3 August, Vienna: Lift the Sanctions

2 August 2018

Friday, 3 August
1:00 pm
Josefgasse 5
Vienna, Austria
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/244329329724857/

In support of the strike of the prisoners’ movement in protest of the suspension of the benefits to the prisoners of Gaza, and in support of our people and their steadfastness in Gaza, we invite you to participate in the vigil on Friday, 3 August at 1:00 pm in front of the Palestinian Embassy in Vienna, against the punitive measures imposed on our people in Gaza.

At the same time that Gaza is resisting, and our people are facing the attacks of the Israeli occupation forces in the Great Return March, as the occupation tightens its siege and aggression on the Strip, President Mahmoud Abbas and his government continue to impose a set of punitive measures on the Strip, completely ignoring the popular demands and appeals. They continue to deny the popular will that firmly rejects these shameful sanctions affecting the health sector, finance, energy, benefits to prisoners and their families, staff, supplies and operational expenses as well as stopping medical transfers and depriving the sick and wounded from leaving Gaza to receive treatment.

إسناداً لإضراب الحركة الأسيرة احتجاجاً على وقف رواتب أسرى غزة، ودعماً لشعبنا وصموده في القطاع، ندعوكم للمشاركة في الوقفة الاحتجاجية غداً الجمعة، الموافق 3/8/2018، الساعة 1:00 ظهراً أمام السفارة الفلسطينية في العاصمة النمساوية، فيينا، لمطالبة السلطة الفلسطينية بإلغاء الإجراءات العقابية المفروضة على أبناء شعبنا في قطاع غزة

ففي الوقت الذي تقاوم فيه غزة لوحدها، ويتصدى أبناء شعبنا بصدورهم لقوات الاحتلال الإسرائيلي في مسيرات العودة الكبرى، كما يشدد الاحتلال حصاره وعدوانه على القطاع، يواصل الرئيس محمود عباس وحكومته فرض رزمة من الإجراءات العقابية على القطاع، متجاهلين تماماً المطالب والنداءات الشعبية، وسط تعتيم رسمي وإنكار مستمر للإرادة الشعبية الرافضة لهذه العقوبات المخجلة التي تطال قطاع الصحة والمالية والطاقة، ورواتب الأسرى وعائلاتهم، والموظفين والمستلزمات والمصاريف التشغيلية، كما أدت لوقف جزء من التحويلات الطبية وحرمان المرضى والجرحى من الخروج من غزة وتلقي العلاج اللازم.

شعب واحد، همٌ واحد وعدو واحد .

3 August, London: Free Lama Khater and all Palestinian Journalists

2 August 2018

Friday, 3 August
4:00 pm
BBC Broadcasting House
Portland Place
London, UK
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/878179319048552/

WEB: http://www.inminds.com/article.php?id=10812

On Friday 3rd August 2018 Inminds human rights group will hold a vigil outside the British Broadcasting Corporation, the BBC, to highlight the plight of Palestinian journalists targeted by the illegal Israeli occupation.

Inminds will demand freedom for imprisoned Palestinian journalists including Lama Khater who was abducted from her home in a pre-dawn raid last week on 24th July. Her abduction was followed this week by the abduction of 4 more journalists on 30th July, bringing the number of Palestinian journalists imprisoned by Israel to 32, including five women. Many of them are held indefinitely, without charge or trial under Israel’s illegal use of administrative detention. This number does not include Palestinian writers and poets like Dareen Tatour who was sentenced this week on 31st July to five months imprisonment simply for writing a poem. The vigil will demand the BBC end its censorship on Palestinian suffering and report on the plight of fellow journalists in Palestine.

Inminds chair Abbas Ali said “It is shameful how the media, especially the BBC, is silent whilst Israel bombs, kills, abducts, cages, tortures and censors Palestinian journalists, writers and poets. Through their silence the BBC shields Israel’s war crimes against Palestinian journalists and thereby contributes towards their suffering. The British public through its TV licence pay the salaries of the BBC, not the Israel government. We are here to tell the BBC that its unacceptable that they serve Tel Aviv’s agenda rather than report the news.”

