The occupation military forces attacked a demonstration on Thursday, April 26 outside Ofer prison near Ramallah, calling for freedom for Palestinian prisoners and solidarity with hunger strikers, in which dozens were overcome by tear gas.
The Democratic Pole at Bir Zeit University called for the protest, which was also attended by family members and supporters of the prisoners, including the family of hunger striker Thaer Halahleh, who has been on hunger strike for 60 days protesting his administrative detention, Wafa Abu Ghoulmeh, the wife of isolated Palestinian hunger striker and member of the hunger strike leadership committee Ahed Abu Ghoulmeh and Abla Sa’adat, the wife of imprisoned Palestinian leader Ahmad Sa’adat.
The occupation soldiers fired rubber-coated metal bullets and tear gas canisters directly at demonstrators, wounding four and producing dozens of cases of severe asphyxia.
The Bir Zeit students marched to Ofer prison to coincide with 150 prisoners joining the open-ended hunger strike inside the prison. Abdullah Abu Rahma, a leader of the popular resistance in Bil’in was himself arrested by occupation forces after insisting on his right to remain and protest in solidarity with those behind the bars of the occupation’s prisons.
Ayman Karajeh of Addameer reported that this was another example of the escalation of Israeli occupation attacks against the prisoners since the beginning of the strike, including transferring prisoners from one prison to another, cutting off water and electricity, imposing fines, transferring leaders into isolation or disappearance. Karajeh reported that family and lawyer visits had been barred to many hunger strikers, as well as the withdrawal of salt from prisoners’ cells, and the refusal of the Prison Service to provide health care.
He emphasized that the withdrawal of salt is extremely serious, as salt supports the maintenance of life while on hunger strike, saying that this is contrary to international law and even the Israeli Prison Service’s own regulations in an attempt to force prisoners to break the strike.
The Palestine Information Centre reported that the Israeli prison service (IPS) has organized summary trials for dozens of Palestinian prisoners as a penal measure for going on hunger strike, prisoners told the PIC on Thursday.
They said that many prisoners were punished by visit deprivation, fines, and canteen denial in those trials, which took place over the past few days.
They pointed out that the IPS imposed an undeclared curfew on the prisoners and completely isolated them from the outside world, as they were deprived of visitation and the daily stroll outside their cells.
For its part, the Ahrar center for human rights said that the IPS moved 165 prisoners from Megiddo jail to Gilboa and Shatta prisons including 140 affiliated with Hamas and 25 with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
It said that the prisoners had gone on hunger strike on 22 April and were jammed into small cells, each nine inmates crammed in a room made for six.
IMEMC reported that Palestinian political detainee, Bilal Thiab, sent a letter from his hospital bed at the Ramla Israeli Prison hospital that lacks adequate supplies and equipment, stating that he is persistent and determined to continue his hunger-strike until death or until he is released.
“I swear to almighty God that I will continue this battle, the battle of dignity, freedom and pride until I break my shackles with will and faith, it is either freedom or martyrdom”, Thiab said, “I am sending you this message from my cell at the prison hospital, while intense pain and weakness invade my body, not from hunger but from the cruelty of my jailor”.
“Despite the tiredness and the pain, I receive my patience and determination from those who stand in solidarity with me, and I am telling you now, the time has come to break this savage occupation”, He added, “Detainees Khader Adnan and Hana’ Ash-Shalabi who won their battle of empty bowels paved the road for me, to walk the path of pride and dignity, and we will all walk this path until victory and freedom”.
On Friday, Thiab entered his sixtieth day of ongoing hunger-strike demanding to be released. Several hunger-striking detainees were moved to hospital but refused to break their strike. Thiab is from Kufr Ra’ey village, near the northern West Bank city of Jenin.
Also on Friday detainee, Tha’er Halahla, entered his 59th day of hunger-strike at the Ramla Prison Hospital; prison doctors warned Thursday that his body is losing its immune system and his organs might be failing.
There are more than 4,600 Arab political prisoners held by Israel according to latest figures published by the Ad-Dameer Prisoner Support Association on April 17 – Palestinian Prisoners Day.
The vast majority are from the West Bank, while approximately 475 are from the Gaza Strip, and 360 are from occupied East Jerusalem and the 1948 territories.
Israel is still holding captive six women, 183 children, and 27 democratically-elected Palestinian legislators, including Marwan Barghouthi who was sentenced to more than five life-terms, legislator Jamal Terawi, who was sentenced to 30 years, and Ahmad Sa’adat who was sentenced to 30 years.
In addition, 24 legislators are currently being held under Administrative Detention orders without charges.
120 Palestinian detainees have been imprisoned since before the first Oslo peace agreement was signed between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization in 1993; 23 of them have been imprisoned for more than 25 years.
