Palestinian prisoners Woroud Qasem and Bilal Diab were released today from Israeli occupation prisons.
Woroud Qasem, from al-Tira in occupied Palestine ’48 was released today, August 9, 2012 after serving nearly six years in prison. She was welcomed back to her village by hundreds of people who came to greet her; she was one of a few women political prisoners who were not released in the October 2011 prisoner exchange. She delivered a speech upon her return, calling upon all institutions to highlight the struggle and suffering of Palestinian political prisoners.
See video of her release:
Also released today is former hunger striker Bilal Diab, whose 78-day hunger strike alongside fellow administrative detainee Thaer Halahleh lasted throughout the April-May 2012 mass prisoner hunger strike. Diab was also welcomed by hundreds who greeted him as a hero, as he returned to his village Kufr al-Rai, outside Nablus. Among others, his fellow former hunger strikers and heroes of the “battle of the empty stomachs,” Halahleh and Khader Adnan, were among the first to greet him.
Long term hunger striker Hassan Safadi, who was in administrative detention as well, and who Israel refused to release in June in violation of the agreement ending the April-May 2012 hunger strike, remains on hunger strike, demanding his release, alongside fellow prisoners Samer al-Barq, Ayman Sharawna and Samer al-Issawi.
Joint Statement
As organizations dedicated to the promotion and protection of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), the Palestinian Council of Human Rights Organizations (PCHRO), expresses its utmost dismay at the recent Israeli decision to ban Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association Chairperson Abdullatif Ghaith from travelling abroad. Mr. Ghaith, a 71-year-old East Jerusalem resident, is one of the founders of Addameer and has been serving on its Board for the past 20 years. He is also a well-known public figure resulting from his long history of human rights activism in Jerusalem and the rest of the OPT, in addition to his prominent political activism including his run for Palestinian Legislative Council elections in 2006.
On 2 August 2012, Mr. Ghaith received a phone call from Israeli intelligence representatives requesting that he present himself immediately to Moskobiyyeh interrogation center in Jerusalem. Upon presenting himself the following day, Mr. Ghaith was ordered to sign an order banning him from travelling abroad. The ban, which is signed by Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai, will remain in place until 31 January 2013. The order claims that Mr. Ghaith constitutes a threat to “state security”, although no evidence is given to support such claim.
This is not the first time Mr. Ghaith has been targeted by Israel for his human rights activism. The current order banning him from travelling abroad is in addition to an existing ban that prevents him from entering the West Bank (as defined by Israel). This West Bank ban originally came into effect on 10 October 2011 for a duration of six months, although it was subsequently extended for an additional six months in April 2012 and is now due to expire in September 2012. Furthermore, since becoming Chairperson ofAddameer, Mr. Ghaith has been held without charge or trial in Israeli prison under administrative detention on three separate occasions, lasting for six months on each occasion. His most recent administrative detention lasted from June 2004 to January 2005.
The continued targeting of Mr. Ghaith cannot be viewed in isolation but must rather be viewed within a much broader context of a systematic attempt by Israel to suppress Palestinian civil society and stifle Palestinian development, while strengthening Israel’s occupation. Evidence of this repression can be seen in the increasing number of Palestinian civil society organizations that have been ordered to close, particularly in East Jerusalem, and the targeting of human rights defenders throughout the OPT. Other prominent members of Palestinian civil society have also been targeted in the same manner by Israel, such as the director of human rights organization Al-Haq, Shawan Jabarin, who has been banned from travelling abroad since 2006, with two exceptions this year in which his travel was highly restricted.
Human rights defenders are formally defined as persons who work, peacefully, for any or all of the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Mr. Ghaith’s life’s work on behalf of political prisoners—inspired by his own experience as a prisoner—clearly falls within the category of a human rights defender, in that his activities are peaceful in nature and aimed at the promotion of human rights. According to Mr. Ghaith, “Israel considers every activity that tackles Israeli violations of human rights as a threat to state security. Israel wants its occupation to proceed without any accountability. This is not an issue of an individual; it involves all Palestinians.”
