cooperatively owned business in the United States to sign on to BDS, behind the Olympia, Washington Food Co-op whose endorsement won a decisive court battle after being challenged by pro-Israel Zionists.

People’s Books joins the likes of Nelson Mandela, Naomi Klein, Stephen Hawking, Stevie Wonder, Alice Walker, Roger Waters, Elvis Costello, Gil Scott-Heron, Judith Butler, The American Studies Association, and many others who have signed on to the Palestinian call to boycott, divest, and sanction Israel. The BDS movement was launched by Palestinian civil society in a 2005 call to the international community.

The People’s Books board responded to the call to BDS by conducting a survey of their membership which resulted in overwhelming support for the boycott proposal. Members of the Milwaukee Palestine Solidarity Coalition advocated for their proposal before the board of People’s Books, who previously did not carry any Israeli products. We applaud the members and board of People’s Books for their principled stance on social justice issues, and their strong stance in support of Palestinian human rights, especially while facing the economic difficulties inherent to operating a small local cooperative business.

The BDS movement is a growing, non-violent threat to Israel’s ability to continue its illegal occupation of Palestine which includes settlement construction, home demolitions, and illegal detention of Palestinian civilians. The Israeli state is scrambling to buy itself a better image abroad by throwing millions of dollars toward Israeli propaganda events in the US which deceptively present Israel as a liberal paradise with diverse culture and a healthy democracy. Israel's propaganda strategy places college students, social justice activists, academic and cultural workers, and progressive people on the front lines. But those very people are increasingly throwing their support behind the cause of Palestinian liberation.

The People’s Books Co-op stands as an example for all progressive people to follow as we work to build a better world that is free of war and apartheid, and based on the principles of social justice and cooperation.

In Solidarity, The Milwaukee Palestine Solidarity Coalition

#MilwaukeeWI #Palestine #Boycott #IsraeliOccupation #BDS #MilwaukeePalestineSolidarityCoalition #MiddleEast

On this year, Land Day marks intensified struggle on Palestinian land in its entirely. The Zionist enemy is not maneuvering toward it nor nibbling gradually at our land. The occupation has taken its occupation of Palestine to the point where it demands Palestinian and Arab recognition of the “Jewishness of the state” as the legitimate embodiment of the Zionist movement and its falsified history. It has stolen the religious term “Land of Israel” and transformed it to a geopolitical claim on the land of Palestine as the “Jewish homeland,” and is acting constantly to enact more laws and regulations to seize yet more land and displace our people, to expand settlements on every area in the land of Palestine, including Jerusalem which is specifically targeted.

The sacrifice and struggle of our people in the ’48 occupied areas on March 30, 1976, was not only a defense against the confiscation of thousands of acres of the lands of Arraba, Sakhnin and Deir Hanna, but also an expression of the collective consciousness of our people, the threat of the Zionist project against all Palestinian land, and to defend the Palestinian people and their right to live on their land.

These same meanings are embodied wherever our people mark this anniversary, adhering to the rights of the Palestinian people on the entire land of historic Palestine, the land of our ancestors, the heirs of all civilizations that passed through them, a reality that will not be changed despite all the failing attempts of the occupation state to force its recognition or to change our awareness of the land by building settlements, changing signs on the roads and renaming Palestinian towns and villages with Hebrew names.

The right of return of Palestinian refugees to their land is the core of the struggle to liberate Palestine; the insistence on this right is linked very closely to the current struggle on the ground, which requires us to center this goal in our national program and struggle and entirely reject any initiatives, negotiations or deals that undermine or detract from this fundamental right.

We also see the very serious matter that has been generated in these ongoing negotiations around the “exchange of land,” which includes recognizing the rights of “Israel” in the majority of the land of Palestine. This land is all Palestinian land and any approval of the “exchange” of one part for another means providing cover and legitimacy to the violent confiscation of our land in 1948 and the ongoing displacement of our people of the ’48 areas, and is unacceptable.

On this day, he land calls for the people to protect themselves and the land. To reject division, uphold resistance and achieve national unity, to act to bring the negotiations to an end, to confront the ongoing and comprehensive vicious attacks on our land and our people, to achieve a national program of struggle that reflects the objectives of our people, affirms their rights firmly, and adopts all means of struggle to achieve those rights.

On this day, our salutes and greetings to the masses of our people in the ’48 areas, and our salutes to the six martyrs killed on March 30, 1976 as they confronted the enemy forces that repressed demonstrations and marches that swept through cities, towns and villages of the Palestinian people in the ’48 areas in defense of the land of the Galilee. We stand together with all of our people in defense of all of our occupied land, throughout the geographical and historical land of Palestine.

Glory to the martyrs of Land Day. Glory to the martyrs of freedom. Freedom for the prisoners, and victory for our people.

#Palestine #PopularFrontForTheLiberationOfPalestine #Zionism #IsraeliOccupation #LandDay #MiddleEast

To the struggling masses of our people…

On January 15, 2002, the Palestinian Authority security apparatus committed the crime of arresting Comrade General Secretary Ahmad Sa’adat and his comrades Ahed Abu Ghoulmeh, Majdi Rimawi, Hamdi Quran and Basil al-Asmar, in compliance with the requirements of security coordination. This did not stop the attacks on the resistance, the escalation of settlements and the building of the segregation wall.

The Authority’s crime was completed by the enemy’s attack and abduction of the comrades from Jericho prison, when all agreements were disregarded in U.S. and British collusion with the attack, which exposed the inability of the Authority to protect even its prisons, while our comrades were taken to spend long years in isolation – for which the occupation is not solely responsible.

We honour these heroic comrades – at their forefront, Comrade leader Ahmad Sa’adat, and affirm today that he was unanimously re-elected with full confidence in his leadership as General Secretary by the Central Committee and the Seventh National Conference of the Front. This is a well-deserved trust that he has earned, demonstrating steadfastness, clarity and unwavering commitment to struggle, principled and ready for struggle, with a broad political vision and carrying a high level of national respect. He and his imprisoned comrades, and all of the prisoners of our people together are at the forefront of the struggle, insisting on Palestinian national goals and rights in their totality on the ground, without prejudice, compromise, negligence, or barter.

To the masses of our resisting people…

The courage shown by the people of Qusra village and its area are a brilliant example of the struggling steadfastness of our people and their willingness to continue in all circumstances to confront and resist the enemy and their settlers. As we call on all to be inspired and learn from the steadfastness of our farmers and our prisoners, we are fully aligned with the alternative they present to relying on the futile negotiations. It is clear that the goal of the negotiations is the liquidation of the national liberation cause of our people, enhancing the status of the Zionist entity in the Arab world, and opening the doors to the official Arab regimes to normalize relations with it.

Today, we confront the ongoing lessons of Oslo and all subsequent agreements and negotiations, while the Palestinian Authority continues to drive the PLO into relying upon this absurd and devastating process, attempting to close the door on a popular option while yielding to U.S. and Arab reactionary pressure.

To our people and our nation…

This date shares an appropriate coincidence with the shuttle diplomacy tours of the Secretary of State of the U.S. imperialists, between Palestine and the Arab countries, in order to liquidate our national cause and replace it with the issue of exchanges of land and population, drawing borders, and in support of the Israeli demand for recognition of the enemy state as the “state of the Jewish people.” This is an attempt to liquidate the Palestinian right of return and to whet the appetite for ethnic cleansing against the rights of our people in the areas of Palestine occupied in 1948.

All of this comes with total disregard of international legitimacy and United Nations resolutions on Palestine, and of the United Nations as a reference, to implement the U.S./Zionist vision.

What is happening now requires popular confrontation of any party who seeks to negotiate a temporary or permanent solution that detracts from fundamental Palestinian national rights. This moment requires of all national and social forces among the Palestinian people to mobilize to thwart this new scheme, to protect the resistance option, and return the Palestinian issue to the UN as a reference, with its resolutions to be implemented – not negotiated.

