Progetto Palestina invites you to a day of Palestinian resistance! From 12:30 pm, join a social lunch at the self-managed center in hall C1, with the proceeds to finance BASKETBALL BEATS BORDERS, a project to support the Shatila Girls Basketball Team Real Palestinian Youth. Shatila Girls Basketball Team is made up of eight Palestinian girls between 16 and 20 years of age born and raised in Shatila refugee camp in Beirut. From 9 to 16 May, this team will be in Rome as part of a sports exchange.
At 5 pm, there will be a meeting in Classroom 5 of Einaudi Building, dedicated to the situation of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. This event is in solidarity with the hunger strike of thousands of Palestinian prisoners and the struggle for freedom for Palestinian prisoners. The meeting will include a presentation by Myassar Atyani, cultural director of the General Union of Palestinian Women in Nablus, who will speak about her experiences in Israeli prisons. She will be joined by Sara Rawash, who will speak about her research in Palestine on the experiences of women political prisoners. The event will also include a screening of a portion of the documentary film, “Women in Struggle.” This will be followed at 9 pm by further discussion on Radio Blackout with Myassar Atyani at Via Antonio Cecchi 21.
In solidarity with the Palestinian Prisoners on hunger strike South Wales Palestine Action will be out leafleting and spreading awareness about the Palestinian Prisoners in Israeli Jails including the 58 women, 300 children & 500 Palestinian Prisoners which are currently under administrative detention.
Leaflets kindly provided by Inminds.com – Boycott Israel
Student groups at the University of Manchester in England and Edinburgh University in Scotland have launched solidarity hunger strikes in support of the Palestinian prisoners’ strike for freedom and dignity that have now extended for days of action in support of the prisoners’ struggle. Their campaign is now spreading across Europe, with activists in Madrid, Turin, Brussels, London and elsewhere joining growing solidarity strikes that highlight the prisoners’ demands and their urgent calls for support.
After 1500 Palestinian prisoners launched their hunger strike on 17 April for a series of demands, including an end to the denial of family visits, the right to access distance higher education, appropriate medical care and an end to solitary confinement and administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial, protests across Palestine and around the world have demanded freedom for Palestinian prisoners and urged the immediate implementation of their demands. Now in their 17th day without food, strikers are facing harsh repression – including denial of legal visits, frequent transfers, and isolation of strike leaders – inside Israeli prisons.
In Palestine, a number of solidarity hunger strikes and fasts have been organized to support the prisoners, including a large one-day strike in Gaza, a five-day strike by Lina Khattab and fellow Bir Zeit University students who are themselves former prisoners, and ongoing open-ended solidarity strikes in the protest tents in Qalqilya, Jenin, Nablus and elsewhere. A call has been issued from Palestine for a day-long solidarity strike by artists and other cultural workers on 3-4 May, linking with ongoing art actions by Decolonize this Place in support of the strikers.
Internationally, there have been several solidarity fasts in support of the hunger strikers, including a one-day hunger strike organized by lawyers, legal workers and law students with the National Lawyers Guild. Students have taken the lead in organizing these international solidarity strikes, with groups at the University of Manchester and Edinburgh University organizing ongoing, sustained strikes in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners.
On 27 April, five students who work with the BDS Campaign at the University of Manchester launched a hunger strike; the campaign has been subject to campus repression and silencing of activities, including university administrators’ attempts to shut down Israeli Apartheid Week.
“Decades ago, university students were key in demanding the end of apartheid of South Africa. University students have paid a key role in many anti-racist struggles, including Black Lives Matter. The struggle for justice for the Palestinians is no different, they have 70 years of unremitting mistreatment, including thousands of deaths, systemic expulsions, institutional racism and apartheid. We stand in solidarity with them,” wrote the strikers.
“The pain, solidarity and hunger will keep us in solidarity with the Palestinian hunger strikers as they continue their struggle,” said Huda Ammori, one of the organizing students. The students have been chronicling their experiences on hunger strike in a series of videos (below) published by the Middle East Monitor.
Photo by Edinburgh University Communist Society
Next, students affiliated with the Edinburgh University Communist Society launched a hunger strike on campus to build support for Palestinian political prisoners. Like the Manchester students, they linked their own campaign as part of local and global justice movements – and their Israeli Apartheid Week event was also repressed by university administration.
“As committed Irish republicans, we often look to the socialist martyrs of 1981, and the sacrifice they made. We know, that occupying a building, or holding a strike will only achieve so much- but by putting our bodies through the potential dangers of a hunger strike, we are hoping people will realise just how committed we are to Palestine,” wrote the students, who called on the university to boycott and divest from apartheid Israel.
Now, the strike is growing as fellow student and community groups across Europe have launched a call for hunger strikes starting 3 May. Confirmed participants are coming from Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain and Ireland. “As European citizens, we feel a responsibility to support the Palestinian cause for an end of the occupation, apartheid and settler colonialism. It is not only our right, but also our responsibility to end this injustice…We hope everyone who stands with Palestine, including MPs, will show their support. Through our actions, we hope to raise awareness of the Palestinian cause in our respective towns and cities across Europe,” write the organizers in their call to action.
