The Palestine you don't know

The mass arrest campaigns conducted by the IDF beginning March 2002, within just a few months, resulted in the detention of approximately 15 000 Palestinians, mostly men, but also women and children. In a blink of an eye, entire villages were emptied of all men over the age of 15. Israeli imposed curfews also prevented those whom had been released from reaching their families for several days, leaving many families unsure as to whether their loved ones had been released, rearrested or killed.

Arrest can happen anywhere and everywhere: at home (often followed by the ransacking of family homes, threats against family members and sometimes the destruction of the house), on streets or roads, at Israeli checkpoints, and, as was witnessed during the most recent Israeli invasions, in any public or private place.

Upon arrest, detainees are usually handcuffed and blindfolded. They are not informed of the reason for their arrest, nor are they told where they will be taken. Physical abuse and humiliation of the detainee by Israeli forces is common. Based on numerous sworn affidavits, detainees have reported that they have been submitted to attempted murder, rape, thrown down stairs while blindfolded, amongst many other forms of physical abuse. During the arrest, detainees have often been forced to strip in public before being arrested. Family members have also been forced to remove their clothes in house to house arrest campaign raids.

 Israel has already violated the terms of the agreement addressing the demands of approximately 2,000 Palestinian political prisoners just over one week since they ended their historic mass hunger strike .

25-year-old Mahmoud Sarsak is on his 70th consecutive day of hunger strike today .Akram Rikhawi remains on hunger strike as well, currently on his 46th day.

see this report by adammer

by Mahmoud Kamel Muhammad Sarsak on May 24, 2012

Our brother and son, Mahmoud Sarsak, is a 25 years old professional footballer from Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, today entering his 67th day of hunger strike. We ask you to support Mahmoud and his demand for fair treatment. Your voice can contribute to saving his life and to a little victory against injustice.

Mahmoud has been imprisoned by Israel for the past three years, after being arrested by the Israeli military on 22nd July 2009 at the Erez checkpoint in Gaza while on his way to join the Palestine National Football team for a match in Balata refugee camp in the West Bank.

After his arrest he was transferred to Ashkelon prison where he was interrogated for 30 days, before being given a detention order on 23rd August 2009 under Israel’s “Unlawful Combatants Law”. Addameer, the Prisoners’ Support and Human Rights group, state that “in practice, the Unlawful Combatants Law contains fewer protections for detainees than even the few that are granted under administrative detention orders in the West Bank”, and allows the Israeli state to hold Palestinians from Gaza for indefinite periods without charge or trial.

Mahmoud started a hunger strike on 19th March 2012 to protest being held without charge or trial, demanding to be informed of the reasons for his three year detention and to be allowed to defend himself, as is his most basic right under international law. After starting his hunger strike he was transferred to Naqab prison on 8th April and then moved to solitary confinement at Eshel prison. On 16th April he was transferred to Ramleh prison hospital as a result of his deteriorating health. He is now on his 67 day of hunger strike, an extremely dangerous milestone that could see his death at any moment.

He is one of over 4400 Palestinians held in Israeli jails in violation of Articles 49 and 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which forbids the transfer of occupied peoples (Palestinians), to the territory of the occupier (Israel). Grave breaches of these Articles are considered war crimes in international law.

For us it is unbearable to see Israel has been awarded the hosting of the UEFA Under 21s football championship in 2013 and gears up to participate in the London Olympics, while it routinely arrests, tortures, imprisons and kills Palestinians, including football players, without consequence. This is not fair play. Sports should show solidarity.

As Mahmoud’s family, we call on all people of conscience to demand his immediate release, and to pressure governments and international organisations to force Israel’s compliance with the most basic standards of international law. In particular we ask fellow football players and athletes to speak out in support of Mahmoud – don’t be silent when Israeli cruelty and arbitrariness has destroyed the aspirations of a rising athlete and keeps thousands under inhumane conditions in their jails. We ask sports teams and anti-racist fan clubs to organize in support of Mahmoud and all the other Palestinian political prisoners. Your voice can contribute to saving his life and to a little victory against injustice.

It is time to end Israeli crimes carried out with impunity, and to demand the release of all Palestinians held illegally by Israel, including the other Palestinian prisoners who, along with our beloved Mahmoud, are hunger striking for their dignity and freedom.

