Once again, Palestinian organizers, political leaders and former prisoners have been assaulted and detained by Palestinian Authority security forces as they demanded justice for Nizar Banat, assassinated by PA security forces almost two months ago, on 24 June 2021. A protest scheduled for this evening, Saturday, 21 August to demand accountability for those who killed and directed Banat’s killing and demand an end to the Palestinian Authority’s security coordination with the Israeli occupation was blocked by PA security forces, who assaulted demonstrators and detained at least 23 people, including:
- Maher al-Akhras, former political prisoner and long-term hunger striker who won his freedom from Israeli jails after over 100 days of strike
- Imad al-Barghouthi, Palestinian professor and astrophysicist, former political prisoner jailed by Israel without charge or trial
- Ubai Aboudi, Executive Director of the Bisan Center for Research and Development, former political prisoner jailed by the Israeli occupation
- Jihad Abdo
- Ibrahim Abu Hijleh
- Yousef al-Sharqawi
- Bassem Qawasmeh
- Obaida Qawasmeh
- Kawthar Ebwainy
- Hamza Zbeidat
- Mu’in Barghouthi
- Omar Assaf
- Musa Abu Sharar
- Salem Quteish
- Abdel-Hadi Abu Shamsiah
- Yousef Amer Abu Mamdouh
- Duha Muaddi
- Ali Abu Diab
- Ghassan al-Saadi
Maher al-Akhras was particularly severely wounded by the beating of PA security forces and was transferred to the hospital, reported Lawyers for Justice, which is working to represent all of the detainees and secure their freedom. However, Palestinian Authority security forces are continuing to arrest Palestinian activists, following participants in the demonstration through the streets.
This follows a series of attacks, arrests and violent repressive actions targeting Palestinian protesters by the PA, including the dozens of arrests at previous protests demanding justice for Nizar Banat.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network demands the immediate release of all of these political detainees. Samidoun Network in Occupied Palestine is working to collect information about the detainees and demand their release.
Like the assassination of Nizar Banat, these arrests and attacks reflect a conscious policy of the Israeli occupation and the Oslo Palestinian Authority affiliated with it. The latter is carrying out its specific function to protect the existence of the occupation and its control over the Palestinian people in the West Bank. Acting as agents of the occupation, the PA is practicing all forms of oppression and terror, including political arrests, violent raids and assassinations, against the Palestinian people in order to serve the Zionist colonial project and to protect the privileges of the small sliver of the beneficiaries of the Palestinian Authority – the Oslo class affiliated with the Zionist regime.
The “security coordination” framework binding the PA to the Israeli occupation, overseen and implemented by the United States, Canada and the European Union (all engaged in training, funding and oversight of Palestinian Authority security forces), is designed to employ Palestinian agencies to carry out the mission of Zionist colonialism – chasing, repressing, imprisoning and targeting the Palestinian resistance as well as many Palestinians — organizers, writers, intellectuals, student activists — who present an alternative vision for the liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea, without the collaborationist entity of the Palestinian Authority. The Oslo project is backed by Zionism, imperialism and reactionary regimes – and it must and will fall on the road to the liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea.