Jordan BDS: New boycott victory as UN Women drops G4S in Jordan

3 October 2017

Jordan BDS announced a new victory in their campaign against G4S in the country on 3 October 2017. UN Women is now the fifth United Nations agency to cut ties with the security corporation in Jordan. G4S is subject to a global boycott campaign; despite the fact that it sold off its G4S Israel subsidiary, that provides security services and equipment to the Israel Prison Service, to an Israeli private equity firm, the British-Danish corporation continues to co-own a stake in Policity, the Israeli national police training center in occupied Jerusalem and is therefore responsible for the training of Israeli “police” forces, including the military-style “border police” that enforce occupation in Jerusalem and surrounding illegal settlements. Further, G4S was also involved in the installation of electronic gates and other colonial “security” devices around Al-Aqsa Mosque in summer 2017. We reprint below the statement of Jordan BDS and congratulate the campaign on yet another victory over security corporations profiteering from the occupation and oppression of Palestinians:

UN Women becomes fifth UN agency in Jordan to drop its contracts with G4S following BDS pressure

The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) in Jordan has dropped its contracts with the world’s largest security firm, occupation profiteer G4S, following an ongoing BDS campaign over the firm’s role in Israel’s violations of human rights.

Jordan BDS welcomes UN Women’s decision and salutes the agency for taking a principled step in line with its core values of promoting human rights and human dignity. Accordingly, UN Women has become the fifth UN agency in Jordan to drop its contracts with occupation profiteer G4S alongside WFP, UNOPS, UNICEF and UNHCR.

G4S has a track record in human and refugee rights violations in many countries across the world, which led dozens of universities, unions, pension funds and more to drop their contracts with the company as well as divest their shares from it following calls by the BDS movement worldwide. The #UNDropG4S campaign began in 2015, in which Jordan BDS took an active part through organizing actions and lobbying with different UN agencies, the latest of which was a demonstration outside UN Women office in Amman in commemorating Al Nakba in partnership with multiple Jordanian civil society organizations.

Jordan BDS demands the local and regional offices of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP and UNDP MENA) – the last UN office in Jordan to hold contracts with G4S – to follow the lead of the five UN agencies before it that showed a firm commitment to human rights. Our demand is based on UN documents, which UNDP is breaching, including the UN Supplier Code of Conduct, the UN Special Rapporteur for OPT report, and the UN Global Compact. It is truly shocking that UNDP persists with its breach until now and continues to dismiss the values and principles that the agency itself proclaims to defend.

Finally, Jordan BDS confirms that its campaign against G4S will continue, in parallel with the regional campaigns in Lebanon, Kuwait and Morocco as well as globally, until G4S stops profiting from the occupation and fully withdraws from its remaining contracts in Israel including its agreement with the Israeli Police Academy (Policity) in Jerusalem.

3 October, Vancouver: What is Palestine? SPHR Social and Fundraiser

3 October 2017

Tuesday, 3 October
6:00 pm
Liu Institute for Global Affairs, Multipurpose Room
University of British Columbia (UBC)
Vancouver
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/358865001234696/

Samidoun will be participating in the following event:

Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights at UBC, Vancouver is on the unceded and occupied territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musquem) people. In our aim to bring awareness to Israeli settler-colonialism and the occupation of indigenous Palestinian land, it is crucial to acknowledge that we too are settlers here, and are complicit in the ongoing dispossession of Indigenous land and people.

We invites you to an evening of learning and open dicussion while listening to speakers and testimonies, along with food and good company, to see what truly is Palestine.

Speakers TBA

Recommendation donation: $5

Accessibility to building will be updated shortly.

7 October, Beddawi Camp: Seminar on Freedom for Georges Ibrahim Abdallah

2 October 2017

Saturday, 7 October
2:00 pm
Palestinian Arab Cultural Club
Beddawi Camp
Lebanon
More information: https://samidounlb.wordpress.com/2017/09/29/%D8%B5%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%AF%D9%88%D9%86-%D8%AA%D8%AF%D8%B9%D9%88-%D9%84%D9%86%D8%AF%D9%88%D8%A9-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%B0%D9%83%D8%B1%D9%89-%D8%A7%D8%B9%D8%AA%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%86%D8%A7/

The first event of Samidoun in Lebanon!

