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International League of People’s Struggle condemns Zionist attack on Palestinian prisoners

The following statement was issued by the International League of People’s Struggle Canada coordinating committee, in solidarity with Palestinian political prisoners:

Free all Palestinian Prisoners in the Occupation Prisons! Free Ahmad Sa’adat!

The International League of Peoples’ Struggle condemns the vicious attack by occupation prison guards on Palestinian prisoners, including Ahmad Sa’adat, the jailed General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The attack started on July 27 in the Nafha prison in the south of Palestine, occupied by the Zionist State since 1948, when Israeli prison guards raided cells in the middle of the night, ransacking and destroying the prisoners belongings and attacking the resisting prisoners.

The attack, intended to punish the prisoners for their steadfastness, was met with militant resistance by Comrade Sa’adat and the other targeted prisoners, a number of whom were injured.

Incarceration is one of the main mechanisms used by Israel to maintain its criminal occupation of Palestine, targeting activists, political leaders, militants and their family members.  There are currently over 5700 Palestinian prisoners in the occupation jails, including more than 400 held on ‘administrative detention’, over 160 children along with 25 women and 16 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council.  Many of them, like Ahmad Sa’adat, are imprisoned on the basis of their membership in Palestinian organizations that Israel considers ‘illegal’.

ILPS stands in militant solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners in their steadfast resistance to the occupation! ILPS members organizations can show solidarity by:

  1. Organizing or joining protests at Israeli consulates or embassies in your area.
  2. Answering the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israeli economic, political and cultural institutions and corporations that participate and profit from the Israeli occupation and apartheid.
  3. Joining actions and campaigns that target UK based security firm G4$ who have a lucrative contract to provide ‘security services’ to the occupation jails, checkpoints and the apartheid wall.

 

31 July, London: Emergency Protest to Free the Hunger Strikers!

londonnDate: Friday 31st July 2015 3pm-5pm
Location: BBC Headquarters,  BBC Broadcasting House, Portland Place, London W1A 1AA (3mins from Oxford Circus Tube station)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/534608250024020/
Web: http://www.inminds.com/article.php?id=10680
28th July 2015, www.inminds,com

Assalaamu Alaikum

Palestinian hunger strikers Muhammad Allan and Uday Isteiti have now entered the critical sixth week of complete hunger strike, to protest Israel’s illegal practice of Administrative detention –  of caging Palestinians indefinitely without charge or trial. It is medically understood that at six weeks the gruelling symptoms of a hunger strike become life-threatening with great risk of death from heart failure. Please join us on Friday 31st July, day 46 of their hunger strike, for an emergency protest outside the world headquarters of the BBC, to demand freedom for Muhammad Allan and Uday Isteiti, and to demand the BBC lift its reporting blackout of the hunger strikers. As with previous hunger strikes the BBC have remained silent over the plight of Palestinian hunger strikers, similarly during Khader Adnan’s recent hunger strike the BBC never once reported on it until he had achieved victory and Israel agreed to release him.

The latest information we have on the health of the hunger strikers is that Muhammed Allan is suffering from substantial weight loss,  uncontrollable constant vomiting, shortness of breath and severe headaches. Uday Isteiti is suffering from extreme pain in his joints and can hardly move, but the prison is refusing to provide him with a wheelchair. He is also now suffering pain in his kidneys and blue spots have began to appear on his body. When the body runs out of vitamins and minerals, the cells don’t have the energy to perform basic functions and basic systems begin to break down. Their lives are in critical condition and we must act now to save them.

earlier1Previous protest for hunger strikers, 24th July 2015

This protest is being organised in co-ordination with our friends at the ‘Prisoner’s Center for Studies’ in Gaza  as part of a joint protest with one they are holding this week in Gaza outside the International Red Cross to show global united solidarity with the hunger strikers. We thank them for the help they have provided in vital information that has helped us mount this protest.

gazaprot

United protest in Gaza for the hunger strikers by the ‘Prisoner’s Center for Studies’

At the protest we will also be condemning today’s (28th July 2015)  violent attacks on Palestinian political prisoners in Nafha and Ramon prison by Israeli Special Forces which left 30 Palestinian prisoners including Palestinian MP Ahmad Sa’adat injured. In the early hours of the morning more than a thousand Special Forces soldiers of the Dror and Metzada brigades carried out the attack by breaking into the prisoners cells, and savagely beating the defenceless detainees. They ransacked the rooms, smashing and stealing the detainees belonging.

