Majority of Palestinian prisoners are workers, reports Ferwana

3 May 2012

On May Day, International Workers’ Day, researcher Abdel Nasser Ferwana reported that two-thirds of Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli occupation jails are workers and labourers, saying that the majority of Palestinians arrested were working class Palestinians. Ferwana noted that arrests of Palestinians were not confined to those actively engaged in struggling against occupation, but also included thousands of workers seeking to reach work in order to make a living, or denied permits to enter Israel to work.

Thousands of workers in Gaza have been arrested and even once freed, are now part of the massive army of the unemployed in Gaza due to the economic conditions in the Strip and the difficulties of leaving and returning for work due to the siege. He also noted that many former prisoners cannot work due to the health effects of their time in prison, saying that former prisoners need care and assistance in order to support their lives free of the ocupation prisons.

Adnan and Shalabi express their support for hunger strikers

3 May 2012

JENIN (Ma’an) — Former prisoners Khader Adnan and Hana Shalabi, who were released by Israel after lengthy hunger strikes, on Wednesday expressed pride and support for striking detainees in Israeli jails.

Adnan, whose sentence was reduced after he spent 66 days on hunger strike, told Ma’an that hunger strikers’ determination would bring them victory.

Bilal Diab, 27, from Jenin, and Thaer Halahla, 33, from Hebron have refused food for 64 days. Like Adnan and Shalabi, they were sentenced to administrative detention without a trial and they have not been charged with any crime.

“The confrontation will be resolved to their benefit soon, because they have reached the point of no return and are heading towards victory which they have risen up for against the Israeli occupation’s oppressive and racist laws,” Adnan said.

Adnan urged their parents not to worry about them and instead to be proud of their heroic sons.

“If they are released, that’s a big blessing and if they are martyred then this will be a great victory,” he said.

Adnan urged all Palestinian prisoners in Israel to join the hunger strike. According to prisoners rights groups, around 2,000 detainees have so far joined the strike.

Meanwhile, Hana Shalabi, who refused for 43 days before being deported to Gaza, urged Arab and Islamic nations to support the hunger strikers.

She told Ma’an she was eagerly awaiting their “moment of victory.”

Palestinian human rights organizations: Palestinian Political Prisoners Subject to Collective Punishment as Mass Hunger Strike Continues

3 May 2012

Joint Call for Action

3 May 2012

As organisations dedicated to the promotion and protection of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), the Palestinian Council of Human Rights Organisations (PCHRO) is gravely concerned about the series of collective and punitive measures taken by the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) against Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons currently engaged in a mass hunger strike. These measures include solitary confinement, daily fines of up to 500 NIS (€100), confiscation of salt for water, the denial of electricity supply and random cell and body searches.

Also of utmost concern are the lives of Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahleh, who today began their 66th day of hunger strike. Both men are in critical condition and have been denied access to independent doctors for the majority of their hunger strike. Thaer noted that they have been subjected to significant pressure by prison doctors and the prison administration to break their hunger strike, but they are determined to continue with the strike until they are released. No decision was made in today’s Israeli High Court hearing regarding their administrative detention orders. Both Bilal and Thaer were brought to the hearing and attended in wheelchairs. During the hearing, Bilal fainted and there were no doctors present inside the court. Thaer testified to the mistreatment he has suffered since his arrest. Judge Amnon Rubenstein announced that the panel of judges would make a decision after reviewing the “secret file”, but after the review stated that the parties would be informed at a later time, without specifying when.

On 17 April 2012, Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons launched a mass hunger strike demanding an end to administrative detention, isolation and other punitive measures taken against Palestinian prisoners including the denial of family and lawyer visits, especially to prisoners from the Gaza Strip who have been denied family visits since 2007, and access to university education. The campaign has steadily gained momentum over the past two weeks and an estimated 2,500 prisoners are now on an open-ended hunger strike.