Our cause is in danger from this heated American pursuit to enforce upon us the terms of the enemy. It seeks to take advantage of the state of demobilization and national division, and the resulting confusion about events in the Arab world. It is clear that the leadership of the Authority is unable to confront, and its options have been reduced to negotiations, negotiations, and then more negotiations.

It is urgent to move past the era of division and return to the clear Palestinian national constants, build our movement and abandon once and for all the illusions that have proved thorny and dangerous. It is our people’s right to know what is going on in the corridors and back-rooms of negotiations, and it is their right to decide and judge on the basis of that reality.

To the masses of our great people…

On this occasion, we re-confirm our emphatic commitment to our pledge to the heroic comrades and all of the martyrs and prisoners. We renew our rejection of security coordination and we demand to put an end to the continuing illusions of negotiations amidst a frenzy of settlements and settler violence. We call for an end to the devastating division and the rebuilding of the Palestine Liberation Organization on the basis of a principled political strategy and a national democratic movement to restore the political unity of our people in the homeland, diaspora and exile, to rise and march again in the national liberation struggle.

Salutes and tributes to our comrade General Secretary and his comrades Glory to the martyrs, freedom for the prisoners Unite to confront Kerry’s plan for the liquidation of our national cause

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – Political Bureau January 15, 2014

#Palestine #PopularFrontForTheLiberationOfPalestine #AhmadSaadat #PoliticalPrisoners #IsraeliOccupation #MiddleEast

Those of us who support the liberation of Palestine regret the fact that he was never brought to justice for his crimes. He was one of the architects and builders of the racist apartheid state that is Israel.

Sharon began his criminal career at a young age, when he joined the Zionist militia called the Haganah and participated in the campaign to drive Palestinians out of Palestine.

When Sharon was Israel’s defense minister in 1982 he carried out his greatest single crime, the Sabra and Shatila massacre of Palestinians in Lebanon. Under his direction, Israeli troops and their right-wing Lebanese allies surrounded and then attacked the Palestinian refugee camp. Together they carried out the slaughter of more than 3000 men, women and children.

Much of the Western press is saying that Sharon’s crimes at places like Sabra and Shatila are a point of controversy. No reasonable person can say this. Sharon’s criminality is a point of fact.

The U.S. government, which aids and arms Israel, issued a disgusting statement from Secretary of State John Kerry today, praising Sharon’s life and efforts, but one odd phrase in the statement stands out as truth: “Ariel Sharon's journey was Israel’s journey.” The cruel brutality of Ariel Sharon certainly was, and for that matter is, “Israel’s journey.” And it will come to an end. The Palestinian people will put an end to the occupation and liberate every inch of Palestine.

#Palestine #Remembrances #InternationalSolidarity #USImperialism #IsraeliOccupation #ArielSharon #SabraAndShatilaMassacre

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following Dec. 30 statement from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) PFLP: Annexation bill targeting Jordan Valley requires escalating international confrontation

The new Zionist Knesset bill annexing the Jordan Valley indicates once more that the occupation state will never allow any form of Palestinian state with full sovereignty, said Comrade Khalida Jarrar, member of the Political Bureau of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

It is critical to promote the international campaign to boycott the occupation state at all levels, said Jarrar, stressing the need to halt security coordination, fully activate the resistance in all its forms, end the persecution of resistance forces, and build on international solidarity at popular and official levels, in order to confront the ongoing attack on Palestinian existece.

The occupation continually imposes new facts on the ground, including the massive construction of settlements, said Jarrar, noting that the Palestinian Jordan Valley is a closed zone to Palestinians. Palestinian farmers from the Jordan Valley cannot enter their own land without a special permit from the occupation state, said Jarrar.

In an interview with Voice of the People (Sawt al-Shaab) radio station, Jarrar said that there is clearly no option in the struggle for self-determination and freedom for Palestinians but struggle and sacrifices; the futile negotiations with the Zionist entity carried out by the Palestinian Authority leadership and the PLO will lead nowhere but to greater losses for Palestinians.