BACKGROUND ON HUNGER STRIKERS

Muhammad Allan, a 31 years old lawyer from Nablus has been caged by the occupation since 6th November 2014 without charge or trial under administrative detention. He has in total suffered 3 years in occupation prisons and several administrative orders having been issued against him. Muhammad Allan went on hunger strike after the occupation again renewed his administrative detention. As punishment for refusing food he has been locked up in isolation confinement at Ayala prison near Tel Aviv.

Uday Isteiti is from Jenin refugee camp. He has been caged by the occupation since 17th November 2014 without charge or trial, under administrative detention, at Israel’s G4S secured Ketziot prison in the Negev. G4S provides and maintains the entire security system that keeps this hell hole operational. Isteiti went on hunger strike after the occupation again renewed his administrative detention. As punishment for refusing food he has been transferred to Eshel prison and locked up in solidarity confinement with severe measures being imposed on him. He is not permitted to bathe for more than two weeks now and is being refused a change in cloths. Vindictively the Israeli jailers have also taken away his Holy Qur’an during the month of Ramadan.

Both Allan and Isteiti started their hunger strike on 15th June 2015, and by friday 31st July they will have been without food or nutrients for 46 days.  Their hunger strike follows the manner of Khader Adnan’s hunger strike in that they are refusing everything apart from water so their bodies cannot survive long.

Muhammad Allan and Uday Isteiti’s hunger strike follows on the heels of Khader Adnan’s recent victorious 55 day hunger strike that resulted in his freedom.  Upon his release Khader Adnan has made a short video appeal urging action to demand the release of Muhammad Allan and Uday Isteiti:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/2YnHLu8s1Qc

ADMINISTRATIVE DETENTION

Administrative detention is a practice used by Israel to imprison Palestinians indefinitely without charge or trial.

Prisoners are given rolling detention orders which can be anything from 1-6 months, renewable indefinitely. This is against international law. For example administrative detainee Mazen Natsheh has been locked up cumulatively for nearly 10 years without ever being charged with anything.

Detention orders are based on so called “secret information” which never needs to be produced, either to the detainee nor their lawyer.

Administrative detention is often used to arbitrarily jail Palestinians where there is no evidence for a trial, or for punishment as in the case of 8 Palestinian MPs.

Israel has on average issued over 2000 detention orders every year (2007-2011). Today there are around 450 administrative detainees. Most of them, like hunger strikers Allan and Isteiti, having been transferred from the West Bank into Israel in contravention of Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Full photo-video report of protest on 24 July: United London – Gaza Protest Demands Freedom For The Hunger Strikers, End To Administrative Detention
http://inminds.com/article.php?id=10679

LIVE UPDATES DURING PROTEST

We will, inshAllah, be tweeting live from the protest with live photos being uploaded to our twitter and facebook page. So if you can’t join us on the day, please help us by sharing the photos as they get uploaded.

https://www.facebook.com/inmindscom

https://twitter.com/InmindsCom

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

JazakAllah,

Abbas Ali

Palestinian Prisoners Campaign
www.inminds.com/caged

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Shupak and Sears: Universities Canada turning a blind eye on Palestinian cases

The following article, by Alan Sears and Gregory Shupak, on the complicity of Canadian universities with the Israeli occupation and particularly the imprisonment of political prisoners, including Khalida Jarrar, was published at rabble.ca: http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/campus-notes/2015/07/universities-canada-turning-blind-eye-on-palestinian-cases

Universities Canada turning a blind eye on Palestinian cases

By Alan Sears and Gregory Shupak, rabble.ca, July 29, 2015

No one wants their mother to be a “case.” But that is what happened to our friend Yafa Jarrar. Her mother, Palestinian legislator Khalida Jarrar, was arrested by a force of Israeli troops from her home in Ramallah. She has so far been denied bail or clear knowledge of the charges against her.

