issue no 17

Issue No: 17 20th April, 2012

17

Issue No: 17

News Tour

Palestinian prisoners in mass hunger strike

Addameer: continue solidarity with Palestinian prisoners

International solidarity with Palestinian hunger strikers

Prisoners' Day activities take place in the West Bank

Hamas calls solitary confinement and administrative detention "retaliation for prisoners'

steadfastness" ................................

19 Prisoners in solitary confinement, thousands demonstrate in solidarity

Israel frees former hunger striker

Occupation Punishes the Hunger Strikers

Halhale slips into a coma ................................

Hunger striker Ezzuddin in serious condition

Foreign activists go on hunger strike in Israeli custody

Press Release

Press Statement on the Palestinian Prisoner Day and the P

Caricature

Palestinian Prisoners on Hunger Strike

Palestinian Weekly Report is a periodical insight into the latest developments of the

Palestinian Issue. It’s issued by The Palestinian Cultural Organization

focuses on the most important news and analysis about the happenings of the

Palestinian struggle against Israeli occupation in the Holy Lands of Palestine. The

views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect PCOM's editorial

Contents

Palestinian prisoners in mass hunger strike ................................................................

Addameer: continue solidarity with Palestinian prisoners ................................................................

International solidarity with Palestinian hunger strikers ................................................................

Prisoners' Day activities take place in the West Bank ................................................................


................................................................................................................................

19 Prisoners in solitary confinement, thousands demonstrate in solidarity ................................

Israel frees former hunger striker ................................................................................................

the Hunger Strikers ................................................................

................................................................................................

Hunger striker Ezzuddin in serious condition ................................................................

Foreign activists go on hunger strike in Israeli custody ................................................................

Press Statement on the Palestinian Prisoner Day and the Prisoners Hunger Strike

Palestinian Prisoners on Hunger Strike ................................................................


It’s issued by The Palestinian Cultural Organization



views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect PCOM's editorial

20th April, 2012

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Hunger Strike………………………12

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It’s issued by The Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia and it



views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect PCOM's editorial policy.


News Tour

Palestinian prisoners in mass hunger strike

17/04/2012

At least 1,200 Palestinian inmates of Israeli jails began an open-ended hunger strike on Tuesday, as rallies across the occupied territories marked "Prisoners' Day".

As thousands gathered in towns and cities in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, three-quarters of the 4,700 Palestinians held by Israel began refusing food, the Israel Prisons Service (IPS) said.

"In the framework of (Palestinian) Prisoners' Day, around 2,300 security prisoners said they were refusing their daily meals, and around 1,200 prisoners said they were starting a hunger strike," IPS spokeswoman Sivan Weizman said on Tuesday. Another eight women inmates had also said they were refusing food as a show of solidarity with the Palestinian security prisoners, Weizman said.

"We have coped with hunger strikes in the past and we are prepared to do so again now," she added.

Speaking to crowds gathered in the northern West Bank city of Nablus, Qadura Fares, head of the Palestinian Prisoners Club, gave a higher figure for the hunger strike, saying "1,500 prisoners from all the factions" had joined it already and more were expected to later in the month.

"We are united and undivided when it comes to prisoners, and we will stand by them until they get their demands," he said.

The Palestinian Prisoner Affairs Ministry says there are about 4,700 Palestinians being held in Israeli prisons, including 319 being held without charge in so-called "administrative detention".

The action by prisoners comes on the same day that Palestinian activist Khader Adnan was due to be released as part of a deal struck earlier this year to end his 66-day hunger strike in protest at his detention without charge. Throughout the morning, thousands of people held marches and rallies across the West Bank, with about 3,000 people gathering


in Shuhada Square in central Nablus, waving Palestinian flags and holding up pictures of imprisoned relatives.

Another 1,000 or so people gathered in central Ramallah, with a sit-in planned for later in the afternoon outside the nearby Ofer prison.

In the southern West Bank city of Hebron, 1,500 people gathered holding up flags, pictures and slogans reading: "Stop the policy of solitary confinement."

Hundreds more gathered in the northern towns of Tulkarem and Qalqilya, a witneses said.

In Gaza City, about 2,000 people marched to the headquarters of the Red Cross where they set up a solidarity tent with the hunger strikers.

There are currently 10 Palestinians on hunger strike in Israeli prisons, four of whom have been transferred to prison hospitals because of the fragile state of their heath, the Palestinian Prisoners Club says.