Jarrar called for an immediate end to the negotiations and to develop a collective and comprehensive plan of struggle and confrontation, including political struggle at the level of international institutions – in particular, the International Criminal Court. She urged the international prosecution of the officials of the Zionist state for the crimes they commit against the Palestinian people, saying that this is an international political option that is a clear alternative to the futile and dangerous negotiations.

#Palestine #PopularFrontForTheLiberationOfPalestine #Zionism #IsraeliOccupation #JordanValley #MiddleEast

West Milwaukee, WI – The Milwaukee Palestine Solidarity Coalition organized actions outside Target in West Milwaukee, calling on the store to drop illegal settlement products. The protest was coordinated with an international day of action organized by the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation.

Activists rallied in front of the store with signs reading “Boycott Soda Stream” and “No money for apartheid.” Some activists entered the store to hand out educational fliers detailing the case against SodaStream.

SodaStream operates a factory on stolen Palestinian land, in an Israeli settlement condemned by the international community. In the past year, the company has emerged as one of the primary targets of the growing Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement for its involvement in Israeli occupation and apartheid.

#WestMilwaukeeWI #PalestineSolidarity #Apartheid #IsraeliOccupation #BDS #SodaStream #MilwaukeePalestineSolidarityCoalition

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine called for a boycott of the occupation municipal elections in the city of Jerusalem. The Front called on our people in the city of Jerusalem, the eternal capital of the Palestinian people, to boycott these occupation elections which are part of the policy of Judaizing Jerusalem in various fields. This includes undermining the Arab status of Jerusalem and the political, spiritual, cultural, economic and social development of our people, and repression of the people of the city of Jerusalem.

The Front said that the occupation authorities in Jerusalem are pushing demographic and geographic changes through rampant settlement, home demolitions, economic strangulation, ethnic cleansing and compromising of sacred Islamic and Christian holy sites. These acts are invalid and contrary to historical facts and international law, and are part of the war crimes being waged against the Palestinian people, their land, holy sites and inalienable rights to return, self-determination and sovereignty.

#Palestine #PopularFrontForTheLiberationOfPalestine #Elections #IsraeliOccupation #MiddleEast

On the twentieth anniversary of the signing of the Oslo Accords, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine demanded to leave the path of Oslo and negotiations. On the twentieth anniversary of the signing of the Oslo Accords on the White House lawn in Washington, DC on September 13, 1993, which fell this year on Friday, the PFLP demanded that the Palestinian negotiating team immediately withdraw from the confidential, suspicious bilateral negotiations and instead return to the United Nations and its institutions and the implementation of relevant resolutions.

Furthermore, the Front demanded that the authority recognize and defer to the national consensus position and refuse pressure and external interventions that undermine the Palestinian position not to return to negotiations. Instead, all Palestinian political forces must prioritize confronting the occupier, building national unity, ending the division, as the method to change the balance of power in favor of the occupation, and achieve the rights of our people to freedom, independence and return.

The Front warned about the insistence of the United States and the occupation state to proceed with the confidential so-called “negotiations” and bilateral solutions away from international legitimacy, while they continue the Judaization of Jerusalem, attacks on Al-Aqsa Mosque, uncontrolled settlement, state terrorism and settler terror and violence.

The occupation state supports negotiations as a mechanism to cover its acts undermining Palestinian rights, including independence, return and self-determination, recognized in international law, and the Palestinian right to Jerusalem. The negotiations serve the occupation state, and the U.S. strategy to continue to dominate the region, its people, and their wealth, while undermining the culture of resistance and national steadfastness, and containing democratic processes, struggles and transformation in Arab countries.

The Front demanded that Palestinian officials, the League of Arab States and the Organization of the Islamic Conference to uphold their responsibilities and call for the UN Security Council to condemn and stop the war crimes in Palestine, settlement and ethnic cleansing, and challenge the credibility of the U.S. administration regarding the illegal settlements. Further, the Front called for Israeli officials to be pursued and held accountable in international courts, and to reflect this orientation at the General Assembly of the United Nations in September, cutting the path of the Israeli government’s manipulation, deception and disinformation on the issue of Palestine. The US and Israel seek to replace the Palestinian struggle as the core conflict in the region with the so-called Sunni-Shia conflict and the “Iranian nuclear file,” said the Front.