The mass hunger strike by Palestinian prisoners in Israel ends with a deal brokered by Egypt. Only some of their demands will be met, writes Khaled Amayreh in Ramallah

(also see Palestinian Prisoners are Still on Hunger Strike)

Hundreds of Palestinian political and resistance prisoners in Israeli jails have ended a mass hunger strike protesting against cruel and inhuman prison conditions following the conclusion of a compromise deal with Israel brokered by Egyptian Intelligence.

Israel refuses to grant the prisoners the legal status of “prisoners of war” and insists on considering them “terrorists” or “security prisoners” even though many of them were never involved in violent acts against the Israeli occupation.

According to the agreement, the prisoners pledged to refrain from getting involved in any security- impinging activities inside their places of incarceration. This includes recruitment of activists in order to carry out resistance missions and abetting or aiding acts that may undermine Israel’s security.

In return, Israel agreed to facilitate the living conditions of prisoners, including considering ending solitary confinement and allowing family visits from both the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Allowing family visits cannot be considered an Israeli concession as such visits were always allowed since the start of the occupation in 1967.

Israel, according to the agreement, would be absolved from carrying out its obligations if the prisoners decide to declare a new hunger strike.

The agreement has been hailed as a “victory” by Palestinian leaders, including the Palestinian Authority (PA) leadership, while extreme right- wing figures in Israel dubbed the deal “surrender to terror”.

Qaddoura Fares, head of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, which monitors conditions in Israeli jails where Palestinian prisoners are incarcerated, described the deal as “satisfactory” and “good under present circumstances”.

“The agreement doesn’t meet all of our expectations, let alone our aspirations. This is a bitter struggle between two unequal parties and our brothers (the prisoners) in the Zionist bastilles and dungeons have made maximum efforts to obtain a semblance of conditions that would grant them some dignity and human decency.

“Any concession we extricate from Israel’s parsimonious hands is an achievement.”

Fares pointed out that there is a general state of satisfaction among the prisoners following the conclusion of the deal.

“No one is euphoric or ecstatic, but at least some of prisoners’ demands have been met, Israel is an enemy, not a friend, and we should not expect our archenemy to behave charitably towards us.”

Fares also thanked the Egyptian government for playing a key role in the conclusion of the agreement.

The agreement doesn’t meet some of the key Palestinian demands, especially those pertaining to so-called administrative detention, which Israel uses to incarcerate a given prisoner for years without charge or trial. Israel currently holds as many as 26 Palestinian parliamentarians without charge or trial.

Palestinian inmates have repeatedly demanded an end to open-ended internment, which they charge is tantamount to “hostage taking”. However, Israel, while recognising that keeping prisoners in jail for years without charge or trial is not “an optimal exemplification of justice”, argues that administrative detention is an effective deterrent that it doesn’t want to lose.

Shortly before signing the agreement with the prisoners, an Israeli military court extended the captivity of Palestinian Legislative Council member Nayef Rajoub for another six months, for the fourth time running. Rajoub has spent a total of 10 years in Israeli jails on frivolous charges having to do with “inflammatory speech” and “incitement” against Israel’s military occupation of Palestine,

The extension of Rajoub’s detention is believed to be aimed at forestalling any agreement with hunger striking prisoners that might oblige the Israeli government to end his open-ended captivity.

Lawyers defending these leaders before Israeli courts argue that Israel resorts to “this manifestly illegal type of punishment” when it fails to establish a real case against prisoners.

“When the Israeli attorney fails to present hard or indicting evidence against a detainee before Israeli courts, Shin Bet (Israel’s domestic security agency) simply claims there is secret evidence, and the Palestinian defendant is sent to open- ended incarceration, not knowing why he is in jail or when he will be set free,” says Mohamed Amr, a lawyer from the southern West Bank of Hebron.

“No other country in the world, perhaps with the exception of Stalinist and fascist states, adopts this as part of its justice system. And, above all of this, Israel claims to be the only real democracy in the Middle East.”

Another blemish that is likely to undermine the credibility of the deal between Israel and the Palestinian inmates has to do with Israeli goodwill. Israel is notorious for violating agreements reached with the Palestinians, especially those agreements not signed on Israel’s own volition.

For example, Israel has rearrested more than a dozen former prisoners freed as part of the Gilad Shalit deal last year. Israel had pledged to refrain from re-arresting any of the freed prisoners.