On the 34th anniversary of the arrest of the struggler, Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, the Samidoun Network invites you to attend a seminar on “Life of Struggle in the Cells of the Prison,” with Fidaa Abdel-Fattah, lawyer and activist with the international campaign to free Georges Abdallah.

The event is organized by Samidoun Network, the Palestinian Arab Cultural Club and the international campaign to free Georges Abdallah.

Follow the Facebook page of Samidoun Lebanon: https://www.facebook.com/samidounlb/

في الذكرى الـ34 لإعتقال المناضل جورج إبراهيم عبدالله تدعوكم شبكة صامدون لحضور ندوة بعنوان “حياة مناضل في أقبية السجون” تلقيها المحامية و الناشطة في الحملة الوطنية لتحرير المناضل جورج عبدالله “فداء عبد الفتاح “ و ذلك في مخيم البداوي -مقر النادي الثقافي الفلسطيني العربي , بتاريخ 7-10-2017
الساعة :2 ظهراً .

3 October, Bir Zeit University: The Experience of Imprisonment

2 October 2017

Tuesday, 3 October
11 am
Bir Zeit University
Palestine
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/130328914214194/

The first event of Samidoun in occupied Palestine!

The Palestinian and Arab prisoners behind occupation bars have a harsh and difficult life. The true tragedy in the darness of the prison is inflicted by the repressive and inhumane practices of the occupation authorities and the prison administration against the prisoners, who in turn invoke the principles of steadfastness and rejection in confrontation of colonialism and its policies.

Therefore, seeing the issue of prisoners as a major demand of the Palestinian people and that the responsibility to liberate them from the prisons of the occupation is also an international and Arab responsibility, the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network invites you to attend a seminar, entitled “The Eperience of Imprisonment: The impact on the construction of the revolutionary self” at 11 am in the building of the Faculty of Development, Conference Room 316, hosted by Dr. Lena Meari and the liberated prisoner, student Mohammed Badr.

The topics to be addressed include:
Introduction of Samidoun Network in occupied Palestine
Awareness of methods and mechanisms used in Israeli occupation prisons
Experiences of prisoners in the occupation prisons and their role in shaping the revolutionary self
Prisoners and their liberation as an integral part of Palestinian existence

Follow more events of Samidoun in occupied Palestine: https://www.facebook.com/%D8%B4%D8%A8%D9%83%D8%A9-%D8%B5%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%AF%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%81%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%B7%D9%8A%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%AD%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%A9-318760335263991/

الأسرى خلف القضبان و نحن خلفهم ، فكيف نتقدّم إذا لم يتحرروا ؟

يعاني الأسرى الفلسطينيون والعرب في سجون الاحتلال حياة قاسية وشديدة الصعوبة، فهناك في غياهب السجن الظالمة تتجسد المأساة الحقيقية، جراء ما يعانونه من الممارسات القمعية واللاإنسانية التي تمارسها سلطات الاحتلال وإدارات السجون بحق هؤلاء الصامدين خلف القضبان والذين بدورهم يسطرون أسمي معاني الصمود والرفض في وجه الاستعمار وسياساته.
وبناءا على ذلك، ايمانا بأن قضية الاسرى مطلب رئيسي من مطالب الشعب الفلسطيني ومسوؤلية تحريرهم من سجون الاحتلال الاسرائيلية مسؤولية عربية دولية، تدعوكم شبكة صامدون للدفاع عن الأسرى الفلسطينيين لحضور ندوة بعنوان “تجارب الأسر: تفاصيلها وأثرها في تشكيل الذات الثورية” وذلك يوم الثلاثاء الموافق الساعة 11:00 12:30في مبنى كلية التنمية قاعة الاجتماعات 316 باستضافة د.لينا معاري والاسير المحرر الطالب محمد بدر.

-أهم المحاور التي ستتطرق لها المحاضرة:
التعريف بشبكة صامدون- فلسطين المحتلة
الوعي بالأساليب والاليات المتبعة في سجون الاحتلال الاسرائيلية
تجارب الأسرى في سجون الاحتلال ودورها في تشكيل الذات المقاومة الثورية

ولتكون قضية الاسرى وتحريرهم جزء لا يقبل التجزيء في نسيج وجودنا الفلسطيني.

7 October, NYC: Rally to Resist War and Empire

30 September 2017

Saturday, 7 October
1:00 pm
34th St and 6th Ave
NYC
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/670899453112529/

RALLY TO RESIST WAR & EMPIRE
Saturday, October 7th @ 1pm
Herald Square, 34th Street & 6th Avenue

Why October 7th?

