PFLP: 'No consensus government soon'

PFLP: 'No consensus government soon'

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine does not expect a new unity government to be formed any time soon, a PFLP politburo member said Sunday.Rabah Muhanna told Ma'an: “A few people think that the consensus government is about to be formed, but the truth is there will be no consensus government soon."

His comments came a day after a committee appointed by the Palestine Liberation Organization Executive Commitee began consulting Palestinian factions on forming a new national unity government.

The PLO gave the committee a time period of a week, although one of its members told Ma'an on Saturday that more time will probably be necessary.

Muhanna said that the new government must keep in line with previous agreements and work toward the unity of Palestinian institutions, the reconstruction of Gaza, and preparations for presidential and legislative elections as soon as possible.

Elections have not been held in the occupied Palestinian territories since 2006.

Muhanna added that the Palestinian Legislative Council -- which has not convened since 2007 -- should be reactivated, along with the central election commission and the committee for reconciliation. He said these bodies must play a larger role in the government, in keeping with the 2012 Cairo agreement between Fatah and Hamas.

The dissolution of the current government was announced earlier this month at an annual Fatah council meeting.

Formed last June, it has repeatedly failed to overcome divisive issues between the two rival parties.

While there had been talk of a government reshuffle for months, it is expected that the new government will have a completely different structure, with factional leaders replacing independent technocrats.

The PLO-appointed committee is including Hamas and Islamic Jihad in discussions, although a senior official told Ma'an on Saturday that if negotiations with Hamas fail, the government might be formed without the movement.

Israeli forces break into homes of synagogue attack suspects

Israeli forces break into homes of synagogue attack suspects

JERUSALEM (Ma’an) – Israeli forces on Sunday broke into the homes of two Palestinians from occupied East Jerusalem who were shot dead after they attacked Israelis worshiping in a synagogue in November 2014.Family of Ghassan and Udayy Abu Jamal told Ma’an that Israeli forces took photos of the interior and exterior of their homes, as well as the roads that lead to them in the Jabal al-Mukabbir neighborhood, without giving explanation.

The forces also raided the home of Ghassan’s father and brothers, and questioned family members of both Ghassan and Udayy Abu Jamal before taking their photos, including of the families' children.

Israeli police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld had no information on Sunday's incident.Gassan, 31, and his cousin Udayy, 22 killed four rabbis and an Israeli police officer in the Jerusalem synagogue before being shot dead by police last fall.

Sunday's incident comes as Israel has taken several retaliatory measures towards the two men's families since the attack, ordering the demolition of their homes, ordering Ghassan's wife to move to the West Bank, and revoking social benefits from their children, including medical coverage.

Among other measures of intimidation, Israel has used punitive house demolitions for years and the policy was halted in 2005 after the Israeli army said they had no proven deterrent value and instead were likely to encourage violence.

Despite this Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu continued using the policy, ordering the demolition of homes of those responsible for car attacks on Israelis earlier this year in an effort to deter future attacks.

Human rights watchdogs and the international community have condemned the practice as collective punishment against the families of perpetrators.

AFP contributed to this report.

Journalism Student, Activist And Folk Dancer, Lina Khattab, Released

Journalism Student, Activist And Folk Dancer, Lina Khattab, Released

Friday June 12, 2015 04:10 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News 
Israel released, Thursday, journalist, activist and folk dancer Lina Khattab, after holding her captive for six months. Her family, and hundreds of Palestinians, welcomed her at the Jabara roadblock, south of the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem.

The family, friends and residents from different parts of the country, gathered to welcome her, and waited for very long hours in the son, until they finally managed to greet, and welcome her.
Israeli soldiers kidnapped Lina Khattab, a Journalism student at Birzeit University near Ramallah, on December 13, 2014, during a nonviolent protest organized by students marking the 47th anniversary of the establishment of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine(PFLP), and in solidarity with the Palestinian Political Prisoners.
On Monday, January 16, the Ofer Israeli military court sentenced her to six-month imprisonment, and 6000 New Israeli Shekels fine.
She faced very difficult conditions, mistreatment and violations after her arrest and during her interrogation.
A few days before her abduction, Khattab performed along with her El-Founoun Palestinian Popular Dance Troupe in a massive public event.

PFLP: French initiative dangerous, undesirable

PFLP: French initiative dangerous, undesirable

Deputy Secretary General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Abu Ahmad Fuad, expressed on Thursday his firm rebuff of the French peace initiative, dubbing it a barefaced infringement of Palestinians’ inalienable rights.

