IMEMC – In an illegal attempt to force an end to her hunger-strike, the Israeli Prison Administration has placed detainee Lina al-Jarbouni, 37 years old, into solitary confinement at the Ramla Israeli prison.

Al-Jarbouni’s hunger-strike began on Tuesday, joining thousands of other Palestinian detainees on hunger strike. Her decision made her subject to constant harassment and abuse by her Israeli jailers in an attempt to force her break her strike.

Sources close to her family stated that soldiers of the “Nachshon” brigade, operating in Israeli prisons and detention camps, forced Lina into solitary confinement at the Ramla Prison after transferring her from the Ha-Sharon prison.

Lina al-Jarbouni is from Arabba al-Batouf village, near the Palestinian City of Akka (Akko – Acre), in the north of the country. She was born to a Palestinian family on January 11, 1974.

On April 18, 2002, al-Jarbouni was arrested and interrogated for more than 30 days at the al-Jalama interrogation facility where she was tortured and abused.

She was subsequently sentenced by an Israeli court to 17 years imprisonment for what Israel calls “contacting an enemy”, and “aiding a suicide bombing”. Israel refused to release al-Jarbouni during the Shalit Prison-Swap deal with the Palestinian resistance in Gaza.

There are more than 4,600 Arab political prisoners held by Israel according to the Ad-Dameer Prisoner Support Association who issued the latest figures 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 Israeli controlled 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.

RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — A human rights advocate said Wednesday that Palestinian women detained in Israel will join the mass hunger strike by refusing food for two days each week.

Ahmad al-Bitawi, a researcher for the International Solidarity Foundation for Human Rights, said Lina Al-Jarbouni was moved to solitary confinement in Ramla prison for refusing to stop her 9-day hunger-strike.

Last Tuesday, marking Palestinian Prisoners Day, at least 1,200 prisoners in Israeli jails launched an open-ended hunger strike.

They are demanding a change in their living conditions and an end to solitary confinement, night raids and bans on family visits for prisoners from Gaza.

Prison authorities offered female detainees to meet the hunger-strikers’ demands, but the women refused, insisting the administration make the same offer to all prisoners, al-Bitawi said.

The 2-day hunger-strike starting Wednesday in Hasharon prison will be followed by an open strike, al-Bitawi added.

There are eight women imprisoned in Israel, Bitawi said. Hebron university students Islam Hassan al-Bashiti, Fatima al-Zahra Mohamad Sidir and Afnan Ismael Ramadan were detained recently on suspicion of associations with the Islamic movement, he noted.

Five other women are imprisoned in Israel, he said, naming them as Lina al-Jarbouni, Woroud Qassem, Ala al-Jabah, Salwa Hassan and Inas Saed.

RAMALLAH, April 26, 2012 (WAFA) – The Israeli prison authorities have escalated its punishment of striking prisoners in an effort to force them to end their strike, a statement by Addameer, a Ramallah-based prisoners’ advocacy group, said on Thursday.

It said an estimated 2000 prisoners held in Israeli jails are currently on hunger strike, most started it on April 17, demanding an end to administrative detention, isolation and other punitive measures taken against Palestinian prisoners including the denial of family visits and access to university education.

“As during hunger strikes in the past, the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) has escalated its punishments of hunger striking prisoners in an effort to undermine the campaign,” said Addameer.

Methods of punishment currently being employed against hunger striking prisoners include attacks on prisoners’ sections; confiscation of personal belongings; transfers from one prison to another; placement in solitary confinement; fines; and denial of family and lawyer visits, it said.

According to the statement, 40 prisoners who began their hunger strike on Wednesday in Ofer prison near Ramallah were informed that they will be transferred to another section of the prison and will not be permitted to bring with them any personal belongings except clothes.

In Ashkelon prison, the 150 hunger strikers are experiencing daily raids and attacks on their rooms by Israeli special forces. In addition to all personal belongings being confiscated, the IPS also confiscated the hunger-striking prisoners’ only nourishment: salt for their water.

Addameer said several prisoners, including one female prisoner who joined the hunger strike, were immediately taken to solitary confinement.

It said that seven of the eight administrative detainees who went on hunger strike over a month ago have been transferred to Ramleh prison clinic following deterioration in their health.

Thaer Halahleh and Bilal Diab, whose appeals against their administrative detention orders were rejected by an Israeli military judge on Monday, are on their 58th day of hunger strike.

Hassan Safadi, on hunger strike for 53 days, also had his petition to the Israeli High Court against his administrative detention rejected on Tuesday.

Administrative detainees Omar Abu Shalal and Jaafar Azzedine are on their 50th and 35th days of hunger strike respectively.

Mohammad Taj, on his 40th day of hunger strike demanding to be treated as a prisoner of war, and Mahmoud Sarsak, on his 35th day of hunger strike in protest of being held under Israel’s Unlawful Combatants Law, have also been admitted to Ramleh prison clinic.

Abdullah Barghouti, held in isolation in Rimon prison, is on his 15th day of hunger strike.

Addameer said it was concerned about the health condition of these prisoners warning that they have not received adequate healthcare in the IPS medical center and that independent doctors were still being denied visits to them.

It said that despite the punitive measures being taken against hunger striking prisoners, the campaign of hunger strikes continues to grow.

M.S.