Please see below for Arabic text.
The case of the freedom fighter Khader Adnan reminds us of where the strength of the Palestinian people lies. This is the strength that was squandered and dissipated in the Oslo process and the pursuit of a state at the expense of national liberation.
With his historic hunger strike and his heroic resolve in his fight against the occupying state, Adnan has reaffirmed an important principle of resistance to colonialist regimes: when the people, or individuals, who are their victims remain resolute, the world will react. Sympathy turns into solidarity, and that in turn can nurture a growing movement of support for the struggle which is capable of shaking the foundations of the colonialist system.
His case has also confirmed the fact that the colonizer’s agencies can never protect its victim. Its project can only be defeated by breaking the dominance of those agencies and the rules they enforce.
Adnan’s battle for life and dignity is a model to be emulated in the Palestinian liberation struggle. It has lessons to offer the participants in that struggle, including prisoners and international solidarity activists, on how their work can be integrated.
Adnan seized the initiative and declared an open-ended hunger strike to protest against his imprisonment under an administrative detention order. His aim was clear: to defy both the order and the Israeli system of oppression. He also was seeking to serve notice that Palestinians refuse to accept the treatment meted out to them by the occupation authorities.
The campaign he triggered illustrated how the components of popular struggle can be brought together. Inspired by the prisoner’s determination, Palestinians in the 1948 territories responded quickly. A popular media and mobilization campaign was rapidly launched, both locally and internationally. A variety of youth and other grassroots organizations became immediately involved, as did prisoners’ families and political groups.
This activism soon spread to the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Jerusalem. It also spread among the Palestinian diaspora and spawned a formidable worldwide movement.
Prisoners in Israeli jails also launched a campaign to champion, support, and share the responsibility with Adnan. They adopted the principles of organized collective escalation, which began by rejecting meals and refusing to receive supplies (the prison authorities responded by closing off the open-air courtyards and preventing the prisoners from leaving their cells). Growing numbers also declared open-ended hunger strikes.
The prisoners knew that their battle was not with the prison authorities per se, but the occupation state as a system, with all its extensions and institutions. But the prison authorities were the weak link within the security apparatus on which pressure could be applied. The prisoners thus sent a message to the government of Israel that Adnan speaks for them all and warned of the consequences of endangering his life.
The prison authorities in turn urged the government to resolve Adnan’s case as quickly as possible in order to forestall the growing unrest among the prisoners. In effect, the prisoners’ message was received.
The Israeli security apparatus was extremely worried when the hunger strike continued and Adnan’s condition became critical. They were not concerned for his life, but feared his death could help trigger a new Palestinian intifada, including in the 1948 territories.
The strategy of rapid multi-faceted action proved its effectiveness. In addition to Palestinian action, a major and influential role was played by international solidarity movements. This pressure, coupled with fear of what would happen if there was an explosion of Palestinian anger, prompted even the US and European countries to make statements in the last few days of the hunger strike against the administrative detention of Adnan.
Solidarity and Empowerment
One of the major strengths of the campaign to support Adnan was that it told his personal human story, as well as of his life in politics and his struggle, in a manner that successfully conveyed both his suffering and his resolve. Adnan’s story also embodied the essence of the Palestinians’ experience and their quest for their rights and freedom, and serve to expose Israel’s essence for what it really is.
This was more effective at moving people than mere facts and figures – important as they are – could have been. The main part in the drama was played by the prisoner himself. Adnan family, wife, father, and children also played heroic roles.
This battle highlighted the bankruptcy of the discourse of “moderation” which Israel and the US have foisted on the official Palestinian leadership. This moderate stance claims that if we Palestinians wish to secure international support, we must adopt a moderate posture. In practice, this means voluntarily accepting the oppressive controls imposed by the globalized terror of the state. “Moderation” here means abandoning the right to resist the occupying state.
Yet what we have just witnessed is that the world lends support when Palestinians themselves fight back and stand firm, regardless of their political affiliation. The ability to affect and move international public opinion and secure effective wide-scale solidarity was not the outcome of a public relations strategy but of a real struggle on the ground to stand up to the oppressive colonialist machine.
Exposing Israeli courts
In all cases when an Israeli administrative detention by military order has been legally challenged – or an emergency regulations provision such as a ban on travelling or entering the territories occupied by Israel in 1967 – the Israeli high court has always upheld the policies of the military, security, and intelligence services.
