A third of Palestinian prisoners go on hunger strike - IOF soldiers detain 4 citizens including former minister

A third of Palestinian prisoners go on hunger strike
[ 04/05/2011 - 09:32 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Palestinians held in four Israeli prisons began an open-ended hunger strike on Tuesday.

The prisoner affairs ministry in Gaza has put their number at 2,000, a third of all Palestinians detained in Israeli jails.

They are demanding an end to the prison authority's policy of isolating prisoners and improvements in living conditions.

The strike will gradually escalate, said the ministry's media director Riyadh al-Ashkar. New prisoners will join the strike later because of the effect that will have on pressuring the prison authority to respond to their humanitarian demands.

The Hadarim prison would be the first to join the strike followed by Ofer, bringing the count to more than 2,800 prisoners, Ashkar added. Supportive steps will also be taken at the Negev prison where most of the prisoners are.

Ashkar explained how the strike would progress. The prisoners will go on hunger strike every Saturday and Wednesday in May. The next month, they will boost the number of days fasted to three or four, and more prisons will join them. If the prisons fail to respond to demands, they will declare a comprehensive strike effecting all prisons in the last stage.

Ashkar said the ministry has been frequently and directly contacting prisoners to follow their circumstances. They said Tuesday morning that they have high spirits and are armed with will, determination, and the support of the Palestinians.

IOF soldiers detain 4 citizens including former minister

[ 04/05/2011 - 09:29 AM ]

AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) rounded up four Palestinian citizens in Al-Khalil city and nearby Dora village including former minister of local government Issa Al-Jabari.

Eyewitnesses told the PIC that the IOF soldiers forced their way into the home of Jabari, 51, who was released from occupation jails less than six months ago and took him away.

The soldiers also detained a young man in the city while two others were arrested at a roadblock at the southern entrance to Dora.

In a separate incident, locals reported that IOF soldiers opened fire at a Palestinian car near Samu village, also in Al-Khalil, but the car sped away with no damage or injuries reported.



River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Shalit's parents to Netanyahu: You are not authorized to kill our son

[ 02/05/2011 - 08:56 AM ]

NAZARETH, (PIC)-- Parents of Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier captured by Palestinian resistance in Gaza Strip, along with tens of supporters rallied in front of the Israeli cabinet's headquarters on Sunday during its weekly session.

Hebrew media reported that the demonstrators called on the government to do more to secure the release of Shalit, who was captured almost five years ago.

Shalit's parents hoisted placards with slogans directed at Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu saying, "you are not authorized to kill Shalit", and "Israel lacks leadership".

The demonstrators lashed out at the Israeli government for not doing enough to secure Shalit's return to his parents.

Palestinian resistance demands the release of 1400 Palestinian prisoners including all women, minors, sick detainees, and those serving high sentences in return for Shalit's freedom. The demand was refused by Israel.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Hunger strikes in Ashkelon, Beersheba prisons

[ 30/04/2011 - 08:42 AM ]

JENIN, (PIC)-- Prisoners in the Ashkelon and Beersheba prisons have begun a hunger strike to protest the treatment of the Israeli Prison Service, the Ahrar prisoner studies center reported on Friday.
Palestinians held at the Beersheba facility began fasting after several prisoners sustained injuries during a violent crackdown on section 10, said Ahrar director Fuad el-Khuffash.
Ashkelon prisoners refused two meals and also refused to leave to the recreation yard, Khuffash added. He added that prisoners have declared other steps due next week to pressure and protest the treatment of the IPS.
Khuffash said the IPS has boosted provocations against prisoners and deliberately lured them into direct confrontations in order to repress them and to drain their achievements.
Separately, Palestinian prisoners at Ashkelon have announced they are happy after the signing of the Palestinian reconciliation deal. They held celebrations at the prison yard where Fatah and Hamas affiliates distributed sweets to celebrate the deal signing.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Remembering Palestinian prisoners, renewing our struggle

Posted by realistic bird on April 28, 2011

by Ameer Makhoul, The Electronic Intifada

Palestinian Prisoners Day was marked on 17 April, an annual day to contemplate the individual and collective suffering and impossible pain of political prisoners and their families. It is also a day to recommit to our struggle for liberation and human dignity.