Students with Progetto Palestina in Turin, Italy are launching their hunger strike on 4 May, even as they organize a campus event in support of the strikers on 3 May, with more cities planning to join in, including activists in Madrid, Brussels, Bologna, Rome and elsewhere.
Photo by Mahmoud al-Sarsak
In London, Ayssar Shamallakh, a British-Palestinian activist who has been organizing in support of the Palestinian prisoners’ hunger strike with the 17 April Group, announced on 2 May that he is launching an open hunger strike in London, with a gathering at Parliament Square, next to the statue of Nelson Mandela.
Numerous events and actions are being organized in the coming days in support of Palestinian political prisoners, with demonstrations and gatherings in Turin, Cardiff, Charleroi, Coventry, Paris, Johannesburg, Brussels and Dearborn on 3 May, and in Chicago, Middletown, London, Oslo, Belfast, Dublin, Newbridge and Galway on 4 May, with ongoing events stretching into the future in New York, Brussels, Berlin and elsewhere.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges all supporters of justice in Palestine to join these solidarity hunger strike campaigns, participate in announced protests, or organize events, demonstrations and actions in your own city to support the hunger strikers and build solidarity for their actions.
Demonstration in Gaza City for Palestinian prisoners, 1 May. Photo: Quds News Network
As Palestinian prisoners entered their 16th day of hunger strike, the most severely ill Palestinian prisoners – those held in the Ramle prison clinic, the subject of demands for its replacement – confirmed their participation in the Strike of Freedom and Dignity with a process of escalating protest.
Launched on 17 April, Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, by 1500 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, the strike has a series of demands, including an end to the denial of family visits, appropriate medical care and treatment, the right to access higher education and an end to solitary confinement and administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial. Prisoners engaged in the strike have been subjected to a series of repressive measures, including confiscation of personal belongings, frequent repressive night raids, denial of family visits, frequent transfers and denial of legal visits. In particular, the banning of striking prisoners, except for a few held in Ofer and Ashkelon, from legal visits has inhibited external communication with the prisoners about their health and conditions.
The announced program of the prisoners in the Ramla clinic included returning all three meals on 17 April, 24 April, 26 April and 29 April. Moving forward, they are returning all three meals on 1, 3, 6, 8, 10, 13, 15, 17, and 20 May. In the latter two weeks, the sick prisoners will also reject medication to support the broader hunger strike. Prisoners in the Ramle prison clinic are dealing with a number of severe medical conditions, including cancer, heart disease, diabetes, severe injuries and wounds and severe physical disabilities, frequently caused by wounds by Israeli occupation soldiers prior to or at the time of arrest.
Meanwhile, the prisoners of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine announced that they would soon be announcing escalating steps regarding the strike and the struggle inside Israeli prisons, saying that the leadership of the prison organization is conducting extensive internal consultations to announce new steps of action and escalation behind bars for freedom and dignity.
Tomorrow, 3 May, the Israeli Supreme Court will consider a petition from Adalah and the Prisoners’ Affairs Commission demanding that strikers be permitted legal visits; members of the Knesset from Palestinian Arab parties in ’48 Palestine and representatives of human rights organizations are expected to attend the 11:30 am hearing. This comes after lawyers’ demands for an immediate visit with longest-consecutively-held Palestinian prisoner Karim Younes, jailed for nearly 35 years, were rejected by the Haifa District Court.
Throughout Palestine, support for the strikers continued in streets and squares of cities, villages and refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jerusalem and occupied Palestine ’48. An increasing number of former prisoners joined solidarity strikes in support of the ongoing strike inside prison; in Qalqilya, eight former prisoners are on hunger strike in the prisoner support tent. Palestinian Jerusalemite youth organizer Sumoud Abu Khdeir was reported to be released on Monday evening after she was seized by Israeli occupation forces as she participated in a youth mural event to support the prisoners near Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate. She was ordered to stay away from the area for two weeks and to pay a financial bail of 1000 NIS ($277 USD).
A number of Bir Zeit University students, themselves former prisoners, continued their hunger strike in support of the prisoners. Over 60 students at the university – amid hundreds of imprisoned Palestinian students in total – are held in Israeli jails. Lina Khattab, Jihad Manasra, Yousef Barghouthi, Abed Barbar, Yasser Abu Rmaileh, Osama Sbeih, Mahmoud Muna and Mohammed Badr launched their strike on 30 April to support the prisoners and raise the profile of the strike among students.
Solidarity hunger strikes also continued in the Arab region and internationally. On 2 May, a group of San Diego organizations are organizing a solidarity fast in the Southern California city to support the striking prisoners. Meanwhile, Tunisian students from Gabès have launched a hunger strike in solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners, reported Asra Voice. Former Lebanese prime minister Salim al-Hoss also announced a one-day hunger strike to support Palestinian prisoners.
