Israel/Palestine

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ALERT 28th Apr 2017 - Vigil In Solidarity With Palestinian Prisoners Hunger Strike

DATE: Friday 28th April 2017, 3:30pm - 5:30pm
LOCATION: Charing Cross Road next to St Martin-in-the-Fields, across from the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square (nearest tube: Charing Cross)
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/events/415527582163715/
WEB: http://inminds.com/article.php?id=10752

23th April 2017, www.inminds.com

On Friday 28th April 2017, Inminds human right group will hold a vigil in central London in solidarity with the largest hunger strike of Palestinian political prisoners in 5 years. Over 1500 Palestinian prisoners from all Palestinian factions united to go on hunger strike six days ago on 17th April 2017. Since then the strike has gained momentum with hundreds more joining everyday.

Inminds chair Abbas Ali said "The occupation has already expressed fear that the security conditions in prisons, and with it their entire prison complex, will collapse due to the hunger strike. To quash the hunger strike they have brutally attacked prisoners in their cells, destroying their belongings and separated the leaders of the hunger strike by forcefully transferring them to other prisons and into solidarity confinement. Prison visits have been banned. They are setting up military field hospitals, out of sight, in the Negev desert to force feed hunger strikers on mass, in contravention of international humanitarian law. It is vital at this critical time that we show our support and solidarity for this hunger strike for freedom and dignity."

The hunger strikers are demanding basic human rights which Israel as a signatory to the Geneva Conventions should already be providing.
These include:

1) An end to the denial and cutbacks on family visits. A return to a second monthly visit that was suspended by the Red Cross, and extending the visit duration from 45 mins to 90 mins. Allowing children to visit their mothers in prisoner without barriers so they can hug and kiss them. Allow detainees to take a photo with their families once every three months. Many prisoners have been denied any family visits under the pretext of security, for example wheel-chair bound sick prisoner Mansour Moqtada has been denied family visits from his son for 3 years and hasn't been able to see his elderly mother, who is over 70 years old, for over two years. Moqtada has colostomy and a catheter and is in frequent pain; he is one of the most seriously ill prisoners in Israeli jails and is permanently held at the Ramleh prison clinic - no security threat to anyone. The right of prisoners to receive family visits is enshrined in the Fourth Geneva Convention.

2) Install public telephones in all prisons for Palestinian prisoners to communicate with their families. Many prisoners are totally cut off from their families by the sever restrictions Israel imposes on family visits. One of the hunger strikers Karim Yunis explained "I have been in jail for 35 years, and I don't know my relatives at all because they are denied visits for so-called security reasons."

3) Proper health treatment for sick prisoners . Ramla prison hospital where they are currently taken is unfit for medical care. It has been described by patients as “a slaughterhouse, not a hospital, with jailers wearing doctors’ uniforms.”

4) That prisoners not be charged for their medical care. The Third Geneva Convention mandates Israel to provide medical treatment and care to prisoners as required. Just last week a Palestinian human rights activist, imprisoned for planting olive trees on Palestinian land, was denied his diabetes medicine and then told if he paid then he could receive it.. in the end they still withheld it.

5) Humanitarian treatment of prisoners during transportation and transfer, returning the prisoners promptly to prison from clinic and courts. At present prisoner are held shackled in an iron box on the transportation vehicle, the journey of a few miles from the prison to the court can take a full day with no access to a toilet and sometimes no food. One woman prisoner, Dunia Waked, explained that "the journey can begin at 1 a.m. and end at 10 p.m. - 21 hours and during this harsh journey you are subject to ongoing harassment." Israeli criminal prisoners are let loose on Palestinian political prisoners during the transport.

6) An end to administrative detention and solitary confinement. The United Nations has denounced Israel's practice of administrative detention where by Palestinians are caged without charge or trial indefinitely on the whim of the Israeli military.

