Ma’an reported that a former Palestinian mayor detained by Israeli forces this week will be held in administrative detention for six months, a prisoners group said Sunday, January 20, 2013.
Sheikh Jamal Tawil, who had held the mayoral post in al-Bireh, a neighborhood of Ramallah in the central West Bank, was detained on Tuesday.
The Solidarity Foundation for Human Rights said Ofer military court gave the former mayor six months in detention without charge.
Bushra Tawil, his daughter, told the Radio Bethlehem 2000 that a large number of Israeli soldiers broke into the home and detained the family in the living room; the soldiers then asked for the ID card of Jamal, reported IMEMC.
She added that one security officer asked her father about “how he is doing”, and that her father responded; “how can anything good happen while you are breaking into our home this violent way, and dozens of your soldiers are ripping through our property like savages”.
The officer said that Jamal is being kidnapped for “incitement against the state”. The army also confiscated Jamal’s mobile phone and his personal computer.
Bushra said that the army prevented her father from taking any extra clothes with him amidst the current extremely cold weather conditions especially following the recent snow storm that impacted the Palestinian territories.
Jamal Tawil was repeatedly kidnapped and imprisoned by Israel, and spent more than ten years in Israeli prisons, detention and interrogation centers. His wife, Montaha, and his daughter, Bushra, are also former political prisoners.As of December, 178 Palestinians were being held without charge in Israeli jails, including seven elected members of the Palestinian parliament, according to prisoners rights group Addameer.
On Saturday January 19, Israeli soldiers kidnapped a Palestinian woman and her 18-month old baby as well as 17 others in a 24 hour period in the Um Al Arayes area, east of Yatta, in the south Hebron Hills, as they attempted to reach the Palestinians’ land, protesting its confiscation by the Metzpeh Yair settlement outpost.
Israeli soldiers immediately declared the area a closed military zone and pushed the activists off the land. The nineteen arrestees included four Palestinian women, as well as a mother, Reema Oleyyan Awad and her 18 months old daughter Qamar, three minors and an elderly man in his 80s.
The last few months have seen an escalation in the Israeli military’s policy to expel Palestinians and control access to their private lands in the South Hebron Hills. This is contrary to the Israeli High Court and Military Legal Advisor’s claim that they will facilitate easy access by Palestinian landowners to their lands, said the PSCC.
A video of the arrest was published on YouTube showing the army violently attacking and kidnapping a Palestinian father while his children gathered around him trying to prevent the army from kidnapping their father.
The video shows the soldiers forcing the man onto the ground, on his back, before two soldiers pinned him and placed the cuff on his hands.
IMEMC reported that the scared children tried to reach their father, crying “my father, my father”, but the soldiers kept pushing them away, in an attempt to force them to leave the scene.
A female soldier then shouted at Reema, yelling at her “come over here”, soldiers then tried to push Reema away while she was still carrying her child.
The panicking mother then started shouting “move away from me”, “my boy, move away from my boy”.
The soldiers took Reema and Qamar to their jeep before moving them to the Israeli Police station in Keryat Arba’ illegal settlement in Hebron, Hafeth Al-Hreimy, a local peace activist told the Radio Bethlehem 2000.
Nine of the other arrested Palestinians were identified as Ismail Awad, 32, his wife and brother Saed, sisters Bushra, 22, and Shurouq Jabareen, 25, as well as Jameel Awad, 54, Bassam Jabareen 45, Khalil Awad Zein 65, Yousef Awad, in his 50s.
Prisoners declare steps of solidarity with the strikers start Tuesday
20/01/2013
Views: 6
Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails declared on January 20, 2013 that they will escalate solidarity actions in support of their fellow prisoners on hunger strike beginning on Tuesday.
The prisoners called on human rights organizations, Palestinian organizations, and international solidarity groups to elevate the solidarity movement with the strikers, noting the declining health of hunger striker Samer Issawi.
The prisoners said that they will begin to return meals as a warning to the prison administration and demand action to meet the strikers’ demands, denouncing the ongoing delays in addressing the strikers’ demands at all levels of the occupation system, from the Prison Services to the courts to the security services. The prisoners noted that any harm that befalls the prisoners will have major and dangerous consequences and that the prisoners’ movement will not allow prisoners to be killed by disregard for their health and their demands.
The prisoners demanded an end to unjust military laws, and in particular the use of administrative detention and the re-arrest of former prisoners, including the reimposition of their former sentences.
