Workers Resistance

Category: Palestine

  • PFLP: On the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Oslo accords

    Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)

    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 Solidarity Coalition protests Israeli settlement supporters

    Milwaukee, WI – Palestine solidarity activists rallied against Israeli settlement construction in response to an awards banquet held by the Jewish National Fund Aug. 28. The annual awards banquet celebrated local bankrollers of the Israeli occupation for “their support in reclaiming the land to help secure the State of Israel.”

    The Milwaukee Palestine Solidarity Coalition released a statement in opposition to the banquet and the 1200 new illegal settlement homes recently announced by Israel, saying, “settlements are the #1 roadblock to peace.”

    During the rally, some members of the coalition presented a proposal to a local business asking them to endorse the global movement to boycott, divest and sanction apartheid Israel. The coalition has had multiple victories over the summer as local businesses sign on to the boycott of Israeli products, as well as the cultural and academic boycott.

    “We can’t wait for the politicians to stop funding Israeli occupation. We need to start in our communities by encouraging our friends, organizations and local businesses to stand in solidarity with Palestinians by withdrawing their financial support for the occupation. We also have to confront the local supporters of apartheid, occupation and illegal settlements,” said coalition member Jacob Flom.

  • Minnesota Palestine solidarity activists target SodaStream

    Minneapolis, MN – On Sept. 19, activists with the Minnesota Coalition for Palestinian Rights will return to the downtown Minneapolis Target store, urging shoppers not to buy products from SodaStream. This will follow a successful Aug. 15 mobilization, where 30 people held signs, chanted and passed out informational flyers to hundreds of pedestrians.

    Sold at Minnesota-based Target stores, SodaStream is a company that manufactures home carbonation systems at a plant in the largest Israeli Jewish settlement on the West Bank. The construction of hundreds of settlements in the West Bank has been condemned by numerous human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, for violating international law and Palestinian human rights.

    “We met with a positive response from the hundreds of people walking on Nicollet Mall at rush hour,” said Meredith Aby of the Anti-War Committee. “Minnesotans don’t support a company that makes its profits from stolen Palestinian land and the system of Israeli apartheid.”

    The Minnesota campaign opened a few months ago with a letter initiated by Jewish Voices for Peace, which called on Target to discontinue sales of SodaStream products because the company is in violation of international law and in violation of Target’s ethical standards and Social Compliance Program.

    This is effort is part of an international campaign of boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it complies with international law and Palestinian rights. A truly global movement against Israeli Apartheid is rapidly emerging.

  • Chicago youth say: ‘No more racial profiling’

    Chicago, IL – 60 youth from the Arab American Action Network (AAAN), along with their supporters, held a rally and march here, Aug.15, to demand an end to racial profiling of Arabs and Muslims and and end to the criminalization of all communities of color. The youth who organized and led the protest reminded onlookers that harassment, surveillance and infiltration by the FBI and its local counterparts doesn’t just happen in New York City and California, but is widespread in Chicago.

    The key demands were: stop bullying and harassment of communities of color; end racist criminalization of Arabs, Muslims and all people of color; end the envestigation of the Midwest 23; and close National Security Loopholes in the federal ban on racial profiling.

    The AAAN’s Youth Organizing Program has been providing political education, leadership development and organizing training for high school and college youth for close to ten years and has been focusing on FBI repression for the past three. Farreh Qatanani, youth leader with the AAAN and co-emcee for the day, said, “The FBI oppresses not only Arabs and Muslims, but all communities of color.”

    After an early afternoon rally at Federal Plaza, the protesters chanted, “Out of our schools, out of our mosque! FBI go get lost!” while marching to the Chicago headquarters of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to protest another key part of the Department of Homeland Security’s program of criminalizing Mexicans, Central Americans, Latinos in general, Arabs and Muslims, as well as other immigrants of color. There, Lulu Martinez of the Dream 9, who ‘self deported’ to Mexico but recently returned, talked about her experiences and the federal policies of detentions and deportations that have devastated her community for years.

  • PFLP leader Leila Khaled in solidarity with protests in Turkey

    Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine:

    Comrade Leila Khaled, in Amed/Diyarbakir for the First Middle East Women’s Conference, offered the following statement of solidarity and encouragement to comrades in Turkey participating in the mass protests taking place in Taksim square:

    “On behalf of my people, the Palestinian people, we are always against fascism and oppression, against repression. We are the people living with injustice and the occupation of our land, the longest occupation in history, the Israeli Zionist occupation of Palestine. I call on you: You have to stay in the square, in Taksim, until the government accepts your demands. Don’t leave it. Keep there with your peaceful demonstration, your peaceful strike, sit-in. And I call upon women to join it on a wide scale everywhere, in the squares in different cities, not only in Taksim. Long live the people’s struggle for their rights!”

