International Solidarity Movement

Occupied Palestine: farce, tragedy, travesty

jessica — Sun, 20 May 2012 19:45:25 +0000

By Patrick Keddie

20 May 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

The three snapshots below are composed from interviews conducted whilst working for the International Solidarity Movement in the West Bank from September to December 2011.

FARCE

Rodni Jaber is a Palestinian woman who lives and works as a farmer in Al-Baqa’a, a windswept valley situated a few kilometers East of Hebron in the West Bank. Her family is regularly attacked by Israeli settlers and harassed by the Israeli military.

In 1998 Rodni’s son Raja was born. A few days after his birth, settlers attacked the house; one settler made a complaint to the police that someone named ‘Raja’ had put a knife to his chest, threatening to kill him.

Rodni: “Several days later the soldiers came to arrest my son. So I showed them my son who was 40 days old and I showed them his birth certificate because they didn’t believe he was Raja.”

The soldiers left but they contacted the family shortly afterward with a demand.

Rodni: “They said that Raja should come to the court and at the age of 50 days I had to take him. They said, ‘where is the defendant Raja’ and I showed them my son”.

OK, so that was the end of it then?

Rodni: “No – the judge ruled that when he reaches 16 years old he will have to come to back to court!”

Surely when the case comes to court and it becomes apparent that Raja could not even sit up or support the weight of his own head at that time of the incident, let alone threaten to harm anyone, the situation will go beyond parody?

Rodni (laughs): “Of course!”

But the ruling still stands; Raja is 12 years old now and in four years’ time he will have to go to court and explain his role in the incident.

TRAGEDY

Mustafa Tamimi, 28, was fatally injured during a protest in Nabi Saleh in December 2011. The protests began after the village’s Ein al-Qaws spring was taken over by residents of Halamish, a nearby illegal Israeli settlement, in 2009. Hundreds of protesters have been injured in Nabi Saleh but Tamimi was the first fatality during the village’s demonstrations.

Ibrahim Bornat, a 28 year-old artist and activist from Bil’in was with Mustafa when he was fatally injured.

Ibrahim: “We were alone, with the rest of the protest quite far behind. We were chasing after the [Israeli military] jeeps, telling them to leave the village.”

One jeep slowed, opened its rear door a fraction and fired two tear gas canisters directly at them, from a distance of around three meters. As the first tear gas canister was fired…

Ibrahim: “Mustafa pushed me so it went over my head, the second one hit him.”

He saw Mustafa lying prone on the floor but did not realize exactly what had happened.

Ibrahim: “I thought maybe he had passed out from the gas. I went to him and turned him over and took the cloth off his face. The side of his face was blown off, the eye was hanging out and I pushed it back but I could see the inside of his head.”

There were no ambulances around, so they put Tamimi in a service [communal taxi] but the Israeli military stopped it and tried to arrest Tamimi, until they realized how seriously injured he was.

Mustafa lay on the ground for half an hour, receiving ‘treatment’ by the Israelis. He was not allowed to leave until his ID card was found, wasting valuable time.

Although Mustafa’s heart may have been revived later temporarily, Ibrahim knew he was dead.

Ibrahim: “When I was holding him, I’m sure that he died in my arms. He let out a gasp and his soul left.”

Ibrahim was not surprised at the actions of the Israeli military.

Ibrahim: “The occupation maintains itself through killing.”

TRAVESTY

Khowla Wazwaz from Hebron in the West Bank recounts the night in 2005 when her son Moussa, then 23 years-old, was arrested by the Israeli military.

Khowla: “It was around 6pm and it was raining. The soldiers surrounded the house and started to throw sound bombs. When Moussa went outside – every gun has a laser – it was like there were hundreds of laser dots on his body.”

The soldiers told Moussa to remove all his clothes and threw him a white jumpsuit, he took it and they separated him from his family.

Khowla: “After that they started to interrogate me – [the interrogator] asked me ‘where does Moussa go, when does he come back,’ all these questions. I told him everything I knew but he told me, ‘look, the soldiers are beating him, so tell me where the gun is’. I said, ‘he doesn’t have any gun.’”

She was interrogated for three or four hours but she did not know anything. As she was interrogated, she could hear awful sounds from the next room.

Khowla: “I heard someone screaming ‘mother, mother!’. I do not know if they were beating Moussa or not, I think that perhaps it was someone acting.”

Once the interrogations had ended, Moussa was arrested and taken away. The soldiers then turned their attention to the house.

Khowla: “They destroyed the inside of the house. We have a library and they started to open fire [with live ammunition] at the books, they destroyed the computer and took the hard drive.”

Khowla was denied permission to speak to or visit her son for a year after this arrest. Moussa was given 8 life sentences for participating in the resistance – a total of 792 years. He has consistently denied any wrongdoing and was released on 18 October 2011 in the first wave of the deal to exchange Palestinian prisoners for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

But Moussa was not released home to his family in Hebron. He was exiled to the Gaza Strip against his wishes, which Palestinian prisoners’ group Addameer describes as “a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention and qualifies as one of the most serious war crimes.” At the time of the interview (November 2011) the family had not been able to visit him.

[This piece is part of an exhibition in creative journalism at the Nolias Gallery, London running from 19-23 May 2012, which features work by a range of journalists and photojournalists, including a selection of David Shaw’s photography from Palestine.]

Settler Attack: Palestinian man shot in head in Asira al-Qibliya

jessica — Sun, 20 May 2012 18:28:16 +0000

By Maria Erdely

20 May 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Asira al-Qibliya, a village located south-west of Nablus, was attacked by illegal Israeli settlers yesterday. The attack lasted all afternoon leaving 7 Palestinians injured, of which 5 required hospitalization. Settlers fired live ammunition at the Palestinians, and one man was in critical condition after being shot in the head.

Israeli settlers arrived at Asira in the afternoon and before any Palestinians or Israeli soldiers came they began the attack by setting fire to the land. The people of Asira arrived and responded by throwing stones towards the settlers, attempting to force them off the land they were destroying. 3 of the 60 settlers were carrying weapons with live ammunition. They began to fire at the Palestinians and 20 year old Nemer Fathir Asaira was shot in the head.

Palestinians carry an injured man who was shot during an attack by illegal Israeli settlers | AP Photo/Nasser Ishtayeh

Paramedics were prohibited from entering the street so a private car had to evacuate Nemer to an ambulance. 4 more Palestinians were seriously injured by stones that were thrown by the Israeli settlers, including an elderly woman, who was hit in the head, Ahmed Jaber Saleh, whose nose and cheekbone were shattered, and his brother whose leg was broken.

All victims of the attack were taken to Rafidia hospital in Nablus. A lot of minor traumas were treated at the scene of the attack, amongst them 13 year old Mohammed Dawood Salah, whose upper arm was hit by a stone.

Shortly after the attack began, the illegal settlers were joined by the Israeli Army. Approximately 30 soldiers arrived at the scene. They watched without intervening as the attack by settlers intensified and increasingly more Palestinians were injured.

Some of the Israeli soldiers began filming the crowd of Palestinians who were throwing stones. An elder from Asira commented that they do this because, “they want to feed a certain stereotype to the Western media.” Filming is also used to intimidate and threaten a future arrest.

The settlers retreated in the late afternoon leaving only soldiers behind, who continued to intimidate and attack the villagers by using tear gas and sound bombs. The fires that had been started by the settlers earlier in the day continued into the late afternoon. The Israeli Army preventedthe Palestinian firemen from putting out the flames that were destroying the land.

Following the attack, the Israeli army proceeded to enter the village from its two main roads. The number of soldiers seemed to outnumber that of the Palestinians, of whom many were minors. Many inhabitants of the village feared that the situation would escalate even further. In the evening, the Israeli military retreated, but not without leaving behind several tear gas grenades and sound bombs.

Whilst confronting the soldiers, the residents of Asira chanted, “our land, our streets.”

A middle aged Palestinian man who chose not be named, stated that, “the settlers usually shoot and go. They come prepared to kill.”

Awaiting treatment in hospital

One day after the attack, Nemer Fathir Asaira, the young man shot in the face, remains in hospital. He was released from Intensive Care Unite, but doctors have yet to determine if he requires surgery.

According to Nemer’s father, his family and friends have been by his side day and night and they will continue to be so until he is released from hospital.

33 year old Ahmed Jaber Saleh, whose nose and cheekbone were broken by a stone, was visited by his mother, wife and son today. His brother, whose leg was broken by a stone, had already been released from the hospital. Ahmed and Nemer both remain in anticipation of a decision by the hospital of their treatment plans.