Four hunger strikers remain at the present time: Tareq Qaadan, Jafar Ezzedine, and Yousef Shaaban Yassin, all held under administrative detention, arrested on November 22, 2012 in a mass arrest following the ceasefire in Gaza; they have been on hunger strike since November 27, 2012 – and Samer Issawi, a re-arrested former prisoner, on hunger strike since August 1, 2012.
Palestinian freedom fighter and prisoner Jihad al-Obeidi was released after serving his full sentence of 25 years in Israeli prisons on January 20, 2013; his sentence was spent shuffled between various occupation prisons, including the Moskobiya, Bir Saba, Hasharon, Eshel and Ramla. His family, originally displaced from Lifta in 1948, is preparing to welcome him in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of Jerusalem.
Waed Ayyash, his niece, said that the family’s joy at his return cannot be expressed after 25 years of absence, and that the family is planning to welcome him with flags, banners and a large reception tent. She recalled her own, and her family’s, experience traveling to visit her uncle in many Israeli prisons, saying they witnessed only a small portion of his suffering and that of his fellow prisoners.
Jihad Obeidi is the uncle of the martyr Milad Said Ayyash, who was 17 when he was killed on May 14, 2011 by a settler’s gun as settlers and the occupationa army attacked a Palestinian youth protest in Silwan commemorating the 63rd anniversary of the Nakba and calling for the right of return.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network extends its warmest congratulations to Jihad Obeidi and his family and awaits the day when all Palestinian prisoners – and the Palestinian people – will be free of the occupation and its jails.
Al-Awda, The Palestine Right To Return Coalition and the Free Samer Issawi Campaign calls on all people of conscience across the globe to stand with Palestinian political prisoner and hunger striker Samer Issawi in his fight for freedom and justice. He has been on hunger strike forover 178 days now protesting the injustice of his detention and that of all the other Palestinian political prisoners!
Like other Palestinian political prisoners Samer Issawi’s indefinite detention without charges or trial is inhumane and an Israeli facade to continue to persecute the Palestinian people and those who dare to stand against Israel’s brutal occupation of Palestine and its crimes against the Palestinian people!
The world cannot and must not continue to let the Zionist state get away with these barbaric injustices against Palestinian political prisoners and the Palestinian people at large. We demand the release of Samer Issawi from prison immediately. He is currently dying before us and before the eyes of the world!
CALL TO ACTION
We call on all justice seeking people around the world to stand with Samer Issawi. His life is literally on the line while the mass media is neglecting his freedom call. We are calling on people all over to plan to drop banners at all public locations this Monday January 21, 2013, which happens to be Dr. Martin Luther King Day, and on subsequent days until his release! We call on protests to be organized everywhere. We need to save Samer’s life and bring his human struggle to the mainstream above the media blackout!
“My detention is unjust and illegal, just like the Palestinian occupation. My demands are legitimate and just thus I will not withdraw from the battle for freedom, waiting for either victory and freedom-or martyrdom.”
Samer always sends his gratitude for those supporting him around the world!
Ramallah, 15 January 2012 – Addameer is deeply concerned for the lives of four Palestinian hunger strikers as their health continues to deteriorate.
Addameer lawyer Fares Ziad recently visited three hunger strikers Jafar Azzidine, Yousef Yassin and Tarek Qa’adan, who are all on their 49th day of hunger strike. All three were arrested on 22 November 2012 and were placed in administrative detention, which is a procedure that allows the Israeli military to hold detainees indefinitely on ‘secret information’ without charging them or allowing them to stand trial. All three began their hunger strike on 28 November 2012 and are only drinking water.
Fares reported that Yousef Yassin is are being held in isolation in a cell at Ramleh prison clinic, with a guard placed outside their door 24 hours a day, and is subject to daily inspections. All three are also being denied family visits. They have also had most of the belongings, such as clothes, cigarettes and electronics confiscated. As a result of their continued detention and treatment by the IPS all three have refused any medical treatment or tests since 21 December 2012.
As they are only drinking water their health has deteriorated rapidly. Jafar, Yousef and Tarek all have difficulty seeing well, are dizzy and constantly have headaches. They also have pain in their joints and are suffering from general fatigue.
Samer al-Issawi has been on partial hunger strike for 167 days.
Ayman Sharawna suspended his hunger strike on 3 January 2013 after 180 days.
