Tag: International Committee of the Red Cross

Palestinians demand justice: 52 days and Khader Adnan is dying to live

by Aaron

7 February 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Click to stand in solidarity and take action!

On Monday and Tuesday Palestinians rallied for Khader Adnan and all political prisoners before regional offices of the Red Cross, demanding that the organization takes a solid stand for the rights of more than 5000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees held in Israeli prisons.

TAKE ACTION NOW TO SUPPORT KHADER ADNAN

Al Khalil:

The mood was at once festive and somber Monday, February 6th, when a determined group of family, friends, and solidarity activists rallied in front of the Al Khalil (Hebron) office of the International Committee of the Red Cross, demanding that the organization take a stand for the rights of more than 5000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees held in Israeli prisons, many without ever having been formally charged or offered legal defense. Organized by the Palestinian Prisoner Society, Monday’s demonstration comes two weeks after Israeli soldiers stormed the Al Quds (Jerusalem) ICRC office to arrest two Hamas government officials taking shelter there and three weeks after another three Palestinian elected officials were arrested.

For the last three months, the Palestinian Prisoner Society has organized a weekly protest to highlight the miserable plight of specific detainees—this week’s political prisoners are Khader Adnan and Razeq Al- Rjoob.

Khader Adnan is protesting his administrative detention in a hunger strike that has extended 52 days, with his health debilitating rapidly. Razeq Al- Rjoob  is another political prisoner who has been kept in solitary confinement over eight months.

These men’s stories are not all that bring out protesters, many of whom have lost fathers, sons, brothers, husbands, and friends as well as mothers, daughters, or sisters  to Israeli prisons. Badran Jaber had his son, Rasan Badran Jaber, taken from him three months ago when soldiers entered the house, locked him and his wife in one room, and then “demolished all their furniture” and arrested their son.

Palestinians demand a firmer stance for its prisoners - Click here for more images

Like the men recognized this week, Jaber said his son was detained because he is active in the prisoner rights movement, agitating from inside during an eight year sentence and continuing after his release. Jaber was taken into custody once again without charge or legal recourse. Serving more than one multi-year prison sentence or period of detention without charge is common for Palestinian young men of Hebron, and the West Bank generally, especially for those engaged in civil resistance.

Incredibly in such a public conflict, Jaber maintains that most people internationally “do not know about the administrative detentions” and stated that the Red Cross needs “to [spread] knowledge of what is happening to the Palestinian people.”

With a mandate from the Geneva Conventions (1949) and additional Protocols I & II (1977), the ICRC is charged with holding military, occupying, and national forces to international humanitarian and human rights standards, which include prohibitions of torture, abuse, collective punishment, and forced relocation, and require that detainees be granted (among other rights) adequate food, water, medical care, legal representation, and visitations by family and aid workers.

Barbara Lecq, head of the ICRC’s Sub-delegation for the Southern West Bank was present for the protest and spoke to her organization’s position. Questioned about the protests, she expressed doubts about the feasibility of the crowd’s expectations, but also stated that review of “material conditions” in the lives of prisoners and detainees, especially access to food, water, outside time, and social interaction, is in order. While detentions, she added, are permitted under the Geneva conventions and are “nothing new” to the Occupied Palestinian Territories (oPt), they “may turn out not to be nice or moral.”

According to Amjad Najjar, media spokesperson for the Palestinian Prisoners Society and head of the Hebron branch, the most recent wave of prisoner civil resistance was inspired in part by similar resistance movements to British authority in Ireland. “We all watched the Bobby Sands documentary,” he said.

At its height the strike has included as many as 2000 prisoners from all political parties and has brought systemic abuse of Palestinian inmates into limelight of international media.

Organized resistance among Palestinian resisters is no new phenomenon. Previous generations of prisoners have fought and won the ability to self-organize and educate, the very same rights taken away by the Netanyahu government.

The PPS itself is the continuation of organizing that took place inside prison, says Najjar, when prisoners recognized the need for prisoners to self-represent as much as possible to outside media. Along with advocacy for prisoner rights, they facilitate visitations and provide legal, educational, and other services for inmates and their families.

