Take Action: Palestinian fishers under siege, 61 arrested in 2014

7 January 2015

61 Palestinian fishers from the Gaza Strip were arrested over the past year while pursuing their trade, often with their boats fired on and damaged and most frequently within the 3- and 6- nautical mile limits on Palestinian fishery, reported the Palestine Prisoners Center for Studies. Click here to take action and demand an end to the targeting of Palestinian fishers and the siege on Gaza.

Occupation warships have damaged and destroyed boats. The fishery trade is a traditional occupation in Gaza that has come under severe attack due to the siege; 70,000 people are dependent on fishery for livelihood and are increasingly facing impoverishment due to arbitrary restrictions on Palestinian fishery and Israeli attacks. Fishers in Gaza have lost 85% of their income since 2006 and the tightening of the siege.

On 31 December, three fishers – Mohammed Nahid Bassaleh, 20; Mohammed Hisham al-Nahal, 23; and Iyad Osman al-Nahal, 25, were detained while working on their boat in southern Gaza. All are from Rafah.

The Union of Agricultural Work Committees, a Palestinian grassroots organization, works with fishers and farmers in Palestine to defend their land and seas and their right to farm and fish in the face of occupation attacks. Saad al-Deen Ziadah of UAWC said that “Most of these attacks and violations occurred within the allowed fishing area by Israeli navy forces. These arrests are generally carried out under very intense situations – the Israeli navy shooting bullets and shells at the fishermen and their boats. It has been recorded that the Israeli navy targets the outboard engine of the boats, which is the ‘soul of the boat’, as the fishers say.”

Video of Israeli navy and fishers (2012):

“After the Israeli navy forced the boat to stop, they ask the fishermen to take off all their clothes even in the winter, then force them to jump to the water and swim till they reach the Israeli warship, then they tie their hands, blindfold them, and take them to the prison in Ashdod port,” said Ziadeh.

“The Israeli occupation forces aim to terrify the fishers, force them to leave the sea and to look for other work besides fishing. In every arrest, the fishers lose boats and fishing nets that are confiscated to Ashdod port. More than 90 Palestinian fishing boats are still held in Ashdod. This means that the fishers lose their main source of income,” Ziadeh said.

UAWC video on Palestinian fishers in Gaza:

“The Union of Agricultural Work Committees is working to support fishers and expose the Israeli crimes against them. We need the international community to act to force the Israeli occupation to stop their massacres and human rights violations. We also work to provide the fishers with different nets and fishing tools, to rehabilitate boats and provide new boats and finances for programs; in 2014, 1770 fishers benefited from UAWC services,” said Ziadeh.

“The main and major challenge that fishers face is the Israeli occupation forces depriving them and preventing them from entering the sea and practicing their fishing work,” said Ziadeh. “We know that the case of Palestinian fishery is a political problem that needs a political solution. It is not a humanitarian problem and will never be solved with some aid and food baskets.”

Take Action: Demand an end to the attacks on Palestinian fishers!

1. Click here to send a letter to Israeli officials demanding an end to the attacks on Palestinian fishers and the siege on Gaza. Please share with friends and colleagues! The world is demanding an end to siege – and the attacks on fishers are part and parcel of the siege. It must end now!

2. Protest at the Israeli consulate or embassy in your area and demand an end to the attacks on Palestinian fishery and farming, and an end to the siege on Gaza.

3. Support the work of the Union of Agricultural Work Committees. Organize a fundraiser or send a donation – click here to download the details!

Administrative detention without charge or trial for Khader Adnan, 32 more Palestinians

7 January 2015

The Ofer Israeli Military court renewed the administrative detention – imprisonment without charge or trial – of well-known Palestinian activist and former hunger striker Khader Adnan, 37, on Monday, 5 January 2015, for six additional months.

Adnan was arrested most recently on 8 July 2014 as part of the mass arrest raids conducted by Israeli occupation forces, especially targeting former prisoners, during that time, and has been held without charge or trial since that time.