Addameer calls on the international community to pressure the Israeli Prison Service for the immediate release of the hunger striking prisoners and ensure that Israel upholds international human rights and humanitarian law.
ACT NOW!
*Write to the Israeli government, military and legal authorities and demand the release of the prisoners on hunger strike.
Brigadier General Danny Efroni
Military Judge Advocate General
6 David Elazar Street
Harkiya, Tel Aviv
Israel
Fax: +972 3 608 0366; +972 3 569 4526
Email: arbel@mail.idf.il; avimn@idf.gov.il
Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon
OC Central Command Nehemia Base, Central Command
Neveh Yaacov, Jerusalam
Fax: +972 2 530 5741
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Ehud Barak
Ministry of Defense
37 Kaplan Street, Hakirya
Tel Aviv 61909, Israel
Fax: +972 3 691 6940 / 696 2757
Col. Eli Bar On
Legal Advisor of Judea and Samaria PO Box 5
Beth El 90631
Fax: +972 2 9977326
NEXT PROTEST ACTION – FRIDAY 11TH JANUARY 2013 – 2-4PM – BBC HQ, PORTLAND PLACE – ‘Join us outside BBC Headquarters to protest at the BBC’s refusal to cover the plight of Palestinian hunger strikers.
BBC – 21 million articles, but no mention of Palestinian hunger strikers
Today is Palestinian political prisoner Samer Al-Issawi’s 160th day on hunger strike, and fellow prisoner Ayman Sharawna having been on hunger strike nearly 6 months before suspending his strike for a week is once again fasting for his freedom. Both prisoners are being held by Israel without charge or trial. According to the internationally brokered deal to release captured Israeli corporal Gilad Shalit both Sharawna and Issawi should be free men today but Israel reneged on its agreement and rearrested both men after Shalit had been released.
The BBC describes its mission as one to “inform” and “educate” and the news in particular is described as “providing trusted World and UK news..” so you would think they would cover this story and follow it with updates as it developed over the last six months.
The search engine Google has indexed over 21 million articles from the BBC website yet it returns no results from the BBC for Samer Issawi or Ayman Sharawna*. Neither prisoner has ever been mentioned by the BBC – those 21 million articles.. empty of any reference to Palestinian hunger strikers Issawi and Sharawna, both nearing death after nearly six months without food.
If we do a quick search on Google for “Gilad Shalit” it brings back around 1,120 articles from the BBC which includes around 50 articles from 2012! Shalit was released over a year ago in October 2011 and yet he is still news worthy for the BBC. The last article on him by the BBC is from October 18th 2012 – a special on the anniversary of his release!
The Shalit release anniversary article reports of his “ordeal”, the “psychological effects”, “trying to come to terms with his fame” the ordeal of the media following “his first bicycle ride after he returned home.. [his] trip to Paris to visit President Nicholas Sarkozy and a meeting with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.. at a concert of the popular singer, Shlomo Artzi, who dedicated a song to him; at various sports events and on the set of the US television drama series, Homeland..” Contrast this ‘ordeal’ which is newsworthy for the BBC to report to the ordeal Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike are going through TODAY.
Just two weeks ago Samer Al-Issawi, a wheelchair bound skeleton of a man barely breathing after 140 days without food, was brutally attacked by Israeli guards in the courthouse in front of an Israeli judge, who didn’t intervene, as guards punched the dying man in the head and chest resulting in broken ribs. They then attack his mother and sister, all this in front of the cameras – captured on video ready for any news channel to broadcast.. but not the BBC – their mission to ‘inform’ and ‘educate’ apparently doesn’t extend to Palestinians. An emaciated dog that has lost half its weight due to being abandoned is afforded an article by the BBC which includes a large colour photo**, but not Samer Al-Issawi who after 160 days without food has lost more than half his body weight, not even one mention of his name.
The BBC is principally funded by television licence fees – 82% in 2011 ( £3.6 billion). Such blatant bias by omission in its reporting is unacceptable and we as TV licence holders demand the BBC follow its remit to inform and educate by covering the issue of Palestinian hunger strikers. We will be protesting outside the BBC Headquarters on Portland Place, W1A 1AA (closest tube is Oxford Circus) on Friday 11th January at 2pm, please join us.’
