“Palestinian guests in Lebanon are working with total freedom. First of all we do not refer to them as “refugees”. They are our brothers who are suffering and in a very difficult situation that they did not cause and they have lost their country. They sought our help in Lebanon as brothers. You Americans really need to understand that in our Arab, Muslim, and Christian culture, you help your brother. You share with him your loaf of bread. You split it in half and give half to your brother. So out of this sacred tradition, out of the long history that binds us with our Palestinian brothers we host them in Lebanon temporarily until they can go back to their country. But while they are here, of course Lebanon is living through a difficult situation ourselves but our Palestinian … [read more]

Founded in 1975 by Ibrahim Ghonaim the Haraka Islamiyyah Muhjahida is considered to be the oldest Islamic movement within the Palestinian refugee camp Ain el Hilweh, Lebanon, which embarked on the armed struggle in order to liberate Palestine. It participated in the resistance against the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1978 and 1982. In 1990 Jamal Khattab took over the leadership of the group. As a graduate from the American University of Beirut he shaped a moderate face for the movement and focused on media work. Beside Usbat al-Ansar (considered close to Al Quaida) and Ansar Allah (considered close to Hezbollah) JIM with some 200 fighters is the third armed Salafi force in the camp. It is, however, politically more articulated and wields a wider field of influence which leads to a … [read more]

28.07.2010 The Sumud centre was cleaned and enough chairs were prepared. Visitors from inside the camp were expected, who were also excited to meet the historical figure again. Thirty minutes before the scheduled arrival the electricity was cut. Ironic comments were heard in the dark place ‘Well, this shouldn’t be a surprise’; ‘Let’s get some candles, the meeting will be romantic’; ‘You think we should move to the PFLP office?’…. More interesting was the scene outside, as Nashet activists and two old PFLP guards neighbouring the building: - Comrade, you have an electricity generator. Can you lend us some electricity? - Our generator is too small. It barely runs the refrigerator and two lamps! - Please comrade, it is Leila Khaled coming! - And even if it was … [read more]

Tuesday, August 3: A new war to come? On Tuesday, we heard about the escalation at the border in the south that had happened the day before. The Israelis decided to cut a tree on the Lebanese territory because the tree didn’t allow an Israeli camera the full view on the Lebanese land which they seek to observe. The Lebanese army didn’t give the permission to cut the tree on their territory and as the Israelis did it anyway the Lebanese started to shoot. At first they shot in the air as a warning, then they shot on target. The result was three dead on the Lebanese side (two soldiers and one journalist), one on the Israeli side, many injured on both sides, and the danger of a new war to begin. In the camp we discussed about that issue with the Palestinian refugees. We wanted to … [read more]

A Brief Report of the proceedings of the Sit-In on the evening of 7 August 2010 against the crimes on the people of Kashmir by the Indian State The evening of 7 August 2010 witnessed after a long long time voices of freedom from the people of Kashmir. Despite the heavy repression and the draconian laws to maim and incarcerate the people of Kashmir, to subjugate their indomitable spirit for Azadi, the evening of August 7 at the heart of Delhi just half a kilometre away from the parliament witnessed unprecedented scenes of assertion of the political will not to say genuine desire of the Kashmiri people for freedom from the exploitative and oppressive rule of the Indian State. Around six to seven hundred people had gathered including people from various peoples organisations in Delhi to … [read more]

Meeting Hamas Thursday evening, July 29, one part of the delegation met the Hamas leader of Beirut and Saida, Abu Achmad Alfatel while the others remained in Beirut to visit Al Akhbar Newspaper. Abu Achmad Alfatel explained the delicate situation of the Palestinian people in Gaza to the participants. Since the elections in 2006, political conditions have tightened through the extended embargo and the general isolation from the rest of the world, which makes daily life very difficult. It seems to him that the western governments were ready to accept the elections, but not the unexpected result - this gives a clear idea of western perception of democracy. Due to the 2009 war in Gaza 70% of the region is destroyed, there exist hardly any infrastructure: ‘We live like in stone age’, … [read more]

2 PM, 3RD AUGUST 2010, RAJENDRA BHAVAN, DEEN DAYAL UPADHYAY MARG, NEW DELHI The Public Meeting to demand the judicial enquiry into the killings of Azad, the spokesperson and Polit Bureau member of the CPI (Maoist) along with journalist Hem Chandra Pandey at Rajendra Bhavan, New Delhi was addressed by a large number of prominent citizens in the presence of packed auditorium. Dr. B D Sharma, former National Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Tribes of Government of India chaired the public meeting and started the proceedings of the meeting by calling upon the audience to observe one minute’s silence in commemoration of Azad and Hem Chandra Pandey. Dr Anup Saraya a well-known doctor and democratic rights activist convened the meeting to start it proceedings. G N Saibaba, … [read more]