#Palestine #PopularFrontForTheLiberationOfPalestine #Zionism #Israel #Oslo #IsraeliOccupation #MiddleEast

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine again demanded an end to the renewed so-called “negotiations” on August 12, noting that the latest announcement of yet more occupation settlement construction once again reveals the deceptive nature of the so-called “peace process” as a means to mislead Palestinian, Arab and international public opinion. The Front said that the negotiations and “bilateral solutions” only contribute to building false illusions and deceiving the Palestinian people, while harming the national struggle, the unity of the Palestinian people and their political institutions, and the international solidarity movement with Palestine.

The Palestinian cause is a universal issue of justice. The destructive and dangerous negotiations only undermine our cause. Instead it is time to return to our people and their institutions and restore national unity. These negotiations are scheduled to take place under the shadow of the construction of settlements in Jerusalem and the West Bank, the terrorism of the settlers, the tightening of the siege on Gaza, ongoing war crimes and violations against the Palestinian land and people, as well as the manipulation of the issue of the prisoners. The negotiations serve only to support the decisions and intentions of the occupation to engage in war crimes while labeling it a “peace process.” By participating in the negotiations, Palestinian parties help to achieve the goal of the occupation.

Furthermore, the Front said that while the U.S. and European countries pay lip service to opposing settlement construction, nothing is done to hold the occupation accountable and punish it for its crimes, and it is clear that in reality the only thing that matters to these countries is that we continue to play the game of negotiations and “peace process” in service to its goals in the region and at the expense of the Palestinian people, their sacrifices and struggle.

Comrade Emad Abu Rahma, a member of the PFLP’s Central Committee said that the decision to return to negotiations was an individual one by Abu Mazen and his associates with no regard for the decisions of the Palestinian people and Palestinian institutions that rejected any return to negotiations without a total end to settlement construction, UN resolutions as a reference and the release of prisoners and detainees. Abu Rahma said that the Israeli announcement of building yet more settlement housing units reveals the entirely deceptive intent of these negotiations, which are providing political cover for settlement schemes in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem.

He emphasized that this current stage is the result of the path of Oslo that must be rejected. He pointed out that the decision to return to these negotiations in light of the continued settlement construction undermines any attempt to build an international position or UN action against the settlements on the basis that the settlements are illegal under the Fourth Geneva Convention, in particular to hold Israel accountable in the International Criminal Court, while Palestinian officials are negotiating with the occupying. Abu Rahma said a clear position must be made to withdraw from the negotiations and instead build a program of resistance to confront the aggression.

#Palestine #PopularFrontForTheLiberationOfPalestine #Zionism #Israel #IsraeliOccupation #MiddleEast

The following statement was initiated by Palestinian activists in North America:

SIGN ON: Email NoToNegotiations@gmail.com or use the form: http://bit.ly/NoToNegotiations

We, the undersigned Palestinians and Palestinian organizations in shatat and exile, write today to express our firm opposition to the resumption of bilateral Israeli/Palestinian negotiations under U.S. auspices in Washington DC, today, July 29.

For twenty years, the negotiations have not served Palestinian interests. Through countless sessions of futile negotiations, Israeli settlement construction has escalated, thousands of Palestinian political prisoners are held behind bars and Palestinian rights – including Palestinian refugees’ right to return – are no closer to implementation. While the Netanyahu government is planning the massive dispossession of Palestinians in the Naqab via the Prawer Plan, the negotiations serve only to provide a thin veneer of legitimacy to the aggressive policies of Israeli occupation and apartheid.

Our rights – the rights of the Palestinian people – and our land – the entire land of Palestine – are not for sale or bartering at the negotiations table. That this process is presided over by the United States government, which provides $3 billion annually in military aid to Israel, and specifically by Martin Indyk, former research director at infamous Israel lobby organization the America Israel Public Affairs Committe, only adds insult to injury and makes clear that these negotiations will bring nothing of value or benefit to the Palestinian people.

