On June 2nd, 20-year-old Palestinian-American citizen and Birzeit University student Sama Safi was taken from her family home during a predawn Israeli military raid. Israeli occupation forces entered her home around 3 a.m., abducted her without explanation, and have continued to hold her without charges while withholding information about her whereabouts from both her family and the U.S. government. Sama has a medical condition requiring treatment, making her continued detention even more alarming.

But Sama is not the only one. She was one of four Birzeit University students detained during these raids. While we demand Sama's immediate release and safe return to her family, we must also demand freedom for every student who was taken alongside her and for the thousands of Palestinians who continue to face arbitrary detention under Israel's military occupation system, American or not.

These arrests are part of a decades-long system of control imposed by the Israeli apartheid regime. Palestinian students, academics, journalists, human rights defenders, and ordinary civilians have for generations faced arbitrary detention, military raids, surveillance, harassment, and severe restrictions on their movement and basic freedoms. The targeting of young people seeking an education is part of a system designed to suppress Palestinian life, leadership, and political expression.

Take action today by calling and emailing your Representative and Senators. Demand that they:

• Secure the immediate release of Sama Safi, Jolan Abu Awad, Natalia Abu Dia, and Laila Nail Khalill. 

• End U.S. complicity in policies that enable arbitrary detention, collective punishment, and systematic violations of Palestinian rights.

• Press the State Department and U.S. Embassy to actively intervene on behalf of those detained.