20th August 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil Team |Hebron, Occupied Palestine
Last Tuesday Palestinian lawyers went on a hunger strike. Hatem Shahin, vice-president of the Palestinian Bar Association for lawyers, explains why thirteen of the Association’s members decided to take this radical step: “The main goals are to break the isolation of the Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike as well as to send a message to the entire world. Palestinian voices need to be heard”. Therefore the Palestinian lawyers gathered in central Hebron to carry out their action.
The lawyers form a human chain around the poster of Mohammed Allan
Whereas the immediate motivation for the strike is the grave situation of Mohammed Allan, it is also a protest against the illegal practice of administrative detention. Administrative detention allows Israel to detain almost exclusively Palestinians without charge or trial for a maximum of six months which can be renewed indefinitely. The alleged high security risk of the concerned prisoner to the Israeli settler-colonial state is emphasized to legitimize the application of administrative detention. This practice “is the most extreme measure that international humanitarian law allows an occupying power to use against residents of occupied territory” as the prisoner support and human rights association Addameer puts it. Under international law administrative detention should only be used “against protected persons in occupied territory for ‘imperative reasons of security’ (Fourth Geneva Convention, Art. 78)”. However, Israel applies this procedure frequently ever since the Nakba of ‘48 which resulted in the construction of the Israeli state. Administrative detention leaves the prisoners and their families and friends in a prolonged state of uncertainty and isolation. “We do not feel respected as human beings because of this treatment”, expresses former administrative detainee Badran Jaber. “We live lonely in front of the occupying power”.
One day after the solidarity hunger strike was started by the Palestinian lawyers, the news is received that Israel’s High Court suspends the detention of Mohammed Allan. His health severely deteriorated which led him to be hospitalised in Barzilai Medical Centre in Ashkelon, southern Israel on Friday the 14th of August. After a medical examination it was found that Mohammed Allan now suffers from brain damage. Given his current medical condition, he does not pose a security threat any more and thus administrative detention is not legitimized according to the court’s ruling. However, it is unclear whether the brain damage is permanent and, should his medical condition improve, whether administrative detention will be re-applied.
Mother and brother of Mohammed Allan embrace after the court’s ruling
The news of Mohammed Allan’s release has been met with enthusiasm, relief and a sense of victory by supporters within occupied Palestine and beyond. However, critics also point out that the attainment of freedom through the application of extreme damage to oneself can hardly be called justice. Furthermore, the interest in Mohammed Allan’s struggle should not deviate attention from the 180 Palestinian prisonerswho are on hunger strike since the 11th of August 2015. Therefore, because of the uncertainty of a potential re-application of administrative detention should Mohammed Allan’s health improve, the continuing struggle of Palestinians inside Israeli prisons and the ongoing illegal occupation of Palestine, the road to justice is still a long way ahead.
ISM spoke with lawyers, supporters and a former administrative detainee in Hebron. Watch the video below.
29th June 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza Team | Gaza, Occupied Palestine
Today, the weekly concentration in solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails focused on the last victory of Khader Adnan.
Supporting Khader Adnan
Spokesmen from different factions and committees pointed to Khader Adnan as an example for all prisoners and all Palestinians for his steadfastness and patience. They celebrated that finally, his hunger strike got its reward.
“Khader Adnan is in danger”
All the people who demonstrated demanding his release, all the human rights activists, and all independent media were also thanked, as this victory wouldn’t have been possible without them. The spokesmen highlighted as well that they will keep fighting until the total liberation of the land and the release of all prisoners.
Spokesmen from different factions speaking on Khader AdnanWomen supporting Khader Adnan
Hussein Abu Naim, former prisoner and head of the Union of Prisoners, thanked Khader Adnan for adding a new victory to the cause.
A mural of Khader Adnan with the number 55, the number of days he was on hunger strike this time.
25th May 2014 |International Solidarity Movement, Khalil team | Al-Fwar, Occupied Palestine
On the 24th of May, approximately 40 protesters gathered at Al-Fwar refugee camp. The protest was to support the 5,000 political prisoners of whom more than a 180, are on their 30th day of hunger strike.