Palestinian leaders also believe that Israel will seek “creative and innovative” tactics to further torment Palestinian prisoners and their families.

Bassam Kawasmeh, who has spent several years in Israeli jails, told Al-Ahram Weekly that Israel’s cruel treatment of Palestinian prisoners was a reflection of the supremacist and racist Jewish view of the rest of mankind.

“What sort of treatment would you expect from a Jewish jailer or prison warden who sees you as an infra- human being, or outright animal. Their treatment of our prisoners is a direct reflection of their virulent religious ideology.”

A few decades ago, Israel used to have somewhat modern laws guaranteeing a semblance of basic human rights and dignity in its jails and detention centres. However, as Israeli society kept moving towards extreme right-wing politics, and religious fanaticism became rampant, new draconian laws inflicting more pain and harassment on Palestinian prisoners were enacted by a justice system based on the notion that non-Jews are less than complete humans whose lives have no sanctity and whose rights are not protected.

According to the late Israeli writer and intellectual Israel Shahak, when Jewish sages and rabbis use the term “human” they only refer to Jews as non-Jews are not considered truly human. Hence, they are not entitled to human rights. The same maxim applies to the rabbinic interpretation of the Ten Commandments whereby “thou shall not murder,” for example, is understood to mean “thou shall not murder a Jew” as the lives of non- Jews have no sanctity especially when compared to Jewish lives.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has been quoted as saying that the prisoner agreement is a gesture of goodwill towards Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. Netanyahu hopes that Abbas will reciprocate by returning to a peace process with Israel that only saw the Jewish entity devour more and more Palestinian land and may already have rendered the creation of a viable Palestinian state unfeasible, due to ubiquitous Jewish settlements and colonies in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Detainees on Monday signed a deal with the Israeli prison authority to end their mass hunger strike, officials told Ma’an.
Prisoner representatives from each of the factions agreed to the deal in Ashkelon jail, prisoners society chief Qaddura Fares said.
Senior Hamas official Saleh Arouri, who was a member of the negotiations team, confirmed that a deal was signed following Egyptian mediation.
In comments to the Hamas-affiliated new site Palestine Information Center, he said Israel agreed to provide a list of accusations to administrative detainees, or release them at the end of their term.
Authorities agreed to release all detainees from solitary confinement over the next 72 hours, he said.
Israel will also lift a ban on family visits for detainees from the Gaza Strip, and revoke the so-called Shalit law, according to the official.
Israel’s “Shalit law,” restricted prisoners’ access to families and to educational materials as punishment for the five-year captivity of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
The law remains in force despite a prisoner swap deal which saw hundreds of Palestinian detainees released in October in exchange for the soldier’s freedom.
An Israeli prison authority spokeswoman could not immediately be reached for comment.
Earlier Monday, Qaddura Fares said a senior Egyptian officer was en route to an Israeli jail to move forward talks to end detainees’ hunger strike, after Palestinian officials said negotiations had hit a snag.
The official said Israeli authorities had balked at the agreement’s call for the release of any inmate whose detention term, usually a six-month period that can be renewed by a military court, has ended.
In the past month, around 2,000 prisoners joined a group of administrative detainees on hunger-strike, according to prisoners groups’ estimates.
Bilal Diab, 27, and Thaer Halahla, 33 —both held without charge — have gone for 77 days without food.
On Monday, thousands of people held a rally in Gaza in support of the hunger strikers. “We will give our souls and blood to redeem the prisoners,” the crowd chanted.

at the same time , this joy is not completed to know that they didn’t gain their freedom yet .

A weekly report published by the Center for Political and Development Studies (CPDS), Gaza on the latest developments in Palestine.

Background:

27 days ago, on April 17, some 2,000 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails launched an open-ended hunger strike. Their demands are simple as they echo through the prison walls: liberty or death. The lives of all prisoners on strike are currently in danger, but among them is a smaller group, which has been striking for a longer period of time.

Thaer Halahleh and Bilal Diab have not eaten for over 76 days - since the 29th of February. Israeli courts have rejected their appeals and refused to free them from administrative detention where they remain without charge or trial, subject to secret evidence and secret allegations. They are in critical condition.

