Hunger striking prisoners facing sharp repression and continue their demands

Samidoun

Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike are facing sharp repression from the Israeli Prison Administration. As reported by Addameer and others, Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike have reported confiscation of personal items and warm clothes. In response to these attacks, prisoners in Nafha are threatening to begin to refuse water as well.
One group of Palestinian prisoners associated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine at Eshel prison participating in the strike have been transfered to Ohalei Kedar prison in retribution, while Hamas prisoners at Eshel prison on hunger strike were separated from one another and moved into the rooms of Fateh prisoners, in an attempt to exacerbate factional tensions.
At Ramon prison, Palestinian hunger strikers have been moved into isolation cells and hunger strikers throughout Israeli prisons are being denied access to independent doctors. Addameer lawyer Samer Sama’an has been banned from visiting all prisoners from 6 months, the second time in recent months that such a ban has been applied to an Addameer lawyer during prison hunger strikes.
In response to these attacks, Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike issued another statement reiterating their demands:

Despite the threat of the executioner, and the strength of his weapons, we will

1 – end the policy of solitary confinement
2 – close the file of administrative detention
3 – Cancel the actions taken after the capture of Shalit and the most important of which prevent the prisoners of Gaza Strip’s (456) prisoners from visiting their parents
4 – Allow higher education.

On Prisoner’s Day, this will not be just another day of another year. Therefore, they are preparing to confront the torturers, the executioners, and their weapons, and despite the failure of the international community, we stand armed with only our empty stomachs and solid will derived from the heroic march of our people who continue to resist, and we have faith in victory and the justice of our struggle for freedom.

The torment of an isolated captive’s family continue 21 years on

AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- Palestinian captive Rizk Abdallah Muslim Rajoub from Dura south of Al-Khalil spent 11th month in the solitary confinement in "Ohali Kidar" prison. Rajoub spent  twenty-one years in occupation jails on aggregate so far.
Rajoub's wife says that the occupation did not stop arresting her husband repeatedly since 1980 (two years after their marriage) that marked the beginning of the family's suffering and deprivation.
She explains to "Quds Press" reporter that her husband (55 years) is now suffering from serious health problems such as anemia as a result of repeated detentions and that on his last arrest in 25th November 2009, he was sentenced to three years and a half from which he spent 11 months in solitary confinement deprived of his family's visits.
The family's torment was augmented by occupation's arrest of their eldest son Ahmad at the age of eighteen years, in addition to administrative detention for most of Rajoub's extended family members whose only guilt was knowing "Abu Ahmed". Yet, the wife stressed on the family’s steadfastness and readiness to confront the occupation until their last breath.

Statement No. 1: Leadership Committee of Palestinian Prisoners on Hunger Strike

Sumidoun


The following statement, titled Statement No. 1, was issued on April 16, 2012 by the coordinating committee of Palestinian prisoners engaged in a massive hunger strike to launch on Palestinian Prisoners’ Day 2012. Translated from the Arabic.
 
The text of the statement follows:

Statement No. 1
Issued by the Higher National Leadership Committee of the Prisoners’ Struggle

Announcing the first spark of the intifada of the prisoners inside the cells of the occupation’s jails
To our great Palestinian people -
We believe in our right to liberty, our dignity, and the recovery of our stolen land and rights, and we announce the first spark of the battle in the occupation prisons (the battle to fulfil our promise) at the break of dawn on Tuesday, April 17, 2012, Palestinian Prisoners’ Day.
We promise to our martyrs and prisoners who have come before, and to all of our Palestinian people to continue this struggle until the full achievement of our rights and the end of the practice of solitary confinement, or until we die as martyrs.
Therefore, we call upon you to support us and our struggle locally and globally until we achieve victory or martyrdom. We have firm trust in you.
Victory for us, and for our great people!

Higher National Leadership Committee of the Prisoners’ Struggle

Call for international action: Show your support on Palestinian Prisoners day

12 April 2012 | International Solidarity Movement

This week International Solidarity Movement is calling for international solidarity in the run up to Palestinian Prisoners Day on the 17th April.  The Palestinian prisoners struggle needs immediate international attention as Israel’s treatment of prisoners under a military judicial system starkly violates international law and fundamental human rights.  According to Addammer there are currently 4,637 Palestinian political prisoners are kept in Israeli military jails and detention centers, including 320 administrative detainees.
Some of the primary objectives of the prisoners struggle are:

• To stop the system known as administrative detention, which allows the imprisonment of individuals without charge or trail
• To halt the practice of solitary confinement.
• To stop the use of torture and ill treatment. Palestinians are exposed to systematic ill and degrading treatment from the moment of arrest – both physiological and physical terrors are used as means of breaking the prisoners and getting details and information.
• To stop the illegal transference of prisoners from the occupied territories into Israeli borders. Every time Israel brings a prisoner from the West bank jails inside their borders – they are in clear violation with the 4th Geneva Convention.
• To stop the use of military courts for civilians.
• To stop arrest and imprisonment of vulnerable groups such as children, elder and disabled.

Besides the suffering of individual prisoners, Israel systematically uses collective punishment towards the relatives of prisoners. The journeys to visit your husband, wife, son, or daughter may take up to 15 hours as the prisoners are systematically placed as far from their home as possible. Furthermore, visitors will face degrading processes of strip search at the borders to Israel and at the entrance to the prisons. Sometimes they even get turned away.
“All people and governments of conscience in the world have an immediate responsibility to put pressure on Israel forcing them to respect International law and human rights!” says Faris Sabbah, from Addammer, the Prisoners support and Human Rights Association.
TAKE ACTION
You can:

• Organize a protest in front of the Israeli Embassy or consulate in our town
• Write letters to protest the violations of rights of Palestinian political prisoners and to call for an intervention to the International Committee of the Red Cross, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and your governoment or parliamentarians.
• Write letters to Palestinian prisoners expressing your support. Read more about thise here:

Submit your photos:
What ever action you choose to take – please submit photos from your action to ISM at palreports@gmail.com.
You can get inspired from similar ISM campaign carried out in accordance to “Open Shuhada Street Campaign.”
Please follow these guidelines:

1. In the subject line please write “ Campaign for international solidarity with Palestinian prisoners”
2. Photos should not be a maximum of 1 MB
3. A poster, sign, clothing or any other visual statement that expresses your solidarity with Palestinian prisoners should be visibel.
4. Include a location of the photo (example: Hollywood sign, Hollywood, California) in the email
5. Include the date when the photograph was taken in the email
6. If the visual is written in a language other than English, please write the statement in the body of the email in order to be translated.
7. Photos should be original and not edited or borrowed from another entity
8. Photos must be submitted by April 19th.

Updated on April 17, 2012

Prison administration 'closes medical section'

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) – The Israeli prison administration closed Thursday a section for sick detainees in Ramle prison hospital and isolated two representatives of the prisoners for demonstrating against the decision.

The Fatah information department said the prison administration closed the section and moved 22 sick prisoners who were being treated to four small rooms with no kitchens or other facilities.

The prison administration placed two detainees in isolation cells for demonstrating.

Humilation Against The Detainees Continues

Saturday October 29, 2011 13:33 by Mais Azza - IMEMC & Agencies

Palestinian detainees held by Israel at the Majiddo detention center, managed to leak a memo revealing that the violations against them have never stopped, adding that the Israeli Prisons Administration (IPA) is not abiding by vows it made to the detainees in order to end their hunger strike, the Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA) reported Saturday.

Image By Palestine-Info

The detainees stated that the (IPA) is trying to degrade and humiliate them, and is still forcing several detainees into solitary confinement in addition to depriving them from their internationally guaranteed visitation rights.

Former political prisoner, Shaher Zayed, 23, resident of Al-Yamoun village, near the northern West Bank city of Jenin, stated that although the detainees have stopped their hunger strike, that lasted for three weeks, after negotiating with the (IPA) and reaching an understanding, no actual implementation ever took place.

Zayed spent thirteen months in administrative detention in Israeli jails without any charges.

The detainees at Majiddo voiced an appeal to human rights organizations calling on them to act on obliging Israel to stop its violations.

Group: Israel resumes isolation of PFLP leader

Israeli prison guards stand at the entrance to Ketziot prison in southern Israel,
ahead of a prisoner swap on Oct. 18. (Reuters/Yehuda Lachiani/Maariv)

JERUSALEM (Ma’an) -- The Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association said Thursday that an Israeli court in Beersheva decided to extend the isolation of Popular Front secretary-general Ahmad Saadat for a year.