  • PFLP: Hawking’s stand is a model for the convergence of ethics, science and justice

    Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

    The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine commended world-famous British scientist Stephen Hawking for joining the academic boycott of Israel, refusing to attend a scientific conference in occupied Jerusalem in the presence of Israeli president Shimon Peres. The Front said that Hawking’s action is a model for the convergence of science, ethics, justice, morality and human values.

    The PFLP extended its thank and appreciation to the courageous voices in the world of physics and mathematics, who have reached great heights of scientific progress and genius. The Front compared his position to that of the developer of the theory of relativity, Albert Einstein, who also rejected Zionism and immigration to Palestine.

    The PFLP called upon the Palestinian people, academics, and universities to send their thanks and appreciation, and for other international scientists, academics and universities to emulate Hawking’s example, saluting all of the people around the world who stand for humanity, justice, and freedom for Palestine, rejecting the lies of the occupation and its leaders.

  • Congratulations to Palestinian prisoner hero Samer al-Issawi on his victory over the jailer

    The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine extends its congratulations to Samer al-Issawi on the victory of his free will over the occupation jailer on April 23. The PFLP expressed its salutes to the imprisoned struggler Samer al-Issawi, his family, and all of the prisoners inside the occupation jails, for his victory in exerting his will over the jailer, winning his release and return to his hometown in the city of Jerusalem, Palestine’s eternal capital.

    The Front said that this victory inspires pride, gratitude and thanks to the struggling hero Samer al-Issawi and all fighters for freedom, justice and democracy in the world who stand with the prisoners with great confidence that the will of the prisoners is stronger than the tyranny of the occupation and stands taller than the prison walls. The Front called on all to emulate the spirit of struggle and resistance exemplified by Samer al-Issawi and his fellow prisoners, as their struggle and will and sacrifice continues to defeat the occupation and lead the way in our struggle for freedom, return and self-determination.

    The Front emphasized the urgency for all Palestinian leaders and parties to learn lessons from this battle and from the prisoners’ movement and its deep individual and collective experiences to build a united national strategy to struggle for the liberation of the prisoners and the liberation of our people and our land.

  • Chicago commemorates International Palestinian Prisoners Day

    Chicago, IL – During the week of International Palestinian Prisoners Day, over 20 activists from the Palestine Solidarity Group, United States Palestinian Community Network (USPCN), Students for Justice in Palestine and other organizations braved the bitter cold to stage “Intifada Theater” at the Bean in Millennium Park, April 19.

    The performance included scenes that Palestinians know all too well – being detained for taking part in a peaceful protest, being harassed by Israeli soldiers on the way to school and being tortured by Israeli prison guards who threaten your family. And while the actors performed their parts, the chorus rang out – “Freedom to protest? Not for Palestinians! Freedom from racist harassment? Not for Palestinians! Freedom from arrest without charge? Not for Palestinians! Freedom from torture? Not for Palestinians!”

    Chicago’s action was one of dozens of worldwide protests for the over 4900 Palestinian political prisoners, including children and administrative detainees (jailed without charge or trial), who are held in Israeli jails.

    Amongst the most prominent of them to make international news, one is Samer Issawi, who has been on hunger strike for over 250 days, refusing to end it until he wins freedom without conditions. Another is Arafat Jaradat, tortured to death in an Israeli prison; and Maysara Abu Hamdiyeh, who died of cancer after being refused proper medical treatment by the Israeli prison service.

    The Israelis, with the support from the U.S. government, continue unabated their illegal policies of jailing Palestinians without charge or trial, jailing children in violation of all international laws and torturing prisoners regardless of their age or gender.

    But we have also seen the resistance of Palestinian prisoners to this repression, with waves of hunger strikes throughout the prisons, reminding many of the H Block Martyrs in the north of Ireland. We’ve seen Palestinians taking to the streets to protest the treatment of the men and women who resist the occupation of their land. And we’ve seen the protests by Palestinians and solidarity activists across the world – supporting the demands of freedom and justice for all Palestinian political prisoners, the end of Israeli occupation and colonization of Palestinian and Arab land, self-determination for the Palestinian people, and the Right of Return for all Palestinian refugees and their descendants.

    As we go to press, there is an initial agreement with the Israelis for Samer Issawi to remain in prison for eight months and then to be released to his hometown of al-Issawia in the East Jerusalem district. The worldwide protests for Samer Issawi have supported his refusal to be deported and to be returned to his homeland, a right shared by all Palestinians.