Lama Khater

42 years old, mother of five, Lama Khater is a Palestinian journalist. Her articles for Al Jazeera, Quds News Network and Meem Magazine have been critical of both the occupation and the PA, in particular the security agreement the PA has made to police Palestinians on behalf of the occupation. This has resulted in both the Israeli occupation and the PA threatening her, demanding she stop her journalism.

A week before her arrest, her husband Hazem al-Fakhouri, a fellow journalist, was summoned by the Israeli forces. They warned him that his wife would be arrested if she didnt stop her critical writing. He was asked what was the age of their youngest son Yahya and if his wife was still breastfeeding him. Israeli law allows a child under 2 years old who is still being breast fed to accompany his mother to prison when she is arrested. Yahya was a couple of month older that 2 years.

Three days later, on 20th July, Lama’s latest article was published on the subject of Israel trying to starve the people of Gaza in retaliation for the Great Return protests by partially closing the Karam Abu Shalem border crossing – the only entry point for food into Gaza.

Four days later, at 2am in the morning of 24th July 2018, Israeli soldiers raided Lama’s home in occupied Al-Kahalil – Hebron. Before they dragged her away in their military transport, Lama insisted on hugging her son Yahya goodbye. Lama’s daughter Beesan recalls “My mother kissed each one of us goodbye, and advised us to take care of each other”.

The Israeli soldiers took her to the illegal settlement of Kiryat Araba and brutally interrogated her for 5 hours till 7am when she was moved to Ashkelon interrogation centre where her interrogation continued. She was shackled to a chair the whole time, denied sleep and constantly cursed and shouted at by Israeli interrogators non stop for 10 hours at a time, day after day. When she wouldn’t break, the interrogators asked for her detention to be extended, which the military judge agreed to at her hearing on 26th July. Her lawyer, finally being able to see her briefly, filed an appeal against the extension – she was still being held without any charge. That appeal was rejected by Ofer military court on 30th July. Lama was still denied family visits. Her 2 years old son Yahya, missing his mother, came to the appeal hoping to catch a glimpse of her, but the soldiers spitefully refused him entry. He went home without being allowed to see his mother. Today Lama is still being caged without charge, shackled at the mercy of Israeli interrogators.

Targeting Journalists

In March 2018 around 60 film-makers including Mike Leigh, Ken Loach and Peter Kosminsky, in an open letter, condemned Israel’s targeting of Palestinian journalists. The letter read:

“On April 6, Palestinian cameraman Yaser Murtaja was killed by an Israeli sniper as he filmed the “Great March of Return” in Gaza. On the same day six other photojournalists wearing press jackets were injured by the Israeli military. Since then photographer Ahmed Abu Hussein has been shot dead. This is not an anomaly. Last year Israeli forces assaulted 139 journalists and detained a further 33. In 27 cases they destroyed or sabotaged equipment. They closed down 17 media outlets. Palestinian journalists and film-makers are thus victims of systematic persecution based on their ethnicity.”

Both Yaser Murtaja and Ahmed Abu Hussein were wearing blue protective vests marked “PRESS” in large capital letters, clearly identifying them as journalists when they were shot by Israeli snipers. Ahmad was even wearing a helmet clearly marked ‘TV’. It seems these identifiers were used by the Israeli snipers to pick them out to kill. Both Reporters Without Borders and Human Rights Watch have declared that Israel’s deliberate attacks on Palestinian journalists amounts to “war crimes”.

Criminalising Journalism

In June 2018 the Israeli Knesset passed the first reading of a new law which forbids journalists and ordinary residents from filming and documenting human rights abuses committed by Israeli soldiers. The new law allows the army to abduct and imprison those who film these crimes to up to five years. If they are Palestinian then they can be imprisoned for 10 years. The law was drafted after film emerged of Israeli soldiers cheering and celebrating after shooting an unarmed Palestinian youth with a sniper rifle on the Gaza border. Ironically the film from the snipers telescopic sight was taken a by a soldier as a trophy of the kill. Israel’s Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman defended the sniper saying “The sniper deserves a medal” for doing his job, but “the photographer [deserves] a court martial.” He added “the truth must be clear. The IDF is the most moral army in the world, but when you’re at the front and facing tense situations, sometimes you let out those tensions”.