The students in Tunisia joined students at the University of Manchester, who are on their 5th day of a support strike for the Palestinian prisoners. At the University of Edinburgh, the Communist Society launched a hunger strike on 30 April to support the Palestinian prisoners. “We are merely a few days into what has proved already to be a grueling endeavor- both physically and mentally. Yet for the Palestinian prisoners two weeks into their hunger strike, one can only begin to imagine the torment, yet bravery they are experiencing. Faced with enslavement under the toxicity of Zionism, hundreds of Comrades, from all factions of Palestinian resistance have lit a fuse for the rest of the world when darkness threatens to engulf us. It is a fuse that we believe must be seized upon, and utilised to spark a greater flame,” wrote the Edinburgh strikers.
These actions came as mass marches for 1 May, International Workers’ Day, took to the streets of cities around the world with active participation by Palestinian communities and Palestine solidarity organizations, emphasizing the importance of supporting the Palestinian prisoners’ strike at this critical time. In major global cities, including New York, Dublin, Chicago, Los Angeles, Berlin, Athens, London, Cologne, Wuppertal, Malmo, Paris, Lille, Lyon, Montpellier, Liege, Copenhagen, Lausanne, Oakland and elsewhere, the call of the Palestinian hunger strikers and the Palestinian people resonated on 1 May.
Further protests will take place, in addition to the San Diego event, in Helsinki, Finland and in Athens, Greece, where a large mobilization is planned at 6 pm organized by a wide range of Palestine solidarity and support groups throughout Greece. The mobilization follows a strong presence by many political parties and trade unions in the Athens May First demonstration with strong attention to the Palestinian struggle.
1995 Palestinian poster in support of Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike. Via Palestine Poster Project
As the world marks the first of May, International Workers’ Day, Palestinian prisoners on Israeli jails are engaged in their 15th day of hunger strike, entering their third week without food. 1500 Palestinian prisoners launched the strike on 17 April, Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, to demand a series of basic rights: an end to the denial of family visits, appropriate medical care and treatment, the right to continue education, and an end to solitary confinement and administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial.
The prisoners have been met with harsh repression, including the denial of legal and family visits, isolation of strike leaders, confiscation of clothing, blankets and other personal items and frequent raids by repressive units, often late at night. Large numbers of hunger strikers have been transferred repeatedly from prison to prison. With only a few strikers in Ofer and Ashkelon prisons so far allowed legal visits, tracking developments in the strikers’ health and daily conditions is highly difficult for Palestinian organizations.
The campaign of prison transfers continues; Asra Voice reported the transfer of 45 prisoners from Ohli Kedar prison to Gilboa, Megiddo and Ofer prisons, while 10 prisoners were reportedly taken from Gilboa to the Negev desert prison and then returned to Gilboa only hours later. The transfers, which are particularly physically exhausting to hunger strikers consuming only salt and water for 15 days, continued on Monday. Bilal Ajamieh and Haithem Hamdan were tranferred from Ashkelon to Eshel prison, while strike leaders Nasser Abu Hmeid, Anas Jaradat and Mohammed al-Khalidi were transferred from Ayalon Ramle prison to Nitzan prison. meanwhile, Mohammed Abbas was transferred from Nitzan to Gilboa prison, and Musallam Thabet and Ahmad Waridat taken from Nitzan to an unknown location.
Abdel-Fattah Dawla, the head of the media committee for the strike, said that attempts on the part of the Israel Prison Service to create back-channel negotiations that exclude strike leaders like Marwan Barghouthi, named the exclusive spokesperson for the Fateh prisoners who launched the call for the hunger strike, have failed. Dawla said in Ma’an News that the prisoners have consensus on their leadership and will not accept the creation of an alternative leadership to negotiate on their demands. Dawla also said that Karim Younes, another strike leader and the longest consecutively-held Palestinian prisoner, stated that he would not deal with the Israeli occupation authorities as a negotiator in the context of the exclusion of Barghouthi.
Following on Younes’ hearing yesterday in the Haifa district court, lawyers Yamen Zeidan and Suleiman Shaheen said that no clear response was given to their petition for a legal visit with Younes, who is a Palestinian citizen of Israel who has served over 34 years in Israeli prisons. The petition was partially accepted and partially rejected, and the prison administration was given until Thursday to respond in writing regarding a visit with Younes. According to Ma’an News, the lawyers emphasized that this means only further delay and attempts to isolate Younes and his fellow strikers.
Mohammed Dalaysheh with his mother. Photo: Wattan TV
Palestinian prisoner Mohammed Dalaysheh, from Jalazoun refugee camp near Ramallah, on his 15th day of hunger strike, lost his mother on Sunday, 30 April. Sentenced to 24 years in Israeli prison, he has completed 12 years of his sentence. As a Palestinian prisoner and a hunger striker, he is denied visits with his family or even a telephone call to his loved ones at his time of loss. Held in isolation in Saba prison and denied legal and family visits, Dalaysheh reportedly may not be informed of his mother’s passing; he lost his father three years ago, also imprisoned and denied the comfort of his family.
Mass Palestinian support for the strikers continued, as did repression of support actions and arrests of organizers by the Israeli occupation. Sumoud Abu Khdeir, an active Palestinian youth organizer in Jerusalem, was seized by Israeli occupation forces on 1 May in Jerusalem after a group of young Palestinian men and women gathered at Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate, creating a cloth mural of support for the Palestinian prisoners and writing the names of the Palestinian prisoners with messages of solidarity for their hunger strike. The mural in support of the prisoners was also confiscated by Israeli occupation forces in Jerusalem. The young Palestinians were forced from the area by occupation forces.
