Dublin, April 17: Lunchtime Demo: Palestinian Prisoners Day – End EU Facilitation of Israeli Apartheid

17 April 2012

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

Athens, April 17: Protest in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners

17 April 2012

There is a protest April 17, 2012 at the Israeli Embassy in Athens, Greece at 6:30 in solidarity with the Karama Hunger Strike and the Palestinian prisoners.

New infographic on Palestinian political prisoners by Michal Vexler

17 April 2012

972mag is featuring an excellent, useful and creative infographic on Palestinian prisoners by designer and activist Michal Vexler.

Click here for full version!

Students occupy BBC for Palestinian Prisoners on hunger strike!

17 April 2012

From We Are All Hana Shalabi:

Over 40 protesters have occupied the Headquarters of BBC Scotland in Glasgow, demanding mainstream media coverage for the 2,400 Palestinian prisoners who began hunger strikes today. These actions mark a development from the ongoing hunger strikes which have been taking place since December. Currently, the individuals who have been on hunger strike longest are Thae’r Halahi and Bilal Diab, both of whom are currently on their 50th day without food. This protest is organised to challenge the BBC’s continued silence around this recent escalation of Palestinian resistance – it’s refusal to report any of the actions that have lead to this decision by 2,400 Palestinians calls into question it’s impartiality.

The demonstrators entered the building before midday and are currently holding the main lobby, chanting “BBC Shame on you, put the prisoners on the news” and “Hunger Strikers will not bow, free the political prisoners now”.

A demonstration has been called in Glasgow for Palestinian Prisoners Day, which will rally at George Square at 6pm before marching to the BBC offices in Glasgow. The demonstration will call upon the UK media to acknowledge the Karamah strike and the plight of Palestinian prisoners. During the hungers strikes taken by Khader Adnan and Hana Shalabi, the BBC refrained to comment amidst international concern for those on hunger strike, choosing only to publish stories after both prisoners had been offered deals from Israel for their release.

The actions today take place two days after thousands of international activists attempted to fly into Ben Gurion airport demanding the right to travel to the West Bank on invitation of the Mayor of Bethlehem. There are currently around 50 activists being held in detention, including four Scottish nationals, who are refusing food and water in solidarity with the Karamah Hunger Strike.

The demonstrations around the issue of the hunger strikers are being organised by student Palestine societies in Scotland, with the support of various organisations, uniting under the banner of ‘We Are All Hana Shalabi’.

On Saturday 24th March, over 500 people marched from George Square to the BBC Scotland HQ in Glasgow (link for pictures below) demanding that they cover stories about Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike. Today, demonstrations have been called across Scotland in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Many of those marching have been participating in a global hunger strike from 7am to 7pm.

One of the occupiers said, “The Karamah Hunger Strike represents a potentially significant moment in the history of the Palestinian struggle. The fact that 2400 Palestinian prisoners are on hunger strike against the apartheid policies of the Israeli occupation shows the desire of Palestinians to have their freedom from prison, and freedom from occupation. The BBC is complicit through their silence of the ongoing situation in Palestine, and we are occupying today to highlight that the magnitude of this issue and this injustice demands that the media cover it.”

Photos from the demonstration:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/76452104@N05/

Palestinian civil society and human rights organisations mark Palestinian Prisoners’ Day with call for action against Israeli prison contractor G4S

17 April 2012

Joint Statement

Today, on Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, we the undersigned Palestinian civil society and human rights organisations salute all Palestinian political prisoners, especially those engaging in brave civil disobedience through ongoing hunger strikes in protest to the ongoing violations of human rights and international law. Emphasizing imprisonment as a critical component of Israel’s system of occupation, colonialism and apartheid practiced against the Palestinian people, we call for intensifying the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign to target corporations profiting directly from the Israeli prison system. In particular, we call for action to be taken to hold to account G4S, the world’s largest international security corporation, which helps to maintain and profit from Israel’s prison system [1], for its complicity with Israeli violations of international law.

Imprisonment of Palestinians is a form of Israeli institutionalized violence encompassing all stages of the incarceration process. Palestinian political prisoners face systematic torture and ill-treatment during their arrest and detention at the hands of the Israeli military and are frequently and unjustifiably denied family and lawyer visits. Wide-ranging and collective punishments, including prolonged periods of isolation, attacks on prisoners by special military forces and denying access to education are used against Palestinian prisoners in an attempt to suppress any form of civil disobedience within the prisons. As of April 2012, there were 4,610 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons, including 203 child prisoners, 6 female prisoners and 27 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council. 322 Palestinians are currently held in administrative detention, without charge or trial.[2]

The severity of injustice and abuse suffered by Palestinian political prisoners has been the drive for many prisoners to begin hunger strikes at different intervals in protest against harsh prison conditions, torture and ill treatment and Israel’s arbitrary use of administrative detention. While the recent hunger strikes of Khader Adnan, who ended his hunger strike after 66 days, and Hana Shalabi, who ended her hunger strike after 43 days, resulted in individual agreements, Israel and the Israeli Prison Service’s policies therein remain unchanged and are now aimed at containing the hungers strikers through punitive measures as well as cutting off their contact with lawyers and family. Today, an estimate of over 1,000 Palestinian political prisoners are reported to have joined in an open hunger strike in addition to at least 8 others already engaged in an open hunger strike, including Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahleh, on hunger strike since 29 February 2012.

In light of this increasing campaign of civil disobedience from within the prisons, we demand accountability for all corporations that both enable and directly profit from Israel’s continued violations of Palestinian prisoners’ rights being committed with impunity. Specifically, we call for action to hold to account G4S, the British-Danish security company whose Israeli subsidiary signed a contract in 2007 with the Israeli Prison Authority to provide security systems for major Israeli prisons.[3] G4S provided systems for the Ketziot and Megiddo prisons, which hold Palestinian political prisoners from occupied Palestinian territory inside Israel in contravention of international law.[4] The company also provided equipment for Ofer prison, located in the occupied West Bank, and for Kishon and Moskobiyyeh detention facilities, at which human rights organisations have documented systematic torture and ill-treatment of Palestinian prisoners, including child prisoners.[5] G4S continues to provide equipment to Israeli prisons.[6]

Moreover, G4S is involved in other aspects of the Israeli apartheid and occupation regime: it has provided equipment and services to Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank that form part of the route of Israel’s illegal Wall and to the terminals isolating the occupied territory of Gaza. G4S has also signed contracts for equipment and services for the West Bank Israeli Police headquarters and to private businesses based in illegal Israeli settlements.[7] A panel of legal experts concluded that G4S may be criminally liable for its activities in support of Israel’s illegal Wall and other violations of international law.[8]

We welcome the news that the European Union has announced that it has not renewed its contract for security services with G4S [9] following pressure from groups campaigning for Palestinian rights, and salute the previous decision of the Edinburgh University Student Association to block its contract with G4S.[10] We call upon other public and civil society institutions and also on private companies to follow suit and end their relationships with this company that acts in service of Israeli apartheid and other violations of international law. We demand that the Palestinian leadership bans G4S from private and public tenders, and ask for the strict application of the boycott legislation in the Arab world against companies cooperating with the Israeli prison system.

We also note that G4S is being actively opposed by other civil society groups elsewhere in the world for its role in controversial deportation and imprisonment regimes, abuse of workers rights, violations of universal human rights standards and its involvement in the privatisation of public services. Let us work together to expose not only G4S, but also the roles of imprisonment and private security companies as political tools to silence and intimidate communities all over the world.

Amid hunger strikes and the highly publicized prisoner exchange deal in October, Palestinian prisoners’ issues have gained recent attention in international spheres. However, despite this increased focus and the criticisms of these practices by United Nations bodies, there has been no institutional changes made by Israel in regard to the human rights violations being committed against Palestinian political prisoners and detainees.[11] In an attempt to counter Israel’s unwillingness to change its policies and the lack of accountability for its countless human rights violations, alternative measures such as preventing participation by companies such as the G4S proves to be one of the few remaining effective steps towards pressuring Israel to comply with international law. It is time overdue to break this chain of international complicity.

[1] http://www.whoprofits.org/articlefiles/WhoProfits-PrivateSecurity-G4S.pdf
[2] http://www.addameer.org/files/Brochures/addameer-palestinian-political-prisoners-brochure-2010.pdf
[3] http://www.whoprofits.org/articlefiles/WhoProfits-PrivateSecurity-G4S.pdf, p.7
[4] Article 77 of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits the transfer of prisoners from occupied territory to the occupying country.
[5] http://www.whoprofits.org/articlefiles/WhoProfits-PrivateSecurity-G4S.pdf, p14-15
[6] http://corporateoccupation.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/targeting-israeli-apartheid-jan-2012.pdf, p.135
[7] Ibid.
[8] http://www.russelltribunalonpalestine.com/en/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/RTOP-London-Session-Findings.pdf, p.18
[9] http://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:118611-2012:TEXT:EN:HTML&tabId=1 (registration required)
[10] http://www.bdsmovement.net/2011/edinburgh-university-students-vote-to-ban-g4s-8279
[11] Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Israel, CERD/C/ISR/CO/14-16, 9 March 2012; Concluding Observations of the Human Rights Committee, Israel CCPR/C/ISR/CO/3; Concluding Observations of the UN Committee against Torture, Israel, CAT/C/ISR/CO/4,14 May 2009; See “Statement by Robert Serry UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process on Palestinian Prisoners, 10 February 2012; “Statement by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967,” 20 February 2012.

Addameer Prisoners’ Support and Human Rights Association Sahar Francis General Director	Aldameer Association for Human Rights Khalil Abu Shammala General Director
The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) Ismat Quzma Coordinator	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
The Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network Allam Jarrar Steering Committee Member Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling Maha Abu Dayyeh General Director	The Grassroots Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign Jamal Jum’a Coordinator