I feel like I am engaged in “collaboration” of sorts with an unfair narrative when I use the terminology of numbers or statistics to relate to more than 7,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.

In so much international discussion and media, each of these thousands of Palestinian prisoners is considered just a number while an Israeli occupation soldier held as a prisoner by Palestinians is portrayed as a story representing the whole of humanity.

Even “equal” or “neutral” language and descriptions end up favoring the occupier when there is no equality in the real situation. Palestinian prisoners are not prisoners of war, but prisoners of a liberation struggle. Palestinian prisoners are victims of reality of occupation, colonialism, racism, ethic cleansing and political persecution.

We should look always to the root causes of conflict, not just at the superficial aspects. Colonialists all over the world throughout history damaged their own human values, and imposed real damage to their victims whenever these victims became passive toward their human duty to struggle for liberation.

So I look at all the solidarity groups, movements and people all over the world — you are doing great work. You are all people who will never accept injustice to be the norm. I call on all of you as partners in the struggle for rights to continue to view the Palestine liberation struggle as one struggle. Don’t play within the oppressors’ game of allowing the Palestinian cause to be fragmented.

Fragmentation means allowing fundamental rights to be subordinated to the balance of power. We must always place our commitment to rights and justice at the center of our ethics and our struggle.

The new wave of international solidarity movements is doing this by placing Palestinian rights at the center, and recognizing that it is the denial of these rights that is the root cause of conflict in Palestine.

This movement is motivated by universal values and human rights, but it also links the main demands of the Palestinian people: the right of return, an end to the occupation, the end of siege and blockade, and the end of the colonial and racist system that is the essence of Israel and stands in the way of liberation and self-determination.

Freedom for the 7,000 Palestinian prisoners of the liberation struggle will never be granted by Israeli courts. The legal system of the colonial racist oppressor is a mechanism and guarantor of oppression, not justice and liberation.

Only Palestinian struggle, supported by international solidarity, can free these prisoners and free all Palestinians. We will continue our role of steadfastness and struggle. But we are counting on our friends’ solidarity too. Together we shall overcome.

Ameer Makhoul is a civil society leader and political prisoner at Gilboa prison.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

NGO asks world help ahead of Israeli prisoner rights suit

[ 26/04/2011 - 05:44 PM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- The Mandela prisoner affairs organization in Palestine has asked for global backing as it proceeds to file a lawsuit against the Israeli prison authority over the continued isolation of Palestinian prisoner Ahmed Youssef Ahmed al-Maghrabi.

Maghrabi has been detained since May 27, 2002 and dealt 18 life sentences. He has not seen his wife one time since he his arrest. He was allowed a visit by his son who was born while he was behind bars for the first time during the only visit ever by his mother in 2005.

The prison has denied further visits by his now eight-year-old son claiming that he poses a threat to the state of Israel.

Separately, an Israeli court has sentenced an Al-Khalil man who suffers motor impairments in both his hands and feet to eight months in prison for allegedly trying to stab an Israeli, the Tadhamon human rights organization reported.

“When Tadhamon's lawyer visited [the man Nouridden Mohammed Ashour, 32] in the Ramle prison hospital to check his health status, it was apparent that the prisoner was physically disabled and suffered from paralysis in his hands and feet and couldn't hold a pen. So how can he plan to stab an Israeli?” Tadhamon researcher Ahmed al-Beitawi said in a fresh statement.

Beitawi said the Ramle prison hospital has not provided the prisoner special medication and said he has been receiving the same treatment he received in the Ofer prison before being transferred to the hospital.

Meanwhile on Tuesday, Israeli authorities returned a group of Palestinian as they tried to pass a checkpoint in Tulkarem district on their way to visiting family members held in Israeli prisons.

The authorities turned back three bus-loads of prisoner families who attained permits to visit family members in the Megiddo, Shata and Ramon prisons.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Israeli Police Terrorize Palestinian Prisoners (must watch)

Monday, April 25, 2011 at 2:16PM Gilad Atzmon

Mohamed Ashkar, a Palestinian prisoner, was murdered by the Israelis.

There is no limit to Israeli barbarism.