Censoring and Arresting Citizen Journalists and Writers

Two weeks ago on 17th July 2018 the Israeli Knesset passed the first reading of its so-called Facebook Bill which will will allow the authorities to order Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google search and other internet platforms to remove content which could harm the state of Israel, including economic harm like espousing a boycott of Israel.

Since Sept 2015 over 500 Palestinians, including women and children, have been arrested simply because Israel didn’t approve of their social media posts. This week, on Tuesday 31st July 2018 Israel sentenced 36 years old Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour to five months imprisonment and a further six months suspended sentence for her poem titled “Resist, my people resist them” which she posted on social media. She has already served nearly three years under house arrest after police raider her home in October 2015 and dragged her away. She was banned from publishing her works and banned from accessing the internet altogether. The writer’s association PEN condemned the verdict as “an unacceptable attack on freedom of expression.. a poem is not a crime”. The group’s international president, Jennifer Clement said “Dareen Tatour has been convicted for doing what writers do every day – we use our words to peacefully challenge injustice”.

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

JazakAllah,

Abbas Ali
Inminds Human Rights Group

www.inminds.com
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2 August, NYC: Breaking Bars – Fighting Incarceration from the US to Palestine

2 August 2018

Thursday, 2 August
7:00 pm
Barnard College
Diana Center, Room 504
3009 Broadway
New York, NY 10027
More info: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/breaking-bars-fighting-incarceration-from-the-us-to-palestine-tickets-48395766039

Join us for an intimate discussion between two groups on the frontlines of fighting incarceration and supporting prisoners — one in Palestine, the other in the US — on how we can understand these shared systems of domination and resist them.

Addameer (Arabic for conscience) Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association is a Palestinian working for political prisoners held in Israeli and Palestinian prisons.

Lana Ramadan, Addameer’s International Advocacy Officer, was born in Dheisheh refugee camp, near Bethlehem in the West Bank. She’s worked with Badil Refugee Resource Centre and been active in community activities, such as Dabke. She studied Human Rights and International Law in the joint Al Quds University and Bard College program and has a Master in Human Rights from London School of Economics.
David Joseph Deutch, or DJ, Addameer’s Advocacy Coordinator, is a native of Australia who has worked with indigenous Australian youth, asylum seeker children, Amnesty International Australia and the UN in New York and Palestine. He is now Addameer’s Advocacy Coordinator. He studied Philosophy and Religious Studies at the University of Sydney and has a Master in Public Administration at Columbia University in New York.

Release Aging People in Prison/RAPP works to end mass incarceration and promote racial justice by getting elderly and infirm people out of prison.

Laura Whitehorn served 14+ years in US federal prison as an anti-imperialist political prisoner. She was convicted for the “Resistance Conspiracy” case, which involved attacks on US and israeli military installations and companies. In 2016, she was part of a delegation with other former political prisoners, labor organizers, and academics to Palestine.

*Location wheelchair accessible*

11 August, Philadelphia: Palestine and Black America – A Strategy for Liberation

1 August 2018

Saturday, 11 August
2:00 pm
Church of the Advocate
1801 Diamond Street
Philadelphia, PA
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/2031689323569182/

Temple Students for Justice in Palestine and the Saturday Free School are collaborating to forge a new path for world peace and freedom.

There will be readings of the work of Huey P. Newton, the co-founder of the Black Panther Party, and Ahmad Sa’adat, the general secretary of the Popupar Front for the Liberation of Palestine followed by a discussion on Black and Palestinian revolutionary thought. In addition to presentations by members of both organizations, we will be focusing on how to best continue the struggle for the liberation of humanity.

Join us for an afternoon of producing knowledge for liberation and the celebration of intercivilizational unity anchored in the Palestinian and Black Radical Traditions!

Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour sentenced to 5 months in Israeli jail: Take action for freedom

31 July 2018

*Dareen Tatour at her sentencing. Photo: Yoav Haifawi, Facebook*

Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour was sentenced to five months in Israeli prison on 31 July 2018, the culmination of a nearly three-year saga of imprisonment and house arrest following the publication of a video featuring her poem, “Resist, my people, resist them,” in October 2015. Tatour, 36, already spent three months in prison before spending the next two and a half years under house arrest. Tatour’s treatment as a Palestinian citizen of Israel has clearly underlined the racist, discriminatory and apartheid conditions for Palestinians in ’48 Palestine as well as exposing the reality behind Israel’s claims to democracy and academic freedom.

Tatour will report to Israeli prison on 8 August, where she will serve two months in prison, the remaining period of her sentence. She was convicted of incitement several months ago in a Nazareth court for her poetry and writing on social media. A number of political leaders of the Palestinian movement in occupied Palestine ’48 attended the hearing, and writers around the world have expressed their support for Tatour. PEN International identified the case as one targeting freedom of expression.

“After reviewing the charge sheet and the evidence against her, PEN has concluded that Dareen Tatour has been targeted for her poetry and activism and is calling for her immediate and unconditional release.” Jennifer Clement, president of PEN International, said that “Dareen Tatour is on trial because she wrote a poem. Dareen Tatour is critical of Israeli policies, but governments that declare themselves as democracies do not curb dissent. Words like those of Dareen Tatour have been used by other revolutionary poets, during the Vietnam war, during other liberation wars, and they can be found in the works of Sufiya Kamal of Bangladesh, of Ernesto Cardenal of Nicaragua, and so on.” Hundreds of internationally renowned writers and artists, including Edwidge Danticat, Ahdaf Soueif, Alice Walker, Eve Ensler, Ariel Dorfman, Russell Banks and Barbara Hammer, have called for Tatour’s release.

As Yoav Haifawi, one of the organizers of the campaign to free Dareen Tatour wrote in his detailed explanation of the case, “Tatour was mistakenly suspected and the entire investigation into her case began from this mistake. But her conviction is not a mistake. She was clearly identified as a proud Palestinian Arab who resists her oppression and the oppression of her people. For this she was convicted.”

Dareen Tatour is far from the first Palestinian poet – including a number of poets from ’48 Palestine – targeted by the Israeli occupation for arrest and imprisonment. The jailing and trial of Dareen Tatour is an echo of the arrests and imprisonment of Mahmoud Darwish, Samih al-Qasim, Tawfiq Zayyad and many others, not to mention the assassination of Ghassan Kanafani, Wael Zuaiter, Kamal Nasser and other Palestinian poets and writers. Today, there are dozens of Palestinian journalists in prison, including the writer Lama Khater of al-Khalil, just arrested last week and held under interrogation by Israeli occupation forces. Khater’s family said that she was told by Israeli soldiers that if she would stop writing, she would not be arrested.

In a lengthy, moving interview at Mondoweiss, Tatour spoke about her experiences with her fellow women prisoners. “Every prisoner that I met and knew has a story worth telling. Each carries an important human message. There are 45 Palestinian prisoners whom I have personally known and who have left me with unforgettable feelings and memories. I want to help make their voices heard…

After detention, I plan to dedicate myself to the women’s movement. I plan to establish a Palestinian women’s association that can connect with women’s rights groups around the world. In short, these last three years have made me love women more than ever and I hope to change with them.”

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network denounces the sentencing of Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour, the latest example of the violent, military repression of Palestinian arts, culture and literary expression. Tatour’s case exposes the reality of the Israeli regime for the Palestinian citizens in occupied Palestine ’48 – that is, an attack upon and a denial of their existence, identity and even creativity.

Whether facing the military courts that convict 99.74 percent of the Palestinians that come before them, the administrative detention hearings that send Palestinians to prison without charge or trial or the “civil” courts that criminalize poetry and impose extreme sentences on the children of Jerusalem, the entire Israeli system is based on the dispossession and denial of Palestinians and is fundamentally unjust and racist at its core.