Palestinian hunger striking prisoner and national leader Ahmad Sa’adat, the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said in a letter smuggled from isolation that “all prisoners in the occupation jails have high morale despite their loss of weight and are determined to continue their hunger strike, confident of victory and the importance of their demands and their cause. He called for the masses of the Palestinian people, the Arab nation and all progressive forces, individuals, and institutions around the world to do their utmost to support the prisoners’ struggle.”
Sa’adat’s letter said that the demands of the prisoners are for their legitimate rights, chief among them abolition of solitary confinement as a cruel form of torture, utterly unjustified and contrary to international conventions against torture, ending the policy of preventing family visits to prisoners from Gaza, as well as the need to expand family visits to all relatives.
Sa’adat noted that the occupation forces had confiscated all electrical appliances, additional clothing and access to the canteen, as well as repeatedly inspecting prisoners’ cells, with the goals of provoking exhausted prisoners and putting pressure on thm to end the strike.
He noted that the strike involves all Palestinian factions, parties and political forces and reflected true national unity on the ground.
Palestinian prisoners reported that fellow prisoners in Mejiddo prison have been beaten violently by Israeli occupation prison guards in retaliation for their hunger strike, including Hassan Fatafteh, Thabet Nassar, and Fadah Zogheibi of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. This was reported by the Palestinian Prisoners Committee. This is another example of the ongoing repression against hunger striking prisoners, who have been placed in isolation and solitary confinment and repeatedly transferred.
This report comes just 2 days after another prisoner, Palestinian detainee Mohammed Ermaila survived an assassination attempt at the hands of Israeli prison guards in Megiddo jail, the Palestinian prisoner’s association said.
It said that Ermaila, 40, was suffering from severe pain in the head and blurred vision in addition to dizziness and fainting after the assault on him inside his cell in Megiddo before transferring him to Ofer jail.
A lawyer for the association met Ermaila, who hails from Jenin, in his Ofer jail and quoted him as saying that the Israeli guards woke him up and beat him on his head and tried to suffocate him and only left him when he lost consciousness as they believed he was dead.
He said that Ermaila was carried to a hospital in Afula where he remained unconscious for 48 hours. He was returned to jail as soon as he regained consciousness. A CT scan of his head showed that his skull was broken in the assault. Ermaila has been in administrative custody since October last year.
Activists in Seattle, with Voices of Palestine, organized a demonstration on April 21 in solidarity with Palestinian political prisoners on hunger strike, calling for their freedom. Banners calling for freedom for all Palestinian prisoners and the boycott of Israeli goods were carried on the streets of Seattle, raising awareness about Palestinian prisoners’ struggle.
Ramallah – Khader Adnan defied everything related to the Israeli occupation, its prisons, and jailers. He rose up against interrogators and informants, and against all kinds of intimidation and humiliation. He put his body on the line with a 66-day hunger strike until the occupation relented. Adnan spoke to Al-Akhbar about the details of his historic hunger strike.
Fadi Abu Saada: Why did you decide to go on the hunger strike the day of your arrest?
Khader Adnan: I decided to go on a hunger strike based on four main reasons. The first reason concerns the period before I was detained. There were several failed attempts to arrest me through requests by the Israeli secret service calling for a meeting. But I refused. Being humiliated and having to see Israel flexing its muscles does not disturb me at all.
The second reason concerned being abused during my arrest, including when the jailers assaulted me physically.
The third is the type and methods of interrogation.
The fourth and last reason is my repeated administrative detention without reason. My rejection of administrative detention complements my rejection of the occupation itself and my search for dignity which was stolen from us by the Israelis.
FAS:What is administrative detention?
KA: I believe Britain is responsible for this type of detention and its idea. It comes from the British mandate in Palestine. They used to call it the “emergency regulations.”
This type of detention starts with a letter from the intelligence officer in a particular region. He would send it to the region’s military commander requesting the arrest of a particular person based on “secret information” that cannot be divulged. In other words, it is “information received from a collaborator with the occupation.”
This type of detention can be renewed several times. In the case of brothers Mohammad Jaradat, Usama Barham, and martyr Ayman Daraghmeh, it was up to five or six years. Renewal is like a hammer hanging over the heads of the detainee and his family. The psychological torture has no equivalent and the worst thing is that the detainee and his family know that there will be no specific date for his release.
FAS: How did you spend your day during the hunger strike?
KA: I did not just stop eating. I also took a vow of silence for more than 20 days and refused to bathe for 65 days.
I prayed a lot and read the Koran when I was able to get a copy. I never slept during the day. People thought that was strange, but I preferred to sleep at night and wake up for morning prayers.
The daily search was always “amusing” because I used to confront the jailers who conducted the search.