Adnan has been arrested 10 times and has been held repeatedly in administrative detention without charge or trial. His 66-day hunger strike in 2011-2012 following his arrest and imprisonment without charge or trial on 17 December 2011, secured his release from administrative detention on 17 April 2012. The strike garnered massive international attention, solidarity strikes and actions around the world and a poster of Adnan’s face by Palestinian artist Hafez Omar was widely plastered around the West Bank and Gaza.

He owns a bakery in Arraba, near Jenin, and is married to Randa and the father of five.

In addition, at least 32 other Palestinians have had their imprisonment without charge or trial renewed, or new administrative detention sentences imposed by military courts, since the beginning of the year.

Dr. Ghassan Thuqan, university lecturer in the Faculty of Education at An-Najah University, was issued another administrative detention renewal on 6 January, reported Riyad al-Ashqar of the Palestine Prisoners Center for Studies. This is the third three-month renewal of his detention without charge or trial after his arrest on 9 July 2014.

On Tuesday, 6 January, Ofer military court issued administrative detention orders against 13 Palestinians:

1. Murad Quteishat – 4 months
2. Tariq Hammad – 4 months
3. Thaib Njajra – 4 months
4. Ibrahim Kleiba – 4 months
5. Mohammad Aslan – 4 months
6. Amir Yaish – 4 months
7. Nader Taqatqa – 4 months
8. Abdallah al-Amleh – 6 months
9. Mohammed Amro – 6 months
10. Yousef Amarneh – 6 months
11. Abdel Rahman al-Atek – 6 months
12. Nimer Damaj – 3 months
13. Abdel Rahman Hindiyeh – 3 months.

On Sunday, 4 January, 18 more Palestinians were sentenced to administrative detention – 16 renewals of previous orders and 2 new orders:

The prisoners are:
1. Hamza Mohammed Zableh – Hebron – 2 Months
2. Mazen Jamal Natshe – Hebron – 4 months
3. Farooq Issa Ashour – Hebron – 2 Months
4. Wajdi Izhaq Atayeh – Ramallah – 6 months
5. Khalil Mohammed Abed – Ramallah – 6 months
6. Ashraf Shaker Juneidi – Hebron – 6 months
7. Nael Ismail Ataya – Ramallah – 6 months
8. Nader Mahmoud Jaffal – Abu Dis – 4 months
9. Tariq Anwar Odeis – Hebron – 3 months
10. Ihab Mohamed Quazbeh – Hebron – 2 Months
11. Nabih Abdul Aziz Awad – Nablus – 4 months
12. Mohamed Hassan Adi – Hebron – 4 months
13. Fadi Jihad Amer – Hebron – 2 1/2 months
14. Ahmed Salama Abu Ras – Hebron – 6 months
15. Hossam Hatem Abu Libdeh – Qalqilya – 3 months
16. Sayel Mohammed Abu Amir – Hebron – 2 months
17. Baker Said Bilal – Nablus – 6 months
18. Hassan Issa Shehadeh – Jerusalem – 4 months

The use of administrative detention has escalated in the past year; it is a form of imprisonment without charge or trial used against Palestinians since the British colonial mandate, and continued by the Israeli occupation forces. The systematic use of arbitrary imprisonment by Israeli forces to punish Palestinians violates international humanitarian law under the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Hundreds of administrative detainees engaged in a hunger strike in May 2014, in protest of their confinement without charge or trial.

Palestinian student Lina Khattab’s military court hearing postponed until 12 January

7 January 2015

Lina Khattab, 18, Palestinian first-year media student at Bir Zeit University and folkloric cultural dancer with the El-Funoun Popular Palestinian Dance Troupe, had her hearing postponed once again by the Ofer Israeli military court on Monday, 5 January until next Monday, 12 January. This follows similar postponements on 22 December and 29 December 2014. Khattab, an active student on the Bir Zeit campus, is charged with “throwing stones” and “participating in an unlawful demonstration,” charges frequently leveled at Palestinians participating in demonstrations or popular protests challenging the military occupation of their land.

Click here to take action and demand Lina’s freedom.

