Prominent Palestinian astrophysicist Imad Barghouthi, a professor of theoretical space-plasma physics at Al-Quds University, was ordered by the Israeli occupation military to three months in administrative detention – imprisonment without charge or trial – on Monday, 2 May.

Barghouthi, who marked his 54th birthday in Israeli prison, joins nearly 750 fellow Palestinians held without charge or trial under administrative detention. Detention orders are indefinitely renewable on the basis of “secret evidence” to which both Palestinian detainees and their lawyers are denied access. The scientist, from Beit Rima near Ramallah, was arrested by Israeli occupation forces at a military checkpoint in Nabi Saleh on 24 April.

Barghouthi, a former employee of NASA in the United States, is a prominent figure in the Palestinian scientific community and his work is internationally known. He received his BS in physics from the University of Jordan in 1985, followed by his masters’ degree in nuclear physics in 1988. In 1994, he completed his Ph.D. at Utah State University in the United States.

He was arrested before, on 6 December 2014, as he traveled to a scientific conference in the United Arab Emirates, and ordered to administrative detention without charge or trial; he was released early, on 22 January 2015, following an international outcry from the scientific community, including statements fromAURDIP (Association des Universitaires pour le Respect du Droit International en Palestine), BRICUP (British Committee for the Universities of Palestine), Committee of Concerned Scientists, MESA (Middle East Studies Association) Committee on Academic Freedom,  and Euroscience.

Upon Barghouthi’s release, he wrote a letter to international organizations that had supported him: “I call on the international community that spoke up on my behalf to speak up also on behalf of all Palestinian political prisoners. There are approximately 500 Palestinians held in administrative detention, imprisoned without charge or trial. The systematic use of arbitrary imprisonment by Israeli forces to punish Palestinians violates international humanitarian law under the Fourth Geneva Convention.”

Al-Quds University, where Barghouthi teaches, has also been subject to ongoing Israeli repression, including invasion of the campus, destruction of student organizations’ offices and materials, and arrests of students.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network calls for the immediate release of Palestinian scientist Imad al-Barghouthi, which comes as part of a systematic attack on Palestinian academics, journalists, writers and other cultural workers by the Israeli occupation. We reiterate that the case of Imad al-Barghouthi underlines the necessity of the international academic boycott of Israeli academic institutions – a call adopted by an increasing number of academic associations and academic labor unions. Such institutions are deeply complicit in the structures of occupation that deny Palestinian human rights at all levels, including denying Palestinians’ rights to education and academic freedom, and upholding the structures of colonialism and occupation that target Barghouthi, his students and fellow faculty at Palestinian universities like Al-Quds, and the Palestinian people as a whole.

Photo: Al-Quds Human Rights Clinic

Mondoweiss published an interview with Duha Barghouthi, a high school student and the daughter of imprisoned Palestinian astrophysicist Imad Barghouthi, by Samidoun international coordinator Charlotte Kates. Barghouthi, 54, is a former employee of NASA in the United States and a professor at Al-Quds University. Scientists and academics around the world have called from his release from Israeli prison, where he is held under administrative detention without charge or trial:

“Imad is the source of love and kindness in our house. He is very joyful and he spreads positivity wherever he goes,” says Duha Barghouthi, 17, Imad’s daughter and a graduating high school student. “He used to help me – and my twin sister – in our homework and exams. Unfortunately, as seniors, we are in the middle of our final exams. Passing our exams without him next to us as we study and prepare has impacted us negatively.”

“My father teaches and plants concepts and ideas of freedom through education to his students, his children, and his colleagues,” Duha said, emphasizing her father’s commitment to Palestinian science….She urged international scientists to support her father’s case. “Scientists should be awarded, not imprisoned. I know there are already organizations that are concerned with such cases,” Duha said. “But I urge them to do more legally. My father isn’t the only scientist who has been persecuted by the Israeli occupation. There is a war on Palestinian education. I hope to see Israel held accountable for its cruel actions on an international level.”

She noted the work of organizations and prominent international academics, mathematicians and scientists who have spoken up to urge Barghouthi’s freedom. “My father is fortunate enough to have made an international reputation for himself academically. People all over the world are speaking up for him, but what he would like most is for people to speak up for all Palestinian prisoners.”

To read the full article, please see: http://mondoweiss.net/2016/05/imprisoned-palestinian-astrophysicist/

Imad Barghouthi, a professor of theoretical space plasma physics at Al-Quds University, has been arrested by Israeli occupation forces and ordered to administrative detention without charge or trial. Barghouthi, whose previous detention without charge inspired demands for his freedom from academics around the world, is once again finding support from internationally known scientists and academics. European organizations and academics sent a letter to the European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, urging action on Barghouthi’s case. 

Today, over 100 renowned academics, including Angela Davis, Freeman Dyson, Noam Chomsky, and David Mumford, have issued a statement and an open letter urging Barghouthi’s release. We urge all academics to join the open letter and sign on at http://jvp.org/freeimad/.

“My father isn’t the only scientist who has been persecuted by the Israeli occupation. There is a war on Palestinian education. My father is fortunate enough to have made an international reputation for himself academically. People all over the world are speaking up for him, but what he would like most is for people to speak up for all Palestinian prisoners.”

– Duha Barghouthi, daughter of Imad Barghouthi

Palestinian astrophysicist Imad Barghouthi was ordered to two months in administrative detention without charge or trial by the Israeli Ofer military court on Wednesday, 11 May, reported the Palestinian Prisoners Society. Barghouthi, whose case has drawn the support of prominent scientists and academics around the world, was originally ordered to three months in administrative detention by military order.

While Israeli administrative detention is without charge or trial and on the basis of secret evidence, Jawad Boulos, Barghouthi’s lawyer, said that his detention was over Facebook postings. Barghouthi, 54, a professor at Al-Quds University and a former employee of NASA in the United States, was detained in late April by Israeli occupation forces at a checkpoint in Nabi Saleh.

Boulos stated that they would be appealing Barghouthi’s detention. He is among 750 Palestinians imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention; 150 Palestinians have been arrested over social media postings. On Monday, 9 May, Majd Atwan, a 22-year-old Palestinian woman, was sentenced to 45 days imprisonment for Facebook postings. Palestinian journalist Sami al-Saee, reporter with Al-Fajr TV from Tulkarem, was accused on Wednesday, 11 May, of “incitement” for posting on Facebook; he will have a military court hearing on 15 May, in which the military prosecution has demanded a nine-month sentence. Al-Saee has been imprisoned since 9 March without charge, among 19 Palestinian journalists in Israeli prisons.

Palestinian astrophysicist and professor Imad Barghouthi will be released on Sunday following an international outcry by academics, scientists and mathematicians over his detention.

Palestinian lawyer Jawad Boulos said in Ma’an News that the Ofer Military Court ordered Barghouthi’s release on Sunday after a month of administrative detention without charge or trial. Boulos noted that he had submitted the international petitions by scientists and academics demanding Barghouthi’s release.

Barghouthi, 54, a renowned astrophysicist and professor of theoretical plasma physics at Al-Quds University, was arrested on 24 April by Israeli occupation forces at a military checkpoint by Nabi Saleh. He was originally ordered to administrative detention without charge or trial for three months; the military court confirmed his detention for two months on 11 May after Boulos highlighted the international support for Barghouthi. While Israeli administrative detention is without charge or trial and on the basis of secret evidence, Jawad Boulos, Barghouthi’s lawyer, said that military prosecutors claimed his detention was over Facebook postings.

