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<h2><b>International Campaign in Support of Palestinian Political
Prisoners</b></h2><font size=2>By
<a href="http://palestinethinktank.com/author/yousef-abudayyeh/">Yousef
Abudayyeh</a> • Mar 24th, 2010 at 10:41 <br>
</font><font size=1>
<a href="http://palestinethinktank.com/2010/03/24/international-campaign-in-support-of-palestinian-political-prisoners/" eudora="autourl">
http://palestinethinktank.com/2010/03/24/international-campaign-in-support-of-palestinian-political-prisoners/<br>
<br>
</a></font><font size=3><b>The Free Palestine Alliance and Addameer are
calling for days of action during the week of April 11 – 17 in support of
Palestinian Political Prisoners.</b> <br><br>
(Arabic translation follows) April 17, 2010 marks the 34th anniversary of
Palestinian Political Prisoners Day. As this historic and important
day approaches, several Palestinian organizations and solidarity partners
feel it is a critical time, now more than ever, to shed light on the
unsung and sometimes forgotten heroes of the ongoing struggle to liberate
Palestine. There are a total of 7,300 Arab prisoners. Among
them are 33 women and 300 children. 400 are from Jerusalem and the
1948 occupied Palestinian areas, 745 from Gaza Strip, and 6,155 from the
West Bank. <br><br>
<b>Commemorate Palestinian Political Prisoners Day April 17, 2010</b>
<br><br>
We encourage all to organize local events to spread awareness on this
critical issue by holding workshops, teach-ins, film screenings and
various activities throughout the week.<br><br>
<i>On Saturday April 17, 2010, bring together community and allies to fly
kites in support of the thousands of Palestinian political
prisoners.<br><br>
</i>For more information visit:<br><br>
<a href="http://www.freepalestinianprisoners.com">
www.freepalestinianprisoners.com</a><br><br>
***********************************************************<br><br>
More on Prisoners' Day from PFLP's 2008 appeal:
<a href="http://www.pflp.ps/english/?q=editorial-palestinian-prisoners-national-and-inter">
http://www.pflp.ps/english/?q=editorial-palestinian-prisoners-national-and-inter</a>
<br><br>
Prisoners' Day, a day of respect, honor and support and solidarity for
Palestinian and Arab political prisoners imprisoned for their commitment
to their cause, their homeland and their people. Today, the Popular Front
for the Liberation of Palestine bows in salute to these brave prisoners –
men, women and children, from the newborn babies of women prisoners to
Said al-Atabah and his decades of imprisonment – who today number more
than 11,000, inside the torture cells, interrogation rooms and the
prisons of the occupation.<br><br>
These prisoners are over 11,000 hostages to the occupation forces whose
situation is exploited by the so-called "peace process," and as
the occupation forces attempt to barter concessions by negotiating small
"releases" according to criteria set by the occupation and
revocable at any time by the same occupier who abducted them, imprisoned
them, held a mockery of a trial for them, tortured them. Today, we
remember the martyrs of the prisoner movement, and the many injured. It
is worth noting that this year, as in many years past, Israel has carried
out massacres to prevent Palestinians from carrying out campaigns for
prisoners and against Israel's torture policies.<br><br>
Israel knows that these Palestinian and Arab prisoners are an integral
part of the Palestinian national movement. Among them are workers,
students, activists, teachers, of all ages. Among them are national
leaders – comrade General Secretary Ahmad Sa'adat, Marwan Barghouthi,
Abdelaziz Dweik, Hussam Khadr, Samir Kuntar. Israel engages in its policy
of mass imprisonment as a means of attempting to hold our people as a
whole hostage, and as an attempt to break our people and our cause by
subjecting them to massive detention and imprisonment, rounding up our
organizers, our leaders, our young people and our teachers, removing them
from society and holding them away. Yet, despite these attempts, the
prisoners are in fact central to and at the forefront of the Palestinian
national movement. Every day, they carry on the struggle against the
occupier on the front lines – inside his prisons, face-to-face. It is the
Palestinian and Arab political prisoners who pay the first price for our
struggle to stay alive. Despite Israel's best efforts, they are not
isolated from the struggle, and they are not isolated from their people.