FAS: How did they try to break your will and pressure you to end the hunger strike?
KA: They basically tried this by transferring me from one Israeli hospital to another for tests. First they took me to Ramleh hospital, then to “Tal al-Rabi” in Tel Aviv, then to occupied Jerusalem, then Safad, then the isolation in Ramleh again. It was very exhausting.
Then they turned the hospitals where they took me into courts for my case.
The main method they used was isolating me from the outside world and assigning three or four jailers in my room to pressure me.
They deliberately tied one of my hands and one of my feet for hours, even when I had to use the bathroom. They said it was so I would not escape, even though there is no window or exit anywhere.
The occupation soldiers tried to provoke me by turning my confinement cell into a “restaurant” full of all kinds of food that one might crave.
They tried to break my will but I was stronger, thank God.
FAS: What about threats to your family and friends?
KA: True, a secret service officer came to me and told me, “Say hello to your father.” He had said the same thing when they came to arrest me once. They threatened to arrest all my family and friends and actually arrested four of my friends from my town, Arrabeh, a few days before my release.
The best example is what happened with the Mufti of Jerusalem Mohammed Hussein who mentioned me in his Friday sermon at al-Aqsa mosque.
The Israeli government responded by starting a felony case against him, as if he was a criminal, just because he spoke about me.
FAS: What do you say to the 2,000 detainees who followed your path and are now in their second week of a hunger strike?
KA: I tell them, go forth under the grace of God for you shall be victorious. You named it the “battle of dignity,” so do not fail your families or the remaining prisoners. Continue until you are granted your demands.
A hunger strike is a matter of destiny and it is of utmost importance. We ask God to grant us victory.
I conclude my message by saying, do not drop the banner of the eight knights, especially Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahla. They have been on a hunger strike in detention for 58 days, continuing the battle of Sheikh Khader, Hana Shalabi, and the others.
This article is an edited translation from the Arabic Edition.
“It’s Right to Rebel: resisting criminalization of people’s struggles at home and abroad” was held on Sunday, April 15, in East Vancouver. The forum was organized by the Alliance for People’s Health, Canada-Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights, Samidoun – Palestinian Prisoner Network, and the International League of People’s Struggles – Canada. It is a part of a cross country discussion, organized by the ILPS – Canada, to develop a campaign against terrorist designations and criminalization people’s struggles.
CLICK ON THE NAMES TO JUMP TO THEIR PRESENTATIONS
The forum was opened by Angie Ipongwho read a powerful poem based on her experiences of more than 20 years working with peasant and Indigenous struggles in the Philippines including six years as a political prisoner.
The first speaker at the forum was Dr. Merry Mia-Clamor, one of the Morong 43 political prisoners held by the Philippine military for 10 months in 2010 on trumped up charges. She spoke about how activists in popular mass struggles in the Philippines have been targeted and criminalized in the Philippines, tagged as members of the New People’s Army, and subjected to torture, disappearance and extrajudicial killings.
Gord Hill, a Vancouver based activist and author of the 500 Years of Resistance comic book, talked about the use of criminalization as a strategy of the Canadian colonial state to delegitimize people’s struggles. He spoke about the Ipperwash, Oka and Gustafsen Lake land reclamations and the attempts of the RCMP to label these Indigenous land struggles as being carried out by ‘criminal elements’.
Jose Figueroa spoke about his experience of being targeted for deportation because of his involvement with FMLN anti-dictatorship activities in El Salvador. Jose talked about his own experience as an example how immigrants and refugees can be criminalized for their association with popular and mass based people’s struggles for social justice
Charlotte Kates, a member of the Boycott Israeli Apartheid Campaign and Samidoun Palestinian Prisoners Network, spoke next. Charlotte spoke to the Palestinian experience of mass incarceration by the Israeli Occupation of leaders, supporters and activists linked to all Palestinian resistance movements.
Steve da Silva, Vice-Chairperson of ILPS – Canada, introduced the motivation for the Right to Rebel campaign and gave an overview of the campaign document. Steve put the campaign in the context of Canada’s role as an imperialist power and presented a timeline for the development of the ILPS Right to Rebel campaign.
In the discussion following the presentations speakers and participants shared ideas for strategies to challenge the Canadian terrorist list and criminalization of people’s struggles.
Activists in Vancouver with the Alliance for People’s Health, the International League of People’s Struggle, the Boycott Israeli Apartheid Campaign and Canada Palestine Association picketed the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on April 17, Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, calling for freedom for Palestinian prisoners and support for their ongoing hunger strike.
Around 1200 Palestinian prisoners started a mass hunger strike last week in protest against a range of issues including administrative detention. This has risen to an estimated 2,000 prisoners, according to Addameer.
