Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is honored to republish the statement below, from Filipino political prisoners held in one of the most restrictive prisons in the Philippines, Camp Bagong Diwa. These prisoners of the national democratic movement in the Philippines are expressing their solidarity behind bars to the over 1500 Palestinian political prisoners – among a total of over 6300 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails – on hunger strike for freedom and dignity.
Like the message of Irish republican prisoners to the hunger strikers, this statement sends a powerful message of united struggle confronting colonialism, imperialism, Zionism, exploitation and oppression everywhere in the world. The political prisoners of the Philippines are on the front lines of the people’s movement fighting plunder, imperialist domination and brutal exploitation of the land and wealth of the people of the Philippines. Their message of solidarity only underlines the internationalist strength of the Palestinian cause and the importance of this hunger strike not only to the Palestinian prisoners and people, but to prisoners and people’s movements everywhere fighting repression and struggling for freedom and dignity.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes the political prisoners in the Philippines and expresses our utmost solidarity with their struggle for justice and liberation, and with the struggle of the people of the Philippines for true democracy and national liberation. We are honored to struggle together with the comrades of the people’s movements of the Philippines, from the streets of New York City, Vancouver, Amsterdam and around the world, to the international forum of the International League of People’s Struggle. We urge the immediate freedom of all political prisoners in the Philippines and raise our voices together with the people’s movements of the Philippines and Palestine to demand liberation of all political prisoners and to stand together against imperialism, Zionism, exploitation and oppression.
The prisoners’ statement follows:
Solidarity Message of Filipino Political Prisoners in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City, Philippines to the Palestinian Political Prisoners on Hunger Strike May 17, 2017
On behalf of all political prisoners in the Philippines, we salute and pay tribute to the more than 1,500 Palestinian political prisoners, who are on the 30th day of their hunger strike against repressive policies and oppression by the Israeli and US government. We are one with you in your aspirations for freedom and dignity, aspirations long denied to the people of Palestine.
Your struggle is very similar to ours. Like you, we are victims of the worst conditions in jails and the slow pace of justice in the Philippines. We are also victims of injustice – we were illegally arrested because of our political beliefs, we are charged with trumped up cases, jailed or wrongly convicted to keep us behind bars for many years.
Your struggle for basic human rights such as the right to regular visits of relatives, to timely and appropriate medical attention and services, to continue studies and education while in prison, against solitary confinement and illegal detention, are our struggle too. These are rights denied of us, even while international laws exist to protect our rights as detained persons.
Zionist Israel, which is the primary instrument of US imperialism against the Palestinian peoples, has victimized thousands and millions of your peoples. It has caused the denial of homes and lands to the peoples of Palestine, using State terror and brutal wars to impose its hegemony over the political, economic and social aspects of your life as a people. But your continuing struggle is an inspiration to all oppressed and struggling peoples of the world, including the Filipino people who are fighting for national liberation and genuine democracy.
We applaud the support and solidarity extended by peoples all over the world for your hunger strike. We are one with you in this struggle. We will launch a sympathy fast, in solidarity with you, on May 20, 2017, while solidarity street action will be conducted on May 17 by human rights and people’s organizations in the Philippines. We express our unwavering support for your struggle for freedom, as well as the struggle of the Palestinian peoples.
Free all political prisoners! Long live the people of Palestine! Long international solidarity! Long live all struggling peoples of the world!
Graphic by The Palestine Project, based on Naji al-Ali’s Handala
Palestinian prisoners entered their second month of hunger strike on 17 May, as the 31st day of the collective hunger strike began. 1500 Palestinian prisoners – out of a total of 6300 – launched the strike on 17 April 2017 for a series of basic human rights demands, including an end to the denial of family visits, the right to access distance higher education, proper medical care and treatment and the end of solitary confinement and administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial.
