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Palestinian leader Ahmad Sa’adat transferred to Ramle prison hospital from isolation in Ramon

Act now to defend the prisoners’ lives: click here to take action!

Ramon prison management transferred hunger striking Palestinian prisoner and leader, Ahmad Sa’adat to Ramle prison hospital on Sunday, April 29. Sa’adat is General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and has been in isolation for over three years in Ramon prison. He has been on hunger strike since April 17 with now over 2000 Palestinian prisoners.

PFLP prisoners were previously offered that Sa’adat’s isolation would be ended in exchange for them ending their hunger strike, which the prisoners refused, saying they are committed to achieving the full demands of the strike in unity with all prisoners, including ending all isolation, ending administrative detention, and supporting rights to family visits, education and media for prisoners.

Sa’adat has lost 6 kilograms so far on this hunger strike, which comes only short months after his last extended hunger strike, from September 27-October 20, calling for an end to isolation and solitary confinement. Hundreds of prisoners joined this strike, which ended with false Israeli promises to end isolation which were then ignored following the prisoner exchange. Sa’adat lost tens of kilograms during the previous strike.

Sa’adat was abducted in 2006 from the Palestinian Authority’s Jericho prison, where he had been held with five other prisoners, including four of his comrades under US and British guard since 2002. His imprisonment had been ruled illegal by the Palestinian High Court and he was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council while held in Jericho. On March 16, 2006, Israeli occupation forces attacked the prison and abducted Sa’adat and his fellow prisoners. He is now one of 19 Palestinian prisoners in isolation.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine issued a statement in response to the news that Sa’adat has been transferred to the prison hospital, saying that the PFLP “holds the occupation government fully responsible for any consequences to the life of General Secretary Sa’adat and all of the heroic prisoners fighting the battle of open hunger strike in order to meet their just demands, particularly ending solitary confinement. We have great pride in national leader Ahmad Sa’adat, who is locked in the battle of open hunger strike….we confirm our full support of the prisoners’ movement strike…and we call for the widest movement on all levels to support the prisoners in their strike in the prisons of the occupation and force their demands to be accepted.”

A press conference was held on Sunday evening at Wattan Media Centre in Ramallah to draw attention to Sa’adat’s health situation. Khalida Jarrar, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council with the PFLP, said that “the prisoners on hunger strike must not be harmed. The occupation state knows very well that our people are capable of protecting and responding to dangerous threats to our prisoners and leaders.” She called on Palestinian political leaders to act immediately and rapidly to protect the prisoners, and to immediately end all forms of security cooperation with the occupation. She also called for Arab countries that have ties with the occupation state to break them immediately and expel the ambassadors of the occupation.

Jarrar said that Sa’adat was transferred without anyone’s knowledge to the prison hospital, something only discovered when a lawyer sought to visit with him at Ramon prison. She also noted particular concern for the health of the brave strikers Thaer Halahleh and Bilal Diab, who have been on hunger strike for 62 days. She noted that isolation is one of the most urgent reasons for the strike, saying that it is one of the most dangerous actions by the Prison Service against leaders, including Mahmoud Issa who has been isolated since 2002.

Abla Sa’adat, Sa’adat’s wife, said that her husband would not end its strike until its goals were achieved including ending solitary confinement and allowing family visits for prisoners from Gaza that have been prohibited for six years. Sa’adat spoke about her husband’s last message, emphasizing the need for unity to support the prisoners. She expressed serious concern for her husband’s life, noting that this is his second time on hunger strike in six months. She called for the Palestinian people and their supporters everywhere to join in events and actions in support of the prisoners, saying that such action is important to the success of the strike.

Issa Qaraqe, the Minister of Prisoners’ and Detainees’ Affairs, called for the UN General Assembly to convene a special session to take up the case of the prisoners. He noted that the Israeli government is fully responsible for the humanitarian disaster that may come to the prisoners and that the occupation state is committing crimes against prisoners through arbitrary laws and racist, unjust, cruel and inhumane treatment. He said that the strike would continue to grow in the next week, which would bring an explosion to the Palestinian streets.

Act now to defend the prisoners’ lives: click here to take action!

MP Jamal al-Natshe at health risk + Ill prisoners join in food and medicine strike

Over 2000 Palestinian prisoners in occupation jails are now participating in an open-ended hunger strike that started April 17, and has been going on for 13 days. These prisoners join 8 other prisoners engaged in extended hunger strikes, including Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahleh, who have now been on hunger strike for 62 days, and Hassan Safadi, who has been on hunger strike for 55 days.

24 Palestinian prisoners in the prison hospital in Mejiddo prison announced a food and medicine strike will take place on Monday in solidarity with the rest of the prisoners who are fighting the battle of the empty stomachs in the occupation prisons for 13 days. Fuad al-Khafsh, director of the Ahrar centre for prisoners, said that “Although ill prisoners in hospital cannot physically tolerate an open-ended hunger strike, they are acting to support the prisoners’ morale and mobilize public support,” saying the prisoners are sufferin from diabetes and colon disease. Among these prisoners are journalist Nawaf al-Amer, teacher Mohammad Ghazal, and Saber Abu Assad.

The family of detained member of the Palestinian Legislative Council Mohammed Jamal Al-Natshe warned Sunday of his worsening health condition after 13 days of hunger strike in Israeli occupation jails. His wife said in a telephone conversation with the media bureau of the reform and change parliamentary bloc that her husband suffered worsening health condition as a result of the hunger strike.

She appealed to all international institutions to visit her husband in the desert prison of Nafha and to inquire about his health condition, adding that he is in need of constant medical checkup. The reform and change bloc held the Israeli occupation authority fully responsible for the life of the MP, and called for “the greatest campaign of solidarity and action y all means to highlight the issue of MP Natsheh and all deputies kidnapped in the prisons of the occupation.”

May 15-19: Vancouver commemorates Al-Nakba 64

On the 64th anniversary of the occupation of Palestine, and as the Palestinian people enter the 64th year of dispossession and exile, the Vancouver Coalition to Commemorate Al-Nakba is organizing 2 events to commemorate the Nakba, stand against the continuing Nakba, and call for the right of return for Palestinian refugees and freedom for Palestine. 64 years after the Nakba – the war of 1948 in which over 800,000 Palestinians were driven from their homes and land and the state of Israel created on that land – Palestinians continue to struggle for their right to return, for freedom from occupation, for justice, and against the Nakba that continues today.

Save the date now and plan to be part of these 2 important events! 

Tuesday, May 15
6 PM – 10 PM
Free Community Supper: Sharing Stories, Creating Resistance
Unitarian Church, 949 W. 49th St. Vancouver

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/346982315363691/

This community supper will bring together the community to share stories, creative work, and discussions about indigenous resistance, continuing Nakba, and struggles for freedom. The program will include talks by Palestinian and Indigenous activists and community members, Palestinian music, and a short film by Palestinian director Sobhi al-Zobaidi. Childcare is available. We request RSVPs for attendance, and for childcare, to nakbavancouver@gmail.com in order to ensure we have enough food! No one will be turned away.

Saturday, May 19

2 PM 
MARCH OF RETURN: MARCH FOR PALESTINE
Gather at Clark Park (14th and Commercial) at 2 PM, March to Grandview Park
Rally at Grandview Park

Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/280652725354822/

March and rally commemorating the Nakba, standing against the continuing Nakba, calling for justice, freedom and return for Palestine! We will also stand against Canada’s complicity and its own genocide of indigenous people. Creative actions welcome! This is a family friendly march.

The Vancouver Coalition to Commemorate Al-Nakba includes the Alliance for People’s Health, Arab Students Association – UBC, Boycott Israeli Apartheid Campaign, Canada Palestine Association, CPSHR – Canada-Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights, Canadian Boat to Gaza, CanPalNet, Canadian Union of Postal Workers, Independent Jewish Voices, No One Is Illegal – Vancouver Unceded Coast Salish Territories, RAGA (Race, Autobiography, Gender & Age Studies) Centre at UBC, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, Seriously Free Speech Committee, Simon Fraser Public Interest Research Group (SFPIRG), Solidarity For Palestinian Human Rights-UBC (SPHR-UBC), SANSAD – South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy, Stopwar.ca. To join the coalition or for more information please contact nakbavancouver@gmail.com.To join the coalition or for more information please contact nakbavancouver@gmail.com.

Videos for these events:

Photos: April 28 protests in Edinburgh and London for Palestinian prisoners

Two major protests took place in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike on April 28, in Edinburgh, Scotland, and London, England. The Scotland protest was organized by the We Are All Hana Shalabi campaign, which earlier organized large marches in Glasgow, while the London protest was called by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (UK).

Photos from Edinburgh protest. Photos by David Mitchell and We are all Hana Shalabi:

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Photos from London protest. Photos by @nasia81, @clubkicker, @sncolborne and @rednruff on Twitter:

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Jordanian prisoner Hamza Aldababsh on hunger strike, calls for Jordanian people’s action

Jordanian prisoner in Israeli jails, Hamza Osman Aldababsh, was transferred from Mejiddo prison to Shata prison on April 27, 2012 after being strip searched and humiliated during the transfer process, in retaliation for his participation in the hunger strike in the occupaion prisons. Former prisoner Fuad al-Khafsh, director of the Ahrar Centre for Prisoners, reported that all of his clothing and belongings were confiscated, yet he continued to express his commitment to the hunger strike until the demands of the Palestinian prisoners are met. Aldababsh also said that “the depth of the conflict of the occupier is not simply a conflict between the Palestinians and Zionists, but between the whole Arab nation and this occupation.”