However, at the hearing on 26 May, Barghouthi won an early end to his detention; Boulos said that Barghouthi said in court that he is and will remain against the occupation, but that this is not a legitimate “threat to the safety and security of the public.” Barghouthi is one of approximately 750 Palestinians held without charge or trial under administrative detention, and one of 7,000 Palestinian political prisoners.

This is not the first time Barghouthi was arrested – and released early following international academic and scientific pressure.

In December 2014, Barghouthi was arrested as he attempted to cross the border to Jordan to attend an academic conference in the UAE. Once again, he was ordered to three months in administrative detention without charge or trial; he was released early, on 22 January, after international petitions by scientists and academics.

After Barghouthi’s arrest on 24 April, hundreds of academics signed a letter initiated by the Association of Academics for the Respect of International Law in Palestine (AURDIP), the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine (BRICUP), and the Belgian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (BACBI).

Prominent scientists and mathematicians initiated a letter supported by Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI), and AURDIP. The over 300 signers included leading physicists Freeman Dyson at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton; David Mumford, Fields Medal 1974; and Chandler Davis, Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at the University of Toronto, as well as Noam Chomsky and Angela Davis.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network congratulates Imad Barghouthi on his upcoming release on Sunday and demands the release of all imprisoned Palestinian students and academics, and all Palestinian prisoners. As Duha Barghouthi, Imad’s daughter and a new high school graduate said, “My father isn’t the only scientist who has been persecuted by the Israeli occupation. There is a war on Palestinian education. My father is fortunate enough to have made an international reputation for himself academically. People all over the world are speaking up for him, but what he would like most is for people to speak up for all Palestinian prisoners.”

Imad Barghouthi, a Palestinian astrophysicist and professor at Al-Quds University, was suddenly denied release from Israeli prison on Sunday, 29 May, after “incitement” charges were filed against him by a military prosecutor. Barghouthi’s release had been ordered by an Israeli military court last Thursday, following an international outcry by prominent scientists, physicists and other academics.

Barghouthi is now being charged with “incitement” over alleged Facebook posts in support of Palestinian resistance. Barghouthi’s lawyer, Jawad Boulos, said in Electronic Intifada that at the hearing on Thursday, the military prosecution had stated they had “insufficient evidence” to charge Barghouthi, saying that the case “demonstrates to anyone who still needs proof that all of the ‘legal’ procedures established by the occupation forces … are flimsy and fake and give no heed to legal principles.”

Barghouthi had been held under administrative detention – Israeli imprisonment without charge or trial by military order – since he was arrested by Israeli occupation forces on 24 April. He was first ordered to three months, then two months detention, before his release was ordered Thursday at his appeal hearing. At the appeal, Boulos submitted the several petitions from international academics urging Barghouthi’s release. There are approximately 750 Palestinians held without trial under administrative detention; in addition, over 150 Palestinians have been arrested over allegations of “incitement” on social media.

Barghouthi was detained once before under administrative detention in December 2014; he was released early then due to another international outcry in the scientific and academic community.

Take action! It is critically important for people around the world to make their voices heard and demand the release of Imad Barghouthi and his fellow Palestinian prisoners. There is nothing more legitimate about military charges than there is in administrative detention. Both are part of one mechanism with one goal – controlling the Palestinian people at all costs and silencing those who resist and challenge occupation, racism and oppression.

1. Protest at the Israeli consulate or embassy in your area.  Bring posters and flyers about the imprisonment of Palestinians, including academics like Imad Barghouthi, and hold a protest, or join a protest with this important information. Hold a community event or discussion, or include this issue in your next event about Palestine and social justice. Please email us at samidoun@samidoun.net to inform us of your action – we will publicize and share news with the prisoners.

2. Contact political officials in your country – members of Parliament or Congress, or the Ministry/Department of Foreign Affairs or State – and demand that they cut aid and relations with Israel on the basis of its apartheid practices, its practice of colonialism, and its numerous violations of Palestinian rights including the systematic practice of administrative detention and the injustice of military trials. Demand they pressure Israel to free Palestinian prisoners and end administrative detention.   In the United States, call the Israel/Palestine Bureau at the State Department at 202-647-3930 and the White House – 202-456-1111. Demand action on Barghouthi’s case and an end to aid to Israel. In the UK, call UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Philip Hammond, MP, +44 20 7008 1500. In Canada, call Foreign Minister Stephane Dion: 613-996-5789.

3. Boycott, Divest and Sanction. Hold Israel accountable for its violations of international law. Don’t buy Israeli goods, and campaign to end investments in corporations that profit from the occupation. G4S, a global security corporation, is heavily involved in providing services to Israeli prisons that jail Palestinian political prisoners – there is a global call to boycott it. Palestinian political prisoners have issued a specific call urging action on G4S. Learn more about BDS at bdsmovement.net.

The UK’s University and College Union (UCU), representing over 100,000 members as the largest trade union and professional association for academics, lecturers, trainers, researchers and academic-related staff working in further and higher education throughout the UK, affirmed its support for the rights of Palestinian academics under attack in an emergency motion passed at its Congress on 1-3 June.

The motion, which was passed with no opposition, notes the arrest, detention, and now charges against renowned Palestinian astrophysicist Imad Barghouthi, as well as the repression and threats against BDS movement co-founder Omar Barghouti; it instructs the union’s General Secretary to raise the matter with British officials and the Israeli embassy. The motion also commits UCU to distributing Samidoun’s call to action for Imad Barghouthi and fellow Palestinian prisoners, urging members to write to British and Israeli officials to call for his release.

The motion text:

Late motion for UCU Congress: Defend Palestinian academics

 Congress notes with dismay that:

• Renowned Palestinian astrophysicist Professor Imad al-Barghouthi has been arrested and put in administrative detention for the second time; his release has been cancelled and he now faces trial.

• Omar Barghouti, a founder of the BDS movement and graduate of Tel Aviv University, has had an effective travel ban placed on him, widely seen as a step towards revoking his residency rights, as Israeli ministers recently threatened.

Congress condemns these fundamental breaches of human rights, instructs the General Secretary to raise these matters urgently with the FCO and the Israeli Embassy, and agrees to circulate the call by Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network* to all members, asking them to write to MPs and the Israeli embassy calling for Prof.Al-Barghouthi to be released immediately.

Congress further instructs the General Secretary to call on the Israeli authorities to end the use of administrative detention.

*  http://samidoun.net/2016/04/prominent-palestinian-astrophysicist-imad-barghouthi-detained-by-israeli-occupation-forces/

—

Barghouthi, 54, a professor at Al-Quds University and former employee of NASA in the United States, was arrested on 24 April at an Israeli military checkpoint as he traveled from Nabi Saleh to his home in Beit Rima. He was shortly ordered to three months’ administrative detention. Following an outcry by internationally prominent scientists, mathematicians and academics, his administrative detention without charge or trial was reduced to two months, and then his release ordered after one month. However, the Israeli military prosecution refused to release him and has now charged him in the military court system – where Palestinians are convicted at a rate greater than 99 percent – for posting on Facebook, labeling his posts “incitement.”

“My father isn’t the only scientist who has been persecuted by the Israeli occupation. There is a war on Palestinian education. I hope to see Israel held accountable for its cruel actions on an international level,” said Imad’s daughter, Duha Barghouthi, a new high school graduate whose graduation day came with her father imprisoned.

International organizations, scientists and academics have continued to call for Barghouthi’s immediate release, alongside other Palestinian prisoners.

Palestinian BDS co-founder Omar Barghouti has faced threats and attacks on his residency by high-ranking Israeli officials, both in public speeches and in practice, alongside attempts to criminalize BDS internationally being forwarded by the Israeli government.