In Sebastia, northwest of Nablus, Israeli occupation forces fired a heavy barrage of tear gas on protesters supporting the prisoners’ strike on Sunday night, 30 April; the fusillade of tear gas caused the support tent for the prisoners to catch on fire and blaze. A number of Palestinians suffered tear gas inhalation, but none were wounded by the fire.
Many events are taking place throughout occupied Palestine in support of the hunger strikers, including events in Ramallah and el-Bireh, Nablus, Gaza City, Qalqilya, Bethlehem, Nazareth and Arara; events for International Workers’ Day are highlighting imprisoned Palestinian workers and their struggle for freedom.
International events in support of the prisoners continued, with wide participation in protests, festivals and demonstrations for International Workers’ Day. From within Israeli prisons, statements from Palestinian prisoners were issued directed to the international movements for justice and liberation, urging support for Palestine on International Workers’ Day.
Ahmad Sa’adat, the imprisoned General Secretary of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, issued a statement to the international left on 1 May. “Greetings to you from inside the prisons and cells of Zionism, and salutes to all those who celebrate today, who march and participate in this day, in the lighting of the flame of this immortal, human, day, the first of May, the day of workers, the people, and the struggling classes. This is the day in which we together renew our primary commitment to defend the rights and interests of the impoverished and struggling classes with a fundamental interest in progress and change, the classes that were and still are the front line of the revolution, standing against the savage forces of capitalism, occupation, colonialism and racism…One of our common tasks is to defend the rights of refugees everywhere and to defend migrants and the impoverished classes, especially those living in the midst of imperialist countries,” said Sa’adat.
Kamil Abu Hanish, a leader of the hunger strike representing PFLP prisoners, also released a statement for the First of May: “Today, we call upon you, the fighters for freedom and justice in the world, the workers’ movements, the strugglers for socialism, the movements of revolution, to escalate your support for our struggle, for the Palestinian people and for the Palestinian prisoners….We urge you to intensify and build the movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions against the occupation state and the corporations like Hewlett-Packard and G4S that profit from its imprisonment, apartheid and colonialism. The workers’ movements, the movements of the popular classes, the movements of the oppressed, can and must take part in this battle around the world, as part and parcel of the struggle against racism, imperialism and capitalism,” wrote Abu Hanish.
On Sunday, 30 April, actions and events continued in support of the Palestinian prisoners, with gatherings in Padua, Milan, Malmo, Melbourne, Beirut, Washington, DC and elsewhere. On 1 May, international May First events will include advocacy for Palestine and Palestine contingents in cities around the world, including in Athens, Liege, Brussels, Copenhagen, Charleroi, Malmo, New York, Lille, Arras, Paris, Lyon, Metz, Montpellier, Lausanne, Albertville, Beziers, Saint-Etienne, Berlin, Cologne, London, Los Angeles, Oakland, North Bergen and more. In Athens, multiple contingents, organizations, trade unions and political parties carried banners and signs saluting the Palestinian prisoners and their struggle for justice and dignity.
The World Federation of Trade Unions issued a strong statement of support for Palestinian prisoners, which was joined also by the International Trade Union Confederation. Palestinian trade unionists issued a call for increased boycott activism on May Day, including boycott of the Histadrut, the Israeli official labor body: “We also take this opportunity to call on trade unions yet to join the BDS movement to: implement boycotts of Israeli and international companies that are complicit with violations of Palestinian rights, divest trade union funds from companies and institutions complicit in Israel’s occupation, settler colonialism and apartheid, and apply pressure on governments to cut military and trade relations with Israel. We reiterate our call for a boycott of Histadrut, Israel’s general trade union, for its complicity with Israel’s violations of international law and its refusal to take a clear stand in support of comprehensive human rights for Palestinians.”
In Lebanon, Palestinian and Lebanese organizations are continuing activities to support the strikers; Palestinian refugees in Shatila camp organized support tents and the posting of banners and posters in support of the prisoners; in Mar Elias refugee camp, a candlelight event saluted the prisoners’ strike. In Beirut, Saida, Kharoub and elsewhere in Lebanon, protests and gatherings called for support for the prisoners; Samah Idriss of the Campaign to Boycott Supporters of Israel in Lebanon urged materializing solidarity with the prisoners through intensifying the boycott campaign.
The Parliamentary Association of the Mediterranean also declared support for the prisoners, reported Ma’an News. António Pedro Roque da Visitação Oliveira, the president of PAM and a member of the Parliament of Portugal, stated that the association would take action on the issue of striking prisoners and would be meeting urgently with the United Nations Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People on the issue.
Poster by Hafez Omar. Modified to add English caption.
The following message was received for May First, International Workers’ Day, from Israeli prisons, where Palestinian political prisoners have been engaged in an open hunger strike, the Strike of Freedom and Dignity, since 17 April. This statement is addressed to supporters and friends of Palestine around the world, and to the workers’ movements marking 1 May with protests, demonstrations and celebrations around the world. It comes from Kamil Abu Hanish, one of the leaders of the strike and an imprisoned Palestinian leader of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, currently held in Ayalon Ramle prison. This message comes alongside a statement from Ahmad Sa’adat, the imprisoned General Secretary of the PFLP, who issued a call from Ramon prison to leftist movements around the world to support the Palestinian struggle on 1 May.