Since the beginning of the hunger strike, the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) has collectively punished participating prisoners using a wide range of tactics. Most recent updates indicate that some prisoners are being fined between 250 (€50) and 500 (€100) shekels for each day of their hunger strike. In Naqab prison, prisoners are experiencing daily inspections of random sections, which last for approximately 40 to 50 minutes. These inspections include cell and body searches. In addition, prisoners are no longer permitted to leave their rooms for the daily break period.

Many hunger strikers have been transferred to different prisons or to special sections within prisons, in an attempt to further isolate them from the growing movement and the outside world. The latest transfers include the movement of prisoners between Megiddo prison, Shatta prison and a special section of Gilboa prison. At least three leaders of the campaign have been placed in solitary confinement in Beersheba, in addition to many others who were placed in solitary confinement upon the announcement of their hunger strikes. Ninety-six hunger strikers have been transferred to Ohalei Keidar prison, where they have been placed two prisoners to each solitary confinement cell.

Lawyers attempting to visit hunger striking prisoners have also been prevented from doing so, with prison administrations banning certain lawyers outright, claiming visits were not properly arranged, or declaring “situations of emergency” right before or during scheduled and pre-approved visits. On 29 April, a lawyer from Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association was told that his visit to Ashkelon prison was not approved, even though it had been confirmed the previous day. Another lawyer was only allowed to visit Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) Secretary General Ahmad Sa’adat, who was moved to Ramleh prison medical center on 27 April, for a period of ten minutes on 30 April, and was refused a visit the following day.

Six other Palestinian prisoners remain on extended hunger strike, including Hassan Safadi, who today began his 60th day, and Omar Abu Shalal, who is on his 58th day today. Jaafar Azzedine, currently on his 43rd day of hunger strike, reported that he is suffering from consistent dizziness, which caused him to injure his head last week after fainting. These men are all being denied access to independent doctors and lawyers, despite their rapidly deteriorating health conditions, as Israeli authorities continue to violate their human rights, in particular their right to health.

In the context of the mass hunger strike of Palestinian political prisoners, the PCHRO:

calls on the European Union, in particular the EU Parliament, the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross to immediately intervene with Israel in order to save the lives of Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahleh and demand that they be released from administrative detention;
demands that all hunger strikers have unrestricted access to independent doctors and adequate medical care;
demands that the Member States of the United Nations urgently put pressure on Israel to end its policy of arbitrary detention and to abide by the standard rules for the treatment of prisoners adopted in 1955, which set out what is generally accepted as being good principle and practice in the treatment of prisoners;
calls on the European Parliament to dispatch a parliamentary fact-finding mission that includes members of its Subcommittee on Human Rights to investigate the conditions of detention of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.

The Palestinian Council of Human Rights Organisations (PCHRO):

	Addameer Prisoners’ Support and Human Rights Association Sahar Francis General Director		Aldameer Association for Human Rights Khalil Abu Shammala General Director
	Al-Haq Shawan Jabarin General Director		Al Mezan Center for Human Rights Issam Younis General Director
	Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights Najwa Darwish General Director		Defence for Children International Palestine Section Rifat Kassis General Director
	Ensan Center for Human Rights and Democracy Shawqi Issa General Director		Hurryyat – Centre for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights Helmi Al-araj General Director
	Jerusalem Center for Legal Aid and Human Rights Issam Aruri General Director		Ramallah Center for Human Rights Studies Iyad Barghouti General Director
	Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling Maha Abu Dayyeh General Director

Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahleh’s court hearing: Ruling postponed on their 66th day of hunger strike

3 May 2012

halahleh-thameenahusary — Thaer Halahleh in court - photo by @Thameenahusary on Twitter

The scheduled ruling of the Israeli Supreme Court on the appeal of hunger striking administrative detainees Thaer Halahleh and Bilal Diab was delayed “until further notice” today, Thursday, May 3, as Halahleh and Diab enter their 66th day of hunger strike. Halahleh and Diab are now tied with Khader Adnan in engaging in the longest-lasting hunger strike by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