The UCU has a long history of international solidarity and important motions in support of the rights of the Palestinian people and the BDS movement. It has supported the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement and the academic and cultural boycott of Israel. It has also expressed solidarity with imprisoned Palestinians, including writer and academic Ahmad Qatamesh. The UCU has come under attack by right-wing pro-occupation forces for its consistent positions, and was victorious in 2013 in a legal challenge brought by a pro-Zionist union member which was soundly rejected by a British employment tribunal.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network thanks the University and College Union for once again, and consistently, standing with the Palestinian people and their rights and struggle for justice and liberation. We welcome the UCU’s resolution on Palestinian academics under attack and look forward to working together to secure freedom and justice for Palestinian prisoners and the Palestinian people.

Palestinian astrophysicist Imad Barghouthi faced a second hearing yesterday, 13 June in Israeli military court. Barghouthi, 54, is a professor of space plasma physics at Al-Quds University; he was arrested on 24 April as he traveled from Nabi Saleh to his home in Beit Rima.

Barghouthi, whose work is internationally renowned and who has received the support of scientists and academics around the world, was ordered to three months in administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial. Originally, his administrative detention order was decreased to two months, and then his release ordered after a month of imprisonment, following his lawyer, Jawad Boulos, presenting the statements and petitions of hundreds of international scientists supporting Barghouthi’s case.

Most recently, the University and College Union, a UK union representing over 100,000 academic workers, researchers and others, passed a resolution at its Congress calling for Barghouthi’s release and pledging to write Israeli and British officials, and distribute a Samidoun alert on the case.

However, instead of releasing Barghouthi, the Israeli military prosecution charged the professor with “incitement” for his writings on Facebook. Over 150 Palestinians have been arrested and accused of “incitement” for posting on social media, most commonly for posts in support of Palestinian resistance or with praise or mourning for Palestinians killed by Israeli occupation forces.

At the military court hearing yesterday, the military judge rejected a plea to release Barghouthi to house arrest – where he would be kept from his own home and denied access to the internet; instead, he was ordered imprisoned until the end of the process, arguing that he was “too dangerous” to be released. The military indictment lists numerous counts – all of which are Facebook posts, and labels Barghouthi an “influential public figure,” because he has 4962 Facebook “friends” and 1684 Facebook “followers.” The military trial itself – where this indictment will be read and Barghouthi asked for a reply – will begin on 12 July.

Take action! It is critically important for people around the world to make their voices heard and demand the release of Imad Barghouthi and his fellow Palestinian prisoners.

1. Protest at the Israeli consulate or embassy in your area.  Bring posters and flyers about the imprisonment of Palestinians, including academics like Imad Barghouthi, and hold a protest, or join a protest with this important information. Hold a community event or discussion, or include this issue in your next event about Palestine and social justice. Please email us at samidoun@samidoun.net to inform us of your action – we will publicize and share news with the prisoners.

2. Contact political officials in your country – members of Parliament or Congress, or the Ministry/Department of Foreign Affairs or State – and demand that they cut aid and relations with Israel on the basis of its apartheid practices, its practice of colonialism, and its numerous violations of Palestinian rights including the systematic practice of administrative detention and the injustice of military trials. Demand they pressure Israel to free Palestinian prisoners and end administrative detention.   In the United States, call the Israel/Palestine Bureau at the State Department at 202-647-3930 and the White House – 202-456-1111. Demand action on Barghouthi’s case and an end to aid to Israel. In the UK, call UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Philip Hammond, MP, +44 20 7008 1500. In Canada, call Foreign Minister Stephane Dion: 613-996-5789.

3. Boycott, Divest and Sanction. Hold Israel accountable for its violations of international law. Don’t buy Israeli goods, and campaign to end investments in corporations that profit from the occupation. G4S, a global security corporation, is heavily involved in providing services to Israeli prisons that jail Palestinian political prisoners – there is a global call to boycott it. Palestinian political prisoners have issued a specific call urging action on G4S. Learn more about BDS at bdsmovement.net.

Palestinian astrophysics professor Imad Barghouthi is appealing to the Israeli Supreme Court against his indictment in Israeli military court for “incitement” due to posting on Facebook, said his lawyer, Jawad Boulos, on 20 July.

In the context of this appeal, the Ofer military court postponed Barghouthi’s hearing until 21 August, following the Supreme Court’s action on the appeal. Barghouthi, 54, a world-renowned professor of astrophysics at Al-Quds University, was arrested on 24 April at a military checkpoint near Nabi Saleh.

He was ordered to administrative detention without charge or trial, an act which sparked protests from scientists and academics around the world. Hundreds of scientists and other academics rallied around Barghouthi, signing petitions and demanding his release. AURDIP (the Association of Academics for the Respect of International Law in Palestine, France), BRICUP (British Committee for the Universities of Palestine), and BACBI (Belgian Campaign for Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel) have appealed to the European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, urging him to request the suspension of the EU’s Association Agreement with Israel until Barghouthi is freed.

Following the submission of multiple petitions by international scientists for Barghouthi’s release, his administrative detention order was reduced first to two months, and then to one month. When he was scheduled to be released on 29 May, the Israeli occupation prosecution instead filed “incitement” charges against him and transferred his case to the military courts. Much of the military charges are based on the number of Barghouthi’s facebook friends, and the numbers of “likes” and “shares” received on his posts. Barghouthi is among hundreds of Palestinians targeted for arrest, imprisonment and military prosecution for writing and speaking on social media about their experience under occupation and support for Palestinian liberation.

The continued imprisonment of Barghouthi comes as Scientists for Palestine works with the Arab American University in Jenin to launch the First Palestinian Advanced Physics School.  At the school, advanced Palestinian master students in physics from several Palestinian universities (Al Quds University, Birzeit University, An Najah University, the Arab American University in Jenin (AAUJ), and the Islamic University in Gaza) will listen to lectures and engage in scientific discussion with internationally leading physicists in topics at the frontiers of physics research.  Lecturers at the school will include Philip Argyres, professor of theoretical particle physics at the University of Cincinnati in the United States; John Ellis, the Clerk Maxwell Professor of Theoretical Physics at King’s College London and visiting scientist at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland (home of the Large Hadron Collider, where the Higgs boson was discovered in 2012); and Giorgio Paolucci, Scientific Director of SESAME (a synchrotron light-source laboratory in Jordan established by a group of Middle Eastern countries including Palestine and scheduled to begin operation in 2017). The school is organized by physicists from the universities of Amsterdam, AAUJ, Birzeit, Cambridge, CERN, Cincinnati, and Southampton.

14 scientists, including leading physicist Freeman Dyson at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton ; David Mumford, recipient of the Fields Medal 1974 (the “Nobel prize of math”) ; and Chandler Davis, Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at the University of Toronto, recently published a letter in the 14 July issue of Nature drawing attention to Barghouthi’s imprisonment. Nature cut the letter dramatically, eliminating the context of Israeli assaults on Palestinian academia.

Dr. Imad Barghouthi, professor at Al-Quds University in Abu Dis, was sentenced to seven months in Israeli prison at the Ofer military court on Sunday, 9 October. Barghouthi was sentenced on charges of “incitement” for posting about Palestinian politics and occupation on Facebook and social media.

His imprisonment will be calculated from the date of his arrest in April, meaning that he will be released in November. He was originally arrested on 24 April by Israeli occupation forces at a checkpoint near Nabi Saleh as he traveled to his hometown of Beit Rima. He was originally ordered to administrative detention without charge or trial; he had been held once before in administrative detention in December 2014, arrested by occupation forces as he traveled to an academic conference in the United Arab Emirates.