Sadly, the “case” of Khalida Jarrar is not unusual. There are 5,820 Palestinian political prisoners detained in Israeli jails, including student union heads, community organizers, members of the Palestinian National Council and children. For Palestinians, simply speaking up for basic rights is enough to bring Israeli troops to the door.

There is a lot for Palestinians to speak up about. The people of Gaza have been starved of the supplies that would allow them to rebuild after last summer’s massive Israeli assault that, according the UN, killed 2,205 Palestinians including at least 1,483 civilians. There’s also 47 years of illegal occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, the second-class status Palestinian citizens in this “Jewish” state, and the approximately 7 million refugees who have been denied their right to return their family homes and towns in Palestine since the initial Israeli expulsion over 60 years ago. Israeli military check-points, house demolitions, school closures, chronic water and electricity shortages, 8 year blockade on Gaza, the so-called “security-wall” –- the list is long.

Israel has silenced Palestinian activists, ignored international law and refused to comply with the decisions of the United Nations with impunity. Our friend Yafa’s mother spoke up against these living conditions, and now she is a “case.” Fortunately, Yafa is in a position to raise the international profile of her mother’s case around the world because she went abroad to study at Canadian universities. But in Canada she finds herself threatened by another kind of silencing. Stephen Harper’s government has made it clear that they want to go after activists who support the call for a campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) to pressure Israel to recognize basic Palestinian rights. Justin Trudeau has signaled that he is similarly hostile to BDS activists.

The Harper government is boosting Canada’s support for these much-criticized violations, most recently by implying that hate speech laws could be used against people who trying to take a “zero tolerance” approach to BDS advocacy in Canada. This threat to Palestine solidarity activists is closely aligned with the Harper government’s Bill C-51 which threatens to crack down on all kinds of political expression in the name of fighting “terrorism.”

The case of Khalida Jarrar reminds us of the timeliness of the BDS campaign as a means to exert pressure on Israel to recognize basic Palestinian rights.  This is certainly no time to be increasing links to Israeli institutions. Yet that is precisely what Universities Canada, the umbrella group for universities in Canada, is now in the business of promoting. In July 2013, Universities Canada signed a framework agreement to this effect with the Israeli Association of Heads of Universities. Such institutional links make Canada complicit in the Israeli silencing of Palestinian activists such as Khalida Jarrar and in Israel’s refusal to respect international law.

All Israeli academic institutions serve the occupation and silencing through activities like direct military research,  the architectural planning of settlements, and the development of Hebrew place names to replace those of destroyed Palestinian villages. Meanwhile, the educational rights and academic freedom of Palestinians are undermined by their experience of occupation, of second-class status in Israeli educational institutions, and of exile.

The troubling trend in recent years of increasing institutional links between Canadian and Israeli universities strengthen the complicity that is already expressed by the Harper government’s unconditional support for Israel. These ties bind us to the Israeli regime that is making Yafa Jarrar’s mother yet another Palestinian “case.”

Yafa Jarrar asks us to try a different approach. “My sister and I are asking for international pressure to get my mother released on bail, and ultimately to have the case against her dismissed.” International pressure is crucial to freeing Khalida Jarrar. But a case by case approach is not enough.  It is time to break the ties of international complicity. Universities Canada should rescind their memorandum of agreement with the Association of Heads of Universities (Israel) to promote institutional links as over 290 academics working in Canada have demanded in a petition circulated by Faculty for Palestine.

 

Alan Sears teaches at Ryerson University and Greg Shupak teaches at the University of Guelph. Both are members of Faculty for Palestine.

Call to action from Ahmad Sa’adat: Boycott Israel!

Ahmad Sa’adat, the imprisoned General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Palestinian national political leader, issued the following call to international supporters of Palestine to escalate the campaigns for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions at all levels in support of the prisoners’ struggle. Sa’adat was injured on Tuesday, 28 July when Israeli prison guards and special units attacked Palestinian political prisoners held in Nafha. 

An Appeal to all international forces for freedom, peace, democracy, equality and social justice

The racist, settler-colonial occupying power persists in its ongoing war against the Palestinian people and its ongoing violations of international law and United Nations resolutions which criminalize the practices of the occupation state and its apartheid nature. This aggression is given cover by international support, collusion and silence, the strategic alliances and hypocrisy of the dominant international and imperialist powers in international political forums and institutions, who have closed all doors to a just political solution that respects international law and the fundamental rights of our people. Our people are left only the option of resistance, in a disproportionate battle against a massively armed enemy that wages war against the people, the land, the trees and the stones.

The daily crimes and racist policies of the Israeli occupier against our people recall the crimes and violations of apartheid as it was practiced by the white minority government against the people of South Africa; and we recall also the broad support of international popular forces against racism, oppression and apartheid, as well as the struggle of the South African people and the ability of this alliance to besiege the racist apartheid project, to disassemble it and struggle to build a democratic project.

Today, it is critical to besiege the racist, settler-colonial Zionist project, and indeed, to delegitimize this project, and to support the struggle of our people for liberation, self-determination and return as the pathway to a democratic political solution for Palestine. Our people will not bow to the governments of “Israel,” including the current government which represents the will of the colonizers and the ultra-extremist Zionist terror.

Accordingly, today I call on all forces of progress, freedom and democracy to stand by the struggle of our people through:

1) Acting to condemn the war of aggression carried out by “Israel” against our people in all international forums and to bring “Israeli” officials to justice and accountability;
2) All forms of boycott: political, economic, academic and cultural of the occupation state and the creation of a real economic cost for its industries of colonization and settlement;
3) Escalating the global campaigns for boycott of all corporations that support and invest in the occupation militarily and economically;
4) Working to prosecute the political and military leaders of the occupation in all legal arenas and international courts, and try them for their crimes;
5) Supporting the struggle of the prisoners of the Palestinian people, to defend their rights, demand their freedom, and provide political and legal support for their struggle, including recognizing them as prisoners of war and implementing the relevant clauses of the Geneva Conventions

Dear friends, with your support and the will and determination of our people and their resistance and steadfastness, victory will be achieved.

Ahmad Sa’adat
Nafha Prison

Take Action! 

Please share this statement with all supporters and friends of Palestine, of social justice and of human rights. Palestinians from inside Israeli jails are calling for your support: Boycott Israel! 

1.  Protest at the Israeli consulate or embassy for Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian prisoners. Bring posters and flyers and hold a protest, or join a protest. Hold a community event or discussion, or include Ahmad Sa’adat’s statement in your next event about Palestine and social justice. Email us at [email protected] to inform us about your events or actions.

2. Contact your Member of Parliament, Representative, or Member of European Parliament. The attack on Sa’adat and his fellow prisoners must not be allowed to continue with international silence. Contact your parliamentarian and urge them to support justice for Palestinian prisoners.

3. Boycott, Divest and Sanction.  Take action as Ahmad Sa’adat urges above: hold Israel accountable for its violations of international law. Don’t buy Israeli goods, and campaign to end investments in corporations that profit from the occupation. Learn more at bdsmovement.net.

Further Resources:

Palestinian prisoners protest in Nafha following attacks on Sa’adat and fellow prisoners

Ahmad Sa’adat, the imprisoned General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, injured on Tuesday by Israeli guards who attacked Palestinian prisoners in Nafha prison, met with his lawyer from the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association on 29 July, who reported that prisoners in Nafha are continuing to protest, closing their prison sections and refusing to meet with prison administration until their demands are implemented.

The prisoners are demanding an end to sanctions and punishments against the prisoners in Nafha, the return of the prisoners from Room #85 in Nafha from isolation or transfer, and an end to the night inspections in which Israeli prison guards regularly violently ransack Palestinian prisoners’ belongings in the middle of the night. Room #85 was the first attacked by Israeli guards on Monday, 27 July.

Sa’adat said that the attack on the prisoners in Nafha is part of a general attack by occupation forces against the Palestinian people. He said that the occupation forces have used the excuse of mobile phones to attempt to justify their attacks, noting that it was not a personal attack but a collective assault on all of the prisoners in Nafha.

Addameer said that the attack on prisoners in Nafha is part of collective punishment against Palestinian prisoners, including sanctions imposed on prisoners during the attack on Gaza and propsals to enact a number of racist laws that violate international law and attempt to undermine the accomplishment of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement. Addameer also noted that there is an ongoing increase in raids and attacks by special units inside Israeli prisons; there were over 180 such raids in 2014.

Issa Qaraqe, director of the Prisoners Affairs Committee, said in a press statement that the situation in the prisons remains very tense as a result of the attacks by Israeli forces against prisoners in Nafha and Ramon prisons, noting that prisoners in Nafha, Ramon, Eshel, Ofer and Negev prisons have decided to escalate their protest against the prison administration and demand they end their policy of attacks. The prisoners will return their dinners on 27 July and refuse to enter the recreation yard or clinic and will not meet with prison officials. Qaraqe noted that these protests are meant to support the prisoners in Nafha prison and not leave them alone subject to violent attacks by the occupation forces.

Protests in Palestine respond to Israeli attack on Sa’adat, Palestinian prisoners

Protests and denunciations from Palestinian prisons to the streets of Gaza echoed a call for justice and freedom for Palestinian prisoners, following an attack on 28 July by Israeli prison guards on Palestinian prisoners in Nafha prison, including Ahmad Sa’adat, Palestinian political leader and General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

The PFLP, Sa’adat’s left-wing political party, organized several rallies and marches in Gaza, denouncing the attack and demanding freedom for Sa’adat and his fellow prisoners. One march, on the evening of 28 July, wound through Jabalya refugee camp, another marched in Rafah, a third rallied in Nuseirat refugee camp, and a fourth in Khan Younis. On the morning of 29 July, a rally in Gaza City marched to the United Nations headquarters condemning the attack by Israeli forces on Sa’adat and his fellow prisoners, with wide participation by many organizations. Jamil Mizher of the PFLP spoke, calling for a broader solidarity campaign for the prisoners on an international level, to provide political and legal support for their struggle.

In addition, Dr. Ahmad Bahar, the first deputy speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, denounced the attack by Israeli occupation forces on Sa’adat, an elected PLC member, calling it a “heinous crime against the Palestinian popularly elected representative.” He called for a special unified session of the PLC in the West Bank and Gaza to address the attack on Sa’adat and the ongoing arrests and imprisonment of elected Palestinian parliamentarians and to develop a program of joint work to free the imprisoned representatives and all Palestinian political prisoners.

Bahar called on Arab, Muslim and international parliaments and parliamentarians to denounce the crimes of the occupation against Sa’adat and his fellow Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, and to take all steps to pressure Israel to release the kidnapped deputies and to raise this issue in all international fora.

RaMeZ HabOUb
RaMeZ HabOUb
RaMeZ HabOUb
RaMeZ HabOUb

PFLP leader Ahmad Sa’adat attacked by Israeli guards in Nafha prison

Palestinian national political leader and political prisoner, Ahmad Sa’adat, was attacked and injured by Israeli prison guards at Nafha prison early morning Tuesday, 28 July. Sa’adat, the imprisoned General Secretary of the Palestinian left-wing political party, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was among 30 Palestinian political prisoners injured by the violent attack of the guards, who invaded multiple prison cells, forcing Palestinian prisoners out and confiscating and ransacking their belongings.

Palestinian prisoners in Nafha prison resisted, burning items in the prison cells, and Palestinians in multiple prisons declared that they would not be silent in the face of ongoing and violent attacks on Palestinian leaders and fellow prisoners.

The attacks on prisoners in Nafha began on 27 July; family visits for Palestinian prisoners from Gaza were cancelled following the attacks. The PFLP, Sa’adat’s party, issued a statement calling for action after the attack on Sa’adat and other prisoners; a protest will be held tomorrow, 29 July, in Gaza City at 10:00 am.

Take action to demand an end to the attacks on Palestinian prisoners in Nafha and everywhere:

1. Protest at your closest Israeli consulate or embassy and demand an end to the attacks on Palestinian prisoners and freedom for the over 5,500 Palestinian political prisoners held in Israeli jails. Email us at [email protected] (and the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat at [email protected]) about actions in your area.

2. Boycott, Divest and Sanction! Build the campaign to boycott, divest and sanction Israel and its institutions and corporations – through academic and cultural, economic, sports and other forms of boycott.

Khader Adnan Q&A: ‘It is possible to break the Israeli occupation

Interview via Al-Jazeera. Online here: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/07/qa-break-israeli-occupation-150725123515465.html

Jerusalem – Khader Adnan has become a symbol of the Palestinian resistance to occupation.

On 10 separate occasions, he has been placed in administrative detention, a practice that allows Israel to detain prisoners without charge for renewable six-month periods. In 2012, he rose to prominence after waging a 66-day hunger strike against his detention, and after his rearrest last year, Adnan embarked upon another 56-day hunger strike that ended in his release on July 12.

Adnan, who continues to recover in hospital, spoke to Al Jazeera about his experience and how his hunger strike has drawn attention to the cause of thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

Al Jazeera: How is your health now?Khader Adnan: I still have an issue with my stomach as a result of the hunger strike, but I’m in a state of recovery and being observed by the medical staff. I find it difficult to eat and drink, but I have great faith in God that I’ll recover.

Al Jazeera: It has been reported that during your 2012 hunger strike, you took some supplements, but not this time – is that correct?

Adnan: Yes, on this strike I refused all supplements. I had only water. No salt, no vitamins, no sugar. This was despite the fact that even by Red Cross standards, taking these things does not constitute breaking a strike.

In 2012, on the 43rd and 44th day of the strike, I took two tablets each of magnesium and potassium, and then on the 54th day I took glucose. That was all.

Also, while in 2012 I accepted health checks on the 43rd day of the strike, I refused these in 2015 until the end.

Al Jazeera: The day after being released from prison, you visited Jerusalem and were then rearrested by Israeli police. Can you tell us what motivated you to visit and how you were detained?

Adnan: I went to Jerusalem to firstly say thank you to everyone. I demanded to be released on the 12th of July before Laylat al-Qadr [the night when the first verses of the Quran were revealed to the Prophet Muhammad] as it is the holiest day of the Islamic year, and I wanted to be in the holiest mosque in Palestine on that day.

My initial release was strange. I was released early, at 1am, which has never happened in the history of Israeli prisons. Usually releases take place at 10 in the morning or in the late afternoon.

The point of the early release was so that I wouldn’t be welcomed by my people and family and so that there wouldn’t be a popular reception. I stayed one night with my parents and the next day I was smuggled into Jerusalem from Jenin.

The day before entering Jerusalem, I received a message [indirectly from Israeli security services] that if I was to be seen in Jerusalem, then I would be arrested. However, despite this, I travelled in a smooth and organised fashion and visited four homes [that] were symbols of various sectors in our society: of martyrs, prisoners, lawyers and trade unionists, and I wanted to send a message to all of these sectors.

After that I tried to go to Al-Aqsa Mosque. I got to Bab a-Zahara, but despite being disguised by wearing a robe, a walking stick, and keffiyeh, I was noticed by the police. I suppose they saw posters of me, which were up around Al-Aqsa Mosque. One of the border police was holding a poster with my face on it. From there, I was taken to Khurshi prison by Jaffa Gate. I was held for four and a half hours, during which time I refused to eat or speak.

Al Jazeera: You have now returned to Jerusalem again, this time while being admitted to hospital. What happened?

Adnan: The day after being rearrested, I went to sleep at my parents’ house, but the next day I felt a great pain in my stomach. I went to Jenin hospital, but they said the treatment I required was available in al-Makassed hospital in Jerusalem, so the next day I was transferred here.

It’s funny how within a few days, I first came in one day in disguise and then another in an ambulance. One time I was afraid of being caught; the next time I entered with great confidence.

I came in with confidence and without losing any dignity because I had the knowledge that if anything happened to me, then Israel would face a revolt from the people.

Al Jazeera: How integral is the prisoners’ movement to the overall strategy to liberate Palestine?

Adnan: The prisoners’ movement and hunger strikes in particular are a symbol of the principle and demand for justice in Palestine. It proves that of course it is both possible and necessary to break the Israeli occupation.

The prisoners, with strong will, are able to hold onto their rights. It is a symbol to show you what is possible. This is something that the Palestinian leadership must learn from. How it is that a Palestinian prisoner can be on hunger strike, facing an occupation and a jailer with all the technology and forces at their disposal, and yet can still defeat them? Our unarmed resistence can defeat the bullet. That’s what this represents.

But we need the unity of the Palestinian national movement. We need to fully convince the official bodies, the leadership and the public of the need for resistance. We need to weld all our energies together, from Jerusalem, Gaza, the West Bank, and the diaspora. We need the unification of all these energies with the free people of the world in defence of the rights of prisoners and all Palestinians.

Al Jazeera: While on hunger strike, were you aware of actions taking place in solidarity with you?

Adnan: From my bed at al-Makassed hospital, I send a message of solidarity to all people who have supported me. There is a very important symbolic significance to this hospital. It accepted all of the injured and martyred from the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The bed I’m on now may have been sat on by a martyr or someone injured in defence of Al-Aqsa Mosque, and it’s a great honour and privilege to be on this bed.

What unites us as free people of the world is much greater than what divides us. I send my love and solidarity to all the free people and my great thanks to them and appreciation for all they’ve done.

Al Jazeera: How much support did you receive from the Palestinian leadership?

Adnan: There was some communication between myself and the ministry for prisoners. The support from the public and official bodies was more delayed and much less on this occasion. I did get support from the streets, but actions that were taken were less than in 2012.

Al Jazeera: Much of the Arab world is in turmoil. Do you have a message for the youth of this region?

Adnan: Yes, I want to send a word to the Arab and Muslim youth where this barbarism is taking place; in Yemen, Iraq, Syria, the Sinai, and Libya. Many young people are coming from all corners of the world to kill and to be killed. We want you alive. We need you to hold the right interests for the progress of this land.

We need to remember that we have a wounded Palestine in our hands. The cause of Palestine must be at the centre of everything we are building. Your brothers and sisters have been in the occupation prisons for decades. Al-Aqsa Mosque is being threatened and attacked. Palestine is occupied and you have to stand with Palestine.

Translation by Vivian al-Haddad.

Video: Khader Adnan urges solidarity with hunger strikers Allan and Isteiti

Khader Adnan, freed Palestinian political prisoner and former long-term hunger striker, who won his release from administrative detention in 2015 and 2012 through hunger strikes, issued a video on 19 July calling for action to support fellow hunger strikers Muhammad Allan and Uday Isteiti.

Video (with English subtitles, originally via Quds News Network):

Like Adnan, Allan and Isteiti are imprisoned under administrative detention, held without charge or trial on the basis of Israeli military orders and secret evidence. Both have been on hunger strike for 32 days, protesting their imprisonment and demanding an end to administrative detention.

Allan, 31 and a practicing lawyer from Nablus, is being held in isolation in Ayala prison.  He has been detained since 6 November 2014. The renewal of his administrative detention without charge or trial prompted his strike. Isteiti,  from Jenin refugee camp, has been on strike for 25 days, and is held in isolation in Eshel prison, where he was moved three days ago from the Negev prison. He has been detained since 17 November 2014. Like Allan, the renewal of his detention prompted his strike.

These hunger strikes come as dozens of Palestinian administrative detainees have announced a boycott of the Israeli military courts that essentially function as a rubber-stamp, signing off on administrative detention orders on the basis of secret evidence – and as Khader Adnan has once again been victorious in his 55-day hunger strike, released on 12 July 2015 after a year of administrative detention. Administrative detention violates the right to a fair trial as recognized in the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights.

Take action to demand freedom for Allan and Isteiti and the end of administrative detention!

1. Send a letter/petition immediately to Israeli officials demanding the release of Allan and Isteiti and the end of administrative detention. Make sure the international voice is heard demanding their freedom!

2. Protest at the Israeli consulate or embassy. Bring posters and flyers about administrative detention and Palestinian hunger strikers and hold a protest, or join a protest with this important information. Hold a community event or discussion, or include these cases in your next event about Palestine and social justice.

3. Boycott, Divest and Sanction. Hold Israel accountable for its violations of international law. Don’t buy Israeli goods, and campaign to end investments in corporations that profit from the occupation. G4S, a global security corporation, is heavily involved in providing services to Israeli prisons that jail Palestinian political prisoners – there is a global call to boycott it. Learn more at bdsmovement.net.

Letter text

To Brigadier General Dani Afroni, Military Judge Advocate General and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu;

I write today to call for an immediate release of Palestinian hunger strikers Muhammad Allan and Uday Isteiti, held without charge or trial under administrative detention.

I also demand the end of the use of administrative detention. Like over 400 other Palestinians, Allan and Isteiti are being held without charge or trial and under secret evidence. Allan and Isteiti have been on hunger strike for over 20 days.

Dozens of Palestinian administrative detainees are boycotting the military courts that produce these arbitrary sentences with no charge and no trial. I join their call to end this detention.

The lives of Muhammad Allan and Uday Isteiti – and the lives of thousands of Palestinian prisoners- are precious to me and to people around the world. The eyes of the world are on these case, and the government of Israel is fully responsible for the hunger strikers’ health and lives.

Administrative detention violates the right to a fair trial as recognized in the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights. It is a practice that is used to silence Palestinians without ever exposing the reality of such actions to the light of day – even in the rigged military court systems.

Allan and Isteiti must be released immediately and without condition, along with their fellow administrative detainees.

Sincerely,

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Addameer: Report on 13 July military court hearing of Khalida Jarrar

Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association released the following update on the 13 July hearing of imprisoned Palestinian parliamentarian and leader, Khalida Jarrar, before an Israeli military court:

13 July 2015 – At the hearing today for Palestinian Legislative Council Member Khalida Jarrar, the defense team submitted preliminary arguments to cancel the charges. The defense argued concerning the legality of the occupation. Particularly, it argued that the occupation’s situation as continued and long-term deems it illegal. The defense also argued that Mrs. Khalida Jarrar is entitled to immunity as a Palestinian Legislative Council Member.

The defense also argued that Palestine should be considered a sovereign state after the United Nations General Assembly decision to recognize it as such, and the subsequent joining of various international treaties, including the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Therefore, the defense argued, Palestine should be regarded as a state under occupation, and not territory under the jurisdiction of the Oslo accords, which were meant to end within five years. The defense further argued that even if the Oslo accords were applicable, Israeli arrests in Area A are only to take place if the accused is believed to be committing illegal activities in the time of the arrest, which was not the case for Mrs. Jarrar, who was arrested in an overnight raid on her home years following many of the alleged activities. The safeguarding of justice was also highly contested according to the defense, who argued that the protracted delays in bringing charges against Mrs. Jarrar and the vague dates given to her alleged activities severely affect the ability of the defendant in her defense.

Furthermore, the defense argued that the arrest of Mrs. Jarrar was a revengeful reprisal for her refusal to comply with a forced residency assignment in September 2014, as indicated by military governor’s statement. Additionally, the defense pointed to the fact that Mrs. Jarrar was initially held under administrative detention, with the prosecution claiming in a hearing that there was not enough evidence to hold her under charges.

The next hearing is set to take place on 4 August 2015, during which witnesses are expected to take the stand. It was noted that witnesses were not properly informed to attend today’s hearing and did not show up. The prosecution has two weeks to respond to the defense team’s preliminary arguments.

Take Action to support Khalida Jarrar – and visit the Free Khalida Jarrar Campaign:

1. Click here: Send a message to the Israeli Occupation Forces and demand the immediate release of Khalida Jarrar.It is important that the occupation learns that Khalida has supporters around the world who will not be silent in the face of this injustice.

2. Sign the petition! Sign and share this petition, demanding freedom for Khalida Jarrar immediately.

3. Contact your Member of Parliament, Representative, or Member of European Parliament. The attack on Khalida is an attack on Palestinian parliamentary legitimacy and political expression. Parliamentarians have a responsibility to pressure Israel to cancel this order.

4. Send a letter to Khalida Jarrar – help support her and show her jailers that the world is with her!

5. Use the Campaign Resources to inform your community, parliamentarians and others about Khalida’s case.

6. Protest at the Israeli consulate or embassy for Khalida Jarrar. Bring posters and flyers about Khalida’s case and hold a protest, or join a protest with this important information. Hold a community event or discussion, or include Khalida’s case in your next event about Palestine and social justice.

7. Boycott, Divest and Sanction. Hold Israel accountable for its violations of international law. Don’t buy Israeli goods, and campaign to end investments in corporations that profit from the occupation. Learn more at bdsmovement.net.

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