Today, we say: PA President Mahmoud Abbas does not represent us! Our rights cannot and will not be bargained away at a negotiating table in Washington, DC.

Instead, we affirm that the Palestinian people are one people and our cause is one cause. Our people have struggled for 65 years in order to achieve the liberation of the land and people of Palestine and the implementation of the right of Palestinian refugees to return their homes.

As Palestinians in shatat/diaspora, we are not being represented here, and we demand to reclaim our voice and role. We do not accept these negotiations, and our rights, our people and our land are not for sale!

SIGN ON: Email NoToNegotiations@gmail.com or use the form: http://bit.ly/NoToNegotiations

Initiating Signatories

Al-Awda NY – Palestine Right to Return Coalition Canada Palestine Association Canadian Students’ Coalition for Palestine Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network Students for Justice in Palestine at Florida Atlantic University Students for Justice in Palestine at Brooklyn College Students for Justice in Palestine at Hunter College Students for Justice in Palestine at College of Staten Island Students for Justice in Palestine at John Jay College Toronto Students for Justice in Palestine US Palestinian Community Network Voice of Palestine

Abdullah Khalifeh, Vancouver, BC, Canada Amani Barakat, Moorpark, California Amer Taha, Houston, Texas Amin Husain, New York City Aya Dama, London Dr. C. Nureddin Awad, Cuba Cynthia George Taha, Bellingham Dina Omar, New Haven, CT Fadi Shbita, Montreal, Canada Falastine As-Saleh, Palestine Faten Toubasi, Toronto, Canada Feras Al-Hefnawi, USA Fuad Abboud, Calgary, Canada Ghada Talhami, Evanston, Illinois, US Ghasan Taha, Bellingham Ghassan Al-Sahli Gihad Ali, Chicago, IL Haitham Salawdeh, Wauwatisa, WI Hanaa Yosef, Lebanon Hanna Kawas, chairperson, Canada Palestine Association and co-host, Voice of Palestine Hatem Abudayyeh, Chicago, IL Hazem Ghanam, Coquitlam, BC, Canada Ida Audeh, Colorado Imad Shalbak, Bayshore, NY, USA Issam Al-Yamani, Toronto, Canada Jadallah Safa, Brazil Khaled Barakat, Vancouver, Canada Lamis J. Deek, J.D., NY/ Huwarra Nablus Palestine Marsilio Salem May Abboud, Bethesda, MD, USA Mazin Al Nahawi Monadel Herzallah, California Nahla Abdo, Canada Rabab Abdulhadi, California Rajai Ghattas, Vernon, BC, Canada Rami Alsaqqa, Vancouver, Canada Randa Kamal, San Francisco, California Rena Zuabi, Palestine Sabrina Azraq, Toronto, Canada Salma Abu Ayyash, Cambridge, MA Sana Ibrahim, USA Suleiman Hodali, Los Angeles, CA Talal A. Kanaan Yara Erian, London, Ontario Yasmeen Daher, Montreal, Canada Ziyad Zaitoun, Seattle

#UnitedStates #Palestine #Zionism #IsraeliOccupation #MiddleEast

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) said that any return to negotiations on the basis of the views and auspices of US Secretary of State John Kerry is committing “political suicide,” providing a cover for the government of occupation, ultra-extremism and settlements, in committing the most heinous crimes against the Palestinian people and their land.

The Front urged the Palestinian leadership to join all international organizations, including the International Criminal Court, without subjecting Palestinian rights, guaranteed by international law, to any bargains and futile bets on the US that have proved to be failures time and again.

The Front warned that the time to put the Palestinian house in order has come, saying that the Palestinian national movement is the basis for cohesion, unity, and solidarity against the occupation and forces hostile to our people and our nation, and the source of strength to protect our people, their rights and national steadfastness, and build global solidarity with the support of the free people of the world.