The protesters walk toward road 60 (photo by ISM).An Israeli soldier is about to throw a tear gas grenade at the feet of the protesters, to stop them from going further (photo by ISM).Protesters retreat after a tear gas grenade is thrown (Photo by ISM).(Photo by ISM)The demonstrators gathering behind the gate, continuing the protest (photo by ISM).Even after the protesters were following the soldiers’ instructions to stand behind the gate, the soldiers continued to throw tear gas and stun grenades at their feet. (Photo by ISM)(Photo by ISM)Protesters running away from a stun grenade. Standing too close to a stun grenade when it explodes, can result in hearing loss, concussion, and loss of balance. (Photo by ISM)(Photo by ISM)Throughout the protest the soldiers were firing tear gas canisters and throwing tear gas grenades, some of them aimed directly towards the protesters. Being hit by a tear gas canister in the head or other parts of the body, can be fatal. (Photo by ISM)One man was hit in the ankle by a tear gas canister, and treated at the scene. (Photo by ISM)
The protest was successful in the sense that their message was expressed strongly and non-violently, despite the extreme violence of the Israeli soldiers and border police.
A local resident of Al-Fwar refugee camp told ISM, that three teenagers aged 13-14 were arrested in the past week. Their parents haven’t been allowed to see them or speak with them since, although a lawyer had told the parents that they are in Ofer prison. According to the lawyer there have been eight child arrests recently.
In support of Palestinian ‘administrative detainees’ on open-end hunger strike
Over one hundred and twenty five Palestinian prisoners (ninety of whom are administrative detainees) have entered the fifth week of an open-end hunger strike to protest Israel’s practice of administrative detention, a procedure under which a person is detained without charge or trial under ‘secret evidence’ that neither the accused nor their lawyer is allowed to see. Military orders to prolong administrative detention can be extended indefinitely; some Palestinians have been imprisoned by Israel for more than 10 years with no charges against them.
Detainees in Ofer, Meggido, and the Naqab prisons began their strike on 24 April 2014 and will continue until their demand for the end of the policy of administrative detention is met. New prisoners are joining the hunger strike on a regular basis. Today there are 183 Palestinians under administrative detention, nine of whom are members of the Palestinian Legislative Council.
This strike is in response to a previous prisoners hunger strike against administrative detention carried out in 2012. Israel agreed in 2012 to end the widespread use of administrative detention, but has refused to carry through.
Hunger strikers have faced severe abuse in Israeli prisons, including solitary confinement and separation from non-striking prisoners. Strikers are not permitted to have visits from their families, and visits from lawyers have been almost entirely curtailed. Prison guards have increased raids on the hunger strikers, confiscated all belongings other than clothing, and in some cases have physically assaulted prisoners. Prison officials have also denied strikers salt – the only form of sustenance besides water – that the strikers have been taking. Prison doctors have tried to coerce strikers into eating.
The rampant use of administrative detention is prohibited by the Fourth Geneva Convention, to which Israel is a signatory. Attempts by physician to force-feed, or coerce hunger strikers to eat are in violation of the World Medical Association’s Malta Declaration, of which Israel is a signatory.
As international human rights organizations supporting Palestinian non-violent resistance to the Israeli occupation, we stand in solidarity with the hunger strike and the Palestinian people who are carrying it out in Israeli prisons.
We condemn the abuse visited on them by the Israeli Prison Service, as well as Israel’s violations of international law regarding the treatment of hunger strikers and administrative detainees.
We demand that the Israeli Prison Service adheres to the international treaties and declarations of which Israel is a signatory; respects the human rights of all Palestinians it holds prisoners, administrative detainees and all the hunger strikers in particular; and that it keeps its promises and ends the illegal practice of administrative detention immediately.
We call on the world’s human rights organisations, prisoners’ rights organisations, and people of conscience all across the globe to put pressure on the Israeli authorities to stop administrative detention and instead respect universal principles of human rights and justice.