Abu Ahmad Fuad said in a press statement the French peace initiative, which was welcomed by the Palestinian Authority, is just unacceptable and stands in sharp contrast to the Palestinian national constants, including the right of return and the establishment of a Palestinian independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.

He branded the French-brokered initiative "dangerous", urging the Palestinian resistance factions to officially voice their rejection of the proposal.

Jailed PFLP leader moved to Nafha prison

Jailed PFLP leader moved to Nafha prison
JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Ahmad Saadat, the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was moved to Nafta jail on Wednesday by Israeli authorities, a prisoner rights group said.The leader, who is serving a 30-year sentence, was previously imprisoned in Gilboa jail, the Palestinian Prisoner's Society said.A lawyer from the group said that Palestinian detainees in Gilboa will refuse their evening meals to protest the move.
Saadat has been in Israeli custody since March 2006, when Israeli forces detained him from a Palestinian Authority jail in Jericho and put him on trial for allegedly masterminding the assassination of Israeli Minister of Tourism Rehavam Zeevi in 2001.He was charged in 2008 for heading an "illegal terrorist organization."

FIRST TIME TO SEE HER FAMILY SINCE HER ABDUCTION, JARRAR HUGS HER DAUGHTERS IN COURT

FIRST TIME TO SEE HER FAMILY SINCE HER ABDUCTION, JARRAR HUGS HER DAUGHTERS IN COURT

Israeli soldiers were surrounding Jarrar when her daughters, Yaffa and Suha, tried to approach her in court, and watched them hug their mother shortly before asking them to step away.

The soldiers initially tried to prevent them from approaching, or even talk to her, in the Ofer military court, west of Ramallah.

They even threatened to place Jarrar in solitary confinement should her daughters approach her, or talk to her, but after a few minutes of talking with the daughters and their mother’s lawyer, the soldiers allowed them to approach her.

Yaffa and Suha were telling their mother how proud they are of her, her steadfastness and strong determination, despite her imprisonment and suffering.

The court session only lasted a few minutes; the defense told the court that the whole case against Jarrar is purely political.

“The charges are ridiculous, for political activities in the open, activities that did not violate any law,” the lawyer told Al-Jazeera correspondent Elias Karram, “The arrest of Jarrar is illegal, and is not based on any legal foundations.”

Following a few minutes of deliberation, the court decided to delay the hearing until further notice, as the defense attorney demanded the Israeli prosecution to present its case and the alleged “proofs,” and said it cannot perform its duties and defend the imprisoned legislator if the prosecution does even present a clear case, instead of allegations, against the defendant.

The army kidnapped the 52-year-old legislator, senior political leader of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and a democratically elected legislator, on April 2, 2015. http://www.imemc.org/article/71248

On April 5, an Israeli military court held a hearing to discuss the file of the detained leftist Legislator, and sentenced her to six months under arbitrary Administrative Detention orders, without charges. http://www.imemc.org/article/71142

On April 15, the military prosecutor filed an indictment of twelve charges against the feminist leader, including “membership with an illegal organization,” in addition to “holding and participating in protests in solidarity with political prisoners.” http://www.imemc.org/article/71248

“Only our mothers supported us” — former Palestinian prisoner

“Only our mothers supported us” — former Palestinian prisoner

 


Illustration by Mohammed Saba’aneh for The Electronic Intifada.

Rula Abu Duhou, a 46-year-old lecturer at the Institute of Women’s Studies at Birzeit University in the occupied West Bank, describes the nine years she spent in Israeli prison as the “the most important years” of her life.

Then a member of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Abu Duhou was initially imprisoned and sentenced to 25 years by a military court for allegedly being a member of an armed cell and an illegal organization.

She recounts a long history of Palestinian women imprisoned by Israel who launch struggles against Israeli prison authorities. Abu Duhou, who was locked up in 1988, refers to herself and her fellow prisoners at the time as “the generation of the first intifada,” the popular uprising that spanned from 1987 till 1994.

“I was only 19 years old,” she told The Electronic Intifada. “I was in my third year in university.”

At the time, dozens of women were in Israeli lockup.
“Major achievement”

Abu Duhou said that female Palestinian political prisoners have a long history of struggles. “Our first struggle was to be separated from Israeli common law prisoners,” she said. “We always launched struggles to be separated [from them] and recognized as political prisoners.”

“We refused to go out of our cells, to eat with common law prisoners [and] to deal with the prison authorities,” Abu Duhou said. “We were treated differently [from other male political prisoners] because we didn’t have prison representatives or a committee to deal with the prison authorities.”

