Addameer: ICC must investigate violations of Palestinian prisoners’ rights

18 April 2015

Addameer, the Palestinian Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, issued the following statement, marking Palestinian Prisoners’ Day:

On Prisoners Day, Addameer calls on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate the grave violations against Palestinian political prisoners

17 April 2015

This past year witnessed an unprecedented level of Israeli violence against Palestinians, including killing over 2,000 civilians in Gaza, demolishing 20,000 homes, displacing more than 500,000 Palestinian at the peak of the attack and arresting 8,000 Palestinians across historic Palestine.

Israel is committing nothing short of a modern-day ethnic cleansing before our eyes; in the continuing quest for full annexation of Palestinian land and the expansion of Israel’s colonial frontier.

The time is more urgent than ever for the international community to hold Israel accountable for its recurring and blatant war crimes against Palestinians, especially those held captive in the Occupation’s jails.

Addameer calls on ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to investigate these crimes in the preliminary investigation and to bring the accused to trial immediately, in light of the exacerbated and worsening conditions.

ADMINISTRATIVE DETENTION

The Occupation legitimizes the use of administrative detention for the “security of the state.” Since 1967, the Occupation Forces (IOF) issued more than 50,000 administrative detention orders, 24,000 (nearly half) of them between 2000 and 2014. The occupation forces use the policy of administrative detention to maintain control over Palestinian society and undermine self-determination. Administrative detention targets all sectors of society including politicians, academics, students, leaders, journalists, doctors, women, children and human rights defenders. The Occupation’s authorities use administrative detention as a bargaining tool for political gain.

Over 700 administrative detention orders were issued since June 2014, expanding the number of administrative detainees to 550 at its height, the highest number since 2009. This increase in the use of administrative detention, an internationally condemned practice, can be seen as a direct reaction to a 63-day mass hunger strike among administrative detainees in 2014, in which they demanded the end of the policy.

In April 2015, the Occupation’s authorities issued an administrative detention order against Palestine Legislative Council (PLC) member Khalida Jarrar, which brings the number of elected Palestinian legislators in administrative detention to eight. Jarrar was also recently appointed by President Mahmoud Abbas to the Palestinian National Committee for the ICC.

The policy of administrative detention violates article 78 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and denies administrative detainees their guaranteed right to a fair and speedy trial as stated in Article 75 of the Additional Protocol I of the Geneva Convention. The policy of administrative detention also violates articles 9, 10 and 14 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (1966).

According to the Rome Statue, the systematic use of administrative detention is considered a war crime (article 8) and a crime against humanity (article 7).

EXTRAJUDICIAL MURDERS

In 2014, the occupation forces escalated its unstated policy to extra-judicially murder Palestinians during arrest raids. In the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem, the occupation forces killed fourteen civilians during arrest raids into refugee camps, villages and Palestinian cities. All fourteen of those killed during arrest raids were Palestinian youth under the age of thirty.

The extrajudicial murder of civilians is a gross violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention according to Article 147 and a war crime according to Article 8, Item A,I2 of the Rome Statue.

TORTURE

Widespread torture continues to be used against Palestinian detainees. Virtually every Palestinian arrested by the IOF has been subjected to psychological or physical torture or ill-treatment, including severe beatings, stress positions, solitary confinement, verbal abuse and threats of sexual violence. In 2014, Addameer documented two cases of prisoner’s death that resulted directly from torture. Wa’el Mustafa, a 39-year old Jordanian citizen, was killed by brutal physical torture in interrogation in August 2014. He was arrested at a peaceful demonstration in Yafa that called for the end of the war on Gaza. Ra’ed Abd Al Jabari, from Hebron was killed during transfer from Eshel Prison to Be’er Al Sabe’ Prison (Beersheva). There have been 73 Palestinians killed by torture since 1967.

Moreover, during the mass 63-day hunger strike in the first half of 2014, the Israeli Knesset attempted to pass a bill to allow the force-feeding of protesting Palestinian detainees, effectively an attempt to sanction torture on an industrial scale. Torture is considered both a war crime and crime against humanity as outlined in International Humanitarian Law and International Criminal Law, specifically the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Preamble of the Rome Statue, article 7 and article 8, the Geneva Convention I and III article 12, third Geneva Convention 17 and 87 and the fourth Geneva Convention article 32.

FORCIBLE TRANSFER

The transfer of Palestinian detainees by the IOFis an ongoing practice. Transfer of protected persons from occupied territory into the occupying state, categorized as “unlawful deportation or transfer” is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention (Article 147) and a war crime as established by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (Article 8). At the end of 2014, only 544 of the 6,000 detainees were detained in the occupied territories. Over 800,000 Palestinians have been arrested and the majority of them forcibly transferred to prisons outside of the occupied territory, limiting their access to their families, legal support and communities as well as strips them of their rights under the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Considering the summary of the major violations outlined above, Addameer calls on the ICC Prosecutor to immediately open an investigation into the case of the prisoners, and bring those who have tortured, murdered, forcibly transferred and ordered the arbitrary detention of Palestinians to be held to account in the International Criminal Court.

