New York, NY — On Saturday January 21, New Yorkers rallied inside Grand Central Station for an emergency action called by Within Our Lifetime and Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network as part of a global week of action. The crowd of 80 people honored the 15 Palestinians killed since the beginning of the New Year and demanded the freedom of all Palestinian prisoners, despite the New York Police Department’s attempts to silence the rally.

The action began with chants demanding freedom for Palestine and an end to Zionist occupation. Posters and banners called attention to the specific cases of Ahmad Sa’adat, the general secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and Ahmad Manasara who spent another birthday locked up in Zionist prison instead of with his family.

The NYPD responded to the rally by mobilizing dozens of cops in an attempt to intimidate the protesters. The cops repeatedly confronted the organizers over the use of sound equipment, while ignoring hecklers who harassed the protesters and attempted to instigate fights.

After the chants, the protest marched around the inside of the concourse, drawing attention and support from bystanders and travelers. The protest then moved outside and briefly took over the streets, blocking traffic in midtown. Finally, the crowd returned inside where the rally finished.

#NewYorkNY #Palestine #FreePalestine #SamidounPalestinianPrisonerSolidarityNetwork #MiddleEast

Fight Back! interviewed Charlotte Kates, International Coordinator of the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, on the fight to free Palestinian political prisoners in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. We ask that all of our readers to support this important effort.

Fight Back!: How has the pandemic impacted Palestinian political prisoners?

Charlotte Kates: One of the major concerns has been the fact that Palestinian prisoners are essentially cut off from the outside world. Israel claims that its ban on family visits and legal visits are attempts to prevent the spread of COVID-19, but they are also doing everything possible to avoid providing alternative options for the prisoners, including the over 180 Palestinian child prisoners, such as phone calls.

There are strict conditions over which prisoners can have a video or phone call with a lawyer and there is no protection for the privacy of such calls. These isolation protocols are also not being applied for Israeli guards, jailers and interrogators. Palestinians are still being arrested on a daily basis in violent night raids and even once imprisoned, they are continuing to face repressive units ransacking their rooms. After weeks of protest, including returning meals, Israeli guards are finally counting prisoners outside the cells and wearing masks on at least some occasions, but these are insufficient protection for the prisoners.

One prisoner, Noureddine Sarsour, was discovered to have COVID-19 after his release. The Israel Prison Service is not providing testing nor even appropriate quarantine protocols. People are being ‘quarantined’ in filthy isolation cells. In the meantime, sanitary products and other items have been removed from the canteen, or prison store, where Palestinian prisoners are forced to purchase basic items. Again after prisoners' organized protest, some of the main halls are being cleaned, but still insufficiently, and prisoners are continuing to organize and protest. All of this is amid a context of clear Israeli medical negligence that has taken the lives of at least 67 Palestinian prisoners, as well as the knowledge-lockdown for the families of the prisoners.

If COVID-19 spreads within the prison from Israeli guards and jailers who continue to interact with society, the prisoners will be most at risk of swift transmission. They are held eight to a room, and many are elderly or have other serious medical conditions. This is why it is once again incredibly important to demand freedom for all Palestinian prisoners, especially the elderly, children, sick prisoners, women prisoners and those held in administrative detention without charge or trial.

Fight Back!: The Israelis are holding a number of high-profile political prisoners, such Ahmad Sa’adat of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). What can you say about their condition?

Kates: In many ways, these high-profile political prisoners like Ahmad Sa'adat share the tribulations of their fellow 5000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. They are also denied family visits, legal communication and access to basic protective measures and appropriate health care. It is important to note that the repressive mechanisms being justified here as an attempt to prevent the entry of COVID-19 into the prison system are also the sort of repressive measures that have been recommended and developed by the racist, colonial Israeli political structure as well.

The so-called ‘Erdan commission,’ headed by Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan, recommended doing everything possible to make prisoners' lives worse in an attempt to roll back basic rights that were won only through struggle by the prisoners, such as hunger strikes. Family visits are continually used as a weapon against the prisoners, and the prison administration has dragged its feet relentlessly on installing the public phones it agreed to install in order to end the 2019 mass hunger strike.

Gilad Erdan is, of course, not just one right-wing politician but reflective of the entire Zionist mechanism of racist repression and control. It is worthwhile to note, however, that he simultaneously holds another position in Netanyahu's government. He is the Minister of Strategic Affairs, the so-called ‘anti-BDS ministry’ that is attempting to smear, criminalize and harass Palestinian human rights defenders and organizations as well as Palestine solidarity groups around the world, especially those that work on the prisoners. He and the Israeli state he represents are attempting to impose the ‘terror’ label on support for Palestine and Palestinian liberation in the United States and Europe. This is another attempt to isolate the prisoners, especially those like Ahmad Sa'adat, who continue to play a leading political role and reminds us of how important it is to keep up the advocacy for Palestinian prisoners around the world.

Fight Back!: Would you comment on the case of Georges Abdallah and the fight to free him?

Kates: Palestinian prisoners are not only found in Israeli occupation prisons. Much like imperialist powers like the U.S. and France are fully complicit in the oppression and dispossession of the Palestinian people as a whole, this also extends to the imprisonment of Palestinians and strugglers for Palestine. In the U.S., we see the case of the Holy Land Five, Palestinian charity workers sentenced up to 65 years for their work.

In France, there is the case of Georges Abdallah, a Lebanese Arab communist struggler for Palestine who has been held in French prisons for 35 years. He has been eligible for release since 1999 after being convicted of involvement in an armed action conducted by Lebanese resistance groups against U.S. and Israeli officials. His entire trial was marked by severe irregularities, and his lawyer was actually a spy for French intelligence. Even the French judiciary has agreed to release him to Lebanon on several occasions, and the U.S. has played a key role in keeping him behind bars. As Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton's released emails showed her contacting the French government to pressure them to override the judiciary and keep Georges imprisoned.

There is a growing movement in France and in Lebanon to demand his immediate release, but it is also important to publicize his case in the United States, given its role in depriving him of his freedom. Further, Georges is also a leader behind bars and actively participates as part of the Palestinian prisoners' movement. He returns food along with Palestinian collective hunger strikes and has organized Basque and Arab fellow prisoners to do the same, and Palestinian prisoners like Ahmad Sa'adat have expressed their commitment that Georges' freedom is also critical to them.

Fight Back!: Can you say a few words on the importance of the struggle to free Palestinian prisoners and how our readers can participate in this fight?

Kates: The Palestinian prisoners are locked up because Israel wants to isolate them from their communities, their people, the international and Arab movements and the world. They are true leaders of the Palestinian people and represent ongoing Palestinian resistance; this is why they face such severe attacks by Zionist colonialism. They have been violently ripped away from their people because they offer a vision and a commitment to the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea. And, of course, the struggle for the freedom of the prisoners is an internationalist one. The fight to free the Palestinian prisoners comes hand in hand with that against the racist U.S. prison system, with fights for justice for the political prisoners of Egypt, the Philippines, Colombia, Turkey, India and elsewhere.

There are amazing organizations in Palestine and internationally working to free the prisoners. For example, Addameer provides legal support to Palestinian prisoners and their families inside occupied Palestine. Many Palestinian community and Palestine solidarity groups are working together on initiatives that recognize the connection between struggles against racism in the U.S. and in Palestine, including resisting the systems of mass incarceration targeting peoples and communities.

As Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, we are an international network of activists and organizers working to build the movement to free the prisoners and to free Palestine from the river to the sea by building internationalist solidarity, organizing demonstrations, call-ins and other actions, amplifying the voices of the Palestinian prisoners' movement and working to expand boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaigns to isolate Israel at an international level. We invite people to get involved and work together with us; you can find out more at our website, samidoun.net.

#UnitedStates #AntiwarMovement #InJusticeSystem #OppressedNationalities #Palestine #Opinion #MiddleEast #PeoplesStruggles #Interviews #PoliticalPrisoners #PoliticalRepression #SamidounPalestinianPrisonerSolidarityNetwork #COVID19

Fight Back! interviewed Charlotte Kates, International Coordinator of the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, on the fight to free Palestinian political prisoners. We encourage all of our readers to support this effort.

Fight Back!: Why is the issue of political prisoners so important to the fight to liberate Palestine?