Since the strike began, Palestinian prisoners have faced harsh repression upon joining the strike. They are frequently transferred from prison to prison, their personal belongings confiscated. Even the salt that the strikers rely on, with water, to preserve their life and health while on strike, has been confiscated from many prisoners. They have been denied family visits and, frequently, legal visits and leaders of the strike, including Fateh leader Marwan Barghouthi, PFLP General Secretary Ahmad Sa’adat, longest-serving prisoners Nael Barghouthi and Karim Younis and dozens of others, have been thrown in isolation, all in an attempt to break the strike. Lawyers have only been able to visit 39 of the hunger striking prisoners since the strike began, despite a decision of the Israeli Supreme Court that hunger strikers should have access to legal visits after an appeal by Palestinian lawyers.
On the 30th day of strike, prisoners’ health is declining; strikers are reporting many more cases of severe fatigue, vomiting blood, blurred vision and high weight loss of 20 kilograms and up. However, the strikers have continued to emphasize their commitment to continue until achieving their demands. Meanwhile, 76 prisoners held in Ofer prison were transferred to the so-callef “field hospital” in Hadarim. The striking prisoners have denounced these field hospitals as a false cover when no real medical care is provided and instead strikers are urged to eat food in exchange for receiving medical treatment, with the intention of keeping hunger strikers out of civilian hospitals and out of view. l One hunger striker, Hafez Qundus, was transferred to Soroka hospital with internal bleeding.
Abusive transfers of prisoners, a physically taxing process for their weakened bodies involving hours of transit shackled in hot vehicles and waiting at crossing points, continued; Issa Qaraqe of the Prisoners’ Affairs Commission reported on Tuesday evening, 16 May, that all of the hunger strikers in the Negev desert prison had been moved to Eshel and other prisons.
Karim Younes, one of the longest-held Palestinian prisoners, jailed for 34 years and a strike leader, was transferred from isolation in Ramle prison to isolation in Jalameh (Kishon). This came only two days after he released a letter pledging that the strikers would continue “until victory or martyrdom:”
“From the cells of steadfastness, freedom and dignity in the isolation section of Ramla Prison, we salute you and appeal to you individually.
“We assure you of our steadfastness and determination to achieve victory no matter how long the battle lasts.
“We assure the masses of our people that the news of their solidarity and support reach us despite the isolation and siege, and we firmly believe in the inevitability of victory no matter how fierce the battle gets.”
Meanwhile, Marwan Barghouthi reportedly stated that if the strikers’ demands continue to be ignored and the Israeli prison administration continues to refuse to negotiate with the strikers’ leadership, he will begin a strike from drinking water.
Syrian hunger striker in Israeli prisons, Sidqi al-Maqt of Majdal Shams in the occupied Golan Heights, was sentenced to 14 years in Israeli prison on Tuesday, 16 May. Al-Maqt, who previously spent 27 years in Israeli prisons before his release in 2012, was re-arrested in 2015 by Israeli occupation forces who accused him of spying, for exposing Israeli involvement in the war in Syria by posting photos of Israeli involvement with Syrian fighters from al-Qaeda and other organizations on his Facebook page.
“According to a friend of Maqt’s, the information he posted online highlighted in detail the level of interaction between Israel and al-Nusra, an alliance Israel would not be keen on publicising,” wrote Nour Samaha in Al-Jazeera.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday morning, civil disobedience – as called for by Barghouthi in his meeting with his lawyer on Sunday, 14 May, and echoed in the subsequent call from the National Committee to Support the Strike – escalated. The families of prisoners and activists supporting the hunger strike closed the headquarters of the United Nations in Ramallah in protest, demanding action on the prisoners’ hunger strike and their mistreatment.
Families of the prisoners issued a statement on the United Nations’ role and lack of involvement in protecting the prisoners of the occupation:
We Will Not Accept Our Prisoners as Martyrs
Closure of United Nations Building
Today, the United Nations building in Ramallah is closed due to its refusal to uphold its responsibility towards Palestinians as they remain silent on the Palestinian Prisoners on hunger strike.
For the past 31 days, instead of fulfilling its role in Palestine as the protector of prisoners’ rights and exposing the Zionist crimes, we have only witnessed failure and silence from the United Nations,
Therefore, we hold the United Nations accountable with full legal responsibility in its role as the organization promoting state accountability in human rights law.
As such, we hold the United Nations responsible based on principles of international humanitarian and human rights law.