From the isolation cells of the occupation, on our fifteenth day of hunger strike, we mark International Workers’ Day, the First of May. We are locked in the strike of freedom and dignity as a struggle against the racist, colonial occupation that is waging a war on us inside the prison cells. We are engaged in this strike to defend our prisoners and our people against the relentless onslaught of racist laws and new attacks attempting to liquidate our Palestinian struggle for liberation.
Within the prison walls as we continue our strike, we honor and celebrate International Workers’ Day, the day of the working class and the popular classes of the world, of confrontation of all forms of colonialism, racism, exploitation and oppression. Today, from behind bars, we are with you on the streets and in the squares of the world, demanding justice, liberation and freedom from exploitation.
The sons and daughters of the popular classes of Palestine, the workers, the farmers in the villages, the refugees of the camps, have always been the leaders and the driving force of our Palestinian national liberation movement. The Palestinian popular classes have been the freedom fighters, the strugglers and the resisters on the front lines, confronting the occupation and Zionist colonization in Palestine. And so it is the case that the popular classes of Palestine fill the ranks of the Israeli prisons, the builders of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement continuing on the front lines of resistance, building the ongoing Palestinian revolution.
Within occupied Palestine, even to seek to work itself is criminalized. Thousands of Palestinian workers are imprisoned each year simply for seeking work “without a permit” within their own homeland, Palestine, divided and colonized by the occupier. Their numbers are not counted among our nearly 7,000 Palestinian political prisoners. But they are surely prisoners of politics – of the settler colonial politics of Zionism which has sought to criminalize and eradicate Palestinian existence and subjugate Palestinian labor on our land for over 100 years, and has implemented that practice for nearly 70 years.
Today, as you march in the streets, carry with you our empty stomachs and our loud cries for freedom, justice and dignity. Our strike, and the Palestinian prisoners’ movement, needs your support, your solidarity and your action to win our freedom. Palestinian workers and the Palestinian popular classes and the workers of the world must stand together to confront capitalism, racism, Zionism and colonialism. Let May First be a day of liberation for the workers, and thus also liberation for the prisoners – for all of the Palestinian political prisoners and for all of the strugglers for justice in the world locked up in the jails of the oppressors and exploiters, from the United States to France to Greece to Turkey to the Philippines.
Our hunger and our empty stomachs do not only come for our dignity and freedom, for our basic rights denied, for our right to see our loved ones, to educate ourselves, to receive health care and medical treatment, to not be locked up in solitary confinement or without charge or trial. Our struggle as Palestinian prisoners will be truly victorious with the liberation of all the prisoners and, most importantly, the liberation of the land and people of Palestine. Freedom for the prisoners means – and must mean – freedom for Palestine.
Today, we call upon you, the fighters for freedom and justice in the world, the workers’ movements, the strugglers for socialism, the movements of revolution, to escalate your support for our struggle, for the Palestinian people and for the Palestinian prisoners. We urge you to act to isolate the occupation state, to hold it accountable for 70 years of crimes against the Palestinian people. We urge you to intensify and build the movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions against the occupation state and the corporations like Hewlett-Packard and G4S that profit from its imprisonment, apartheid and colonialism. The workers’ movements, the movements of the popular classes, the movements of the oppressed, can and must take part in this battle around the world, as part and parcel of the struggle against racism, imperialism and capitalism.
Long live the First of May, the International Workers’ Day Freedom and victory for Palestinian prisoners Freedom and victory for the workers, the popular classes and the land and people of Palestine
Kamil Abu Hanish In the Battle of Freedom and Dignity 1 May 2017
As hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners entered their 14th day of hunger strike, completing their second week of strike, the longest consecutively-held Palestinian prisoner and a leader of the strike, Karim Younes, vowed to continue the strike “until victory or death.”
Younes, a Palestinian prisoner from ‘Ara in occupied Palestine ’48 who has spent over 35 years in Israeli prison, had a hearing in the Haifa District Court on Sunday, 30 May to consider the petition of his lawyers, Yamen Zeidan and Tamim Younes, to visit him during the strike. Like the vast majority of hunger strikers, Younes has been denied legal and family visits since the beginning of the strike on 17 April. During his appearance in the court, Younes was visibly fatigued and he has lost 10 kg (20 pounds) of weight since the beginning of his strike.
A hearing will be held on 3 May by the Israeli Supreme Court regarding a filing by Adalah and the Prisoners Affairs’ Commission on the general denial of legal visits to Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike. On Sunday, the Prisoners Affairs Commission and Palestinian Prisoners Society announced that they are implementing a full boycott of Israeli occupation military courts based on the continued denial of legal visits. Hundreds of international lawyers expressed their solidarity in a statement originated by the National Lawyers Guild in the U.S.