Now, Israel is moving towards the criminal prosecution of those who advocate Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) as tools to press Israeli compliance with international law and norms in its Apartheid rule and occupation of the Palestinian people. It is targeting BDS activists for lengthy interrogations and arrest for nonviolent resistance. Its diplomats are considering intervening against BDS successes in localities, such as Olympia, Washington, where a food coop joined the boycott of Israeli goods. This movement, people must understand, is spurned by the failure of governments to bring justice to the Palestinians, a point recently made by Antony Lowenstein. As BDS grows, it’s shaping up as a truly global movement. This is an open call from Indian academics, writers and … [read more]

First stop was the village Maghdusheh up the hill above the camp. In 1986, the village had witnessed one of the most crucial battles of the Palestinian resistance against the then pro-Syrien Amal militia. The Palestinian counter-attack to take over the hill put an end to months of a starvation siege imposed by Amal, forcing a cease-fire and free access to the camp. After this short stop, the group moved on to Mlita, which was an important starting point of the Hezbollah guerilla actions during the fights to liberate South Lebanon. There, a war exposition is established in a formal mountain military base of Hezbollah. Destroyed and abandoned tanks, canons, armored cars and weapons of the Israeli army and the collaborator South Lebanese army are exposed. Resistance weapons, tunnel … [read more]

The first station was the Market of Sabra. Sabra is a poor district of Beirut, which has merged together with the Palstinian refugee Camp Shatila. In Sabra, the population is mixed: Lebanese of all confessions, Palestinian and other poor foreigners live there. Sabra and Shatila are considered as one and the same place, in particular when mentioning the 1982 massacre. At Sabra Market one can find “everything”. The deeper you go into the long market street, things become cheaper and more illegal. The delegation headed from there to Shatila. Different than Ein El Hilweh, Shatila camp is accessible. No checkpoints and ID controls by the Lebanese army are present. The camp was demilitarised in the context of the end of the Lebanese civil war in 1991. Nevertheless, the situation of the … [read more]

In this way, the teenager, also making his own short film, will show the place which formed his personality and options: the camp. Along with two selected teenagers, the every-day-life of youth in the camp is to be shown. By this the audience can get an impression of the situation, the daily struggles and they ways and means to succeed them. The arrival of Arab Lotfi, the Lebanese film maker and the leader of the work shop meant the actual beginning of the workshop. A summarized presentation of the film concept and a discussion with Ms. Lotfi took place. Teams were formed to cover the themes. For the first shooting days, two teams were to collect images inside the camp, while the third was to deliver scenes of the surroundings, the surrounding fences and from the hill above. After an … [read more]

Straight after the arrival work began. The missing facilities for the multi media centre were purchased. After a first get together, Nashet organised a tour through the Camp. Those delegation members who had already taken part in the mission 2009 were immediately recognised by the inhabitants who welcomed them warmly. This first tour through the Camp allowed for an important impression of the Camp’s intensive political history and present. Posters and pictures of martyrs are everywhere, as well as symbols of Palestinian organisations and banners with political slogans. The Camp means to leave Lebanese normality. Palestine starts here. During the tour, the delegation stopped for a short visit in the PFLP office. It was welcomed by spokesman Abu Bassel who gave an introductory speech … [read more]

CONSTITUTE JUDICIAL INQUIRY INTO THEIR KILLINGS IMMEDIATELY Rajendra Bhawan, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg 2PM, 3 August 2010 Speakers: Agnivesh, Amit Bhaduri Arundhati Roy Ashish Gupta/ PUDR B D Sharma G Haragopal G N Saibaba Jagmohan Manoranjan Mohanty Mehar Engineer Mrigank PC Tiwari Rajender Sachar/ Pushkar Raj/ PUCL Rajkishore, RDF SAR Geelani Satnam Sujato Bhadro Neelabh Pankaj Bisht Sumit Chakravartty Varavara Rao And Others Azad, the spokesperson of the Central Committee of CPI (Maoist) along with a freelance journalist, Hemant Pandey from Delhi was murdered in cold blood in the early hours of 2 July 2010. The circumstantial evidence clearly shows that both were caught in Nagpur by Central and Andhra Pradesh intelligence agencies in a joint … [read more]