16 years following the US invasion of Afghanistan and the start of the so-called war on terror, the longest war in US history has no end in sight. While the mainstream media would have us believe that the current rise of militarism in the US is a trump phenomenon, we know that the violence of the US war machine is bipartisan, that by the end of Obama’s second term the US was bombing seven Muslim-majority nations on any given day.

In the wake of 9/11 in the US we’ve seen the war on terror materialize in widespread Islamophobic and anti-arab racist violence. We’ve seen it materialize in the surveillance and criminalization of Palestinian youth activists and community leaders. We’ve seen it materialize in the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security, the massive expansion of Border Patrol and ICE, and the hyper-militarization of the police state. The lessons the empire learned in Baghdad and Kabul have been transplanted into oppressed nationality communities, through counter-insurgency tactics, new spying techniques, and a tsunami of military grade weapons in the hands of those who terrorize Black and Brown communities – the police. It’s no accident that the same federal prison where many of the Eastchester 120 are being held right now is where dozens of Arab and Muslim immigrants were disappeared to and tortured in the aftermath of 9/11. In short – the war on terror has really been a war of terror.

On October 7 it’s important that we come together to demand and end to this war of terror. But beyond condemning US imperialism, we are called upon to connect our local struggles against surveillance, criminalization, police occupation, raids, deportations, gentrification and displacement, to the global struggle against US empire.

No to racism & white supremacy! Black Lives Matter!
Stop attacks on migrants, refugees and Muslims!
Bring the troops home and close the bases!
End the sanctions and the threats!
Jobs, education & healthcare, not endless war!

This demonstration is part of the coordinated national effort of many antiwar, antiracist, social justice and community-based groups. See NoToWar.net

Participating Groups – as of Sept 24
Action 21 Jersey City,
Alianza Pais Militantes,
BAYAN USA Northeast,
Bolivarian Circle NYC,
Colectivo Honduras USA Resistencia,
Committee to Stop FBI Repression,
Free Mumia Abu Jamal Coalition,
Gabriela New York,
Haiti Support Network,
Hoods 4 Justice,
International Action Center – IAC,
International League of Peoples Struggles – ILPS,
International Working Women’s Day Coalition,
Jersey City Peace Movement,
Knowdrones.com
Margaret Kimberly & Glen Ford – Black Agenda Report,
New Abolitionist Movement,
Nodutdol for Korean Community Development,
NYC Students for Justice in Palestine
Pakistan USA Freedom Forum,
Parents to Improve School Transportation – PIST,
Peace Action Manhattan,
Peace Action NYS.
Peoples Organization for Progress,
Peoples Power Assemblies – PPA,
Peoples Video Network,
Right to Resist War & Empire
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network,
Shut It Down – NYC,
Socialist Action
Solidarity Center NYC,
Solidarity with Novorossiya & Antifascists in Ukraine,
South Asian Fund for Education, Scholarship & Training,
SPARC – Serve the People, Awaken Revolutionary Consciousness
U.S. Peace Council – USPC,
United National Antiwar Coalition – UNAC,
Veterans For Peace/Chapter 021 NJ,
Workers World Party

2 October, NYC: Protest to free Ahmad Sa’adat and Stop HP

30 September 2017

Monday, 2 October
5:00 pm
Best Buy Union Square
52 E. 14th St, NYC
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/129823674413224/

Ahmad Sa’adat is the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council. One of over 6,000 Palestinian political prisoners, he has been sentenced to thirty years in Israeli prisons for a range of “security-related” political offenses. These charges include membership in a prohibited organization (the PFLP, of which Sa’adat is General Secretary), holding a post in a prohibited organization, and incitement, for a speech Sa’adat made following the Israeli assassination of his predecessor, Abu Ali Mustafa, in August 2001.

Sa’adat is a prisoner of conscience, targeted for imprisonment because of his political activity and in his capacity as a Palestinian leader. The systematic assassination, imprisonment and detention of Palestinian political leaders has long been a policy of the Israeli state, as reflected in the imprisonment of Sa’adat and over a dozen other members of the Palestinian Legislative Council, including Marwan Barghouthi, as well as the over 6,000 Palestinian political prisoners, targeted for their involvement in and commitment to the struggle for the liberation of their land and people.