Her case also highlights the role of Palestinian women in leading the liberation movement as well as creating art and culture. Throughout the history of the Palestinian liberation movement and resistance culture, women’s art and organizing has always been central – indeed critical – to the development of the anti-colonial struggle and the creative output that has accompanied it.

Freedom and justice for Dareen Tatour and all imprisoned and persecuted Palestinians!

TAKE ACTION!

1. Several organizers of the campaign to free Dareen Tatour have launched “Poem on Trial,” a campaign to highlight the case and support her ongoing legal challenges. The organizers are calling upon musicians, poets and other artists to create sound works that incorporate Tatour’s criminalized poem. “With your agreement we intend to curate a digital-only album of submissions, to be made available for sale on several platforms.All sale proceeds will be utilised to assist Dareen’s legal challenge to her conviction. Please submit your piece by 28/9/2018 via Wetransfer to:poemontrial@gmail.com” Read more: https://www.poemontrial.org/

2. Escalate the cultural boycott of Israel. Palestinians have long called for the boycott of academic and cultural institutions in the Israeli state and for performers and artists to refrain from performing in Israel so long as it continues to violate Palestinian rights. This includes rejecting the sponsorship of cultural events and film festivals by Israeli embassies around the world. In response to the growing boycott movement, supporters of Israeli apartheid and representatives of the Israeli regime often make claims to “academic freedom” and “cultural exchange.” The imprisonment of poets like Dareen Tatour proves the falsehood of such claims and undermines the importance of cultural boycott. Find out more at https://bdsmovement.net/pacbi and http://usacbi.org.

31 July, Malmo: Demonstration against the Israeli hijacking of the Ship to Gaza

30 July 2018

Tuesday, 31 July
6:00 pm
Mollevangstorget
Malmo, Sweden
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/235238373983602/

On Sunday (29 July), the Norwegian fishing boat Al Awda was hijacked in international waters, 49 nautical miles from Gaza by the Israeli military. Within the next few days, the Swedish boat Freedom is expected to arrive at Gaza and we can expect the same action of Israel.

In view of the above and the situation in Gaza, we call for a manifestation against Israel’s illegal naval blockade of Gaza.
The siege must end now!

Hej alla Palestinavänner i Malmö med omnejd

I söndags (29 juli) kapades den Norska fiskebåten Al Awda på internationellt vatten,49 sjömil från Gaza av Israelisk militär. Inom de närmsta dagarna beräknas den svenska båten Freedom ankomma Gaza och vi kan förvänta oss samma agerande av Israel.

Med anledning av ovanstående samt situationen i Gaza
kallar vi till en manifestation mot Israels illegala sjöblockad av Gaza.
Blockaden måste hävas nu!

Plats: Möllevångstorget i Malmö

Tid: Tisdag 31 juli kl 18.00

Organisationer som vill tala anmäler detta till Joel j_opperdoes@hotmail.com

Palestinian student Ola Marshoud sentenced to 7 months in Israeli prison; female students receive arrest threats

30 July 2018

Palestinian student Ola Marshoud, 21, from the Balata refugee camp in Nablus, was sentenced to seven months in Israeli prison by the Salem military court on Monday, 30 July, for her involvement in student activism on the An-Najah University campus. Marshoud has been detained since March, when she was summoned to interrogation at the military base near Huwwara. When she arrived, she was transferred the interrogation center at Petah Tikva.

She was accused in the military court of involvement in student organizing at An-Najah University. Active Palestinians involved in the student movement are repeatedly targeted for Israeli arrest, imprisonment and persecution, including Omar Kiswani, the student body president at Bir Zeit University. Statistics indicate that there are over 300 Palestinian university students imprisoned in Israeli jails.

*Threatening notice against student activists in al-Khalil. Photo: Quds News*

This policy of colonial military repression of student activism is continuing; in the pre-dawn hours of Monday, 30 July, a number of families in al-Khalil reported that armed occupation forces posted notices on the walls of the area, particularly the homes of female students, threatening them against participating in student elections and activism with the Islamic Bloc on their campuses. Several young women’s family homes were raided and letters presented to their parents by occupation soldiers accusing them of participating in “illegal activities” through student activism.

