Al-Awda PRRC denounces the denial of entry of Al-Awda National Committee member and Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network our international Coordinator, Charlotte Kates, and one of the founders of the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement, Khaled Barakat to the Netherlands and their deportation from Amsterdam airport to Canada by the Dutch military police.
Charlotte and Khaled were on their way to participate in the Week of Action for Return and Liberation of Palestine. We see their denial of entry and deportation as a clear attack carried out by the Netherlands and European Union against Palestinian organising, the Palestinian people, and their struggle for return and liberation.
As soon as Barakat and Kates arrived in Amsterdam Schiphol airport on Monday morning, 24 October, they were detained by the immigration service operated by the Dutch military police. Both Barakat and Kates were interrogated about their political views, about Samidoun, Masar Badil, and the week of action for liberation and return showing that this is a clear political attack against both of them, our organizations and the Palestinian movement, especially in the diaspora
It is worth noting that this occurs as Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte is arriving in the settler colonial Zionist state for two days of talks, amid fierce Palestinian resistance and colonial violence, including the targeted assassination of Palestinian resisters and taking the lives of five Palestinian martyrs just last night.
We emphasize that our response to this attack on our organizing must be to make an even bigger, stronger, louder and more powerful stand with the Palestinian people, their resistance, and the liberation of Palestine. The March for Return and Liberation will gather in Brussels this Saturday 29 October for a clear demonstration that the Palestinian people will accept nothing less than return and liberation, from the river to the sea, and will hold Europe accountable for its colonial crimes and ongoing imperialist exploitation! We urge all Palestinians, Arabs and internationalists to join the march or organize local activities for return and liberation!
Meanwhile just last night the Israeli army launched a massive overnight assault on Nablus, killing 6 Palestinians, during which time Israeli forces surrounded several homes from which members of the “Lions’ Den” group were reportedly fighting. The Netherlands and Germany both support the Zionist entity financially, militarily, and politically, even during their countless aggressions and wars against the Palestinian people and the Gaza strip.
We call on supporters of Palestine to defend the right to struggle for return and liberation of Palestine, and participate in the Week of Return and Liberation and organizing protests and actions in your cities in support of the Palestinian people, and their inalienable right to liberate their land and return to their homes.
Please call or write the EU: https://european-union.europa.eu/contact-eu_en and urge them to condemn the deportation of Khaled Barakat and Charlotte Kates, as well as end the attacks against our organizations and the Palestinian movement.
Join the March for Return and Liberation in Brussels, Belgium on Saturday, 29 October 2022 at 2 pm (14h) from Lumumba Square to the European Parliament.
Our demands include: the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea, the liberation of all Palestinian prisoners, the return of Palestinian refugees, total boycott and confrontation of normalization, rejection of imperialism, and defense of the Palestinian people and their resistance.
The March is the culmination of the Week for Palestinian Liberation. Events and activities will take place every day in Brussels from 24 October to 29 October. Read more: https://returnandliberation.org/
