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<div class="header reader-header" style="display: block;"> <font
size="-2"><a class="domain reader-domain"
href="http://samidoun.net/2018/06/pa-security-forces-violently-attack-demonstration-to-end-sanctions-on-gaza/">http://samidoun.net/2018/06/pa-security-forces-violently-attack-demonstration-to-end-sanctions-on-gaza/</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">PA security forces violently attack
demonstration to end sanctions on Gaza</h1>
June 14, 2018</div>
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<p>PA security forces <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/tamara-nassar/palestinian-authority-violently-suppresses-west-bank-protests">attacked
Palestinian protesters marching in Ramallah</a> on
Wednesday night, 13 June, as they demanded an<a
href="http://samidoun.net/2018/06/growing-movement-in-occupied-west-bank-demands-end-to-pa-sanctions-on-gaza-complicity-in-siege/">
end to the PA’s sanctions imposed on Gaza</a>. The
Ramallah Palestinian Authority under Mahmoud Abbas has
imposed a series of sanctions on Palestinians in Gaza,
including cuts to PA public employees’ salaries, delays
of medical transfers, restrictions on remittances and
refusal to pay electricity bills. These sanctions have
worked in tandem with the siege on Gaza imposed by
Israel with the cooperation and complicity of Arab
regimes, including Egypt, as well as the United States
and the European Union.</p>
<p>Palestinians launched their campaign to end the
sanctions and stand together with their fellow
Palestinians in Gaza with a march of over 1500 in
Ramallah on 10 June, particularly after over 130
Palestinians in Gaza were killed by Israeli occupation
forces as they participated in the <a
href="http://samidoun.net/2018/04/new-yorkers-protest-gaza-massacre-support-great-return-march/">Great
Return March</a>.</p>
<p>The <a
href="http://samidoun.net/2018/05/massacre-in-gaza-take-action-join-the-protests-and-march-for-return/">Great
Return March</a> is an ongoing popular demonstration
demanding Palestinian refugees’ right to return, denied
them for over 70 years, and an end to the siege on Gaza.
These popular protests have been met with extreme
violence and brutality by Israeli forces, who have
killed children, paramedics and journalists as they
covered the peaceful demonstrations. Amid these
struggles in Gaza and the devastating Israeli siege, PA
sanctions have operated to intensify poverty,
unemployment and lack of basic services such as
electricity.</p>
<p>In response to Palestinians’ expressions of support and
unity with their sisters and brothers in Gaza, PA
security forces unleashed tear gas and sound grenades on
demonstrators in Ramallah’s city center on Wednesday
evening. The Wednesday protest followed one on Sunday
night in Manara Square and several during the day
Tuesday in Abu Dis and Ramallah. Protesters also
gathered in <a
href="http://samidoun.net/2018/06/growing-movement-in-occupied-west-bank-demands-end-to-pa-sanctions-on-gaza-complicity-in-siege/">Dheisheh
refugee camp</a> near Bethlehem and Nablus’ Martyrs
Square.</p>
<p>Earlier, PA president Abbas’ adviser for local affairs
had ordered the prohibition of protests before or during
the Eid holiday, under the pretext that demonstrations
would interfere with Eid shopping. On the contrary,
however, while the demonstrations mobilized crowds in
the street, only the actions of the PA security in
filling the air with tear gas and flash bangs made the
area unsafe for people.</p>
<p>Prior to the demonstration, which drew hundreds to
protest under the slogan “Lift the Sanctions!”
organizers and journalists reported PA security forces
deploying throughout the Ramallah city center as well as
setting up checkpoints to block people traveling from
elsewhere to join the demonstration. As the march grew,
participants reported and widely shared on social media
through livestreams and tweets that undercover PA
security forces were attacking people inside the
demonstration and that PA security were using electric
batons against demonstrators and confiscating their
mobile phones.</p>
<p>Journalists were also attacked, prevented from filming
and their cameras confiscated by PA forces. Among those
detained reportedly were American and Turkish
journalists. Following the attack, the <a
href="http://www.maannews.net/Content.aspx?id=952256">Palestinian
Journalists’ Syndicate</a> denounced the attack and
said it would boycott news reports from the security
services and government until those responsible were
held accountable.</p>
<p>There were over 40 people detained by PA security,
including the president of the Bir Zeit student council.