Born in 1953, Sa’adat is the child of refugees expelled from their home in the village of Deir Tarif, near Ramleh, in 1948. A math teacher by training, he is married to Abla Sa’adat, herself a noted activist, and is the father of four children. Abla Sa’adat was herself arrested and detained for four months, and prevented from leaving Palestine to speak about Palestinian rights at an international conference. He has been involved in the Palestinian national movement since 1967, when he became active in the student movement. Prior to his abduction from Jericho in 2006, he had been held at various times as a political prisoner in Israeli jails, for a total of ten years. Sa’adat was elected General Secretary of the PFLP in 2001, following the Israeli assassination of then-General Secretary Abu Ali Mustafa in his office in Ramallah on August 27, 2001.

Sa’adat had been held in a Palestinian Authority prison for over four years, and, in January 2006, elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council on the Abu Ali Mustafa slate, when on March 14, 2006, the Israeli military stormed that prison at Jericho, abducting Sa’adat and five fellow prisoners and taking them to Israeli military prisons. For the entire period of Sa’adat’s imprisonment in the PA jails, he had been convicted of no crime. His sentencing – in an illegitimate military court of occupation, on December 25, 2008 – came nearly seven years into his detention, after a trial that began after five years of PA/US/British, then Israeli, imprisonment.

This trial was, of course, a military trial, as are the trials of nearly all Palestinian political prisoners, presided over by three military judges, two of which are not required to have any legal background. These trials are based on military law, including military regulations that may be issued at any time by the Israeli military commander over the area. This military rule under occupation dates from the era of the British occupation of Palestine, in which these “emergency” military rules were adopted in order to suppress the Palestinian national movement for independence and self-determination. These military laws continue today for the same purpose – to continue a military occupation and suppress the indigenous people of Palestine’s struggle for liberation and self-determination. Such military trials generally fail to uphold international standards for fair trials. At a more basic level, they are an illegitimate manifestation of an illegitimate system – trials that, by their very nature, can never be fair or legitimate.

Sa’adat is the child of 1948 refugees who, with six million others in Palestine, in the camps outside Palestine and in exile around the world, are denied their right to return to their homes, lands and properties and denied their right to organize, struggle and act to obtain their freedom, their return and their liberation.

Stand with Sa’adat and demand that Israel release him, twelve other imprisoned members of the Palestinian Legislative Council and all 6,279 Palestinian political prisoners and end its occupation of Palestinian land, and that Hewlett Packard companies end their contracts with Israeli prisons and detention centers, occupation and security forces, and checkpoints and settlements.

Help build a growing international campaign to boycott HP over the companies’ support for Israeli crimes.

Support the Palestinian people, the Palestinian prisoners, the Palestinian Resistance, and the liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea.

Mohammed Khalaf released after 12 years, urges attention to veteran prisoners’ struggle for freedom

28 September 2017

Mohammed Khalaf (Abu Tahrir), from the village of Jatt in the northern Triangle area in occupied Palestine ’48, was released after 12 years in Israeli prisons on Sunday, 24 September. Upon his release, he brought a message from the veteran prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons urging that their issue be taken up as a priority as part of the process of reconciliation and national unity.

“I spent 12 years in captivity. At the time of my release, my brothers sent me with a message to the entire Palestinian people that the issue of the veteran prisoners must be brought forward strongly and clearly and not left to the ‘good will’ of the occupation,” he said. Seized in 2005, Khalaf was accused of communicating with “the enemy” and supporting Palestinian resistance. He is a member of the Central Committee of the Abna’a el-Balad movement, a progressive Palestinian movement in occupied Palestine ’48.

Hundreds welcomed him to his home village in a festival organized by the Abnaa el-Balad Movement with the Higher Follow-Up Committee, the Freedoms Committee and the Committee on Prisoners on Tuesday, 26 September. The event included cultural presentations and political speeches; Raja Ighbarieh of Abnaa el-Balad delivered the main speech at the event.

During the celebration, he presented an appeal from the long-time prisoner Walid Daqqa made on behalf of the veteran prisoners and those from occupied Palestine 48, urging that the Palestinian resistance and the Hamas Movement include these prisoners in an exchange deal and demanding that PA president Mahmoud Abbas reject negotiations without the release of prisoners, including the pre-Oslo prisoners who have served over 24 years in Israeli jails.

Daqqa’s statement emphasized that the Israeli state has repeatedly refused to release Palestinian prisoners from occupied Palestine ’48 in exchanges with Palestinian and Lebanese resistance factions, especially since 1985, deeming them to be an “internal issue.” There are currently 153 Palestinian prisoners from occupied Palestine ’48 in Israeli jails.

In 2014, the Israeli occupation had pledged to release a fourth batch of pre-Oslo prisoners on 29 March 2014 as part of “negotiations” with the PA under U.S. auspices. However, the Israeli occupation refused to complete the release and those 30 prisoners remain in Israeli jails today.

The list of pre-Oslo prisoners held in Israeli jails today is:

1. Karim Younes, held since 6 January 1983
2. Maher Younes, held since 18 January 1983
3. Walid Daqqa, held since 25 February 1986
4. Ibrahim Abu Mokh, held since 24 March 1986
5. Rushdi Abu Mokh, held since 24 March 1986
6. Ibrahim Bayadseh, held since 26 March 1986
7. Ahmed Ali Abu Jaber, held since 8 July 1986
8. Ibrahim Mahmoud Abu Na’emah, since 20 October 1986
9. Mohammed Adel Daoud, since 8 December 1987
10. Bashir Abdallah al-Khatib, since 1 January 1988
11. Mahmoud Othman Jabarin, since 8 October 1988
12. Juma’ Ibrahim ‘Adam, since 31 October 1988
13. Mahmoud Salim Abu Kharabish, since 31 October 1988
14. Samer Saleh Sarsawi, since 24 November 1988
15. Raed Mohammed al-Saadi, since 28 August 1989
16. Fares Ahmad Baroud, since 23 March 1991
17. Ibrahim Hassan Ighbarieh, since 26 February 1992
18. Mohammed Said Ighbarieh, since 26 February 1992
19. Yahya Mustafa Ighbarieh, since 4 March 1992
20. Mohammed Tawfiq Jabarin, since 1 April 1992
21. Diaa Zakaria al-Falouji, since 12 October 1992
22. Mohammed Fawzi Fallah, since 29 November 1992
23. Hassan Hassan Abu Srour, since 4 January 1993
24. Mahmoud Jamil Abu Srour, since 5 January 1993
25. Mohammed Yousef Shamasneh, since 12 November 1993
26. Abdel-Jawad Yousef Shamasneh, since 12 November 1993
27. Alaa el-Din Fahmi al-Karaki, since 17 December 1993
28. Mahmoud Musa Issa, since 3 June 1993
29. Nayel Rafiq Salhab, since 27 September 1993
30. Mohammed Ahmed al-Tuss, since 6 October 1985

Jordanian youth activist Rakan Hiasat imprisoned for 15 days for political expression

28 September 2017

Jordanian youth activist Rakan Hiasat is currently imprisoned for 15 days because of a parliamentarian’s complaint that he posted a critical cartoon about her political positions. Hiasat, an activist with the leftist Wihda Party (Jordanian People’s Democratic Unity Party), is one of the foremost student and youth activists against normalization with Israel in Jordan; he was one of the organizers of a planned protest against the Jordanian “gas deal” with the Israeli occupation in the coming days when he was arrested.

He is imprisoned on a complaint by Jordanian MP Dima Tahboub because he posted a political cartoon depicting her as an ancient warrior on a horse carrying a sword after she supported security personnel invading student spaces and cracking down on restaurants serving food during Ramadan. Tahboub is known for her advocacy of right-wing political positions in Jordan, including arguing for the banning of musical concerts by Mashrou’ Leila.

Tahboub also pursued charges against two young women and three university students for “liking” or “sharing” the cartoon on Facebook, who are currently being investigated for potential “electronic crimes.”

Dr. Fakhir Daas of the Wihda Party said that it was absurd for Tahboub to file complaints against Jordanian citizens, as she is a public figure and a member of parliament who will be criticized by the public.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network denounces the jailing of Rakan Hiasat and the investigation of young people for “electronic crimes” for posting on Facebook and demand his immediate release. We extend our full solidarity and support to the movement against the Jordanian-Israeli gas deal of which he is a leader and join the call for the immediate cancellation of this deal for stolen Palestinian natural resources.