Settlements: a culture of impunity to the law

Approximately 700 Israelis live in the illegal Israeli settlement adjacent to Asira al-Qibliya. This colony, like 250 others throughout the West Bank, is considered illegal under international law as a violation of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. This illegality has been confirmed by the International Court of Justice and the United Nations Security Council.

The recent attack was only one of many in the history of the village. In 2011, similar attacks occurred on a weekly basis. This year, the settlers have attempted attacks on Asira up to 3 times each month. The Israeli settlers participating in these aggressions are not always inhabitants of the area. Nevertheless, they show their unity by wearing similar coloured cloth, on the most recent occasion white t-shirts. This may be an indication of long-term planning behind the attack.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), over 90% of complaints regarding settler violence filed by Palestinians with the Israeli police in recent years have been closed without indictment. OCHA reports that, “ the root cause of the settler violence phenomenon is Israel’s decades-long policy of illegally facilitating the settling of its citizens inside occupied Palestinian territory. This activity has resulted in the progressive takeover of Palestinian land, resources and transportation routes and has created two separate systems of rights and privileges, favoring Israeli citizens at the expense of the over 2.5 million Palestinian residents of the West Bank.”

The residents of Asira al-Qibliya are unable to lead a secure life under the constant threat of harassment, intimidation, and attack by the Israeli Occupation Forces and illegal settlers alike.

Maria Erdely is a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Gaza: Harvesting barley at Erez crossing amidst gun fire

jessica — Sat, 19 May 2012 22:48:15 +0000

By Hama Waqum

19 May 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza

Ten Palestinian volunteers harvested wheat in Gaza’s northern no-go zone on Wednesday, May 16, only 350 meters from where the Israeli Apartheid wall encircles the Gaza Strip. Two weeks ago the barley was cut and gathered and on Wednesday, volunteers loaded the harvest onto donkey carts to transport it for sorting, in the face of Apache helicopters, tanks, and F-16 fighter jets.

Palestinian farmers harvesting barley near the no-go zone in Gaza despite risk of Israeli army attack.

The work began at approximately 8:45am in northern Beit Hanoun, and immediately an Israeli tank became visible on a distant hill. A few minutes later, a helicopter circled above and would remain there for three hours. At 9:10, a number of jeeps patrolled the border and by 11:30, one of the Israeli outposts fired 8 shots at a point slightly further than the farmland. Over the next hour, a total of around 30 shots were fired from the same outpost.

The volunteers offered to help the owner to farm his land, due to its proximity to the Apartheid Wall. A distance of 300 meters to the border is considered the ‘no-go zone’, in which the Israeli Government prohibits farming. Even farmers outside the no-go zone, however, come under regular fire simply for their proximity to the Wall. Volunteers from the Beit Hanoun Local Initiative team farmed for six hours, joined by International Solidarity Movement volunteers.

The team of volunteers successfully finished transporting the barley despite the military presence.

Hama Waqum is a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement.

Campaign: Killing Without Consequence

jessica — Sat, 19 May 2012 16:11:03 +0000

May 19, 2012 | Killing Without Consequence

Killing Without Consequence is a campaign to press criminal charges against Israeli Border policeman Maxim Vinagrodov who executed Palestinian Ziad Jilani on June 11, 2010. In January 2011, the case against Vinagrodov was closed despite forensic evidence and eye witness reports.

Watch the video:

Click here to view the embedded video.

If the Israeli government is pressured to charge Vinagrodov, it will demonstrate to other soldiers that there are consequences for killing Palestinians. To help demand justice for the actions of Israeli soldiers, sign the petition. On July 11th, participate in and organize memorials for Ziad Jilani.

Nakba Day: Palestinian group attempts to return to 1948 territories, one arrested

jessica — Sat, 19 May 2012 15:03:48 +0000

By Ling Lewis

19 May 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

A Palestinian man was arrested at Ni’lin checkpoint on Tuesday, April 15 during a Nakba Day demonstration. The procession successfully crossed the checkpoint which separates the West Bank from Palestinian territories seized in 1948. They were violently forced back by occupation soldiers and police. A Palestinian woman and an international woman were also detained but released that same afternoon.