Addameer reported that:

“No decision was made in today’s Israeli High Court hearing regarding the administrative detention of Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahleh, currently on their 66th day of hunger strike. Both Bilal and Thaer were brought to the hearing and attended in wheelchairs. During the hearing, Bilal fainted and there were no doctors present inside the court. Thaer testified to the mistreatment he has suffered since his arrest. Judge Amnon Rubenstein announced that the panel of judges would make a decision after reviewing the “secret file”, but after the review there was still no decision. He said that the parties will be informed of the decision later on, without stating when.”

Both are held under administrative detention without charge or trial. Bilal Diab is shackled with six sets of shackles in his prison hospital bed, and guarded by four guards at all times, even as he has repeatedly lost consciousness.

Human Rights Watch on Wednesday called on Israel to “immediately charge or release people jailed without charge or trial under so-called administrative detention,” in a statement. “It shouldn’t take the self-starvation of Palestinian prisoners for Israel to realize it is violating their due process rights,” HRW deputy regional director Joe Stork.

Physicians for Human Rights reported on May 1 that Diab and Halahleh are in grave, life-threatening condition.

Addameer reported:

An independent doctor from Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-Israel) determined yesterday, 30 April, that Bilal is at immediate risk of death and that both he and Thaer must be transferred immediately to a civilian hospital in order to receive adequate medical attention. Yesterday’s visit by PHR-Israel was only the second visit from an independent doctor since the beginning of their hunger strikes, and only came following a legal petition filed in an Israeli District Court for the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) to allow access to Bilal and Thaer in Ramleh prison medical center. Any subsequent visit may still require going back to court.

According to PHR-Israel, “both detainees suffer from acute muscle weakness in their limbs, which prevents them from standing. They both are in need of full assistance in daily activities such as showering, though such help is not provided in the IPS clinic. They both suffer from an acute decrease in muscle tone and are bedridden, which puts them under dual threat: muscle atrophy and Thromobophilia, which can lead to a fatal blood clot.”

Furthermore, the PHR-Israel doctor noted that Bilal’s life-threatening condition includes sharp weight loss, concern for peripheral nerve damage, extremely low pulse (39 beats per minute) and blood pressure, severe dehydration, and possible internal bleeding. The doctor stated that Bilal should be transferred to a hospital immediately and receive full monitoring of his heart. Following the doctor visit, Bilal was transferred to a civilian hospital, only to be transferred back to Ramleh prison a few hours later. After collapsing this afternoon, he was transferred again to Assaf Harofeh hospital, where he currently remains. These frequent transfers only serve to further endanger his fragile condition.

The doctor noted that Thaer is also in grave condition and suffers from sharp weight loss and pain on the left side of his upper back, which, according to PHR-Israel, coupled with his other symptoms “may indicate inflammation of the pleura [membrane around the lungs] or even a blood clot, which can be lethal without proper medical attention.” Therefore, the doctor concluded that Thaer must be transferred to a civilian hospital as he urgently requires a CT scan of his lungs, which is not provided at the IPS medical center.

Addameer’s fears that Bilal and Thaer’s serious medical condition has been met with inadequate and harmful responses by the IPS in the Ramleh prison medical center have been confirmed by yesterday’s doctor visit. In addition to the reckless transfers back and forth to the hospital for Bilal, both Thaer and Bilal reported that prison guards had recently entered their cells and carried out violent searches. Thaer also reported being abused by an IPS doctor two days prior.