G4S – the world’s largest private security and military company, which provides services and equipment to Israeli occupation prisons – has been nominated as “Worst Company of the Year” in the 2013 Public Eye People’s Choice Awards. Vote now for G4S, which provides services and security equipment for Israeli prisons, settlements, checkpoints, and police, as “Worst Company of the Year” by clicking here. (Vote quickly! The voting period closes on January 23.)
The awards are organized by the Berne Declaration and Greenpeace, have been held since 2000 and are given to stand as a “critical counterpoint” to the World Economic Forum, held each year in Davos, Switzerland; they challenge corporate malfeasance, greed and exploitation.
The nomination highlights G4S’ – the world’s largest private security company – role in sustaining and supporting the Israeli occupation. As noted on Public Eye’s website:
“G4S is complicit in Israel’s occupation of Palestine through the supply of security equipment and services for use at checkpoints, illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, and it helps to maintain and profit from Israel’s prison system. Palestinian political prisoners face systematic torture and ill-treatment during their arrest and detention at the hands of the Israeli military and are frequently and unjustifiably denied family and lawyer visits.
In 2007, The Israeli subsidiary of G4S signed a contract with the Israeli Prison Authority to provide security systems for major Israeli prisons. G4S provides systems for the Ketziot and Megiddo prisons, which hold Palestinian political prisoners from occupied Palestinian territory inside Israel. The company also provides equipment for Ofer prison, located in the occupied West Bank, and for Kishon and Moskobiyyeh detention facilities, at which human rights organisations have documented systematic torture and ill-treatment of Palestinian prisoners, including child prisoners. G4S provides security services to several “security” prisons at which Palestinian prisoners are regularly subjected to torture and ill-treatment. At Al Jalame prison, Palestinian children are locked in solitary confinement for days or even weeks.
Israel is forbidden to transfer Palestinian prisoners from occupied territories to prisons inside Israel by Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Despite this, thousands of Palestinian prisoners are unlawfully held in prisons inside Israel. By providing equipment to these prisons, G4S is actively participating in these violations of international law.
G4S is involved in other aspects of the Israeli apartheid and occupation regime: it has provided equipment and services to Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank that form part of the route of Israel’s illegal Wall and to the terminals isolating the occupied territory of Gaza. G4S has also signed contracts for equipment and services for the West Bank Israeli Police headquarters and to private businesses.”
In addition to G4S’ role in oppressing Palestinians, G4S is also profiting from human insecurity and human rights violations around the world. G4S holds contracts to manage security for the occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq, and plays a major role in running immigrant detention centres and deportations as an outsourced service, profiting from the abuse of migrants. In fact, in October 2010 Jimmy Mubenga died during his forcible deportation by G4S from the UK to Angola.
As noted by the Palestinian Boycott National Committee, “Solidarity activists have already started to take effective action against G4S: A student-led campaign at the University of Oslo pressured the university to announce that it will terminate its contract with G4S in July 2013. Pressure by campaign groups and members of the European Parliament was followed by adecision by the European Union not to renew its contract with G4S for security services at some of its Brussels premises. In the UK, mainstream newspapers prominently covered a demonstration that took place outside the G4S annual meeting and have pressured a major energy company to end ties with the company. In Denmark, a major bank and several large NGOs have cut their ties to the company because of its ties to Israeli apartheid.”
Addameer, the Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, issued the following statement on G4S’ nomination: “Addameer condemns the practices of G4S, which should uphold its legal and ethical responsibilities and ensure that it is not complicit in human rights violations. Addameer welcomes the nomination of G4S and views this as an important opportunity to expose it’s complicity in Israel’s illegal occupation.”
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network joins in urging all who oppose torture, apartheid, mass imprisonment, racism, administrative detention, and those who support Palestinian prisoners’ struggle for justice, to join in the voting in the Public Eye Awards to name G4S as the “Worst Company of the Year.” G4S is a prime example of corporate responsibility for Israel’s human rights violations. As the world’s largest security corporation, G4S’ role also highlights the connections between Israeli occupation, apartheid and settler colonialism and the global security and military industry and the privatization of human rights abuses.
Palestinian and solidarity activists working for the freedom of Palestinian prisoners have called for an international day of action to free Palestinian prisoner and hunger striker Samer Issawi on Monday, January 7, 2013. January 7 will mark the 160th day of Samer’s hunger strike, demanding his freedom.