What happens in court is that the judge asks the Palestinian challenging the order, whether he is an Israeli citizen or not, to authorize the Israeli judges to see the “secret evidence” which the victims and their lawyers are not allowed to see or know. If the victim agrees, the judges rule on the basis of the “secret evidence” and invariably agree with the finding of the security agencies, normally issued in the name of a relevant minister or military leader.
Should the victim refuse to trust in the honesty or credibility of the occupying state, the legal challenge is in effect over, as the judges will throw it out and blame the victim for its failure.
Lessons Unlearned
During the Adnan campaign, a number of Palestinian political leaders, human rights activists and media outlets used the argument that if Israel had any evidence against Adnan, it should have brought him before an ordinary court. Others have suggested that the success of his campaign should inspire a new one against the use of administrative detention orders in general.
These are dangerous notions, particularly when coming from people of standing and influence. Israel is an occupying state and a colonialist entity. Even international law protects the victims of occupation and prohibits their transfer to prisons within the borders of the occupying state. Therefore, both administrative detention and the “ordinary” occupation prisons are equally illegal.
Moreover, what is “evidence” supposed to mean here? Evidence of resisting the occupation? Resisting the occupation is legitimate: it is the Israeli occupation and colonization, with its settlements and courts, that are illegitimate. Have the thousands of Palestinian and Arab prisoners in Israeli jail been legitimately sentenced? They have all been tried on “evidence” that is mainly secret and neither they nor their lawyers are allowed to see.
There is another factor. Israeli academic studies have proven unequivocally the scale of scandalous discrimination in the sentences handed down by judges in criminal cases. The sentences given to Palestinian citizens of Israel are much harsher than those given to Jewish Israeli convicts. So what can one expect when the judge representing the occupying state adjudicates on a charge of resistance by victims of this occupation?
The battle against Israeli emergency laws is a battle for the Israelis, not for the Palestinian people.The real concern for the people under occupation is not whether the detention of their sons or daughters was carried out using an Israeli administrative order or a military or civilian court order. The oppression, repression, and plunder are the same no matter which tool the occupation uses. Adnan’s battle is a fight against the whole colonialist project and not just one of its tools.
But when Palestinian leaders and human rights activists declare that the next step is to escalate the campaign against administrative detention orders, it indicates weakness or faulty vision.
The battle for the Palestinians, and all in the world who oppose occupation and colonialism, is against the occupation and the occupying state, and for national liberation, recovery of the homeland, and the return of its people who are refugees and exiles.
The case of Adnan proves that victory over the colonialist project is not a mission impossible. It is possible. And it has renewed and strengthened the hope that the Palestinian people are capable of energizing heir free will…the will for victory.
Ameer Makhoul is a Palestinian civil society leader and political prisoner at Gilboa Prison.
This article is co-published by The Electronic Intifida and Al-Akhbar, translated from Arabic.
حين واجه خضر عدنان دولة الاحتلال
أمير مخول
سلّطت قضية المناضل خضر عدنان الضوء من جديد على مَواطن قوة الشعب الفلسطيني، وبالذات تلك التي تمّ تغييبها في متاهات «أوسلو»، والركض وراء دولة على حساب التحرر الوطني. والدولة والتحرر الوطني ليسا بالضرورة سِيّان. وفي إضرابه التاريخي عن الطعام، وصموده البطولي في مقارعة دولة الاحتلال، أعاد الشيخ خضر عدنان تأكيد قانون أساسي في مقاومة النظام الاستعماري، ألا وهو أنّه حين يصمد الشعب الضحية أو أفراده، يتفاعل العالم ويتحوّل التعاطف الى حراك تضامني، وحراك كفاحي متصاعد قادر على زحزحة المنظومة الاستعمارية. والجانب الآخر ممّا أكده هو أنّه ليست أدوات لعبة دولة الاحتلال هي التي تفيد الضحية أو تحميها، وإنما كسر هذه الأدوات وكسر قواعد اللعبة المُهيّمِنة، كذلك ابتكار أدوات كفاحيّة تحرريّة واضحة المعالم هو ما يُبطِل مفعول تفوّق القوة المستعمِرة وقهرها، ويلحق بهم وبمشروعهم الضرر في الصميم.
وجسّدت معركة الحياة والكرامة تلك نموذجاً ناجحاً يحُتذى في الكفاح التحرري الفلسطيني، وجدير الالتفات الى دروسها، سواء في ما يتعلق بالحراك الفلسطيني، بما فيه حراك الحركة الأسيرة والحراك الدولي والتكامل بينهما.
لقد اخذ الشيخ خضر عدنان زمام المبادرة وأعلن إضرابه المفتوح عن الطعام في مواجهة أمر السجن/الاعتقال الإداري، وكان هدفه واضحاً وهو كسر الأمر ومنظومة القهر الإسرائيلية. وكذلك أراد تحديد معيار لتعامل لا يقبل فيه الفلسطيني تلقائية تقبل ممارسات دولة الاحتلال.
جسّدت هذه المعركة استراتيجية التحرك الشعبي السريع والمتكامل الملائمة بين مواصلة صمود الأسير المناضل وبين وتيرة الفعل الشعبي على تعدد أدواته، وشهدنا تكامل الدور الفلسطيني.
الجماهير الفلسطينية في الداخل (مناطق الـ48) تجاوبت سريعاً، وجرت حملة حشد شعبي وإعلامي محلي ودولي حدّدت وتيرتها حماسة الشباب والمبادرات الفردية وعائلات الأسرى والتجاوب السريع والتحفّز لدى القوى السياسية والأطر القيادية الجماهيرية. وبدأ الحراك التصعيدي في أنحاء الضفة الغربية وقطاع غزة والقدس والشتات، وتحوّل بسرعة الى حراك عالمي جبّار.
أما الحركة الأسيرة داخل السجون الإسرائيلية، فقد قامت بحملة مُناصرة ومساندة وتقاسم المسؤولية مع خضر عدنان، واعتمدت مبدأ التصعيد المنظم والجماعي، بدءاً بإرجاع وجبات الطعام ورفض تسلّم المؤن (وفي المقابل قامت سلطات السجون بإغلاق الساحات الداخلية ومنع الأسرى من الخروج من الغرف) ولغاية اتساع حلقة أسرى الحرية الذين أعلنوا إضراباً مفتوحاً عن الطعام. وقد ظهرت جليّة حالة التوتر، والأهم منها حالة استنهاض كفاحي واستعداد الحركة الأسيرة لتصعيد خطواتها، ذلك مع الاخذ بالحسبان أنّها ليست معركة صدام مباشر مع مصلحة السجون، وإنما مع دولة الاحتلال كمنظومة بكل مؤسساتها وحلقاتها. ومصلحة السجون هي الحلقة الضعيفة في هذه الحالة ضمن مجمل المؤسسة الأمنية، ولهذا السبب كان من المهم الضغط عليها من قبل أسرى الحرية. وقد وجّه الأسرى رسائل مباشرة الى حكومة إسرائيل تعتبر قضية خضر عدنان قضية كلّ الحركة الأسيرة، وتحذِّر من عواقب المسّ بحياة المناضل. وكان من الأهمية بمكان كيف قرأت مصلحة السجون حراك الأسرى، لتطالب من جهتها حكومة إسرائيل بإنهاء قضية خضر عدنان بأسرع وقت ممكن، وذلك لتجنّب حالة الغليان المتصاعدة بين الأسرى. هكذا وصلت عملياً رسالة الأسرى، وخلقت جزءاً من الحالة الكفاحية الضاغطة على دولة الاحتلال.
لقد شهدت المؤسسة الأمنية الإسرائيلية حالة من القلق الشديد جراء تواصل الإضراب والخطر على حياة الأسير خضر، لكن ذلك لم يكن قلقاً على حياته، وإنما خشيتهم من انتفاضة فلسطينية متجددة في جميع أنحاء الوطن الفلسطيني، بما فيه مناطق الـ48.
وقد أثبتت استراتيجية التحرك السريع فلسطينياً وعالمياً جدارتها، وأهمية استدامة هذه القدرة والجُهوزيَّة وتطويرها. فإضافة إلى الحراك الفلسطيني، شهدنا حراكاً واسعاً ومؤثراً على نطاق حركات التضامن العالمية أضيف الى ما قد يخلقه الغضب الفلسطيني في حال انفجاره، من ضغط على مواقف ومصالح الكتل الكبرى، وبالذات الاتحاد الأوروبي والولايات المتحدة التي أطلقت في الأيام الأخيرة للإضراب مواقف ضد السجن الإداري للأسير خضر عدنان.
خطاب المعاناة والصمود
أحد مواطن القوة الرئيسية في إدارة الحملات والحراك الواسع هو النجاح بتبيان وإظهار القصة الشخصية الإنسانية لخضر عدنان، إضافة الى السياسية والكفاحية. كذلك كان هناك نجاح كبير في نقل المعاناة بكاملها والصمود بكامله، والتحرر من أسلوب «الرقمنة»، والتعامل مع قضية أسرى الحرية ومناضلي الحرية بلغة المُعطيات الرقمية والجداول، واستبدالها بقصة إنسان جسدت جوهر المعاناة الفلسطينية وجوهر الحق الفلسطيني وجوهر الحرية وكشفت جوهر إسرائيل. وإذ لا أقلل بالمرة من أهمية المعطيات، لكنّها بحد ذاتها لا تُحرك مشاعر الناس ولا إرادتها الواعية. وقد كان الدور الأساسي للأسير، والدور البطولي للعائلة من زوجة وأب وأطفال.
في المقابل، أظهرت هذه المعركة بؤس خطاب «الاعتدال» الذي تسعى إسرائيل والإدارة الأميركية الى أن يتسلل تحت غطاء هيمنتها على الخطاب الرسمي الفلسطيني. هذا الخطاب مفاده «انّه إذا أردنا من العالم أن يدعمنا نحن الفلسطينيين، فمن الضروري تبني صوت معتدل»، أي اعتماد طوعي لضوابط قهرية فرضها إرهاب الدولة المعُولَم، إذ إنّ «الاعتدال» هنا يعني التراجع عن الحق بمقاومة دولة الاحتلال. وما شاهدناه أخيراً هو أنّ «العالم يتحرك» وبقوة، حين يكافح الفلسطيني ويصمد بغض النظر عن هويته السياسية. فالتأثير على الرأي العام العالمي، وتحريكه وكسب التضامن الواسع الفعال، ليسا حملة علاقات عامة، بل فعل كفاحي على ارض الواقع في مواجهة آلة القهر الاستعمارية.
حول المحكمة الإسرائيلية
في مجمل الحالات التي «رُفعت فيها دعاوى قضائية ضد سجن إداري (بأمر عسكري) أو جرى فيها استخدام أوامر وأنظمة الطوارئ مثل منع السفر خارج البلاد أو منع دخول المناطق التي احتلتها إسرائيل في 1967، فإنّ المحكمة العليا الإسرائيلية نفذت سياسة المؤسسة الأمنيّة العسكريّة والاستخبارية. فما يجري في المحكمة هو أن يطلب القضاة من الفلسطيني، سواء أكان مواطناً إسرائيلياً أم لا، بأن يُوكَل القضاة الإسرائيليين بالاطلاع على «الأدلة السرية» التي يمنع الضحية ومحاميه من الاطلاع عليها او معرفتها. وعندها إذا وافق الضحية، يقوم القضاة بإبداء رأيهم «بالأدلة السرية» وبشكل مطلق يقومون بتبنيها وتبني وجهة نظر الشاباك الإسرائيلي الذي يصدر باسم الوزير ذي الصلة أو باسم قائد عسكري.
أما إذا رفض الشخص الضحية اعتماد «صدق» و«صدقية» دولة الاحتلال، فعملياً إما يُسقِط هو الدعوى أو يرفضها القضاة مُحيلين المسؤولية على الضحية.
نطق عدد من الشخصيات القيادية وحقوقيون ووسائل إعلام فلسطينية بما مفاده: «إذا كان لديهم (لدى إسرائيل) أدلة وبيّنات، فليقدموه (خضر عدنان) للمحكمة العادية». وتكامل ذلك مع صوت آخر مفاده أنّه وبعد هذه المعركة الناجحة، يجب شن حملة ضد استخدام أوامر السجن الإداري.
إنّ هذه المفاهيم خطيرة حين تنطق بها شخصيات مؤثرة واعتبارية. إسرائيل هي دولة احتلال وكيان استعماري، وحتى القانون الدولي يحمي ضحايا الاحتلال ويُحرِّم نقلهم إلى السجن في حدود دولة الاحتلال. وعملياً كلا الأمرين، السجن الإداري والسجن الاحتلالي «العادي»، يناقضان بالدرجة نفسها القانون الدولي. ثم ما معنى «الأدلة» و«البَيِّنات»، وهل المقصود مقاومة الاحتلال؟ فمقاومة الاحتلال شرعية، وما هو غير شرعي هو الاحتلال والاستعمار الإسرائيلي الاستيطاني وقضاؤه. وهل آلاف أسرى الحرية الفلسطينيين والعرب في السجن الإسرائيلي محكومون شرعياً؟ كلّهم حُوكِموا على أساس «بَيِّنات وأدلة» غالبيتها سرية، لا يحق للأسرى ومحاميهم الاطلاع عليها. وهناك معطى آخر، إذ تثبت نِتائج أبحاث أكاديميِّة إسرائيلية، بنحو قاطع، حجم التمييز الرهيب الفاضح في أحكام القضاة في القضايا الجنائية والجرائم، كما أنّ الأحكام بحق المتهمين الفلسطينيين، مواطني إسرائيل، أعلى بكثير من السجناء الإسرائيليين اليهود، فكم بالحريّ حين ينظر قاضي دولة الاحتلال في «تهمة» مقاومة الضحايا للاحتلال!
الانشغال الحقيقي للشعب تحت الاحتلال هو ليس إذا كان اعتقال أبنائه وبناته باستخدام أمر إداري أو محكمة عسكريّة أو محكمة مدنيّة إسرائيلية، فالقمع والقهر والنهب هي ذاتها، مهما تعددت الأدوات الاحتلالية. ومعركة خضر عدنان هي مقاومة لمُجمَل المشروع الاستعماري، وليس لإحدى أدواته فحسب.
لكن حين تُعلن شخصيات قيادية وحقوقية فلسطينية أنّ الهدف التالي هو تصعيد الحملة ضد أوامر الاعتقال الإداري، فهذا دليل عجز أو رؤية مجتزأة. المعركة ضد أنظمة الطوارئ الإسرائيلية هي معركة الإسرائيليين، وليست معركة الشعب الفلسطيني. بل إنّ معركة الشعب الفلسطيني وكل مناهضي الاحتلال والاستعمار في العالم هي ضد الاحتلال ودولة الاحتلال ومن اجل التحرر الوطني واستعادة الوطن وعودة أهله اللاجئين والمهجرين.
لقد أثبتت قضية خضر عدنان أنّ الانتصار على المشروع الاستعماري ليس مُهمَّة غير ممكنة، بل ممكنة وقد جددت الأمل وعزّزته بأنّ الشعب الفلسطيني قادر على استنهاض إرادته الحرة… إرادة الانتصار.
* ناشط في المجتمع المدني وأسير في سجن الجلبوع الإسرائيلي
people turned out in Belfast to show support and solidarity for Hana Shalabi, the Palestinian woman who has now entered her 30th day on Hunger Strike in protest at her incarceration under “Administrative Detention” in an Israeli prison.
Hana Shalabi ‘could have been me, or my sister’: Palestinian Canadian student launches solidarity hunger strike with Hana Shalabi
This article by Charlotte Kates was published at Mondoweiss on March 22, 2012.
Mohammed Horreya, 20, a third-year student at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada, and the president of Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) at the university, launched his hunger strike on Monday, March 19. He says he was inspired to begin his hunger strike because “Hana’s case has not received the slightest bit of media attention here in Canada. That is devastating to me. To think that if she had been born anywhere else in the world, subject to less than half of the cruel treatment she had to endure, she would have been presented on every big media outlet…it’s disheartening.”
“Hana Shalabi, Khader Adnan, and all other political prisoners who follow in their footsteps represent an Idea. That is, freedom and dignity are more important than anything else,” says Horreya. As a Palestinian Canadian, he points out that, in another situation, “It could easily have been me, or my sister. I sympathize with Hana, and in solidarity with her I chose to go on Hunger Strike to try and reach out to many people here in Toronto; because I know if people actually knew about her, they would genuinely care.”
Shalabi’s case – like that of Khader Adnan before her – has captured the attention of people around the world and filled many blogs and websites, but at the same time, has largely been marginalized in mainstream media. Khader Adnan ended a 66-day hunger strike on February 21, after his own protest of administrative detention without charge or trialsparked international protests, solidarity hunger strikes, and the call to end administrative detention was taken up both by Palestine solidarity activists globally and also by human rights organizations like Amnesty International. Shalabi had been freed after two years in administrative detention in the prisoner exchange of October 2011 only to be re-arrested in February 2012 and once again placed in administrative detention, immediately launching her hunger strike. Despite a reduction of her sentence to four months, she has refused to end the strike, demanding freedom.Hana Shalabi and Khader Adnan are two of 310 Palestinian prisoners held in administrative detention, without charge or trial, and of 4,498 total Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons. “Palestinian prisoners represent our freedom. As Hana’s father said, ‘Hana is not only my daughter, she is the daughter of every Palestinian.’ Khader Adnan, Hana Shalabi, and others like them represent the values of Palestinians and demonstrate just how far we are willing to go to demand our freedom…. More than that, Hana, Khader, and all other political prisoners represent the courage of the Palestinians,” said Mohammad Horreya.