The association added that the court ruled on secret documents that were presented by the Shin Beit which were released on August 8. Thus, the decision to extend his detention was made before the prisoners strike.

The association also said that Saadat was present in the court without his lawyers.

The court decision is the opposite of what the prison administration had reportedly promised the prisoners. They were to end isolation and other policies following the hunger strike, according to the association.

Saadat was recently taken to hospital in Ramle prison as his health deteriorated after the hunger strike. Saadat’s family has not been allowed to visit him since March 2009, according to the prisoners rights group.

The Israeli prison administration has not fulfilled its commitment to stop holding Palestinian prisoners in solitary confinement, the ministry of prisoner affairs in Ramallah said Wednesday.

Around 20 detainees are still in isolation despite Israel's pledge to end the practice following a 3-week mass hunger strike in jails across Israel to protest the policy, the ministry said in a statement.

Prisoners suspended the strike on Oct. 17 after they said Israel had announced it would meet the strikers' key demand.

Israel promised that detainees would be released from isolation immediately after 477 prisoners were released in a swap deal to free captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit on Oct. 18, minister of detainees affairs Issa Qaraqe said, announcing the agreement.

Some prisoners who remain in solitary confinement have been in isolation cells for many years, including Hassan Salama, Ahmad al-Mughrabi, Abdullah al-Barghouthi and Saadat, the ministry noted.

The UN special rapporteur on torture Juan Mendez told a UN General Assembly panel last week that all governments should ban solitary confinement except in extreme circumstances.

"Segregation, isolation, separation, cellular, lockdown, Supermax, the hole ... whatever the name, solitary confinement should be banned by states as a punishment or extortion technique," he said.

He also said indefinite and prolonged solitary confinement in excess of 15 days should be ended, citing studies that have established that lasting mental damage is caused after a few days of isolation.

"Considering the severe mental pain or suffering solitary confinement may cause, it can amount to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment when used as a punishment, during pre-trial detention, indefinitely or for a prolonged period, for persons with mental disabilities or juveniles," he said.

---------

Israeli Court Renews Solitary Confinement Of Saadat For Additional Year

Friday October 28, 2011 04:07 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

The Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Ad-Dameer, stated that the Israeli District Court in Be’er Shiva ordered a one year extension of the solitary confinement of the detained Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Ahmad Saadat.

Ahmad Saadat - Image Al Manar

The court stated that “it based its ruling on secret files provided by the Israeli Shabak on August, 8, 2011”.

The imprisoned PFLP secretary-general was sent to court without his lawyer, who never received a notice regarding this court session.

The Ad-Dameer stated that by sentencing Saadat to solitary confinement for an additional year, the court violated vows by the Israeli Prison Administration to end its solitary confinement policies, and to implement the demands of the detainees to receive treatment that abides by the International law. The vows came after that detainees conducted hunger-strike for 22 days.

The Ad-Dameer added that this ruling violates the International Law and all Human Rights treaties, especially international agreements concerning prisoners of war, and added that after 22 days of hunger-strike, Saadat was moved to the Al Ramla Prison hospital, after a sharp deterioration in his health condition.

The PFLP Secretary-General has been in solitary confinement also since March 16, 2009, not allowed any visitations and denied of his right to even write or receive letters from his family. Every isolation order issued against him since then was based on “secret information” to which not even his lawyer was allowed to have access to.

On December 28, 2008, an Israeli court sentenced Saadat, who is also an elected Palestinian Legislator, to thirty years, despite the fact that it dropped charges alleging that he planned the assassination of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi, who was killed in Al Hayat Hotel on 17 October 2001.

Saadat became the PFLP secretary-general in October 2001 after the Israeli army assassinated the former secretary-general, Abu Ali Mustafa, when two Israeli Army Apache helicopters fired missiles at his office in Ramallah, in the central West Bank, on August 27, 2001.

Eshel's captives await a reply

[ 25/10/2011 - 01:27 PM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- Palestinian Prisoner Society (PPS) on Tuesday said that most of the captives in Eshel who suspended their hunger strike, especially those affiliated with the PFLP, were returned to the prison wards. The PPS's lawyer who visited the prison said that a number of PFLP captives who were on hunger strike were moved to solitary at HaliKidar prison. Following the suspension of the hunger strike the captives, especially those in ward 10, sent letters to Israeli prison officials explaining that the suspension was in order to give the Israeli prison service time to improve the detention conditions. The captives have so far not received any replies.