In addition, Palestinian lawyer Mohammed Karajeh said
that the police confiscated the identity cards of 10
people taken for hospital treatment, requring them to
come to the police to receive their identity cards back.
Palestinian activist Rana Nazzal reported on Twitter
that PA security continue to set up checkpoints and
pursue demonstrators.</p>
<p>It should be noted that PA security forces are <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/tamara-nassar/palestinian-authority-violently-suppresses-west-bank-protests">trained
and supported by the United States as well as Canada
and the European Union</a>. In addition, PA security
forces are trained by all of these countries because
they are institutionally engaged in “security
coordination” with the Israeli occupation. PA President
Abbas has even <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/why-mahmoud-abbas-boasting-jailing-palestines-youth">boasted
of the utility</a> of PA security coordination with
Israel in attacking the Palestinian resistance.</p>
<p>Various Palestinian organizations <a
href="http://www.wattan.tv/ar/news/255862.html">denounced
the attacks</a>, including the Independent Commission
on Human Rights, which called for full accountability
for those responsible for suppressing the demonstration
and infiltrating in civilian clothes. In addition, the
ICHR emphasized the original goal of the demonstration –
ending the sanctions on Gaza and paying the public
workers denied their salaries. The <a
href="https://twitter.com/qudsn/status/1007169777746497536">Palestinian
Bar Association</a> also condemned the attack on the
protesters and called for the lifting of sanctions on
Gaza.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.wattan.tv/ar/news/255848.html">Popular
Front for the Liberation of Palestine said</a> that
“all those involved in the decision to carry out and
incite attacks on the demonstrators must be held
accountable,” emphasizing the need to continue the
popular movement to reject the sanctions on Gaza.</p>
<p>**</p>
<p><strong>Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity
Network expresses its support and solidarity with the
rising movement against the sanctions on Gaza and
reiterates its call to end Palestinian Authority
security coordination with the Israeli occupation. The
attack on the demonstration in Ramallah only shows
once more the violence of security coordination by the
Palestinian Authority against the Palestinian people,
as those tear gas canisters and batons are never
turned on the Israeli settlers who come to confiscate
land and burn trees nor on the Israeli soldiers who
nightly invade to seize, imprison or kill Palestinian
children, youth and adults.</strong></p>
<p><strong>The PA sanctions on Gaza cannot be detached
from security coordination, as they operate hand in
hand with the Israeli siege that has been
systematically targeting Palestinian existence in Gaza
for over 11 years. In addition, the PA sanctions come
hand in hand with the role of the United States,
Canada, the European Union and Arab reactionary
regimes in the area in bolstering the siege on Gaza
rather than supporting people struggling for basic
rights and freedom. </strong></p>
<p><strong>We urge all supporters of Palestine and the
Palestinian prisoners to join in this movement in
their own international context as part of the
campaign to support the Great Return March and break
the siege on Gaza.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Organize and join protests at PA missions and
embassies in your area. One <a
href="http://samidoun.net/2018/06/17-june-london-end-palestinian-authority-sanctions-on-the-gaza-strip/">protest
is scheduled for London</a> on 17 June, and more are
being organized in global cities to demand an end to
the sanctions on Gaza. Send your protests and actions
to <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:samidoun@samidoun.net">samidoun@samidoun.net</a> or <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/SamidounPrisonerSolidarity/">contact
us on Facebook</a>.</strong></p>
<p>**</p>
<p>One of the most notorious <a
href="http://samidoun.net/2017/03/eleventh-anniversary-of-israeli-attack-on-jericho-prison-from-ahmad-saadat-to-basil-al-araj/">cases
of PA security</a> coordination is that of <a
href="http://samidoun.net/2017/03/mass-funeral-for-basil-al-araj-today-in-palestine-protests-in-solidarity-in-new-york-city-elsewhere/">Basil
al-Araj</a>, the Palestinian youth organizer
assassinated by the Israeli occupation forces on 6 March
2017 in el-Bireh. Al-Araj and his comrades were
previously arrested by the PA and held for a lengthy
