Young people in Lahore get a chance to interact with Leila Khaled!

Leila Khalid, symbol of the Palestinian struggle for freedom from Zionist occupation, delivered a talk at Cafe Bol, reflecting on the history of the Palestinian struggle and the recent uprisings against dictators in the Arab world.

We have uploaded the first two video recordings of the talk, more to follow:

Leila Khaled, Palestinian freedom fighter, speaks at Cafe Bol (via Skype) – I

Leila Khaled, Palestinian freedom fighter, speaks at Cafe Bol (via Skype) – II

Pakistanis for Palestine supports the legitimate demands of Palestinian political prisoners in their open-ended hunger strike

On Sunday 25 September, prisoners belonging to the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) issued a statement announcing their intention to reject all prison orders and to refuse to wear uniforms, stand up for daily counts, or accept food, in order to “declare to the steadfast, struggling brave masses of the Palestinian people and to all free people in the world… [that] we demand our rights and our dignity, as we struggle for the victory of our values and ideals.” Since then, an estimated number of 3000 prisoners have joined the campaign by going on open-ended or three-day strikes. The Zionist regime brutally tried to repress the strikes by measures such as denying the prisoners the access to their lawyers, family visits or placing them in solitary confinement.

Pakistanis for Palestine fully endorses the demands of the striking prisoners for:

1.    Ending the policy of solitary confinement

2.    Ending the ban on college education for prisoners

3.    Ending the policy of collective punishment, including the denial of visits, and imposing financial penalties on prisoners

4.    Ending the policy of provocative incursions and invasions of prisoners’ cells

5.    Stopping the policy of shackling the hands and legs of prisoners during visits by family members and lawyers

6.    Improving the health conditions of hundreds of sick and injured prisoners and providing them with the needed treatments

7.    Allowing books, newspapers and clothes to enter prisons

8.    Allowing the broadcast of satellite TV channels that have been banned by Israeli Prison Service (IPS)

9.    Ending the policy of restricting visits to 30 minutes every month, and the arbitrary denial of visits

 

We urge the international community to endorse the call of the striking prisoners and to hold the Zionist regime accountable for its violations of international law regarding prisoner’s rights. In 1951 the occupying regime ratified their membership in the third Geneva Convention concerning the treatment of captured prisoners of war. Since then, from arbitrary detentions to the use of torture during interrogation, denial of family visits, denial of access to a lawyer, denial of medical treatment, the rights of Palestinians prisoners have consistently been violated by the regime. It is the international community’s duty to ensure that it abides by the treaties it has ratified.

– We stand with our people in Palestine as in one trench for the liberation of the entire Palestinian soil, and we stress on the right of all Palestinians to return to their homes and land.

– We stress on the struggle for the liberation of all prisoners and detainees in the prisons of the Zionist occupation.

– We stand in solidarity with resistance by all means against occupation.

 

The Salam docks after the Caravan was forced to bribe the Egyptian authorities

We heard last night that the ship accompanying the Caravan, Salam, carrying humanitarian aid for the Gazan population, has finally been allowed to dock at the Egyptian port of Al Arish.

The Egyptian authorities have refused to unload the materiel sent by Iran, and have turned over the rest to the Israelis for inspection. According to Iran’s PressTV, the Caravan members have vowed to remain in Gaza until all the aid has indeed reached the people for whom it is intended.

We have also heard that the bribe paid to the Egyptian authorities to let the Salam dock came to $10,000! If this is indeed true, it brings to light the disgusting manner in which Egypt – and other collaborationist regimes like it – profit from the plight of the Palestinians.

Sources:

1. Egypt halts full aid delivery to Gaza
2. Asia2Gaza on twitter