For English translation, click here  then hit the cc button.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

PPS declares 2010-2011 worst medical period yet

[ 26/04/2011 - 02:49 PM ]

JENIN, (PIC)-- A fresh statement by the Palestinian Prisoner Society declares 2010 and the first quarter of 2011 the worst yet in terms of the Israeli prison authority's medical neglect of Palestinian detainees.

Around 20 of those prisoners have been diagnosed with cancer, around 88 with diabetes and another 25 have had kidney failures.

Additionally, some 20 prisones have motor disabilities, and there are currently ten who live permanently in the Ramle hospital. They include three who suffer partial paralysis.

The PPS highlighted the recent death of prisoner Saytan al-Wali of Golan Heights, 45. He suffered from a kidney tumor that required an immediate prison release in order to get treatment. But the Israeli prison authority failed to respond.

The statement says that Palestinians held in Israeli occupation prisons are suffering from various illnesses, but all have not received proper health care because of the prison system's policy of medical neglect.

Delays in providing suitable medication and the correct amount are normal for the Israeli occupation authorities, said PPS chairman Raghib Abu Diak, adding that the medical neglect also includes not performing surgery at the needed time and not providing specialists for the varied illnesses of those held in the prison.

Abu Diak pointed out a shortage of doctors and the Israeli government's disregard of prisoner rights by choosing whoever they see fit as a doctor, as the prison medical staff has been unable to diagnose some of the diseases.

He emphasized the need for prisoners to receive regular check-ups, especially those who have previously been ill.



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Ashqar: Child death should have have touched world conscience

[ 25/04/2011 - 09:18 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- If the world community had one iota of mercy, ethics, or humanitarian feelings it would have been shocked at the scene of the little Palestinian child Abeer Eskafi who died as a result of not being able to see her detained father in Israeli occupation jails, Riad Al-Ashqar, the spokesman for the prisoners' ministry, said on Monday.

Eskafi, from Al-Khalil, was traumatized after Israeli prison administration did not allow her to see her father who is serving four life sentences in Beer Sheba desert prison, Ashqar said.

He added that the child's condition later worsened until she was paralyzed then died. "Regretfully the world does not care about the suffering of our poeple", he said.

If the same thing happened to one of the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit's parents or his old grandfather for not being able to see their son the whole world would have stood up in rage and would have labeled the Palestinian people as war criminals who should be punished, the spokesman elaborated.

Ashqar, who was speaking at a ceremony organized by the women branch of Hamas east of Rafah to honor families of Palestinian prisoners, explained the suffering of Palestinian prisoners and their relatives due to the Israeli visit deprivation policy.

He also tackled the deliberate medical neglect of prisoners on the part of the Israeli prison service (IPS), relaying a number of incidents due to such a sustained policy during which some of the prisoners died.

The spokesman charged the IPS with delaying urgent surgeries for years, giving prisoners expired medication or not fit for their diseases, and finally depriving them of proper meals.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

The Shalits: Netanyahu foiled prisoner swap at the last moment

[ 21/04/2011 - 10:32 AM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The grandfather of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was captured by Gaza Strip resistance forces in 2006, has accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of foiling negotiations at the last moment after parties were on the verge of an exchange deal a about a year ago.

The statement of Shalit's grandfather Zvi came during a message he directed to Netanyahu accusing him of using a ”sardonic” style in dealing with the Shalit swap deal.

Zvi said that Netanyahu's refusal to respond to the requests of former Israeli security services chiefs to have Gilad released in exchange for the said price was like imposing the death penalty on his grandson.

Israel had formerly confirmed that it would continue actions to retrieve Shalit by coordinating with German mediator Gerhard Konrad.

According to a statement released by Netanyahu's office on Wednesday evening, the Israelis will continue to work with Konrad's mediation under his latest proposal that includes banishing a number of prisoners to be released under the swap deal who Israel has classified as a security risk, a stipulation Hamas has refused.

Israeli minister Uzi Landau has refused to free Palestinian prisoners charged with killing Israelis in exchange for Shalit, saying that swap deal calls are detrimental to negotiations.