After an outcry by hundreds of scientists and academics around the world protesting the arbitrary detention of Barghouthi, whose work in astrophysics is world-renowned, his administrative detention was ordered ended on 26 May, with his release to follow on 29 May. Instead of being released, however, Barghouthi was transferred to the military courts, where he was accused of “incitement” for posting on social media. In fact, the number of “likes” and “shares” his Facebook posts received were entered as “evidence” of these charges.

The case has dragged on for months and has been repeatedly continued.

Barghouthi will also be fined 2,000 NIS (approx. $500 USD). After her father’s arrest, Duha Barghouthi, Imad’s daughter – who graduated high school during his imprisonment -said, “My father is a man who loves his country and he has paid a price for that. He rejected job offers from several countries around the world in order to stay in Palestine and work to raise up his nation through science and education of the youth. It is this love of country that fills his soul.”

Barghouthi’s case is one of the more prominent among hundreds of cases of Palestinians targeted for arrest and persecution for posting on social media, especially Facebook, alongside the cases of journalist Samah Dweik, stylist Majd Atwan and poet Dareen Tatour.

Palestinian astrophysics professor Imad Ahmad Barghouthi, 54, was released after over six months of imprisonment by the Israeli occupation on Friday, 4 November.

Barghouthi, who teaches at Al-Quds University in Abu Dis and is a former NASA employee, had been accused of “incitement” for posting political messages and statements on his personal Facebook page. The indictment against him cited the number of “likes” and “shares” his posts received as “evidence” for the charges. These charges were levied against him following initially being ordered to administrative detention without charge or trial when he was arrested at an Israeli occupation checkpoint on 24 April.

The administrative detention order was met with an outcry of hundreds of international academics and scientists who protested the arbitrary imprisonment of their colleague, whose scientific work is internationally known. Following the scientists’ protests, Barghouthi’s administrative detention was ordered reduced to one month, with his release to come on 29 May. However, instead of being released, he was instead transferred to the military courts and charged with “incitement.” He is among hundreds of Palestinians to face similar charges simply for posting public political messages on Facebook or other social media outlets. One particularly infamous case is that of poet Dareen Tatour, who is threatened with years of imprisonment for posting her poetry on YouTube.

Barghouthi had been arrested once before, in December 2014; he was ordered to administrative detention without trial after being seized en route to an academic conference in the United Arab Emirates. As in the later case, an international outcry helped to shorten his administrative detention and secure his release.

Palestinian writer, thinker and previous long-term administrative detainee Dr. Ahmed Qatamesh was ordered on Wednesday, 17 May to three months in administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial, only three days after he was seized from his family home in el-Bireh by Israeli occupation forces.

Qatamesh, 63, was last released from administrative detention nearly 4 years ago; at the time, he had been imprisoned without charge or trial for two and one-half years. Between 1992 and 1998, he was the longest-held Palestinian prisoner in administrative detention; his detention was renewed every six months for nearly six years. Since his release, he has been banned from leaving Palestine and traveling by Israeli occupation military orders.

He has been arrested repeatedly by Israeli occupation forces over the years, including in 1969 and again in 1972, when he was jailed for 4 years. He lived “underground” evading capture by occupation forces for 17 years.

His memoir, I Shall Not Wear Your Tarboush, recalls his time in prison as well as the 100 days of torture he underwent during interrogation in 1992. Since his release in 1998, he has become a prominent Palestinian intellectual, writer and teacher; he is the founder of the Munif Barghouthi Research Center.

Dr. Ahmed Qatamesh is now one of over 500 Palestinians imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention. Administrative detention orders are indefinitely renewable and can be issued for up to six months at a time; like Qatamesh has been on multiple occasions, Palestinians can be imprisoned indefinitely for years on end under these orders. The use of administrative detention in Palestine dates from the era of British colonization in Palestine and has been maintained and extended intensively by Israeli occupation. The call to end administrative detention is one of the key demands of the approximately 1500 Palestinian political prisoners engaged in an open hunger strike since 17 April 2017.

As Qatamesh was ordered to administrative detention, United Nations Special Rapporteur Michael Lynk drew attention to Israeli violations of Palestinian rights through the use of systematic imprisonment without charge or trial. “I am particularly concerned with Israel’s use of administrative detention, which involves imprisonment without charge, trial, conviction or meaningful due process, as well as the possibility of unrestricted renewal of their detention…Israel’s use of administrative detention is not in compliance with the extremely limited circumstances in which it is allowed under international humanitarian law, and deprives detainees of basic legal safeguards guaranteed by international human rights law,” Mr. Lynk said.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network denounces the administrative detention of Dr. Ahmed Qatamesh and demands his immediate release. The targeting of this Palestinian writer and historic, prominent figure of the Palestinian liberation movement who exposed before the world the experience of torture under interrogation in Israeli prison is part and parcel of the ongoing Israeli assault on Palestinian culture and resistance that predates the Nakba. Palestinian writers from Mahmoud Darwish to Samih al-Qasem to today’s young poets like Dareen Tatour have been targeted alongside countless Palestinian intellectuals and academics for imprisonment, especially when their writing and work enters the sphere of the politics of Palestinian national and social liberation. We urge international support and solidarity to free Dr. Ahmed Qatamesh, put an end to the policy of administrative detention and free all Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

Palestinian professor Dr. Essam al-Ashqar’s imprisonment without charge or trial was extended for two months for the third time in a row, despite his difficult health situation.

Al-Ashqar, 57, from Nablus, has been imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 24 November 2016. The physics professor at An-Najah University in Nablus was seized by occupation forces in a pre-dawn raid on his home. He was shortly thereafter ordered to administrative detention for four months. The order was then renewed for another four months; now it has been renewed for two months.

Administrative detention orders are indefinitely renewable. There are nearly 500 Palestinians held without charge or trial under administrative detention. His imprisonment without charge or trial has been extended repeatedly despite his dangerous health condition.

In April, his health condition worsened while he was held in the Ramle prison clinic; he was transferred to the Ramle prison clinic within two weeks of his arrest due to his fragile health.

Al-Ashqar is one of 15 prisoners held consistently in the Ramle prison clinic, struggling against medical neglect and mistreatment. He is imprisoned in Ramle with Mohammed Marash, Khaled Shawish, Mutassam Raddad, Bassam al-Sayeh, Ayman al-Kurd, Ashraf Abu Huda, Hussein Yousef Dardan, Izzat Turkmen, Saleh Omar Saleh, Mutassem Abu Hadid, Mansour Muqtada, Mohammed Abu Khader and Faisal Shaheen. The Palestinian Prisoners’ Commission warned on 5 July that the health and lives of prisoners in the Ramle clinic remain at risk, especially given crowded conditions in the clinic and the constant risk of medical neglect.

Al-Ashqar has been seized by Israeli occupation forces on several previous occasions and spent over two years in administrative detention in the past. Among other health conditions, he suffers from chronic high blood pressure, headaches, stiffness and narrow arteries. He has experienced strokes in the past and is at extreme risk of future strokes and resulting disability.

He is married with six children and studied in the United States to receive his Ph.D. in physics. He has participated in or written hundreds of studies that have been published in scientific journals.

Al-Ashqar’s family once again expressed their deep concern for his life, urging his immediate release, upon the reports of the renewal of his administrative detention. They emphasized that the Israeli occupation bears full responsibility for his health and life, urging international scientific and humanitarian institutions to speak up about his case and demand his release.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network demands the immediate release of Essam al-Ashqar from Israeli prison. In his deteriorating health condition, this respected physics professor is being held without charge or trial under administrative detention. He is accused of no crime even in the illegitimate military courts of the Israeli occupation and yet his detention has been renewed for the third time. We demand an end to the policy of administrative detention and the immediate release of all administrative detainees – and all Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

Palestinian writer and intellectual Dr. Ahmed Qatamesh was released from Israeli occupation prisons on Sunday, 13 August after three months held without charge or trial under administrative detention.