One such letter, directed at students’ parents from Israeli occupation intelligence, said: “If you get this message, it means that you are the parents of one of the activists of the Islamic bloc, which is an illegal activity. We alert you that any such involvement may lead to the arrest of your daughter, damaging her academic life and future, wasting your money and causing concern and indignation in the hearts of your family. We turn to you to follow up on the activities of your daughter and lead her away from such actions. You have been warned of the consequences.”

Four journalists among 28 Palestinians seized by Israeli occupation forces

30 July 2018

Israeli occupation forces seized 28 Palestinians on Monday morning, 30 July, including four Palestinian journalists who work for al-Quds TV: Alaa al-Rimawi, Mohammed Sami Alwan, Qutaiba Hamdan and Hassani al-Najas. Rimawi directs the al-Quds TV Ramallah bureau and his home in the al-Masayef neighborhood in Ramallah was raided by occupation forces, while Mohammed Alwan was also seized from his home.

Qutaiba Hamdan was seized from Beitunia and Husni Anjas from Kharbata Bani Harith, and his vehicle and work equipment were seized by the Israeli occupation. Quds News reported that Israeli occupation forces accused the four journalists of “incitement,” based on their reporting about the realities of Israeli colonization in Palestine. Just days ago, Palestinian writer Lama Khater was seized from her home in al-Khalil. Khater and the four journalists seized today make up some of the 29 Palestinian journalists imprisoned by Israel. These imprisoned journalists include student Istabraq Tamimi and a number of journalists detained without charge or trial, including Hammam Hantash, Abdullah Shatat and Abdel-Mohsen Shalaldeh., noted the Palestinian Prisoners’ Affairs Commission.

The Palestinians seized on Monday included the freed prisoners Mohsen Hardan Shreim, Bilal Maskawi, Nidal Nofal, Fadi Hourani, Khaled Wajih Sabri, Mohammed Wajih Sabri, Nour Daoud and Hussam Hatem Abu Libdeh in Qalqilya. In Bethlehem, occupation forces seized former prisoners Fahad As’ad and Atta al-Hreimi as well as Mohammed Ali al-Muti. In addition to the four journalists, they also seized Wassim Jadallah and Moataz Abu Rahmah from the Ramallah and el-Bireh area; Khaled Sidqi Daraghmeh and Nasr Mohammed Nasrallah Daraghmeh from Tubas; and Shadi Riyad al-Harb from Dura village in al-Khalil.

In addition, occupation forces raided a number of homes in al-Khalil, including the home of Nada Dweik, the daughter of Palestinian Legislative Council speaker and former prisoner Abdel-Aziz Dweik, ransacking it. They posted on the walls of houses in the city warning students against activism with the Islamic bloc on campuses.

20 Freedom Flotilla sailors still held in Israeli jail; Italian artists deported from Palestine

30 July 2018

Twenty international solidarity activists on board the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza are being held in Israeli prisons, report the Freedom Flotilla Coalition. The first boat in the flotilla, “Al-Awda,” was hijacked by Israeli occupation forces in international waters on Sunday, 29 July. The next boat in the flotilla, the “Freedom,” is still on the approach to Gaza. The Flotilla aims to break the Israeli naval siege on Gaza, Palestine.

Two activists with Israeli citizenship on the boats, Zohar Chamberlain Regev and Yonatan Shapira, were released on bail and charged with attempting to enter Gaza and conspiracy to commit a crime. The 20 international solidarity activists remain detained in Givon prison and were scheduled to begin meeting with their lawyer on Monday.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition noted that:

“Although the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) claim that the capture of our vessel happened ‘without exceptional incident’, eye-witness Zohar Chamberlain Regev reports that at the time of boarding: ‘People on board were tasered and hit by masked IOF soldiers. We did not get our passports or belongings before we got off the boat. Do not believe reports of peaceful interception.’ We urgently need to know the details of who was injured and how seriously, and what treatment they are receiving, if any. A military attack on a civilian vessel is a violent act and a violation of international law. Taking 22 people from international waters to a country which is not their destination constitutes an act of kidnapping, which is also unlawful under the international Convention of the Law of Sea.”