With other strike leaders, Younes has been repeatedly transferred from prison to prison, first from Hadarim prison to isolation in Jalameh prison and now to Gilboa prison. 1500 Palestinian prisoners launched their hunger strike, the Strike of Freedom and Dignity, on 17 April. They are demanding basic human rights, inclduing an end to the denial of family visits, appropriate medical care, the right to education and an end to solitary confinement and administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial.
The strikers have been met with harsh repression inside the prisons. Aside from a few visits for prisoners in Ashkelon and Ofer prisons, nearly all of the 1500 strikers have been denied legal visits; all have been denied family visits. Their personal belongings and clothing have been confiscated; many prisoners have even reported that the salt that they consume with water to sustain their health and lives has been confiscated by Israeli prison administration.
Striking prisoners have been repeatedly transferred from prison to prison; many have been moved to isolation sections. Strike leaders, like Younes, Fateh leader Marwan Barghouthi and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine prison branch leader Kamil Abu Hanish have been thrown into solitary confinement. Prisoners have been subjected to repeated late-night and pre-dawn raids by repressive units. On Sunday, Nasser Oweis, held in isolation in Ayalon Ramle prison, was assaulted by repressive forces.
Meanwhile, the media committee of the strike reported potential overtures for negotiations by the Israeli prison administration since Saturday; however, they noted as well that the prison administration is so far insisting upon the exclusion of Marwan Barghouthi, the imprisoned Fateh leader designated as spokesperson by Fateh prisoners when announcing the strike.
Palestinian and international actions continued in support of the prisoners. On Sunday, 30 April, international events took place in Melbourne, Malmo, Padua, and Milan, while many international cities will see Palestinian contingents and a strong presence in support of the Palestinian prisoners and the Palestinian liberation movement in general on 1 May, International Workers’ Day. Among other cities, events in Athens, Liege, Copenhagen, Brussels, New York, Lille, Arras, Lyon, Paris, Metz, Berlin, Montpellier, Cologne, London, Los Angeles and New Jersey will include calls for the liberation of Palestinian political prisoners and the Palestinian people.
Photo: Quds News Network
As protests continued to grow, more activists engaged in solidarity hunger strikes with the prisoners. At the University of Manchester in the UK, five students are continuing a solidarity hunger strike to support the Palestinian prisoners.
Photo: Quds News Network
In Palestine, they are joined by a number of prisoners’ family members, as well as eight activists in Nablus, who have launched a solidarity strike in the prisoners’ support tents. At Bir Zeit University, five students, all former prisoners themselves, have launched a five-day hunger strike to support the prisoners: Yasser Abu Remaileh, Lina Khattab, Abed Barbar, Yousef Barghouthi and Jihad Manasra.
22 April 2017, Potsdamer Platz. Photo: Afif el-Ali
As demonstrators take the streets in numerous Palestinian, Arab and international cities, towns, campuses and refugee camps in support of Palestinian prisoners, the city of Berlin, Germany has been a high point in the international mobilizations supporting the Freedom and Dignity hunger strike of imprisoned Palestinians. The streets and squares of Berlin have been filled with repeated protest actions in support of Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli jails, organized by Palestinian and Palestine solidarity groups in the city.
Berlin, home to one of the largest Palestinian communities in Europe, has been an active site of mobilization in support of the hunger strike that was launched on 17 April, Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, by 1500 Palestinian prisoners. Labeled the Strike for Freedom and Dignity, the hunger strike demands an end to the denial of family visits, appropriate medical care for Palestinian prisoners and an end to solitary confinement and imprisonment without charge or trial. Solidarity network Palästina-Solidarität has provided consistent German-language news and information about developments in the hunger strike, while Palestinian community groups including the Democratic Palestine Committees, Palestinian National Action Committee, Palestinian Association in Germany and others have organized multiple protests.
On Saturday, 29 April, demonstrators gathered in Potsdamer Platz first for an information table and then for a demonstration to support the prisoners, at least the sixth demonstration for Palestinian prisoners since the beginning of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Week of Action on 15 April. Protesters distributed information, held signs, banners and Palestinian flags and displayed large props to dramatize the situation of Palestinian prisoners, including a large “cage” and representations of Handala, the timeless cartoon character representing a Palestinian refugee boy created by Naji al-Ali.
28 April, Wittenbergplatz to Joachimthaler Strasse. Photo: Afif El-Ali
The protest on Saturday followed a human chain that stretched from Wittenbergplatz to Joachimstaler Strasse on Friday evening, 28 April. Dozens of participants stretched through the busy shopping streets, holding candles in vigil of Palestinian prisoners on hunger strikes while displaying Palestinian flags and images of the prisoners and distributing flyers and information about the prisoners’ struggle.
28 April, Wittenburgplatz to Joachimstaler Strasse. Photo: Afif El-Ali
Earlier in the week, on Wednesday, 26 April, many Palestinian and Palestine solidarity activists gathered by the iconic Brandenburger Tor in central Berlin to stand in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike. Palestinian music played while banners and Palestinian flags waved in support of the Palestinian prisoners’ struggle, with a wide participation by many organizations in the city.