In his comments, he urged the Jordanian people to stand in solidarity with the prisoners on hunger strike, in his message conveyed by Khafsh, saying “There is no difference between Jordanians and Palestinians, they are one people, one nation and one body, and Jordanian political prisoners in the prisons of the occupation is woven into the fabric of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement.” Hamza Aldababsh was captured in mid-July 2011 during a visit with relatives in the West Bank, kidnapped and taken to Petah Tikva where he was tortured under interrogation.

Abu Sir: Gaza child launches hunger strike for imprisoned father; prison services attempt to bargain with prisoners’ healthcare

Former prisoner Samer Abu Sir reported that Israeli prison administration forces attempted to bargain with imprisoned patient Akram Rakhawi in Ramle hospital, saying they would provide him with inhalers and oxygen if he broke his hunger strike. Rakhawi refused, saying that despite his heart disease, shortness of breath, and diabetes, he woould not break his strike.

He also reported that Jumana Abu Jazar, 11, has launched a hunger strike in solidarity with her imprisoned father, the Fateh representative in the strike’s leadership. Jumana has spoken to Palestinian and Arab media in the past about her situation – her mother is dead, and she lives with her grandfather in Rafah. Her father is serving a 19-year sentence in occupation prisons, and she is one of the victims of the Israeli policy of denying family visits to prisoners in the Gaza Strip. Abu Sir noted that the leadership of the prisoners rejected a proposal by the Israeli prison officials for Gaza families to see their imprisoned relatives via video conferencing, demanding ordinary visits like all other prisoners.

Abu Sir also called to expand the activities on April 17 for the International Day of Solidarity with Palestinian Prisoners, noting that of course it is not enough to have one day, the 17th of April as a day of the Palestinian prisoner for solidarity and to stand alongside the captives behind the bars of the occupation. He said that this day of action is a strong support for international solidarity mobilization and engagement with the issue of prisoners, and a tool to put pressure on international institutions, in particular the United Nations.

Statement No. 2 from Strike Leadership: We will continue until our demands are met

The Leadership Committee of the Prisoners’ Hunger Strike issued a second statement about the continuing open hunger strike, emphasizing that the strike will continue until their demands are achieved and stating their willingness to die to achieve a decent life for themselves and their sisters and brothers.

The Committee released a Statement No. 2 (see Statement No. 1) from the prisons of the occupation, as follows:

Statement No. 2
Issued by the Higher National Leadership Committee of the Prisoners’ Struggle

This is the moment of truth, where hunger grips our bleeding wounds. This is a call of duty that only the weak or cowardly can ignore. We are facing a real massacre committed by the Zionist jailers against our individual and collective rights, where we are confronted by torture and abuse on a daily basis, around the clock, in an attempt to force all of the hunger strikers to break the strike.

We are at a crucial and dangerous stage, and inspired by our hunger and our pain, speak to your conscience and affirm the following:

First, we will continue our strike. We will not go back, except by achieving our demands. We will not be defeated by their crimes and cruelty as we draft a vision for a decent life.

Second, we will take qualitative and unprecedented steps if the Prison Service continues to refuse our demands, and we will not announce these steps until the moment of implementation.

Third, we call on the masses of our people in the beseiged Gaza Strip, the brave West Bank and all of Palestine, and our families at home, to organize mass rallies and marches toward Israeli checkpoints in order to confront the occupation.

Fourth, we expect our Arab brothers and sisters in Egypt and Jordan to encircle the embassies of the Zionist entity in order to force it to respond to our demands.

Fifth, we call upon the free people of the world and the Arab and Muslim communities in all countries of the world to implement rallies, protests, occupations and sit-ins at Israeli embassies as an expression of solidarity with the prisoners’ cause and to expose the crimes of the Zionists.

Sixth, we value highly the reporting of Palestinian and Arab satellite channels in their coverage of our strike, including Al-Jazeera, that is consistent with the pulse of our nation and its identity, as well as al-Aqsa TV, al-Quds TV, and call upon the Arab and Palestinian media to exercise their duty to our just and humanitariian cause.

Seventh, we are looking forward to an important and active Egyptian role in support of our cause and we appeal to the ruling power in sister Egypt to do all in its power to compel the Zionist entity to commit to our demands, including ending the policy of solitary confinement and isolation and the abolition of the “Shalit law.”

