To mark Palestinian Prisoners’ Day 2012, on Tuesday 17th April from 1-2pm the IPSC will be holding a symbolic lunchtime demonstration outside EU House, Molesworth Street (Dublin 2) to highlight the European Union’s ongoing facilitation of Israel’s apartheid policies and war crimes – including the imprisonment of over 4,400 political prisoners.
Of these prisoners, over 300 have been interned without facing charge or trial under the Administrative Detention regime. Recently, two high profile successful hunger strikes by prisoners Khader Adnan and Hana Shalabi have brought this issue a great amount of coverage. Several other prisoners are also currently on hunger strike, and it has been annoucned that some 1,600 mopre are due to embark on an open ended hunger strike on April 17th to coincide with Prisoners’ Day.
Following the demo, activists will move to Grafton Street and conduct an information stall between 2.30 and 5.30pm, distributing information about Palestinian political prisoners.
– Why are we targetting the EU?
The EU is Israel’s biggest trading partner, and the Additional Protocol to the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement establishing an EC-Israel Association on an EC-Israel Agreement on Conformity Assessment and Acceptance of Industrial Products (ACAA) is currently being debated at the European Parliament and is likely to be adopted, thus increasing this trade.
We are calling on Irish MEPs in the EU Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade committees to vote ‘No’ to ACAA, and no vote in the plenary session of the European Parliament in June. Israeli apartheid must not be rewarded, it must be opposed by concrete actions by governments who declare they support human rights. Appeasing apartheid is simply not an option.
You can also take action on this by emailing all Irish MEPs here: http://www.ipsc.ie/press-releases/e-action-item-europea…ement
– Prisoners, Internment and Apartheid
Amnesty International says Israel uses Administrative Detention “to lock up Palestinian activists without charge or trial”. As Amnesty notes, these detention orders can be repeatedly renewed, “so in effect detainees can be held indefinitely. The process violates their right to a fair trial which is guaranteed by international law”.
However, Administrative Detention is only one aspect of the larger prison regime used by Israel to suppress Palestinian resistance to occupation and Apartheid. The vast majority of political prisoners are ‘convicted’ by non-jury Israeli Military Courts. These courts, biased from the outset, do not meet international fair trial standards. As Amnesty points out, Palestinians “continue to face a wide range of abuses of their right to a fair trial. They are routinely interrogated without a lawyer and, although they are civilians, are tried before military not ordinary courts”.
Furthermore, Amnesty says that ”consistent allegations of torture and other ill-treatment, including of children, were frequently reported. Among the most commonly cited methods were beatings, threats to the detainee or their family, sleep deprivation, and being subjected to painful stress positions for long periods. Confessions allegedly obtained under duress were accepted as evidence”. It is worth noting that Palestinians in the Occupied Territories are subject to Israeli military law, while Israel’s illegal settlers are governed by Israeli civil law – a clear example of Israel’s Apartheid system.
Since the beginning of the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967, over 650,000 Palestinians have been detained by Israel. This forms approximately 20% of the total Palestinian population in the Occupied Territories. Considering the fact that the majority of those detained are male, the number of Palestinians detained forms approximately 40% of the total male Palestinian population in the Occupied Territories – a truly staggering figure.
In turn, the brutal and repressive prison regime is only one aspect of the occupation of Palestine by Israel and its associated Apartheid regime. Indeed, when one considers the ongoing siege of Gaza and fragmentation of the West Bank, Palestine can be viewed as one large open air prison camp.
For more information about Palestinian political prisoners, please see the ADDAMEER website: http://www.addameer.org/
For more background to the EU and Israel, please see the relevant section of our website here: http://www.ipsc.ie/the-issues/the-eu-and-israel
GAZA (Alresalah.ps) — Confrontations erupted today Tuesday in Nafha jail between the IOF and Palestinian detainees, who refused to end their hunger-strike.
972mag is featuring an excellent, useful and creative infographic on Palestinian prisoners by designer and activist Michal Vexler.
