Tadamun — The International Institution for Solidarity with Palestinian Prisoners

Tadamun states its purpose in one sentence: to raise awareness of the cause of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons and to build the largest effective solidarity network to champion their cause in local, regional and international forums. It is an advocacy body first, but the by-product of that advocacy is one of the more regular documentary series on Palestinian detention available anywhere, and it works from outside the occupied territories — its eleventh annual campaign, “Voice of the Free,” was launched from Beirut on Palestinian Prisoners’ Day.

The core series is the monthly Statistical Human Rights Report on the Condition of the Palestinian Prisoners and Detainees, published in Arabic and English, covering a calendar month at a time. Around it sit thematic sections that function as standing files: the starvation of prisoners; the use of detainees as human shields; enforced disappearance; detained journalists; conditions in the prisons after 7 October 2023; and prisoner exchange deals. There is a chronology of the prisoners’ movement, an infographic series, a video testimony collection, and a daily media briefing. The institution also publishes position statements on specific cases — the assault on Marwan Barghouti, the letter from Dr Hussam Abu Safiya to his lawyer, the “crocodiles” project at Ktzi’ot — and legal analysis measuring Israeli practice against the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, the Mandela Rules.

There is also a literary shelf, which is unusual and worth knowing about. Tadamun maintains a list of recommended books built around prison writing — adab al-sujun — including works by and about prisoners. Prison literature is a major Palestinian genre and it is systematically under-catalogued; this is one of the few places it is gathered.

Practical notes. The site is predominantly Arabic. An English section exists and carries the About page and some of the statistical reports, but the majority of the content — including most of the chronology, briefings and testimony — is Arabic only. The English toggle in the header is a JavaScript control rather than a link, so the reliable way to reach English pages is to substitute /en/ for /ar/ in the URL. Contact is by email to the institution directly.

Sources

• Tadamun — home, report and section index
• About Us — The International Institution for Solidarity with Palestinian Prisoners