On Friday, 19 August, the administrative detainees — jailed without charge or trial under indefinitely renewable orders — in Zionist prisons issued a statement urging greater solidarity, action and mobilization to stand with Palestinian prisoners inside the occupation prisons, particularly to bring an end to detention without charge or trial, particularly Khalil Awawdeh, on his 170th day of hunger strike for liberation:
The text of the statement follows:
A statement issued by the administrative detainees in occupation prisons, as received by the prisoners’ committee in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
To the secretariat of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate
To the International Federation of Journalists
To all who are concerned,
We address you from inside the prisons of the Zionist occupation, where we, the administrative detainees in the occupation prisons, are facing an escalation in the use of the arbitrary policy of administrative detention in violation of international law, which in its two parts: human rights law and international humanitarian law, imposed strict conditions on the practice of this form of detention.
The occupation has recently escalated its targeting of us as political and social activists in administrative detention, including all activities and expressions of political opinion, as well as any activity or presence of community or union work. We see this as a comprehensive targeting of our Palestinian national cause and a moral attack on our people as a whole. The case of administrative detention recalls the tale of Sisyphus in Greek myth, where he angered the gods and was condemned to eternal torment, represented by forever, repeatedly rolling a boulder up a hill only for it to fall once again before it reaches the summit. Thus, his torture became eternal. In our case, we as administrative detainees face a firm and permanent policy, in which as soon as detention is lifted from us once, it is only to detain us again a second, third, fourth and more times, as an eternal torture for us and our families.
Some of us have been held in administrative detention by order of the Shin Bet security apparatus for 15 years, since the beginning of the second millennium, spread out over several consecutive instances, separated by a few months at a time.
Those who confront the sword of administrative detention, such as our fellow struggler Khalil Awawdeh, who have been on hunger strike for more than 5 months against this fascist and arbitrary detention and who faces a daily risk of death, as he and his family suffer and the media express in a few words his pain and the pain of his wife and four daughters. As his father said, I only slept 40 hours during the last 40 days, clearly indicating that the families of administrative detainees suffer the cruelty of this practice of detention, perhaps more than the prisoners themselves. This collective punishment is not only illegal but also a fascist practice of inhumanity.
We look forward to your intervention to save the life of our colleague Awawdeh, who is waiting for the justice of heaven, and which has not been achieved by the occupation court. In the same context, journalist and community organizer Nidal Abu Aker, 50 years old, from Dheisheh camp in Bethlehem, had only 75 days of freedom after he was released before being re-arrested and ordered by the Shin Bet for a period of six months, subject to renewal. This came after he spent 23 months in arbitrary detention and over 13 years of cumulative administrative detention since the Great Intifada. A Shin Bet officer told him when he was arrested, “Until I rest with my daughters, you must remain in prison, and I will not let you attend your son’s celebration.” Abu Aker faces systemic torture that is repeated daily against our people, including the sick, women and the elderly.
We look forward to you activating your role as journalists and human rights organizers against this unjust policy, and we are convinced that your role is of great importance in exposing and revealing this arbitrary Israeli policy, and we await your support and cooperation with us to reach our freedom.
Administrative detainees in occupation prisons
19 August 2022
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Download these distributable flyers and posters to highlight the case of Khalil Awawdeh and the struggle to free Palestinian prisoners:
- Double-sided Flyer: Free Khalil Awawdeh
- Poster/Sign: Free Khalil Awawdeh
- Poster/Sign: End Administrative Detention
- Poster/Sign: Free Hunger Strikers and All Prisoners
- Poster/Sign – End Administrative Detention (with Palestinian Flag)
1. Mobilize actions, demonstrations and creative interventions – Take to the streets to defend the Palestinian people and their resistance! As was made clear during the Unity Intifada/Seif al-Quds in May 2021, there is a vast depth of support for the Palestinian people everywhere around the world, including inside the imperialist powers. It is our responsibility to act and make it impossible to continue their support for the crimes against the Palestinian people.
2. Build the boycott of Israel – This is a critical moment to escalate the campaign to isolate the Israeli regime at all levels, including through boycott campaigns that target the occupation’s economic exploitation of the Palestinian land, people and resources as well as those international corporations, like HP and G4S, that profit from the ongoing colonization of Palestine.
3. Support the steadfastness of the Palestinian people – This aggression was an extension of the siege on Gaza that has been imposed on the resisting and steadfast Strip for over 15 years. The Palestinian people need economic, political and all forms of support to help sustain their steadfastness. To contribute to Samidoun’s drive in support of children’s health care in Gaza, make a donation at https://samidoun.net/gaza