*Mural on Apartheid Wall by artist Jorit Agoch.*

In addition, two Italian artists, including well-known muralist Jorit Agoch, were ordered deported from Palestine on Monday, 30 July after they were seized by Israeli occupation forces for painting a large mural of Ahed Tamimi, 17, on the Apartheid Wall. The 13-foot-high painting was part of the celebration of Ahed’s release from over seven months in Israeli prison on Sunday, 29 July, along with her mother, Nariman.

The portrait was the focus of global media attention before the artists and the Palestinian driver who accompanied them were seized by occupation forces as they completed work on the portrait. The Palestinian man was reportedly released, as were the two artists, after their tourist visas were cancelled and they were ordered to leave the country within 72 hours. They were also banned from entering occupied Palestine for 10 years, much like other activists who have been denied entry to Palestine at Ben-Gurion airport or the Karameh/Allenby crossing.

Israeli occupation forces arrest hunger striker’s father as prisoners keep up battle against administrative detention

30 July 2018

*Mohammed al-Rimawi (l) – Photo: Addameer*

Mohammed al-Rimawi, 27, has been on hunger strike for 12 days in Israeli occupation prisons, while his father, Nimer al-Rimawi, 54, was seized on Sunday, 29 July by Israeli occupation forces near Ramallah. The younger Rimawi is held under interrogation at the Ashkelon interrogation center. His detention was just extended for another eight days to continue his interrogation.

A Palestinian lawyer with the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society said that the arrest of Rimawi’s father was part of the harsh campaign of pressure exerted against the hunger striker and attempt to force him to end his strike. He has been jailed since 19 July, when he was arrested when summoned to meet with the Israeli occupation intelligence. A former prisoner, he was jailed for three years and was only released six months ago.

Rimawi’s hunger strike joins that of Hassan Shokeh, from Bethlehem, who has been on hunger strike for nearly two months. His health condition has continued to deteriorate as he is held in isolation in the Ramle prison clinic; he must use a wheelchair to move around and is in constant pain, according to the most recent reports from his lawyer. Surviving only on water, he is repeatedly vomiting the liquid. He has been transferred on multiple occasions to Israeli hospitals due to his severe health crisis.

Shokeh has conducted a hunger strike before; he has been detained since 28 August 2017, only one month after he was released from his previous imprisonment without charge or trial. He ended his 35-day hunger strike that he launched upon his arrest with an agreement to transfer his case to the military courts. However, after his sentence expired in June 2018, he was once again ordered jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention. He is demanding his freedom.

Also on hunger strike are Anas Shadid, Basem Abidu and Dirar Abu Manshar, all from al-Khalil. Mahmoud Ayyad suspended his strike after an agreement to finalize his administrative detention order. Shadid, 21, is on his third hunger strike in two years against imprisonment without charge or trial. He has refused food for 11 days and was transferred from Ofer prison to isolation in Hadarim prison. He launched his strike when his administrative detention was renewed once more in June 2018; he has been jailed since June 2017. He was re-arrested shortly after winning his release from administrative detention through an 85-day hunger strike.

Basem Abidu, 47, from al-Khalil, has also been on strike for 11 days against his administrative detention order. He has been jailed since 30 May and was ordered to four months imprisonment without charge or trial. On 26 July, Abu Manshar, 39, joined the strike in protest of his own imprisonment without charge or trial; he has been jailed since June 2017 and his administrative detention order was recently extended once more for the third time. He has spent over 8 years in prison, including multiple terms of administrative detention.

Out of the 6,000 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails, 450 are held without charge or trial under administrative detention orders. These orders are indefinitely renewable, and Palestinians have spent years at a time jailed under these orders. Administrative detention was first imported to Palestine by the British colonial mandate before being adopted by the Zionist occupation.

Since February of this year, all of the Palestinian prisoners held without charge or trial have boycotted the military courts that rubber-stamp their administrative detention orders. The ongoing hunger strikes among Palestinian prisoners jailed without charge or trial are part of the campaign to bring administrative detention to an end.

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