period without charge, going on hunger strike to demand
their release. During this time, PA officials <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/why-mahmoud-abbas-boasting-jailing-palestines-youth">bragged
about capturing them</a> as a reflection of their
value to the security of the Israeli occupation,
highlighting them and providing information to the
Israeli occupation about their alleged actions and
plans.</p>
<p>Following their release, al-Araj was assassinated while
his comrades were imprisoned without charge or trial
under Israeli administrative detention. The PA attempted
to <a
href="http://samidoun.net/2017/10/imprisoned-comrades-of-basil-al-araj-to-be-on-trial-in-pa-court-again-on-thursday/">continue
pursuing judicial cases against them</a> for some
months thereafter until public protest forced the cases
to end. Demonstrators who called for an end to security
coordination with the Israeli occupation after al-Araj’s
assassination were also <a
href="http://samidoun.net/2017/03/protesters-attacked-in-ramallah-by-pa-forces-as-arab-and-international-cities-demonstrate-for-basil-al-araj/">violently
suppressed by PA forces</a>. Al-Araj’s father and
other family members have participated in the ongoing
demonstrations to lift the sanctions.</p>
<p>Another infamous instance of PA security coordination
with the Israeli occupation – as well as the role of the
United States and the United Kingdom – was the <a
href="http://samidoun.net/2016/03/tenth-anniversary-of-the-attack-on-jericho-prison-and-the-kidnapping-of-ahmad-saadat-by-israeli-occupation/">imprisonment
of Ahmad Sa’adat</a> and his comrades. Sa’adat, the
General Secretary of the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine, and four of his comrades – Ahed
Abu Ghoulmeh, Majdi Rimawi, Hamdi Qur’an and Basil
al-Asmar – were seized by PA security forces in 2001 and
2002. These arrests came after the PFLP’s military wing
assassinated notoriously right-wing, racist Israeli
Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi, known for his advocacy
of the “transfer” – ie, the complete ethnic cleansing –
of all Palestinians from occupied Palestine. (Since his
death, he has also become notorious for his history of <a
href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-tv-program-rips-image-of-idf-general-zeevi-to-shreds-1.5433503">sexual
assault and corruption</a>.) This action came in
response to the Israeli assassination of <a
href="http://abualimustafa.net/">Abu Ali Mustafa</a> –
then the PFLP’s general secretary – with a US-made
helicopter-fired missile in his Ramallah office in
August 2001.</p>
<p>The arrests of Sa’adat and his comrades were carried
out at the behest of Israel and its international allies
and, in the so-called Jericho deal, they were
transferred to the PA’s Jericho prison and held there
under U.S. and British guard. During the 2006
Palestinian Legislative Council elections, these PA
political prisoners became a point of shame in the
elections. In March 2006, only days before the
swearing-in of the newly elected PA officials, Israeli
occupation forces <a
href="http://samidoun.net/2018/03/on-the-12th-anniversary-of-the-attack-on-jericho-prison-resistance-continues-until-liberation/">attacked
the Jericho prison</a> and seized Sa’adat and his
comrades after U.S. and British guards cleared their
path. Today, all five – and Fuad Shobaki – are serving
lengthy sentences in Israeli jails, taken directly from
a PA prison.</p>
<p><strong>Today, the sanctions on Gaza operate as part of
one system with the Israeli siege and the
international imperialist powers and reactionary Arab
regimes that enable, support and strengthen it. They
are a form of political pressure on the PA’s rival
parties, but more than that, they function as a
cohesive part of one system with the Israeli
occupation – another instance of security coordination
at the expense of the Palestinian people. </strong></p>
<p><strong>Hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza rely on
the salaries of these public workers whose income has
been cut, especially when over 50 percent of the
population already lives in poverty and unemployment
has skyrocketed. The demand to end the PA sanctions on
Gaza is part and parcel of the campaign to end the
siege on Gaza and hold all those <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/gaza-hospitals-shut-down-deadly-siege-tightens">responsible
for the deadly siege</a> accountable. Lift the
sanctions now! </strong></p>
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Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863.9977
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