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<h1 class="reader-title">The international community cannot let
the Israeli apartheid regime criminalize human rights work</h1>
November 23, 2021</div>
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<p>Editor’s Note: The following statement was released by
participants on the 2016 U.S. Prison, Labor and Academic
Delegation to Palestine. <em>Mondoweiss</em> occasionally
publishes press releases and statements from
organizations in an effort to draw attention to
overlooked issues.</p>
<p>The U.S. Prison, Labor and Academic Delegation to
Palestine (2016) joins with organizations and
individuals around the world to express our strongest
solidarity with the six Palestinian human rights
organizations that were falsely designated “terrorist
institutions” by the Israeli government on October 19,
2021. On November 7, 2021 the government issued a
follow-up order declaring the organizations “illegal,”
opening the way for their offices to be closed and the
possible administrative detention of their staff. </p>
<p>These six organizations –<a
href="https://www.addameer.org/">Addameer Prisoner
Support and Human Rights Association</a>, <a
href="https://www.alhaq.org/">Al-Haq</a>, the <a
href="https://www.bisan.org/">Bisan Centre for
Research and Development</a>, <a
href="https://www.dci-palestine.org/">Defense for
Children International – Palestine</a>, the <a
href="http://uawc-pal.org/index.php?&lang=en">Union
of Agricultural Work Committees</a>, and the <a
href="http://upwc.org.ps/?lang=en">Union of
Palestinian Women’s Committees</a> – all welcomed us
to Palestine in 2016. They enabled us to hear stories
directly from Palestinians about the impact of military
and settler violence, extra-judicial murder, mass
imprisonment, land confiscation, house demolitions,
persecution of women, restrictions to water access, lack
of worker rights, and the systems of comprehensive
surveillance and control that envelop Palestinian
lives. </p>
<p>We also learned about the persistent, steadfast work
that these organizations undertake on a daily basis to
defend against constant violations of the most basic
human rights. It is this courageous work that the
Israeli government wants to silence by demonizing them
as terrorist organizations. We in the international
community cannot let the Israeli apartheid regime shut
down, isolate and criminalize their critical human
rights work!</p>
<p>Our delegation was the first from the U.S. to focus
specifically on political imprisonment and solidarity
between Palestinian and U.S. prisoners. Convened by Dr.
Rabab Abdulhadi, a professor at San Francisco State
University, the delegation included former U.S.-held
political prisoners, Black Panthers, prison
abolitionists, and labor activists. We were already very
familiar with the ways in which the U.S. has
criminalized political activists and Black, Brown and
Indigenous communities in order to repress resistance
and dissent. Our visit to Palestine strengthened our
understanding of how the U.S. and Israel have
collaborated over decades to develop colonial carceral
systems which function in similar ways.</p>
<p>When we witnessed a 16-year-old Palestinian boy being
tried in Israeli military court as an adult and facing
two life sentences, we thought about the thousands of
Black and Brown youth across the U.S. who are tried and
convicted as adults and are serving extreme sentences.
When we heard from mothers, wives and sisters about the
arduous challenge of visiting their loved ones in
prison, traveling for 10-15 hours each way, we thought
of the countless women in the U.S. who make long,
expensive trips to their family members on a regular
basis. When we saw the daily arduous realities of
crossing the Apartheid wall and multiple checkpoints to
get to work, schools and hospitals, we thought of the
hardship of working families in the U.S. who struggle
daily to make ends meet. When we heard about olive trees
being burned and settlers taking over farmers’ lands, we
recalled the history of farmworker organizing and
indigenous peoples struggling to defend their lands in
the U.S. We understood the crucial importance of the
human rights organizations that insist on defending
Palestinians despite the risks they themselves face. </p>
<p>In a recent <a
href="https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2021-11-06/israel-human-rights-palestine-groups-designation-terrorism">L.A.
Times op-ed</a>, two members of Addameer Prisoner
Support and Human Rights Association described some of
their recent work. “We visited hunger strikers
protesting their arbitrary detention in hospital beds in
the Ramleh prison clinic and submitted appeals to United
Nations bodies to intervene. We have called on the
International Criminal Court to investigate Israeli war
crimes, and in Israeli military and civil courts, we
have defended Palestinian parliamentarians, students,
children, journalists, feminists, human rights
defenders, academics and thousands of everyday people
who are arbitrarily arrested every year. “ Addameer
challenged organizations in the U.S. “Imagine if the
nonprofits providing services to the most vulnerable
among you were being outlawed and their staff
punished.” </p>
<p>Those of us working in community organizations,
universities and labor unions in the U.S. are not
currently being outlawed in the same manner as the human
rights organizations in Palestine. Over the past
several years we have seen escalated campaigns targeting
those who act and teach in solidarity with Palestine and
organize their communities against racism and
oppression. Clearly, the threat against Palestinian
human rights organizations has global implications for
those of us who fight for abolition and social justice. </p>
<p>We stand with the six criminalized organizations and
demand that Israel rescind the terrorist designations
immediately. We demand that the US government: </p>
<ol>
<li>Affirm that the Biden administration’s commitment to
human rights has universal applicability;</li>
<li>Issue a public statement that rejects the Israeli
government’s false accusations levied against
Palestinian civil society organizations;</li>
<li>Publicly condemn and rebuke Israel for this
authoritarian action, and call on Israeli authorities
to immediately reverse their decision and end all
efforts aimed at delegitimizing and criminalizing
Palestinian human rights defenders;</li>
<li>Support Palestinians seeking the protection and
promotion of fundamental human rights, justice and
accountability, including at the International
Criminal Court.</li>
<li>Cut all U.S. funding to Israel</li>
</ol>
<p><strong>In Joint Struggle,</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Rabab Abdulhadi</strong>, Professor and
Director of the Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and
Diasporas Studies, San Francisco State University*,
California</li>
<li><strong>Diana Block</strong>, author and activist,
California Coalition for Women Prisoners*, San
Francisco, California</li>
<li><strong>Susan Chen</strong>, counselor, faculty
member California Faculty Association – San Francisco
State University*, California</li>
<li><strong>Dennis Childs</strong>, author and
professor, University of California*, San Diego</li>
<li><strong>Susie Day</strong>, writer, Monthly Review
Press*, New York City, New York</li>
<li><strong>Emory Douglas</strong>, Revolutionary Artist
and Minister of Culture, Black Panther Party,
1967-1982</li>
<li><strong>Diane Fujino</strong>, author and professor,
University of California*, Santa Barbara</li>
<li><strong>Alborz Ghandehari,</strong> former member of
UAW 2865 BDS Caucus* assistant professor, University
of Utah*</li>
<li><strong>Anna Henry</strong>, activist and member,
California Coalition for Women Prisoners*, San
Francisco </li>
<li><strong>Rachel Herzing,</strong> Community Advisor
to Center for Political Education</li>
<li><strong>Hank Jones</strong>, activist, former
US-Held political prisoner and member, Black Panther
Party, Los Angeles, California</li>
<li><strong>Manuel la Fontaine</strong>, former US-held
prisoner and member, All of Us or None*, San
Francisco, California </li>
<li><strong>Claude Marks</strong>, Former US-held
political prisoner, Freedom Archives*, San Francisco,
California</li>
<li><strong>Nathaniel Moore</strong>, archivist, Freedom
Archives*, San Francisco, California</li>
<li><strong>Isaac Ontiveros</strong>, activist, Oakland,
California</li>
<li><strong>Michael Ritter</strong>, counselor faculty
(retired) ; (former) CSU academic senator, and CFA
Board, San Francisco State University,* California</li>
<li><strong>Jaime Veve</strong>, Transport Workers
Union, local 100NYC(retired).</li>
<li><strong>Laura Whitehorn</strong>, Former US-held
political prisoner, New York City, New York</li>
</ul>
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