The Israeli Prison Service (IPS) has escalated its punishments of hunger striking prisoners including confiscation of personal belongings prison transfers and the use of solitary confinement and denial of family and lawyer visits. Addameer lawyers have been denied access to all hunger striking prisoners, who are also being denied salt for their water in Ashkelon and Nafha prisons, raising serious health concerns.
Female prisoner Lina Jarbouni also declared an open hunger strike on 19 April and was taken to solitary confinement on the same day.
The number of Palestinians held in administrative detention has risen steadily over the last eighteen months; the Palestinian prisoners group Addameer states that there are an estimated 322 prisoners held without charge.
The occupation military forces attacked a demonstration on Thursday, April 26 outside Ofer prison near Ramallah, calling for freedom for Palestinian prisoners and solidarity with hunger strikers, in which dozens were overcome by tear gas.
Khader Adnan to Hunger Strikers: Go Forth and Be Victorious
Published in Al-Akhbar Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Ramallah – Khader Adnan defied everything related to the Israeli occupation, its prisons, and jailers. He rose up against interrogators and informants, and against all kinds of intimidation and humiliation. He put his body on the line with a 66-day hunger strike until the occupation relented. Adnan spoke to Al-Akhbar about the details of his historic hunger strike.
Fadi Abu Saada: Why did you decide to go on the hunger strike the day of your arrest?
Khader Adnan: I decided to go on a hunger strike based on four main reasons. The first reason concerns the period before I was detained. There were several failed attempts to arrest me through requests by the Israeli secret service calling for a meeting. But I refused. Being humiliated and having to see Israel flexing its muscles does not disturb me at all.
The second reason concerned being abused during my arrest, including when the jailers assaulted me physically.
The third is the type and methods of interrogation.
The fourth and last reason is my repeated administrative detention without reason. My rejection of administrative detention complements my rejection of the occupation itself and my search for dignity which was stolen from us by the Israelis.
FAS:What is administrative detention?
KA: I believe Britain is responsible for this type of detention and its idea. It comes from the British mandate in Palestine. They used to call it the “emergency regulations.”
This type of detention starts with a letter from the intelligence officer in a particular region. He would send it to the region’s military commander requesting the arrest of a particular person based on “secret information” that cannot be divulged. In other words, it is “information received from a collaborator with the occupation.”
This type of detention can be renewed several times. In the case of brothers Mohammad Jaradat, Usama Barham, and martyr Ayman Daraghmeh, it was up to five or six years. Renewal is like a hammer hanging over the heads of the detainee and his family. The psychological torture has no equivalent and the worst thing is that the detainee and his family know that there will be no specific date for his release.
FAS: How did you spend your day during the hunger strike?
KA: I did not just stop eating. I also took a vow of silence for more than 20 days and refused to bathe for 65 days.
I prayed a lot and read the Koran when I was able to get a copy. I never slept during the day. People thought that was strange, but I preferred to sleep at night and wake up for morning prayers.
The daily search was always “amusing” because I used to confront the jailers who conducted the search.
FAS: How did they try to break your will and pressure you to end the hunger strike?
KA: They basically tried this by transferring me from one Israeli hospital to another for tests. First they took me to Ramleh hospital, then to “Tal al-Rabi” in Tel Aviv, then to occupied Jerusalem, then Safad, then the isolation in Ramleh again. It was very exhausting.
Then they turned the hospitals where they took me into courts for my case.
The main method they used was isolating me from the outside world and assigning three or four jailers in my room to pressure me.
They deliberately tied one of my hands and one of my feet for hours, even when I had to use the bathroom. They said it was so I would not escape, even though there is no window or exit anywhere.
The occupation soldiers tried to provoke me by turning my confinement cell into a “restaurant” full of all kinds of food that one might crave.
They tried to break my will but I was stronger, thank God.
FAS: What about threats to your family and friends?
The best example is what happened with the Mufti of Jerusalem Mohammed Hussein who mentioned me in his Friday sermon at al-Aqsa mosque.
The Israeli government responded by starting a felony case against him, as if he was a criminal, just because he spoke about me.
FAS: What do you say to the 2,000 detainees who followed your path and are now in their second week of a hunger strike?
KA: I tell them, go forth under the grace of God for you shall be victorious. You named it the “battle of dignity,” so do not fail your families or the remaining prisoners. Continue until you are granted your demands.
A hunger strike is a matter of destiny and it is of utmost importance. We ask God to grant us victory.
I conclude my message by saying, do not drop the banner of the eight knights, especially Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahla. They have been on a hunger strike in detention for 58 days, continuing the battle of Sheikh Khader, Hana Shalabi, and the others.
This article is an edited translation from the Arabic Edition.