We demand:
An immediate and urgent intervention to protect the prisoners and detainees that have been on hunger strike for 31 days.
To launch an international investigation of the occupation’s crimes against the hunger strikers in their attempts to break the strike through systematic means of torture and the threat of force feeding.
To work according to its mission and duties as place it as the protector of human rights agreements.
Hold the Zionist entity accountable for its violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, forcing them to comply with the third and fourth Geneva Conventions regarding Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
To call on the High Commissioner for Human Rights to take a clear position on administrative detention as a war crime and crime against humanity because of its widespread and arbitrary nature, as well as for torture of prisoners.
Demand that the United Nations’ human rights organizations force the occupation to allow an international investigations committee to enter the prisons and investigate the situation of the hunger strikers.
We as families of Palestinian Prisoners, express our deep concern about the lives of our sons, fathers, daughters, brothers and sisters who are fighting their battle of empty stomachs for our collective freedom as a dispossessed and displaced nation.
We consider this the first of an escalating series of direct actions against those who continue to be complicit in the Zionist entity’s war crimes until the recognition of the prisoners’ rights and demands.
We salute the hunger strikers that refuse a life of humiliation.
Occupied Palestine
17, May, 2017
As protests escalate, Palestinian Authority police have attacked and dispersed demonstrations for the prisoners on multiple occasions in prior days, especially as civil disobedience, including road blockages, have escalated as Palestinians demand action for the prisoners. On Tuesday, Palestinian Authority police beat protesters, including students, when they marched to the Beit El checkpoint in solidarity with the prisoners for a civil disobedience action. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority has refused to end security coordination with the Israeli occupation despite the demand of the prisoners and the National Committee to Support the Strike. Several high-ranking PA security officials, including Majid Faraj, reportedly held meetings with Israeli officials to discuss an end to the strike; the prisoners have emphasized that their designated leadership are the only body that should be negotiating with Israeli forces on behalf of the strikers.
Such actions come as Israeli occupation forces continue to attack prisoner support protests and arrest and injure participants. Dozens of Palestinians have been seriously injured – and Saba Obeid, 22, killed – by Israeli occupation forces as they have protested for freedom and dignity for hunger-striking prisoners.
Global actions are continuing to mobilize for Palestinian prisoners; on Tuesday, 16 May, in Rome, Dakar, Granada and Ankara, supporters of justice saluted the Palestinian prisoners. On Wednesday, 17 May, events will take place in Hellemmes, Evry, Chicago, Milan, Glasgow, Belfast, Buenos Aires, Granada, Sevilla, Malaga and more to support the struggle of the prisoners. A full list of global events is available at the Samidoun website.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges all supporters of Palestine to continue to mobilize, demonstrate and organize in public squares, government offices and outside Israeli embassies, as the prisoners have urged. We also urge participation in the urgent call to action to pressure the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to take a real stand and end its complicity in the violation of Palestinian prisoners’ rights. We emphasize the importance of escalating the global campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel and the corporations like HP that profit from the imprisonment of Palestinians. We join the families of the prisoners to emphasize that we will not accept that the striking prisoners become martyrs.
As Palestinian prisoners enter their second month of a hunger strike launched by 1500 prisoners – out of 6300 Palestinians held in Israeli jails – for their basic human rights, it is urgent that the organizations and institutions of the world with a responsibility to uphold human rights and protect people living under occupation, colonialism and incarceration end their silence and complicity. In response to the call of Palestinian prisoners’ families in Jerusalem, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is issuing this emergency call for action to pressure the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to end its complicity with the violation of Palestinian prisoners’ rights and take real action as the hunger strikers face an increasing health crisis and Israeli impunity.
The hunger strike has a series of basic, fundamental rights demands, including an end to the denial and limitation of family visits, the right to pursue distance higher education, proper medical care and treatment and an end to solitary confinement and administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial. Over 31 days of hunger strike, the striking prisoners have faced harsh repression including repeated abusive transfers, confiscation of personal belongings and even the salt they rely on, with water, to preserve their life and health, denial of legal and family visits, isolation and solitary confinement, punitive fines and frequent repressive raids.
Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross has been largely silent in the face of the denial of Palestinian rights and the suffering of the strikers, even as they lose massive amounts of weight, vomit blood and are increasingly unable to stand. It should not be forgotten that the ICRC are also not mere bystanders; it was the ICRC’s action that cut the Palestinian prisoners’ family visits one year ago from twice monthly to once monthly, claiming “budget restrictions” despite Palestinian offers to fund additional visits. The restoration of that second monthly visit is in fact one of the demands of the hunger strikers – one which the ICRC is in every position to implement immediately.
Families of Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in Jerusalem with youth organizations in Palestine have issued an urgent statement on the role of the ICRC on Wednesday morning, 17 May:
For immediate release and circulation
While Palestinian prisoners in “Israeli” occupation jails are fighting their battle and demanding their rights as political prisoners and human beings. the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) refuses to uphold its responsibility towards our prisoners.
ICRC has always bragged about its neutral nature and role in observing conditions of prisoners, however they remain silent while over 1500 prisoners mark their 31 days of hunger strike living only on water after the prison administrations have confiscated salt from them. This is not the first time where ICRC remains silent when prisoners are on hunger strike and being punished by “Israeli” prison administration. ICRC silence and refusal to meet with prisoners inside their sections and rooms can be only interpreted as collaboration and conniving with “Israeli” occupation forces.
ICRC failure to attend to this cause contributes to the aggravation of the crisis and putting the lives of the prisoners at stake.
Fadwa Al-Barghouthi, wife of prisoner Marwan Al-Barghouthi –who’s on hunger-strike for more than 30 days- said that the Red Cross refused to inform her of his health conditions and only delivered his greetings to her after meeting with him.
Comrade Ahmed Saadat declared to Addameer when they met him “The striking prisoners refused to meet with ICRC delegates during their visit to “Askalan” prison since the latter refused meeting prisoners in their sections and rooms in which they are held.
We reject and condemn ICRC actions, and call on holding them accountable for prisoners’ lives or any deterioration in their health conditions.
#RedCrossConniving #DignityStrike
As Palestinian prisoners enter their second month of hunger strike, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network echoes this urgent call from the families of the prisoners and the youth activists threatened daily with arrest and political imprisonment by occupation forces.
We urge supporters of Palestine, of the Palestinian prisoners’ struggle, and of human rights and justice to pressure the ICRC to take a real stand and end its complicity in the denial of rights to thousands of Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails.
2) Call your local ICRC Office or Affiliate and emphasize that you are calling about Palestinian prisoners and that you are concerned with the role of the ICRC in Palestine. Tell them: you want to see family visits restored to Palestinian prisoners and that the ICRC must take a real stand to defend the rights of hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. See your local office number here: https://www.icrc.org/eng/who-we-are/contacts/ or affiliate locations here: http://www.ifrc.org/en/who-we-are/directory/
3) Write to the ICRC in Palestine. Send them the statement from the families of the suffering prisoners and urge them to restore Palestinian prisoners’ family visits, end their complicity in the isolation of Palestinian prisoners and take a real stand for Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike, whose lives are on the line for freedom and dignity. Email Jacques De Maio at jdemaio@icrc.org or tweet towards him at @JdeMaioICRC and email Christian Cardon at ccardon@icrc.org.
On 15 May 2017, a number of organizations came together to rally in Toulouse, France, in support of Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli prisons. For the second time in six days, over 100 people took the streets of Toulouse to urge freedom and justice for Palestinian prisoners.
Photo: Coup Pour Coup 31
Anti-imperialist collective Coup Pour Coup 31 – a member of the Samidoun network – reported that protesters carried a massive Palestinian flag, chanting, “Palestine vivra, Palestine vaincra!” (Palestine lives, Palestine will win), “Free the Prisoners, Free Georges Abdallah!” and “Zionists, fascists, you are the terrorists!” Protesters highlighted the case of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, the Lebanese Communist struggler for Palestine imprisoned in French prisons for nearly 33 years. Abdallah earlier waged a three-day hunger strike to support the Palestinian hunger strike.