The PCHRO strongly condemns the travel ban imposed on Mr. Ghaith and continued Israeli attempts to silence Palestinian civil society. The ban on Mr. Ghaith not only violates his fundamental human rights, namely his right to freedom of movement, but also disregards the special protections afforded to him as a human rights defender according to the United Nations General Assembly Declaration on human rights defenders.
The PCHRO therefore calls on the international community to intervene immediately with the Israeli authorities to lift all bans restricting Mr. Ghaith’s freedom of movement so that he may continue to carry out his human rights work unimpeded. In particular, the PCHRO calls on the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights Defenders to intervene with Israel and raise the case of Mr. Ghaith and other Palestinian human rights defenders, such as Mr. Jabarin. The PCHRO also urges the European Union, especially the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, to act in accordance with its decision to “throw its full weight behind advocates of liberty, democracy and human rights throughout the world” by consistently bringing up with Israel its continued infringements of the special protections afforded to Palestinian human rights defenders, as well as calling for the lifting of the travel bans imposed on Mr. Ghaith and Mr. Jabarin.
The Palestinian Council of Human Rights Organizations:
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
RAMALLAH, (PIC)– Detainee Samer Al-Aisawi went on hunger strike to protest his imprisonment in Israeli occupation jails anew despite his release in the Wafa Al-Ahrar deal a few months ago.
The Palestine prisoners’ center for studies said in a statement that Aisawi, 33, who was arrested 28 days ago started his hunger strike on 2nd of August.
Aisawi was released in the exchange deal after serving ten years of his sentence, the center said, noting that he joined Ayman Sharawne, who has been on hunger strike for 35 days protesting his re-arrest on the part of the Israeli occupation forces.
An Israeli court in occupied Jerusalem extended his detention for one more week at the pretext that he violated condition of his release and blocked contacts with and visits to him by his family and lawyer.
The center pointed out that the IOF had re-arrested seven Palestinian prisoners who were released in the deal between Hamas and Israel and is threatening to force them to complete their sentences.
Meanwhile, the family of Ayman Sharawne pitched a sit-in tent in front of his home in Doura town, south of Al-Khalil, in solidarity with their son.
-there are 4,660 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails
-there are 285 Palestinians held in administrative detention including 14 PLC members
-there are 6 female Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails
-there are 210 child prisoners in Israeli jails (34 under the age of 16)
-there are 20 Palestinian Legislative Members (PLC) in Israeli jails
-there are 152 Palestinian political prisoners from EastJerusalem in Israeli jails
-there are 206 Palestinian political prisoners from 1948 territories in Israeli jails
-there are 449 Palestinian political prisoners from Gaza in Israeli jails
-there are 530 Palestinian political prisoners serving life sentences in Israeli jails
-there are 452 Palestinian political prisoners serving more than 20 yrs in Israeli jails
-there are 22 Palestinian political prisoners serving more than 25 years in Israeli jails
-there are 120 pre-Oslo Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails
Palestinian Authority security forces arrested hunger striking prisoner Hassan Safadi’s brother, Saleh Safadi (30 years old) today, August 6, 2012, reported Addameer. Around 30 members of the PA security forces raided their home at 3:00 am and took Saleh to Jenaid prison near Nablus, without giving any reasons for the arrest. Saleh previously spent 1 year under “administrative detention” in Israeli occupation prisons in 2007.
Hassan Safadi is currently on hunger strike in Israeli prisons; he is on his 47th day of a renewed hunger strike, following an earlier 81 day hunger strike. Hassan was one of the long-term hunger strikers held in administrative detention without charge or trial who, under the agreement to end the mass prisoners hunger strike on May 14, 2012, was supposed to be released at the expiration of his term of administrative detention. This was not Hassan’s first experience in administrative detention – from 2007-2010 he was the longest serving Palestinian political prisoner under administrative detention without charge or trial.