He had been held without charge or trial since 13 May 2017, when he was seized from his family home in El-Bireh by Israeli occupation forces. Qatamesh, 63, was last released from administrative detention nearly 4 years ago; at the time, he had been imprisoned without charge or trial for two and one-half years. Between 1992 and 1998, he was the longest-held Palestinian prisoner in administrative detention; his detention was renewed every six months for nearly six years. Since his release, he has been banned from leaving Palestine and traveling by Israeli occupation military orders.

He has been arrested repeatedly by Israeli occupation forces over the years, including in 1969 and again in 1972, when he was jailed for 4 years. He lived “underground” evading capture by occupation forces for 17 years.

His memoir, I Shall Not Wear Your Tarboush, recalls his time in prison as well as the 100 days of torture he underwent during interrogation in 1992. Since his release in 1998, he has become a prominent Palestinian intellectual, writer and teacher; he is the founder of the Munif Barghouthi Research Center.

His case was taken up by Amnesty International, among others, who demanded his release as a prisoner of conscience.

There remain approximately 500 Palestinians imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention. Administrative detention orders are indefinitely renewable and can be issued for up to six months at a time. Like Qatamesh was in the past on multiple occasions, Palestinians can be imprisoned indefinitely for years on end under these orders.

On the evening of 10 January, a packed hall at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, hosted the third international conference of Scientists for Palestine, a global initiative working to support Palestinian scientists, particularly those inside occupied Palestine. Drawing scientists from around the world, including nine scientists from Palestine – although those in Gaza were barred from leaving the besieged Strip – the conference highlighted the current situation of Palestinian scientists as well as the role of scientists internationally in providing meaningful academic support and solidarity.

The scientists from Gaza were not the only ones forcibly absent from the proceedings, however. Ubai Aboudi, Executive Director of the Bisan Center for Research and Development, one of the convening organizations of the conference, was held in Israeli jails and denied the ability to be part of the conference he worked to organize. He had planned to present his research on the Israeli occupation’s suppression and inhibition of Palestinian scientific development.

Ubai Aboudi, born and raised in Bloomington, Indiana, is a close partner of Scientists for Palestine and a Palestinian American U.S. citizen living in Palestine. In the early morning hours of 13 November 2019, a dozen armed Israeli occupation soldiers invaded his family home in Kufr Aqab, taking him away from his wife and three small children, Khaled (5), Ghassan and Basel (3-year-old twins).

Ubai was ordered to administrative detention without charge or trial and has since been brought before an Israeli military court, which convicts 99.74% of Palestinians on the basis of Israeli military orders. While the Israeli apartheid regime may have wished to isolate him, Ubai’s presence and voice was heard loud and clear at the Scientists for Palestine international conference.

Hind Shraydeh, Ubai’s wife and a human rights defender in her own right, addressed the conference via video. She welcomed the attendees on behalf of her husband and highlighted the situation of Palestinian prisoners, including ongoing severe torture and violations of international law. She discussed how she was forbidden from bringing books to her husband and how the prisoners were denied family visits in retaliation for advocating for their fellow Palestinians denied medical treatment.

“Ubai firmly believes in standing up for justice and solidarity even if it is to his own detriment. Despite everything, Ubai remains in good spirits and optimistic about the future of science in a free Palestine,” she concluded.

Watch the video here:

Many prominent scientists, including Nobel Prize winner George Smith and Noam Chomsky, have signed a statement urging Ubai Aboudi’s release and demanding the U.S. State Department take action to protect this imprisoned Palestinian U.S. citizen. At the Scientists for Palestine organizing meeting on Sunday, participants emphasized the need to continue public advocacy for his freedom.

Sign on to the petition to free Ubai Aboudi here: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/end-the-detention-of-ubai-aboudi

Learn more about Scientists for Palestine at its Facebook page and website.

The article Video: Scientists for Palestine conference hears message of Palestinian scholar, political prisoner Ubai Aboudi appeared first on Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network.

On Sunday, 19 April, the NY4Palestine Coalition hosted an online webinar highlighting the case of imprisoned Palestinian-American researcher Ubai Aboudi and the overall struggle of Palestinian prisoners for justice and liberation. Speakers at the webinar, which reached maximum capacity on Zoom and was also livestreamed on Facebook, included Hind Shraydeh, Palestinian human rights defender and the wife of Ubai Aboudi; Dr. Haynes Miller, professor of mathematics at MIT and an organizer of the Scientists for Palestine conference; and Hadeel Shatara, an organizer with Samidoun Network in occupied Palestine.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network in NY is a member of the coalition along with Al-Awda New York, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition; Within Our Lifetime – United for Palestine; American Muslims for Palestine – NJ Chapter; the Muslim American Society – New York; and multiple chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine at New York City campuses.

Watch the video of the webinar here:

Wassim Kanaan of American Muslims for Palestine and Nerdeen Kiswani of Within Our Lifetime moderated the event, introducing the speakers and highlighting the importance of international solidarity and mobilization, especially around Palestinian Prisoners’ Day.

Hind Shraydeh, taking time on the holiest day of the Orthodox calendar on Easter, joined the webinar to discuss the case of her husband, Ubai Aboudi, and the injustices faced by Palestinian prisoners. She highlighted the fact that Ubai is a U.S. citizen yet received little to no support from the U.S. State Department, even when he was jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention. After a global outcry from scientists and researchers who have worked with the Bisan Center he directs, he was then transferred to the military court with trumped-up charges based entirely on political and social work and association. She emphasized that the struggle was not Ubai’s alone, and focused on the need to achieve justice and freedom for all Palestinian prisoners inside Israeli jails.

Haynes Miller spoke about the organizing of the Scientists for Palestine conference at MIT, noting that he had long been appalled by the violations of international law and human rights taking place in occupied Palestine. He discussed Ubai Aboudi’s work with Bisan Center to bring the conference together, working with Palestinian scientists and building connections, and organizing a parallel event to provide a video link to the Cambridge conference. “The conference was haunted by the specter of our colleague Ubai in prison,” he noted, emphasizing the ongoing work to support science in Palestine – and to free Ubai and his fellow imprisoned Palestinians.

Hadeel Shatara followed, highlighting the work of Samidoun Network in occupied Palestine and the threat posed by COVID-19 to Palestinian prisoners. She discussed ongoing and systematic Israeli medical neglect against the prisoners as well as the denial of access to their families and lawyers, imposing another kind of psychological torture on the detainees’ families. She also noted that the prisoners are placed at particularly severe risk of COVID-19, denied access to sanitary products in the “canteen” (prison store) and repeatedly exposed to potentially infected Israeli interrogators, repressive units and jailers. She emphasized that violent night raids, arrests and home demolitions continue to target the prisoners and their families amid the pandemic.

Lamis Deek of Al-Awda, a Palestinian human rights attorney, provided further insight into the Ubai Aboudi case, highlighting the key role of international pressure, particularly from scientists, in protecting him from extreme torture and abuse and emphasizing the need for continued advocacy to raise the profile of his case.

