15th January 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Marco Varasio | Gaza, Occupied Palestine
Children rally for Palestinian detainees in Gaza. (Photo by Joe Catron)
Like every Monday morning, people gathered at International Committee of the Red Cross’ Gaza office to demonstrate in solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli detention facilities.
(Photo by Rosa Schiano)
This week’s rally started with the chanting of slogans against the illegal detention of Palestinians and people offering sweets to pay homage to Rami Barbakh, a prisoner freed in the latest release who attended the rally.
Banners in honor of Ibrahim Bitar, a Palestinian patient prisoner from Khan Younis detained in the prison of Nafha, whose family has been recently banned from visiting him, were held by Palestinian youth movements.
(Photo by Joe Catron)
Members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine also distributed flyers urging all Palestinian factions to join together to pressure the Palestinian Authority to act against the illegal detention of Palestinian and against solitary confinement in Israeli jails.
Outside the IRCC, last week a rally organized by the Fatah Youth Movement saw Mahmoud Salman, Rami Barbakh and Ibrahim Abu Ali awarded pictures and scarves to celebrate their release on 30th December 2013, after more than 20 years of detention. This week, Palestinian Islamic Jihad organized a rally in solidarity with the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk in Siria, and with Palestinian prisoners.
(Photo by Rosa Schiano)
“We have more than 5,000 prisoners in the Israeli jails,” Ahmad Abu Soud, an ex-detainee who spent 26 years in occupation jails, said from the stage. “Our priority is the sick prisoners. We want Abu Mazen to increase efforts to set them all free.”
While the Israeli detention of Palestinians continues, G4S, the company which provides Israel with surveillance equipment at its checkpoint and in its detention facilities, is under major investigation by international authorities for its activities in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.
(Photo by Joe Catron)
In the last four months, G4S lost contracts in the United Kingdon, Norway, South Africa and the Netherlands due to its involvement in Israeli violations of the international law, and to the pressure generated by the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
26 political prisoners, held in Israeli prisons since the Oslo Accords, were released the night of 30th December. About 5,000 others remain in prisons located in the territories occupied in 1948, a violation of international law.
Umm Dia’a thought her son would be among the prisoners released. She had been told so by neighbors, several rumors confirmed it, she got ready to celebrate, she invited friends. But the Zionists distributed the list of those to be released only the day before, and her son was not on it. Rami was there instead, the son of a friend of hers, who was not expecting it. In all, there were three prisoners from Gaza. Umm Dia’a was so sad that she did not even show up to the weekly sit-it in solidarity with the prisoners that takes place in front of the Red Cross last week. Instead, those who had received good news were celebrating by offering pastries to all participants. Maybe Dia’a will be released with the next group. The 26 prisoners released last week are the third of four groups, which include 104 Palestinian political prisoners that Israel promised to release as a sign of goodwill to start the so-called peace talks.
(Photo by Sil)
Dia’a and Rami were seized by the Zionists when they were 16 and 15 years old. Since then, they have spent most of their lives in prison, only occasionally being able to receive visits from their families, and without being able to finish their studies. Rami now is 35 years old. 20 years have been spent in prison, accused of fighting an illegal, unjust and murderous military occupation. Two days after his release , friends and relatives were still celebrating, They had built a tent, and anyone could go to shake hands and welcome this man who had returned home at last, who was just a teenager when left. Rami is in a different world from the one he had left. The population of Gaza has increased greatly, the people, the political situation, everything has changed. Yet despite the inevitable shock, he has clear ideas about what he wants. While he can rejoin his family, another 5,000 political prisoners remain in the Zionist jails. He spoke of a special case, one of many. “Among others who remain in prison is a friend of mine. He has health problems and should receive some care that he does not receive. He’s named Ibrahim Elbitar. Make sure that he is released. It can be cured!”
(Photo by Sil)
Israel released these 104 Palestinian prisoners as a sign of goodwill for the peace agreements. But another 5000 remains in jail, against international conventions, against common sense, unjustly, and with the silent complicity of international institutions and organizations. All Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are political prisoners. According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, Israel as occupying power has no right to deport people from the Gaza Strip or the West Bank into the 1948 territories,. The very presence of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails is therefore in itself illegal, as well as horrible. The liberation of about 2% of these prisoners does not take us 2% of the way down the path towards justice for all Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails.
(Photo by Sil)
Addameer, a human rights organization that deals with Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails, says that prisoners have been released at the starts of many phases of peace talks. But others were arrested in the meantime, so that the total number of Palestinian political prisoners remained almost constant. And Zionists did not change policies such as administrative detention, which provides for imprisonment without any reason being declared. And that’s not all: Prisoners released in these cases must follow rules. For example, one freed in Gaza cannot leave the Strip for 10 years, and cannot be involved in political activity. Also, if they are captured again, they must serve the entire sentence from which they were released through the exchange. A famous example of this is Samer Issawi, who, released an exchange for Gilad Shalid, was seized and imprisoned again by the occupation forces. He would have to finish his entire sentence if he had not risked his life through a long hunger strike, attracting international attention and ultimately winning his release in Jerusalem.
(Photo by Sil)
While these prisoners are released, Israel promises further expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank and Jerusalem. That news fades into the background, making it appear the release of these prisoners is a sign of goodwill on the part of Israel, while illegal colonial expansion is not considered an insurmountable obstacle to the ” peace process.” Maybe we should change the language, quitting the search for a peace process, and looking instead for a process of decolonization. This would lead more quickly to justice and then, finally, peace, especially since this “peace process ” has more the appearance of a “Zionist colonial expansion project.”
So despite happiness at the release of these prisoners, the political victory seems at least partial. Addameer calls for the release of all Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails, as happened in South Africa, before the beginning of the so-called peace process.
27th December 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Marco Varasio | Gaza, Occupied Palestine
(Photo by Silvia Todeschini)
On 23rd December, like every Monday morning, relatives and friends of the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails gathered at the International Committee of the Red Cross’ Gaza office for the weekly rally.
But people at the rally had another reason to gather: the impending release of the Palestinian hero Samer Tariq Issawi, who spent more than 270 day on hunger strike before signing an agreement with the Israeli authorities on 22nd April .
Mothers and wives holding banners of their imprisoned relatives chanted slogans paying tribute to Issawi and all the Palestinian prisoners.
“Today Samer Issawi will be released,” the rally’s opening speech began. “We are so happy for him. We will distribute flowers to all the people here to celebrate his freedom. We need freedom of all the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.”
“We, as Activists for Palestinian Prisoners, celebrate his release to Jerusalem after a 270 days hunger strike,” said Samoah Ahmeed, a Palestinian activist and journalist. “We are close to his family. We want freedom for all the Palestinian prisoners in the future.”
(Photo by Silvia Todeschini)
Sweets and flowers were distributed to the people attending the rally to honor Issawi’s release.
What made the release of Issawi’s freedom so special was also that he was not deported to the Gaza Strip, but was instead released in his hometown Issawiya, northeast of Jerusalem.
The Israeli authorities will release another five Palestinian prisoners in the Gaza Strip through the Erez checkpoint next week as part of the current round of negotiations between the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government.
The weekly sit-in for Palestinian detainees in the ICRC’s Gaza courtyard. (Photo by Silvia Todeschini)
Every Monday, activists and relatives of political prisoners in Israeli jails attend a solidarity sit-in inside the courtyard of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza. The perseverance of these women and men, who have met here every week for eighteen years, is admirable, but this Monday was animated by a special hope.
Um Rami. (Photo by Silvia Todeschini)
Um Rami is waving a small Palestinian flag and holding a sign with a picture of a teenager. The teenager is Rami, her son. He was taken by the Zionist occupation forces 20 years ago, when he was 15 and a half years old, before the Oslo accords. After the prisoner exchange for Shalit, she was able to visit him in prison four times. Before, for twelve years, she had been forbidden to see him.
“He was a child,” she said. “They should not give them all these years. The judge was unfair! I had three other children after his arrest. None of them has been able to meet him in person. My daughter got married, had children, and even they have never met their uncle.”
According to Um Rami, he was arrested on the street near the illegal settlement of Kfar Darom. Two military jeeps stopped his car, took him, tied his wrists, blindfolded him and took him inside the colony. They sentenced him to life imprisonment on charges of stabbing a soldier of the Zionist occupation forces. The same occupation forces killed two of his brothers, two other sons of Um Rami, but no one has been given a life sentence for this.