Samer Issawi, a former prisoner released as part of the prisoner exchange on October 18, 2011 that freed 476 other Palestinian prisoners on the same day, was arrested only eight months after his release, accused of violating his release by leaving the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem; he was arrested, and is accused of being, near the village of Hizma, inside the borders of Jerusalem municipality. He faces an additional fifteen years in prison if he is convicted in Israeli military courts (with their 99.74% conviction rate) of leaving Jerusalem while remaining within its borders. Learn more about his case.
Samer launched his hunger strike on August 1, 2012. He has now been on hunger strike for 160 days, and urgent action and international attention are needed to support his struggle!
The action will be preceded by a Twitter Call to Action 12 hours before the global hunger strike begins – at 9 PM Palestine time, 7 PM London time, 2 PM Eastern Time and 11 AM Pacific Time on Sunday, January 7. Tweet for #GlobalHungerStrike for Samer Issawi and join thousands of supporters to help that “trend” in order to draw attention to Issawi’s struggle!
New York City
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/309799149138323/
Monday, January 7, 2013
6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Protest at Israeli Consulate, 800 2nd Avenue (at 42nd St) in New York City
Philadelphia, PA
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/267693583358677/
Monday, January 7, 2013
2:00 – 5:00 pm
Call-in and write-in from 2-4pm at the Friends Center of the American Friends Service Committee, 1501 Cherry Street. Following this, flyering in the Center City area.
London
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/393097630780455/
Monday, January 7, 2013
12:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Public Fast and Hunger Strike, by the steps of St Martin in the Fields Church, Trafalgar Square, London
Paloma
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/426928227378281/
Monday, January 7, 2013
5:00 pm
Piazetta della Garzeria, Padova
Rally for Samer Issawi and Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike
Shireen and Tarek Issawi hold Samer’s picture. Photo: Ryan Rodrick Beiler, for Alternativenews.org
Being on hunger strike; losing more than half of your weight; suffering uncountable kinds of diseases; living in a two-meters-square room; not knowing when you will be released: it could be 1 year or 10 years or less or even more, you just have to wait. This is not only Samer Issawi’s story but also that of many other administrative detainees and unjustly held Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
Samer is a Palestinian from Jerusalem. He was detained only eight months after his previous 11-year arrest that ended with his freedom in the Oct 18th 2011 prisoner exchange deal. He is denied a fair trial in the Israeli military courts. Thus, he launched a hunger strike on Aug 1st, to protest his illegitimate detention and the medical neglect that he faces.
On Jan 1st, I contacted Samer’s family. I spoke directly with his mother, Um Ra’ afat, who said:
“For 157 days, my son is on hunger strike. The Israeli occupation court refused to release him on bail on Dec 14th. My son drinks water only, without any solvents or sugar. We call to intensify the efforts and to raise the voices high in international forums to expose the barbaric occupation and its practices.”
What is his medical situation?
“He has recently started suffering from severe pain especially in his muscles, abdomen and kidneys. He has an acute vitamin B-12 deficiency and his body has begun to eat his muscles and nerves. Also, his sight is weak, he is fainting around six times a day and his body is covered with bruises. Moreover, he is vomiting blood, his heart is weakening and he can barely breathe. He has begun to feel pains in his chest due to having been assaulted by Israeli police at his latest court hearing on December 13th. Until now, he has not had the necessary tests conducted on him after that attack against him and so far the hospital administration refused to test and X-rays his chest. His health continues to deteriorate and his body is eroding and he has lost sense of the extremities (the hands and feet) as well as in his lips and he has lost a great deal of hair,” said his mother, in evident distress.
She stopped for a while and I could hear her cry. “Isn’t there any force of freedom, to allow me to see my darling before his death? I want to kiss or even touch him before his inevitable death!” she said, bursting into tears. “Only once [Dec 13th] have I seen him, when he appeared in the Israeli Magistrate Court. He looked like skin and bones, and he can neither move nor walk.”
“Where is he now?” I asked with growing anxiety.
“He is now living in an isolated cell at Ramlah prison hospital; no one can see him, not even his loved ones. The only human contact he has is the guards. His legs are tied with shackles that look even bigger given to his tiny skeleton.” she answered with sorrow.
“Every moment, I received more sad news. The most difficult thing to hear was on December 9th when my son was given a medicine by the Israeli prison authorities and lost his consciousness as a result and did not wake up for 48 hours. Also, on Dec 13th, my son was attacked brutally three times inside the courtroom and in front of the judge where soldiers kick their feet on his chest. I was shocked and kept looking at my son’s face. I am a mother and can’t endure seeing my son dying in front of my eyes. I cannot see him losing more than everything of his health. I screamed at the judge’s face, ‘Your apartheid regime is unlawful and we do not recognize it. I want to see; speak; hear; touch; kiss; hug; and take my son home.’”