In total some 1,000 people attended. There was the Arab left represented by personalities like Omar Barghouti, the coordinator of the campaign for Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions (BDS), Jamal Jumaa of Stop the Wall, Heidar Eid (by video link from Gaza), a political leader of the campaign to lift the blockade, recognised across the factions, or Abd el-Latif Gheith, chairman of the prisoners support association Adameer from Jerusalem (also by internet transmission) – to name only a few. Ahmed Saadat, leader of the PFLP lingering in Zionist jail, sent an address. A good portion of the participants came from Abnaa el-Balad, “children of the land”, the engine of the committee for a secular democratic state. There were also several Jewish Israeli partcipants like the professors Ilan … [read more]

The assassination of Azad is a continuation of state terror and war on the people of India. This act exposes the disinformation campaign surrounding the state’s “ceasefire” proposal, which is nothing but a deception by the Government of India. It puts a spotlight on the real intentions of the regime in launching “Operation Green Hunt” which has turned the whole of India into a war zone and hurled the unrestrained brutality of 250,000 paramilitary and police forces against the people, in its attempts to auction off the natural resources of the country. Those in power in India know full well that the brutal abduction and killing of Azad and other popular leaders of the resistance will deter neither the tribal people nor his party the CPI (Maoist) nor any who oppose the … [read more]

From May 28-31, 2010, the „Second Haifa Conference for One Democratic Secular State and the Right to Return” took place. It was an extraordinary event both in terms of participation as well as in political range. Various forces from Palestinian and Jewish background attended. The success of the initiative is also due to the fact of the death struggle of leftist Zionism which gives way for an unprecedented de-Zionisation. As Anti-imperialist Camp we do not only predict the growth of the movement for one democratic state but will actively take part on it. … [read more]

Palestinian and European youth worked jointly in renovating a building, which had been destroyed in the successive sieges and bombardments of the camp. The restored building became a multipurpose community centre, a place of interchange, memory and civil commitment, a meeting point for all the young Palestinian of the refugee camp: the Cultural Centre “Sumud”. This year, Sumud starts the second phase: a new brigade will go to the camp. With the help of the collected donations, further restoration and furnishing works will be carried out in the centre. The target of this year is even more ambitious: beside the voluntary works in the building, a film making workshop will be held for Palestinian and Lebanese youth, as well as for the international volunteers, whose task will also be … [read more]

Sumud discusses with ’Aiutiamoli a Vivere’ (’Let’s help them to live’) - www.aiutiamoliavivere.it ’Gazzella ONLUS’ (’Gazelle - Non-Profit Association’) - www.gazzella-onlus.com ’Ragazzi Missionari’ (’Missionary Youth’) - www.ragazzimissionari.it ’Peace Reporter’ - http://it.peacereporter.net Friday, July 9 16.00 – Arrival at Isola Polvese, move into accommodation, get together 20.00 – Dinner 21.00 – Short presentation of the week-end: programme, profile and objectives 22.00 – Screening of a documentary film by the greek film director Nikos Klitsikas on Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon Saturday, July 10 The day is dedicated to the presentation of the participating organisations’ experiences. Each session will start with a … [read more]

Carrying approximately 310 passengers -including workers, students, public figures and activists- the convoy was packed with symbolic food supplies which the besieged strip is deprived of, as a result of the Israeli-imposed siege and Egypt’s refusal to allow these banned items through. The convoy was co-organized by various Egyptian entities including syndicates; political parties and organizations active in supporting the Palestinian cause. Our convoy action came in light of Egypt’s decision on 1 June 2010 to “open” the Rafah border crossing “indefinitely.” If applied as spin-doctors marketed it to public opinion, Egypt’s pledge would practically end the siege of Gaza and the suffering of its people, which is why it was hailed by the state-run media as a “master … [read more]

We thank the many hundreds of dedicated activists for the rights of the Palestinian people and for justice and freedom that made the long way from different parts of Palestine and from all over the world and shared with us their enthusiasm and insights through three long days of networking, discussions and commitment to struggle together for the just cause. We thank the many hundreds of organizations and individuals that couldn’t come to attend the conference but send us their warm greetings and supportive messages or signed the petition in support of the goals of the conference. We want to assure all of you that our common effort was not in vain. The conference was an important step forward for analyzing the roots of the racist regime, critically study many different experiences … [read more]