(Photo by Silvia Todeschini)
But this Monday, there was an atmosphere of hope.
Um Rami is confident that her son will be released in a week, with the third group of Palestinian political prisoners Israel has agreed to free. Despite the accompanying expansion of settlements, and the fact that they should have been released years ago according to the Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum, this is good news for Um Rami.
“When the other two groups of prisoners were released, both times, a few days before, the neighbors told me that my son was on the list,” she said. “When the news turned out to be false, I fainted from sorrow.”
“But I went to the Erez to greet the freed prisoners, to bring solidarity to them and their families.”
Um Rami is active in the campaign for the release of Palestinian political prisoners. She participated in solidarity visits to the families of prisoners, was present at meetings of the UN to defend the prisoners’ cause, is also in contact with human rights centers.
Um Dia’a. (Photo by Silvia Todeschini)
Um Dia’a hopes that her son Dia’a will be released with the next group of prisoners. She does not know whether or not he is on the list, but, she says, he was arrested before many that have already been released, so he should be.
“My son was hiding in his sister’s house, but a spy told it to the occupation forces, so they surrounded the house,: she said. “They ransacked it, found him and took him away before they beat daughter’s family because they were hiding him.”
Dia’a was 16 years and 4 months old when he was detained 22 years ago. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. For seven years before Slahit exchange, his mother could not see him. After the exchange, Um Dia’a says she was only allowed to visit him three times.”In the meantime, I became the grandmother of 45 grandchildren,” she says. “None of them has ever been able to see his uncle.”
According to current agreements, the Zionist entity should release 104 prisoners detained before the Oslo Accords . The first two groups were released on August 13 and October 30. While these prisoners have been freed, dozens more were arrested. 4,996 currently remain in prison.
(Photo by Silvia Todeschini)
Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are political prisoners because they are “guilty” of resistance against the occupation.
Their transfer from the Gaza Strip or West Bank to Palestinian territories occupied in 1948 violates the fourth Geneva Convention, which forbids the occupying power from transferring persons out of an occupied territory.
145 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails held in administrative detention, without notification of any charges. Administrative detention orders are issued by Zionist military commanders for a period of six months, but may be renewed for an indefinite number of times.
Inside Israeli jails, torture is routinely practiced torture, children are detained, and family visits are often prevented.
26th November 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Marco Varasio | Gaza, Occupied Palestine
On Monday morning, relatives and friends of Palestinian detainees, as well as Palestinian and solidarity activists, rallied at the International Committee of the Red Cross’ Gaza office to demonstrate their support of the Palestinian prisoners.
Families and supporters of Palestinian detainees sit in the Gaza Red Cross. (Photo by Rosa Schiano)
The rally started with the chanting of slogan about the need of freedom for the Palestinian prisoners.
Omar Massoud greets Um Ibrahim Baroud, a co-founder of Gaza’s Monday protest for detainees, and other supporters outside his home in Gaza’s al-Shati (“Beach”) refugee camp on 31 October. (Photo by Gal·la López)
Omar Massoud, an ex-Palestinian prisoner released earlier this month after more than 20 years in Israeli jails, attended the rally this week. “Life in Israeli jail is very hard, but we don’t care,” he said. “Freedom is more important. I’m very happy now beside my family and I hope all Palestinian prisoners will get their freedom as soon as possible.”
A rally organized by the Wa’ed Society took place outside, with women and political representatives speaking.
Like every Monday, all attenders asked for the liberation of Palestinian political prisoners detained in the Israeli jails.
The family of Mohammed Abu Ataia, a Palestinian detainee held by Israel for eight months, sit among supporters in the Gaza Red Cross. (Photo by Rosa Schiano)
The wife of Ibrahim El Friany, a Palestinian detainee held by Israel in Bier Sabaa prison for five months, sits with their daughter Noor, age four, and supporters in the Gaza Red Cross. (Photo by Rosa Schiano)
The family of Mohammed Abu Ataia, a Palestinian detainee held by Israel for eight months, sit among supporters in the Gaza Red Cross. (Photo by Rosa Schiano)
The family of Mohammed Abu Ataia, a Palestinian detainee held by Israel for eight months, sit among supporters in the Gaza Red Cross. (Photo by Rosa Schiano)