While Najjar said, “Our problem is not with the people of the ICRC…we think they are in solidarity,” the PPS campaign to end prisoner abuse is expected to escalate in coming months leading up to Palestinian Prisoner’s Day on April 17th.

Individuals in Hebron carry the pictures of loved ones, stolen from their families by Israeli administrative detention.

Until the ICRC denounces the treatment of prisoners and formally recognizes their status as prisoners of war, the Palestinian Prisoners Society will continue to hold weekly demonstrations.

This coming week a demonstration will take place near the town of Ad Dhahiriya at the Meitar Checkpoint, a main route for Palestinians to visit incarcerated family members. Soldiers have begun conducting frequent strip searches, including of women, in dual harassment of would-be visitors by violating their modesty and cultural and religious prohibitions.

 Ramallah:

On Monday the father of Khader Adnan, Musa Adnan, announced that he too would join his 33 year old son in solidarity by partaking in the hunger strike, meeting with Salaam Fayyad in Ramallah.

Amnesty International also commented on Israel’s lack of compliance to international law, denouncing the potential fatal results of Israel’s lack of concern for prisoner rights. In a statement by Amnesty International’s Anne Harrison, Deputy Director of North Africa and the Middle East, she stated:

The Israeli authorities must release Khader Adnan and other Palestinians held in administrative detention unless they are promptly charged with internationally recognizable criminal offences and tried in accordance with international fair trial standards.

Supporters in Ramallah gather at the Red Cross Office in Ramallah in solidarity with Khader Adnan and political prisoners | Photos by Fadi Arouri

According to a statement released by the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Detainees and Ex-Detainee Affairs, the Ofer prisoner administration  has collectively punished 8 prisoners who have joined Khader Adnan’s hunger strike, transferring them to solitary confinement. The prisoners names are Raed al-Sayegh, Muhtaseb al-Assa, Ayman al-Za’qeq, Hassan lafi, Mohammad Shaheen, Ahmad al-Iweiwi, Na’il and Firas al-Barghouthi.

Qadura Fares, the president of the Palestinian Society Prisoner’s Club, announced on Monday that demonstrations and acts of solidarity would continue. Prisoner advocates requested a statement from Ofer military court on Monday regarding the extension of Adnan’s administrative detention, only to receive a confirmation from Israel that Adnan still faces at least 4 months of imprisonment, enacted since the order was arbitrarily placed on January 8th.

Ramallah joins the march for prisoner rights - Click for more images

On Monday night supporters gathered in Ramallah’s clock square in light of Adnan’s diminishing health, violated rights, and Israel’s lack of regard or concern. According to local organizer Sabreen Al Dwak, she urged the community on Monday night to say “No to killing our people” in a meeting in Clock Square that evening. The action continued into today as hundreds of Palestinians and supporters gathered in front of the International Red Cross Office in Ramallah and in Clock Square, demanding a firmer stance against Israel’s manipulative and abusive measures of against Palestinian political prisoners.

22 year old Sabreen Al Dwak, local organizer, collapsed during today's demonstration in Clock Square, Ramallah. She is resuming her hunger strike. | Photo via raya.fm

Al Dwak collapsed during the demonstration as she endured her fourth day on hunger strike in solidarity with the prisoners. Doctors gave her salt, which is commonly employed to sustain such hunger strikes.

She refused further medical care in order continue her hunger strike. Solidarity activists will continue to camp in Clock Square, on hunger strike, while according to WAFA News, the campers will remain under medical surveillance.

According to the prisoner support and human rights organization Addameer (‘Conscience’), since 1967 Israeli authorities have arrested 2 in 5 Palestinian men and 1 in 5 Palestinians in generally (700,000), including 10,000 women and many thousands of children. Currently there are more than 200.

These numbers do not include those incarcerated by proxy, through the Palestinian Authority, which has on many occasions been obligated to cooperate with Israeli forces. The steadily worsening conditions for 4500-6000 Palestinian in Israeli prisons at any given time received a severe shock in June 2011, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised collective punishment—including punitive isolation and curtailed access to education, television, books, medical care, family visits, and more—while the single Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit remained in Hamas custody.

Later that year, in September 2011, Palestinian prisoners from multiple factions and prisons announced a “Campaign of Disobedience,” involving a hunger strike, refusal to prison uniforms, and noncompliance with role calls. Even though Shalit was released in October, conditions have not improved and in many cases have worsened, according to an Amnesty International report. Since 1948, over 200 Palestinians have died in prison, from inadequate medical care and food, severe beatings and torture, and other abuse.

For more updates or to take action, people can monitor the ISM website (callouts for action will be posted), respond to Adameer’s call to action, or write an email to the ICRC Jerusalem Office (JER_jerusalem@icrc.org) and demand they take a stand for prisoner rights.

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

Internationals in Gaza join hunger strike for Palestinian prisoner rights

11 October 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza

For Immediate Release:

Three foreign nationals residing in Gaza have entered their fifth day of an open-ended hunger strike and protest encampment in front of the ICRC.

The internationals are available for interview.

Vera Macht, Germany, stated: “The situation of Palestinian prisoners is truly heartbreaking. Parents are separated from their children, and wives from their husbands, for years, without so much as a letter or video.” [I removed the “said Vera Macht” part, since you didn’t use it for the others and it’s really unnecessary]

Silvia Todeschini, Italy, stated: “They have been on strike for over two weeks with very basic demands. We will strike with them, and hope that this will help to stop the world’s silence about their situation.”

Joe Catron, United States, stated: “Palestinian prisoners are bravely resisting a system that seeks to crush them, their families, their communities, and their national life. Their struggle deserves our full support.”

An open-ended hunger strike was announced by Palestinian prisoners on 27 September. The prisoners are demanding better conditions, an end to isolation and degradation by Israeli prison guards, and for a change in the policy that denies many prisoners the right to have visitors. Additionally, many prisoners are calling for the release of Ahmad Sa’adat, a political prisoner and former General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Palestinian officials estimate that 2,000 prisoners have joined the hunger strike.

In Gaza, hundreds have been gathering in front of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on a daily basis to demonstrate for prisoner rights. Protesters have maintained a permanent encampment in and around the ICRC courtyard since Sunday, 2 October.

Additionally, Palestinian activists in Gaza have called for international supporters to join the hunger strike for 24 hours on Wednesday, 12 October, and use Twitter to publicize their participation and solidarity (See: Electronic Intifada).

All hunger strikers are asked to tweet “My name is ( ) and I will go on a hunger strike on Wednesday in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners. #TweepStrike #HS4Palestine.”

Piecing the injured back together

Eva Bartlett | Inter Press Service

10 August 2009

Following consultation with him and with the specialist in prosthetics and orthotics rehabilitation from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), many will begin the long road to treatment.

“It was the second day of the war,” says Omar Al-Ghrub (24), referring to the three weeks of Israel attacks in the winter of 2008-2009. “I was working that day,” he said. By day he worked in the Al-Waleed marble and granite factory northwest of Gaza city, and by night served as its watchman.

A missile struck, and Ghrub lost both his legs. Six months later, he waits for the stumps to heal enough to begin the process of fitting artificial legs, and learning to walk anew.

Loay Al-Najjar, 22, also lost both his legs. At 11 pm Jan. 13, Najjar was trying to help his sister evacuate a house that had been hit by shelling in the Khoza’a region, east of Khan Younis. “I was hit by a drone missile,” says Najjar. His legs were lacerated with shrapnel. But he is one of the luckier ones; he was able to travel to Saudi Arabia where he received treatment for three months, and artificial legs.

Ghrub and Najjar are among the many waiting for a consultation this particular Saturday. The artificial limb centre is unique in that it makes and fits the limbs on the premises. With the help of staff from the ICRC and Doctors Without Borders (MSF), it also provides physiotherapy and other support.

The centre is overcrowded – it is the only one of its kind. The waiting list has lengthened dramatically since the Israeli attacks on Gaza. Gaza’s Ministry of Health says between 120-150 new patients have had to have amputations following the Israeli attacks on Gaza. Gerd Van de Velde, head of the ICRC’s physical rehabilitation team in Gaza, says the number could rise with patients whose wounds worsen.

“Even now we are getting new patients,” says Van de Velde. “Some patients are having problems with their stumps as they were not cared for properly during their initial treatment due to the hectic situation. At the time, treatment was focussed on life-saving.”