A discussion followed with questions from attendees and responses from participants about connections between imprisonment and racialized repression in the United States and Palestine, increasing settler violence amid the pandemic and the possibilities to struggle together. Charlotte Kates of Samidoun wrapped up the discussion with action items, including writing to members of Congress and the State Department to demand action and accountability on the case of Ubai Aboudi; contacting members of Congress to support H.R. 2407, the bill that aims to prevent U.S. funding of the military detention of Palestinian children; and getting involved with the movement for justice in Palestine, especially the NY4Palestine coalition members.

Here are some of the ways that you can take action on these important issues:

1. First, help support freedom for Ubai Aboudi! You heard Hind tell the story of herself and her family – and take time away amid the Easter celebrations to share with all of us.  Call and email the Department of State at (202) 647-4000 and EMAIL to OFM-Info@state.gov , OFMNYCustomerService@state.gov , OFMCGCustomerService@state.gov , OFMMICustomerService@state.gov

Contact your member of Congress. Find your Representatives: https://www.house.gov/representatives

Here is a sample message:
Hi, my name is ____ and I am calling to demand that the Department of State act to secure the release of US Citizen, Palestinian Civilian, Father and Educator, Ubai Aboudi from Israeli Military custody where he has languished since November 13, 2019.  Scholars and activists from all over the world have been calling for his release.

I am shocked that the Department of State would allow any US Citizen- a civilian no less- to be held by a foreign government-let alone a foreign military without due process. Not only is the Israeli military detention of a civilian illegal under international law-and considered a war crime- it also compromises the safety of all US Citizens as they travel and reside abroad. It especially compromises the rights and protections of Palestinians as they return to or visit their homes and families. How can I feel safe traveling or residing anywhere outside the US, when I know that my own government would sit idly by if I were kidnapped by a foreign military through illegal means, such as “administrative detention” and held without due process by an illegal military occupation force.

Worse over, the UN has found Israeli military courts violate international law and has recently found that Israel practices systematic torture of Palestinians with impunity-  the ICC is now investigating Israel for war crimes.

It is absolutely terrifying to think your department would allow a US Citizen to be held by a government that has been found to violate rules against torture and racism and is being investigated for war crimes.

I want to know what your office will be doing to protect Mr. Aboudi’s rights and what you will be doing to secure his release. I want to see Ubai Aboudi reunited with his family and I will follow up to see what your office has done to further ensure his safety.

I am also appalled that during a health and financial crisis in the US and here in (this state) that you would continue to approve the diversion of US taxpayers money to this same illegal military that is also the only military in the world which kidnaps and tortures children. It is anathema that you would approve funding of such a government and its military- it is all the more outrageous that you would deprive the hungry and needing children of the US to send money to a military that tortures children overseas.

I demand that you take immediate action to stop funding and bring our tax dollars home!

And don’t forget to tweet about the case – you can share a link to the video of this event! Use the hashtag #Freedom4Ubai.

2. Contact your Representative and ask them to support H.R. 2407, the important bill to help protect Palestinian children from Israeli military detention. There is an easy online action provided by American Muslims for Palestine – just follow this link to take part: https://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/51044/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=22466

3. Get involved with NY4Palestine and Palestine activism in your area!

This event was organized by the NY4Palestine Coalition. Find us on Facebook here: https://facebook.com/NY4Palestine/
We are comprised of several groups in the NY area – please check out our member organizations!

• Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition (NY): https://al-awdany.org/ https://facebook.com/AlAwdaNY/
• American Muslims for Palestine (NJ Chapter): https://ampalestine.org https://www.facebook.com/AMPNJChapter/
• Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network (NY): https://samidoun.net/ https://www.facebook.com/SamidounPrisonerSolidarity/
• Within Our Lifetime – United for Palestine: https://wolpalestine.com/ https://www.facebook.com/WOL.Palestine/
• Muslim American Society (NY): https://masnewyork.org. https://www.facebook.com/MuslimAmericanSocietyNY/
• Students for Justice in Palestine (Many chapters in NYC universities) – contact NY4Palestine to get connected!

The article Webinar highlights case of Ubai Aboudi, struggle of Palestinian prisoners appeared first on Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network.

by Ubai Al-Aboudi

The following article was originally published at Bisan Center for Research and Development, where Ubai Aboudi serves as Executive Director. He has been imprisoned since November 2019 – sparking international protest and pressure, including among his colleagues in Scientists for Palestine  – and continues to be held inside Israeli jails. As the Bisan Center noted in their introduction to this piece, “Despite his arrest, Ubai is still a critical part of the productivity and the work of the Center.” We urge all readers of this article to join the actions to free Ubai Aboudi and his fellow Palestinian prisoners.

I will not start my article with a big speech on the right to health or even the right to enjoy suitable healthcare; nor will I remind you that they are both fundamental rights guaranteed by the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. This is indisputable and does not require renewal of a social contract that includes this essential term in human existence, which emanates from the right to life and is a natural extension of it. Thankfully, science has made great advancements in the field of medicine, as human life can be easily prolonged and its quality improved despite old age. Now that we are in the twenty-first century, and after all the medical advancements we have made, we cannot abandon this elixir of life and accept sudden death due to the lack of treatment or suitable healthcare.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is no different from other pandemics in the history of human life. Each pandemic is unclear and concerning in its early stages. It casts its shadow over a certain region paralyzing it, and then it victoriously spreads to other regions, turning people’s everyday lives to nightmares. The atrocity of such a pandemic increases when it takes the life of a person whose body has already been anguished by a handful of chronic diseases, as such completing the circle of life. Although the virus is devious, it is not irremediable. It can be tamed if suitable healthcare is provided to those afflicted by it until a vaccine to defeat and control the spread of the virus is found.

Normally at this stage and as a result of this pandemic, people will lose their lives due to the lack of healthcare provided to them. Such a death does not only take the lives of millions of impoverished people in developing countries, but also takes the lives of citizens of wealthy countries as well who are either excluded from the healthcare system in their countries or found that the healthcare system in their countries is not qualified for such medical emergencies. Palestinian prisoners at Israeli prisons possibly know best the meaning of lack of healthcare when needed, as many of them fell martyrs due to medical neglect by the Israeli occupation authorities.

The coronavirus pandemic has revealed the weakness of the globalized neoliberal system, or as Samir Amin calls it, “unbridled neoliberalism.” This system became dominant in the world after the collapse of socialism in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The system is based on absolute or semi-absolute free international trade. Capitalism has transcended the traditional borders of countries and opened markets on a globalized scale. Internet, social media and transportation developments mean that globalized industries depend in their production on relatively long value chains that extend across countries or continents, from the provision of raw materials to providing consumption markets. At this time, there is talk about freeing the service sectors to international trade as a new stage of global free trade.

The reality is, this pandemic and the resulting need for the health sector has revealed the reality of the globalized neoliberal system. The weak investment in the public health sector has also been revealed, even in wealthy countries such as France, Italy and the United States, since a number of services provided by the public sector have been transferred to the private sector under the premise of restructuring and realizing economic efficiency. Nevertheless, the story is different in developing countries, as their health sector suffers from weak capacities to provide services, and from poor services overall, which makes it unqualified to meet citizens’ needs in normal times let alone in an emergency.

One may see the worst point to which humanity has arrived when you track the international map of the division of work and production. You will see that the production of pharmaceutical and medical supplies were also included in such a division. China and Turkey specialized in the production of masks and medical protection tools, while India specialized in the production of basic materials used in pharmaceutical production. As the coronavirus has become a global crisis, the demand for medical supplies, ventilators and resuscitators has increased. As such, many countries have found themselves short on medical supplies in general, while the quantities that can be exported to the world have been limited or prevented altogether. This global shortage has resulted in the exacerbation of the health crisis in countries struck hard by the virus, and has led to the increase in the number of infections and deaths around the world.