Moreover, Bilal and Thaer’s lawyer Jamil Al-Khatib attempted to visit Bilal this afternoon in the hospital and was refused by the IPS. He was told he had to submit a “special request” to the legal advisors of the IPS. Bilal and Thaer’s petitions to the Israeli High Court against their administrative detention orders will be heard on 3 May. A request for family visits to Bilal was also rejected today by the IPS, who stated that he was officially being denied family visits from 9 February to 9 July for “violating an IPS order” by being on hunger strike. The IPS continues to employ every obstacle at its disposal in preventing access for lawyers and doctors to hunger striking prisoners. These tactics are designed to isolate the hunger strikers as much as possible from trusted sources of support and medical information, in complete disregard to their most urgent condition.

Addameer condemns the IPS’ blatant violation of medical ethics in its treatment of Bilal, Thaer, and all the other hunger strikers requiring medical attention, and holds the Occupation responsible for their current condition. Addameer calls on the international community to demand that both Bilal and Thaer be immediately admitted to civilian hospitals, without further transfers, and that they have unconditional access to independent doctors and their lawyers. Addameer urges the European Union, the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross to take immediate action and intervene with Israel in the strongest manner possible to save Bilal and Thaer’s lives before it is too late.

PIC: Prisoner threatened with hearing loss due to medical neglect

3 May 2012

NABLUS,(PIC)— The Ahrar Center for Prisoners Studies and Human Rights has confirmed that Hani Abu Sebaa, 40, is threatened with losing his hearing because of medical neglect.

The Center said that the prisoner is suffering from kidney stones, various infections and a broken leg during interrogation.

The center said that the prison service does not take into account the prisoner’s serious health condition where he is transferred to hospital handcuffed, prompting manageress of the x-ray department at an Israeli hospital to say: “I am not proud to belong to a state which treats people this way,” when prison guards refused to remove his handcuffs for an ex-ray to be taken.

The center added that the prisoner is prevented from seeing his wife and he is being transferred several times during the year as punishment for his activities within the jail.

The Israeli occupation military court claims that the prisoner constitutes a threat to Israeli security and that his arrested for five times is to stop him from going back to his military activities, claimed the court. A report by the occupation prison service said that Sebaa is affiliated with Hamas and he is leading the prisoners in the occupation prison.

Abu Sebaa signed a consent form, which he gave to the PPS lawyer at Ofer Prison last March, allowing disclosure of his medical details to Doctors Without and appealing for medical treat.

Abu Sebaa is a father of 4 children, he spent 11 years in occupation jails, he was arrested for 5 times, and he was isolated for 6 months for an attempt to escape.

For his part, Fuad al-Khfash, the director of Ahrar Center has appealed to human rights organizations and the Red Cross to save the prisoner’s hearing which is being lost little by little, bearing the occupation full responsibility for the prisoner’s safety.

120 prisoners in Ofer join open-ended hunger strike

3 May 2012

RAMALLAH, (PIC)— Fuad Al-Khafsh, the director of Ahrar center for prisoners’ studies and human rights, has said that 120 new prisoners joined on Thursday the massive hunger strike launched by Palestinians in Israeli occupation jails.

He told the PIC that the prisoners, all in Ofer jail, were 50 from Hamas, 40 from the popular front, and 30 from Fatah, adding that the Israeli prison service immediately transferred them to isolation ward 19 in the same prison.

Khafsh said that the prison administration confiscated all prisoners’ belongings including electric appliances, clothes, and even salt and left them only one set of clothes.

He quoted prisoners as saying that the prison administration provocatively searches their cells using police dogs at any time and on daily basis.

Meanwhile, a young Palestinian woman in Gaza was taken to hospital on Wednesday after ten days of solidarity hunger strike with those prisoners.

A spokesman for the Waed society for prisoners said that Amal Abu Sbaitan was taken to hospital after fainting at the solidarity sit-in tent in downtown Gaza.

