BNC Statement

Palestinian Prisoner’s Day 2022 - Mobilize to #DismantleApartheid

This #PalestinianPrisonersDay stand with Palestinian prisoners in apartheid Israel’s dungeons by taking these 5 actions.

 

Today, April 17th, is #PalestinianPrisonersDay. While families around the world celebrate Easter, Ramadan and Passover, for many Palestinians, there will be empty seats at the dinner table. For Um Nasser Abu Hmeid, from Amari Camp in Ramallah, four of her sons are missing as they languish in Israeli jails. 

This Palestinian Prisoner’s Day, the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), the largest coalition in Palestinian society, proudly reaffirms our unwavering solidarity with all Palestinian political prisoners in apartheid Israel’s prisons and detention centers. 

We call on our supporters to take meaningful action today by escalating all BDS campaigns to isolate apartheid Israel’s regime of oppression and to pressure corporations that are deeply involved in Israel’s violations of prisoners’ human rights.

We especially call for escalating the #BoycottHP and #StopG4S campaigns. Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) continues to provide services to Israeli prisons despite full knowledge of Israel’s grave human rights abuses. G4S, owned by Allied Universal, continues to be complicit in violations of international law through its 25 percent stake in Policity Corporation, Israel’s national police training centre which trains officers in violent, militarized tactics aimed at repressing Palestinians, including tactics that lead to abuse and torture.

We also call for an end to the Deadly Exchange programmes between Israeli and US law enforcement entities in which “worst practices” are shared to promote and extend violent, discriminatory and repressive policing in both countries. These include racial profiling, massive spying and surveillance, deportation and detention, and attacks on human rights defenders.

Palestinian political prisoners in numbers:

According to the latest figures from Addameer, the Palestinian Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, there are currently 4,450 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention centers. 

This number includes approximately 530 “administrative detainees” denied due process and arrested on “secret evidence” that neither they nor their lawyers are permitted to see or refute in court. We salute the boycott of Israeli military courts by Palestinian administrative detainees. 

Also held in Israeli dungeons are 160 Palestinian child prisoners, from the ages of 12 - 17 and 32 Palestinian female prisoners - many of whom are mothers.

Mass arrests:

Since the beginning of the year, apartheid Israel’s occupation forces have inflicted a campaign of collective punishment via violent mass arrest on the city of Jenin in the north of the illegally occupied West Bank. More than 200 of the city's residents have been arrested, with 100 arrests taking place in March alone. According to the Palestinian Prisoners Club there are approximately 500 Palestinian political prisoners from Jenin in Israeli jails, including three women and around 10 children. 

Mass arrest of Palestinians is nothing new. According to a 2017 report by Addameer, over the past 50 years, more than 800,000 Palestinians have been imprisoned or detained by Israel, this figure is now believed to be closer to 1 million. This means that about 40% of Palestinian men and boys living under military occupation have been deprived of their freedom. Almost every Palestinian family has suffered the imprisonment of a loved one. 

Take action:

Against this backdrop we have hope! With your help, BDS campaigns are thwarting Israel’s brutal objectives and contributing to the creation of a more beautiful and just world.

To show meaningful solidarity with Palestinian Prisoners take the following 5 actions:

  1. Lobby your government or parliament to impose a security and #MilitaryEmbargo on Israel. This includes cutting military funding in the case of the US and a ban on arms and spyware technology from Israeli companies such as NSO Group.

  2. Take the first steps towards declaring your community, trade union, association, church, workplace, student government/union, city council, business, or other organization an Apartheid Free Zone (AFZ), by excluding companies that are complicit in apartheid. These include companies listed in the UN database for involvement in illegal settlements, and others like HP, Caterpillar, IBM, AXA, Hyundai Heavy Industries, and G4S/Allied Universal.  

  3. Boycott Israeli and international brands complicit in Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity. This includes all Israeli banks (Leumi, Hapoalim, etc.) and major multinationals such as: Elbit Systems, HP, G4S/Allied Universal, AXA, CAF, PUMA, Caterpillar, General Mills/Pillsbury, Hyundai Heavy Industries, JCB, Volvo, Barclays Bank, Alstom, Motorola Solutions, IBM, and CEMEX.

  4. Boycott all academic, cultural, sports, and tourism engagements in apartheid Israel or supported/sponsored by Israel (or its lobby groups and complicit institutions).

  5. Join a BDS campaign or a strategic Palestine solidarity group near you to act collectively and effectively.

Channel your anger strategically and mobilize to #DismantleApartheid and all forms of racism and oppression.


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