US Palestinian Community Network: Palestinian Women on Prisoners’ Day 2015

18 April 2015

The US Palestinian Community Network issued the following statement on Prisoners’ Day 2015:

Today, April 17, the United States Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) joins our people and supporters across the world in calling for international solidarity on Palestinian Prisoners’ Day. As noted by the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, every year since 1974 we commemorate the liberation of Mahmoud Hijazi, the first Palestinian political prisoner freed in an exchange negotiated by the Palestinian resistance. We come together on this day to demand freedom for all Palestinian prisoners held in the prisons of both the Israeli occupation and the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Since the Nakba and the establishment of the settler-colonial, apartheid state of Israel, over one million Palestinians have been imprisoned, 850,000 between the 1967 occupation and the present. Right now, close to 6,500 Palestinian political prisoners are in Israeli jails. Two hundred of these prisoners are children, 24 women, and 14 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council; and at least 500 are being held under administrative detention without charge or trial.

The issue of political prisoners is the most fundamental in all national liberation struggles. We remember and honor Bobby Sands and the other H-Block prisoners from the North of Ireland, and the legendary Nelson Mandela and Robben Island prisoners of South Africa’s anti-Apartheid movement. We also call for the release of important prisoners right here in the U.S.—the last of the Puerto Rican independistas still in jail after close to 34 years, Oscar Lopez; American Indian Movement icon Leonard Peltier; our brother Mumia Abu-Jamal, whose life is in jeopardy because of purposeful medical neglect by the U.S. government; and dozens of other mostly Black Liberation activists and organizers, some imprisoned since the 1960s.

This year is especially important, as we focus on three prominent Palestinian women political prisoners—Rasmea Odeh, Lina Khattab, and Khalida Jarrar. Odeh is facing 18 months in prison in the U.S., along with deportation, because she was convicted last year of immigration fraud for allegedly not disclosing that she had been imprisoned by Israel 46 years ago. That arrest in Palestine in 1969 and conviction in 1970 was based on a confession forced by 25 days of vicious torture and rape by Israeli authorities. She is appealing her conviction and USPCN is a leader in her defense campaign, co-sponsoring a fundraiser April 19 in Chicago.

Khattab is a student leader at Birzeit University in the occupied West Bank. She was convicted and sentenced to six months in prison for “ throwing stones” and “participating in an unlawful demonstration.” Ironically, the “criminal” demonstration and march was to Israel’s Ofer prison, which holds Palestinian political prisoners.

And Jarrar is a prominent political leader and parliamentarian with the Palestinian Legislative Council, whose case has garnered widespread international support since her arrest on April 2. Samidoun has issued a Call to Action to support Jarrar, including a petition.

The essence of our defense of our Palestinian political prisoners and those in the U.S. and elsewhere is a defense of resistance, a defense of organizing for liberation. The criminalization of our organizers, protesters, and leaders by Israel, and even by the PA, is a criminalization of resistance, an attempt to mark illegitimate our movement for our national rights—to return home, to self-determination, to equality, and to freedom. Those who seek to secure those rights, from every social sector of Palestinians society, are subject to imprisonment, whether within the open-air prison of Gaza under siege, the walled-in West Bank, the jails of the occupation and those colluding with it, or even prisons in the U.S.

Odeh, Khattab, and Jarrar are Palestinian heroes and leaders of our movement for return, equality, and liberation. We stand with them on Palestinian Prisoners’ Day and everyday.

#Justice4Rasmea
#FreeLinaKhattab
#FreeKhalida

Joint Statement on Palestinian Prisoners’ Day: Torture in Israeli prisons

18 April 2015

The following statement on Palestinian Prisoners’ Day was issued jointly by Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-I), and the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI):

Joint Statement on Palestinian Prisoners’ Day: Israel must heed international calls to respect human rights of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and end torture of detainees

16 April 2015

On 17 April 2015, Palestinians around the world commemorate Prisoners’ Day in solidarity with thousands of Palestinian prisoners and detainees, including minors, held in Israeli prisons, and with those subjected to torture and ill-treatment.

To mark this important day, four human rights organizations – Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, and the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel – are issuing this joint statement to call upon the international community to urge Israel to heed international standards and recommendations to guarantee and protect the human rights of Palestinian prisoners and detainees at a time when torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment (CIDT) is increasingly reported in Israel. The United Nations in particular has a responsibility to work towards the best interests of the child during conflict, including in preventing torture and CIDT.

