Tag: Hana Shalabi

Rachel Corrie & Hana Shalabi: Flowers among thistles of Israeli occupation

by Nathan Stuckey

21 March 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza

Rachel Corrie was murdered nine years ago by an Israeli bulldozer. Hana Shalabi has spent the last 34 days on hunger strike an Israeli prison, yet she is accused of no crime. This was not the first time Hana has been held in Israeli prisons while being accused of no crime. She was only recently released as part of a prisoner exchange after being held without charges for 25 months. Hana has said that “freedom is more important than life,” and she knows of what she speaks.

The protesters who turn out every week for the demonstration against the occupation and the no go zone agree.

An Israeli bulldozer did not stop the message of Rachel, Israeli prisons have not silenced Hana, and Israeli bullets will not stop our protests. Rachel Corrie was only 23 years old when she was killed; Hana Shalabi is 29 years old. Our protest this week was in honor of these women and all of the strong women of Palestine.

At a little after eleven in the morning we set off down the road north from Beit Hanoun and towards the no go zone. There were about 25 activists from the Beit Hanoun Local Initiative, the International Solidarity Movement, and other international activists.

As we walked music played over the megaphone. Flowers were in bloom everywhere, it is springtime in Gaza. I was so enthralled by the flowers that I didn’t even think to look up and see if the giant balloon that always floats over Gaza observing our move was there. We walked past blooming flowers, green fields of wheat, a few olive trees that the Israeli’s haven’t managed to destroy yet into the no go zone.

The change was dramatic. Gaza is one of the most densely populated places on earth, it is also very poor, any land that can be cultivated is cultivated. The no go zone is not cultivated; it is overgrown with thistles and weeds. It used to be one of Gaza’s most fertile areas, full of orchards and crops. Israel destroyed all of this, the trees were cut down, any houses in the no go zone were bulldozed, all wells were destroyed.

We made our way up a small path that we have cut through the thistles on previous demonstrations to the trench which Israel has cut across the no go zone. The trench is lined with flags from one of our previous demonstrations, Palestinian flags and flags from many of the factions in Palestine. We were carrying pictures of Hana and Rachel, some of us carried posters of Rachel decorated by the kids of the Rachel Corrie Youth Center in Rafah for the anniversary of her murder.

Sabur Zaaneen from the Beit Hanoun Local Initiative spoke about the importance of continuing the popular resistance and the inspiration that we all take from Hana and Rachel. We left pictures of Hana and Rachel in the thistles as we left, perhaps the Israeli soldiers can look out from their concrete towers on the faces of their victims.

Nathan Stuckey is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement.

Nablus marches for Hana Shalabi

by Christopher Beckett

21 March 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

On March 19th 2012, in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, ISM volunteers joined demonstrators in solidarity with Ms. Hana Shalabi, now entering her 35^th day of hunger strike.

Marching from outside the headquarters of the Red Cross, a group of around a hundred demonstrators marched towards Nablus city centre waving flags, signs and ‘Free Hana Shalabi’ posters. Some of the people attending were the parents of prisoners held illegally by Israel and held aloft photographs of their missing loved ones as they chanted slogans ranging from ‘Free Hana Shalabi’ to End Administrative detention’ and ‘End the occupation’.

Hana was violently abducted from her home in the West Bank village of Burqin on the 16^th of February 2012 and was taken into Israeli custody without justification or pretense. Only after she was in custody for close to two weeks did the Israeli courts issue an ‘Administrative detention’ order on the 29^th of February.

Administrative detention is the arrest and confinement of individuals by the state without charge or trial, ostensibly for security reasons. Amnesty International believes that administrative detention breaches Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which “makes clear that no-one should be subjected to arbitrary detention and that deprivation of liberty must be based on grounds and procedures established by law”.

According to Amnesty International, approximately 310 Palestinians are currently held in administrative detention inside Israeli prisons. Administrative detention allows Israel to hold detainees for indefinitely renewable six-month periods. The arrest is granted on the basis of ‘secret information’ and without public scrutiny. Therefore, administrative detainees and their lawyers cannot defend against these allegations in court. Hunger strike is therefore the only non-violent method of resistance open to prisoners whose sole demand is that their human rights are respected in accordance with international law.

In a recent report, Amnesty International expressed particular concerns that prisoners in administrative detention were being “held solely for the non-violent exercise of their right to freedom of expression and association.” Hana Shalabi had previously spent two years in administrative detention but was released last October as part of a prisoner exchange negotiated between Israel and Hamas, making this the second time she has been held in this way.

In the last few days we have begun to receive reports that Hana’s health is deteriorating rapidly. ‘Physicians For Human Rights’ have made clear their concern for Hana Shalabi’s life. The organization also expressed its alarm at the recent proposal that doctors and prison staff are still considering the possibility of force-feeding, despite the fact that international treaties explicitly forbid this. A call to action has been issued by various groups in solidarity with Hana and others held alongside her. According to Palestinian human rights group Addameer, at least 24 other prisoners our at various stages of hunger strike inside Israeli prisons. This includes Ahmad Saqer, the longest serving Palestinian prisoner under Administrative detention, held since November 2008.

Christopher Beckett is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Bruqin: International Women’s Day Demonstration for Hana Shalabi

by Jeff

8 March 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Yesterday, several hundred people traveled from around the West Bank to the village of Bruqin to mark the occasion of International Women’s Day and protest against Israel’s continued imprisonment and confinement of hunger striker Hana Shalabi.

Bruqin is Shalabi’s home village, and the demonstration centered around the Shalabi family home. The demonstration was organized by the Union of Palestinian Women Committees and representatives from the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society and political parties ranging from Islamic Jihad to the DFLP were present.

Hana Shalabi was arrested February 16 and is currently imprisoned under the illegal Israeli practice of administrative detention. She has not been informed of a charge against her, given neither a trial no a sentence, nor has been allowed to see the evidence against her. Shalabi was released from a previous two year long administrative detention term last year as part of the Gilad Shalit deal.

She has refused food for the last 22 days, and has vowed to continue her hunger strike until her release.

Jeff is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

International Women’s Day Marks Hana Shalabi’s 22nd Day of Hunger Strike

8 March 2012 | Palestinian Council of Human Rights Organizations

We, the Palestinian Council of Human Rights Organisations (PCHRO), would like to mark International Women’s Day by expressing our solidarity with administrative detainee Hana Shalabi. Hana is today beginning her 22^nd successive day of hunger strike in protest at her internment without charge or trial and her ongoing ill-treatment at the hands of the Israeli authorities.

Hana, 29 years old, previously spent more than two years in administrative detention before she was released in October 2011 as part of the prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas. Less than four months later she was arrested once more by Israeli authorities at her home near Jenin, when she was beaten with the butt of a rifle by an Israeli soldier. Following her arrest, she was beaten, blindfolded and later forcibly strip-searched and assaulted by an Israeli male soldier. Hana was given a six-month administrative detention order and spent the first three days of her internment in solitary confinement. She was later sentenced to solitary confinement for a further seven days as punishment for her continuing hunger strike.

Internment, also known as administrative detention, is a procedure under which Palestinian detainees are held without charge or trial for periods of up to six months. Detention orders are usually renewed before they expire, and detainees can be held for indefinite periods of time, with several detainees spending up to eight consecutive years in internment. Administrative detainees are held on the basis of “secret material” that is not made available to them or their lawyers, therefore undermining their ability to effectively challenge the detention order.

Israel’s widespread practice of administrative detention, of which Hana Shalabi is yet another victim, constitutes a serious breach of international humanitarian and human rights law. While administrative detention is allowed under international humanitarian law, it must be used only in exceptional circumstances and must uphold fair trial standards, which Israel does not comply with. Israel is currently detaining some 310 Palestinians without charge in administrative detention.

Although no Palestinian is left untouched by the occupation, it is true that women are, in many cases, doubly affected by Israel’s illegal practices. However, internment also affects a large number of Palestinian women indirectly; those wives, mothers, sisters and daughters of detainees who endeavour to maintain community and family structures while they wait indefinitely for their family members to be freed. For example, the wife and daughter of Ahmad Qatamesh, who has been declared a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International, recently saw his detention order renewed for the third consecutive time. Administrative detention, characterised by renewable detention orders and abusive conditions of imprisonment, constitutes a merciless cycle that attempts to suppress the spirit of both the detainees and their families.

While Hana Shalabi’s internment by way of an inhumane system is representative of the utter disregard in which Israel holds the lives and rights of Palestinians, administrative detention is only one of a wide range of violations perpetrated against Palestinian women in the OPT. Palestinian women and girls are, along with the rest of the Palestinian population, regularly subjected to harassment, intimidation and ill-treatment by Israeli military authorities and as a consequence they are denied the enjoyment of basic human rights such as education, health and freedom of movement. Such treatment amounts to an assault on their dignity and security of person in violation of international law.

The international community of States cannot continue to avert its gaze while Israel refuses to apply international human rights law, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), in the OPT. Israel is not only in violation of the positive duty to implement its obligations under CEDAW, but also, through the imposition of illegal policies such as restrictions on the freedom of movement, is in breach of its negative duty not to interfere in the enjoyment of the rights under the Convention.

PCHRO urges the international community to stand in solidarity with Hana, today of all days, as a first step towards ending its longstanding inaction in the face of Israel’s disregard for international law. Hana should not be forced to wait 66 days before the world sits up and takes notice. Given that Israel does not grant due process and humane treatment to Palestinians, she must be released immediately. By failing to do so, the international community will only contribute to the perpetuation of such violations and add to the climate of impunity that currently prevails in the OPT.

Gaza rally for Hana Shalabi on International Women’s Day

by Joe Catron

8 March 2012 | Mondoweiss

Hundreds of Palestinian women filled the street outside Gaza’s International Committee of the Red Cross this morning, marking International Women’s Day by demanding the release of administrative detainee Hana Shalabi on the 22nd day of her open hunger strike.

The rally contained Palestinian women of every age, including many university students and other youth.

Many girls joined their mothers to express their support for Shalabi.

During the demonstration, which lasted several hours, tired participants rested inside a crowded protest tent.