USPCN Presents: The Ongoing Nakba – Testimonies of Courage and Resistance

– May 4, 2021
In this critical moment, USPCN is honored to present three leaders from the ongoing fight for liberation in Palestine: Join us at (please note the time change from previous announcements) 1 […]
In this critical moment, USPCN is honored to present three leaders from the ongoing fight for liberation in Palestine:
Join us at (please note the time change from previous announcements) 1 PM ET / 8 PM Palestine on Nakba Day, Saturday, May 15th, 2021, to hear from:
Majd Barbar: recently released after twenty years in Israeli jails, former political prisoner who inspired the world by throwing a now-famous release party with his wife and family in a celebration of love, life, and the continuation of struggle after imprisonment. Israel re-arrested Majd after his release in an attempt to impose a house arrest order on him to limit his movement, but he was freed again the next day after international condemnation.
Leena Khattab: former political prisoner arrested for her student organizing and activism, she joins us to speak about the case of her brother, Ata Khattab, cultural worker and choreographer for El-Funoun Popular Dance Troupe, detained by the Israelis since his arrest in early February 2021. #FreeAtaKhattab
Dalia Nassar: project coordinator for the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees (UPWC), who will discuss the case of Khitam Saafin, president of the UPWC, arrested in mid-November of 2020 and placed under administrative detention, an order that detains Palestinians without charge or trial on the basis of secret evidence. #FreeKhitamSaafin 
USPCN co-founder and leader of our Bay Area chapter, Monadel Herzallah, will facilitate the conversation.
The event will be conducted in Arabic and broadcast LIVE to the USPCN Facebook page, with simultaneous English translation available by signing up HERE.
Background:
It has been 73 years since the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by criminal Israeli gangs, which saw the uprooting and removal of close to 800,000 Palestinians from their homes and lands. This event is called the Nakba, or catastrophe. Since then, the Israeli government has done everything in its power to forcibly remove the remaining Palestinians, through policies of apartheid and brutal occupation.
Recently, the world witnessed mobs of Israeli settlers marching through the streets of Jerusalem, chanting “Death to the Arabs,” and attacking and injuring over 100 Palestinians, including children and elders. The world watches as the lives of hundreds of Palestinians in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah hang in the balance, as the unjust Israeli court system orders their ethnic cleansing and displacement,  allowing illegal Israeli settlers to steal their homes. #SaveSheikhJarrah
We have also witnessed an unwavering dedication by the Palestinian people to fight for their dignity and the liberation of every inch of stolen Palestinian land. The brave people of Jerusalem met the Israeli mob violence with fierce resistance, securing a decisive victory as the Israeli government was forced to retreat and remove the security barriers they had erected at the entrance of Bab Al ‘Amud in Jerusalem.
Palestinians from every sector of society continue the struggle against the ongoing Nakba 73 years later.
In response, Israel has especially increased its targeted repression of women, students, and cultural workers, attempting to stifle any activism that dares to resist and expose Israel for the criminal, pariah state that it is. This is why USPCN has taken up the causes of #FreeAtaKhattab and #FreeKhitamSaafin.
Two leading organizers in Palestine, Ata Khattab, a choreographer with El-Funoun Popular Dance Troupe and Khitam Saafin, the president of the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees, have been targeted for the critical role they play in Palestinian society. USPCN recognizes that to defend Ata, Khitam, and all Palestinian prisoners is to defend the sacred right of the Palestinians to struggle for national liberation.
Until Liberation & Return,
Souzan Naser
USPCN Political Prisoners Advocacy Committee