Looking at the situation on his campus and among Canadian students, Horreya noted that “generally speaking, support for Palestine on campus is there but hidden.” Regarding Palestinian political prisoners, he said “I don’t think it’s something that many students even know about. This is one of the reasons I decided to take on the hunger strike… I wear a shirt designed with words of support for Hana, info on her (any my) hunger strike, and twitter hashtags. Automatically people are learning about Hana whether they want to or not…. So I think the more people know about Hana, they will respond to her and all other prisoners’ calls.”
Canadian policy toward Palestine under the Stephen Harper government has become stridently pro-Zionist even beyond its long-term support for Israeli occupation, including Foreign Minister John Baird’s involvement in attempts to oust a Palestinian speaker on Palestinian legislators imprisoned by Israel from the UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva this week; Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Jason Kenney’s condemnation of Israeli Apartheid Week (condemned by over 70 organizations across the country); Baird’s affirmation of Canada as Israel’s “greatest friend”; and the systematic defunding of Palestine House, the Canadian Arab Federation and Kairos, attempting to silence and bankrupt community organizations and institutions that highlight the Palestinian cause. Kenney’s ministry, in fact, cited Palestine House’s hosting of an event celebrating the release of Palestinian political prisoners (who it labelled “terrorists”) as the reason for the defunding of Palestine House’s separate immigrant resettlement programs.
Horreya pointed out the sharp disconnect between the proclaimed values of the Canadian government and its actions in regard to Palestine. “Canadian policy on Palestine is flawed to say the least,” he said. “We stand for equality, Israel defines itself as a ‘Jewish State,’ it cannot be disputed that Muslim and Christian Arabs living within Israel are subject to less freedom and rights. With various members of parliament condemning Israeli Apartheid Week recently, it is becoming clear that in defending Israel they are taking steps to dissolving Canadian values like freedom of speech. Canadian policy on Palestine and Israel needs a makeover, it is a 64 year long story on an oppressed and an oppressor; the Harper administration clearly has it backwards.”
He placed the imprisonment of Shalabi and her thousands of fellow political prisoners within the context of the struggle for justice, return and liberation for Palestine and the Palestinian people. “The fact that Israel is practicing mass imprisonment proves that the struggle is far from over. Throughout the 64 years of occupation, Israel’s oppression towards the Palestinian people has evolved. It has now reached a point where there is a complete and utter disregard for what the world thinks about it. …After the Nakba, Palestinians stood firm, after the Naksa, Palestinians stood firm, after the first and second Intifada, Palestinians still stood firm. Israel has learned that no matter how many bombs they drop, and how ever many acts of genocide they commit, unless they kill us all Palestinians will not just get off of their land. To me these imprisonments also represent a way to get people out of their homes.”
Protests and demonstrations are continuing around the world as Shalabi’s health situation has grown more dire. Demonstrations are planned in New York and Toronto on March 23,Glasgow on March 24, and a number of other cities, while many more are mobilizing for April 17, Palestinian Prisoners’ Day. Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association has reported that over 24 Palestinian prisoners have joined Shalabi’s open-ended strike, and protests and solidarity sit-ins have taken place throughout Palestine.
Horreya said that Palestinians in Canada, and around the world in exile and diaspora, can play a major role in supporting Palestinian prisoners and their freedom everywhere they are. Speaking of the prisoners, he said, “while they don’t know me, I know them, and they are a big part of me. They are my inspiration to spread the word about the Palestinian cause; they give all the doubters and propagandists something to think about. Hana is the first person on my mind when I wake up and the last on my mind before I go to sleep.”
About Charlotte Kates
Charlotte Kates is a Palestine solidarity activist with the Boycott Israeli Apartheid Campaign (http://boycottisraeliapartheid.org) and Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network (http://samidoun.net) in Vancouver, on unceded Coast Salish Territories. She is a member of the Organizing Committee of the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (http://www.usacbi.org) and is active with the National Lawyers Guild and its International Committee (http://www.nlginternational.org).