Adri Nieuwhof:Amnesty joins global actions on Palestinian Prisoners’ Day with Twitter campaign
The following piece, by Adri Nieuwhof, was published April 17 at the Electronic Intifada:
Today, on the occasion of Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights has released the short documentary “Palestinians Behind Bars: Prisoners Without Human Rights.” The film addresses the inhuman and degrading treatment of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. It also highlights the human rights violations related to family visits and the Israeli abuse of administrative detention.
Palestinian Prisoners’ Day will be marked this year by the release Khader Adnan, if Israel keeps it promise. Palestinians in the occupied territory will welcome Khader Adnan, who this year went on a historic 66-day hunger strike, and attend marches and rallies in all the main towns and cities to remember the 4,700 Palestinian political prisoners being held by Israel.
Adnan’s hunger strike brought worldwide attention to Israel’s practice administrative detention — detention without charge or trial — and the ill-treatment of Palestinian political prisoners. “It is time the international community and the UN support prisoners and force the State of Israel to respect international human rights and stop treating prisoners as if they were not humans,” he declared. Almost 80 organizations responded to Khader Adnan’s outcry and supported the call to make 17 April, Palestinian prisoners day, a day of international action. I wrote in my blog about the worldwide events that will take place on Palestinian Prisoners’ Day.
Palestinian prisoners start mass hunger strike in Israeli jails
This year’s Prisoners’ Day will also be marked by the start of a massive indefinite hunger strike by around 1,600 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Prisoners from a number of different political currents have released a statement to announce the ‘Karameh’ (Dignity) Hunger Strike. The prisoners agreed to escalate the ongoing hunger strikes in order to achieve the human rights which Israel have denied prisoners for many long years. They will begin an indefinite hunger strike which means they will refuse all forms of food and liquid (with the exception of water) until their demands are met. The hunger strike has been initiated because it is the only tool that the Palestinian prisoners have left to achieve their rights. They aim to put pressure on the occupying government and to hold it responsible for the health of all prisoners. Palestinian prisoners are calling on free people across the world to do everything in their power to support them in their struggle for rights.
The demands of the Karameh Hunger Strike are:
1. An end to the policy of solitary confinement and isolation which has been used to deprive Palestinian prisoners of their rights for more than a decade.
2. To allow the families of prisoners from the Gaza Strip to visit prisoners. This right has been denied to all families for more than six years.
3. An improvement in the living conditions of prisoners and an end to the ‘Shalit’ law, which outlaws newspapers, learning materials and many TV channels.
4. An end to the the policies of humiliation which are suffered by prisoners and their families such as strip searches, nightly raids and collective punishment.
Amnesty International calls for action on Palestinian Prisoners Day
The international secretariat of Amnesty International has called on its sections around the world to join in a global Twitter campaign on the occasion of Prisoners’ Day and the expected release of Khader Adnan. Amnesty is concerned about the Israeli practice of administrative detention and the ill-treatment of detainees and prisoners who use hunger strike as a means to protest administrative detention. The Dutch section of Amnesty International wrote yesterday in an email that messages on Twitter concerning administrative detention have generated a lot of attention and responses from the Israeli authorities’ official Twitter accounts. They suggest to also “Tweet @ your TV station, newspaper, or other media outlets” and Israeli public figures.
Here are some suggested tweets and hashtags from Amnesty:
Amnesty International recommends to tweet statements and articles that are published on their website. The websites of The Electronic Intifada and Addameer also provide useful info.
Catherine Byrne developed social media avatars for supporters of Palestinian prisoners
Artist and activist Catherine Byrne developed social media avatars for supporters of Palestinian prisoners to use on their Twitter, Facebook and other social media profiles and pages, drawing attention to Palestinian prisoners’ cause. The avatars can be downloaded here.
Take action and make 17 April, the international day of actio nin support of the Palestinian political prisoners, a success. Support their call for freedom!