In violation of the agreement, his administrative detention was extended for an additional six months rather than his release being secured on June 21, 2012. He immediately re-started his hunger strike in protest of this violation, demanding his immediate release and was placed in isolation. Addameer and Physicians for Human Rights have reported:
Hassan is currently being held in an isolated cell. Hassan has reported escalating pressure from the IPS to end his hunger strike. Hassan further noted that his court hearing on 25 July has been delayed again until 07 August, stressing that he is in no condition to travel 15 hours every time for the court hearings. He also reported suffering from kidney problems, sight problems, extreme weakness, severe weight loss, headaches, dizziness and has difficulty standing.
Hassan’s mother – interviewed earlier by the Electronic Intifada – was just released from hospital today, to return home to find Saleh detained as well, also without charge. Hassan himself was just assaulted by occupation forces at the beginning of the week.
Hassan is not the only hunger striker in occupation prisons – Samer al-Barq is on his 77th day of hunger strike, and Ayman Sharawna is on his 37th day. Samer Issawi announced his hunger strike on August 2, joining Ayman Sharawna, who is also protesting his re-arrest swiftly after being released in the prisoner exchange of October 2011.
One of the few Gaza mothers permitted to visit her son in Israeli prison for the first time in five years died on Monday while on her way to make that visit, Ma’an News reported.
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — The mother of a Palestinian prisoner died on Monday while traveling with a group from Gaza to visit relatives in Israeli jails, a prisoners group said.
Aisha Isleih died as the bus was preparing to leave for Israel, Saber Abu Karsh, director of the Gaza-based prisoners group Waed told Ma’an.
The cause of death is still being determined.
Isleih was part of a group of 37 people who were heading to Israel to visit jailed relatives, in the fourth such visit of its kind since 2007. Isleih had not seen her son since he was detained five years ago on a twelve year sentence.
In 2007, Israel started limiting what it considers privileges for Hamas and Gaza prisoners in a bid to put pressure on Hamas to release Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was held in Gaza until last fall.
The visitors issue was one of the key demands of the hundreds of prisoners who went on a hunger strike in the spring.
In a deal to end the strike, Israeli authorities agreed to allow limited personal visits.
Palestinian prisoners in occupation prisons have reported an escalation in the number of attacks and systematic actions by the Israeli Prison administration directed at the observation of Ramadan by Palestinian political prisoners.
Ma’an News has reported that Palestinian prisoners have stated that repression inside the prisons has escalated in the month of Ramadan. Prisoners in Etzion Prison reported that the fast-breaking meal, or iftar, was served after 11 pm, over two hours after sunset. When the meal is served, prisoners reported, it is sparse – Muhammad al-Najjar of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society noted that on Tuesday, prisoners were given 2 pears and 1 peach to be divided among 5 prisoners in one cell.
Prisoners in Nafha prison were subject on August 1 to all-night searches and ransacking of their cells, including a 10-hour-long search that included preventing prisoners from breaking their fast at sundown, and threats of canccelling family visits.
McNabb Community Centre
180 Percy St.
Corner of Gladstone and Percy
http://bookstoprisonersottawa.wordpress.com/
Books 2 Prisoners, Students Against Israeli Apartheid – Carleton and the Indigenous Peoples’ Solidarity Movement of Ottawa
A panel with:
Nahla Abdo
Byron Sonne
Ryan Rainville
Books 2 Prisoners acknowledges that Ottawa is the unceded, occupied and traditional territory of the Algonquin Nation.
There are political prisoners in Canada and around the world. Most recently many activists were arrested and a small number of them charged for their political activities. There was a clear increase in the scope and level of repression that the Canadian state was willing to engage in to suppress and criminalize dissent. Examples include Roger Clement who is serving a four year sentence for his role in the arson of a Royal Bank of Canada and mischief over $5000 to a different RBC, and Amanda Hiscocks, who is currently serving a two year sentence for her organizing against the G20 in Toronto in 2010.
