Union of Palestinian Communities in Europe demands the immediate release of Raja Eghbarieh

The Union of Palestinian Communities and Organizations in Europe called for the launch of a large-scale European and international solidarity campaign with detained Palestinian activist Raja Eghbarieh, a member of the Political Bureau of the Abnaa el-Balad movement in occupied Palestine ’48. He was arrested by occupation forces on 11 September as they raided his home in Umm el-Fahm.

Dr. Fawzi Ismail, president of the General Secretariat of the Union, said: “This is not the first detention of the struggler Raja Eghbarieh. However, it comes today amid the context of a Zionist onslaught against our people and their liberation movement throughout occupied Palestine, especially after the package of racist measures and laws recently officially adopted in the so-called ‘nation-state law,’ although these have been the consistent and continuous policies of Zionism from the establishment of the occupation in 1948 until the present day.”

Ismail pointed out that “these arbitrary arrests targeting the leaders of the Palestinian movement in occupied Palstine come under false pretexts that aim to silence the voices and impose a siege on all those forces and figures that clearly express a Palestinian conscience and call for the unification of the Palestinian national liberation movement.” He noted that the occupation fails repeatedlly to achieve its objectives, noting that “the opposite occurs; there is a growing solidarity and mobilization of the people to support the Abnaa el-Balad movement and its radical, liberatory vision. This will only escalate in the coming period, not only in occupied Palestine but also in the Diaspora.”

Ismail noted that “the breadth of solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners’ movement and its leadership inside prisons and the development of the movement inside and outside Palestine to defend the rights and freedom of the prisoners confirms that there is a credible Palestinian leadership, but that this leadership can be found in the Zionist prisons and detention centers.” At the same time, he said that political programs and projects that instead come contrary to the frameworks and objectives of the Palestinian resistance at the hands of illegitimate leadership figures will not be trusted.

Ismail declared that the Union will build a campaign in the coming days in cooperaton with Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network and other Palestinian organizations in the Union, as well as sending clear messages to the European Commission, European Parliament and relevant human rights organizations.