“What do you want from me?” a 70-year-old lawyer and professor of economics asked the Israeli military when they arrested him last year. “You are very dangerous,” was the explanation. Recalling his reply, the man laughs, his kind face lighting up: “I am dangerous to one of the most powerful armies in the world?! I am a danger to the only nuclear power in the Middle East?! I only have my pen, my notebook, and my mind.”
Exactly.
Following his arrest, the professor spent 6 months in Israeli administrative detention, an illegal practice of indefinite incarceration without any legal process, no charges let alone trial, and under ‘secret evidence’ that is never revealed to the prisoner nor their lawyer, and may or may not exist. As of 1 March 2014, Israel was holding 183 Palestinians under administrative detention.
On Thursday 24 April this year over 100 Palestinian political detainees went on an open-end hunger strike demanding the end of administrative detention. That was four weeks ago today (21 May); more prisoners have joined the strike along the way, bringing the total number to over 140; and even more are expected to follow.
“No-one wants to be hungry,” says Raed Amer, Nablus chairperson of the Palestinian Prisoners Society, an organization that supports prisoners and their families. But what other methods do people held incommunicado in occupation dungeons have, to fight for their rights and their dignity?
In an attempt to break the hunger strike, the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) has tried a diversity of tactics except for one: meeting the strikers’ demands. The repressive measures include both physical and psychological violence and abuse: isolation; severe beatings (in some cases prisoners lost consciousness for several hours, during which no medical assistance was allowed); denial of water and salt which are essential for human survival; denial of lawyer and family visits; violent raids and searches during which prisoners are made wait in an overcrowded cage while handcuffed; mass transfers from one prison to another, designed to disrupt and isolate; and dehumanizing treatment and conditions – e.g. confiscation of all personal belongings, denial of basic hygiene products and change of underwear, filthy toilet facilities, and cells of a size that violates IPS’s own regulations.
Even IPS medical staff are collaborating with these increasingly repressive actions against the hunger strikers. The Palestinian Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Addameer, reported recently that after Mahmoud Shabaneh fainted as a result of his hunger strike, prison staff waited for 3 hours until they finally transferred him to the prison clinic. Doctors there then tried to offer him food as a provocation, which is in direct violation of the World Medical Association’s Malta Declaration on Hunger Strikers, of which Israel is a signatory. The Malta Declaration specifically states that “physicians must try to prevent coercion or maltreatment of detainees and must protest if it occurs“.
Additionally, the Israeli Knesset (parliament) is currently debating a bill that would legalize force-feeding, a practice the World Medical Association considers “never ethically acceptable“. Force-feeding in Israeli dungeons already has a tragic precedent: in the early 1980s, after a lengthy hunger strike in Nafha prison, Ali Ja’fari and Rasem Halawi died after doctors inserted the tubes in the wrong place.
Nablus protest in solidarity with the hunger strikers. Currently 24 of the hunger strikers are from Nablus (photo by IWPS).
The current hunger strike is yet another attempt of Palestinian political prisoners to bring Themis to the place she has been absent for so long. In 2012, after a mass hunger strike that started on 17 April, Palestinian Prisoners Day, and involved around 2,000 prisoners, an agreement was signed between IPS and the Higher Committee for Prisoners in which Israel promised to limit its use of the illegal practice of administrative detention to exceptional circumstances. Two years later, administrative detention is still systematic. Fake promises?
Exactly.
Hunger strikes have played an important role in the struggle of Palestinians held prisoner by Israel. “Every achievement in prisons for simple, daily things such as sanitation, bed, or radio have been reached through hunger strikes,” says Saed Abu-Hijleh, an activist, poet, and lecturer at An-Najah National University in Nablus. During the Oslo Accords of the 1990s, Abu-Hijleh says, Palestinian people were expecting all political prisoners to be released from Israeli jails, since a ‘peace treaty’ was being signed between Israel and the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization). However, such hopes never materialized and Palestinian prisoners became a bargaining chip in political negotiations – the so-called “peace process” – ever since.