Policies of arrest and detention

Since 1967, Israel has detained and imprisoned over 800,000 Palestinians from the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt). Around 70% of Palestinian families have had at least one relative detained, with vast social and political repercussions. As of March 2015, 5,820 Palestinian political prisoners, including women and children, are being held in prisons located inside Israel, in contravention of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Israel’s policies of detention and imprisonment are used in large part as political tools to suppress and maintain control over Palestinian society. These policies are intended to obstruct the daily lives and social fabric of Palestinians, and undermine their ability to oppose the Israeli occupation by criminalizing basic political affiliation and/or activities and employing methods such as torture and illtreatment to target and intimidate individuals and communities.

The recent arrest of Khalida Jarrar on 2 April 2015 and a six-month administrative detention order coupled with an indictment filed against her, reflects Israel’s sweeping use of administrative detention, including against Palestinian elected officials, in violation of basic human rights. Further, the arrest and detention of Gaza residents under Israel’s ‘Unlawful Combatants’ Law is impermissible; the practice falls short of legal safeguards in international law and must be abolished.

Torture and child detainees

This year Prisoners’ Day comes at a time of heightened concern over the drastic rise in torture complaints filed against Israel’s security agency and the increased use of torture that the trend represents. During Israel’s recent full-scale military operation on Gaza, at least 98 Palestinians of Gaza were arrested, with most subjected to torture and CIDT. Dozens other Gaza residents were arrested; and some tortured, at sea or as they were crossing Erez Crossing on their way to hospitals. In 2014, 59 complaints of torture were filed, whereas 16 and 30 complaints were filed in 2013 and 2012. Impunity for torture also continues; of 860 complaints filed between 2001-2014, no investigations were opened.

Palestinian children are the most vulnerable detainees and are subject to psychological and physical harm during relatively brief periods of detention. As of February 2015, 182 Palestinian children were being held as ‘security prisoners’ in Israeli prisons. Between 500 and 700 children are prosecuted in the Israeli military courts each year, most commonly for the ‘security offense’ of stone throwing. A September 2014 military order to reform court requirements to include use of audio-video recordings and standardize language during interrogations does not apply for security offenses.

The international community has highlighted the serious violations of rights against Palestinian minors in Israeli prisons. The European Neighborhood Policy progress report on Israel of March 2015 noted particular concern over reports of “blindfolding, painful hand-ties, physical violence, lack of adequate notification of legal rights, verbal abuse, strip searches and solitary confinement while under interrogation.” The UN Human Rights Committee’s concluding observations in November 2014 that the implementation of reforms by the Israeli government was not effective, and that minors remained exposed to arbitrary arrest and detention and denied full procedural rights.

The international community has repeatedly called on Israel to address these issues faced by Palestinian minors in detention. According to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture’s report in March 2015: “the unique vulnerability of children deprived of their liberty requires higher standards and broader safeguards for the prevention of torture and ill-treatment.” However, to this day, Israel has no legislation that establishes or prohibits torture as a crime, as obligated in the UN human rights treaties to which Israel is a party.

Recommendations

The four human rights organizations: call upon the international community to demand that Israel incorporate the international recommendations of the UN and EU bodies in order to address the deteriorating human rights conditions of Palestinian prisoners and to end its violations of international law. We demand that Israel cease its systematic use of administrative detention as a mechanism of deterrence and punishment against Palestinian society, and interference with political processes. We demand that Israel end the practice of torture and ill-treatment against Palestinian prisoners, and end the severe tactics of arrest and detention of Palestinian minors, including abuse that amounts to torture and CIDT. We further demand that Israel revokes all discriminatory legislation that target the rights of Palestinians in Israeli prisons, and that it ensures transparency and accountability of Israeli security and prison authorities.

Signing organizations:

Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel

Al Mezan Center for Human Rights

Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-I)

Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI)

Palestinian teen Khaled al-Sheikh freed from Israeli prison

18 April 2015

Following a four-month prison sentence and a 2000 NIS ($USD) fine, 15-year-old Khaled al-Sheikh finally walked free from Israeli prison in Ofer yesterday, Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, April 17. Greeted by his parents, al-Sheikh recounted his experience in Israeli prisons: “The [Israelis] attacked me with rifle butts on the head and insulted me during the investigation,” he said. “Although I suffer from anaemia, they did not give me any medical help, apart from some painkillers.” He added that it was a “tough” investigation. “I was insulted and beaten and held in shackles for hours in a small cell.” This did not scare him. “This is the [Israeli] occupation. It will not scare us.”

Al-Sheikh was one of 1,200 Palestinian children detained in 2014; there have been another 200 detained so far in 2015. Between 500 and 700 Palestinian children are brought before Israeli military courts each year. Like Khaled, many are charged with throwing stones; his father reported he was throwing stones against a wall in his village of Beit Anan.

Photos of Khaled’s release:

Al-Sheikh’s parents were denied family visits throughout his detention; they were granted a permit for a visit for May, weeks after he would be released. Patrick Strickland reported in the Electronic Intifada that:

These are not isolated cases. Research by Defence for Children International-Palestine indicates that three-quarters of Palestinian children detained by Israel in 2014 endured some form of physical violence between the period of their arrest and interrogation. Half of them were also strip searched.

Between 2012 and 2014, Israel also held 54 children in solitary confinement before charging them with any offense.

Israeli interrogators often blindfold, bind and threaten children, according to various human rights groups. A report published in August 2013 by the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem paints a horrifying picture of the systematic abuse Palestinian children face during Israeli detention.

From November 2009 until July 2013, B’Tselem investigated dozens of cases of abuse in a police station in Etzion, a Jewish-only settlement in the West Bank. From fifty-six child detainees, at least twelve reported that interrogators threatened them or female relatives with rape, genital injury or other forms of sexual violence.

A recent report by UNICEF, the United Nations children’s fund, reaches similar conclusions. From 208 affidavits that UNICEF collected in 2013, at least 163 children reported not being adequately notified of their legal rights, especially the right to a lawyer and the right to remain silent.

Other high-profile cases of imprisoned Palestinian children, including teens, include the Hares Boys, who have been held for over two years, since they were 15 to 17 years old. To take action for their freedom – and all imprisoned Palestinian children – visit the Campaign to Free the Hares Boys and Defense for Children International Palestine.

Palestinian Prisoners Day: Take Action, Stand with Palestinian Prisoners!

17 April 2015

Palestinian Prisoners Day, marked on April 17, commemorates the first liberation of a Palestinian political prisoner – Mahmoud Hijazi – by an exchange conducted by the Palestinian resistance. Since 1974, Palestinians and their supporters have taken action, marched, demonstrated and come together to demand freedom for all of the Palestinian prisoners held in the prisons of the Israeli occupation on this annual occasion. Take action this year to demand freedom and justice for the prisoners of freedom behind Israeli bars.

Today, there are nearly 6,500 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails; 500 of them held under administrative detention without charge or trial. There are 200 child prisoners, 24 women prisoners, and 14 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council behind bars. There are 85 prisoners, released in the Wafa al-Ahrar prisoner exchange of 2011, targeted for re-arrest and persecution by the Israeli occupation. There are 1500 sick prisoners, including 16 severely ill in the Ramle prison clinic, 24 with cancer, and 80 with other severe illnesses.

All sectors of Palestinian society are targeted for political imprisonment. Since 1967, 850,000 Palestinians have been detained and imprisoned by the Israeli state – over 1 million since 1948. 40% of Palestinian men in the West Bank have spent time in Israeli prisons, and 25% of the total population. Palestinians from the West Bank, including Jerusalem; from Gaza; from 1948 occupied Palestine; Palestinian refugees – all are and have been political prisoners, imprisoned for their struggle for freedom and liberation. Palestinian prisoners are workers, farmers, teachers, engineers, doctors, community organizers, fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers and freedom fighters.

Palestinian refugees outside Palestine – members of the Palestinian diaspora – are also Palestinian political prisoners: the cases of the Holy Land 5, Sami al-Arian and Rasmea Odeh in the United States demonstrate the transnational nature of the repression of Palestinian struggle and organizing. Arab struggler Georges Ibrahim Abdallah has served over 30 years in French prison for his commitment to the Palestinian cause.

Mass imprisonment of Palestinians is part and parcel of the colonial settler project of the Israeli state and the Zionist movement in Palestine. It is a mechanism of colonial control, meant to disrupt and repress political organizing, divide and destabilize communities and families, and terrify the population. 90% of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel have reported experiencing physical or psychological torture. When Palestinians are arrested, they are subject to administrative detention – arbitrary imprisonment without charge or trial, on secret evidence; or they are brought before the military courts, where 99.74% of Palestinians brought before them are convicted.

In the case of Khalida Jarrar, Palestinian political leader, leftist, parliamentarian and feminist, arrested April 2, she is facing both administrative detention without charge or trial, and charges in the military court explicitly seeking to imprison her for her political activity, including and in particular her activism to free Palestinian political prisoners.

Despite the overwhelming oppression of the colonial system of imprisonment, apartheid and occupation brought against Palestinians, Palestinian prisoners have created what has been termed “a revolutionary school” inside the prisons, passing on education in struggle and resistance, even when the occupier blocks all access to university education. Palestinian prisoners’ political activity, statements and leadership galvanize and inspire not only their fellow Palestinians, but international liberation, anti-colonial and anti-imperialist, and social justice movements by their leadership, commitment to principles and self-sacrifice.

Imprisoned Palestinian political leaders, like Ahmad Sa’adat, Khalida Jarrar, Marwan Barghouti and Aziz Dweik, are leaders not only inside the prisons, nor even only among Palestinians – but are symbols of justice, liberation and the struggle for freedom.

This Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, it is essential to build our international activism and support for Palestinian prisoners – to demand their case be taken up in international arenas, including the International Criminal Court; to insist on their freedom; to struggle to end the use of administrative detention, to free child prisoners, to end isolation; to refuse to allow Israel to isolate and silence the political leaders and resistance strugglers of Palestine behind the walls of occupation prisons.

And, most centrally, to escalate our activity and struggle at all levels – through boycott, divestment and sanctions and all forms of international solidarity – to support the struggle for which these thousands of Palestinians have sacrificed so much, the return of Palestinian refugees and the liberation of Palestine and the Palestinian people.

Take Action:

Demand freedom for Khalida Jarrar and an end to administrative detention. Khalida Jarrar is an exemplary Palestinian political leader – a PLC member, a longtime leftist, an advocate for Palestinian prisoners, and a member of the Palestinian follow-up committee for the International Criminal Court. She is being targeted both for administrative detention without charge or trial, and charged for her political activity by Israeli military courts. Take action to free Khalida and to end the system of administrative detention holding 500 Palestinians indefinitely in occupation prisons.
Demand justice for Jaafar Awad and freedom for sick prisoners. Jaafar Awad, 22, died on April 10 two months after his release from Israeli prison. His illness began in prison; he was shackled hand and foot while receiving treatment after initial denials of a problem. He was denied access to an Israeli hospital with more advanced treatment before he died. 54 Palestinian prisoners have died of medical neglect inside Israeli jails, and scores more shortly after their release, like Jaafar. There are dozens of critically ill Palestinian prisoners. Take action to demand their freedom.
Demand an end to isolation and solitary confinement for Khader Adnan and all Palestinian prisoners. Palestinian activist Khader Adnan captured the attention of millions around the world in 2012, when he won his freedom from administrative detention without charge or trial. Today, he has been imprisoned – once again, under administrative detention without charge or trial. He is being isolated for speaking out against the medical abuse that killed Jaafar Awad. Ending isolation and solitary confinement is a long-time demand of Palestinian prisoners – and a commitment that Israel has repeatedly broken.
Boycott and Divest from G4S – a global security corporation which provides security systems for Israeli prisons holding Palestinian prisoners. Boycott, divestment and sanctions – and the international isolation of the Israeli state – is a critical method of international accountability. Israel’s corporate co-conspirators, like G4S, must also be highlighted for their role in providing the “security systems” for the prisons where Palestinians are tortured, isolated and wrongly imprisoned. BDS South Africa won major victories against G4S in South Africa – and people around the world are rejecting G4S.
Demand freedom for Ahmad Sa’adat, Marwan Barghouti and Palestinian political leaders. Political leaders like Sa’adat, Barghouti – and Jarrar – are being imprisoned for their political leadership among Palestinians. 14 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council are imprisoned. These political leaders are being imprisoned in an attempt to silence their voices and isolate them from the Palestinian people.
Demand freedom for Lina Khattab and an end to the targeting of Palestinian students. Palestinian students like Lina Khattab are targeted for their student union work and activity on campus. Stop the attempts to suppress the next generation of struggle.

Events are taking place around the world this year for Palestinian Prisoners’ Day – in Dublin, Berlin, Brussels, Oakland, Chicago, London, Manchester, Brighton, Antwerp, Firenze, Padova, Milano, Toulouse, Paris, Toronto, Ottawa, Glasgow, Greece, Austria – and more. To send us updates or list your event, please contact us or email samidoun@samidoun.net.

BDS South Africa: South African businesses dump G4S following campaigns

17 April 2015

SUCCESS: Over 20 S.African businesses drop R7 million worth of contracts with G4S Security over Israel

Statement from BDS South Africa

Over 20 South African businesses have terminated their contracts with G4S Security over its involvement in Israeli prisons and human rights abuses. The SA businesses terminated their contracts, totalling more than R7 million per year, after approached by representatives of the human rights and Palestine solidarity organisation BDS South Africa as well as the KZN Palestine Solidarity Forum. BDS South Africa makes this announcement on the eve of the international Palestine prisoners day due to be commemorated on 17 April.

In 2007 G4S was contracted to provide and maintain Israeli prisons, torture centres and detention facilities. In 2010 Palestinian prisoners and prisoner support organziations called for a boycott of G4S as part of the larger international boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel campaign. Last year the Methodist Church together with Amnesty International and the European Union were among some of the organisations that terminated their contracts with G4S. In June 2014, Bill Gates withdrew his R1.9 billion stake from G4S after being called on by BDS South Africa and the larger BDS movement. Locally in South Africa the Trauma Centre in Cape Town ended its relations with G4S in 2013. This was followed by South Africa’s ruling party, the ANC, in November 2014 resolving that G4S (among other companies that do business in the Israeli occupied territories) be excluded from doing business with the South African Government.