Minister: Detainees suspend strike after deal on isolation

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Palestinians jailed in Israel suspended a three-week hunger strike on Monday, the minister of detainee affairs in Ramallah said.

Issa Qaraqe told the official Wafa news agency that prisoners ended the strike after Israeli prison authorities agreed to end the practice of solitary confinement.

Israel will stop holding detainees in isolation on Tuesday, immediately after releasing 477 prisoners in a swap deal to free captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, Qaraqe said.

Prisoners went on hunger strike on Sept. 27 to protest harsher conditions since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to toughen measures in June to pressure Hamas to free Shalit.

An end to solitary confinement was a key demand of the strikers.

The protest was started by detainees affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, whose leader Ahmad Saadat has been held in isolation for three years. Saadat, who joined the hunger strike, was one of several prominent prisoners left out of the swap deal.

PFLP central committee member Jamil Mizhir warned on Monday that the movement would take action against Israel after receiving reports that Saadat had been transferred to hospital.

Mizhir said in a statement that the group blamed Israel for his health condition,

"If Saadat's condition is at risk, the PFLP response will be very harsh," Mizhir warned.

According to recent estimates from the Palestinian Authority, there are currently 6,000 Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli jails.

IOA isolates detained Palestinian MP

[ 17/10/2011 - 11:04 AM ]

TULKAREM, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authority transferred detained Palestinian MP Abdulrahman Zeidan from Megiddo jail to an isolation cell in Shatta jail. A statement by the office of Hamas lawmakers in the West Bank said that the transfer was a surprise step, apparently in a bid to abort the prisoners’ hunger strike that has been ongoing for the past three weeks. Zeidan was arrested in his home in Tulkarem last June in a fresh wave of arrests targeting Hamas MPs in the West Bank.

Prisoners group: Israel to end isolation policy

Lebanese and Palestinians carry banners and Palestinian flags as they take
part in a protest calling for the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli
jails, near the International Committee of Red Cross offices in Beirut, on
October 14, 2011. (Reuters/Sharif Karim)

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Israeli authorities told Palestinian prisoners they will end solitary confinement in jails with the exception of three Hamas-affiliated detainees, the head of the Palestinian Prisoners Society said Saturday.

Qadura Fares told Ma'an Israeli prison officers said they will completely end the policy of isolation cells, a key demand of a prisoners hunger strike that entered its 19th day on Saturday.

"This is a good sign that the issue of isolating (prisoners) will end and reach a resolution," Qadura said.

The prison administration will seek approval from Israel's internal security service, the Shin Bet. Officers in Israel's Ramon prison told detainees that the Shin Bet agreed to end isolation bar three Hamas cadres, he said.

Abdullah Barghouti, Ibrahim Hamed, and Mahmoud Issa -- members of Hamas's military wing -- will remain in solitary confinement.

Fares told Ma'an that the exceptions would block a solution to the issue. The three prisoners must be released from isolation, he said, adding that they should be released as part of an exchange deal agreed by Israel and Hamas this week.

The Hamas militants have not appeared on prisoner release lists under the deal to free over 1,000 Palestinians from Tuesday in exchange for captured Israeli solider Gilad Shalit.

Spokesman for the detainees ministry in Gaza Riyad al-Ashkar says more than 22 prisoners are currently in solitary confinement in Israeli jails.

Fares called for attention to the hunger strike and the impact it was having on detainees' health after 19 days without food.

Detainees launched the strike to protest worsening conditions in Israeli jails on Sept. 27, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to toughen measures against the 6,000 odd Palestinians in Israeli jail.

Rights group Addameer called on Thursday for the international community to relaunch efforts to end what it called "collective punishment" of prisoners, as Shalit was set to be freed.