Photo: Coup Pour Coup 31
The protest followed a similar collective event on 10 May, which also drew over 100 people to rally for the Palestinian prisoners. There are a total of approximately 6300 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails; 1500 launched a collective hunger strike on 17 April for basic human rights, including the right to family visits, to access higher education, to receive proper medical care, and an and to solitary confinement and imprisonment without charge or trial.
Photo: Coup Pour Coup 31
Coup Pour Coup presented a statement at the rally:
It is nearly 30 days since more than 1,500 Palestinian prisoners began a hunger strike in Israeli prisons for Freedom and Dignity.
The strikers have been subjected to intense repression: raids by the prison authorities, transfer from prison to prison, isolation, prohibition of family visits and confiscation of salt, the sole substance consumed with water by the strikers.
Several Palestinian leaders have also joined the hunger strike. The secretary-general of the PFLP, Ahmad Saadat, imprisoned by the occupier, participates in the movement along with his comrades. Last Sunday, he and several Palestinian leaders, were transferred from prison to prison in an attempt to break the strikers’ movement.
Everywhere in occupied Palestine and throughout the world, demonstrations of solidarity with the strikers are being organized. We anti-imperialist strugglers in solidarity with the Palestinian people must redouble our efforts to express our solidarity with the Palestinian Prisoners in their struggle against the repressive system of the Israeli state.
The Palestinian prisoners represent the resistance of an entire people facing the oppression of the Zionist state. They represent the path of the struggle against the capitulation of the Oslo Accords, against the collaboration of the Palestinian Authority with the colonial state and for the only just and lasting project: a free and democratic Palestine from the Mediterranean sea to the Jordan river.
Today, on 15 May, Palestinians commemorate the Nakba, the day of the catastrophe, the expulsion of nearly one million Palestinians from their land by the new colonial state. Today they are the Palestinian Refugees. The right to return, a forgotten principle in the Oslo Accords and subsequent agreements, is essential to achieving the legitimate goals of the Palestinian people.
In France, solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners has a particular resonance. Because in the prisons of the French State is one of the 6,300 Palestinian prisoners: Georges Ibrahim Abdallah. Locked up since 1984 for his involvement in the Palestinian resistance, France refuses to release this resister.
On Monday 24 April, Georges Abdallah and his Basque co-detainees and other prisoners went on a three-day hunger strike in solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners.
So, intensify our solidarity, strengthen the BDS movement and fight for the liberation of Georges Abdallah! This is the meaning of our fight at Coup Pour Coup 31, a member of the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network.
Freedom for Ahmad Saadat, Georges Abdallah
And all the Palestinian prisoners!
Palestine vivra, Palestine vaincra!
The hunger strike has several key demands for basic human rights, including an end to the denial of family visits, the right to pursue distance higher education, appropriate health care and medical treatment and an end to solitary confinement and administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial.
Abu Sakha is a trainer with the Palestinian Circus School and has worked with the school since 2007; he has traveled around the world with the school and participated in numerous circus tours in Palestine. He specializes in working with children with special needs at the school. However, his international tours and training have been put on hold due to the repeated extension of his imprisonment without charge or trial.
On 11 May, Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association reported that an extension of Abu Sakha’s detention – scheduled to expire on 11 June 2017 – has been limited to a maximum of three months, following an appeal by lawyer Mahmoud Hassan. The military prosecutor requested to renew the detention order once more for an additional six months; however, Addameer reported, “the judge agreed to renew the order for three months under the condition of no further renewal.”
One of the key demands of the hunger strike that Abu Sakha joined is an end to administrative detention. He is one of over 500 Palestinians imprisoned without charge or trial under these indefinitely renewable orders. The policy of administrative detention dates back to the era of British colonialism in Palestine and has been preserved and extended by the Israeli occupation.
The campaign to free Abu Sakha has been supported by artists, circus performers and cultural workers around the world, with actions in many countries organized to demand his freedom. Artistic and cultural solidarity for the prisoners has continued, including the #DignityStrike campaign of Decolonize This Place, featuring new art daily in support of the prisoners.