Palestinian girl Malaak al-Khatib, 14, detained for additional week by Israeli forces

7 January 2015

Palestinian girl, Malaak Ali al-Khatib, 14, was arrested on 31 December near her school in Bittin village, near Ramallah. Her detention was extended on Monday, 5 January for one week, until Sunday, 11 January, under the pretext of requiring a “conduct report” on the girl before releasing her. The 14-year-old girl is accused of “throwing stones” at Israeli occupation soldiers at the settler bypass road closed to Palestinians near her school. She is one of 23 women and girls and nearly 200 children detained by Israeli occupation forces.

Her father told Wafa News that her family was informed that they may have the possibility to pay a fine of 6000 NIS (approximately $1500 US) to release her. He noted that she was distressed and frightened in court; “after all, she is only 14.”

Around 500-700 Palestinian children are detained and arrested by the Israeli occupation forces each year. If children are charged at all, it is usually with “throwing stones.” Defence for Children International – Palestine has a large number of resources on the mass detention of Palestinian children, who suffer various forms of abuse by Israeli occupation forces.

Protest in Gaza to support Lina Khattab as Israeli military court postpones hearing until 5 January

30 December 2014

On 29 December, Lina Khattab, first-year media studies student at Bir Zeit University and folkloric dancer with the El Funoun Popular Palestinian Dance Troupe, faced a hearing in an Israeli military court that was once again postponed to 5 January – as her hearing had been the week before. Click here to take action to demand freedom for Lina Khattab.

Lina, 18, was arrested on 13 December in Beitunia when she and other Bir Zeit students participated in a march towards Ofer military prison, protesting in solidarity with Palestinian political prisoners. She is charged with “throwing stones” and “participating in an unauthorized demonstration,” charges commonly made against Palestinians participating in demonstrations for their rights by Israeli occupation forces.

On 28 December, the Progressive Student Action Front and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Committee held a sit-in calling for the freedom of Lina Khattab and all Palestinian political prisoners at the International Committee of the Red Cross building in Gaza City, coordinated with the Progressive Democratic Student Pole of Bir Zeit University.

At the sit-in, student Lina Abu Sharkh saluted her fellow student organizers at Bir Zeit University for their constant activity in defending the Palestinian cause and particularly the rights of Palestinian prisoners. “The Palestinian prisoners are the first line of defense confronting the occupation and its racist nature in Israeli jails, despite all the difficult conditions they face,” Abu Sharkh said.

She also denounced Israeli prison authorities for extending the ban on family visits for imprisoned Palestinian leader Ahmad Sa’adat an additional three months; he has been denied family visits since September 2014. “These orders will not break the will of steadfastness and resistance, and such attempts to pressure and isolate Palestinian leaders inside Israeli jails are doomed to fail,” said Abu Sharkh.

6059 Palestinians arrested in 2014 by Israeli forces, including 1266 children

30 December 2014

Abdel Nasser Ferwana, former Palestinian political prisoner, researcher and head of the Census Department of the Palestinian Committee of Detainees and Ex-Detainees, reported on Sunday, 28 December that 6059 Palestinians were arrested by the Israeli occupation military in 2014, an escalation from previous years.

Arrests rose by 56% over 2013, 57.5% over 2012, and 83% over 2011 numbers, said Ferwana, noting that “this clearly indicates a sharp escalation in the number of arrests over the past four years.

There are currently approximately 6,500 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails, of which 200 are children under 18. 1266 Palestinian children were arrested in 2014, including 700 children in Jerusalem, reported Ferwana, again, in escalating numbers over prior years. 3,755 Palestinian children have been detained by Israeli occupation forces in the past four years.

Ferwana said that the arrests were carried out in the following months, averaging to 17 per day:

1. January: 360 Palestinians.
2. February: 317 Palestinians.
3. March: 377 Palestinians.
4. April: 355 Palestinians.
5. May: 390 Palestinians.
6. June: 800 Palestinians.
7. July: 750 Palestinians.
8. August: 620 Palestinians.
9. September: 580 Palestinians.
10. October 390 Palestinians.
11. November: 600 Palestinians.
12.December 520 Palestinians.

He urged international action to stop the ongoing mass arrests and incarceration of Palestinians, particularly the targeting and abuse of Palestinian children and youth.

Report: Palestinian prisoner Amal Taqatqa assaulted in hospital by settler

30 December 2014

Amal Taqatqa, a Palestinian woman from Beit Fajjar being held in Hadassah Ein Karem hospital under armed guard, was assaulted in her hospital room by an Israeli settler, reported Yousef Matya, a lawyer with the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society.

Taqatqa, 23, was arrested on 1 December and accused of attempting to stab a settler near Gush Etzion settlement, which is located partially on the lands of Beit Fajjar. The settler was uninjured; Taqatqa was shot five times and is still suffering significant health problems.

She was assaulted by another settler who pulled her hair and slapped her, wakening her from sleep, Matya said. He also said in the statement reported by Ma’an News that he was only able to visit her after making several inquiries, while she has been entirely denied family visits. She has been interrogated on multiple occasions while in the hospital.

Also on 30 December, Ma’an reported that two Palestinian women, Sabah Abu Hadwan, 38, and her daughter Alaa Ayyoub Abu Hadwan, 21, were detained at the entrance to Al-Aqsa Mosque by Israeli occupation forces and taken to the Beit Elyahu police station for interrogation.

Family visit for Palestinian prisoners from Gaza cancelled by Israeli prison officials

30 December 2014

Israeli prison officials cancelled a scheduled family visit for prisoners from the Gaza Strip scheduled for 29 December, reported Palestine Today news channel.

The International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed to the news channel that approximately 75 people, parents of 46 Palestinian political prisoners, were scheduled to visit Eshel prison to visit their children on Monday, but the visit was cancelled due to an order from Israeli prison authorities.

Visits to Palestinian prisoners from the Gaza Strip were denied for nearly six years, from 2006-2012, and were resumed only following the mass hunger strike of April-May 2012 as a demand of the striking prisoners. The visits have been interrupted and cancelled by Israeli officials on numerous occasions since that time.

The denial of family visits to Palestinian prisoners has been a repeated method of isolation of Palestinian prisoners from their families and communities. While some prisoners, particularly leaders, as in the case of Ahmad Sa’adat, have been issued bans forbidding family visits, other Palestinians have had all of their family members denied permits to visit under “security” pretexts.

Click here to take action and demand an end to the collective punishment of Palestinian families and the denial of family visits.

Israeli military court denies early release to severely ill Palestinian prisoner

30 December 2014

The Ofer military court today (30 December) rejected a request for early release of Palestinian prisoner Jaafar Awad, 22, of Beit Ummar village near Hebron, who is experiencing a severe health crisis due to acute pneumonia.

He was moved today from Assaf Harofeh hospital to Ramle prison clinic despite his medical situation, which remains dire. Amjad al-Najjar, the director of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society in Hebron, said that this “indicates complete disregards for his life. The clinic is not suitable for a person in Awad’s condition, who needs special medical care.”

Awad was rushed to the hospital on 22 December in a severe medical crisis, shackled hand and foot. His severe pneumonia came in addition to other health problems, including diabetes, thyroid problems, and vision loss in one eye.

On Friday, 27 December, a large march in Beit Ummar near Hebron called for intensified action for Awad and the sick and ill Palestinian political prisoners, emphasizing the responsibility of the Israeli occupation and its prison system for Awad’s life. Palestinian political prisoners have repeatedly reported medical mistreatment and neglect, lack of health care services, denial of treatment, and the use of painkillers rather than appropriate medicines.

Awad has been imprisoned since 1 November 2013; to this day, there is no court verdict against him as his trial has been repeatedly postponed.

Call to Action: 13th anniversary of PA imprisonment by Ahmad Sa’adat: Free Palestinian prisoners, end security coordination

29 December 2014

The Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat issued the following statement calling for international actions to demand freedom for imprisoned Palestinian leader Ahmad Sa’adat (who was just subject to an Israeli military order banning him from family visits for three more months) and all Palestinian prisoners, and to demand an end to Palestinian Authority security coordination with Israel, on January 15. Actions are already planned in Italy:

January 15, 2015 marks the 13th anniversary of the capture and imprisonment through deception of Palestinian political leader Ahmad Sa’adat at the hands of Palestinian Authority security forces. On January 15-25, 2015, please join the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat in demanding freedom for Sa’adat and all Palestinian prisoners and an end to PA security coordination with Israel! (Events are already scheduled in Italy – more to come soon!)