With the increase in the bidding war and piracy over medical supplies, while turning their back on countries most in need, we can clearly see the hideousness and ethical degradation that the current global system has reached in facing this pandemic. Other phenomena that accompanied free trade in medicine and medical supplies, restructuring and reducing public expenses were provided the international monetary institutions, such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Such institutions have provided advice and put pressure on countries to change their spending patterns on social sectors, including the health sector, in order to reduce the deficiency in state budgets and realize higher growth rates.

Such recipes were adopted by both wealthy and poor countries, we can even say that the neoliberal theory has become a religious belief for the elite ruling most developing and advanced countries. For example, the US President Donald Trump has worked to cancel even the mild approaches to a comprehensive healthcare system adopted by his predecessor Obama, leaving millions of US citizens without medical coverage during crisis. In the last three decades, France and Italy have lose one hundred thousand and ninety thousand hospital beds respectively as a result of reduced government spending on the health sector based on the recommendations of neoliberal economists. It is worth noting that an entirely new branch of economy has emerged, which is the economy of health, that made the health sector subject to profit and loss calculations in accordance with the neoliberal theory in economy. This means that the supply and demand equilibrium is taken into account in deciding prices, without even considering that human life is more precious and important than any economic calculations.

It is worth noting that monopoly practices by major pharmaceutical companies during the spread of AIDS in Africa is the closest example. The said companies refused to reduce their prices or allow African companies to produce alternative medicines that prevent the transfer of the virus from mothers to their fetuses during pregnancy. They refused to do so under the premise that they need to protect their intellectual property and economic returns. The cries of French doctors on allowing them to use hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin – two cheap and widely available medicines that have shown efficiency in treating COVID-19 according to many specialists – to treat patients with coronavirus serves as proof of the extent to which French pharmaceutical companies intervene in the health system to attempt to market that expensive antiviral medications.

The situation is much direr in developing countries, as many of them have a weak health sector and are unable to meet the daily needs of citizens. Such countries do not have sufficient medical beds or medicines, nor do they have sufficient medical staff to handle emergencies.

We can study the conditions of the Palestinian Authority in terms of our current reality, as its health sector’s inability to face challenges and crises is evident. According to a report by the Coalition for Accountability and Integrity-AMAN on developmental spending in social sectors issued in 2019, the Palestinian health sector suffers an annual funding gap estimated at 1,400 million ILS, which has negatively reflected on its ability to respond to the people’s medical needs. To meet such needs, a system of medical transfers to Israeli and regional hospitals was created. This system is mainly based on purchasing medical services from abroad instead of building capacities in the Palestinian healthcare system and nationalizing services. The PA has spent an average of 700 million ILS annually in the last two decades on this transfer system. The funding gap in the health sector could have been covered by rechanneling funds from the governance sector, which consumes 43% of the PA’s annual budget, particularly reforming the security sector that consumes an annual budget of 5.8 billion ILS. Different analyses show that this budget can be cut by half through restructuring the security sector, merging different security apparatus and terminating the overlap between the activities of security services. This would meet the sectoral needs in the right to health and provide an excess of funds to realize economic development.

The current crisis poses the end of the global neoliberal system that we have seen throughout the past three decades. This system has resulted in an annual global economy of $85 trillion and a global debt of $250 trillion without solving poverty, unemployment or climate change. Moreover, this system has realized a complete failure in facing the first globalized health crisis seen by modern humanity. This promises an end to “privatized development”, which is the development that is controlled by the private sector without any central plan, leadership or guidance, as opposed to the state’s role in leading and guiding the development process in the country. “Privatized development” is limited to economic development without considering the essence of the development process, which is people. It attempts, through the terminology it uses, to present partnership between the public sector, private sector and civil society, to limit the state’s role and give way to the concepts of profit and investment. As such, the state’s role has become complementary to the private sector and citizens have abandoned the concepts of the right to health, food, education and life. The state is no longer required to provide such rights, but rather the market provides them in accordance with the concepts of profit and loss. As long as the private sector directs development, its investments that are governed by the principles of profit and competition in the context of free international trade will not be directed towards improving the conditions of humanity, but rather to increase the capital of its holders.

In an irrational global system where billionaires exist alongside starving people, where the wealth of the eight wealthiest people in the world is equal to the wealth of the poorer half of the population; changing the system to a more humanitarian system becomes an urgent necessity. Finding a system that redistributes wealth produced by humankind in accordance with our needs as people and based on the notion that we are part of a greater ecological system. I am reminded here of Barry Commoner’s statement: “Here we can learn a basic lesson from nature: that nothing can survive on the planet unless it is a cooperative part of a larger global whole.”

The article The Right to Health and Coronavirus Pandemic: Profit over Human Life by Ubai Aboudi appeared first on Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network.

Ubai Aboudi is a Palestinian-American civilian, father, researcher, educator, director of the Bisan Center for Research and Development who was abducted by Israeli military without charges on November 13, 2019. Ubai was also working to support Scientists for Palestine in organizing the Third International Meeting on Science in Palestine, which took place on January 10-12, 2020, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Ubai was prevented from attending and presenting his own research due to his Israeli military detention.

He was initially held under administrative detention – imprisonment without charge or trial – and then transferred to the Israeli military courts on later manufactured, baseless charges that are routinely imposed on Palestinians.

Despite the fact that Ubai is a U.S. citizen and that the U.S. government provides Israel with $3.8 billion in military aid every year, the U.S. State Department has largely left Ubai and Hind Shraydeh, his wife and the mother of their three children, to suffer alone. Your support is critical in pressuring the State Department to end its silence in the case of Ubai Aboudi and working to ensure his freedom.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Act by contacting the U.S. State Department and your Member of Congress. Use the draft talking points below to make your message clear.

• Find your representative here: https://www.house.gov/htbin/findrep
• Call and email the U.S. State Department:# (202) 647-4000 and OFM-Info@state.gov , OFMNYCustomerService@state.gov, OFMCGCustomerService@state.gov, and OFMMICustomerService@state.gov