Palestinian fisherman Mohammed Majid Bakr, 28, was killed by Israeli occupation naval forces this morning, Monday, 15 May as he fished in his family boat when it was attacked by naval forces besieging the Gaza Strip. He was shot in the chest and died hours later in the Israeli Barzillai hospital.
Mohammed Majid Bakr was a Palestinian refugee from the Shati refugee camp from a large fishing family in Gaza. Zakaria Bakr of the Union of Agricultural Work Committees said that he and his family members were targeted by naval forces of the Israeli siege as they fished. He was married and had two children, Quds News reported. Three other fishermen from the same family, Mohammed Tariq Bakr, 22, Abdullah Sabri Bakr, 20, and Mohammed Said Bakr, 27, were seized by occupation naval forces and taken to an unknown location, while their fishing boats were confiscated.
Israeli gunboats also attacked more fishers in the northern Gaza strip on Monday morning, 15 May, firing on fishing boats and the fishery of Amin Abu Warda, seizing three more Palestinian fishers, Mohammed Amin Abu Wardeh, Yousef Amin Abu Wardeh and Hussein Amin Abu Wardeh, all seized within three nautical miles from the Gaza shore.
Photo: Rosa Schiano, December 2011
The killing of Mohammed Majid Bakr, Palestinian fisherman targeted for his work to support his family and Palestinian fishery and agriculture, is the latest example of the targeting of Palestinian fishermen in Gaza for arrest, boat seizure and death. Since the beginning of 2017, five fishing boats were confiscated, 14 fishermen seized by occupation forces, four injured and one more fisherman killed, Muhammed al-Hissi. Al-Hissi, 33, was killed on 7 January after his boat was deliberately sunk by Israeli occupation forces.
These attacks on Palestinian fishery are part of a comprehensive physical, military and economic war against the entire Palestinian people and their ability to sustain their economy and independent, indigenous agriculture and fishery. Coming as the killing of Bakr – a Palestinian refugee from birth, targeted once more – does on the anniversary of al-Nakba, it highlights the ongoing Zionist project of the targeting and confiscation of Palestinian resources in an attempt to drive out the indigenous people and make their livelihood impossible.
Gaza has been under Israeli occupation since 1967, and under a tight and brutal siege since 2006, denying people and goods access and movement from the small coastal strip, one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Over 70% of the people of Gaza are refugees who have lived in Gaza since the 1948 Nakba – the occupation and ethnic cleansing of most of Palestine. The naval closure imposed on Gaza and the cordoning off of the fishing zone has created massive poverty in Gaza’s once-wealthy fishing industry, upon which 70,000 Palestinians rely. Boats are rarely returned to their Palestinian owners after being confiscated by the occupation navy. Palestinian fishermen have repeatedly been shot by gunboats, causing death and serious and sometimes life-altering injuries, and further contributing to economic and social devastation.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network mourns and salutes Mohammed Majid Bakr, Palestinian fisherman working to sustain his family and his people, and targeted for his continued existence on his land and sea on the 69th anniversary of the continuing Nakba. We demand the immediate release of all detained Palestinian fishermen and an immediate end to the ten years of Israeli siege on Gaza. We also highlight that HP, the same corporation that sells database services to the Israeli prison system and the military occupation checkpoint network, also administers the IT system of the Israeli Navy that enforces the naval blockade of Gaza and that today took the life of Mohammed Majid Bakr. We urge the escalation of the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against Israel and complicit corporations like Hewlett-Packard that profit from the violation of Palestinian rights.
New Yorkers gathered on Friday, 12 May to protest in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners and their hunger strike for Dignity and Freedom. Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network organized a protest outside the Best Buy in Union Square, where participants distributed flyers and information to passers-by.
Photo: Bud Korotzer/Desertpeace
Protesters urged shoppers at Best Buy to boycott Hewlett-Packard computer products, noting that HP Enterprise engages in multiple contracts with the Israeli occupation, including with the Israel Prison Service. HP profits from the occupation of Palestine, the siege on Gaza, and the imprisonment of Palestinians. There is a growing international campaign to boycott HP and declare institutions HP-free zones until the corporation ends its business with occupation.