During the morning rush hour, several dozen Palestinians and solidarity activists took the Israeli army by surprise and walked through Ni’lin checkpoint. The procession stated their intention to return to their homes in the territories occupied by Israel in 1948 and each presented a placard reading, “permission to enter Palestine: inevitable return,” and bearing the names of Palestinian villages depopulated in 1948.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Additional Israeli soldiers and police quickly arrived and began attacking the group, shoving and kicking them backwards. Some soldiers used the body of their M16 rifles to hit the procession. During this time soldiers detained three people. Two women were quickly released, but Nabi Saleh resident Naji al Tamimi remains held by Israeli authorities. Israeli soldiers arbitrarily targeted Tamimi, who was peacefully chanting at the time of his arrest. There is a likelihood he was targeted due to his long history of involvement in the peaceful popular struggle against the Israeli occupation.

The approximately 4 million Palestinians living in the occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip are barred from entering 1948 Palestine, including the holy city of Jerusalem, without rarely-granted permits from Israel. The Ni’lin checkpoint is one of 26 checkpoints which separate the West Bank from the territory which Israel officially considers its own. Of these twenty-six checkpoints, only nine are located on the 1948 “green line”, which is internationally recognized as the basis for the western border of a future Palestinian state. The remaining checkpoints, including the Ni’lin checkpoint, are located at gaps in the Apartheid Wall at places where the wall appropriates Palestinian land. Ni’lin village has achieved international recognition for the tenacity of its nonviolent resistance against the Apartheid Wall in the face of tremendous violence on the part of the Israeli occupation authorities.

The May 15^thdemonstration was called by grassroots organizers to commemorate the 64^th anniversary of the Nakba, or Catastrophe. In 1948, over 700,000 Palestinians were forcibly expelled from their homes and villages following the declaration of the state of Israel. The right of return for the current 4.25 million refugees worldwide is an internationally recognized right and one of the demands of the international Boycotts, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel.

Ling Lewis is a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Nakba anniversary message

jessica — Wed, 16 May 2012 08:04:07 +0000

by Mazin Qumsiyeh

15 May 2012 | Popular Resistance

On this 64^th anniversary of the Nakba we mourn the ethnic cleansing that began in 1948 and that continues today with silent transfer, home demolitions, land confiscation and more. But we also celebrate an amazing resilience and success of the Palestinian endogenous people against incredible odds:

-We just celebrated the success of a hunger strike by over 1600 political prisoners despite attempts to stifle the story in Zionist dominated Western media. They succeeded in achieving a part of their basic rights including receiving family visits and ending solitary confinement.

-We are 11.5 million people and while most of us are refugees and displaced people, we remain steadfast and hopeful and connected. Thanks to persistence and now the internet and modern communications, even the feeble attempts to isolate us from each other failed. Thousands of Palestinians still go to their main city of Jerusalem without Israeli permission. Thousands connect across the Green line to the areas occupied since 1948.

-We are still the most educated people in the Middle East with the highest per capita of postgraduates.

-We now have 12 universities inside the occupied Palestinan territories. On Saturday we held the second biomedical research symposium in Bethlehem showing scientific work rivaling that done in countries with a strong tradition of research. This is miraculous considering the conditions under occupation.

-We are still the people who helped develop the Arab world and even remind it of its unity and common destiny. But more than that, our resistance shielded fellow Arabs from the original plans of Zionists for an empire from the Nile to the Euphrates. We are still the main obstacle to the victory of the racist Zionist project.

-We have an amazing history of 130 years of struggle against the most well-financed, most-organized, most-supported (by Zionists and their Western backers) colonial project in human history.

- We have the fastest growing boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement in anti-colonial struggles. In less than 7 years we accomplished far more than what was accomplished with BDS in any other place (including in 25 years in South Africa).

-Palestine is still the place where people of different religions lived together in the same neighborhod unsegregated until European Zionists came and recreated ghettos for Palestinians (Muslims and Christians) and one large ghetto for Jews called Israel coexist in harmony. Church bells and the call of the Muezzin to prayer still penetrate deep in our souls despite all the Zionist attempts to silence them (e.g. the ethnic cleansing and destruction of 530 villages and towns).

- We educate our children that racism and notions of choseness are wrong and they grow to believe that we can still have the new Palestine that will be like our old Palestine: multiethnic, multireligious, multicultural and beautiful.

- Palestinians inspired activists around the world. Polls show great sympathy for our cause among average people. Palestine is now cause celebre among those struggling against oppression. Even Nelson Mandela said that South Africa will not be fully free until Palestine is free. According to polls, a majority in Western Europe correctly view Israel and the US as the two greatest threats to world peace. Thousands of internationals joined us in the struggle locally. Israel has become so paranoid about any solidarity visits and in the process exposed its apartheid racist nature.

We are grateful to be participants in shaping a better future for all. I am 100% sure that our Nakba will end, refugees will return, freedom and equality will happen, and Israelis will also be liberated from being oppressors and colonizers and become integrated into the fabric of the new and better Palestine. We can then become a “light unto the peoples.”

What Thaer Halahleh’s family told me about his release brings joy, but raises troubling questions

jessica — Tue, 15 May 2012 00:51:05 +0000

by Lina Al Saafin

15 May 2012 | Electronic Intifada

At around 1:30am Palestine local time I was lying on my side in my bed trying to sleep and doing my best to ignore the queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach as I thought about how the 64th commemoration of Nakba Day would pan out.

My phone suddenly vibrated jarringly. I grabbed it and the name of the last person I expected to call me was flashing on the screen: Abu Thaer Halahleh, the father of Palestinian hunger striker Thaer Halahleh. I immediately answered.

What I learned in the conversation was a cause for both joy, and serious concern about a pattern of pressure to isolate prisoners and coerce them into accepting deals.

“Hello?”

“Hello…is this Um Muhammad?”

“No, this is her daughter. Is that Fathiya?”

“Yes, it’s me, Thaer’s sister.”

My heart stopped. I thought she had called to tell me Thaer had died. She cleared her throat. “I just want to tell you…I’m happy to tell you that Thaer has taken the decision to end his hunger strike in the morning.”

My heart swelled. “Tell me more!” I almost shouted.

“He will be released on 5 June after Israel signed a contract promising not to renew his detention… during that time he will receive medical aid to help his recuperation.” Fathiya was bubbling with happiness.

“What about Bilal Thiab and the other hunger strikers?”

“I’m not sure yet about Bilal…Thaer called my family in Kharas at around 12:45 am to inform them of the news. People in Kharas fired their guns in the air at 1 am when they heard the news. The mosques’ loudspeakers carried the call of ‘Allahu Akbar’ at that time too. My family immediately called my father to tell him the news but he didn’t believe him. Thaer was allowed to make another call to my house, and we almost didn’t pick up because it was a private number…anyway, talk to my father.”

“Uncle! This is fantastic news!” I said to Abu Thaer.

“Yes, my daughter, thank God. You heard he was to be released on 5 June?”

“Yes…tell me, how did he sound on the phone? What was it like talking to him again after two years?”

“His spirits are high, and his voice…well you know, it’s a good thing he can even talk after 77 days on hunger strike. But one thing he said struck me hard. He told me that if I wasn’t satisfied with his decision he was ready to continue his hunger strike.”

I asked him if he knew more information. He told me that all administrative detainees signed a deal with the Israeli Prison Service (brokered by an Egyptian mediator) to end their hunger strike in return for getting released once their detention was up, with Israel promising not to renew their detention.

“This means that Bilal Thiab will be released in August, because that’s when his administrative detention ends,” Thaer’s dad said.

Bilal was arrested on 17 August 2011.

“I don’t know if Bilal will be released on August 17 or not,” continued Thaer’s dad. “You know how it is with the occupation. They will find any excuse to postpone the release of a prisoner even by a few days. Thaer’s administrative detention ends on May 27 but he is getting released a week later.”

Deal raises new questions over role of Jawad Boulos and pressure on hunger strikers

The deal was struck after midnight, in the Ramle prison hospital. It is not known for sure whether Thaer and Bilal’s lawyer, Jamil Khatib was present, but Jawad Boulos, the lawyer who conducted the deals for Khader Adnan and the even murkier one with Hana al-Shalabiwas there.

Israel has consistently denied prisoners access to their lawyers of choice, so there is special reason to be concerned when Israel allows lawyers who do not represent the prisoners into the room.

On 14 May, Maan News Agency reported that Issa Qaraqe, a Palestinian Authority minister, had told media that Boulos had been dispatched to Ramle Prison to speak to Thaer Halahleh and fellow long-term hunger striker Bilal Diab.

The Egyptian mediator, the Higher Committee for prisoners, and the Israel Prison Service officials were also there.

Boulos was the key figure in the deal which ended up with Hana al-Shalabi being banished to Gaza for three years on 1 April in exchange for releasing her from administrative detention.

Boulos and Palestinian Authority officials claimed that this was al-Shalabi’s “choice,” but this was challenged by Hana’s father and by Hana herself in an interview with The Electronic Intifada:

In her comments to The Electronic Intifada, al-Shalabi demanded that her lawyer [Boulos] clarify to her and to the public the controversial circumstances surrounding the deal to send her to Gaza.

Al-Shalabi’s account casts doubt on the claims that it was her “choice” and confirm that she may have received misleading information in order to induce her to accept the deal.

Is there a pattern here? It does look like Israel and those working with it to end the strike are creating conditions where prisoners are isolated from family, their own legal representation and independent medical personnel and then a “good cop” lawyer of Israel’s and the Palestinian Authority’s choice is brought in to pressure them to accept a deal.

This has now become a pattern with Boulos and there must be clarity and accountability.

A deal, but is it a victory?

Thaer’s father was speaking to me outside on a street, waiting for a taxi to take him back home to Kharas in Hebron. He hadn’t slept for three days.

“You better prepare the mansaf,” I joked.

“Of course. I’ll be waiting for you and your mother to come down to Kharas,” he laughed.

The fact that Thaer and Bilal and the other six hunger strikers in their second or third month without food will survive is a cause for great happiness. Yet this deal doesn’t seem like a victory.

Thaer and Bilal have vowed over and over again that they will not end their fast until immediate freedom or martyrdom, and with the involvement of Jawad Boulos in the arrangement similar to that of Khader Adnan’s, there seems to be more to it than meets the eye.

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Palestinian prisoners agree to end hunger strike

jessica — Mon, 14 May 2012 15:59:57 +0000

by Haitham Hamad

14 May 2012 | Associated Press

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners agreed Monday to end a weekslong hunger strike after winning concessions from Israel to improve their conditions, the two sides announced.

The deal ended a strike in which prisoners had gone without food for up to 77 days, leaving several prisoners in life-threatening condition. It was the longest strike ever staged by Palestinians in Israeli custody.

With the Palestinians set to hold an annual day of mourning on Tuesday, both sides were eager to wrap up a deal to lower tensions. The Palestinians are marking what they call the “nakba,” or “catastrophe,” the term they use in describing the suffering that resulted from Israel’s establishment 64 years ago.

The Palestinian minister for Prisoner Affairs, Issa Qaraqe, said that Palestinian prisoner leaders signed the deal on Monday afternoon at an Israeli prison in Ashkelon. Israel’s Shin Bet security agency and Palestinian militant groups confirmed the deal, which was brokered by Egyptian mediators.

Two men launched the strike on Feb. 27, and were joined by hundreds of others on April 17.

Among their demands: permission to receive family visits from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, an end to solitary confinement and a halt to an Israeli policy of “administrative detention,” under which suspected militants are held for months, and sometimes years, without being charged. Israel has defended the policy as a necessary security measure.

According to a Palestinian negotiator, Israel agreed to allow prisoners from both the West Bank and Gaza to receive family visits. The visits from Gaza were halted in 2006 after Hamas-linked militants in Gaza captured an Israeli soldier. After the soldier was released in a prisoner swap last October, the Palestinians said the ban should be lifted.

He said Israel also agreed to halt its punitive policy of placing prisoners in solitary confinement, would allow prisoners to make phone calls to relatives and permit prisoners to pursue academic studies.

He spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

There was no word on any change to the administrative detentions.

The Shin Bet said in return, the prisoners pledged “to absolutely stop terror activity from inside Israeli jails.” It also said militant group’s commanders outside the jails made a commitment “to prevent terror activity.” It did not elaborate.

Israel said some 1,600 prisoners, or more than a third of the 4,500 Palestinians held by Israel, joined the hunger strike. Palestinians said the number was closer to 2,500.

The fate of the prisoners is an emotional issue in Palestinian society, where nearly everyone has a neighbor or relative who has spent time in an Israeli jail. As the strike dragged on, hundreds of Palestinians took to the streets of the West Bank and Gaza to demonstrate in solidarity.

For families of the prisoners, any deal that did not win their freedom fell short.

“Will they release Bilal? Is it over?” asked Missadeh Diab, the elderly mother of Bilal Diab, one of the prisoners who refused food for 77 days. “May God give your demands and freedom.”