May 3, UCLA: Palestine to Pelican Bay

2 May 2012

May 3, 2012 – 6-8 pm

Dodd 147

University of California at Los Angeles

Currently, there are over 7.3 million adults in the United States who are in jail and prison, or are on parole or probation, more than any other country in the world. Since the 1960s, incarceration has sourced to over two million people. Prisoners are disproportionately the poor, African Americans and Latinos. However, this racial disparity is not only witnessed in the United States. Thousands upon thousands of Palestinians, activists, leaders, freedom fighters, have been held as political prisoners, detained, tortured, separated from their families and loved ones, at the mercy of a racist state dedicated to their eradication as a nation. Nevertheless, Palestinian political prisoners have been a backbone of the Palestinian national movement, persevering and remaining steadfast and firm in their commitment to the Palestinian struggle for liberation and return, and persevering despite the worst tortures and persecution to remain fighters, leaders, and activists.

Join Students for Justice in Palestine at UCLA for a panel discussion with Professor Jordan Camp and Rana Sharif! Co-Sponsored by MEChA Community and Labor and the Incarcerated Youth Tutorial Project!

PCHR Calls upon the International Community to Intervene to Save Lives of Bilal Diab and Tha’er Halahla Who Have Been on Hunger Strike

2 May 2012

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) is deeply concerned over the lives of two administrative detainees, Bilal Diab and Tha’er Halahla, who have been on hunger strike for 64 days. PCHR holds the Israeli occupation authorities fully responsible for the two detainees’ lives. PCHR calls upon the international community to exert pressure on Israeli occupation authorities to immediately release Diab and Halahla, as they have been placed under administrative detention without charges or trials.

Bilal Sa’eed Diab, 27, from Kufor Ra’ei village near Jenin, and Tha’er ‘Aziz Halahla, 34, from Kharas village near Hebron, who had been detained in Negev prison in Israel, have been on hunger strike since 29 February 2012. Diab has been placed under administrative detention since 17 August 2011, while Diab has been placed under administrative detention since 29 June 2010, as his detention has been renewed 8 times.

Since Diab and Halahla declared their hunger strike, IOF have rejected their requests to be released. On 23 April 2012, the Israeli military court rejected an appeal filed by the lawyer of the two administrative detainees. The Israeli military judge claimed that “the hunger strike was their choice, so they are responsible for their health conditions.” The Israeli Supreme Court will hold a session on Thursday, 03 May 2011, to consider a petition filed by the lawyer of Diab and Halahla.

Due to the deterioration of their health conditions, Halahla was transferred to the hospital of al-Ramla Prison on 22 March, and Diab was transferred to the same hospital two days later. Diab and Halahla have been receiving medical treatment at the hospital under security supervision. In a serious development with regard to their health conditions, media sources reported that Diab was transferred on Tuesday, 01 May 2012, to Assaf Harofeh Medical Center. Doctors stated that he is in a critical condition and about to enter into a comma as his body has lost salts and minerals, and due to the irregularity of his heart’s performance, his life is endangered. With regard to Halahla, he is also in a serious condition as he has not taken medical solutions for four days, and he suffers from severe pains in the back and the lung, and an increase in the count of white blood cells, which indicates that he could have attracted infection or inflammation.

Dibab and Halahla and their lawyers have not been informed of their charges, and the prosecution has informed the court of their charges as confidential information, which further confirms the arbitrariness of administrative detention procedures adopted by Israeli occupation forces against Palestinian detainees.

In the meantime, at least 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention facilities have been on hunger strike since 17 April 2012 in order for their demands to be accomplished. These demands include: improving their living conditions in the Israeli prisons; ensuring family visitations, particularly for the prisoners from the Gaza Strip; allowing detainees to receive education; and putting an end to the solitary confinement policy, repression and night searches. This strike was preceded by an open hunger strike by 8 Palestinian prisoners at various periods.

PCHR is concerned over the deterioration of Diab’s and Halahla’s health conditions in Israeli detention, and in light continued use of administrative detention policy by Israeli occupation forces, PCHR:

1. Calls upon the international community to exert pressure on IOF to immediately release Diab and Halahla in order to save their lives;

2. Calls upon international human rights and solidarity organizations to exert more efforts to put an end to the Israeli policy of administrative detention which violates the fundamental right to fair trial.