Photo: Bud Korotzer/Desertpeace
The participants carried signs and distributed leaflets about the hunger strike of 1500 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Among 6300 total Palestinian prisoners, the hunger strikers represent the prisoners across political lines. They began their strike on 17 April 2017 and have a series of basic human rights demands, including an end to the denial of family visits, access to proper health care and medical treatment, the right to engage in distance higher education and an end to solitary confinement and administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial.
Photo: Bud Korotzer/Desertpeace
Protesters chanted for freedom and justice for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and the immediate implementation of the hunger strikers’ demands. Signs highlighted leaders of the strike, including Fateh leader Marwan Barghouthi, PFLP General Secretary Ahmad Sa’adat and longest-serving Palestinian prisoner Nael Barghouthi.
Photo: Bud Korotzer/Desertpeace
The protest came one day after an event in New York organized by the Workers World Party, where Fatin Jarara from the US Palestinian Community Network and the NY4Palestine coalition spoke about the hunger strike. She organized 25 participants to collectively take the #SaltWaterChallenge, including Samidoun organizers and Workers World Party members.
They challenged Anakbayan NJ, the progressive organization of youth of the Philippines to also participate in the challenge, in which participants drink salt and water – the only thing consumed by hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners:
These events were followed on Saturday, 13 May by the Nakba Day March for Resistance and Return in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Despite pouring rain, a substantial crowd marched through the streets of Bay Ridge carrying Palestinian flags and signs and chanting for freedom, justice and liberation for Palestine.
Photo: NYC Students for Justice in Palestine
Participants in the rally also took the #SaltWaterChallenge to express their solidarity with hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners, as filmed by NYC Students for Justice in Palestine:
Solidarity initiatives in Brussels, Belgium continued in support of Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike. On Friday, 12 May, a large crowd of supporters of Palestine and Palestinian community members gathered outside the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to demand that Belgium take a stand for the rights of Palestinian prisoners.
Photo: Cecile Harnie
There are currently a total of 6300 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. 1500 launched a hunger strike on 17 April, Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, for a series of demands, including an end to the denial of family visits, the right to pursue higher education, proper health care and medical treatment and an end to solitary confinement and administrative detention.
Photo: Cecile Harnie
The strikers, including prominent Palestinian leaders like Marwan Barghouthi, Ahmad Sa’adat, Abbas Sayyed, Karim Younes, Nael Barghouthi, Zaid Bseiso, Ahed Abu Ghoulmeh and others, have faced harsh repression. They are frequently transferred in a physically taxing process, their belongings confiscated, including the salt they consume with water to preserve their life and health, subject to repeated repressive raids, thrown in isolation and solitary confinement and denied all family visits and frequently, legal visits.
Photo: Cecile Harnie
A delegation, including Hamdan al-Damiri of the Palestinian Community of Belgium and Luxembourg, Alexis Deswaef of the League of Human Rights and Pierre Galand of Association Belgo-Palestinienne and the European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine, entered to meet with the foreign minister and deliver a letter signed by dozens of Belgian organizations urging action to pressure Israel to respect Palestinian human rights, including the demands of the hunger strikers in Israeli jails.
Photo: Cecile Harnie
Speakers at the rally included Tahsin Zaki of the Palestinian Community of Belgium and Luxembourg, who appealed on behalf of the Palestinian prisoners for action and solidarity on their 26th day of hunger strike.
Photo: Cecile Harnie
Charlotte Kates of Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network also spoke at the rally outside the Foreign Ministry, emphasizing the importance of escalating the campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel. She also highlighted the growing support in the international labor movement for the Palestinian prisoners’ struggle, as well as the international nature of the ongoing protests at which the voice of the prisoners is echoing around the world. She demanded that Belgium stop its participation in projects like LAW TRAIN, in which Israeli police participate in a program on “interrogation techniques,” and an end to the EU-Israel Association Agreement.
Photo: Myriam De Ly
Plate-forme Charleroi-Palestine continued its campaign of collecting photographs of support for the boycott of Israel with a special sign highlighting support for the prisoners and the boycott movement.