Statement No. 7 of the Strike leadership

jessica — Sun, 13 May 2012 22:19:48 +0000

by The Central Committee of the Leadership of the Strike

13 May 2012 | Samidoun

We have only two options: to achieve all of our demands, or to die

Free Palestinian people, masses of our nation, free people of the world….

We have entered a stage of legendary and draining human struggle, where we face real danger which threatens our lives. We are now very close to martyrdom, which is more precious and one of the best options for us.

We are now at the state of a great test of wills and we reject completely the attempts of the Prison Service management to force us to accept partial settlements in order to bring an end to this epic humanitarian struggle for justice. Here, we emphasize the following points:

We have only two options to achieve all of the following.

First, we swear not to go back without achieving our demands. We are waiting for martyrdom for the sake of our dignity, and we have prepared ourselves to confront our only two options – the victory of our humanity and our dignity, or our martyrdom without it.

Second, we strongly and firmly swear that we will continue with our battle of the empty stomachs, whatever the costs may be, until we achieve the minimum of our demands, particularly the immediate end to the horror of solitary confinement and isolation, and to allow prisoners from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank who have been denied family visits to receive them, and to return prison conditions to their pre-2000 state.

Third, we greatly appreciate the role of our great sister Egypt with regard to compelling “Israel” to implement the second part of an agreement and fulfilling its commitments, and we are confident that Egypt is an Arab leader that will not leave us to face this battle alone. We also affirm categorically that we will not end our strike without promptly achieving our demands. We are confident of the depth of support in our nation, and particularly in Egypt.

Finally, we are ready for martyrdom. We are not amateurs in hunger. Death is easier than disrespect for our dignity, so we swear we will live with dignity or die.

Activists seal off settlement in solidarity with hunger strikers

jessica — Sun, 13 May 2012 22:08:58 +0000

13 May 2012 | Popular Struggle Coordination Committee

The protesters managed to halt traffic at the entrance to the settlement for about 20 minutes, before Israeli forces managed to remove them from the road and onto the pavement. Two of the Palestinian protesters were detained and taken to the adjacent police station.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Ma’ale Adumim Jewish-only settlement is located 7 km east of Jerusalem, and is the third largest in the West Bank, with about 35,000 residents. The entrance that was blocked, leads to the Israeli police’s Judea and Samaria Central Unit’s interrogation center, one of the biggest in the West Bank.

Background

More than three weeks ago, some 2,000 Palestinian prisoners have launched an open-ended hunger strike and their life is in danger. Their demands are simple and the strike’s slogan, echoing through the prison walls, is just as plain- freedom or death. The lives of all prisoners on strike are currently under danger, but among them is a smaller group, which has been striking for a longer period and whose lives are under immediate threat.

Thaer Halahleh and Bilal Diab have not eaten for more than 70 days – since the 29th of February. Israeli courts have rejected their appeals and refused to free them from administrative detention where they remain without charge or trial, subject to secret evidence and secret allegations. They are in critical condition.

Hassan Safadi has been refusing food since the 2nd of March, Omar Abu Shalal, 54, since the 4th of March, Mahmoud Sarsak, the only Gazan to have been incarcerated under Israel’s Illegal Combatants Law, since the 24th of March, Mohammed al-Taj, 40, also since the 24th of March and Ja’afar Ezzadeen, 41, since the 27th of march.

The Prisoners’ key demands include:

Ending the policy of solitary confinement and isolation;
End to the use of administrative detentions;
The restoration of visitation rights to families of prisoners from the Gaza Strip, a right that has been denied to all families for more than 6 years;
Canceling ‘Shalit’ law, which restricts prisoners’ access to educational materials as punitive measure. The law remains intact despite a prisoner swap deal last October.
Ending systematic humiliation, including arbitrary strip searches, nightly raids and collective punishment.

Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike have been hit hard with retaliation from Israel Prison Services, including beatings, transferring from one prison to another, confiscation of salt (an act that could have severe health consequences for hunger strikers), denial of family and lawyer visits, and isolation and solitary confinement of hunger strikers.

In response, Human Rights Watch issued a statement chiding Israel’s over its administrative detention policy; it said, “It shouldn’t take the self-starvation of Palestinian prisoners for Israel to realize it is violating their due process rights.” Amnesty International also issued a call for urgent action from individuals around the world to contact Israeli authorities about Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahleh.