Call to Action in: Dutch | French | Italian | Swedish
Palestinian Prisoners’ Day 2020 approaches as 5,000 Palestinian prisoners inside Israeli jails face the ongoing threat of settler colonialism, apartheid and occupation, accompanied by the new threat to their health and lives posed by the global pandemic of coronavirus (COVID-19), accentuated by institutionalized Israeli medical negligence. Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges all supporters of justice and liberation in Palestine to join us between 10 and 17 April for a week of action to free all Palestinian prisoners!
Today, there are approximately 5,000 Palestinians jailed by Zionist colonialism, including over 180 children, 430 administrative detainees jailed without charge or trial and 700 sick and ill prisoners, 200 with chronic and serious diseases that place them at even greater risk should COVID-19 spread throughout the prisons.
The imprisonment of Palestinians is a colonial attack on the Palestinian people. Imprisonment affects nearly every Palestinian family, including Palestinians in the West Bank, Jerusalem, Gaza Strip, occupied Palestine ’48 and even in exile and diaspora. Palestinian prisoners are mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, students and teachers, labor organizers, women’s leaders, student activists, community builders, freedom fighters.
Defending Palestinian prisoners and demanding their immediate release is not only a humanitarian necessity at a time when their lives are at great risk due to COVID-19, it is also a political imperative for all concerned with justice in Palestine. Palestinian prisoners represent the Palestinian resistance and the true leadership of the Palestinian liberation struggle, locked away in an attempt to preserve colonial control. Their liberation is critical to the victory of the Palestinian people and the freedom of Palestine, from the river to the sea.
The struggle of the Palestinian prisoners – and the Palestinian people – is an internationalist one. They are on the front lines of struggle every day behind bars for liberation, confronting not only Zionism and the Israeli state but also imperialism and reactionary regimes. The struggle to free Georges Ibrahim Abdallah from French prison is a critical part of this movement. The Palestinian prisoners’ liberation struggle is also linked to the fight of Irish republican prisoners, political prisoners in the United States, the Philippines, Turkey, Egypt and everywhere around the world for justice and liberation, and to the struggle to end racist and colonial incarceration.
The global pandemic of COVID-19 has presented new challenges for organizing everywhere, and the Palestinian prisoners – and, indeed, the Palestinian people – are also facing a severe attack. It is more necessary than ever to organize for Palestinian freedom and build our links of struggle, becoming more socially connected even as we are physically distant.
Samidoun calls on all friends of the Palestinian people, organizations concerned with justice in Palestine and Palestinian and Arab communities to join us in this week of action. A series of events that you can participate in is listed below. We encourage you to add your own! Please send your campaigns, virtual meetings and events to Samidoun at samidoun@samidoun.net or to our Facebook page for inclusion in this list or tag us on Twitter at @SamidounPP; now, more than ever, it is critical to unite our efforts to support the prisoners and fight together for the liberation of Palestine.
Please use the graphics here (in English, French, Arabic, Dutch, Swedish and German) to show your support for Palestinian prisoners and the Palestinian liberation struggle! We will be sharing graphics, videos, written content and more throughout the week and we encourage you to amplify and re-share these materials. Translations are welcome: please send to samidoun@samidoun.net.
For each day of the week, we have emphasized themes to highlight. Follow @SamidounPP on Twitter, Samidoun on Facebook and @samidounnetwork on Instagram to share content about these aspects of the Palestinian struggle and the prisoners’ cause. However, we urge you to share any and all information and action steps for Palestine and the prisoners on every day throughout the week!
Call during your country’s regular office hours:
Friday, 10 April
Theme: Day of action for sick and ill prisoners: Fighting Coronavirus and Israeli Medical Neglect
Saturday, 11 April
Theme: Day of action to free Khalida Jarrar and Palestinian women prisoners
Sunday, 12 April
Theme: Day of action to free Mays Abu Ghosh, Tareq Mattar and Palestinian student prisoners
Monday, 13 April
Theme: Day of action to free Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian political prisoners
Tuesday, 14 April
Theme: Day of Action against Home Demolitions and Collective Punishment
Day of Action for International and Arab Prisoners, including prisoners in Egypt, Turkey, the Philippines and the United States
Wednesday, 15 April
Theme: Day of Action for Prisoners for Palestine in Arab and International Jails: Free Georges Abdallah, the Holy Land Five and fellow Palestinian prisoners
Thursday, 16 April
Theme: Day of Action to free Palestinian Child Prisoners
Day of Action Against Torture and Ill-Treatment
Friday, 17 April
Palestinian Prisoners’ Day
Saturday, 18 April
Sunday, 19 April
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