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Take Action To Free Ahed Tamimi And All Palestinian Prisoners

Above Photo: Hundreds of New Yorkers joined Palestinian advocacy groups on January 5, 2017 at Grand Central Station to participate on an emergency rally calling out for the immediate release of 16 year old Ahed Tamimi and all Palestinian prisoners abducted and imprisoned by Israeli Occupation Forces. (Photo by Erik McGregor)

People around the world are mobilizing for the Days of Action to Free Ahed Tamimi and all Palestinian Prisoners as Ahed herself approaches her 17th birthday behind Israeli bars. Ahed, 16, will turn 17 on 31 January in HaSharon prison, where she is separated from her mother Nariman, also imprisoned there.

Ahed’s next military court hearing was scheduled for 31 January, but will now take place on 6 February, the same day as her mother’s next hearing before the military court. The youth activist and participant in the anti-colonial land defense and resistance in the village of Nabi Saleh was seized by occupation forces on 19 December. The pre-dawn raid on the family home by heavily armed occupation forces came days after Ahed confronted and slapped an occupation soldier on her family’s land.

Shortly before, occupation soldiers had shot a cousin of Ahed’s, 15-year-old Mohammed Tamimi, in the face with a rubber-coated metal bullet. Ahed has frequently confronted the occupation forces invading her family’s home, and members of her family have been repeatedly subject to arrest and persecution. Indeed, later the same day, her mother Nariman was arrested by occupation forces when she went to support her daughter where she was being held. Her father, Bassam, served three years in Israeli prison and was recognized as an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience. Images of Ahed confronting the occupation forces have become internationally famous alongside the struggle of her village to defend its land from a nearby illegal settlement, Halamish, which has even taken Nabi Saleh’s spring.

Protest in Dublin on 25 December outside the Dail Eireann for Ahed Tamimi and Palestinian Child Prisoners. Photo: Fatin al-Tamimi

There has been a global response to the imprisonment of Ahed, one of approximately 350 Palestinian children imprisoned by Israeli occupation forces. Each year, around 700 Palestinian children are brought before Israeli military courts, and 25 Palestinian children have been subject to administrative detention – imprisonment without charge or trial – over the past two years. Ahed has, in many ways, become a symbol of Palestinian resistance to occupation and of the unjust imprisonment of thousands of Palestinians and hundreds of Palestinian children.

At the same time, she and her family have been explicitly targeted by the Israeli state; 20 of her extended family have had work permits revoked, several of her cousins arrested, and another of her cousins shot dead by occupation forces amid ongoing repression in Nabi Saleh. While infamous far-right Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman has declared that Ahed should remain in prison for the rest of her life, former Israeli ambassador to the US Michael Oren has engaged in the bizarre and frankly racist speculation that she and her family are “not real.”

Around the world, actions and demonstrations have highlighted Ahed’s courage and commitment and that of thousands of fellow Palestinian strugglers. 26-30 January are global days of action for Ahed’s freedom and people around the world are highlighting Ahed’s birthday in order to demand her release.

TAKE ACTION:

  • On social media: Join the Thunderclap! On 31 January, join a global campaign to tweet for Ahed Tamimi’s birthday. It’s easy to add your Twitter, Facebook or Tumblr account to the campaign: click here to join.
  • Wish Ahed a happy birthday online: Sign Code Pink’s petition to greet Ahed Tamimi on her 17th birthday and demand her release:  www.codepink.org/ahed_birthday
  • Demand your government officials intercede for the release of Ahed, 350 imprisoned Palestinian children and over 6,000 Palestinian political prisoners. On January 26, 29 and 30, call your country’s officials and urge them to act:Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop: +61 2 6277 7500
    Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland: +1-613-992-5234
    European Union Commissioner Federica Mogherini: +32 (0) 2 29 53516
    New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters: +64 4 439 8000
    United Kingdom Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson: +44 20 7008 1500
    United States President Donald Trump: +1-202-456-1111In the United States, call your member of the House of Representatives to support H.R. 4391, the Promoting Human Rights by Ending Israeli Military Detention of Palestinian Children Act. Tell them specifically about Ahed’s arrest, and urge them to act for her release. Tell them to pressure Israel to free Ahed and other detained Palestinian kids. Call the House switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to speak to your Representative’s office.
  • Write to Ahed. While Zionist jailers frequently censor Palestinian prisoners’ mail, it can help bolster morale and even send a message to the jailers and censors themselves. Write to Ahed Tamimi, HaSharon Prison, Ben Yehuda P.O. Box 7, 40 330 Israel. If you gather with other supporters to send Ahed letters and birthday cards, you can also take the opportunity to write your government officials, demanding they intercede for her release.
  • On January 30 or as close as possible, organize or join a protest for Ahed. Demonstrate outside your local Israeli embassy, consulate or mission, at a public square or government building, or against a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign target. You can drop a banner or put up a table to support Ahed and other Palestinian political prisoners. You can also bring signs and flyers about Ahed to local events about Palestine and social justice. Please tell us your plans so we can help promote them, then send us pictures and reports of your actions, by messaging them to us on Facebook or sending us an e-mail.

GLOBAL PROTESTS AND ACTIONS

Join one of the many worldwide actions for Ahed Tamimi in the coming days! Add your event to the list by messaging them to us on Facebook or sending us an e-mail.

MATERIALS FOR DISTRIBUTION

We encourage you to make full use of the materials below and reproduce them freely, and to send us your own materials that you would like to include in this page.

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Urgent End Of Year Fundraising Campaign

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Keep independent media alive. 

Due to the attacks on our fiscal sponsor, we were unable to raise funds online for nearly two years.  As the bills pile up, your help is needed now to cover the monthly costs of operating Popular Resistance.

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