Aruri: Deal includes all prisoners demands, no more isolation

[ 13/10/2011 - 10:11 AM ]

CAIRO, (PIC)-- Saleh Al-Aruri, a Hamas leader and former prisoner, said that the exchange deal would include implementing all demands of the Palestinian prisoners and ending the solitary confinement policy. Aruri, who is in charge of the prisoners’ file in Hamas, told Quds TV network on Wednesday evening that the prisoners’ demands would be met after implementation of the exchange deal. The Hamas leader, who took part in the negotiations leading to that swap deal, said that there would be no more prisoners held in isolation and families would be allowed to visit their relatives in custody. Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails have been on hunger strike for more than two weeks en masse protesting harsh incarceration conditions. Aruri said that most of the oldest serving prisoners were included in the deal, adding that after its accomplishment less than 5000 prisoners would still be held in Israeli prisons. Meanwhile, Abu Obaida, the spokesman for the armed wing of Hamas the Qassam Brigades, said in a statement on Wednesday to the armed wing’s website, that the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who is to be released in the deal, would not be the last to be captured by Palestinian resistance as long as Palestinian prisoners are still held in Israeli jails. He said that the Qassam Brigades would never forget the remaining prisoners, vowing to retain their issue a priority, adding that his armed wing would not be content with improving the incarceration condition of those prisoners but would continue to work for their release with all means possible.

Minister: Hunger strike about isolation, not chicken

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The main goal of Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli jails is an end to solitary confinement policies, the Palestinian Authority prisoners' affairs minister said Sunday.

The use of isolation cells is the "strategic demand" of prisoners, who have refused food for 13 days, Issa Qaraqe said, accusing Israeli media of "incitement" for stating its aims were access to satellite TV or whole chickens.

Qaraqe, speaking at a solidarity tent for the hunger strikers in Abu Dis, said solitary confinement, as well as prevention of family visits, fines, and use of hand and feet cuffs, were the main demands of the movement.

Detainees said earlier Sunday that Israeli prison authorities had accepted some of their demands, including transmission of satellite television, provision of whole chickens, family visits without handcuffs, and visits between different sections of prisons.

Prison authorities are still refusing to end the practice of prisoner isolation, and have also refused to increase detainee allowances to more than 300 shekels.

The prison administration will hold a hearing to discuss the rest of the demands by detainees, prisoners said.

Israel's prison service said on Sunday more prisoners had joined the strike -- it counts 234 strikers -- and after returning six meals, prisoners have all food products and electrical equipment removed from their cells, Israeli news site Ynet reported.

Qadura Fares, head of the Palestinian Prisoners' Society, said all 200 PFLP inmates had been observing the strike since the start, while another 200 or so prisoners were joining the strike for three days per week.

Popular Front affiliated detainees launched the strike on Sept. 27 to protest harsh conditions, in particular solitary confinement policies under which the groups' leader Ahmad Saadat has been held in isolation for three years.

Qaraqe said detainees' health was deteriorating due to the hunger strike, and prison authorities were not providing necessary medical checks.

The prisoners' minister called for political and legal support to help the detainees, and held the Israeli government responsible for their lives.

Thousands of demonstrators staged rallies in the West Bank and Jerusalem and set up sit-in tents this week to support prisoners who are refusing food.

Tents were also erected in Cairo, Paris and Canada to support the strike, Qaraqe said.

Palestinian detainees say their conditions have deteriorated after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to toughen their conditions in June, in an effort to pressure Hamas to release a kidnapped Israeli solider.

Gilad Shalit was captured just outside the Gaza Strip in 2006 and Hamas is seeking the release of more than 1,000 prisoners in return for his freedom.

According to latest reports from the Palestinian Authority 6,000 Palestinians are being detained in Israeli prisons, including 219 in Administrative Detention who are held without charge.

AFP contributed to this report

Hunger Strike Ongoing, Violations Against Detainees Escalating

Sunday October 09, 2011 03:51 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

Palestinian Minister of Detainees, Issa Qaraqe’, stated Saturday that Palestinian political detainees in Israeli prisons are going on with their hunger strike to demand their legal rights, despite Israel's escalating measures aimed at breaking their strike.

Qaraqe’ added that the Israeli Prison Administration claims it is negotiating with the detainees and listening to their demands, but its main aim is to delay the “talks” as long as possible without seriously listening to the legitimate demands, the Ma'an News Agency reported.

The minister’s statements came during a visit to a solidarity tent in the Duheisha refugee camp in Bethlehem, where a number of residents are holding a solidarity hunger strike.