The British Middle East newspaper revealed Wednesday that a new European country, which has not yet been revealed, has agreed to mediate between Gaza resistance factions and the Israelis in the swap deal.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

90% of detained Palestinian minors tortured in Israeli jails

[ 19/04/2011 - 05:04 PM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- The Palestine branch of the international movement for the defense of children said in a statement on Tuesday that 90% of Palestinian minors detained in Israel were tortured one way or another.

It said the Israeli occupation forces rounded up 1000 Palestinians less than 18 years old during 2010 mostly in Jerusalem and areas adjacent to the separation wall.

It said that by the end of 2010 around 213 of those minors were still in custody and the number increased to 226 by March 2011.

The legal coordinator of the movement lawyer Iyad Misk said that 700 Palestinian minors from the West Bank face trials each year at the hands of the Israeli occupation authority after detention and interrogation.

1. Relatives of prisoners appeal for allowing visits
2. Israeli prison administration forces women prisoners to wear orange costume
3. PA militias kidnap three Hamas members in W. Bank
   

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

MP Attoun calls for internationalizing issue of Palestinian prisoners

[ 19/04/2011 - 01:59 PM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Palestinian lawmaker Ahmed Attoun stressed the importance of internationalizing the issue of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and recruiting a galaxy of jurists to take every legal action against Israel for its ongoing violations against them.

Attoun, one of three officials taking refuge at the Red Cross headquarters in occupied Jerusalem, stated on Tuesday that many Palestinian prisoners have spent long years of their life in prison and could be considered the world's oldest prisoners who serve such long terms behind bars.

The MP criticized the Palestinian authority and its negotiators for ignoring the issue of Palestinian prisoners, saying the PA officials committed a crime against the prisoners when they overlooked their issue and did not give it priority.

He pointed out that some sort of Arab and international moves in support of Palestinian prisoners, albeit belated, started to come to the surface lately, but unfortunately they are not yet as strong as the moves in solidarity with the captive Israeli soldier.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Prisoners' day

Prisoners' day

The olive and citrus trees were blooming all over Palestine on Prisoners’ day. Pink irises, red puppies, and yellow flowers weave interesting patterns among the endless green carpet underneath the fruiting almonds, fig, and loquet trees. Green almonds are eaten with a pinch of salt and are addictive. There are already some ripening loquots. We harvest new green grape leaves (waraq dawali) to make a most amazing dish. Amid this beauty and abundance of nature, there is also beauty and abundance among those of us humans who are still connected to nature and partially free. But we remember the nearly 7000 political prisoners (see below).

They cannot be forgotten especially since 750,000 of the Palestinians on the outside have been on the inside! We visited with a poor family in Hebron area whose father spend some time in jail. Their immediate concern was that the family donkey has a problem with his leg; the white and fairly large donkey is after all the only source of transport for the children who walk to school 7 km (nnearly 5 miles) each way. A nice veterinarian in Beit Sahour gave us the medicines free and hopefully we can help the family of 8 (6 children ages 5-16) buy a goat which can provide them with milk and cheese.

On Palm Sunday, we visited Jerusalem (even though I do not have a "permit" from the occupiers). This even commemorates the entering of Jesus, the Palestinian who spoke Aramaic (the precurser of Arabic), into Jerusalem; then under foreign occupation knowing that his liberty and his life were at stake. The acts of civil resistance by Jesus continue to inspire Palestinian Muslims and Christians. My colleague and dear friend Lubna Masarwa, an amazing activist, introduced me to an old women who has been selling used cloths on the side of the street and having to run away each time the occupying authorities show up. She is a strong women with big hands, piercing determined eyes, a wrinkled face that tells a thousand stories of suffering but also of persistence and resilience. She has no family here, all her children and grandchildren and other relatives are in the besieged Gaza strip.

We met with the staff and employees of the Al-Quds community action center (see www.cac-alquds.org) and learned of the amazing work they do to help people on the ground. Also on Sunday in Ramallah we met with members of Al-Hiraq Al-Shababi (the youth movement), amazing and inspiring activists who had just done a demonstration in front of the Ofer prison on Prisoners day. We remembered and held vigils for prisoners and for murdered activists (including our heroes Juliano and Vittori). The people I chose to associate with are those flowers of Palestine, full of positive energy, willing to sacrifice, willing to believe that the future can only be better than this reality of colonialism, racism, oppression, incarceration, and murder. One of those is Faris Badr, a 19 year old who was captured when there was a peaceful demonstrations by families and friends of prisoners on prisoner day on Sunday. It was sad to see mothers and brothers and sisters tear-gassed and pushed back and attacked for wanting their loved ones freed. It is sadder yet to see one more youth added to the growing list of political prisoners.

Two years ago, Israeli occupation forces attacked the people of the Gaza strip putting as one of their goals to retrieve the one and only Israeli prisoner held by the Palestinian resistance (tank crewman Gilad Shalit is by definition a war criminal engaged in acts of an occupying army). Meanwhile, thousands of Palestinian political prisoners are in Israeli jails, prisons, and concentration camps. Some are guerrilla fighters. Some are elected parliamentarians. Some are women. Some are children. Many have been held without charges and without trial in “administrative detention.” All are prisoners of an unjust colonial power that has no right to hold even one of those comrades in struggle. There is no freedom struggle without a struggle to free those who pay the heavy price of being held by the colonizers. Liberation movements worth their metal understand the significance of emphasis on political prisoners.

We do have some notorious political leaders in Israeli jails. Here are just three of the most recognized names:

-Marwan Barghouti: led the Tanzim activist group under the umbrella of Fatah and member of the Palestinian Legistaltive Council (PLC) (http://www.freebarghouti.org/)-Ameer Makhoul: director of Ittijah network of NGOs inside the Green Line (1948 areas) (http://freeameermakhoul.blogspot.com/))

-Ahmad Saadat: General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine also member of the PLC (http://www.freeahmadsaadat.org/))

In Israeli jails is the longest serving political prisoner (Nael Barghouthi, nearly 34 years in jail) who is already in the Guinness book of world records. Recently, a video surfaced on Israeli TV showing prisoners being beaten and shot in a most inhumane way by the criminal military unit named "Masada" (after the mythological story that was weaved by Josephus but that has no historical evidence). Many prisoners died for lack of access to medical care. Relatives of prisoners from Gaza were denied visitation rights for years. For those from the West Bank, visitation is rare, sporadic and associated with many restrictions.

Israeli forces also continue to target political dissidents who happen to be Israeli. Mordechai Vanunu servbed his time for exposing Israel's nuclear secrets but even though released from jail, he was and continues to be targeted . And Israeli activist Jonathan Pollak is in Israeli prison as punishment for his political activity.

Thus it si fitting for all of us who work for freedom of Palestine whether outside of Palestine or in the large open-air prisons (the concentration areas we live in like Bethlehem and Gaza) to remember all those who are held by the apartheid system in the smaller prisons scattered throughout Palestine. We must demand loudly for their release so that they get to enjoy tehir family and the smell of the lemon blossoms and the feel of the growing olive and grape leaves.

During the siege, time becomes a space

That has hardened in its eternity
During the siege, space becomes a time
That is late for its yesterday and tomorrow
(Mahmoud Darwish, A State of Siege)

For more on the seige see http://gazasiege.org/

Mazin@Qumsiyeh.org

A bedouin in cyberspace, a villager at home

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Six Palestinians kidnapped in West Bank raids, Six citizens from Hamas taken prisoners by W. Bank militias

[ 18/04/2011 - 02:17 PM ]

WEST BANK, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) kidnapped at dawn Monday six Palestinians from different West Bank areas.

The Hebrew radio said the Israeli army stormed at an earlier hour the cities of Al-Khalil, Bethlehem, Nablus and Ramallah and ransacked homes before detaining six Palestinians claimed to be wanted by the intelligence.

Local sources from Dura and Surif towns in Al-Khalil told the Palestinian information center (PIC) that two Hamas-affiliated Palestinians from Awawdeh family were kidnapped separately today.

The IOF carry out daily raids on West Bank cities and villages during which all security elements of the Palestinian authority are ordered to return to their headquarters until the invading Israeli soldiers finish their missions.

Six citizens from Hamas taken prisoners by W. Bank militias

[ 18/04/2011 - 02:24 PM ]

WEST BANK, (PIC)-- The Fatah-affiliated security militias in the West Bank are still persistent in their divisive acts and their security cooperation with Israel culminating their latest raids with the kidnapping of two Hamas-affiliated citizens in Nablus and Qalqiliya cities.

According to local sources on Monday, the militias kidnapped an ex-detainee called Khaled Assussa from Nablus. He previously spent two years in a Palestinian authority jail.

In Qalqiliya, they also detained a student called Mu'ad Barri, still pursuing his higher studies at Annajah university, after summoning him for interrogation. He was an ex-detainee in PA jail.

Citizen Omar Mara'I from Bani Hassan village in Salfit city still suffers from harassment by PA militias who summoned him yesterday for interrogation for the third consecutive week.

In a separate report, the PA preventive security in Nablus summoned ex-detainee Ammar Assad following his release from an Israeli jail. He spent eight years behind Israeli bars and was released a week ago.


River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Dweik slams international double standards towards issue of prisoners

[ 18/04/2011 - 01:47 PM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- Speaker of the Palestinian legislative council Dr. Aziz Dweik strongly denounced the international double standards and hypocrisy towards the issue of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

Dr. Dweik made his remarks in a sit-in organized by families of prisoners on Sunday outside the Red Cross headquarters in Ramallah city on the 37th Palestinian prisoner day.

Dr. Dweik stated in his speech that the international community blatantly turns a blind eye to thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and only pays attention to one Israeli soldier detained in the Gaza Strip.

He said this sit-in was aimed to remind the world and human rights organizations of the suffering of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and their families.

The speaker also appealed in his speech to the international community to do justice to the two Palestinian lawmakers and one former minister who resorted to the Red Cross building in occupied Jerusalem after Israel decided to expel them from their native holy city.

The speaker also referred to the suffering of isolated prisoners, women and children locked up in Israeli jails and expressed hope the international community could enable them to live in dignity like humans.

In Al-Khalil city on the same day, hundreds of Palestinians and families of prisoners went on a march in solidarity with prisoners in Israeli jails following a ceremony organized by the Palestinian prisoner society to commemorate the Palestinian prisoner day.

Massive crowds also gathered in Gamal Abdulnasser park of Nablus city to mark the day.

They carried banners demanding freedom and rights for Palestinian prisoners.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Hamas Says Schalit Deal Will Only Proceed on “Our Terms”

Senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar said Monday that the deal to release captive Israeli occupation soldier Gilad Schalit will only go ahead on Hamas' terms.

Al-Zahar warned that "the occupation must understand that all its attempts over the last five years have failed even when faced with the patience of Hamas and the Palestinian people."

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday appointed senior Mossad official David Meidan as the new Israeli mediator to negotiate the release of Schalit, following the recent resignation of former mediator Hagai Hadas.

Netanyahu informed Schalit’s parents, Noam and Aviva, of the new appointment at a late-night meeting he held with them, accompanied by his wife, Sara.

“I assure you that in the coming days and weeks, we will continue to operate by all the means that we have to bring about the release of Gilad,” Netanyahu said.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

PCDD calls for boosted release efforts on Palestinian Prisoner Day - Captives fast to mark Palestinian Prisoner Day

Captives fast to mark Palestinian Prisoner Day

[ 17/04/2011 - 12:54 PM ]

WEST BANK, (PIC)-- 6,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons have gone on hunger strike to mark Palestinian prisoner day on April 17. About 245 of them are children.

The strike serves as a prelude to an open-ended hunger strike to be concluded when the prisoners demands for medical attention and an end to the Israeli prison system's policy of isolation are met.

According to a report released on the Palestinian prisoner day by Abdul Nasser Farwana, just about every Palestinian household has had members jailed, if not the entire family as has sometimes happened. The report details that Israel has arrested some 750,000 Palestinians since the 1967 war and occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, including nearly 12,000 women and tens of thousands of children.

The report says that most of the arrests were unrelated to occupation's security as alleged by Israeli occupation security forces, as the arrests have taken place in a manner that contradicts international and humanitarian law, in terms of how the conditions and places of arrest and the torture used to elicit confessions. There has also been no consideration for the special needs of women, children and the ill.

Figures have it that 820 of the current detainees have been sentenced to life in prison, including five women.

The Tadhamon prisoner rights organization has released another report on this day and said it has information proving that mass numbers of Palestinian children held in the prisons were subjected to torture or brutal treatment as they were arrested by Israel occupation force soldiers. Many were hospitalized due to the torture they underwent during violent interrogations, the report says, noting cases of degrading treatment, sexual assault and repeated threats.

PCDD calls for boosted release efforts on Palestinian Prisoner Day

[ 17/04/2011 - 10:10 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- The Palestinian center to defend detainees has called for increased efforts to help release Palestinians held in Israeli jails marking Palestinian Prisoner Day on April 17.

The rights group confirmed that the Israeli occupation government continues to engage in abusive practice against its Palestinian captives and called on rights groups to pressure Israel to abide by international conventions protecting the rights of prisoners taken by an occupying force.

According to data provided by the PCDD in a fresh press release, the Israeli prison administration is currently holding 6,800 Palestinians, among them 36 women and 340 children. 304 of those prisoners were imprisoned before the Oslo Accords and 137 have been jailed for more than 20 years. Some 1,600 prisoners have fallen ill and are denied proper medical attention and doctor visits, the report states.

The most prominent violation the PCDD highlighted was solitary confinement and medical neglect.

PCDD director Ismail Thawabita vowed that the center would continue to fight for the Palestinian prisoners in ”all local, regional and international forums” until the day of their release.

Thawabita called on Palestinian factions that have captured Gilad Shalit to stand firm on their demands to release the tortured resistance prisoners in a swap deal, confirming that the Palestinians support those demands.

• Jabr: Prisoners in Israeli jails experiencing harsh conditions
• Report: More than 130 prison raids in 2010
• IOF troops violently disperse relatives of Palestinian prisoners

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

ISRAEL: Criminal to the marrow of the bones

TheNakedTruthInAConfusedWorld

Israeli prison raid footage released

Television images shows troops using live ammunition in deadly operation at detention centre.

Hundreds of Palestinian have died inside Israeli prisons and now an Israeli television channel has aired shocking footage of Israel's so-called Control and Restraint unit, or Masada, attacking Palestinian prisoners.

Activists have demanded people in charge of the operation, carried out in 2007, be charged and the family of one of the victims told Al Jazeera that they would consider suing Masada.

Posted by Aadel M Al-Mahdy at 10:24 AM

 

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Farwana: 750 thousand Palestinians kidnapped by Israel since 1967

[ 14/04/2011 - 09:10 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Specialist in prisoners' affairs Abdulnaser Farwana said Israel has kidnapped since 1967 about 750,000 Palestinians including 12,000 women and tens of thousands of children.

This came in a report he issued on the Palestinian Prisoners Day which falls on April 17.

Farwana stressed in his report that Israel kidnapped Palestinians across the spectrum without discrimination like, children, elderly men and women, girls, wives, mothers, patients, persons with special needs, academics, lawmakers, ministers and many more.

He added that the kidnapping of Palestinians are a daily event and a well established Israeli occupation practice, affirming that the vast majority of these kidnappings and detentions had nothing to do with security reasons, but they were intended for humiliation and revenge.

The specialist also asserted that all those who were either kidnapped or detained were exposed to some kind of abuse, humiliation or torture inside prisons or in public.

The report gave statistics about the number of Palestinian prisoners still in Israeli jails, saying there are more than 6,000 Palestinians in prison, 820 of them were sentenced to life imprisonment.

Among the prisoners, there are 37 women and 245 children under age 18 other than those who were children when they were kidnapped and now they are adults, according to the report.

There are also 180 prisoners administratively detained without charge or trial, 12 lawmakers and a number of officials. 302 prisoners have been in jail for more than 17 or 20 years.

202 Palestinian prisoners have died or been killed since 1967, 70 of them as a result of torture, 51 died of medical neglect, 74 were assassinated after their release and seven were shot dead inside jails.

In a related context, participants in a political symposium on Palestinian prisoners on Wednesday called for internationalizing the issue of Palestinian prisoners and spare it political differences.

The symposium was organized by Gaza community college of tourism and Al-Huriya media center with the participation of national figures, jurists, and human rights activists.

Farawana, who was one of the prominent participants in this event, denounced the Red Cross for its passivity towards the suffering of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and not moving to end the arbitrary measures taken against them by the prison administrations.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian