New administrative detention orders issued against Palestinian political prisoners

6 August 2017

On 2 August, the Israeli occupation military court in Ofer issued nine administrative detention orders against Palestinian prisoners, reported Palestinian lawyer Ashraf Abu Sneineh.

The nine orders were imposed on the following:

1. Ahmad Abu Hashhash, 6 months, new order
2. Mohammed Qarareh, 3 months, new order
3. Zakaria al-Ghoul, 4 months, renewal
4. Hammam Hantash, 4 months, renewal
5. Salah Khawaja, 4 months, new order
6. Shadi Ajamiya, 3 months, renewal
7. Nidal Abu Sneineh, 4 months, new order
8. Mahmoud Talameh, 4 months, new order
9. Mohammed Ashtayel, 4 months, renewal order

Administrative detention orders are issued on the basis of “secret evidence” for the imprisonment of Palestinians without charge or trial. They are indefinitely renewable, and Palestinians can spend years at a time imprisoned without charge or trial under these orders. There are currently over 500 Palestinian administrative detainees out of over 6,200 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails.

Among this group of people is Hammam Hantash, a Palestinian journalist whose administrative detention order was renewed as well as Mahmoud Talameh, the brother of Diaa Talameh, killed by Israeli occupation forces in 2015 in al-Khalil. Talameh’s killing helped to spark the Jerusalem Intifada in late 2015.

This report came only one day after Palestinian lawyer Mahmoud al-Halabi said that the Israeli occupation authorities had issued 47 administrative detention orders in the preceding period, including orders against Palestinian Legislative Council members Azzam Salhab, Ahmed Attoun, Ahmed Mubarak and Hassan Yousef, all of whose detention was renewed. 13 of the orders were newly issued against prisoners arrested for the first time or just re-arrested, including a 6-month order against rearrested former prisoner Bilal Diab, currently on strike against his detention without charge or trial. The orders were issued against:

1. Karam Nasser Abed Rabbo, Bethlehem, 6 months, extension
2. Mohammed Suleiman Harizat, al-Khalil, 4 months, new order
3. Mohammed Hussein Zayoud, Jenin, 6 months, new order
4. Azzam Numan Salhab, al-Khalil, 3 months, extension (PLC Member)
5. Adeeb Hamouda Ghoulban, Qalqilya, 6 months, new order
6. Ahmed Abdel-Aziz Mubarak, Ramallah, 3 months, extension (PLC Member)
7. Hassan Yousef Dar Khalil, Ramallah, 3 months, extension (PLC Member)
8. Mohammed Suleiman Masalmeh, al-Khalil, 3 months, extension
9. Ahmed Azmi Hanatsheh, al-Khalil, 4 months, extension
10. Obeida Ahmad Mar’i, Qalqilya, 4 months, extension
11. Ibrahim Fawzi Abu al-Rish, Nablus, 4 months, extension
12. Jawad Shehadeh, al-Khalil, 4 months, extension
13. Saad Hassan al-Amour, Bethlehem, 4 months, new order
14. Yahya Hani Jaddou, Bethlehem, 4 months, extension
15. Hisham Issa Abu Samara, Jenin, 3 months, extension
16. Mohammed Mustafa al-Najjar, Bethlehem, 4 months, extension
17. Salah Mahmoud Attiyeh, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
18. Adnan Ahed Asfour, Nablus, 4 months, extension
19. Qusay Mohammed Salman, Bethlehem, 4 months, extension
20. Muath Issam Nassar, Bethlehem, 4 months, new order
21. Nour Kayed Issa, Jerusalem, 3 months, extension (16-year-old child prisoner)
22. Islam Imad Jawarish, Bethlehem, 6 months, extension
23. Yousef Abdel-Malek Saadi, Jenin, 4 months, extension
24. Anas Hatem Qufeisha, al-Khalil, 4 months, extension
25. Waiza Sidqi Sawafta, Tubas, 3 months, extension
26. Fares Ahmad Zahra, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
27. Nidal Hashem Abdel-Hadi, Jenin, 4 months, extension
28. Othman Kamel Nakhleh, Ramallah, 6 months, extension
29. Ayman Ali Abu Arqoub, al-Khalil, 6 months, extension
30. Jibril Adib Jiyawi, al-Khalil, 4 months, extension
31. Abdel-Rahman Fadel Qassem, Jenin, 6 months, extension
32. Alaa Yousef Suweiti, al-Khalil, 4 months, extension
33. Yousef Mohammed Abu Latifa, Ramallah, 4 months, extension
34. Hussam Khaled Tammam, Tulkarem, 2 months, extension
35. Sami Subhi Haj, 6 months, new order
36. Mahmoud Abdel-Latif Deek, Nablus, 3 months, new order
37. Mahdi Jamil Arqoub, Jenin, 4 months, new order
38. Ahmed Mohammed Attoun, Ramallah, 4 months, extension (PLC Member)
39. Saif al-Din Mahmoud Salameh, Jenin, 6 months, new order
40. Musaab Fathi Barari, Ramallah, 6 months, extension
41. Tamer Abdel-Karim al-Haj Ali, Nablus, 6 months, new order
42. Salim Idriss Hamdan, Ramallah, 4 months, new order
43. Munther Mohammed Abu Wardeh, al-Khalil, 4 months, extension
44. Montasser Issa Shadid, al-Khalil, 6 months, extension
45. Tawfiq Faisal Nazzal, Jenin, 6 months, new order
46. Bilal Nabil Diab, Jenin, 6 months, new order
47. Ayed Mohammed Salem Dudeen, al-Khalil, 3 months, extension

Bilal Diab continues hunger strike against administrative detention

6 August 2017

Palestinian prisoner Bilal Diab, 32, is entering his third week on hunger strike, reported his family. Diab, who formerly engaged in a 78-day hunger strike against his imprisonment without charge or trial under administrative detention, was seized again by Israeli occupation forces on 14 July 2017.

He is held in solitary confinement in Megiddo prison, apparently in retaliation for his hunger strike, which he launched immediately following his arrest. He was ordered to six months in administrative detention without charge or trial but the order has not yet been confirmed by an Israeli military court.

Diab, who previously went on hunger strike for 78 days against his imprisonment without charge or trial under administrative detention in 2012, winning his release, launched his new strike specifically in protest of this practice.

There are nearly 500 Palestinians imprisoned without charge or trial – out of over 6,200 Palestinian prisoners in total – under administrative detention orders. Muhja al-Quds Foundation reported that he is held in solitary confinement and has lost 7 kilograms (15 pounds) since he launched his strike.

Campaign of transfers against Palestinian political prisoners including Kamil Abu Hanish

6 August 2017

Tensions are escalating inside Israeli prisons after a series of arbitrary transfers, reported the Handala Center for Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners on 4 August. Kamil Abu Hanish, the imprisoned leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine’s prison branch, Ahmad Abu Ajamieh and others have been transferred from prison to prison.

These transfers have come alongside raids and attacks on prison sections in Ramon prison, in which prisoners’ belongings were ransacked and torn apart by occupation guards and repressive units. Abu Hanish, 41, was transferred from Gilboa prison to Ramon prison on 2 August.

This came only a few days after a campaign of transfers against prisoners in Nafha prison, which the Palestinian Prisoners Society deemed retaliation against prisoners who joined the mass collective hunger strike in April and May 2017. 80 prisoners in section 4 were moved to other sections, while 40 prisoners in section 3 were transferred to other prisons and 40 more to section 1. Prisoners in Nafha declared that they would take steps of protest if these measures did not stop.

Abu Teir seized by occupation forces; 13 Palestinian parliamentarians now imprisoned

5 August 2017

Thirteen Palestinian parliamentarians are now imprisoned by Israel following Israeli occupation forces’ seizure of PLC member Mohammed Abu Teir on Friday, 4 August, only two months after he was last released from Israeli prison.

Abu Teir was seized in a pre-dawn raid from his home in the Umm al-Sharayt area of Ramallah, where he has lived after he was forcibly expelled from his home in Jerusalem. He is a member of the Change and Reform Bloc, the parliamentary bloc associated with the Hamas movement. Throughout his life, he has spent 34 years in Israeli prisons and has been repeatedly arrested, detained and imprisoned by Israeli occupation forces since his election in 2006 to the Palestinian Legislative Council.

He was last released on 30 May after 17 months of detention. Abu Teir, along with colleagues Ahmed Attoun and Mohammed Totah, and former PA minister of Jerusalem Affairs Khaled Abu Arafeh, was stripped of his Jerusalem ID in 2006 for participating in the PLC elections. As a member of the Change and Reform bloc associated with Hamas, he was subjected to mass arrests targeting the political movement by the Israeli occupation. The stripping of the Jerusalem IDs of Abu Teir and his colleagues is widely viewed as part of an overall Israeli attack on the Palestinian identity of Jerusalem and Jerusalemites.