26 April 2017, Brandenburger Tor. Photo: Afif el-Ali
The Wednesday protest followed an action on Saturday, 22 April, also in Potsdamer Platz, where participants carried signs and banners highlighting the Palestinian prisoners’ struggle and key issues like administrative detention – imprisonment without charge or trial – and solitary confinement. Demonstrators held posters of a number of prominent Palestinian prisoners, including PFLP General Secretary Ahmad Sa’adat and Fateh leader Marwan Barghouthi, highlighting their struggles for freedom.
22 April 2017, Potsdamer Platz. Photo: Afif el-Ali
These four actions came following two protests, at Neukolln Rathaus and Hermannplatz, on 15 and 17 April. Marking Palestinian Prisoners’ Day and the Week of Action for Palestinian Prisoners, the Democratic Palstine Committees gathered on 15 April at the Neukolln Rathaus to support Palestinian prisoners, facing down an attempt by pro-apartheid pro-Zionist organizations to shut down the protest. On 17 April, Palestinian youth led a demonstration at Hermannplatz as part of the End Security Coordination Campaign demanding freedom for Palestinian prisoners and an end to PA security coordination with Israel.
17 April, Hermannplatz. Photo: End Security Coordination15 April, Rathaus Neukolln. Photo: Democratic Palestine Committees
All of the demonstrations have been well-attended with over 70 participants in each case, often including families and children. The demonstrations in Berlin have come alongside numerous actions in international cities, including protests in other German cities such as Stuttgart, Koblenz, Bremen, Cologne and Bonn. The next mobilization for Palestinian prisoners in Berlin will take place on 1 May, May Day, when Palestinian and Palestine solidarity activists will participate in the Internationalist Block in the Revolutionary May Day demonstration at 4 pm at Lausitzer Platz in Berlin’s Kreuzberg neighborhood. On 6 May, the Palestinian National Action Committee in Berlin is organizing a day-long hunger strike action in Alexanderplatz in solidarity with the prisoners.
New York City demonstrators gathered outside the Best Buy electronics store in Union Square on Friday, 28 April to stand in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike and demand an end to HP’s corporate complicity in the Israeli imprisonment and oppression of Palestinians.
Photo: Bud Korotzer/Desertpeace
Organized by Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, the protesters held signs, distributed flyers and leaflets and chanted about the struggle of Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails. They also highlighted the role of Hewlett-Packard (HP) in contracting with Israeli apartheid institutions, from the Israel Prison Service, where it provides the technology for databases on Palestinian prisoners, to Israeli checkpoints, the apartheid wall, and even the Erez/Beit Hanoun crossing, where HP technology helps to maintain the siege on Gaza. As part of the international campaign to boycott HP products until the corporation stops its profiteering from apartheid and colonialism, protesters urged Best Buy customers to steer clear of HP products in the interests of Palestinian rights and freedom.
Photo: Bud Korotzer/Desertpeace
People on the street and in Union Square engaged in discussion with protesters, including Irish and Puerto Rican passers-by who shared information about their own anti-colonial movements and the role of political prisoners in the Irish and Puerto Rican struggles for liberation.
Photo: Bud Korotzer/Desertpeace
Participants in the protest highlighted the struggle of Palestinian prisoners, 1500 of whom launched a hunger strike, called the Strike for Freedom and Dignity, on 17 April, Palestinian Prisoners’ Day. The strikers have a series of basic demands for justice, including an end to the denial of family visits, appropriate medical care and treatment for ill prisoners, the right to education and an end to solitary confinement and administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial.
Photo: Bud Korotzer/Desertpeace
Participants in the protest included activists with a number of organizations in New York City, including Fordham Students for Justice in Palestine. Fordham students are currently suing the university after they were prohibited from organizing their SJP on campus despite years of applications and an approval by the university’s student government association. The application was then, in an unprecedented step, overturned and denied by Fordham Dean of Students Keith Eldredge. Represented by Palestine Legal and the Center for Constitutional Rights, Fordham students are arguing that the denial is an unjust and unlawful form of discrimination that violates Fordham’s own policies and commitments to its students. Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network expressed its solidarity with the Fordham students and support for their struggle for justice in the courtroom, on the campus and in the streets.
In addition, student labor activists – many of whom are also involved in the movement for justice in Palestine – at Fordham University are also facing severe and potentially unprecedented repression. Participants in a peaceful demonstration to support the contingent faculty union on 27 April, who were assaulted by Fordham Public Safety, then received an email temporarily banning them from campus, including students who live in dorm housing, and threatening them with disciplinary action. This happened despite the students not being officially charged with any violation of policy on campus. The administration is using severe “interim measures” ostensibly intended to protect the campus from serious threats of violence to instead penalize people for allegedly participating in a peaceful protest without advance permission from the administration.
Samidoun and other New York City Palestine groups, including NYC Students for Justice in Palestine and the NY4Palestine Coalition, will participate in May Day events taking place in the city, including a Palestine Contingent that will gather at 3 pm in Union Square. Before the Union Square rally, Palestine activists will also take part in the Immigrant Worker Justice Tour beginning in Washington Square Park at 12:30 pm.
Demonstrators in Brussels, Belgium gathered outside city’s central train station on Friday, 28 April to stand in solidarity with Palestinian political prisoners on open hunger strike for dignity and freedom. Participants carried Palestinian flags – including several massive flags – as well as signs and banners urging justice and freedom for the prisoners.