Charlotte Kates: From the earliest days of the Palestinian national liberation movement, imprisonment has always been a weapon used by the colonizer – and it has always been an inspiration for Palestinian resistance. This is true from the revolts against British colonialism in the 1920s and 1930s to the present day. In fact, administrative detention – the imprisonment of Palestinians without charge or trial by the Israeli occupation – was a policy first introduced in Palestine by British colonizers and then adapted by Zionist colonialism.

Imprisonment is a reality that affects nearly every Palestinian family – everyone has a mother, father, brother, sister, uncle, cousin, niece or nephew in prison. They are children and elders, workers and farmers, teachers and students. 40% of Palestinian men in the West Bank and Jerusalem have spent time inside Israeli prison. Of course, it should be noted that the working and popular classes of Palestine, just as they have always been the basis for the resistance, also form the bulk of Palestinian prisoners. Palestinian prisoners include all sectors of the Palestinian population – from the West Bank, Gaza, Jerusalem, '48 Palestine and even Palestinian exiles and refugees. There are currently nearly 6000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, but there have been approximately 850,000 since 1967 and 1 million since 1948, according to Palestinian statistics.

Imprisonment is used as a colonial method of control and domination – to attack the Palestinian resistance and attempt to dismantle its leadership, targeting key activists in all movements – the labor movement, student movement, women's movement, youth movement – for arrest and isolation. Defending Palestinian struggle and the right to resist occupation by any means necessary must, by necessity, also prioritize the struggle to free all political prisoners. Conversely, the struggle to free the prisoners is an important way to defend Palestinian resistance. Furthermore, Palestinian prisoners are not simply victims of the occupier – they are also leaders, organizers and fighters. They organize behind bars and turn prisons into “revolutionary schools” of the oppressed. Israel wants to isolate these Palestinians because they are central to the liberation movement – and that is why we must work to free them and isolate Israel as a key part of the struggle to liberate Palestine.

Fight Back!: How has the movement to free the Palestinian prisoners been developing over the last few years?

Kates: The struggle inside occupation prisons has only escalated in recent years. There have been several mass hunger strikes involving hundreds and thousands of prisoners, while individual prisoners like Khader Adnan have carried out strikes for months on end. These strikes, long a mechanism of struggle for the Palestinian prisoners' movement, have also helped to galvanize Palestinian, Arab and international public attention toward the situation of the prisoners. Every improvement in conditions that the prisoners have achieved behind bars has come through constant struggle.

At the same time, the Israeli occupation has also ramped up its attacks on the prisoners. Gilad Erdan, the far-right Israeli minister also responsible for the anti-BDS movement campaigns around the world, is chairing a committee to roll back improvements in prison conditions that have been accomplished through struggle. Currently, women prisoners in HaSharon prison have refused to go to the recreation yards for nearly two months in protest of surveillance cameras imposed upon them, despite cuts in their food allotments and the denial of everything from books to family visits to hot water. There have been many important initiatives to highlight the struggles of Palestinian prisoners – Ahed Tamimi's case garnered a great deal of attention, especially toward the imprisonment and abuse of Palestinian children. But it is urgent that we escalate our international solidarity to meet the level of struggle engaged in by the prisoners on a daily basis.

Fight Back!: What kind of conditions are imprisoned leaders of the Palestinian resistance, such as Ahmad Sa’adat of the PFLP facing in Israeli jails?

Kates: Palestinian prisoners are immensely resourceful and always find ways to ensure that their voice reaches the Palestinian people and the world. They are behind bars because Israel wants to isolate them at all levels, yet they continue to exercise their intellectual and political leadership for the Palestinian liberation struggle and our international social justice movements as a whole. Ahmad Sa'adat, the imprisoned General Secretary of the PFLP, is an international leader. He is held behind Israeli bars now; from 2002 to 2006, he was jailed by the Palestinian Authority [PA] but held under U.S. and British guards; the involvement of these imperialist powers and the complicit PA in his detention well illustrates the forces facing the Palestinian people.

After an interview with Sa'adat was published in the Egyptian newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm earlier in October, prisoners held with him in Ramon prison were subject to repeated raids, searches and transfers as a form of retaliation for his interview – with its clear and principled commitment to the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea – reaching the public.

Fight Back!: Would you like to say a few words about the importance of the struggle to free Georges Abdallah?

Kates: As we know, Palestinians don't only face the Zionist movement and the Israeli state, but also U.S. imperialism and its European allies. The latter use ‘anti-terror’ laws to repress Palestinian community organizing and Palestine solidarity activism – infiltrating organizations and targeting leaders like Rasmea Odeh, imprisoning the Holy Land Foundation Five. But there's nothing new about this approach. Georges Ibrahim Abdallah has been imprisoned in France for over 34 years for his alleged role in an action in France in which an American military attaché and Israeli diplomat were killed, amid the invasion of Lebanon and the massacre at Sabra and Shatila. Despite being eligible for release since 1999, he remains behind bars due to the French state – and also due to intense pressure by U.S. officials, from Condoleeza Rice to Hillary Clinton. Like the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, Georges Abdallah has held fast to his political principles as a Lebanese communist. Most recently, he addressed the Great Return March in Gaza, urging that the way to “victory of the masses and the struggling people...is to overthrow imperialism and its agents.” This year, people in cities around the world again organized a week of action to demand his release. The U.S. is a partner in his imprisonment – and the campaign to win his freedom is an integral part of the campaign to free all Palestinian prisoners.

Fight Back!: What would you recommend that readers of Fight Back! can do to help the effort to free Palestinian prisoners?

Kates: The most important thing that Fight Back! readers can do to help the campaign for Palestinian prisoners' freedom is to join the struggle. This includes the struggle to free political prisoners in the United States, like those of the Black Liberation Movement who have been imprisoned for decades for their role in struggle. Every victory for prisoners' struggle in the U.S. is also a victory for the Palestinian prisoners and the Palestinian people.

We also invite people to get involved with Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network and to include Palestinian prisoners in their campaigns, demonstrations and actions. By raising the names, ideas and images of the prisoners, we can help to break the isolation that Israel seeks to impose. By building campaigns to boycott Israel and complicit corporations like G4S and HP, we can bring material force to our demands. And most importantly, by fighting back against U.S. imperialism at all levels, Fight Back! readers can make a major contribution to the Palestinian cause.

#WashingtonDC #AntiwarMovement #Palestine #PoliticalPrisoners #CharlotteKates #SamidounPalestinianPrisonerSolidarityNetwork #MiddleEast

New York, NY – Around 50 people gathered on Dec. 11 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), at an event titled The Palestinian Revolutionary Left.

Organized by Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, the event featured a recorded address from Leila Khaled, member of the PFLP’s Political Bureau, and a live stream with Khaled Barakat, international coordinator of the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat. The speakers discussed the history of the PFLP, their ideology, and the importance of ongoing struggle against Israel, the U.S., and Arab reaction.

First, a recorded address by Leila Khaled played for the audience. In her speech, Khaled talked about the history and ideology of the PFLP. Regarding the PFLP’s ideology, Khaled said, “This is according to a vision, based on progressive thinking, in which I mean Marxism.” She stated that at the time of the PFLP’s formation, Marxism was new to the Palestinian people, but that it was a powerful tool for having an understanding of their enemies and conditions, leading to the success of their organization.

Next, Khaled Barakat spoke to the crowd via live stream. Barakat discussed the 1917 fight against the Balfour Declaration and British colonialism, as well as the Palestinian movement up to the present day. He stressed that for 100 years, the Palestinians have not given up their struggle. Barakat cited the recent defeat of ISIS in Syria and Iraq as examples of the weakening of the Zionist, imperialist camp.

Barakat stated, “Names could change from Balfour to Trump, after 100 years, but the representatives and the interests of this game is still the same.”

The event closed out with a questions and answer session with Barakat, including lively discussion about current events.

#NewYorkNY #PopularFrontForTheLiberationOfPalestine #Palestine #SamidounPalestinianPrisonerSolidarityNetwork #MiddleEast

New York, NY – On the evening of Dec. 10, approximately 70 activists gathered at the Philippine Consulate on 5th Avenue to protest the regime of President Duterte and to demand an end to its state-sanctioned mass killings.

The rally was held on International Human Rights Day, a time to remember and reinforce the need for democracy and human rights, and to highlight the crimes against the people of the Philippines under the Duterte’s rule.

Since Rodrigo Duterte took power there has been a wave of human rights abuses. It began with the Drug Wars, which Duterte claimed was a way to cleanse the Philippines of crimes, but instead were used to murder over 13,000 civilians. Second, Duterte has reinstated martial law in Mindanao, hurting indigenous people. Most recently, Duterte forces have murdered militant fighters for democracy and named the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) as a terrorist organization.

The escalation of human rights abuses against people supporting the National Democratic movement began shortly after President Donald Trump’s visit.

The rally aimed to stand in solidarity with those fighting the Philippines, remember the struggles of those who died at the hands of repression, and wage forward in the fight for liberation. The event was organized by Bayan USA and was attended by members of a multitude of different organizations such as: Migrante, Gabriella NY, Anakbayan NY and NJ, NYC Students for Justice in Palestine, Committee to Stop FBI Repression – NY, and the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoners Solidarity Network.

In between speeches, the chants rang out from the people, including “No justice, no peace! No more war in the Philippines,” and “U.S. imperialist, number one terrorist!”

Organizers used a projector to shine slogans onto the walls of the consulate with phrases such as, “Fight against the fascist U.S.-Duterte regime” throughout the night’s event.

Mike Legaspi, from Bayan USA, closed the rally saying, “Rodrigo Duterte, like all the other puppet presidents, will be relegated to the garbage bin of history. It's been a little of a year since he's been president and when he came in, people of the Philippines were so optimistic. A lot of people who organize for the National Democratic movement were also optimistic because they thought he would bring an end to the decades long civil war through peace talks. He did initially open up peace talks with the National Democratic movement of the Philippines and the CPP, but he has recently cancelled these peace talks. Now Duterte and his military supporters have deemed the CPP as terrorist. But Duterte has gone beyond this and said that the legal democratic mass movement is also terrorist. That means that he's looking for terrorists when all he has to do is look in the mirror.”

#NewYorkNY #Philippines #CommunistPartyOfThePhilippines #CommitteeToStopFBIRepression #StudentsForJusticeInPalestine #SamidounPalestinianPrisonerSolidarityNetwork #RodrigoDuterte #Migrante #GabriellaNY #Anakyaban #Asia

New York, NY – On the March 17 the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoners Network organized an action where several dozen protesters gathered near Union Square to honor Basel al-Araj on the day of his burial and to continue protesting the regime the killed him.

Al-Araj was murdered on March 6, when Israeli Forces found his hiding place and for two hours rained bullets and rocket fire until they confirmed the kill. Al-Araj had recently been released by the Palestinian Authority after a hunger strike, but his legal charges for wanting to fight the U.S.-backed Israeli apartheid regime weren’t dropped. Al-Araj knew that once Israeli forces captured him, he would be sent straight to prison, so he evaded them for around a year before they found him and extra-judicially executed him.

Protesters chanted for the better part of an hour and handed out flyers regarding the Al-Araj case. As the protest coincided with Saint Patrick’s Day, one of the chants was, “From Belfast to Palestine, occupation is a crime.”

At the end of the protest there were several people read statements. Sapphira Lurie, from Fordham Students for Justice in Palestine, read Al-Araj’s will.

Joe Catron, an organizer with Samidoun, read a statement that the group signed on to that urged people to stand together to fight for the liberation of Palestine.

The protest ended with an announcement to join the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoners Network next Friday for their weekly protest.

#NewYorkNewYork #Palestine #PeoplesStruggles #SamidounPalestinianPrisonerSolidarityNetwork #BasilAlAraj #MiddleEast

New York, New York – A group of activists gathered in front of the French Consulate on Oct. 21, to stand in solidarity with Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, a Lebanese Arab freedom fighter for Palestine, and demand his immediate release.

The picket was part of the International Week of Action (Oct. 15-22) in support of Abdallah and it was the second event that the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network hosted to bring attention to Abadallah’s case.

The French government imprisoned Georges Ibrahim Abdallah over 32 years ago. His crime was participating in actions that decried Israel’s invasion and, consequent occupation, of Lebanon and targeted U.S. and Israeli interests. The French courts subjected Abdallah to sham trial where foreign powers became involved. One of his lawyers was used to spy on him. Originally, he was up for release in 1999. However, each time he set to be released under parole to Lebanon, forces beyond him stop the process. It’s happened multiple times where the French judiciary will approve the release but higher legal powers intervene to halt the process, such as the Interior Minister or the U.S. government under the guise of Hillary Clinton.

Throughout his imprisonment in Lannemezan prison, Abdallah has remained a staunch anti-Zionist, anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist voice in the Arab and Palestinian movement. He has organized hunger strikes within the prison to stand with Palestinian hunger strikers, such as Bilal Kayed. He has openly supported the BDS movement and other pro-Arab liberation movements throughout the world.

Abdallah’s imprisonment is recognized as part of the larger struggle for justice of Palestinian and Arab political prisoners, activists and for liberation. France’s targeting of Palestinian, Arab and anti-Zionist activists speaks to the country’s long history of xenophobic and chauvinist actions.

The New York protesters stood in front of the consulate chanting, “Free, free Georges Abdallah” as a steady stream of French diplomats and important figures walked through the doors. The protesters stayed past sundown and handed out flyers to those walking by. Despite the peaceful nature of the protest, six NYPD officers and three cop cars flanked the demonstration.

On Oct. 22, a large mobilization at the Lannemezan prison took place to end the solidarity week of action for Abdallah.

The Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network holds protests every Friday afternoon to stand in solidarity with political prisoners who are fighting for justice.

#NewYorkNY #Palestine #SamidounPalestinianPrisonerSolidarityNetwork #GeorgesAbdallah #MiddleEast

New York, NY – On Aug. 23, the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network and NYC Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) hosted a panel called “Frontlines of resistance: Bilal Kayed and the struggle for Palestine”, regarding the state of occupied Palestine and the fight that political prisoners are currently waging against their Israeli jailers.

Around 30 people gathered at the International Action Center to hear a panel of activists share their experience in the Palestinian solidarity movement.

Nerdeen Kiswani, from NYC SJP, began the event by giving a background of the state of the Palestinian solidarity movement in New York and the importance of demanding justice for Palestinian political prisoners. Kiswani introduced the first speaker, Joe Catron from the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network.

Catron, a longtime activist in New York, has been organizing diligently for the release of Bilal Kayed, a Palestinian political prisoner who has been on hunger strike for 70 days to protest his unfair detention. He began by reading a statement that Kayed wrote while at the Barzilai hospital:

“To the Palestinian masses, proud and steadfast

To those who reject everything but to stand for rights, homeland, glory and pride…

In my 70th day of the battle of pride, steadfastness and challenge in which we struggle together for the proud victory of Palestine and the movement of struggle and for every revolutionary victory in the project of the liberation of the land. I extend my words to be present with you on these stands of honor and freedom, hoping though in my last hours, the body may be absent and the mind fading, but the spirit is still holding fast to its decision, which cannot be deterred by any force in the world. Either victory or victory. Victory is near, God willing, and we raise the signs of victory always and forever….

And I, my mother, I will remain on my promise, and to my proud people, don’t drop the sign of victory, my mother, until I am victorious with you and for you, and together we will be the body and the bridge on which liberators and revolutionaries can cross…

The heights are our goal, and martyrdom in it is washing our sins and failures to elevate our homeland. A new stage of struggle that will be victorious when we protect its banner with honesty. Don’t drop the banner, “We return to resist, not to compromise,” as uttered by the martyr Abu Ali Mustafa, whose memory is now present among us.

Victory is inevitable.

Your brother,

Bilal Kayed

23 August 2016

Barzilai Hospital – Asqelan”

Catron finished by emphasizing the need to continue fighting and not stopping until justice is achieved.

One of the speakers, Leena from NYC SJP, had just visited Palestine this past summer to see her family. While on her trip, she ended up running into Kayed's family and was able to speak to them about his case and the fight to free him. During her speech she said, “In Palestine, Kayed's family has been very open about his involvement with the PFLP and how Israel is targeting him for defending his country. He refuses to take any of Israel's offers, such as going to Jordan for four years, and then maybe coming back to Palestine. Kayed views that as a betrayal to his people. He views it as admitting guilt for something that shouldn't be a crime.”

The event ended with several questions from the audience and a letter writing session to Kayed to show solidarity.

Currently, Bilal Kayed is in the hospital entering the 71st day of his hunger strike. Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network continues to organize weekly protests to demand his freedom. The next one will be this Friday, Aug. 27 at the G4S building at 4 p.m.

#NewYorkNY #Palestine #StudentsForJusticeInPalestine #SamidounPalestinianPrisonerSolidarityNetwork #BilalKayed #MiddleEast

New York, NY – On Aug. 19, the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network held a picket in front of the G4S office in off of Fifth Avenue. Samidoun has been holding weekly protests to stand in solidarity and demand the freedom of Bilal Kayed, a Palestinian man who is being wrongly detained in the Israeli prisons.

Kayed is among 7000 Palestinian prisoners who are currently being held by Israel. His sentence was supposed to have ended on June 13, after a 14-and-half-year sentence handed down by the Israeli military court. However, June 13 came and went, and Kayed was not released. Instead, he was further sentenced to six months of prison without a charge or trial. This new decree had the caveat that it could be renewed indefinitely.

On June 15, Kayed launched a hunger strike and is on his 67th day. As of Aug. 20, reports are circulating that Kayed has been rushed to the Barzilai Hospital intensive care.

Protesters gathered in front of a G4S Security Solutions holding signs and Palestinians flags. G4S Security Solutions is a private security company that supplies prisons all over the world, including Israel. Chants ranged from, “Not another nickel, not another dime, no more money for Israel’s crimes” and “There is only one solution, intifada, revolution!”

Samidoun will continue to hold weekly protests, escalating each week, until Bilal Kayed is freed and is able to go home.

#NewYorkNY #Palestine #SamidounPalestinianPrisonerSolidarityNetwork #BilalKayed #MiddleEast

Palestinian student Lina Khattab, 18 years old and a first-year media student at Bir Zeit University, will face an Israeli military court once more on February 16. This is her eighth appearance in the military court since her arrest on December 13, 2014 during a student protest to free Palestinian political prisoners.

Free Lina Khattab Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/FreeLina/

FreeLinaLina is also a folkloric dancer with the world-renowned El-Funoun Popular Palestinian Dance Troupe and is active with cultural and political student activities at the University. She has been charged with “throwing stones” and “participating in an unlawful demonstration,” two charges frequently used by the Israeli military against Palestinians who participate in public protests against the military occupation. She is facing Israeli military courts, reserved for Palestinians under occupation, which have a 99.74% conviction rate.

On January 12, she was denied bail at a hearing in which the military judge said, “looking at her, I can see the characteristics of a leader.” Active Palestinian students frequently face arrest and imprisonment for their campus activities, including involvement in student union elections, student protests, and campus activist organizations and student government blocs.

Lina reported through her lawyer that she had been abused and beaten by Israeli soldiers during her detention, and one of the soldiers hit her, ripped her clothes and shouted obscene insults at her.

Lina is our sister and our comrade: a Palestinian young woman, student activist, imprisoned for participating in a popular demonstration for justice. She is threatened with a lengthy prison sentence for participating in these activities under occupation and apartheid.

Please join us in taking action to demand Lina’s freedom:

Take a picture or short video of yourself, your friends or your student group with a sign, “Free Lina Khattab!” “Free Palestinian student Lina Khattab!” Send it to freelinakhattab@gmail.com or post it to the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/FreeLina/

Hold a protest or demonstration at an Israeli consulate or mission in your area to demand freedom for Lina Khattab, or join an existing protest and carry signs demanding Lina’s freedom. Please send pictures, reports or facebook links to your events and actions!

Hold a campus event – a discussion, tabling session or banner drop – to support student activist Lina Khattab and build international solidarity among student and youth movements for Lina’s freedom

#Palestine #PoliticalPrisoners #MiddleEast #PoliticalRepression #FreeLinaKhattab #SamidounPalestinianPrisonerSolidarityNetwork