Palestinian activist groups are planning events across North America for Palestinian Political Prisoners Week 2026, marking the annual April 17 National Day for the Palestinian Prisoner.
The Palestinian National Council chose the date in 1974 to commemorate the April 17, 1971, release of Fatah member Mahmoud Bakr Hijazi, who had killed 20 Israeli soldiers in 1965 and was later exchanged for Shmuel Rozenvasser, an Israeli kidnapped by Fatah.
Stu Smith, an investigative analyst at the Manhattan Institute, told JNS that “the events will likely vary from chapter to chapter based on the level of local support and organizing capacity.”
“In New York, for example, direct action and mass protest are clearly on the table,” he said.
The New York chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement announced a Palestinian Prisoners Day March, set for April 18 in Manhattan’s Herald Square, to “honor those enduring the cruelty of the colonial Zionist entity.”
The Chicago chapter has scheduled a week of events, including “black-Palestinian solidarity: prisons as a tool for genocide; prisoners and the execution law” at Pilsen Community Books on April 15, and a “freedom and dignity: prisoner justice panel” at the Al Nahda Center on April 17. Prisoner-themed films will also be featured at the Chicago Palestine Film Festival.
A “global week of action” schedule lists a rally in Toronto’s Sankofa Square and a march in New Orleans on April 17, along with events in New Jersey, Texas, North Carolina, Ohio, Florida and Michigan. Organizers have also called for a global “day of fasting in solidarity with Palestinian political prisoners who are being starved and tortured in Israel prison,” alongside demands to “free them all.”
Jewish Voice for Peace urged supporters to “take action” on April 17, claiming that as of March 2026 more than 9,000 Palestinians are held in Israeli prisons, over 4,000 without charge, and that since Oct. 2023 “nearly 100 detainees have died in Israeli custody.”
Smith warned that “with Palestinian Prisoners’ Day promoting the idea that prisoners are the moral compass of the movement, even seemingly softer programming like film screenings could easily slide into terrorist apologetics.”
He added that “solidarity events” often aim to “bring in partner organizations and frame the moment around shared struggle against ‘imperialism.’”
“Other Palestinian groups will be highly attuned to the day, especially given that only a few years ago their activism was dominating headlines and screens across America as encampments spread across college campuses,” Smith said.
Despite those protests and encampments, the United States has deepened its alliance with Israel, helped secure a hostage release from Gaza and coordinated military strikes on Iran, raising questions about what these movements hope to achieve.
“On the broader left, every action helps build organizational muscle,” Smith told JNS. “These protests are not one-offs. They are part of a longer project of building capacity, shaping public opinion and inching closer to power. That is why allies beyond the immediate Palestine sphere are likely to join in.”
“When people like Hasan Piker and Ilhan Omar claim there is little real support for Israel left in the Democratic base, it is easy to see why activists would feel that the political winds are moving in their favor,” Smith said.