7) Restore kitchens in all prisons and place them under the supervision of Palestinian detainees to prepare their own meals. The kitchens in most prisons in Israel where Palestinian political prisoners are caged are run by Israeli criminal prisoners. According to testimony from Nafha prison, Israeli criminal prisoners routinely urinate and spit in food prepared for Palestinian prisoners. Witnesses have also seen them stirring the soup for Palestinian prisoners with a broom that they previously used to clean the floor.

Allow prisoners to receive cloths, food and reading material from their families during visits. Israel has turned prisons in to money making enterprises with prisoners essentially forced to pay for their own imprisonment. Israel deliberately fails to provide Palestinian prisoners the basic essentials like edible food, cloths (underwear, shoes..) and hygiene products (soap, toothbrush..), and doesn't allow families to bring these during visits, forcing prisoners to buy them at the extortionately priced prison shop.


If you support this activity please share this alert widely, thank you.

JazakAllah,

Abbas Ali

Inminds Palestinian Prisoners Campaign
www.inminds.com/caged

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'Palestinian Hunger Strike Ends, Prisoners Declare Victory':
http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/05/28/palestinian-hunger-strike-en ds-prisoners-declare-victory/

'After 40 days without food, hundreds of Palestinian prisoners have suspended their hunger strike in Israeli jails.

The end of the strike came after 20 hours of intense negotiations between the strike’s leaders, including imprisoned Fatah figure Marwan Barghouti, and the Israel Prison Service, according to a statement issued Saturday morning by the prisoners solidarity committee.

The committee hailed the agreement as a “victory for the Palestinian people and the prisoners in their epic defense of freedom and dignity.”

It added that Israel was forced to negotiate after realizing that the prisoners “were ready to continue until victory or martyrdom and that the use of oppression, violence and other violations failed to weaken them, but rather strengthened their resolve.”

The statement says Israeli authorities accepted some of the demands of the prisoners, but does not provide details.

However Israel Prison Service sources told the Ma’an News Agency that the agreement, reached between Israel, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and the Palestinian Authority, would grant prisoners a second monthly family visit to be funded by the PA.

“The move effectively reinstated the number of family visits that were traditionally provided to Palestinian prisoners, before the ICRC reduced the number of visits they facilitated last year from two to one visit a month, sparking protests across the Palestinian territory,” according to Ma’an.

But the Israeli prison spokesperson reportedly “declined to comment on whether any of the other demands were met.”........'

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Take Action: Demand the immediate release of PLC member Khalida Jarrar and UPWC president Khitam Saafin:
http://www.addameer.org/news/take-action-demand-immediate-release-plc- member-khalida-jarrar-and-upwc-president-khitam-saafin

There are other petitions on the same site which you can sign as well.

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'Detained Palestinian Legislative Council Members':
http://www.addameer.org/publications/detained-palestinian-legislative- council-members-0

'...According to international law and Israeli courts no one can be detained for their political opinions. This is affirmed in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, article 2, which states that states parties are to ensure “to all individuals within its territory and subject to its jurisdiction the rights recognized in the present Covenant, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinions, national or social origin, property, birth or other status” (United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2200A (XXI) of 16 December 1966). However, Palestinian political leaders are routinely arrested and detained as part of an ongoing Israeli effort to suppress Palestinian political processes – and, as a necessary result, political sovereignty and self-determination.

In recent years, this process has focused particularly on members of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC). In the lead-up to the 2006 PLC elections, Israeli forces launched their campaign of arrest against PLC members, detaining 450 members of the “Change and Reform” party mostly involved in the elections, either through active campaigning or who were taking part in the municipal elections in various West Bank cities. The majority of those detained were kept in administrative detention for different periods. Some were released on the day of the election or a couple of days before or after it.

Following the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit on 25 June 2006 by Hamas at the Kerem Shalom Crossing on the Gaza Strip border, Israeli forces seized dozens of leaders and activists associated with Hamas in coordinated raids across the West Bank, including PLC members. The latter were either placed in administrative detention or charged with offenses based on their membership of the “Change and Reform List”, which the Israeli authorities allege is affiliated with Hamas, an illegal party according to Israeli military legislation. These detentions occurred despite the fact that Israel itself allowed the elections to be held and did not oppose the Change and Reform List’s participation in these elections. In fact, it was only in February 2007 that the Israeli authorities declared the Change and Reform List to be illegal, almost a year after most of the initial arrests.