Two of them, Bilal Diab, 27, and Thaer Halahla, 34, have been refusing food for 50 days, with medics expressing concern over their deteriorating health.

Another prisoner, Hassan Safdi, on hunger strike for 44 days, was being held in the same facility, with his condition described as "very serious".

All 10 are being held without charge under administrative detention orders, which means they can be held for renewable periods of up to six months. /Aljazeera

Addameer: continue solidarity with Palestinian prisoners

17/04/2012

Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons launched a mass hunger strike yesterday, 17 April, on Palestinian Prisoners’ Day. The call for hunger strike came amidst a wave of individual hunger strikes initiated in the past few months, and prisoners on hunger strike continue to face punishments by the Israeli Prison Service (IPS).

An estimated 1,200 Palestinian prisoners announced the beginning of an open hunger

strike yesterday, along with approximately 2,300 who refused meals and are currently preparing for a wider campaign of disobedience. The hunger striking prisoners’ demands include: an end to the IPS’ abusive use of isolation for “security” reasons, which currently affects 19 prisoners, some of whom have spent 10 years in isolation; an end to Israel’s practice of detaining Palestinians without charge or trial in administrative detention, under which 322 Palestinians are currently detained; a repeal of a series of punitive measures taken against Palestinian prisoners following the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, including the denial of family visits for all Gaza prisoners since 2007 and denial of access to university education since June 2011.

This collective hunger strike follows the 22-day day campaign of disobedience, including a mass hunger strike, launched at the end of September 2011 in protest of the escalating series of punitive measures taken against Palestinian prisoners in prior months. On 18


October, prisoners put their hunger strike on hold in light of the prisoner exchange deal concluded by Israel and Hamas. As most of the punitive measures taken by the IPS against prisoners were part of a policy aimed at collectively punishing them for the continued incarceration of Gilad Shalit, it was expected that these would be reversed with his release. At the time of the first phase of prisoner releases, the spokespersons for the prisoner’s movement made a deal with the IPS that the policy of isolation and other punitive measures would be stopped within three months if the prisoners ceased their hunger strike. Today marks six months since this agreement was made, and no policy changes have yet occurred. Prisoners have therefore re-launched their hunger strike to demand their most basic rights.

Notably, at least ten Palestinian prisoners remain on extended hunger strikes launched during and following the inspiring individual hunger strikes of Khader Adnan, who was on hunger strike for 66 days and released from administrative detention at around 11:00 pm yesterday, and Hana Shalabi, who ended her hunger strike after 43 days. Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahleh are currently on their 50th day of hunger strike in protest of their administrative detention. They are both being held in Ramleh Prison medical center, where their health is rapidly deteriorating. Three other administrative detainees have also been moved to Ramleh Prison medical center, including Hassan Safadi, Omar Abu Shalal and Jaafar Azzedine, on their 45th, 43rd and 28th days of hunger strike respectively. Ahmad Saqer, the currently longest-held administrative detainee, is on his 32nd day of hunger strike. Mohammed Suleiman, Thalassemia patient, is also refusing medical treatment in protest of his administrative detention. Four additional prisoners remain on hunger strike for other reasons, including: Mohammad Taj, on his 32nd day of hunger strike demanding to be treated as a prisoner of war; Mahmoud Sarsak, moved to Ramleh Prison medical center on 16 April and on his 27th day of hunger strike in protest of being

held under Israel’s Unlawful Combatants Law; Azzam Diab, on his 23rd day of hunger strike in solidarity with his brother Bilal; and Abdullah Barghouti, on his 7th day of hunger strike in protest of his ongoing isolation.

These prisoners have all been punished for their hunger strikes by being placed in solitary confinement and denied family visits. The prisoners involved in the mass hunger strike have also already begun to face punishments by the IPS. In an attempt to isolate them from the rest of the prisoners, prisoners on hunger strike in Rimon prison have been transferred to the isolation section of the prison and prisoners on hunger strike in Eshel prison have been transferred to Ohalei Keidar, where no other Palestinian political prisoners are held. Even more troubling, the IPS has made it exceedingly difficult for independent doctors to visit the hunger striking prisoners and has prevented hunger strikers from meeting with their lawyers.

Addameer particularly condemns the IPS’ efforts to ban Addameer lawyer Samer Sam’an from all prison visits following the increasing number of Palestinian prisoners engaging in hunger strike. After being frequently denied visits upon request, the deputy director of Ofer prison informed Mr. Sam’an on 10 April that he would receive an official ban on access to all prisoners. According to IPS regulations, the director of a prison can decide to ban a lawyer visit to an individual prisoner for two days, after informing that prisoner, which can then be extended by the head of the IPS for up to one year. Mr. Sam’an’s ban therefore violates even the IPS’ own regulations, as he is now effectively being banned from access to all prisoners. Addameer anticipates that the IPS will continue to use tactics employed in last fall’s hunger strike in order to systematically prevent lawyers from having access to the hunger strikers, such as moving prisoners to other prisons without informing their lawyers, in an attempt to further isolate the hunger strikers and undermine their campaign.

Addameer calls on the diplomatic community to pressure Israel to immediately allow for hunger striking prisoners to have access to


necessary healthcare and legal advisement. Addameer further urges all political parties, institutions, organizations and solidarity groups working in the field of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory and abroad to support the prisoners in their hunger strike

and demand that their legitimate demands be granted. Addameer will continue to closely follow the prisoner’s campaign of civil disobedience and provide regular updates on the situation as it develops. /AIC

International solidarity with Palestinian hunger strikers

17/04/2012

A joint appeal has been made by international human rights and legal aid groups for

solidarity with Palestinian detainees on hunger strike in protest against their prolonged detention without trial and inhumane treatment. The NGOs from Europe, North American, Africa and Asia praised the detainees for their courage and strength. The longest-serving detainees have been isolated for 13 years under conditions which, it is alleged, are tantamount to torture. Many are strip-searched repeatedly, sometimes in front of their families to humiliate them and their loved ones. Israel's refusal to honour internationally recognized rights of due process and humane treatment is a flagrant violation of international law. / MEMO

Prisoners' Day activities take place in the West Bank

17/04/2012

Palestinians across the occupied West Bank have held a number of activities to mark Prisoners' Day. Events were held in several cities, with Ramallah witnessing the largest. It was there that a 24-hour solidarity vigil was held; another was organized in front of the Ofar Military Prison.

Israeli security forces fired tear gas, sound bombs and sewage water at protesters as soon as they approached the prison in Beitunya. Several people were injured, including the Palestinian parliamentarian exiled from his home city of Jerusalem by the Israelis, Ahmad At-Toun. The organizers of the events stressed the need to support Palestinian prisoners being held by Israel by all means. Meanwhile, more than 1,000 prisoners have gone on hunger strike to protest against their inhuman treatment by the Israeli authorities. /MEMO


Hamas calls solitary confinement and administrative detention

"retaliation for prisoners' steadfastness"

18/04/2012

As Palestinian prisoners in Israel's jails begin an indefinite hunger strike to protest against their conditions behind bars, Hamas has described Israeli policies such as solitary confinement and administrative detention as "retaliation for prisoners' steadfastness". The prisoners themselves say that an end to the imposition of solitary confinement is the most important demand of their latest hunger strike. It is important not least because the prison authorities use it as a punishment for even minor infringements of prison rules.

A report issued by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) on Tuesday says that solitary confinement is one of the hardest types of sanctions imposed by the Israeli prison authorities against the prisoners, who are kept in a dark, narrow cell for lengthy periods. Psychologically, the greatest threat to a prisoner in solitary confinement is the lack of a time frame for the end of the punishment. No judicial authority is made available to prisoners for a ruling on the punishment in solitary; this is decided by the intelligence and security officers within the prison administration and the Ministry of Internal Security.

The report adds that a number of prisons have isolation cells, including Beersheba (Eichel and Ohli Kedar), Gilboa, Ashkelon, Al-Ramla, Shata and Kfar Yona. It lists the sort of conditions faced by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, including daily beatings and humiliation, and the lowest possible standards of living conditions. Some prisoners who have spent many years in solitary confinement are

found to be suffering from serious psychological and physical problems on their release. The report pointed out that there are still dozens of prisoners who are languishing in solitary confinement under special procedures based on the nature of their past activism as a punishment on top of the sentence imposed by the Israeli military courts. It is this which Hamas says is part of a retaliatory regime intended to break the prisoners and humiliate them. Some of these prisoners spread around several isolation sections are Ahmed Saadat, Thabet Mirdaawi, Hassan Salameh, Ahmed El-Maghraby, Abdullah Al-Barghouti, Mohammed Jamal Al-Natshe, Ibrahim Hamid, Moataz Hijazi, Jamal Abu Al-Hija, Mahmoud Issa, Saleh Dar Moussa, Hisham Al-Sharabati, Mahawish Ne`matt, Atwa Al-Amour, Iyad Abu Hasana, Mohannad Shraim and A`hed Ghalma. Administrative detention as practiced by the Israeli occupation authorities against Palestinians is defined by the report as "detention without charge or trial; based on a confidential file and secret evidence that neither the detainee nor his lawyer are allowed to know. According to the Zionist military orders, the administrative detention order can be renewed for an unlimited number of times." The report adds, "The administrative detention procedure is linked to the political situation in the occupied Palestinian territory, and the Palestinian protest movement against the continuation of the Zionist occupation of Palestinian lands occupied in 1967. It is a punishment and a political action that reflects the policy of Israel's official government as it uses the administrative detention as a collective punishment against the Palestinians. Moreover, the way this procedure is practiced by the Zionist forces is prohibited in international law."

According to Palestinian human rights reports, and statements by researchers at the Ministry of Prisoners' Affairs, Israel has arrested thousands of Palestinians through administrative detention for periods that range from a few months to several years. /MEMO


19 Prisoners in solitary confinement, thousands demonstrate

in solidarity

18/04/2012

There are still nineteen Palestinian prisoners in solitary confinement, in the Israeli occupation prisons, according to Tadamun International.

Ahmed Al-Betawi, researcher at Tadamun International for Human Rights, said in a statement to Quds Press Agency that "the end of the solitary confinement is one of the most prominent demands for which Palestinian captives in the occupation prisons launched their indefinite hunger strike

The families of captives from Jerusalem and the religious and national figures demonstrated on Tuesday outside the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem and handed out a statement to reporters in which they demanded the release of all prisoners unconditionally

It called on the international community and human rights institutions to compel the occupation forces to respect international law and to stop its repressive measures against more than six thousand Palestinian captives, including 258 from Jerusalem and appealed to all the factions and leaders to end their division and participate in the Prisoners’ Day

Meanwhile, in the Gaza Strip, thousands of Palestinians demonstrated with alongside

representatives of all Palestinian national and Islamic forces and factions and prisoners’ families in front of the Red Cross headquarters in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners and calling for the need to support them so that they can regain their freedom.

Dr. Ahmed Bahar, deputy speaker of the Legislative Council in a speech pointed out that 17th April is a historical day and is considered the start of a third intifada to free the prisoners.

For his part, Minister of the Prisoners’ Affairs, Atallah Abu Sabeh, stressed the importance of the support from Arab and Muslim states calling on those who have diplomatic relations with the occupation state to sever them. While the former Minister Hisham Abdel Razek stressed on the importance of national unity and called on the Arabs, the Muslims and all the human rights international institutions to support the prisoners.

As for the ex-prisoners, they stressed that supporting the prisoners requires ending the Palestinian division.

The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology’s employees also stood in solidarity with prisoners at the ministry’s headquarters in Gaza emphasizing their loyalty for the Palestinian prisoners and calling on the international human rights organizations to intervene to help prisoners, especially the powerless detainees as the sick, the elderly and the children

Also the Awqaf stressed on the nation’s duty to support the prisoners who launched an open hunger strike and revealed it was writing to Imams of Mosques around the Strip to remind them to include the prisoners' issue in their Friday sermons. /PIC


Israel frees former hunger striker

18/04/2012

Khader Adnan, a Palestinian prisoner who went on a 66-day hunger strike over his detention without charge by Israel, has been released following a deal reached in February.

Adnan has since arrived at his home in the West Bank village of Arabah on Tuesday. He had refused food from December 18 until February 21 in protest over what he said was a violent and humiliating arrest and interrogation. The detention of Adnan, a 33-year-old baker who was arrested "for activities that threaten regional security" due to his alleged leadership role in Islamic Jihad, an armed Palestinian group, triggered a series of protests calling for his release across Palestinian territories.

Earlier this year, an Israeli military court ordered that Adnan be placed for four months in administrative detention. Under Israeli law, such prisoners can be held indefinitely without trial or charge. Human rights groups criticised the conditions in which he was being held at Ziv hospital in the northern Israeli town of Safed, where he was shackled to his bed by chains on both legs and one arm.

Mass hunger strike

Prior to his release on Tuesday, at least 1,200 Palestinian inmates of Israeli jails began an open-ended hunger strike, as rallies across the occupied territories marked "Prisoners' Day". As thousands gathered in towns and cities in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, three-quarters of the 4,700 Palestinians held by Israel began refusing food, the Israel Prisons Service (IPS) said. "In the framework of (Palestinian) Prisoners' Day, around 2,300 security prisoners said they were refusing their daily meals, and around 1,200 prisoners said they were starting a hunger strike," IPS spokeswoman Sivan Weizman said on Tuesday.

Another eight women inmates had also said they were refusing food as a show of solidarity with the Palestinian security prisoners, Weizman said. "We have coped with hunger strikes in the past and we are prepared to do so again now," she added.

Speaking to crowds gathered in the northern West Bank city of Nablus, Qadura Fares, head of the Palestinian Prisoners Club, gave a higher figure for the hunger strike, saying "1,500 prisoners from all the factions" had joined it already and more were expected to later in the month.

"We are united and undivided when it comes to prisoners, and we will stand by them until they get their demands," he said.

The Palestinian Prisoner Affairs Ministry says there are about 4,700 Palestinians being held in Israeli prisons, including 319 being held without charge in so-called "administrative detention". /Aljazeera


Occupation Punishes the Hunger Strikers

19/04/2012

The prisons administration started, in provocative moves, imposing strict measures and harassing Palestinian prisoners as a reaction to the mass hunger strike in different occupation prisons.

The Israeli Metsada special forces, specialized in storming prisons, broke into Ofer prison with the support of the so-called Nahacon forces, on Thursday morning, and assaulted the prisoners and fired gas inside their rooms.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Prisoners Affairs confirmed, in a press statement, that the occupation prisons administration has isolated the hunger strikers in individual rooms and sections, cutting off electricity to prevent any kind of communication with external events, and threatening to remove them to unknown destination.

The Palestinian Centre for the Defense of Prisoners affirmed that the occupation prisons are witnessing a high state of tensions and confusion, where the Israeli oppression units heavily armed used tear gas and batons to oppress a large number of prisoners in more than three prisons so far, especially of the hunger strikers.

These Zionist provocations aimed to stop the prisoners' hunger strike that demands basic human rights in the prison and an end to the unjust laws that have been applied against them for several years. /PIC

Halhale slips into a coma

19/04/2012

Thaer Halahle, who is on hunger strike in Israeli detention, has gone in a coma, his father, Aziz, told Quds Press on Tuesday.

He said that the health condition of his son greatly deteriorated over the past few hours after 50 days of hunger strike.

Aziz explained that his son was suffering from fainting ever since Monday night in addition to non-stop bleeding from his mouth and nose.

Thaer is between life and death, the father said, and called on the human rights groups and those concerned with prisoners’ affairs to immediately intervene to save his son’s life before it is too late. /PIC


Hunger striker Ezzuddin in serious condition

19/04/2012

The lawyer of Jafar Ezzuddin, who is on hunger strike in Israeli Jalama prison isolation

ward, said that his client was suffering low blood sugar and low blood pressure.

He told the prisoners’ center for studies that blood and urine tests showed that Ezzuddin had poisonous material in his kidney and urine, which was because he refrained from drinking water to protest punishments imposed on him.

The lawyer said that Ezzuddin enjoyed high morale and his mind was clear but his physical condition is bad as he could not even stand up.

He quoted the detainee as expressing surprise at the Red Cross position, adding that it did not visit him or inquire about his condition.

Foreign activists go on hunger strike in Israeli custody

19/04/2012

Foreign solidarity activists held in custody by the Israeli authorities have gone on hunger strike to protest their detention and planned deportation, a Palestinian human rights group said.

Dameer foundation for human rights said in a statement on Wednesday that its lawyers visited Ramle prison where the activists were detained and met with eight British nationals.

The activists said that they were detained on arrival at Lod airport, subjected to strip search, and had their personal belongings confiscated.

They said that they were interrogated separately and banned from phone calls as a punishment for their hunger strike that started on their first day of detention.

The activists said they were handed an order not to enter Palestinian land and an order for their possible deportation.

Dameer urged the world community to pressure Israel into allowing foreign activists to visit Palestinian land at will to display their solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Dozens of foreign activists were detained at the Lod airport and banned from entry to visit the West Bank as part of the “Welcome to Palestine” event. /PIC


Press Release


Caricature

Palestinian Prisoners on Hunger Strike

By: Umayya Juha

issue no 17

Documents

palestinian issue

palestinian struggle

hunger strikeroccupation

palestinian prisoner

hunger striker ezzuddin

mass hunger strikeaddameer

prisoners steadfastness

hunger strikershalhale