His seizure follows that of Omar Abdel-Razak on 23 July; Abdel-Razak was ordered to administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial, only days later. Abdel-Razak is held without charge or trial along with nine other members of the Palestinian Legislative Council: Khalida Jarrar, Mohammed Badr, Ibrahim Dahbour, Mohammed al-Tal, Hassan Yousef, Ahmad Attoun, Ahmad Mubarak, Azzam Salhab and Mohammed Jamal Natsheh.

Jarrar, the leftist feminist parliamentarian and Palestinian national leader, was seized on 2 July alongside Khitam Saafin, Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees president; she was ordered to six months in administrative detention. Jarrar is a member of the Abu Ali Mustafa Bloc, while the other detained parliamentarians are part of the Change and Reform Bloc.

Fellow imprisoned Palestinian parliamentarians include two of the most prominent political leaders serving lengthy sentences: Ahmad Sa’adat, 63, the imprisoned General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine serving a 30-year prison sentence after he and his comrades were abducted by Israeli forces attacking a Palestinian Authority prison in Jericho in 2006, and Marwan Barghouthi, prominent Fateh leader serving five life sentences and imprisoned since 2002.

New York protest supports Al-Aqsa and Palestinian prisoners, confronts JDL racism

4 August 2017

Samidoun activists in New York City protested in defense of Al-Aqsa Mosque from Israeli attack and for the freedom of Palestinian prisoners on Monday, 31 July. The protest was organized outside the Best Buy at Union Square, as part of the global campaign to boycott Hewlett-Packard products including laptops, printers, ink and other computer products because of HP corporations’ contracts with Israeli military and occupation entities, including the Israel Prison Service.

Protesters carried signs, reading “Israel: Hands off Al-Aqsa! Free all Palestinian Prisoners!” They also distributed information to customers and passers-by with more information about Palestinian prisoners and about the complicity of HP in ongoing Israeli war crimes and human rights violations against Palestinians.

Right-wing counter-protesters associated with the notoriously racist and violent Jewish Defense League turned up in an attempt to intimidate protesters. Numerous passers-by expressed strong support for the Palestinian people and the Samidoun protesters, denouncing the racist slogans shouted by JDL hecklers, who carried Israeli flags and wore T-shirts emblazoned with the JDL logo. The organization has been repeatedly deemed a terrorist group and is associated with the killing of Arab American organizer Alex Odeh in California in 1985, as well as ongoing attacks on Palestinians, Arabs and solidarity activists.

Comrade Shahid of the Pakistan USA Freedom Forum participated in the protest and recorded a live video on Facebook showing the JDL presence:

Hundreds of Palestinians have been seized, arrested and detained by Israeli occupation forces amid ongoing protests against occupation attempts to impose new “security” frameworks of control over the holy site.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network will continue its weekly protests, now on Mondays at 4:30 pm at the Best Buy in Union Square. The next protest will take place on Monday, 7 August and will focus on solidarity with Bilal Diab, Palestinian administrative detainee imprisoned without charge or trial on hunger strike since 14 July to demand his freedom. All supporters of Palestine are urged to attend, especially to confront JDL attempts at intimidation and racist attacks.

7 August, NYC: Protest to free Bilal Diab and stop HP

4 August 2017

Monday, 7 August
4:30 pm
Best Buy Union Square
52 E. 14th St, NYC
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1712071089102211/

On Monday, Bilal Diab, a Palestinian political prisoner held by Israel, will reach the 25th day of an open hunger strike protesting his “administrative detention,” or internment without charge or trial.

Israeli occupation authorities issued a six-month “administrative detention” order against Diab on Tuesday, July 25.

Diab previously went on hunger strike for 78 days against his imprisonment under “administrative detention” in 2012, winning his release.

He launched his new strike on July 14, the day of his seizure by Israeli occupation forces in a pre-dawn raid.

Stand with Diab to demand that Israel free him, 489 other “administrative detainees,” and all 6,200 Palestinian political prisoners, 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.

17 August, Detroit: Stand with Rasmea at her sentencing

4 August 2017

All out for Detroit!
Thursday, August 17, at 1:30 EDT
(rally at 1:30 PM, hearing starts at 3 PM)
U.S. District Court, 231 W. Lafayette Blvd., downtown Detroit, Michigan

The Rasmea Defense Committee, Committee to Stop FBI Repression, and U.S. Palestinian Community Network are urging everyone to join us in Detroit, August 17, to show our love and support for Rasmea at her sentencing in federal court. The will be her last court appearance and Rasmea is planning to make a statement.

The plea agreement that has already been reached states that Rasmea will not get additional jail time – but she will have to leave the U.S.

Given the near daily attacks on Rasmea in the right-wing and pro-Israeli media, we expect that a fair amount of attention will be focused on the sentencing. It is critical that the courtroom be filled with her supporters.

30 July, Manchester: Free Khalida! Free Palestine! Break Britain’s Links!

29 July 2017

Sunday, 30 July
12:00 pm
Piccadilly Gardens
Manchester, UK
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/454524538245234/

On 2 July the leading Palestinian socialist and feminist Khaila Jarrar was arrested in an Israeli raid in an opearation also targeting felow activist Khitam Saafin. Both are now being held in administrative detention without charge or trial. The continued imprisonment of Khalida, Kitam and 7,000 other Palestinian political prisoners comes as the blockade of Gaza is tightened by the Israeli occupation and its backers, the West Bank faces invasions, settlement building and extrajudicial killings, and Palestinians face systematic attacks on their basic rights.

All of this would be impossible without the support of Britain, its politicians, companies and banks. Join us in protest outside of Britain’s biggest funder of the global arms trade, Barclays, and support the call for protest.

Bring flags, placards and voices! 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸

Manchester Boycott Israel Group – Victory to Palestine!
Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! (FRFI) Manchester
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
Manchester Palestine Action
Victory to the Intifada
RCG – Revolutionary Communist Group

12 August, Chicago: A Farewell to Rasmea Odeh with Angela Davis

29 July 2017

Saturday, 12 August
7:00 pm
International Union of Operating Engineers
2260 S. Grove Street
Chicago, IL 60616
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/261605644326800/

Join the Rasmea Defense Committee for an evening of music, culture and struggle to honor Palestinian icon Rasmea Odeh. With keynote address by former political prisoner Angela Davis.

Buy your tickets today! Tickets are available online for $5 at bit.ly/Rasmea1. At the door, the tickets are $10.

31 July, New York City: Protest to defend al-Aqsa and stop HP

29 July 2017

Monday, 31 July
4:30 pm
Best Buy
52 E. 14th St, NYC
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/298512217279981/

The imposition of electronic security gates, and now cameras, at Al-Aqsa Mosque by Israeli occupation forces is a symbol and representation of the ongoing siege, strangulation and ethnic cleansing of Jerusalem under the false rubric of security that provides no security, peace or freedom from terror for Palestinians in Jerusalem while further emphasizing the denial of sovereignty and self-determination in the city.

Month after month, hundreds of Palestinians are seized in Jerusalem as monthly reports document the use of mass arrests against the population. Organizers in the city are subjected to ongoing attacks that attempt to strip their residency while families face ongoing land confiscation, home demolitions and settler attacks. Nevertheless, Jerusalem remains a center of resistance to occupation, apartheid and settler colonialism despite all of the “security” measures visited upon the Palestinian people for the purposes of repression.

The attacks on Jerusalem have included Israeli firing on demonstrators, killing of Palestinian teens, arrests of Jerusalemite activists including bans on the use of social media, banning Jerusalem activists from Al-Aqsa and arrests of mosque employees. Indeed, two Jerusalemite teen girls, Tamara Abu Laban, 16, and Alaa Ruweidi, 16, were seized by occupation forces in night raids on Saturday, July 22 with allegations of “incitement” for posting about their city and struggle on social media.

Palestinian prisoners have emphasized the importance of the struggle in Jerusalem, as well as the centrality of the struggle of Palestinians to break the siege on Gaza as their electricity is cut to one hour a day and as their land becomes increasingly uninhabitable under ongoing Israeli siege with the full complicity of international powers.

Demand that Israel release 6,200 Palestinian political prisoners, including hundreds detained for defending al-Aqsa in recent weeks, and ends its attacks on Palestinians from occupied Jerusalem to besieged Gaza, 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.

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