1500 Palestinian prisoners launched their strike in Israeli jails on 17 April, Palestinian Prisoners’ Day. The hunger strikers have a series of demands, including an end to the denial of family visits, increased communication with loved ones, appropriate medical care and treatment and the end of solitary confinement and administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial. Protesters at the event also highlighted the case of Lebanese struggler for Palestine Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, imprisoned in France for nearly 33 years, who recently conducted a three-day hunger strike to support Palestinian prisoners.
Following up on the Brussels protest held on 19 April to support the Palestinian prisoners and their hunger strike, protesters from a number of organizations including the Palestinian Community of Belgium and Luxembourg, Association Belgo-Palestinienne, Palestina Solidariteit, Plate-forme Charleroi-Palestine, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network and others came together to call for the immediate implementation of the hunger strikers’ demands. Hamdan al-Damiri and Tahsin Zaki of the Palestinian community opened and emceed the event with calls for justice for Palestinian prisoners.
Speakers at the protest included Nadia El Yousfi, Belgian senator from the Parti Socialiste (PS), who was one of seven Belgian parliamentarians to nominate Marwan Barghouthi, an imprisoned Palestinian political leader and a leader of this hunger strike, for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2016. Alexis DeSwaef, president of the League for Human Rights in Belgium and a prominent lawyer and human rights advocate, also spoke at the event, on the human rights situation and just demands of Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike. DeSwaef was one of the participants in a Belgian human rights delegation to Palestine that reviewed and denounced Belgian participation in LAW-TRAIN, an EU-funded collaborative training program with the Israeli police on interrogation techniques.
Dirk DeBlock, a councillor with the Workers Party of Belgium in Molenbeek and several community activists from Molenbeek also spoke at the protest. Molenbeek, one of the 19 communes that makes up the city and region of Brussels, celebrated a major victory for Palestinian human rights on Wednesday, 26 April when the commune adopted a legally-binding policy prohibiting contracting with businesses and corporations involved with human rights violations, including the Israeli occupation of Palestine, the first Belgian city or town to adopt such a binding initiative.
The adoption of the procurement policy followed a resolution passed on 25 June 2015 that directed the creation of such a policy, which was found to be legally consistent and binding by the municipality at the April meeting. The campaign for Molenbeek’s contracting to be free of apartheid profiteers was launched by DeBlock when G4S was found to be contracted for cash security and transport by the municipality, despite the global campaign against the corporation for its involvement in human rights abuses in Palestine. This included G4S’ involvement with the Israeli Prison Service as well as its role in checkpoints and other structures of Israeli apartheid.
The adoption of the policy was celebrated by a large group of Palestinian community members, Palestine solidarity activists and other social justice and human rights advocates who were part of the Molenbeek Free of Apartheid campaign.
The event included a moving and powerful performance by Raj’een Palestinian Dabkeh Troupe, who performed a modern dabkeh piece illustrating the struggle of Palestinian prisoners as well as a classic dabkeh performance. The strong dancing and Palestinian music drew the attention of many passers-by in the central area of the city. The dabkeh troupe, organized by Palestinian youth in Belgium, performs at cultural and community events across Europe.
Charlotte Kates of Samidoun spoke at the event, emphasizing the international nature of the campaign to support Palestinian prisoners and that Israeli attempts to isolate and silence the prisoners have failed. This is reflected on a daily basis as the streets of Palestine, the Arab world and international cities have protests, demonstrations and actions to support the hunger strikers and their struggle. She noted the hunger strikers’ basic demands for human rights and justice, and called for the freedom of all Palestinian prisoners, the imprisoned leadership of the Palestinian struggle against racism, colonialism, apartheid and occupation. She also demanded an end to Belgian and European complicity with Israeli violations of Palestinian rights, calling for an end to LAW-TRAIN and the EU-Israel Association Agreement.
Participants also collectively participated in the #SaltWaterChallenge, drinking cups of salt and water as many people have done in viral social media videos, publicizing the hunger strikers’ reliance on salt and water to maintain their lives and health. A Palestinian Belgian student spoke about the struggles of Palestinian youth prisoners and the importance of standing beside the prisoners in their struggle for justice and liberation.
The event included significant representation from the Palestinian and Arab communities as well as activists from a number of political parties, including the Workers’ Party of Belgium and the Green Party, trade unions and other social and community organizations. Dozens of Belgian organizations are also issuing a letter to the Belgian government to call for a changed policy on Palestine and defense of the rights of Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails. On Saturday, 6 May, another rally will come together in Brussels at the Place de la Monnaie at 4 pm in support of the Palestinian prisoners and their hunger strike.
Progetto Palestina invites you to a day of Palestinian resistance! From 12:30 pm, join a social lunch at the self-managed center in hall C1, with the proceeds to finance BASKETBALL BEATS BORDERS, a project to support the Shatila Girls Basketball Team Real Palestinian Youth. Shatila Girls Basketball Team is made up of eight Palestinian girls between 16 and 20 years of age born and raised in Shatila refugee camp in Beirut. From 9 to 16 May, this team will be in Rome as part of a sports exchange.