Finally, We swear to continue to strike until our demands are met, no matter what the cost. We believe in our right to a dignified life even if we fall as martyrs. Our dignity is the greatest cost; we are committed before God; we must live with dignity or die.

Higher National Leadership Committee of the Prisoners’ Struggle
April 28, 2012

Sa’adat: Hunger Strikers confident of victory, call for unity and support

The following letter was written by Ahmad Sa’adat from his isolation on the eighth day of the Karameh Hunger Strike, and smuggled out to the world. It calls for support for the hunger strike on Palestinian, Arab and international levels:

Dearest Umm Ghassan, and all my loved ones;

Ghassan, Amal, Iba, Loay, Sumoud, Yassar, and my whole family;

Do not worry, my health is much better than in the previous hunger strike, and I am confident it will remain so. Thank you for your continual support to my position in this hunger strike. As is the case in every strike, they took all of our electrical appliances, canteen, clothing…we only have left prison clothes, some change of underwear, pajamas, towels, soap and toothpaste.

All of us have lost about 5-7 kilograms in weight, but everyone is in good health and most importantly, high morale, and are determined to continue the strike. We are confident of victory, relying on the justice of our cause and our demands, and the support of the masses of our people, our nation, and the free world – individuals, organizations and institutions – standing, as always alongside our just struggle.

These demands include a number of legitimate human rights under international law, including abolition of solitary confinement as a dangerous form of torture with no security or legal justification and contrary to international humanitarian law and all international conventions that prohibit torture. We are also demanding an end to the prohibition of family visits to the prisoners from Gaza for more than seven years, as well as interference with family visitors from the West Bank under the pretext of ‘security reasons’, and demanding that such visits be allowed for extended as well as immediate family.

What we need from the masses of the people, political forces and institutions is to raise the voices and the call of our just demands of the prisoners with a unified voice, and not subject the cause of the prisoners to internal disputes or the management of division.

This strike includes participation from all political forces and factions, without exception, and the best gift from the political forces supporting us is to implement agreements for unity, on which the ink is not yet dry. Such unity is an essential foundation, the most important pillar to achieve our just national goals.

In conclusion, I salute and thank all of the Palestinian, Arab and international forces standing beside our just struggle.

Forward to victory!

Ahmad Sa’adat
April 24, 2012
Eighth day of hunger strike

Wife of isolated captive Abbas al-Sayyed expresses fear for his life

TULKAREM, (PIC)– Mrs. Ikhlas al-Sweis, wife of isolated prisoner Abbas al-Sayyed, expressed great fears for her husband’s life because he joined the hunger strike while he is in very bad health specially after being beaten unconscious, a few weeks ago, by occupation soldiers in Jalbo’ prison causing him serious injuries.

Al-Sweis told the PIC correspondent: that Sayyed was still suffering from injuries sustained in three assaults on him by Israeli occupation soldiers during in the course of last month because he refused to give samples for DNA testing.

She stressed that Sayyed joined the hunger strike on 18 April, just one day after a mass hunger strike was declared by the prisoners, because he did not know that the strike started except when a lawyer visited him on 18 April, when he immediately declared his hunger strike.

She added that the prison administration punished him by confiscating electric equipment from his cell including his television and radio sets.

Abbas al-Sayyed is serving 36-life sentences plus 200 years accused of helping Abdel-Basit odeh to carry out an attack against occupation in 2002.

Gaza: Ex-Detainee Fahmi Abu Salah in ICU after 7 days of hunger strike for solidarity with his sons

GAZA, (PIC)– Medical sources said on Saturday that the ex-detainee Assaad Fahmi Abu Salah, 50, was transferred to intensive care in Beit Hanoun hospital, north of the Gaza Strip, after his health deteriorated due to his open hunger strike in solidarity with his detained sons.

Abdullah Kandil, the spokesman of Waad association for free detainees, affirmed, in an exclusive statement to PIC, that Abu Salah was transferred yesterday evening to hospital after his health deteriorated because of his hunger strike in solidarity with his sons, his brother, and his brother’s son.

He pointed out that the ex-detainee, who had participated in many activities in solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners, has many health problems.

The PIC had met previously the ex-detainee Abu Salah in a solidarity activity last Thursday where he said “I have four of my relatives in the occupation prisons, and I will continue the hunger strike until their release”.

Abu Salah expressed deep concern about his relatives, saying that the prisoners’ families have no idea about their sons’ conditions.

He condemned the Arab and Muslim world’s passive position towards the prisoners’ issue, calling for more support for the prisoners’ just demands.