Comrade Jamil Mizher, member of the Central Committee of the PFLP, said in an interview that the resumption of direct negotiations “causes severe harm to the Palestinian cause. The PFLP completely rejects the resumption of the absurd negotiations, which do not achieve the minimum national demands of the Palestinian People,” said Mizher, adding that “20 years of absurd negotiations achieved a big zero, and only helped the Occupation to execute its plans of expansion.”

Mizher said that the agreement of Palestinian leadership to resume negotiations under Zionist conditions and American auspices is a great sin and a deep threat to the Palestinian national project, while encouraging occupation terrorism, land grabs and confiscation, and crimes against the Palestinian people.

Mizher said that the Palestinian people are struggling for their full rights, including self-determination, the right of return and independence and are not fighting for “economic improvements here or there, financial bribery offered by the US administration, or the establishment of an airport.”

He said that the president should give priority and importance to restoring national unity and building a national strategy based on adherence to fundamental Palestinian principles, instead of going to these negotiations, “he should be demanding that the International Criminal Court prosecute the occupation for their crimes against the Palestinian people, our brave prisoners, Palestinian land and holy sites.”

Mizher said that any bet on the US administration is a losing bet and that Kerry provided nothing from the Zionist occupation but only comes to pressure Palestinian leadership to make concessions undermining the rights of the Palestinian people, promoting discussions of “territory exchange,” the return of only a handful of refugees, and Palestinian refugees’ mass resettlement in other countries.

Comrade Dr. Rabah Muhanna, member of the Political Bureau of the PFLP, said that the Palestine Liberation Organization Central Council should hold Abu Mazen and the Executive Committee of the PLO accountable for this dangerous decision to return to negotiations. Muhanna said that the masses of the Palestinian people in the West Bank, Gaza, occupied Palestine ’48, and exile and diaspora are overwhelmingly against these harmful and destructive negotiations and must exercise real pressure on the Palestinian leadership equivalent to that exercised by the US and some Arab regimes.

Muhanna said that a return to negotiations means abandoning Palestinian national rights, and that these negotiations always begin from lower and lower points and only undermine Palestinian interests.

#Palestine #PopularFrontForTheLiberationOfPalestine #Zionism #IsraeliOccupation #MiddleEast

Milwaukee, WI – The Milwaukee Palestine Solidarity Coalition rallied outside the Israel Bonds Awards Dinner, June 13, saying “Don't award apartheid!” Inside the high class downtown Pfister Hotel, Israeli government ministers were presenting an award to a Park Bank CEO for his monetary support to the apartheid state of Israel. But while Israel and their 1% supporters met behind the protection of police stationed in the hotel lobby, activists representing at least seven community organizations rolled out their own red carpet.

“I came out to educate myself more on the issue as well as support the cause,” said Angie Ortiz, “I will definitely go to the ceremony again next year.”

With “Free Palestine” scrawled across the sidewalk at the hotel entrance, a makeshift stage and red carpet mocked the award ceremony inside. But instead of awarding the elite U.S. supporters of Zionist apartheid and occupation, awards were given to each Palestine solidarity activist rallying in support of Palestinian human rights. The final award was given to the courageous Palestinian hunger strikers.

The counter-awards ceremony called for support of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement (BDS) by divesting from Israel bonds. Activists also called on Alicia Keys to cancel her scheduled tour date in Tel Aviv, Israel. This week over 12,000 signatures were delivered to Keys' charity “Keep a Child Alive” in New York, demanding she join the likes of Alice Walker, Roger Waters, Stevie Wonder, Desmond Tutu and Stephen Hawking to stand up for the rights of Palestinians living under occupation and apartheid.

The brand new Palestine Solidarity Coalition consists of several groups doing Palestine solidarity work in Milwaukee. The coalition is planning a city-wide campaign to boycott Israeli goods and end civilian and government aid to Israel from the U.S. That aid includes over $3 billion a year in government support alone.

#MilwaukeeWI #Palestine #Boycott #Apartheid #IsraeliOccupation #BDS #PalestineSolidarityCoalition #MiddleEast