On January 15, 2002, Ahmad Sa’adat, Palestinian leader and General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was abducted by Palestinian Authority security services in Ramallah, joining several of his comrades already seized by the Palestinian Authority, following a fraudulent invitation to a meeting by then-PA security official Tawfiq Tirawi. Captured at the behest of Israeli occupying forces, Sa’adat and his comrades wereheld for over four years in the Palestinian Authority’s prison in Jericho, under U.S. and British guards. During that time, Sa’adat was never charged and even the PA’s high court ordered his release: but the demands of Israel, the U.S. and Britain kept him and his comrades behind bars in a Palestinian Authority prison until the prison itself was attacked and the Palestinians held there seized by Israeli military forces on March 14, 2006.

The political imprisonment of Ahmad Sa’adat is perhaps the highest-profile case of what security coordination between Israel and the Palestinian Authority means for Palestinians. Palestinian political activists are detained, questioned and imprisoned by the hundreds by PA security services – based on complaints from Israeli occupation forces – or for “insulting” PA officials on facebook or other social media. In addition, the United States, Canada and theEuropean Union have poured millions of dollars into funding this “security coordination” at the expense of the Palestinian people.

For too many Palestinian political prisoners, Palestinian Authority detention and interrogation has become a “revolving door” with Israeli jails, political imprisonment, and administrative detention without charge or trial. Political prisoners are interrogated upon their release from Israeli jails by PA security forces, while Palestinian activists released from PA custody are frequently once again arrested by Israeli occupation military forces. The military assault and abduction of Sa’adat and his comrades from the PA prison in Jericho, where he was held under US and British guard, to an Israeli prison, is perhaps the most visible example – coming, as it did, after reports that incoming PA officials elected in 2006 might refuse to continue to illegally detain Sa’adat and his comrades.

PA security coordination is part and parcel of the Oslo process, which has been disastrous for the Palestinian people. Rather than leading to any form of real rights, self-determination or independence, the Oslo process and repeated negotiations have created a Palestinian security service that works not to protect the Palestinian people from Israeli military attacks, colonial settler assaults and violence against land and people, but instead to protect the occupier from the legitimate resistance of a colonized people under occupation.

Meanwhile, that occupation force has only escalated its mass imprisonment against the Palestinian people and their leaders. Ahmad Sa’adat has been denied family visits for the past three months – and prohibited from family visits for three months more to come. The denial of family visits is being used as a weapon against Palestinian political prisoners and as a method of collective punishment against Palestinian families; it is a new form of isolation being imposed upon Sa’adat and other Palestinian leaders in an attempt to break their will and the will of the Palestinian people. Over 1,000 Palestinians have been sent to administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial, in 2014, and there are over 6,500 Palestinian political prisoners held in Israeli occupation prisons.

We demand freedom for all Palestinian political prisoners! End PA Security Coordination with Israel! Stop the denial of family visits!

Use the form to let the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat know about your local action or email us at campaign@freeahmadsaadat.org. We will list your events on the Campaign website and publicize them. (Italy day of action scheduled now)

Suggested actions:

Protest at your local Israeli consulate or embassy demanding freedom for Palestinian political prisoners.
Protest at official Palestinian embassies and missions demanding an end to security coordination.
Phone Palestinian officials at the embassy in your country and call for an end to security coordination with Israel.
Distribute flyers or handbills about Ahmad Sa’adat and Palestinian prisoners, and security cooperation
Post or drop a banner calling for freedom for Ahmad Sa’adat and Palestinian prisoners in your city.
Hold a forum or educational event on Ahmad Sa’adat and Palestinian prisoners’ struggle.

For assistance and support in your activities, please contact the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat at campaign@freeahmadsaadat.org.

Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat
http://freeahmadsaadat.org
info@freeahmadsaadat.org
Twitter: @FreeAhmadSaadat

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