Updated August 28, 8:30 am
Imprisoned Palestinian brothers Hatem and Hazem Qawasmeh suspended their hunger strike on Monday, 28 August after receiving a commitment from the occupation prison administration to transfer Hatem to Ramon prison, where his brother Hazem is behing held, reported the Palestinian Prisoners’ Socoety. Hatem, 42, started his strike 16 days ago to demand his transfer to be reunited with his brother Hatem, 44; they have been separated for the past three years. Hazem started his own strike three days ago to increase the pressure to achieve this demand.
Hatem Qawasmeh is sentenced to life imprisonment and has been detained since 2003, while Hazem is sentenced to 25 years in occupation jails and has been detained since 2002, both for their role in the resistance in the Al-Aqsa Intifada. Hazem and Hatem lost their mother and brother, both of whom passed away during their years behind bars. Hatem also has suffered from difficult health conditions in occupation prison, exacerbated by the occupation’s delays and denial of medical treatment. He was held in solitary confinement in Gilboa prison for nearly a year.
In addition, Osama Daqrouq, 21, from Salfit, suspended his hunger strike on 28 August, which lasted for 22 days, after a commitment to limit his administrative detention.
Kayed Fasfous and Sultan Khallouf are continuing their hunger strikes after 26 days. Abdel-Rahman Baraqa is on hunger strie for the 19th day. All are held under administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial. Administrative detention orders are issued for up to six months at a time and are indefinitely renewable; Palestinians are routinely jailed for years at a time under these arbitrary orders. In the past year, the number of administrative detainees has escalated dramatically; there are now approxiately 1,200 administrative detainees out of a total of around 5,100 Palestinian prisoners, the largest number in 20 years.
Both Fasfous and Khallouf have won their freedom from administrative detention in previous long-term hunger strikes of 131 and 67 days, respectively, as has Maher al-Akhras, who is on his sixth day of hunger strike. Seized from his home on 23 August, the prominent Palestinian leader immediately launched his hunger strike. He continued the strike as his detention was extended for seven days for further interrogation. Al-Akhras won his freedom in 2020 in a 103-day hunger strike that drew worldwide attention.
Fellow Palestinian prisoner Hassan Jaradat is also on an open-ended hunger strike for the seventh day after being seized from his home on 22 August in Silat al-Harthiya, west of Jenin. He launched his hunger strike immediately upon his arrest and has continued his strike to demand his freedom. Islam Bani Shamsa has been on open hunger strike for 16 days in rejection of his arbitrary transfer, an ongoing policy attacking many Palestinian prisoners.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges all supporters of Palestine to take action to support these Palestinian hunger strikers and all Palestinian prisoners struggling for freedom, for their own lives and for the Palestinian people. These sons of the Palestinian popular masses are confronting the system of Israeli oppression on the front lines behind bars, with their bodies and their lives, to bring the system of administrative detention to an end.
It is particularly important to stand with the strikers and not let their cases be silenced — earlier this year, on 2 May, Sheikh Khader Adnan’s life was taken after 86 days of hunger strike while being actively denied medical care. He had previously won his freedom four times through hunger strikes. These Palestinian prisoners are putting their bodies, health and lives on the line for liberation.
With over 1200 Palestinians jailed without charge or trial — over 20% of all Palestinian prisoners — the struggle to bring down administrative detention is more urgent than ever. Take these actions below to stand with the hunger strikers and the struggle for liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea!
Download these signs for use in your campaigns:
- Poster/Sign: End Administrative Detention
- Poster/Sign: Free Hunger Strikers and All Prisoners
- Poster/Sign – End Administrative Detention (with Palestinian Flag)
TAKE ACTION:
Protest at the Israeli Embassy or Consulate in Your Country!
Join the many protests taking place around the world — confront, isolate and besiege the Israeli embassy or consulate in your city or country of residence. Make it clear that the people are with Palestine! Send us your events at samidoun@samidoun.net.
Take to the streets: Organize a protest in solidarity with Palestine!
Take to the streets and join actions for justice! Organize your own if there is none in your area, and send us your events at samidoun@samidoun.net.
Boycott Israel!
The international, Arab and Palestinian campaign to boycott Israel can play an important role at this critical time. Local boycott groups can protest and label Israeli produce and groceries, while many complicit corporations – including HP, G4S, Puma, Teva and others, profit from their role in support Zionist colonialism throughout occupied Palestine. By participating in the boycott of Israel, you can directly help to throw a wrench in the economy of settler colonialism.
Demand Your Government Sanction Israel!
The racist, settler colonial state of Israel and its war crimes against the Palestinian people are enabled and backed extensively by the over $3.8 billion each year given to Israel by the United States — targeted directly to support the Israeli occupation military killing children, women, men and elders throughout occupied Palestine. From Canada to Australia to the European Union, Western governments and imperialist powers provide ongoing diplomatic, political and economic support to Israel as well as selling billions of dollars of weaponry to the settler-colonial state. Meanwhile, they also purchase billions of dollars in weaponry from the Israeli state. Governments in league with imperialist powers, such as in the Philippines, Brazil, India and elsewhere, also buy weapons and “security” services — all “battle-tested” on the Palestinian population. Call your representatives, MPs, political officials and demand your government sanction Israel now, cut off all aid, expel its ambassadors, and stop buying and selling weapons!