They lead all of us as they stand in the front lines of struggle, inside
the jails, continuing to fight for their – and all of our –
freedom.<br><br>
On this Prisoners' Day, it is urgent that we call for the widest possible
campaign on a national and international level, in order to put the cause
of Palestinian prisoners where it belongs, not only in the forefront of
the Palestinian national movement but also the international solidarity
movement. Every day, our prisoners pay the price on the front line for
all of our struggle for freedom, and it is imperative that we take up our
responsibility to struggle for freedom for our prisoners.<br><br>
The rights that our prisoners have achieved only through their constant
struggle – the history of Palestinian political prisoners is a history of
resistance literature, hunger strikes, demonstrations, organizing and
constant refusal to submit – are being stripped away on a daily basis,
and further reduced. They are subject to torture in the interrogation
chambers, and subject to illegal occupation courts which make a mockery
of justice – that is, if they are tried at all; at present, one-half of
Palestinian prisoners have never even had a trial in one of these
illegitimate military courts. They are denied family visits in further
attempts to cut off Palestinian prisoners from their families and their
communities. At this time, it is urgent that we all stand with the
prisoners and draw the highest level of attention to the cause of freedom
for the prisoners, and shine a light on the torture and abuse of the
occupier.<br><br>
The prisoners represent all Palestinian trends in confrontation with the
occupation. It is the prisoners' movement that in many ways represents
the pinnacle of principled and clear national unity in practice, a
national unity that is a lesson and a clarion call to all of us. In honor
of their struggle and in recognition of its important, now is the time
and the opportunity to raise a unified national campaign to free the
prisoners – all of our prisoners, united in their confrontation with the
occupier and their struggle for liberation. It is an opportunity to
reflect the unity and the steadfastness of the prisoner movement in our
organizing to support them. This campaign should take place across all of
Palestine – in the occupied lands of 1948, the West Bank, and Gaza – just
as our prisoners in the Zionist jails come from all of
Palestine.<br><br>
In addition, this campaign will set the agenda for an international call
for prisoner support, rallying international forces and placing the issue
of our prisoners on the international agenda as a primary Palestinian
demand, and provide the support needed, on all levels, by the families of
the prisoners, due to the immediate effects suffered by these families,
with no conditions or discrimination. This campaign can be – and must be
– a unifying factor in the Palestinian national movement, just as our
prisoners themselves are such a unifying factor.<br><br>
Our Palestinian people in exile as well must be engaged in this campaign,
not only to provide support for the families of the prisoners and to
campaign for the freedom of their fellow Palestinians inside the Zionist
jails, but also to engage in providing support and struggling for the
Palestinian prisoners outside Palestine – in jails in Iraq, England, the
U.S., Europe and elsewhere. Palestinian political imprisonment does not
only take place inside Palestine, but wherever there is a Palestinian
national movement, engaged in the struggle, and facing repression, and
our people in exile and our communities can lend a clear and loud voice
to the campaigns for the freedom of these prisoners.<br><br>
The campaign to support the struggle of Palestinian political prisoners,
however, should not only be a Palestinian campaign. Instead, it should be
a fundamental part of solidarity work – not an obscure issue or a mere
corollary to occupation – but a central and consistent part of solidarity
work for Palestine, reflecting the front-line, central position of
Palestinian political prisoners within our national movement. In
addition, on an international level, this campaign can share common cause
with other movements in order to demand freedom for all of our political
prisoners, imprisoned around the world for their work in struggling for
liberation for their people. Furthermore, the solidarity movement with
Palestine can play a very important role in involving lawyers, legal
associations and other institutions in holding international tribunals on
torture and killings of Palestinian prisoners, and taking legal action to
pursue on an international level those Israeli officials responsible for
such crimes, and to hold human rights organizations accountable to live
up to their responsibilities in advocating for the rights of Palestinian
political prisoners. In addition, solidarity movements in various
countries can play a key role in supporting and calling for the freedom
of Palestinian political prisoners in their own countries, supporting the
Palestinian community in its struggle against repression and
imprisonment.<br><br>
Today, we express our solidarity with all political prisoners around the
world, take inspiration in their leadership and pledge to uphold our
national and international responsibility to struggle for their freedom
and continue to struggle, in their path of resistance, organization and
steadfastness, for the liberation of our land and our people.<br><br>
<br><br>
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