Thursday, 25 May
5:30 pm
Israeli Consulate
24 Greenway Plaza #1500
Houston, TX
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/289463528131951/
On Thursday May 25, university students, human rights advocates, and concerned members of the Houston community will undertake a symbolic hunger strike and peaceful protest in solidarity with more than 1500 Palestinian political prisoners that have been on hunger strike, abstaining from food and drinks, since April 17, 2017.
Drawing attention to the plight of Palestinian prisoners and their open-ended “Strike for Dignity and Freedom”, we will assemble in front of the Consulate General of Israel in Houston. Participants will contribute to the global #SaltWaterChallenge that has been launched in support of the demands of the Palestinian political prisoners. A variety of creative performances will take place, and prominent members of the Houston academic, cultural, and human rights community will address the peaceful assembly.
Palestinian prisoners are demanding an immediate end to medical negligence, solitary confinement, and administrative detention, a common practice by Israeli authorities where a prisoner is detained for periods up to six months — renewed indefinitely — without a trial or charge. They are also asking for longer and more frequent family visits, opportunities for secondary and higher education, and better access to medical care and services. Currently, these basic needs are denied to the 6500 Palestinian political prisoners incarcerated by the Israeli authorities.
Since the launch of the hunger strike in Palestine, the Israeli Prison Service has isolated the prisoner leaders into solitary confinement, confiscated clothes and personal belongings, and moved other strikers around the prisons to limit communication. Israel has received wide scale international condemnation for its policies towards the prisoners and the Palestinian people as a whole, but it nevertheless continues to violate the will of the international community.
Through this action, we insist that Israel immediately meet the demands of the Palestinian prisoners. We also express our support for the Palestinian people and its just quest for liberation, return, equality, and self-determination. Finally, we demand that Israel end its policies of apartheid, colonization, military occupation, displacement, dispossession, and mass incarceration.