3. Is concerned over the deterioration of living conditions of approximately 5,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails;

Statement No. 3 of the Strike Leadership

2 May 2012

The following statement was issued on May 1, 2012 by the leadership of the hunger strike in Israeli prisons, following on Statements No.1 and 2, highlighting the denial of lawyer visits, medical care and the confiscation of salt:

Our steadfast Palestinian people….

We are moving resolutely to secure our rights, and we are in this battle of the empty stomachs in order to achieve victory. We hold to our stubborn hunger to defend our dignity against the usurpations of the prison management, and reflect the determination of all of our struggling people, all of our martyrs, to achieve our basic rights, end the crime of isolation, and put an end to the arrogance and aggression of the jailers.

Our Palestinian people…

We are exposed to the worst kinds of unprecedented abuse and aggression in a desperate and failed attempt to break our will. We emphasize the following points:

First, lawyers’ visits to prisons have been blocked in an attempt to isolate us and cut us off from the outside world, to practice their crimes silently away from the spotlight and outside the view of human rights and legal institutions. Where are you, the Ministry of Prisoners? We appeal to you, to act immediately, for lawyers to go on a status of alert and go to the courts, especially the Supreme Court, to stop these practices.

Second, the management of the Prison Service has refused required medical examinations required for the strikers unless they break their strike, which led to the decision to boycott the clinic here. We call on you to expose this in the public and media.

Third, the management of prisons are preventing prisoners from having salt, and engaging in repeated inspections in a barbaric campaign to confiscate any amount of salt they might find.

Oh, masses of our people – we emphasize that this will only strengthen our determination to uphold our humanity, even if we give martyrs to achieve all of our just demands.

The Higher Committee of the Leadership of the Prisoners’ Struggle
The Fifteenth Day of the Strike
May 1, 2012

UN rights expert raises alarm over Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli Prisons

2 May 2012

GENEVA (2 May 2012) – The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, Richard Falk on Wednesday said he was appalled by the “continuing human rights violations in Israeli prisons,” amid a massive wave of hunger strikes by Palestinian prisoners.

In extraordinary acts of collective non-violent resistance to abusive conditions connected to Israel’s prolonged occupation of Palestinian territory, more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners began an open-ended hunger strike on 17 April 2012, Palestinian Prisoners Day. This hunger strike is a protest against unjust arrest procedures, arbitrary detention and bad prison conditions. Prison authorities have reportedly taken punitive measures against those on hunger strike, including by denying them family and lawyer visits, confiscating their personal belongings and placing them in solitary confinement.

“I am appalled by the continuing human rights violations in Israeli prisons and I urge the Government of Israel to respect its international human rights obligations towards all Palestinian prisoners,” Falk said. “Israel must treat those prisoners on hunger strike in accordance with international standards, including by allowing the detainees visits from their family members.”

Falk noted that since the 1967 war, an estimated 750,000 Palestinians including 23,000 women and 25,000 children have gone through detention in Israeli jails. This constitutes approximately 20 percent of the total Palestinian population in the occupied Palestinian territory or 40 percent of the total male Palestinian population in the occupied Palestinian territory.

“Israel’s wide use of administrative detention flies in the face of international fair trial standards,” Falk said. “Detainees must be able to effectively challenge administrative detention orders, including by ensuring that lawyers have full access to the evidence on which the order was issued.” The Special Rapporteur noted that Israel currently holds around 300 Palestinians in administrative detention.
Falk called on the international community to ensure that Israel complies with international human rights laws and norms in its treatment of Palestinian prisoners.

ENDS

In 2008, the UN Human Rights Council designated Richard Falk (United States of America) as the fifth Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights on Palestinian territories occupied since 1967. The mandate was originally established in 1993 by the UN Commission on Human Rights. Learn more, log on to: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/countries/ps/mandate/index.htm

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