Solitary Confinement
It is very difficult to describe this kind of torture. In a recent article, I wrote:
“Only imagine that you are in a silent void filled with your own fears and pain, in a deafening silence. You wait for somebody to arrive, but nobody, not even your loved ones are allowed to visit you. The only human contact is with the guards who are the lords and masters over every minute of your day. It is a sort of a living grave where fears unfold. You have nightmares about not having a place to be in. And no reason is given for your detention, and no process is outlined for your release. And consider going without food, and not just for the evening, but for days and days. And what you can imagine does not get near to the reality of what the prisoners are feeling. But the link between the prisoners and you will give them power and strength over their misery, to overcome some of what they are facing now.”
An Assassination Attempt
Shireen Issawi, Samer’s sister, has been on hunger strike protesting his brother’s illegal detention for over a month, and she, as her mother told me, will not stop till her brother’s freedom. As I reported in the Electronic Intifada, she said:
“It is worth mentioning that there is no medical treatment for my brother’s condition as his health increasingly deteriorates and his condition becomes unbearable. My brother stopped drinking water around 20 days ago. On Sun Dec 9th, 3 pm, he was given medicine. Seconds after taking it, he lost his consciousness for two full days. The administration department in the ‘hospital’ stated: ‘This was given to Issawi by mistake.’ There is no doubt that they want to kill him,” said the evidently distressed Shireen.
In a letter from Samer – translated by Ahrar Center and published on Wednesday Dec 12th, Samer writes about his health and about the aforementioned incident:
“I take B12 injections because I have gradual damage in my nervous system and I have pains in my eyes, nerves, abdomen, hands, arthritis, and muscles and can’t stand. They told me that they will give me an injection weekly in order to help my nervous system. My pain in my kidney and hands is increasing. The pain in my head is like the electrical shock and I have continuous diarrhea due to the fluids they give me in hospital. I have blood in urine twice a week. They put me in an isolated room in the hospital with plastic doors so that they can’t hear me when I call them. I accepted to take fluids and vitamins because the intelligence promised me that my file 80% finished.
They gave me on Wednesday a medicine. I slept for two days, then they said it wasn’t for me! It was for a civilian prisoner! And they didn’t even talk to the one. Before two days I found myself on the ground! I think I slept deeply, but they came searching for a cell phone thinking that I have one, but I told them that I asked the police man once to call the lawyer, and because I found a phone card they think that I have a phone! But the card, I didn’t take it, I threw it to the bed of the sick civilian man.
After a week of taking fluids and vitamins I stopped everything, because they were liars. My isolation is very hard.”
Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association has documented the medical neglect he and other prisoners are subject to:
“Like the other prisoners, Samer is not being treated as an ill patient by the Ramla prison clinic. On Saturday December 1st, 2012 during an examination with the prison clinic doctor, Samer tried to stand and lost consciousness. Instead of assisting him, the doctor left him lying on the floor and exited the room. We express our deep concern for the health of Samer and the other detainees who are on hunger strike protesting their unlawful custody.”
A Note
Samer Issawi is not the only hunger striker. Jafar Azzidine, Tarek Qa’adan, and Yousef Yassin have been striking for 37 days now, in protest of their administrative detention orders.
I met with Jafar Azzidine’s brother who lives in Gaza after his release in the last exchange – the same exchange of October 18 2011 in which Samer Issawi was released. He has been banned from entering Jenin, the city of his birth and his hometown.
“My brother had been on hunger strike for 54 days in March – May 2012, winning his freedom in June 2012 and had imposed his condition on the Israeli Prison Forces (IPS).” On Nov 22nd he was once again arrested and held under administrative detention. “Now, as his body can not endure another hunger strike; as he is once again an administrative detainee with neither charge nor trial, we call upon the world to end administrative detention, the sword pointed on the neck of the Palestinian detainees. I received a letter in Dec 19th from Jafar, Tarek, and Yousef who are striking to end their detentions. They emphasize that their open hunger strikes are to protest the Israeli intelligence and their policies and not just to gain individual freedom.
Jafar, 41 years old from Jenin, has been detained by the Occupation seven times, his most recent arrest being 21 March 2012. He participated in a hunger strike which ended on May, 14th, and was released on June 19th, after spending 4 months in administrative detention. As a result of his most recent hunger strike, he suffers from low blood pressure, continuous dizziness and headaches, protein deficiencies and pain in his joints, knees, hands and spinal cord.”
Samer’s Message
On Dec 30th, Samer forwarded a short message via his lawyer,
“My detention is unfair and my demands are nothing but just. Thus I will not withdraw from the battle for freedom. I am waiting for either victory and freedom – or martyrdom. I was able to achieve 90% of my objectives that were to deliver my voice to the Egyptians, to maintain the achievements of the deal by preventing the re-arrest of prisoners liberated in the exchange; I maintained the prestige of Egypt as a mediator in the deal and to preserve the blood of the martyrs in Gaza. So there only still remains 10% from my goals, which is very small: my freedom.”
At the end, I only want you to imagine yourself put alone in a small dirty dark cell for unlimited time and you cannot get your freedom but with a strike. What will you do? Think of Samer as if he was your brother or son. He needs every bit of your action.
Malaka Mohammed, 22, is a recent graduate of the Islamic University and a Palestinian freelance writer living in Gaza. Follow her on Twitter @MalakaMohammed and on her blog, malaka383.wordpress.com.
Ma’an reported that a former Palestinian mayor detained by Israeli forces this week will be held in administrative detention for six months, a prisoners group said Sunday, January 20, 2013.
Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association
“I will not withdraw from the battle for freedom”: The Story of Samer Issawi by Malaka Mohammed
by Malaka Mohammed
Being on hunger strike; losing more than half of your weight; suffering uncountable kinds of diseases; living in a two-meters-square room; not knowing when you will be released: it could be 1 year or 10 years or less or even more, you just have to wait. This is not only Samer Issawi’s story but also that of many other administrative detainees and unjustly held Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
Samer is a Palestinian from Jerusalem. He was detained only eight months after his previous 11-year arrest that ended with his freedom in the Oct 18th 2011 prisoner exchange deal. He is denied a fair trial in the Israeli military courts. Thus, he launched a hunger strike on Aug 1st, to protest his illegitimate detention and the medical neglect that he faces.
On Jan 1st, I contacted Samer’s family. I spoke directly with his mother, Um Ra’ afat, who said:
What is his medical situation?
She stopped for a while and I could hear her cry. “Isn’t there any force of freedom, to allow me to see my darling before his death? I want to kiss or even touch him before his inevitable death!” she said, bursting into tears. “Only once [Dec 13th] have I seen him, when he appeared in the Israeli Magistrate Court. He looked like skin and bones, and he can neither move nor walk.”
“Where is he now?” I asked with growing anxiety.
“He is now living in an isolated cell at Ramlah prison hospital; no one can see him, not even his loved ones. The only human contact he has is the guards. His legs are tied with shackles that look even bigger given to his tiny skeleton.” she answered with sorrow.
Solitary Confinement
It is very difficult to describe this kind of torture. In a recent article, I wrote:
An Assassination Attempt
Shireen Issawi, Samer’s sister, has been on hunger strike protesting his brother’s illegal detention for over a month, and she, as her mother told me, will not stop till her brother’s freedom. As I reported in the Electronic Intifada, she said:
In a letter from Samer – translated by Ahrar Center and published on Wednesday Dec 12th, Samer writes about his health and about the aforementioned incident:
Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association has documented the medical neglect he and other prisoners are subject to:
A Note
Samer Issawi is not the only hunger striker. Jafar Azzidine, Tarek Qa’adan, and Yousef Yassin have been striking for 37 days now, in protest of their administrative detention orders.
I met with Jafar Azzidine’s brother who lives in Gaza after his release in the last exchange – the same exchange of October 18 2011 in which Samer Issawi was released. He has been banned from entering Jenin, the city of his birth and his hometown.
Samer’s Message
On Dec 30th, Samer forwarded a short message via his lawyer,
At the end, I only want you to imagine yourself put alone in a small dirty dark cell for unlimited time and you cannot get your freedom but with a strike. What will you do? Think of Samer as if he was your brother or son. He needs every bit of your action.
Malaka Mohammed, 22, is a recent graduate of the Islamic University and a Palestinian freelance writer living in Gaza. Follow her on Twitter @MalakaMohammed and on her blog, malaka383.wordpress.com.