In 1988, after three months of refusing to do mandatory prison activities and cooperate with prison officers, Abu Duhou’s group of prisoners was transferred to Hasharon, where all Palestinian female prisoners are held till today. “We were like any other Palestinian political prisoner after that,” she said. “That was our first major achievement.”

In 1993, Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization concluded the Oslo accords, which created the Palestinian Authority and stipulated that prisoners should be released. Yet, Abu Duhou said that “the prisoners released were mostly from Fatah [and] didn’t include those who were sick, the ones with long sentences or females.”

“During holidays, they used to release prisoners as a ‘goodwill gesture,’” she said. “But even then, the female prisoners were not released.”
“Outraged”

In response to their continued detention, the women in Israeli jails launched a “collective struggle,” according to Abu Duhou. “Our mothers formed a committee on our behalf to serve as our eyes and ears outside the prison and advocate for our freedom,” she added.

The committee began to lobby Palestinian leaders, including Yasser Arafat. “Our mothers used to go protest in front of Arafat’s headquarters and send letters to international groups” such as Amnesty International, Abu Duhou said. “We were outraged because the leaders came back from exile and many of the soldiers were left in prison,” she added.

When leaders of the newly-formed Palestinian Authority came to visit, the female prisoners refused to meet them. “And then we escalated our struggle — more hunger strikes, more sit-ins in the prison, more leafleting and more harsh statements and letters,” Abu Duhou said.

In 1996, as the Palestinian leadership geared up for the first legislative elections, the women learned that many of the female prisoners would be freed by Israel. “We found out that five of us were going to stay behind bars, and I was one of them,” she said.
“Release us all”

“We took a vote and decided that we would all be released or none of us would leave,” she said, explaining that there were around forty female prisoners at the time. “It was a very difficult decision because everyone had lives outside of prison. Some of us had families, some were mothers, and we all needed to go home,” Abu Duhou recalled.

One day, when Israeli prison authorities attempted to forcibly release many of the women, the prisoners locked themselves in two cells and blocked Israeli guards from entering. “They turned on the alarm system and it was very loud,” she said.

“They also brought tear gas. We told them they would kill the prisoners who were pregnant,” said Abu Duhou, explaining that the guards backed down.

A few days later, 16 months after they first learned that five women were supposed to remain in prison, they were told that they were being released. “They put us in a bus to drop us off at the Muqataa [Palestinian Authority headquarters] in Ramallah,” she said. “We were dropped off at two o’clock in the morning.”

“It was the first time in history that there were no Palestinian women in prison,” she said. “It was our collective freedom and the result of our collective struggle.”

Abu Duhou, who was about to turn 28 when she was released, reflects on her time in prison as the most formative years of her life. “These nine years made me who I am now,” she said. “I am very proud of our struggle. This experience made me stronger.”

“In general, the experience of Palestinian political prisoners is very unique when compared to others throughout history,” she said. “And for women, we never had support from anyone other than our mothers — not the political leaders, not the [Palestinian] Authority.”

The Ramallah-based prisoner advocacy group Addameer estimates that at least 5,820 Palestinians are currently held by Israel. At least 22 Palestinian women are among them.

Khalida Jarrar, a PFLP lawmaker in the Palestinian Legislative Council, was arrested in April. She has been hit with a dozen charges related to her prisoner advocacy work and political speech. Arrested by Israeli occupation forces in December, Malak al-Khatib, a 14-year-old girl, was accused of throwing stones at Israeli soldiers and carrying a knife.

She was sentenced by an Israeli military court to two months in prisons and her parents were fined 6,000 Israeli shekels ($1,543). Al-Khatib was released in February.

Earlier this month, Israeli prison authorities put five female prisoners held in Hasharon in solitary confinement, the Ma’an News Agency reported at the time. “The five prisoners had recently been banned from receiving visits for a period of one month after they raised a Palestinian flag in the prison yard,” the report stated.

On 8 March, International Women’s Day, Addameer condemned Israel’s practice of transferring Palestinian women from the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip into prisons inside present-day Israel, in violation of international law.

In addition to harsh conditions, torture and psychological abuse, Addameer decries the women’s “ill treatment at the hands of Israeli forces, including gender-based violence, physical and verbal assault, and degrading strip searches used as a punitive measure.”

Though hunger strikes and prisoner solidarity campaigns have gained increased attention in recent years, Israel still targets for arrest influential political leaders, community figures, academics and activists.

According to Abu Duhou, the Palestinian Authority is a barrier to justice for political prisoners. Referring to the small allowances that the PA gives to prisoners, she said: “The Palestinian Authority just pays for the prisoners, allowing Israel to jail Palestinians for free. Other than that, they are doing nothing.”