The over R7 million worth of cancelled G4S Security contracts include contracts for more than 140 sites across the country ranging from restaurants, factories, supermarkets and other stores.

Piet Modiba, representing a nationwide manufacturing company said on the cancelling of their G4S contracts: “We come from a very dark and painful past, part of the pain was inflicted by companies that insisted on aiding the apartheid regime. G4S today is doing the same by maintaining relations with the Israeli Government.”

Moosa Sabir, general manager of a chain of hardware stores said: “We were contacted by customers and the general public who saw G4S vehicles at our store. They complained that G4S was complicit in Israel’s torture and illegal detention of Palestinian children. When we investigated the matter we found that G4S was guilty and we could not continue the business relationship in good faith. All and any businesses complicit with Israeli Apartheid should be shunned by peace and justice loving people. We hope more businesses follow our lead.”

Nkosikona Madikizela, a manager of one of the stores that ended their G4S relations said: ” We are fed up with the attitude of Israel and multi national companies like G4S that think they can act with utter impunity. The BDS Movement is proving to hold these international companies accountable for their trade and involvement with Israel. Companies such as G4S, Woolworths and others choosing to trade with Israel, in violation of the nonviolent BDS boycott, must realise that there is a price to pay. “

Aziz Ismail, owner of a Limpopo hardware store in Polokwane said: “Palestine needs us now more than ever, we must intensify the non-violent boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign. If we are being called by the BDS movement to boycott Woolworths, we should. If we are being called to end relations with G4S we should. The strategic and focused boycott of Apartheid South Africa contributed to our liberation, we can do the same now in the BDS boycott of Israel.”

Welcoming the announcement by BDS South Africa of the G4S boycott victories were the Palestinian Embassy in South Africa as well as the anti-Apartheid icon, Ahmed Kathrada:

Tamer AlMassri of the Palestinian Embassy said: “ In 2012, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights added G4S as one of the international companies that should be boycotted for their illegal involvement in Israel, Israeli settlements and prisons. We welcome the announcements of these South African companies ending their relations with G4S and supporting the BDS campaign. It is also encouraging that South Africa’s ruling party the ANC has called for G4S to be excluded from Government and State contracts.”

Ahmed Kathrada and his Foundation, the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, said: “That the annoucenment of cancelled G4S contracts comes on the eve of the international Palestinian political prisoner day should not be understated. We hope to see the release of all political prisoners such as Marwan Barghouti from Israeli prisons secured by G4S. Over 750 000 Palestinians (roughly 40% of Palestinian men) have been imprisoned by Israel at one point in time. About 100 000 Palestinians have been held by Israel in “administrative detention” (the equivalent of Apartheid South Africa’s “Detention without trial”). Similar to the experience of Black families under Apartheid, almost every Palestinian family has been affected by the Israeli imprisonment of a relative.”

Currently, there are over 6000 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel; 454 of them are being held under Israel’s “administrative detention” (Apartheid South Africa’s “Detention Without Trial”) and 163 of them are children. In the last 11 years alone, more than 7500 Palestinian children have been detained in Israeli prisons and detention facilities (including being held in solitary confinement) with Muhammad Daoud Dirbas, at the age of six, being the youngest Palestinian child to have been detained by Israeli soldiers. Last year Ahmed Kathrada together with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Novelist Alice Walker; Linguist, philosopher and author Noam Chomsky; Author and Activist Angela Davis; Poet, painter and former South African political prisoner Breyten Breytenbach; Actor Miriam Margolyes; Author John Berger; and various others wrote an open letter to the Management of G4S calling on the company to end its Israeli contracts including those contracts with Israeli prisons holding Palestinian political prisoners.

ISSUED BY KWARA KEKANA ON BEHALF OF BDS SOUTH AFRICA

Antwerp, April 17: Flashmob in solidarity with Palestinian Prisoners

17 April 2015

Flashmob in Solidarity with Palestinian Prisoners
7:00 pm
Groenplaats, Antwerp, Belgium
Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/787395451367331/

April 17 is Palestinian Prisoners’ Day – for this reason, Antwerp for Palestine is organizing a flashmob! A group of people will appear as Palestinian political prisoners (blindfolded and bound) and escorted to Groenplaats by other people portraying Israeli soldiers, to the middle of Groenplaats, for street theatre and awareness raising. We are looking for participants – everyone is welcome! If you want to participate as a Palestinian prisoner, wear Palestinian related attire (a keffiyeh, colours of the Palestinian flag). If you want to participate as an Israeli soldier, wear khaki clothes (or a black t-shirt with khaki pants) and if possible, bring a toy or cardboard gun. Meet at 6:30 at the kiosk at Groenplaats. Children are welcome to participate as Palestinian political prisoners, because there are child prisoners in real life. If you want to participate, message the Facebook event or email antwerpforpalestine@gmail.com.

April 17, Glasgow: Palestine Prisoners Day Protest

16 April 2015

Palestine Prisoners’ Day Protest
Friday, April 17
3:30 pm
HSBC, Argyle/Buchanan Streets, City Centre
Glasgow, Scotland
Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/775381145890933/

17 April marks Palestinian prisoners day. Once again we ask you to stand with us in demanding the freedom of all Palestinian political prisoners and condemning the British Government and companies complicit in the arming and funding of Israel.

As of 1 February 2015, there were 6,200 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention centres, including 454 administrative detainees (held without charge or trial), 22 women and 163 children (all figures from addameer). Some are imprisoned for resisting the occupation and destruction of their land and people and others just for being Palestinian.

International protests continue for the release of the 5 Hares Boys who are each facing 20 years in prison for an event that never happened. These are joined by the calls for the immediate release of Palestinian parliamentarian Khalida Jarrar who was arrested on 2 April for continuing to speak out against the occupation. She joins the 17 other elected members of the Palestinian Legislative Council currently in Israeli jails, including PFLP General Secretary Amad Sa’adat, serving a 30 year sentence. British security multinational G4S provides the guards for these Israeli prisons.

Working with the imperialist backed Palestinian Authority (PA) Israel wishes to end and silence resistance. However even in prison they are faced with resistance as the Palestinian prisoners in Ramon prison showed on 2 and 3 April as they fought to defend and improve the conditions of the jail.

Closer to home activists from Glasgow Palestine Action and the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign are facing arrest and charges for opposing British companies and banks trading with and investing in Israel. These include Thales UK, Dead Sea Product stalls and Barclays bank. In Manchester an activist from the Revolutionary Communist Group/Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! was fined £850 in February for leading rolling pickets against Kedem and Marks and Spencer. These cases serve to show the willingness of the police and courts in this country to do Israel’s dirty work by criminalising those who organise and act against them. We can and must resist this.

Free all Palestinian political prisoners!
Boycott Israel!
Defend the right to defend Palestine!

Bring flags, banners, placards, whistles, stalls and megaphones. Open megaphone for all to use.

For more info visit on Palestinian prisoners visit
http://www.addameer.org/
https://haresboys.wordpress.com/ and facebook ‘Free the Hares Boys’
http://freeahmadsaadat.org/
http://samidoun.net/khalidajarrar/ and facebook ‘solidarity with Khalida Jarrar’

For more information on cases underway in Glasgow visit
http://www.revolutionarycommunist.org/branches/scotland/3936-glasgow-scotland-solidarity-with-the-hares-boys-free-palestine-15-march-2015

April 17, London: 2 Events for Palestinian Prisoners’ Day

16 April 2015

The following 2 events will take place in London, Friday, April 17 for Palestinian Prisoners’ Day:

Friday 17th April 2015, 3-5pm
G4S HQ, 105 Victoria Street, London (near Victoria Station)
FACEBOOK EVENT: https://www.facebook.com/events/872928222744027/

Organized by www.inminds.com

Friday 17th April is Palestinian Prisoners Day, a day of solidarity with the 6500 Palestinian men, women and children who are languishing in Israeli dungeons.

Please join us outside the headquarters of the British security contractor G4S, which secures many of the dungeons and torture dens where Palestinians are caged and abused, to demand freedom for all Palestinian political prisoners.

There will be several themes for this years Prisoners Day. We will demand justice for Jaafar Awad who was killed last friday 10th April 2015 by the Israeli Prison Service through gross medical negligence. And we will demand freedom for the 182 Palestinian children currently caged by Israel including 15 years old schoolboy Khaled Sheikh and the five Hares Boys abducted over 2 years ago. We will demand the immediate release of Palestinian MP Khalida Jarrar and the other 13 members of the Palestinian Parliament imprisoned by Israel, 8 of whom are being held under illegal rolling administrative detention orders without charge or trial . We will demand freedom for Mona Qa’adan who was recently given an arbitrary sentence of 70 months for organising grass roots women’s associations against the occupation. She was abducted two and a half years ago and in all that time has been prevented from seeing her family even once. And we will demand freedom for Palestinian human rights lawyer Shireen Issawi and her brothers whose whole family have all been targeted by the occupation. And we will especially not forget Lina Jarbouni, the longest servicing Palestinian woman prisoner – April 18th marks her 13th year in an Israeli dungeon!

Friday, April 17
3:45 PM
Meet outside Westminster Cathedral, Victoria Street, London
Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/817072435050943/
Organized by London Palestine Action

17th April is Palestinian Political Prisoners’ Day, a global day of action for Palestinian prisoners.