  • PFLP greets the prisoners, steadfast heroes of the struggle, on Palestinian Prisoners Day

    Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

    The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine sent greetings of pride and appreciation to all Palestinian prisoners in the jails of the occupation, men and women, children and elders, to the veteran long-time prisoners and our imprisoned leaders, at the forefront, the Front’s General Secretary, Comrade Ahmad Sa’adat, and brother leaders Marwan Barghouthi, Sheikh Hassan Yousef, and members of the Legislative Council.jihad-gefang

    The Front saluted the historic role of the prisoners’ movement in building and sustaining the Palestinian national liberation movement and its ongoing victories in upholding the prisoners’ will and steadfastness against the executioner. The prisoners’ struggle is one that transcends Palestinian political and geographical division and builds national unity based on the resistance of our people and their multilayered struggle to defeat the occupation, free the prisoners and achieve return, liberation, self-determination and our capital in Jerusalem.

    The Front said that the first duty in supporting the prisoners’ movement, their struggles, their families and honoring their sacrifices and those of the martyrs is to uphold the resistance and restore national unity, ending this national crisis and the twenty-year nightmare of negotiations, to struggle together to defeat the occupation, the settlements, the siege, killings, arrests and terror exerted by the occupation state against our people, our land and our rights.

    The Front called on Palestinian Prisoners Day, April 17, to be a landmark for the Palestinian movement to adopt a strategy and a unified national and political resistance to support the struggle of the prisoners’ movement against the occupier and its crimes. It also emphasized the need to provide a framework for the solidarity movement internationally to work to hold Israel accountable on the international level and to confront the occupation on the Arab level, including recognizing Palestinian prisoners as prisoners of war, prosecuting the occupation for violating their rights guaranteed in customary international law and the Geneva Conventions. The Front urged international organizations to act to defend the rights of our people and our prisoners as prisoners of war and fighters for freedom, independence and self-determination, and to hold the occupation and its leaders accountable.

    The Front said that the prisoners’ struggle is part of an alternative national strategy based on a program of resistance, national liberation, democracy, and restoring the status of the PLO as the sole legitimate representative through a new elected National Council representing our people inside and outside the homeland, and developing a unified national leadership. The Front emphasized the need to protect the prisoners’ rights during their imprisonment and after their liberation, as they are the vanguard of the Palestinian struggle for liberation and role models for generations to come.

    The Front called for the widest participation in actions and events on Palestinian Prisoners’ Day inside and outside Palestine. The battle of freedom of the prisoners is an integral part of the battle for freedom of our people, and action cannot be delayed.

  • Call-in day to demand Israel release jailed Palestinian-American boy

    New Orleans, LA – Palestine solidarity activists are urging national participation in a call-in day for a Palestinian-American boy from New Orleans who is being held in an Israeli jail. Eight Israeli soldiers arrested 14-year-old Mohammed Khalek at gunpoint in occupied Palestine early in the morning on April 5, accusing him of rock throwing. During the arrest his braces were broken by the soldiers; afterwards he was shackled for 12 hours. Human Rights Watch, Addameer and other human rights groups have condemned Israel’s treatment of Khalek.

    According to Defense for Children International, there are 236 Palestinian children in Israeli detention. Many children have been arrested during the recent protests in support of Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike.

    “The U.S. has deliberately ignored the abuses of Palestinians by Israel, as our politicians continue to send over $3 billion a year to support the illegal occupation. We are demanding our representatives take a stand now by supporting their own constituent, Mohammed Khalek. We will not allow our representatives to be silent as they send our tax dollars to imprison children who have been stripped of their land and their rights,” said Jacob Flom, member of Palestine Solidarity Committee, New Orleans.

    The Palestine Solidarity Committee is building support for Khalek, with a call in day on Monday April 15. (https://www.facebook.com/events/179667455520918/). They are asking people around the country to join this action and call the representatives listed below to demand they speak up for child prisoners locked up by Israel with U.S. money.

    Demands:
    — Release Mohammed Khalek!
    — End U.S. support for Israeli human right abuses, no more U.S. aid!
    –Allow child prisoners legal consul of their choice and family presence.

    Contact info:
    — U.S. State Department: 202-647-4000
    — U.S. Congressman Cedric Richmond (represents New Orleans)
    Phone: (202) 225-6636 or (504) 288-3777
    — US Senator Mary Landrieu (represents New Orleans)
    Phone: (225) 389-0395 or (202) 224-5824