Qaraqe’ stated that the Israeli Prison Administration is “physically and emotionally torturing the striking detainees, placing dozens of them in solitary confinement, and even preventing them from having plastic cups for water and salt in their rooms.”

He also stated that the detainees in Asqalan Prison are now also boycotting the prison clinic due to the harsh treatment they face when seeking medical attention. As a result, the prison police are forcibly dragging them to the clinic.

All sorts of communication with the detainees are now blocked, visitations denied, TV sets and radios confiscated, and communication denied between the detainees in different sections of Asqalan prison.

The minister said that the health conditions of four detainees in Asqalan currently in solitary confinement are seriously deteriorating.

The Israeli Prison Administration also forced 65 striking detainees in Ohali Kidar Prison into solitary confinement by placing every four detainees in one tiny cell, and also confiscated their watches to keep them confused.

The 53 striking detainees in Shatta Prison are undergoing attacks and psychological abuse inflicted upon them by the prison administration and guards.

In Ofer prison, the prison administration placed 12 striking detainees in solitary confinement after attacking and beating them.

Qaraqe’ issued an appeal to the International Red Cross to act quickly and visit the striking detainees, and warned of a potential humanitarian crisis in all Israeli prisons and detention centers.

He said that all activities and protests held in solidarity with the detainees, in Palestine and in exile, would continue and escalate until Israel abides by international law and starts treating the detainees in accordance with all international treaties, including the Fourth Geneva Conventions.

Update on Palestinian hunger strike and acts of civil disobedience in the Israeli prisons

Addameer

Ramallah 6 October 2011

The hunger strike and acts of civil disobedience originally announced on 27 September amongst Palestinian political prisoners affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine continues to gain momentum, with increasingly oppressive responses from the Israeli authorities.

The majority of the 400 PFLP members who are in prison, along with most prisoners held in southern Israel, have now joined the campaign and are either on open-ended hunger strike or on hunger strike 3 days weeks and participating in other acts of civil disobedience.
In response, the Israeli prison authorities have been transferring hunger strikers to different prisons, and putting them in isolation. Hunger strikers have also been denied salt water, their only source of nourishment. At Ofer prison, 12 hunger strikers have been placed in 2 isolation cells that are only meant to hold 4 people in each, and they have been beaten and forced to walk around the prison compound in the middle of the night in order to exhaust them. At Ashkelon prison, two cells from one of the sections housing long-term prisoners were raided and non-lethal weapons used on the hunger strikers, including Akram Mansour, who has been in prison since 1979 and is suffering from a benign brain tumor.
Lawyer visits to the hunger strikers continue to be difficult. Despite being given permission to visit by the Israeli authorities, lawyers have reported arriving at the prisons and then being turned away due to a ‘situation of emergency’ being announced by the Israeli Prison Service. However, today Addameer lawyer Mahmoud Hassan was able to visit Ahmad Sa’adat – Secretary General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and member of the Palestinian Legislative Council - and Jamal Abu Hija, who are both held at Nafha prison and have both been in long term isolation, since 2009 and 2004 respectively. They reported that they had lost 5 kg since the hunger strike, and were now being denied cigarettes and salt. All electronic items have also been confiscated from their cell, and all that remains are two mattresses and blankets, without pillows. The prison authorities have fined Ahmad Sa’adat 228 shekels as punishment for his hunger strike, and extended his ban on family visits which had been imposed ever since he was in isolation.
Addameer’s lawyers will continue their efforts to visit the hunger strikers and any further information will be published as soon as it is available.

PCHR Condemns Collective Penalties against Palestinian Prisoners in Israeli Jails

PCHR

Thursday, 06 October 2011 07:30

Ref: 100/2011

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) strongly condemns collective punishment measures being taken by the Israeli prison authorities against Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails who have organized a hunger strike in protest to their deteriorating detention conditions. PCHR is also concerned over the health conditions of the prisoners who have now been in an open hunger strike for nine consecutive days, as the Israeli prison authorities have refrained from providing medical care to them. PCHR calls upon the international community to exert pressure on Israel and compel it to respect international law, including ending the systematic cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention centers. 

Palestinian and other Arab prisoners initiated a hunger strike, which has progressively extended to all Israeli prisons and detention facilities. First, prisoners from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in Rimon and Nafha prison in Israel declared a hunger strike on 27 September 2011, demanding an end to the solitary confinement of 20 prisoners, some of whom have served more than 10 years in solitary confinement. They also demand an end to the three-year incommunicado detention of PFLP Secretary General, Ahmed Sa’adat. Later, prisoners in other prisons and detention facilities joined and organized a three day hunger strike. This move was expanded when prisoners declared an open hunger strike until their demands were met. Their demands include: ending the policy of solitary confinement; allowing graduate education; allowing family visitation - especially for Gazan prisoners who have been deprived of family visitation for more than five years; stopping the imposition of financial fines; stopping raids and humiliating checks of prisoners; refraining from tying the hands and feet of prisoners during family visitations or meetings with lawyers; and improving the health conditions of hundreds of sick prisoners and providing them with adequate medical care. 

However, the Israeli prison authorities have refused to meet these demands and have escalated collective punishment measures against prisoners. It has placed dozens of prisoners in solitary confinement and transferred leaders of political prisoners to sections of criminal prisoners, in an attempt to break the strike. Moreover, it has omitted to provide medical care to prisoners, including old ones, have refrained from having medicines and foods. According to prisoners, the Israeli prison authorities have initiated a series of sanctions against prisoners, including withholding salt, which prisoners take to maintain the salt balance in their bodies, and electronic devices such as televisions after they had already censored some Arab news channels. Additionally, Israeli troops waged a campaign of raids and searches in detention cells, and used tear gas against prisoners. A number of prisoners were injured.

These latest punitive measures are part of a series of measures that have been taken by the Israeli occupation authorities as an effective translation of instructions given by the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in late June 2011, asking the Israeli prison authorities to limit “the privileges granted to Palestinian prisoners.” Since then, the Israeli prison authority has taken a series of measures against prisoners, including intensifying naked physical check of prisoners, and placing their leaders in incommunicado detention. In response, the prisoners have declared a series of protests against these measures and have organized a number of hunger strikes.

At least 6,000 Palestinians are currently detained in 22 Israeli prisons and detention facilities, most of which are inside Israel, in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, particularly Article 76, which stipulates that “Protected persons accused of offences shall be detained in the occupied country, and if convicted they shall serve their sentences therein.” These prisoners include 700 persons from the Gaza Strip (including 6 who have been detained according to the Illegitimate Combatant Code); 400 persons from Jerusalem and Arab areas within Israel; 251 children; and 37 women. They also include 307 prisoners who were arrested before the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, including 126 persons who have served more than 20 years in prisons, 27 of whom have served more than 25 years in prison. Additionally, the group includes 214 prisoners who have been placed under administrative detention, and 20 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council, most of them from the Change and Reform Bloc affiliated to Hamas.

PCHR strongly condemns these collective penalties and measures of intimidation, which are prohibited under international law, particularly Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and:

1- Calls upon the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment to present reports on the situation to the Human Rights Council to exert pressure on Israel to stop its practices against Palestinian prisoners.

2- Calls upon the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to intervene to stop collective penalties executed by the Israeli occupation authorities against Palestinian prisoners.

3- Calls upon international human rights organizations to follow up the issue of Palestinian prisoners and to intervene with their governments to pressurize the Israel to stop arbitrary measures against Palestinian prisoners and to ensure their release.

IPA Starts New Measures To Punish Detainees

Freed All Detainees - image paldf.net

Wednesday October 05, 2011 10:39 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

Israeli Maariv reported on Wednesday morning that the Israeli Prison Administration (IPA) has started a series of measures to increase pressure on the Palestinian detainees in an attempt to break their open-ended hunger strike.

The new measures include depriving the detainees of education, reducing the number of TV channels permitted, and withholding certain types of food formerly allowed.

The IPA decided that the detainees can watch only ten satellite TV channels: four Israeli channels (1, 2, 10, and 33), two Russian channels, and four Arabic channels. The Qatar-based news agency, Al Jazeera, was taken off the list.

Earlier this week Israeli soldiers attacked several prisons, searched detainees’ rooms, caused injuries to a number of detainees, and fired gas bombs in Nafha and Asqalan prisons. Soldiers also moved detainees from Shatta to Majiddo prison. Several detainees were put in solitary confinement.

Palestinian political prisoners in all Israeli prisons are demanding better living conditions, adequate medical care, and an end to solitary confinement policies and other violations of international law and the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Massive Protest Held In Hebron In Support Of Political Detainees

Wednesday October 05, 2011 02:03 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

Thousands of Palestinians held a protest in the southern West Bank city of Hebron in solidarity with the political prisoners incarcerated by Israel in several prisons and detention camps, and called for their release.

Hebron Protest - Palestine-Info

The protest was organized by different factions, youth groups, organizations, and the families of the detainees.

Participants carried Palestinian flags, flags of different factions, pictures of the detainees, and posters reflecting the hunger strike that detainees have undertaken because of ongoing abuse, medical negligence, and repeated attacks in the Israeli prisons and detention facilities.

The protesters also called for more solidarity actions to highlight the plight of the detainees and to expose the illegal Israeli measures against them.

The Palestinian Prisoners Society called on all residents to be actively involved in all efforts to support the detainees.

In an attempt to prevent the detainees’ hunger strike from spreading to all Israeli prisons and detention facilities, undercover forces of the Israeli Army broke into the Asqalan and Nafha prisons on Monday. Several detainees were injured.

On the same day, in an attempt to break the hunger strike, the administration at the Ofer Prison forced nine detainees into solitary confinement.

Israeli Troops Break Into Asqalan, Nahfa Prisons

Tuesday October 04, 2011 09:43 by Saed Bannoura - 1 of International Middle East Media Center Editorial Group

In an attempt to prevent the detainees’ hunger strike from spreading to all Israeli prisons and detention facilities, undercover forces of the Israeli Army broke into the Asqalan and Nafha prisons.

File

Palestinian detainees in several Israeli prisons started their hunger strike seven days ago, demanding the internationally guaranteed rights of prisoners and an end to Israeli attacks and policies of solitary confinement.

The Waed Society for Detainees reported on Monday evening that the Matzada and Nahshon military forces in charge of all detention facilities broke into section 13 of Nafha prison.

In Asqalan, the army attacked detainees’ rooms after blacking them out, and fired dozens of gas bombs.

The Matzada forces also broke into.the rooms of old detainees, including the seriously ill detainee Akram Mansour, who suffers from a tumor and requires urgent attention. He recently started going in and out of coma, as he remains deprived of specialized medical treatment.

Also on Monday, in an attempt to break the hunger strike, the administration at the Ofer Prison forced nine detainees into solitary confinement.

The Waed Society identified the detainees who were placed in solitary confinement as Mohammad Issa, Nael Al Halaby, Ala’ Arar, Luay Arar, Mohammad Arar, Mohammad Zawahra, Saleh J’eidy, Yassin Farraj, and Ramzy Washha.

In another action intended to break the strike, soldiers moved all the Palestinian detainees in Shatta Prison to the Majiddo Prison.

Isolated Detainees Announce Open-Ended Hunger Strike

Saturday October 01, 2011 12:44 by Mais Azza - IMEMC & Agencies

Palestinian Minister of Detainees and Ex-detainees Affairs, Issa Qaraqe’, stated Friday that around Twenty-five Palestinian detainees in solitary confinement at the Nafha. Ramon, Al Ramla and Asqalan Israeli detention facilities declared an open-ended hunger strike.

Qaraqe' said in his statement that twenty five sick detainees in Al Ramla Israeli detention center decided to strike three days a week in solidarity with the other detainees who have started their hunger the strike since September 17th in protest to the escalating humiliation and violations carried out by the Israeli government and the Israeli Prison Administration.

The Minister also stated stopping all solitary confinement policies is the main motive for the strike, as such policies are cruel and illegal policies practices against the detainees, as some of whom have been kept in solitary confinement for more than ten years.

He added that the extremist Israeli Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, instructed the Israeli Prison Administration to increase the sanctions against the detainees in order to force them to break their strike and abandon their demands.

Qaraqe' also stated that the heads of Israeli detention facilities had an argument with some government agencies as they had to cancel their vacations due to the new measures in all prisons and detention centers, in order to force the detainees to break their strike.

During a meeting with the administration of the Ramon facility, the detainees presented nine demands, including ending all forms of collective punishment, solitary confinement, financial penalties, the shackling feet and hands during lawyers and family visits, and access to healthcare and education.