Thirty Palestinian prisoners jailed without charge or trial under Israeli “administrative detention” have launched a hunger strike on Sunday, 25 September to demand an end to the policy, which is currently jailing over 740 Palestinian prisoners under “secret evidence.”
The Palestinian prisoners announced their hunger strike under the slogan “Our Decision is Freedom”, noting that they had rejected a request from the Zionist prison administration to postpone their action until Wednesday. The hunger strikers were met with swift solidarity from many around the world, including Tweets from celebrities like actor Mark Ruffalo and a solidarity strike from Palestinian political leader and resistance symbol Leila Khaled.
Palestinian prisoners’ institutions and family members of the hunger strikers, including the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society and Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, read out a message from the hunger strikers at a press conference outside the Ofer military prison, where many administrative detainees are held:
The beings of this earth deserve life, and to the enemies of humanity, we say on this land that it is worth fighting sot hat we can live, and in the context of our continuous struggle, we embark today on an open hunger strike. Our demand is: clean air, a sky without bars, a space of freedom, and a family gathering around the table. The demand of the occupation is to separate us from our social reality and our national and humanitarian role, and turn us into dry fragments. Between our demand and their demand, the occupying power carries out the abhorrent policy of administrative detention.
We are the sons of the land, the heirs of Abu Ammar, al-Hakim, al-Yassin, al-Shiqaqi and al-Qassim, and the heirs of all the martyrs. Wherever we find that space of struggle, we cut the path and raise the sword, realizing what awaits us: repression, abuse, isolation, confiscation of our clothes and photos of our children, being thrown into cement cells devoid of everything except for our bodies and our pain, constant searches, ongoing transfers, no cigarettes, no bottles of water, we can barely catch a breath of air. And yet, despite the slow killing, we announce our cry. Rejecting injustice and struggling against it is food for our souls flying in the sky of the homeland. Through this struggle, and with the support of our resisting people, we will create a bright tomorrow.
You, who are rooted in the land, as we leave the prison rooms for the cells and isolation wards, we offer our apologies and our thanks to you, our apologies to our mothers, fathers, wives, children and loved ones for the pain that accompanies you throughout the days of the strike. We say to you: Our victory lies in your smile, and our apologies to all who will be harmed for their solidarity by the brutality and barbarism of the occupation. We extend our thanks to all the forces that are working to support us and achieve our victory.
Free people everywhere, waging this battle against administrative detention, which we hope will continue with the joining of all administrative detainees, is an important link in the chain of struggle to end this heinous crime. This is being carried on the shoulders of a group of strugglers who have accepted to raise their voice against the injustice and crimes of the occupation, and on the road to ending this arbitrary policy is renewing our Palestinian revolutionary morals, which the forces of oppression have not been able to neutralize or confiscate. The will makes the impossible possible, and with the will of our people, we will win.
Leila Khaled, Palestinian resistance icon and member of the Central Committee of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, announced that she was on hunger strike in support of the strikers. In a statement, she saluted the prisoners: “You are on the front lines confronting this criminal fascist enemy. With your strike, you will grab your freedom and the freedom of your people. Glory to you!”
There are currently approximately 780 Palestinian prisoners jailed under administrative detention orders out of a total of approximately 4,650 total Palestinian prisoners in occupation jails. Administrative detention was first introduced to Palestine by the British colonial mandate before being adopted by the Zionist project. Detention orders can be issued for up to six months at a time on the basis of “secret evidence” denied to both the detainee and their lawyer. These orders are indefinitely renewable, with many Palestinians spending years at a time jailed under administrative detention, and neither they nor their families and communities are ever sure when they will be released, an additional form of collective punishment and psychological torture.
The first 30 administrative detainees who began the strike today are listed below, with additional prisoners scheduled to join in the battle as it continues. They include community leaders like Nidal Abu Aker and Ghassan Zawahreh, who have spent years in administrative detention; French-Palestinian lawyer and human rights defender Salah Hammouri, student organizers like Zaid Qaddoumi, and a number of others:
1. Nidal Abu Aker, 54, of Dheisheh refugee camp, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 1 August 2022.
2. Ehab Masoud, 50, of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 17 October 2021.
3. Asim Al Kaabi, 44, of Balata refugee camp, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 24 August 2022.
4. Ahmed Hajjaj, 44, of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 24 August 2022.
5. Thaer Taha, 43, of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 1 May 2022.
6. Rami Fadayel, 43, of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 5 September 2022.
7. Lotfi Salah, 43, of Bethlehem
8. Salah Hammouri, 37, of Jerusalem, imprisoned without charge or trial since 7 March 2022.
9. Ghassan Zawahreh, 40, of Dheisheh refugee camp, imprisoned without charge or trial since 19 August 2022.
10. Kanaan Kanaan, 30, of Hizma, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 3 August 2022.
11. Ashraf Abu Aram, 36, of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 7 June 2021.
12. Ghassan Karajah, 32, of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 11 August 2022.
13. Saleh Abu Alia, 32, of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 4 March 2022.
14. Awad Kanaan, 32, of Hizma, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 2 February 2022.
15. Leith Kassaberah, 31, of Beit Anan, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 1 February 2022
16. Saleh Al-Jaidi, 30, of Dheisheh refugee camp, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 4 August 2022.
17. Basil Mezher, 29, of Dheisheh refugee camp, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 12 November 2021.
18. Majd Al-Khawaja, 28, of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 14 June 2022.
19. Jihad Shreiteh, 28, of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 8 May 2022.
20. Haitham Siyaj, of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 3 November 2021.
21. Mustafa Al-Hasanat, 29, of Bethlehem, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 3 February 2022.
22. Azmi Shreiteh al Barghouthi, 23, of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 8 May 2022.
23. Muhammad Abu Ghazi, 22, of Arroub refugee camp, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 13 March 2022.
24. Ahmed Al-Kharouf, 22 of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 13 June 2022.
25. Nasrallah Barghouti, 22 of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention.
26. Muhammad Fuqaha, 22, of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 15 March 2022.
27. Tamer Al-Hajouj, 22, of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 15 March 2022.
28. Raghad Shamroukh, of Dheisheh refugee camp, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 12 September 2022.
29. Zaid Qaddoumi, of Beit Jala, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 16 September 2022.
30. Senar Hamad, 20, of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 18 April 2022.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges all supporters of Palestine and the prisoners’ struggle to join the campaign to end administrative detention and to support these valiant prisoners putting their bodies and lives on the line to resist and struggle for a liberated Palestine, through their hunger strike for freedom.
Download these distributable flyers and posters to highlight the struggle to free Palestinian prisoners:
- 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.