However, indigenous people in Canada and the Americas have been resisting colonization for 500+ years, and have and continue to face some of the harshest and most brutal political repression of their struggles for justice, dignity and self-determination. Similarly indigenous palestinians have been resisting British and subsequently Jewish and Israeli colonization of their land and lives since at least the 1920s. Palestinians in Palestine as well as the diaspora continue to endure some of the worst conditions on the planet. And yet in spite of the vicious repression that indigenous people in Canada, Palestine and around the world experience they also continue to provide an inspiring example of resistance for everyone struggling for social justice and liberation.
Nahla Abdo is a professor at Carleton University.
Byron Sonne was arrested on June 22, 2010, Byron was arrested in his home in Forest Hill, Toronto in relation to the G20 Summit. After his arrest, Byron was charged with six offenses and held without bail for a total of 330 days. At trial, all charges were dismissed and he was found not guilty.
Ryan Rainville was arrested on August 5th and released on strict bail conditions on November 9th. On Monday Dec. 5th, 2011 Ryan Rainville received a conditional sentence of 4 months under house arrest, followed by 4 months curfew and then one year probation. Ryan had plead guilty to 3 counts of Mischief over $5000 for using a red and black flag and a hammer to destroy Toronto Police cruisers during the G20 riot last year. He also plead guilty to a Breach of Peace.
Recently released Palestinian political prisoner Yousef Abu Ghoulmeh, freed in late July 2012, shared a prison cell with Ahmad Sa’adat for nearly three months following the end of the prisoners’ hunger strike – and Sa’adat’s release from isolation. Abu Ghoulmeh spoke with Voice of the People radio station on August 4, 2012, discussing Sa’adat’s comments, political insights, and the current situation of Sa’adat and his fellow Palestinian political prisoners behind occupation bars.
Ahmad Sa’adat is the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, and a Palestinian national leader. He had been held in isolation for over three years when the agreement ending the hunger strike saw his return to the general prison population (His – and his fellow prisoners’ – isolation had been a major factor in several large hunger strikes.)
Abu Ghoulmeh said that Sa’adat urged the Palestinian masses, and all Palestinian political and social forces and organizations to engage in mass mobilization and take the streets, demanding an end to the Palestinian internal fragmentation and division, emphasizing the harm such division caused to the Palestinian national movement. He noted that Sa’adat emphasized that Hamas and Fateh have particular responsibility to bear to end the state of division. Centrally, Sa’adat urged, the end of division can only come through a united front to expose the crimes of the occupation and build resistance through all and varied forms of struggle; there is no hope or future in absurd negotiations, said Sa’adat. In particular, he noted that the Israeli government will often engage in forms of political blackmail and machinations including promises of releasing prisoners, some who have been imprisoned for decades, in order to spur further pseudo-negotiations; he denounced any participation in such schemes as engaging with an occupation deception that will only harm the Palestinian national cause.
Abu Ghoulmeh further said that Sa’adat urged Palestinian political forces to make strong efforts to free all of the Palestinian prisoners behind occupation bars, and to prioritize the prisoners’ case as part of the Palestinian struggle to regain the people’s land and rights. Sa’adat asked Abu Ghoulmeh to convey his greetings to the Palestinian people, inside Palestine and in exile and diaspora, and particularly Palestinian refugees in the camps, struggling to return, especially those in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan facing difficult circumstances.
Sa’adat is strong and healthy despite his repeated hunger strikes and lengthy isolation and imprisonment, reported Abu Ghoulmeh, noting that throughout their time sharing a room at Gilboa, Sa’adat was steadfast and vital, filled with enthusiasm, and never lost hope in Palestinian victory.