The following day, 13 May, hundreds of people participated in the annual bicycle protest for Palestine, Via Velo Palestine 2017. Commemorating 69 years of Nakba and 50 years of the 1967 occupation, participants rode decorated bikes around Brussels, with multiple stops in locations with actions to support Palestine and the Palestinian prisoners.
Raj’een Dabkeh Troupe performed at the Bourse in downtown Brussels as the centerpiece of the closing event of Via Velo Palestine, exhibiting Palestinian traditional music and dance and a message emphasizing the right of return of Palestinian refugees to their homes and lands from which they were expelled in 1948, as well as solidarity with Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike.
Photo: Comite BDS-ULB
These actions followed student activities at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles and the Universite Catholique du Louvain – Alma, organized by the Comite BDS-ULB and Rise Up on 11 and 12 May. Students organized 24-hour hunger strikes on each campus, with tables and literature distribution about the prisoners and a group #SaltWaterChallenge to support the strikers.
On 10 May, meanwhile, L’Avenir Palestinien organized a demonstration outside the Israeli embassy in Brussels calling for the immediate implementation of the demands of the Palestinian hunger strikers in Israeli jails. Crowds of Palestinians and their supporters gathered on the street across from the embassy where they were blocked by police from moving further. A number of speakers, including Tahsin Zaki of the Palestinian Community of Belgium and Luxembourg and solidarity activist Mark De Quidt addressed the participants.
Photo: L’avenir Palestinien
On Friday, 5 May, the coalition of Belgian organizations that gathered previously on 28 April came together one week later outside Brussels’ Gare Centrale train station. Speakers urged freedom for Palestinian political prisoners and the escalation of the boycott of Israel.
There were a number of Palestinian cultural performances at the rally, including a performance by Raj’een Dabkeh Troupe. The event also included an additional dabkeh performance by the Dal’ona dabkeh troupe as well as a poetry recitation by Palestinian children.
Photo: Cecile Harnie
Protests and rallies for Palestinian prisoners in Brussels are continuing; the next demonstration to support the hunger strike will take place at Place de la Monnaie at 2:30 pm on Friday, 18 May.
More than 45 people gathered on Tuesday 9 May in Santiago de Compostela, in front of the Galician Parliament and recorded their #SaltWaterChallenge, drinking water with salt. A manifesto was read in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners in Hunger Strike and people chanted slogans like “Long live the struggle of Palestinian prisoners!” and”Free Palestine!”.
After that, BDS Galiza delivered a letter to the Office of External Relations of the Galician Government (Xunta de Galicia) asking the Galician Government to require Israel to obey International Law and to fulfil the demands of Palestinian political prisoners; and asking also the government to notify the Palestinian Authority that the Galician people support the Palestinian prisoners and are concerned with their health and conditions of detention.
Photo: BDS Galiza
“The strike comes in response to the inhumane conditions and suffering of the Palestinian prisoners, subject to inhumane and degrading treatment, torture, lack of basic medical care, no family visits, no access to education, little or no communication with their lawyers, collective punishment, hospitalization in chains, isolation and the systematic blackmail of minors and people with illnesses,” said Ana Miranda, former Member of European Parliament and veteran of the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza.
Photo: BDS Galiza
Some activists and sympathizers who could not come later recorded their own #SaltWaterChallenge and sent it to BDS Galiza:
Also, on 29th of April, during a tribute to Fidel Castro at the Teatro Principal of Pontevedra (Galiza) organized by the Asociación Amizade Galego-Cubana Francisco Villamil, two Galician guitarrists, Mini (Xosé Luís Rivas) e Mero (Baldomero Iglesias Dobarrio), dedicated a song to the Palestinian prisoners in Hunger Strike. People who attended the event said the ovation was thunderous and the support strong for Palestinian prisoners.
Monday, 15 May 7:00 pm Boulevard Donostia (San Sebastian), Basque Country
End occupation! Free Palestine! Boycott Israel! This demonstration will commemorate 69 years of the Nakba and support the hunger strike of 1500 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons. Organized by BDS Donostia.
Palestinian circus performer 
