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<p><font size="-2"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.pymusa.com/holyland5">http://www.pymusa.com/holyland5</a></font></p>
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<h1 class="reader-title">Ten Years since the Holy Land Five</h1>
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<div class="reader-estimated-time">November 24, 2018<br>
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<p><strong><em>The following statement was co-authored
by the Palestinian Youth Movement, the daughters
of the Holy Land Five, and the Coalition for Civil
Freedoms on the 10th year anniversary of the Holy
Land Five’s unjust convictions. Below the
statement is our call to action. </em></strong></p>
<p>Ten years ago today, five Palestinian-Americans who
were pillars of their communities were convicted on
false charges of “providing material support for
terrorism.” They ran the largest Muslim charity in the
United States, the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and
Development (HLF). As George W. Bush waged the
domestic “War on Terror,” in December 2001, he
designated the HLF as a “terrorist” organization,
stating that the government would seize their assets
and close them down. The U.S. government acknowledged
that all financial support HLF sent to Palestine went
to charities that support widows and orphans living
under Israeli occupation, and were the same ones that
the U.S. government itself sent money to. Not a single
dollar was used for any violent activities, yet five
key members of the HLF—Shukri Abu Baker, Ghassan
Elashi, Mohammed El-Mezain, Mufid Abdulqader, and
Abdulrahman Odeh, known as the Holy Land Foundation 5
(HLF5)—were unjustly convicted in 2008.</p>
<p>The HLF trial is considered the largest “terrorism”
financing case in U.S. history, and yet prosecutors
did not argue that the charity or any of its officials
funded any violence. Instead, they told jurors that
the schools, hospitals, and social welfare programs
the charity sent money to were under Hamas’ control.
Since money is “fungible,” prosecutors argued that
those donations freed up other funds for Hamas to use
in violent attacks. The irony is that these same
Palestinian charities also received donations from the
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID),
which is funded by the U.S. government and the
International Red Cross.</p>
<p>After failing to convict them in the first trial, the
case was <a
href="https://theintercept.com/2018/08/05/holy-land-foundation-trial-palestine-israel/"><span>retried</span></a>.
It featured the testimony of an anonymous Israeli
intelligence agent whom the defense team was unable to
adequately question— the first time in legal history
that a court had allowed an expert witness to testify
under anonymity. An outfit run by notorious
Islamophobe, Steven Emerson, the Investigative Project
on Terrorism, supplied fabricated testimony central to
the criminalization and indictment of the HLF5. They
were given sentences of up to 65 years in prison, and
were put in Communication Management Units (CMUs),
often dubbed the “Gitmo North” due to the severity
and discriminatory nature of their conditions.</p>
<p>The closure of the HLF and the conviction of its five
most prominent members was meant to have a chilling
effect on the Muslim and Arab communities in this
country and to hinder their ability to mobilize around
social justice issues, such as Palestinian
self-determination. The case was one of the most
egregious attempts by the government to stretch the
definition of “material support for terrorism,” going
as far as vilifying legitimate charitable works. This
strategy is part of a long tradition of the U.S.
government using incarceration to criminalize black
and immigrant communities and to silence political
activism and dissent. </p>
<p>Today, we continue to honor the HLF5, to fight for
justice on their behalf, and on behalf of the other
political prisoners that languish in the U.S. prison
system as an attempt to intimidate and further
marginalize our communities. We affirm that the only
reason the HLF5 were targeted by the U.S. government
is because their mission was explicitly rooted in
community empowerment and worked to alleviate the
conditions caused by Israeli settler-colonialism in
Palestine. We stand by the HLF5, their families and
their communities, and salute their struggle in their
firm resistance against Zionist repression and
aggression in all its forms. We stand by their work
and will continue to build institutions that serve our
community as part of our larger commitment to the
Palestinian national liberation movement.</p>
<p><strong>#FreeTheHLF5 #10YearsTooLong #FreePalestine
#FreeAllPoliticalPrisoners</strong> </p>
<p><em>Endorsed by:</em></p>
<p>Jacksonville Palestine Solidarity Network</p>
<p>Jewish Voice for Peace - Los Angeles</p>
<p>National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP)</p>
<p>Palestine Solidarity Committee - Austin, Texas</p>
<p>Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network</p>
<p>Students for Justice in Palestine - Houston</p>
<p>Students for Justice in Palestine - West Region (SJP
West)</p>
<p>Texas Palestine Coalition</p>
<p>U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN)</p>
<p>Within our Lifetime - United for Palestine</p>
<p>_______________________________________</p>
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<h2 style="text-align: center; white-space: pre-wrap;"><strong>our Call to action </strong></h2>
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<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">A social media flood to #10YearsTooLong: Change your individual or group profile photo on social media to the photo included in this post, and include a link to this statement in the caption while spreading the hashtag #10YearsTooLong</p>
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<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Sample caption:</p>
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<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">This year marks 10 years since 5 integral members of the Palestinian community were convicted on trumped up charges. It has been #10yearsTooLong. We demand freedom for the HLF5 #freeTheHLF5 #freeAllPoliticalPrisoners</p>
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<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Photo campaign: Share a picture of yourself or your organization with a sign that shows support for the HLF 5</p>
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<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Organize a community education event: </p>
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<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Documentary </p>
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<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Part 1: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJJkaWVENTg&t=21s"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJJkaWVENTg&t=21s</span></a> </p>
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<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Part 2: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnNNfjD3hqc&t=515s"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnNNfjD3hqc&t=515s</span></a> </p>
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<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863.9977
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://freedomarchives.org/">https://freedomarchives.org/</a>
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