Free Ahed Tamimi, Nariman Tamimi and all political prisoners! End the Zionist occupation and military operations in Palestinian lands!

We, members of the Commission 3 of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle, vehemently condemn the illegal arrest, torture and continuing detention of Ahed Tamimi and Nariman Tamimi, as we call for their immediate release and the release of all Palestinian political prisoners.

 

Since December 19, 2017, 16-year old Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi has been detained in Israel on trumped up charges, after a video taken by her mother, Nariman, went viral, showing how Ahed expressed resistance to soldiers entering their house. Ahed is facing twelve charges, while her mother was charged and detained for posting the video. Ahed has been denied bail as an Israeli military court judge said that she is dangerous and the weight of her offenses “does not allow an alternative to custody.” She and her mother are facing lengthy prison time, possibly up to 14 years. According to their legal counsel, the two have endured extensive and aggressive sessions of interrogations and that the interrogators threatened her family’s safety.

 

Ahed, Nariman and the Tamimi family have been targeted by the Israeli occupation forces for their anti-colonial resistance in the village of 600 Palestinians in Nabi Saleh, a site of long-term organizing and struggle against the confiscation of their land by the illegal Zionist settlement of Halamish. Clearly, the arrests of Ahed and Nariman are attempts of the Zionist Israeli government to quell Palestinian organizing and resistance.

 

Ahed is among the 360 children jailed in Israeli prisons. Many other Palestinian children are detained in Israeli prisons, experiencing torture, solitary confinement, denial of access to their families or lawyers and other human rights violations. On January 16, 13-year old Razan Abu Sal, a Palestinian youth refugee, was sentenced by an Israeli military court to four months in prison and a fine of $800. Razan, like many of the imprisoned Palestinian children, was accused of throwing stones at soldiers.

 

These children prisoners are among the 6,200 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons. With the official support from the United States government of the status of Jerusalem as capital of Israel, these violations have worsened. US Pres. Donald Trump’s latest decision has emboldened the Zionist Israeli occupation forces under the Netanyahu regime to intensify their military operations and crimes against the Palestinian people.

 

We call for the immediate release of Ahed and Nariman Tamimi and all Palestinian political prisoners. We call on all member organizations of the ILPS, people’s organizations and human rights activists to continue their support the Palestinian people in their just struggle against the Zionist occupation of Palestine.

 

Filipinos join Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement against Israel

The global Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel has finally arrived in the Philippines.

The campaign was inaugurated on Feb. 6, 2017 at a forum held at the United Church of Christ chapel in Quezon City. The event was attended by members of various social movements and faith-based organizations in the Philippines. The Philippine BDS campaign is spearheaded by the Philippines-Palestine Friendship Association (PPFA), the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP), the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP), and the Ecumenical Bishops’ Forum (EBF). Bishop Deogracias Yniguez gave the welcome remarks.

The BDS is a global campaign calling for the boycott of and divestment from all Israeli and international companies profiting from the violation of the rights of Palestinians. It also urges governments to fulfill their legal obligations to hold Israel to account including by ending military and free trade agreements and expelling Israel from international forums such as the UN.

The BDS campaign is rapidly gathering steam in many places around the world and is endorsed by many renowned activists, personalities, artists, and thinkers.

Dr. Edelina dela Paz, chairperson of PPFA, explained the idea behind the campaign:

“BDS operates under the simple principle that Palestinians are entitled to the same rights as everyone else. But Israel is illegally occupying Palestine and violating the human rights of the Palestinian people. BDS aims to undercut the economic and political support that is sustaining the Israeli apartheid system,” she said.

Israeli businesses in the Philippines are mainly involved in information and communication technology, and agriculture. Israel has also developed cooperation with academic institutions and local governments for tourism and study programs.

Recently, the Israel Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines has conveyed Israeli businesses’ interest in expanding investments and operations in the Philippines through public-private partnerships in infrastructures and agro-technology.

Moreover, Israel is actively involved in selling military equipment and artillery to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), which, according to the group, the Philippine government uses to militarize rural communities. There are also reports that Mossad intelligence security agents are deployed in the country to train big local and foreign companies and landlords’ private armies and paramilitaries.

“The weapons that Israel uses against Palestinian civilians to occupy their homes are the same weapons being used here in the Philippines to evict indigenous peoples and farmers from their lands, and break workers’ strikes,” according to dela Paz.

The organizers vowed to challenge Israel’s economic and political presence in the country as they believe that this constitutes a form of normalization of the occupation and the apartheid state of Israel. They capped their program with an “Act of Commitment” to affirm their support for BDS and the cause for freedom for the Palestinian people.