The Prisoners’ Key Demands Include:

· Ending the policy of solitary confinement and isolation

· End to the use of administrative detentions

· The restoration of visitation rights to families of prisoners from the Gaza Strip, a right that has been denied to all families for more than 6 years

· Canceling ‘Shalit’ law[1]

· Ending systematic humiliation, including arbitrary strip searches, nightly raids and collective punishment

Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike have been hit hard with retaliation from the Israeli Prison Service (IPS). Taking different forms, the IPS’ retaliation includes beatings, transferring from one prison to another, confiscation of salt (an act that could have severe health consequences for hunger strikers), denial of family and lawyer visits, and isolation and solitary confinement of hunger strikers.

Hunger Strikers:

More than 4800 Palestinian political prisoners are still held in miserable conditions in 20 Israeli prisons. 1100 are ill and deprived of medical attention except for pain-killers. Hundreds of them are suffering from cancer, heart diseases, diabetes mellitus, renal failure. 185 of them are children, while 19 others are held in solitary confinement of two meters of length and one meter of width. Dozens of prisoners have spent long time in prisons. Nael Albarghothi, who was freed in the last exchange in October, 2011, spent 34 years in the occupation jails, according to the Palestinian Center For Defending Prisoners.

Names of Hunger Strikers:

• Bilal Diab- Day 76 of hunger strike

• Thaer Halahleh- Day 76 of hunger strike

• Hassan Safadi- Day 70 of hunger strike

• Omar Abu Shalal- Day 68 of hunger strike

• Mohammad Taj- Day 60 of hunger strike

• Jaafar Azzedine- Day 53 of hunger strike

• Mahmoud Sarsak- Day 54 of hunger strike

• Abdullah Barghouti- Day 32 of hunger strike

• Over 2,500 others are also on their 27 day of mass hunger strike. Prisoner Anass Al-Qadoumi has been rushed to hospital.

Prisoners’ Support:

-A leader of Hamas on Friday warned Israel there would be consequences if any of the Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike dies in jail. “You must realize that the hunger strike is not a party, and we could be surprised by the death of some of the prisoners,” Khalil al-Haya said at a solidarity tent for the strikers in the center of Gaza City.

- Professor Richard Falk, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Palestinian human rights said “As might be expected, the voices of concern from the international community have been muted and belated. The International Committee of the Red Cross has finally expressed in public its concern for the lives of these strikers.” Full article can be found here.

- The Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Filippo Grandi, expressed his grave concern about the current medical and health conditions of the thousands of Palestinian political prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli prisons. Sadly enough, the statement by the Commissioner-General of UNRWA was taken off the website shortly after it was published.

- John Minto, the Global Peace and Justice Alliance (GPJA) spokesperson, sent a letter to New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs urging him to speak out on behalf of the country in support of Palestinian prisoners. He mentioned that there has been a 50% increase in administrative detention during the last year, and it is well recorded that conditions for prisoners have seriously deteriorated over that period of time.

- Demonstrations in support for prisoners have escalated in the last days, with thousands of Palestinians taking to the streets in solidarity with hunger strikers. A protest took place in Ramallah, in which UN premises were closed, and action for hunger strikers was demanded.

- In a statement, a group of Sinn Fein members in Ireland asked for:

International Law and its provisions with regard to administrative detention to be respected

Israel to end its policy of administrative detention

Israel to end its policy of keeping prisoners in solitary confinement

Prisoners to be allowed to see their families.

- More than a hundred parliamentary and prominent political leaders have signed a petition calling on Israel to respect the rules of international law in its treatment of Palestinian prisoners and detainees in its prisons. The petition includes some prominent names in the field of European politics.

-The Council for European Palestinian Relations (CEPR)’s petition calls for improving the living conditions of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, according to the Fourth Geneva Convention, and adopted as part of the demands of the prisoners on hunger strike, in particular the end of solitary confinement, and allowing them to receive visits by parents and family members.

- Jumana Abu Jazzar, a child of political prisoner went in a hunger strike in solidarity with imprisoned father.

- Prisoners Kefah Al-Hattab, Alaa’ Shritih, Nidal Samara, Jafaa’r Abdelazeez, Mohammed Al-Taj, Mohammed Al-said Almasri, Bilal Thiab, Thaer Halahla, Mahmoud Al-Sarsak, Hassan Al-Safadi, Omer Shalal, Akram Alrkhawi, and Mohammed Abdelazeez are at Al-Ramla hospital.

- Prisoners at Ofer prison declined an Israeli Prison Service (IPS) offer and asked it to negotiate with the National Committee of the Hunger Strike.

Role of Media

Western media played the game of brinkmanship, along with Israel, leaving their coverage until many prisoners were already at death’s door. Earlier coverage may well have prevented the situation deteriorating to this extent.

Western media outlets should reasonably be expected to cover the plight of thousands of prisoners protesting the inhumane conditions they live in. All of the Palestinian prisoners’ demands are compatible with human rights guaranteed in international instruments for the treatment of prisoners.

Western media have been slow off the mark.

[1] The Shalit Law was introduced by Israel to punish Palestinian prisoners after Shalit’s capture. It includes deprivation of family visits, education, watching T.V channels including Aljazeera and holding prisoners in solitary confinement.

The Ministry of Prisoners’ Affairs received a letter from hunger striking Palestinian prisoner Thaer Halahleh addressed to his two year old daughter Lamar, most likely passed on by one of Addameer’s lawyers Mona Neddad during her last visit to the Ramle prison hospital on Thursday, May 10.

In the latest installation of prisoner profiles for Al-Akhbar English News, I wrote how Lamar who was born while Thaer was imprisoned only knows her father through pictures and posters.

“A month later on July 19, Thaer became a father to baby Lamar but only got to meet her months later on October 9, the first visit allowed him since his last arrest and the only time his family were able to see him. Lamar is almost 2 years old now, and knows her father through pictures. She goes to sleep with a photo of her father tucked beneath her cheek. She is convinced that there is a wedding every day because of the solidarity tent set up outside the family home in the Hebron village of Kharaas. Her mother Shireen cries privately when Lamar insists on wearing a new dress every day.”

Below is a translated version of Thaer’s letter, by Jalal Najjar:

“My Beloved Lamar, forgive me because the occupation took me away from you, and took away from me the pleasure of witnessing my firstborn child that I have always prayed to God to see, to kiss, to be happy with. It is not your fault; this is our destiny as Palestinian people to have our lives and the lives of our children taken away from us, to be apart from each other and to have a miserable life. Nothing is complete in our lives because of this unjust occupation that is lurking on every corner of our lives turning it into eeriness, a continuous pursuit and torture. Despite the fact that I was deprived from holding you and hearing your voice, from watching you grow up and move around in the house and in your bed, and that I was deprived of my role as a human and a father with my daughter, your existence has given me all the power and hope, and when I saw your picture with your mother in the sit-in tent, you were so calm staring in wonder at people, as if you were looking for your father, looking at my pictures that are hung inside the tent asking in silence why is my father not coming back. I felt that you are with me, in my sentiment and inside my mind, as if you are a part of my heartbeats, steadfast and the blood that flows in my veins, opening all doors for me spreading clear skies around me, and unleashing your free childish voice after this long silence.”

“Lamar my love: I know that you are not to be blamed and that you don’t yet understand why your father is going through this battle of hunger strike for the 75th day, but when you grow up you will understand that the battle of freedom is the battle of going back to you, so that I can never be taken away from you again or to be deprived of your smile or seeing you, so that the occupier will never kidnap me again from you.”

“When you grow up you will understand how injustice was brought upon your father and upon thousands of Palestinians whom the occupation has put in prisons and jail cells, shattering their lives and future for no reason other then their pursuit of freedom, dignity and independence. You will know that your father did not tolerate injustice and submission, and that he would never accept insult and compromise, and that he is going through a hunger strike to protest against the Jewish state that wants to turn us into humiliated slaves without any rights or patriotic dignity.”

“My beloved Lamar keep your head up always and be proud of your father, and thank everyone who supported me, who supported the prisoners in their struggle, and don’t be afraid for God is with us always, and God never lets down people who have faith and patience. We are righteous, and right will always prevail against injustice and wrong doers.”

“Lamar my love: that day will come, and I will make it up to you for everything, and tell you the whole story, and your days that will follow will be more beautiful, so let your days pass now and wear your prettiest clothes, run and then run again in the gardens of your long life, go forward and forward for nothing is behind you but the past, and this is your voice I hear all the time as a melody of freedom”.(x)