There are 5,609 Palestinian political prisoners inside Israeli jails (B’Tselem, Feb 2015). Palestinians, living under occupation and oppression for nearly 67 years, have been targeted for mass imprisonment and detention by the Israeli occupation, and nearly every Palestinian household has been impacted by political imprisonment.

Prisoners are routinely ill-treated, tortured, and denied family visits. See for example this 2014 report from prisoner support organisation Addameer: http://www.addameer.org/files/Palestinian%20Political%20Prisoners%20in%20Israeli%20Prisons%20(General%20Briefing%20January%202014).pdf

Join London Palestine Action by taking creative action to stand in solidarity with Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons, by remembering these prisoners, and highlighting the complicity of private companies that profit from human rights abuses in detention.

Update from Khalida Jarrar’s April 15 hearing: New Charges plus Administrative Detention

16 April 2015

On April 15, the Israeli military court in Ofer convened a hearing on the case of imprisoned Palestinian parliamentarian, feminist and leftist political leader Khalida Jarrar, whose case has garnered widespread international support since her arrest on April 2. Jarrar had previously rejected an Israeli order to deport her from her home in Ramallah to Jericho, achieving a victory and the cancellation of the order.

Jarrar had previously been ordered to six months’ administrative detention; the hearing on April 15 was a rescheduling of the prior hearing on April 8, ostensibly to confirm the military order of administrative detention without charge or trial. Instead, on the April 15 hearing, the administrative detention order was confirmed; in addition, the military court leveled 12 entirely political charges against Jarrar, all of them related to her public speeches and political activities and advocacy for Palestinian political prisoners. It must be noted that nearly all Palestinian political parties and organizations, including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, are banned by the Israeli military occupation, by military order, and membership in those parties, attending public events, engaging in television interviews or giving public speeches may be prosecuted by the Israeli military occupation.

The military court hearing was attended by representatives of the European Union, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, and Amnesty International, in addition to other observer lawyers. “We were surprised by the prosecution, which explicitly said last week there were no grounds to detain her until the end of proceedings,” said Jarrar’s lawyer, Sahar Francis in Haaretz. “The indictment strengthens our argument that the imprisonment is vindictive.”

Despite the indictment, the military judge retained the administrative detention order, in order to continue to imprison Jarrar without trial and without providing any reasons to continue her detention and deny her release on bail. Her next hearing, on whether she will be imprisoned until trial on the charges, will be held on April 29, followed by a hearing on administrative detention May 6.

Addameer issued the following press release:

PLC Member Khalida Jarrar indicted but continues to be detained under administrative detention

Occupied Ramallah – 15 April 2015

The occupation’s military prosecution submitted a charge sheet against PLC member Mrs. Khalida Jarrar in Ofer Military Court today, Wednesday 15 April 2015. The twelve charges against her revolve around her role as a PLC member and political leader and for her campaigning for prisoners.

The indictment was presented to Mrs. Jarrar’s defense team during a closed hearing regarding her six-month administrative detention order. Despite charges being presented, the judge determined to keep her under administrative detention to ensure that she will not be released from prison on bail.

Mrs. Jarrar will have a hearing on 29 April 2015 to determine if she will be remanded until the end of trial proceedings. If the court orders her to be remanded, the administrative detention order will be cancelled. If not, her administrative detention order will be considered on 6 May 2015 during a closed administrative detention confirmation hearing.

Addameer’ continues to emphasize the political and vindictive nature of Mrs. Jarrar’s arrest, which is a grave breach of her rights under international human rights and humanitarian law.

Diplomats, human rights organizations and international lawyers were in attendance of Mrs. Jarrar’s hearing today. Mrs. Jarrar is one of 13 Palestinian Legislative Council members currently in detention.

Take action! For continued updates on Jarrar’s case, please see https://samidoun.net/khalidajarrar.

Take Action to support Khalida Jarrar:

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.

Free Khalida Jarrar Now!

Please send the letter below to Israeli occupation forces and demand her immediate release:

Letter Text:
To Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Brigadier General Dani Efroni:

I write today to demand the immediate release of Palestinian member of parliament Khalida Jarrar. Jarrar, a longtime prisoners’ rights activist and political leader, was arrested in her Ramallah home in the early morning hours of April 2, as her home was stormed by dozens of soldiers and her husband locked in another room.

The targeting of Palestinian political leaders for arrest by Israeli occupation forces is an obvious attempt to silence and suppress Palestinian demands for freedom from occupation and apartheid. The arrest of Khalida Jarrar is also an attack on Palestinian women’s leadership and organizing.

Thousands of people and organizations around the world stood with Khalida Jarrar against the illegal forced transfer and expulsion by the IOF last fall, and we stand with her now and demand her immediate release.

The world is watching and we stand with Khalida against this injustice.

Sincerely,

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Free Khalida Jarrar Now!

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