In January 2008, five to ten patients came on a Saturday; now there are at least 30. ICRC figures show that in 2008, 63 patients received 71 prosthetic limbs (some had multiple amputations), and the centre served 1,500 patients. In the first half of 2009, 1,018 patients have come to the centre, 53 for prosthetic limbs.

“We have 146 patients on the waiting list, including 101 with war wounds,” says Van de Velde. “Of these, over 50 percent are above the knee amputations.” Blast injuries become even more complicated, because shrapnel must be extracted from the stump of the limb before it can heal enough for prosthetics treatment.

A few years ago, the centre used its funding to pay all the costs of the materials. Nearly all came from a specialist company in Germany, some were bought at twice their usual price from an Israeli importer.

Now, the ICRC, which began working with the centre in November 2007, supplies most of the materials, buying directly from the manufacturer, and also facilitating transfer through Israel. The centre also gets help from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), Handicap International and Islamic Relief.

Van de Velde sees early hospital care, or the lack of it, as the origin of the problem for many of the patients. In a crisis, he said, “patients are evacuated quickly to make room for new patients. They did not receive the treatment and follow-up physiotherapy that they needed.”

The ICRC has now taken on a second, hospital-based project. “We’ve started with Shifa hospital, and hope to expand to Gaza’s other hospitals, focussing on quality of post-surgical physiotherapy care and ensuring that patients receive the treatment that they need.” Likewise, MSF is working throughout the Gaza Strip to provide post-operation wounds care and physiotherapy.

At the artificial limbs centre, taking a pause from casting and sculpting limbs, Nabil Farah and Mohammed Ziada, two of four specialists in prosthetics, take turns to demonstrate work at the centre. The specialists have both studied abroad, in Germany and in India, and want the trainees here to be sent for specialised studies. But with the siege on Gaza and the sealed borders, it has become difficult to leave Gaza.

Likewise, says Farah, many specialists want to come to Gaza to train technicians in making and working with prosthetic limbs, but they cannot enter because of the siege. But on Jul. 1, after much coordination with the Israeli authorities, the ICRC was able to send two Palestinians to India for an internationally recognised 18-month training programme. Van de Velde says the ICRC plans to send three more to be trained next year, with the aim of building a pool of qualified technicians.

All sorts of people were injured in the last assault. “During the first and second Intifadas (Palestinian uprisings, 1987-1991 and then from September 2000), most of the injuries were among the shebab (young men),” says Mohammed Ziada. “But in this last war, most of the injuries were people other than shebab: elderly, children, women…”

While the current focus is on people injured in the assault, the artificial limb centre also tackles birth disabilities. “Each month we normally make 20 to 30 braces for straightening legs,” says Farah. “This cures more than 80 percent of patients.”

Farah points to several siege-related difficulties the centre faces. The artificial limb centre uses hundreds of different parts, plastics and materials to make the prosthetic arms and legs. “Without even just one of the materials, the limb cannot be made. We don’t have the materials or the chemicals in Gaza to make the limbs.” Israel often prevents or greatly delays materials from entering, says Farah.

Walking through a storage room, Farah points out various empty shelves. Among clusters of different weaves of stocking net cloth used in the making of limbs, size 10 shelf sits empty. “We haven’t had size 10 for the last month,” Farah says.

Also absent are artificial foot parts L23, unavailable for the last 10 days, and R24 and R25, depleted for the last two months. “We help first those who need help the most,” says Farah.

Gerde Van de Velde says, however, that “not one patient had to wait because of a lack of material.” Items like the cloth can be substituted by a closely related size, he says. He admits there are restrictions on certain chemicals, but adds that these are more related to international law, and delayed by other bureaucratic procedures regarding the transport of chemicals.

Farah cites some sample costs: a below-the-knee prosthetic is about 800 dollars. An above-the-knee limb is twice as much. An arm costs 1,200 dollars. Yet these seemingly expensive limbs cost a fraction of what they might in other countries.

“Our salaries are very low,” says Farah. “We aren’t working for the money, obviously. We’re working for the many Palestinians who need limbs and therapy.”