Abu Ghoulmeh also provided an update on the current situation of Palestinian political prisoners behind bars, nearly three months following the end of the mass hunger strike of April-May 2012. He noted that the occupation authorities are continuing to fail to implement the agreement with the prisoners, and have not come through on promised improvements to living conditions, continue aggressive late-night inspections and ransacking of cells, abusive methods of transfer of prisoners, and denial of family visits under security pretexts. In addition, Abu Ghoulmeh reported that administrative detention without charge or trial continues at the same level as prior to the strike, saying it was a mechanism of the occupation to pressure the Palestinian people and Palestinian freedom fighters.
As they organize to defend their land and Palestinian farming against the onslaught of settlements and siege, Palestinian agricultural workers and organizers have been subject to an intensified arrest campaign in the occupied West Bank of Palestine. See below for text of the Samidoun petition to demand an immediate end to the targeting of the Union of Agricultural Work Committees and all Palestinian farmers and agricultural workers, and the freedom of the Palestinian organizers imprisoned for defending their rights. This petition was faxed and delivered to Israeli embassies internationally.
A number of staff of the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (Facebook), a Palestinian grassroots organization that organizes Palestinian farmers to defend their land and develop their products, have been targeted in recent days for arrest by Israeli occupation forces.
Dr. Moayad Bisharat
On July 31, Dr. Moayad Ahmad Bisharat, the coordinator of UAWC’s Jericho office was abducted at dawn from his home. The UAWC office in Jericho was then ransacked by Israeli forces, who confiscated the computers, laptops, and files of the organization.
This is the most recent in a series of arrests of UAWC activists in recent weeks, including the Director of Development and Operations, the engineer Fuad Abu Saif on July 26 in an early morning raid on his home in Hebron, in which his computer, mobile phone and other communication devices were seized. The director of the UAWC Jericho office, Mohammad Nujoom was abducted on July 16 as he re-entered Palestine from abroad. Both were taken to the Moskobiya compound for interrogation.
Engineer Fuad Abu Saif
In addition, UAWC Board Member Ahmad Soufan, held in administrative detention for one year, was recently ordered into a third term of six months in arbitrary administrative detention without charge or trial. Two other UAWC leaders, Abdel Razzak Farraj, administrative and financial director, and Board member Dr. Yousef Abdul Haq, were both finally released from administrative detention after multiple renewals of their imprisonment.
UAWC, which recently marked its 25th anniversity, has been struggling with Palestinian farmers and agricultural workers to defend and develop their land, support Palestinian agricultural projects, and support farmers’ steadfastness on the land in the face of Israeli occupation and aggression.
The attack on the UAWC is part of the overall attack on Palestinian farmers and agricultural workers, from olive farmers whose trees are set ablaze by settlers, tthose whose land was stolen for settlements, “military use,” or “buffer zones”, to the fishers of Gaza, who daily brave military attack for seeking to fish in their sea. It reflects the over 64 years of occupation, land theft, displacement and dispossession of the occupation of Palestine. Farmers and agricultural workers are on the front lines of resistance as they struggle to remain on their land – and are thus being targeted for arrest and imprisonment in an attempt to undermine the steadfastness of the farmers.
Western governments, including those of the United States and Canada, are not only silent in the face of these attacks, they are directly complicit, as they pledge expanded military support and allegiance to Israel as its occupation, apartheid and human rights violations continue and escalate. It is urgent that people make their own voices heard to challenge and break this complicity.
TAKE ACTION!
1. Click here to sign our petition at change.org, or sign on below! This petition will be presented to Israeli embassies in the US, Canada and other countries on Wednesday, August 15, demanding the release of these prisoners, justice for all prisoners, and an end to the attack on Palestinian farmers and agricultural workers. Individual and organizational signatories are welcome – we particularly urge groups and organizations to sign on to and distribute the petition. If you experience any difficulty signing on, please send your endorsement to samidoun@samidoun.net.
2. Boycott Israeli goods and agricultural products! The Palestinian movement has called for boycott, divestment and sanctions targeting Israeli goods and institutions until it ends its violations of Palestinian rights. Israeli oranges, organic peppers, dates, and other agricultural products are the fruits of stolen land. Boycott those products and help to raise awareness in your community!
3. Support Palestinian agricultural products, including olive oil, spices, and maftoul, farmed by Palestinian farmers and not occupation settlements.
4. Join a protest or demonstration outside an Israeli consulate for Palestinian prisoners. Many groups and organizations are holding events – join one or announce your own. Organizing an event, action or forum on Palestinian prisoners on your city or campus? Use this form to contact us and we will post the event widely. If you need suggestions, materials or speakers for your event, please contact us at samidoun@samidoun.net.
5. Help to support UAWC – here is information on how you can donate to support UAWC’s much needed work among Palestinian farmers and fishers.
Petition Text
As they organize to defend their land and Palestinian farming against the onslaught of settlements and siege, Palestinian agricultural workers and organizers have been subject to an intensified arrest campaign in the occupied West Bank of Palestine. We write to demand an immediate end to the targeting of the Union of Agricultural Work Committees and all Palestinian farmers and agricultural workers, and the freedom of the Palestinian organizers imprisoned for defending their rights.
A number of staff of the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, a Palestinian grassroots organization that organizes Palestinian farmers to defend their land and develop their products, have been targeted in recent days for arrest by Israeli occupation forces.
On July 31, Dr. Moayad Ahmad Bisharat, the coordinator of UAWC’s Jericho office was abducted at dawn from his home. The UAWC office in Jericho was then ransacked by Israeli forces, who confiscated the computers, laptops, and files of the organization. This is the most recent in a series of arrests of UAWC activists in recent weeks, including the Director of Development and Operations, the engineer Fouad Abu Saif on July 26 in an early morning raid on his home in Hebron, in which his computer, mobile phone and other communication devices were seized. The director of the UAWC Jericho office, Mohammad Nujoom was abducted on July 16 as he re-entered Palestine from abroad. Both were taken to the Moskobiya compound for interrogation.
In addition, UAWC Board Member Ahmad Soufan, held in administrative detention for one year, was recently ordered into a third term of six months in arbitrary administrative detention without charge or trial. Two other UAWC leaders, Abdel Razzak Farraj, administrative and financial director, and Board member Dr. Yousef Abdul Haq, were both finally released from administrative detention after multiple renewals of their imprisonment.
As the UAWC noted in its statement on the arrests, these arrests are part and parcel of the ongoing attacks on Palestinians’ right to the land, including massive settlement building, land confiscation, home demolitions, and the construction of the apartheid wall, as well as the siege and firing on farmers and agricultural workers in Gaza. The UAWC called on international organizers to defend Palestinian national rights and demand the freedom of the UAWC detainees and all Palestinian prisoners.
UAWC, which recently marked its 25th anniversity, has been struggling with Palestinian farmers and agricultural workers to defend and develop their land, support Palestinian agricultural projects, and support farmers’ steadfastness on the land in the face of Israeli occupation and aggression.
The attack on the UAWC is part of the overall attack on Palestinian farmers and agricultural workers, from olive farmers whose trees are set ablaze by settlers, tthose whose land was stolen for settlements, “military use,” or “buffer zones”, to the fishers of Gaza, who daily brave military attack for seeking to fish in their sea. It reflects the over 64 years of occupation, land theft, displacement and dispossession of the occupation of Palestine. Farmers and agricultural workers are on the front lines of resistance as they struggle to remain on their land – and are thes being targeted for arrest and imprisonment in an attempt to undermine the steadfastness of the farmers.
We demand that the Israeli government immediately free Bisharat, Abu Seif, Nujoom and Seifan and end this targeted attack on Palestinian agricultural workers.
Furthermore, we demand an end to the policy of settlement construction, land confiscation and home demolitions targeting Palestinian farmers and villages in the West Bank, and an end to the targeting of Palestinian farmers in Gaza in the “buffer zones” and fishers at sea.
Finally, we demand an end to the mass imprisonment of Palestinians and freedom for all Palestinian political prisoners.