USE THESE TALKING POINTS

• Hi, my name is ____ and I am calling to demand that the Department of State [your Member of Congress] work to ensure the immediate release of Ubai Aboudi, a U.S. citizen, Palestinian civilian, father, and educator. Ubai is detained in Israeli military custody, where he has languished since November 13, 2019. Scholars, scientists, and activists from around the world have been calling for his release.
• If you are calling your member of Congress, please identify your personal connection to your representative’s office as well as any relevant background you may have. For example: I am a constituent from _ _ _ _ _  (town/city) calling about an urgent matter regarding a US citizen, Ubai Aboudi, who is in an Israeli prison. I am particularly concerned because i am a  _ _ _ _ _(professor at  _ _ _ _ _  University or employed as a  _ _ _ _ _ at  _ _ _ _ (company) ) and this man is an internationally esteemed colleague.  I am asking Rep/Senator  _ _ _ _ to work for the immediate release of Ubai Aboudi by calling on Secretary of State Pompeo to secure his release.
• I demand his case be given top priority as his preexisting health conditions may render his already unlawful detention a death sentence during the coronavirus pandemic.
• The Israeli military is also known to torture more than 95% of the Palestinians it abducts- including children and convicts more than 99% of the Palestinians it detains. Israeli military practices against Palestinians are best- and most appallingly- highlighted by the fact that Israel is the only country in the world to systemically capture and keep children in military prison camps.
• Israel is now being investigated by the International Criminal Court for grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, war crimes and crimes against humanity, including for its military abductions and treatment of Palestinian prisoners.
• How can your Department allow U.S. citizens to be held and tried by a military regime that is being investigated by the ICC?
• Israel’s military detention system systematically discriminates Palestinians and is inherently racist. Israel has shown deliberate disregard for the health and well-being of Palestinian detainees throughout the COVID-19 pandemic by not testing Palestinian prisoners, preventing prisoners to access appropriate sanitary equipment, and has ignoring multiple calls for their release from UN officials.
• Israeli anti-Palestinian racism was also globally showcased when in response to the UNHCR Commissioner’s demand for the release of all political prisoners to protect them from coronavirus, Israel released 400 non-political Israeli prisoners and increased its military abduction of Palestinians – including children. If this is how they treat children, we can only imagine how they treat adults.
• Palestinians are abducted by Israeli military and charged and tried for activities that are routine in every society- activities which are legal for Israelis to undertake. For example, the Israeli military prison system criminalizes Palestinian groups and individuals as security threats and terrorists for participating in mere gatherings “that could be construed as political.”
• It is disturbing to know that our government and the Department of State would allow its citizens to be held and tried in such an unlawful and racist system. It is all the more appalling that our government and the Department of State adopts these Israeli “terrorism” designations in the US while knowing their obviously racist, arbitrary, and illegal genesis which not only criminalizes most of Palestinian society, but manages to ensnare and abuse an education worker, a farming and science advocate, and a civilian citizen of the US.
• I ask that your Department reject these designations; that it reject the charges and conviction against Ubai as illegal and contrived; and that you please work to free Ubai immediately.
• I cannot feel safe until I know your Department will protect Ubai as it would protect me and my family. Please write (call) back to let me know what steps your office will take.

The article CALL TO ACTION: Protect Palestinian-American researcher Ubai Aboudi from Israeli military detention appeared first on Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network.

Prominent scientists and academics have released a new petition urging the immediate release of detained Palestinian-American researcher Ubai Aboudi, the executive director of the Bisan Center for Research and Development. Noam Chomsky and Nobel Prize winner George Smith are among the signatories to the petition, launched by Scientists for Palestine. Ubai was abducted from his home the night of November 13th, 2019, and held for nearly two months in administrative detention. Unfortunately Ubai still languishes in Israeli military jail.

As noted by Scientists for Palestine, the right to science is “protected by article 27 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights and article 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The Israeli military courts subject Palestinians to an arbitrary legal system de-facto stripping them of their right to science. The case of Ubai, which we followed closely, is no exception.”

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges all supporters of Palestine and of freedom for the Palestinian prisoners to express support for Ubai Aboudi by taking action below!

Take Action for Ubai Aboudi!

1. Sign the Scientists for Palestine petition, demanding the US State Department and the US ambassador in Israel to speak out for Ubai’s release!
2. Share the Scientists for Palestine petition and/or the S4P Facebook post in your network and ask others to sign.
3. Directly contact the US State Department to ask for Ubai’s release.

Petition text and signatories

Ubai Aboudi is a Palestinian-American civilian, father, researcher, educator, director of the Bisan Center for Research and Development who was abducted by Israeli military without charges on November 13, 2019 [1]. Ubai is one of Scientists for Palestine’s (S4P) closest partners and has worked tirelessly to make the Third International Meeting on Science in Palestine, which took place on January 10-12, 2020, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, happen and his detention prevented him from attending and presenting his own research. Ubai, after two months of administrative detention – imprisonment without charge or trial – is still currently detained in Israeli military custody on arbitrary charges and without any guarantees of a fair trial [2]. S4P and the undersigned supporters are steadfast in the support of article 27 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights [3,4] and article 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights [5], which both guarantee everyone’s right to science. S4P and the undersigned supporters therefore condemn Mr. Ubai Aboudi’s abduction and detention in the strongest possible terms and call for the US State Department and the US ambassador in Israel David M. Friedman to end their silence and work to ensure his immediate release from military prison. We also invite all scholars concerned about human rights and the enforcement of the universal right to education to also take immediate action and support our call.

There is overwhelming evidence that Israeli military law applicable to Palestinians in the West Bank imposes draconian criminal sanctions for vaguely worded offenses that do not allow a person to reasonably predict whether an action or inaction amounts to a crime [2] in defiance of international standards [5]. It is all the more appalling that the US government and the US Department of State adopts these Israeli “terrorism” designations knowing their discriminatory, arbitrary, and illegal genesis which de-facto criminalizes most of Palestinian society, but manages to ensnare and abuse a US citizen, education worker and science advocate with potential tremendous consequences.

This call is made even more urgent by the current pandemic and the deliberate disregard shown by the Israeli military for the health and well-being of Palestinian detainees [6, 7]. This is particularly concerning in the case of Ubai given his preexisting health conditions may render his already unlawful detention a death sentence during the coronavirus pandemic. We therefore demand his case be given top priority.

An organization like S4P, which is committed to building scientific collaborations and strengthening those that already exist, should not be put in the position of writing statements of this kind. However, Mr. Aboudi’s brutal abduction and the experience of his unfair trial is a direct attack to anyone attempting to help elevate Palestinian science and education. S4P and the undersigned supporters, believe that so long as our Palestinian colleagues are subjected to a largely arbitrary and discriminatory legal system, it will be impossible for science to thrive in Palestine. We also believe that it is our duty, as researchers and scientists, to work steadfastly for everyone’s right to science to be indeed respected.

Initial signatories:

Scientists for Palestine – Central Committee.
Ahmed Abbes, Mathematician, Directeur de recherche au CNRS, France.
Susan Abulhawa, Writer and Political Activist.
Philip Argyres, Professor of Physics, University of Cincinnati.
Noam Chomsky, Laureate Professor of Linguistics, Agnese Nelms Haury Chair, The University of Arizona.
Anne Davis, Professor of Physics, Cambridge, UK.
Leila Farsakh, Associate Professor and Chair of Political Science, University of Massachusetts Boston.
Catherine Goldstein, Mathematician, Directrice de recherche au CNRS, Paris, France.​
Michael Harris, Professor of Mathematics, Columbia University.
Assaf Kfoury, Professor, Boston University.
Haynes Miller, Professor of Mathematics, MIT.
Joseph Oesterlé, Professeur émérite à Sorbonne Université, Paris​
Nasser Rabbat, professor, history of architecture, MIT.
George P. Smith, Professor Emeritus of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, 2018 Nobel Chemistry Laureate.
Lionel Schwartz, professeur émérite de mathématiques, Université Paris Nord, France.
Annick Suzor-Weiner, professeure émérite de physique, Université Paris-Sud, Orsay, France.​
Raid M Suleiman, Astrophysicist, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian.
Franz Ulm, Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering, MIT.
Dror Warschawski, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Paris, France​.

Click here to add your name! Sign the Scientists for Palestine petition, demanding the US State Department and the US ambassador in Israel to speak out for Ubai’s release! Updated signatories will be posted at the Scientists for Palestine website.

References:

[1] Amnesty International call to action: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde15/1445/2019/en/.
[2] 2019 Human Rights Watch report: https://www.hrw.org/report/2019/12/17/born-without-civil-rights/israels-use-draconian-military-orders-repress.
[3] United Nations recommendations: http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=49455&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html.
[4] AAAS report: https://www.aaas.org/news/aaas-report-helps-define-right-science-un-treaty.
[5] International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/cescr.aspx.
[6] International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/ccpr.aspx.
[7] United Nations, Human Rights: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25822&LangID=E.
[8] Haaretz: https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israeli-police-raid-palestinian-coronavirus-testing-clinic-in-east-jerusalem-1.8767788

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