Palestinian youth activist ordered to six months in administrative detention; Israeli occupation terror continues in Dheisheh

28 September 2017

Palestinian youth activist Saleh al-Jaidi, from the Dheisheh refugee camp near Bethlehem, was ordered on Thursday, 28 September to six months’ imprisonment without charge or trial under an administrative detention order.

He was seized on Friday, 22 September by Israeli occupation forces who invaded and ransacked his family home in a pre-dawn raid. He was previously imprisoned three times, twice before in administrative detention in 2010 and 2015. He was jailed for three years after another arrest by occupation forces in 2011.

Al-Jaidi is a well-known youth activist in the camp; his brother, Yazan, is also imprisoned by Israeli occupation forces.

Meanwhile, the infamous “Captain Nidal,” the pseudonym used by an as-yet-unnamed Israeli occupation military commander, has continued to be the name under which the Israeli occupation carries out its ongoing campaign of terror and destruction in Dheisheh.

“Nidal” is known for calling multiple youth in Dheisheh and threatening to make “all of you disabled” – followed by repeated serious injuries caused by Israeli occupation forces shooting camp youth in the legs during protests or night-time “arrest raids.” He also threatened Raed al-Salhi to “shoot him in front of [his] mother,” shortly before al-Salhi was shot by occupation forces in Dheisheh camp on 9 August. Salhi, 22, an active youth in the camp known for both his political dedication to the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and his community-minded volunteer spirit, died from his injuries on 3 September.

“Nidal” is now calling the family members of Akram al-Atrash, a youth from the camp who was shot in the arm and the chest with live fire by Israeli occupation forces when they invaded the camp on 4 April. He remains injured and currently faces several dangerous operations that imperil his life. “Nidal’s” phone calls are threatening his family members that if they allow Akram in their homes, the occupation will attack them, kill him and demolish their homes. The family issued an appeal through the Dheisheh al-Hadath facebook page urging international attention to the ongoing occupation reign of terror in Dheisheh. While the pseudonym is used to deliver these threats, they are not an individual effort; instead, they reflect an institutionalized campaign of the Israeli military to suppress the active youth of the camp through killing, maiming, imprisonment and threats.

*Photo: Akram Al-Atrash, via Dheisheh al-Hadath*

These threatening phone calls came two days after occupation forces attacked several homes of the al-Atrash family in the camp’s al-Walaja neighborhood and held his cousin, Rami, for several hours. So-called “Captain Nidal” threatened to hold him as a hostage until Akram surrendered; however, Rami was released several hours later and the attacks on the al-Atrash family are continuing.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network reiterates its demand for the immediate release of Saleh al-Jaidi, demands an end to the attacks on the al-Atrash family and Palestinian youth in Dheisheh, and urges greater international mobilization against the ongoing invasions, attacks and arrests directed at Palestinian youth. We urge the freedom of all 6,200 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and we demand that “Captain Nidal,” as well as the Israeli occupation commanders and officials that authorize his threats and terror against the youth of Dheisheh be held accountable and prosecuted for his crimes.

Three Palestinian prisoners suspend hunger strikes

28 September 2017

Three Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails have suspended their strikes in agreements on Wednesday and Thursday, 27 and 28 September. Anas Shadid, 21, launched his hunger strike when he was moved into isolation in Hadarim prison and continued the strike for 15 days until suspending it on Thursday morning, 28 September. Israeli prison officials have confirmed that he will be returned to the general prison population. Shadid is held without charge or trial under a 6-month administrative detention order; in June 2017, he was re-arrested only weeks after being released from an earlier term in administrative detention. His earlier release was secured through a 90-day hunger strike.

In addition, Izzedine Amarneh, 55, from the village of Ya’bed south of Jenin, also suspended his hunger strike on Thursday morning, 28 September. Amarneh, who is blind and held without charge or trial in administrative detention, launched his strike for 11 days after being ordered imprisoned without charge or trial and held in isolation. He will be returned from isolation to the general prison population in Megiddo prison. Amarneh has spent six years in total in Israeli occupation prisons through various arrests.

In addition, Ahmad al-Sawarka, 33, originally from northern Sinai but who was living in Gaza at the time of his arrest in 2009, suspended his hunger strike on Wednesday, 27 September. Sawarka’s sentence expired one year ago yet he has remained imprisoned for a full year as Israeli occupation forces failed to either deport him to Egypt or allow him to return to Gaza. He suspended his strike due to a promise by the prison administration to deport him to Egypt next week.

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