Moreover, Jawad Boulus, chief lawyer of the Palestinian Prisoners Society, said in an interview with IWPS that the Israeli state is becoming more and more repressive: it places Palestinians in administrative detention simply because they resist the Israeli occupation. Some people have been held in prison without charges for 10-12 years; the list of administrative detainees includes highly educated people – doctors, lawyers, journalists, as well as political and community leaders. Boulus added that two administrative detainees started their hunger strike earlier and have now spent more than 80 days without food; the Israeli military court system rejected their appeal and ordered them to serve additional time.
According to Boulus, one of the most important achievements of Palestinian prisoners is that they’ve developed a prisoners movement with a code of conduct and a moral value system. “Officers and guards can see how detainees are engaged in a human struggle against injustice,” he says. Whether they choose to accept what they see or continue being complicit in the suppression of this struggle for human rights and dignity is another issue.
The current Palestinian hunger strike is to hit Day 30 on Friday 23 May. After 14 days on hunger strike, catabolysis – a biological process during which the body starts to break down muscle tissue and fat for survival – occurs. Physical implications are increasingly serious: people start having difficulty standing up and suffer from severe dizziness, weakness, loss of coordination, and shivers. After 3-4 weeks on hunger strike, or when more than 18% of body weight is lost, there is a risk of medical complications becoming permanent; among them – loss of hearing and vision, indifference to surroundings, and incoherence. This is when the body, having no other source of energy, starts consuming itself: first fat, then muscles, and finally vital organs.
It is generally considered that a healthy person who consumes water during their hunger strike would have an absolute limit of 60 days. However, many of the Palestinian ‘administrative detainees’ who entered the hunger strike were already in ill-health, due to Israel’s refusal to provide them with proper treatment while in prison.
What thoughts run in the mind of a person on hunger strike? “You don’t think about your body – rather, you think about your family, your loved ones, and what you can do for them,” says Amer from the Nablus branch of the Palestinian Prisoners Society, who himself went on a 20-day-long hunger strike during his time in Israeli occupation prison in the pre-Oslo period.
As if to echo his words, Boulous quotes from a poem: “I am ready to give half my life to somebody who can make a crying child laugh…” and adds that “every Palestinian prisoner case is a big issue”. Ending the occupation is a big issue. Helping families to visit their loved ones in prison is a big issue. National morality and resistance is a big issue. How to pass Qalandiya checkpoint without loss of dignity is a big issue. Israel’s crimes against human rights are a big issue. The fact that Israel tortures prisoners is a big issue.
“Prisoners on hunger strike cannot go back now,” Abu-Hijleh says. “It’s ‘Either I go home, or I go in a plastic bag’.”
“We don’t have an alternative. We cannot raise the white flag,” Amer adds.
Exactly.
“I am an administrative detainee…” – activists reading out stories of Palestinians held prisoners by Israel (photo by IWPS).
LATEST NEWS:
– The IPS has so far refused to take the hunger strike seriously and prefers to turn “a blind eye and a deaf ear” on the prisoners’ rightful, legal, and legitimate demands. Palestinian Minister of Detainee Affairs, Issa Qaraqe, said in a statement that “a state of alert is taking place inside of Israeli jails in anticipation of projected deaths among Palestinian hunger strikers. Instructions handed to all prisons and hospitals, where Palestinian hunger strikers are held, called for the complete shutdown of the strikers’ cells, including all gates and windows, and denial of any access out of or into cells, even for urgent medical check-ups, under any spur-of-the-moment pretext.”
– Waad Association for Detainees and Ex-Detainees warned of the serious deterioration of Palestinian administrative detainees’ health conditions after more than 3 weeks on hunger strike. Many of the striking prisoners are sick detainees denied medical treatment.
Tell the Israeli authorities and IPS in particular what you think of their crimes against Palestinian political prisoners. IPS general contact email is ips@mail.gov.il, telephone number +972 (0)89776666. Can also be contacted through the website.