In 2009, nearly a third of all Palestinian legislators were held in Israeli detention, preventing the PLC from reconvening since mid-2007. As of 1 April 2014, 11 PLC members continue to be held by Israel, the majority of them (9) under administrative detention.

Two of the most well-known Palestinian political prisoners are PLC members Marwan Barghouti and Ahmad Sa’adat. While initial reports hinted that the two would be released as part of the prisoner exchange deal in October 2011, they were not included.

Barghouti, a prominent Fatah leader, was arrested by Israeli forces on 15 April 2002. Throughout his trial process, Barghouti maintained that the Israeli court was illegitimate and illegal, and therefore refused to present a defense. He was sentenced to five life sentences with an additional 40 years.

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) Secretary General Ahmad Sa’adat was arrested by Israel on 14 March 2006 when he was taken from the Palestinian Authority’s Jericho prison in a raid. Two years later, he was sentenced to 30 years. In March 2008, Sa’adat received an order to be placed in isolation for six months, which was subsequently renewed every six months for over three years. He was removed from isolation upon the conclusion of Palestinian prisoners’ mass hunger strike in May 2012.

Recently, on 2 July 2017, Khalida Jarrar, who has been a PLC member since 2006, was arrested by Israeli occupation forces and is currently detained in HaSharon prison. She was issued a 6-month administrative order on 12 July 2017.

The continued targeting of Palestinian legislative council members must be viewed in a broader context of systematic attempts by the Israeli occupation to suppress Palestinian political processes, which attempts to hold Israel accountable for the crimes committed against Palestinians. Evidence of this repression can be seen in the increasing number of Palestinian legislative council members currently imprisoned by the Israeli occupation.

Currently, there are 12 PLC members in Israeli prisons, nine of whom are held under administrative detention.

PLC members currently detained by Israel:

No.

Name

Area

Date of arrest

Prison

Sentence

1

Marwan Al-Bargouthi

Ramallah

15/4/2002

Hadarim

5 life-sentences

2

Ahmad Sadaat

Ramllah

13/6/2006

Jalbou’

30 years

3

Hasan Yusuf

Ramallah

20/10/2015

Ofer

Administrative detention

4

Mohammad Al-Natsheh

Hebron

28/09/2016

Rimon

Administrative detention

5

Khalida Jarrar

Ramallah

2/7/2017

HaSharon

Administrative detention

6

Ahmad Attoun

Jerusalem

17/04/2017

-

Administrative detention

7

Azzam Salhab

Hebron

28/11/2016

Ofer

Administrative detention

8

Mohammad Bader

Hebron

28/06/2017

-

Administrative detention

9

Mohammad Al Tal

Hebron

21/03/2017

Ofer

Administrative detention

10

Ibrahim Dahbour

Jenin

23/03/2017

Megiddo

Administrative detention

11

Ahmad Mubarak

Ramallah

06/01/2017

Megiddo

Administrative detention

12

Omar Abdul Razeq

Salfit

23/07/2017

-

tbd



Recent resolutions taken by international bodies in regards to detained PLC members:

European Parliament resolution of 5 July 2012 on EU policy on the West Bank and East Jerusalem: “Calls for an end to the administrative detention without formal charge or trial of Palestinians by Israeli authorities, for access to a fair trial for all Palestinian detainees, and for the release of Palestinian political prisoners, with special regard for members of the Palestinian Legislative Council, including Marwan Barghouti, and administrative detainees; calls also for the immediate release of Nabil Al-Raee, the artistic director of the Freedom Theatre in Jenin Refugee Camp, arrested on and detained since 6 June 2012; welcomes the agreement reached on 14 May 2012 that allowed for the end of the hunger strike of the Palestinian prisoners and calls for its full and immediate implementation.”

International Parliamentary Union (IPU) resolution adopted unanimously by the IPU Governing Council at its 190th session on 5 April 2012:

“Reaffirms its position in this regard that Mr. Barghouti’s arrest and transfer to Israeli territory were in violation of international law;also reaffirms, in the light of the compelling legal arguments put forward in Mr. Foreman’s report, on which the Israeli authorities have not provided observations, that Mr. Barghouti’s trial failed to meet the fair-trial standards which Israel, as a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, is bound to respect, and that as a result Mr. Barghouti’s guilt has not been established; Reiterates, therefore, its call for his immediate release.”;

“Reaffirms its position that Mr. Sa’adat’s abduction and transfer to Israel were related not to the murder charge but rather to his political activities as PFLP General Secretary, and that the proceedings brought against him were, therefore, based on political considerations; reiterates, therefore, its call for his immediate release.”;

“Considers in this regard that the continued practice of administrative detention is bound to impede the proper functioning of the Palestinian Legislative Council, as its members can be arrested at any time and placed in administrative detention for as long as the Israeli military authorities wish”;

“Expresses serious misgivings in this respect about the ability of those held in administrative detention to benefit from due process, despite the rules pertaining thereto, Supreme Court case-law and any safeguards they contain to prevent the abusive use of administrative detention”;

“Notes that any decision regarding administrative detention must be based on a "specific and concrete threat", documented through "current and reliable information", preceded by a process to "exhaust the possibility of utilizing alternative criminal procedures before resorting to administrative detention", and include "the right to appeal"; invites the Israeli authorities to provide further information on these aspects, in particular why it is no longer possible to have recourse to normal criminal procedures and what steps they have taken to ensure an effective and meaningful appeal process”.

Local EU statement on recent arrests of Palestinian lawmakers on 28 January 2012: “The EU Missions in Jerusalem and Ramallah are concerned about the arrest at the ICRC office in East-Jerusalem of Palestinian Legislative Council member Mohammed Totah and former Minister for Jerusalem Affairs Khaled Abu Arafeh. The EU missions in Jerusalem and Ramallah are also concerned about the recent arrests of PLC Speaker Aziz Dweik and PLC members Khaled Tafesh and Abduljabbar Foqaha. The EU has followed the case of Palestinians who have found shelter against deportation orders since July 2010 in the office of the International Committee of the Red Cross in East Jerusalem. The EU raised this matter publicly at the Human Rights Council in March 2011.

European Parliament resolution of 14 March 2013 on the case of Arafat Jaradat and the situation of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails: “Calls once again for the immediate release of all imprisoned members of the PLC, including Marwan Barghouti.”

On 25 March 2015, during its twenty-eighth session, the Human Rights Council expressed “deep concern that thousands of Palestinians, including many children and women and elected members of the Palestinian Legislative Council, continue to be detained and held in Israeli prisons or detention centres under harsh conditions, including, inter alia, unhygienic conditions, solitary confinement, lack of proper medical care, denial of family visits and denial of due process, that impair their well-being, and expressing deep concern also about the ill-treatment and harassment of any Palestinian prisoner and all reports of torture” (A/HRC/28/L.34).'

Other Publications

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التقرير الاداري السنوي 2015
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Stop Administrative Detention



'....According to international law and Israeli courts no one can be detained for their political opinions. This is affirmed in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, article 2, which states that states parties are to ensure “to all individuals within its territory and subject to its jurisdiction the rights recognized in the present Covenant, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinions, national or social origin, property, birth or other status” (United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2200A (XXI) of 16 December 1966).....'

Indeed, that may be so, but International Law has no power over Israel, America, UK, France, Saudi Arabia and their cronies.
'Manifest Destiny', 'Chosen People' and all that....
They seem to have taken on not the Mosaic Law, but the Law of Aleister Crowley - 'Do what though wilt shall be the whole of the Law'.