JERUSALEM - A court in northern Israel ruled Tuesday that Israel and its military were not negligent in the 2003 death of a U.S. activist who was crushed by an army bulldozer. The judge called the death a "regrettable accident," and said Rachel Corrie "did not distance herself from the area, as any thinking person would have done." "She consciously put herself in harm's way," Judge Oded Gershon said, adding that the driver of the bulldozer could not have seen Corrie, 23. She was wearing a bright-orange jacket and standing between the armored vehicle and a Palestinian home to prevent its being torn down in the Palestinian Gaza Strip. Fellow activists who were with Corrie have no doubt that the bulldozer driver saw her and went so far as to roll over her twice. "I believe that this was a bad day not only for our family but a bad day for human rights, for humanity, for the rule of law and also for the country of Israel," the pro-Palestinian activist's mother, Cindy Corrie of Olympia, Wash., said. There exists "a well-heeled system to protect the Israeli military, the soldiers who conduct actions in that military to provide them with impunity, at the cost of all the civilians who are impacted by what they do," she added. The State Prosecutor's office called Corrie's death, which happened at the height of the second intifada, a "tragic accident" but defended the verdict of the Haifa District Court. In a statement, it repeated the argument that the driver could not see Corrie, adding that it was "a military action in the course of war." "The security forces at the Philadelphi Corridor during 2003 were compelled to carry out 'leveling' work against explosive devices that posed a tangible danger to life and limb and were not in any form posing a threat to Palestinian homes," the statement read. "The work was done while exercising maximum caution and prudence and without the ability to foresee harming anyone." A military investigation after Corrie's death found no wrongdoing, so the Corries filed a civil suit in 2005 for the symbolic amount of $1 for the intentional and unlawful killing of Rachel. The United States has criticized Israel for failing to carry out a thorough, credible and transparent investigation, a criticism again leveled last week by the ambassador to Tel Aviv, Dan Shapiro Fellow activist Tom Dale wrote after the incident, "The bulldozer drove toward Rachel slowly, gathering earth in its scoop as it went. She knelt there, she did not move. The bulldozer reached her and she began to stand up, climbing onto the mound of earth. "All the activists were screaming at the bulldozer to stop and gesturing to the crew about Rachel's presence. We were in clear view as Rachel had been, they continued. They pushed Rachel, first beneath the scoop, then beneath the blade, then continued till her body was beneath the cockpit. They waited over her for a few seconds, before reversing. They reversed with the blade pressed down, so it scraped over her body a second time." The family lawyer, Hussein Abu Hussein, is urging the family to take the case to Israel's Supreme Court. "This verdict is yet another example of where impunity has prevailed over accountability and fairness," he wrote in a statement. "In denying justice in Rachel Corrie's killing, this verdict speaks to the systemic failure to hold the Israeli military accountable for continuing violations of basic human rights."

By Alexander Marquardt | ABC News – Tue, Aug 28, 2012

JERUSALEM - A court in northern Israel ruled Tuesday that Israel and its military were not negligent in the 2003 death of a U.S. activist who was crushed by an army bulldozer.The judge called the death a "regrettable accident," and said Rachel Corrie "did not distance herself from the area, as any thinking person would have done."

"She consciously put herself in harm's way," Judge Oded Gershon said, adding that the driver of the bulldozer could not have seen Corrie, 23.

She was wearing a bright-orange jacket and standing between the armored vehicle and a Palestinian home to prevent its being torn down in the Palestinian Gaza Strip. Fellow activists who were with Corrie have no doubt that the bulldozer driver saw her and went so far as to roll over her twice.
"I believe that this was a bad day not only for our family but a bad day for human rights, for humanity, for the rule of law and also for the country of Israel," the pro-Palestinian activist's mother, Cindy Corrie of Olympia, Wash., said.

There exists "a well-heeled system to protect the Israeli military, the soldiers who conduct actions in that military to provide them with impunity, at the cost of all the civilians who are impacted by what they do," she added.

The State Prosecutor's office called Corrie's death, which happened at the height of the second intifada, a "tragic accident" but defended the verdict of the Haifa District Court. In a statement, it repeated the argument that the driver could not see Corrie, adding that it was "a military action in the course of war."

"The security forces at the Philadelphi Corridor during 2003 were compelled to carry out 'leveling' work against explosive devices that posed a tangible danger to life and limb and were not in any form posing a threat to Palestinian homes," the statement read. "The work was done while exercising maximum caution and prudence and without the ability to foresee harming anyone."

A military investigation after Corrie's death found no wrongdoing, so the Corries filed a civil suit in 2005 for the symbolic amount of $1 for the intentional and unlawful killing of Rachel. The United States has criticized Israel for failing to carry out a thorough, credible and transparent investigation, a criticism again leveled last week by the ambassador to Tel Aviv, Dan Shapiro

Fellow activist Tom Dale wrote after the incident, "The bulldozer drove toward Rachel slowly, gathering earth in its scoop as it went. She knelt there, she did not move. The bulldozer reached her and she began to stand up, climbing onto the mound of earth.

"All the activists were screaming at the bulldozer to stop and gesturing to the crew about Rachel's presence. We were in clear view as Rachel had been, they continued. They pushed Rachel, first beneath the scoop, then beneath the blade, then continued till her body was beneath the cockpit. They waited over her for a few seconds, before reversing. They reversed with the blade pressed down, so it scraped over her body a second time."

The family lawyer, Hussein Abu Hussein, is urging the family to take the case to Israel's Supreme Court.

"This verdict is yet another example of where impunity has prevailed over accountability and fairness," he wrote in a statement. "In denying justice in Rachel Corrie's killing, this verdict speaks to the systemic failure to hold the Israeli military accountable for continuing violations of basic human rights."

7 Detainees Injured In Ramon Prison, Several Sent To Solitary Confinement

  Thursday August 23, 2012  by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies 

The detainees clashed with the soldiers for approximately two hours after the army tried to force them to undergo a strip search in Ramon prison. Seven detainees were injured, and several detainees were sent to solitary confinement.

File - PNN

Palestinian Minister of detainees, Issa Qaraqe’, reported that the soldiers punched the detainees and hit them with batons before using gas against them.

The army also cut power and water supplies before completely isolating sections 6 and 7; the army said that the two sections will remain isolated for a minimum of two days.

The Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) issued a press release identifying seven of wounded detainees were identified as; (Fateh movement spokesperson) Moayyad Jaradat, Raed Balawna, Fawwaz Abdeen, Montaser Saif, Assaf Zahran, Motawakkel Radwan and Mohammad Abu Sharqiyya. They were all placed in solitary confinement.

The prison administration said that the wounded detainees will be sent to court and will be facing “criminal charges” allegedly for attacking Israeli soldiers.

The PPS said that the detainees returned their meals in protest to the latest escalation and attack against them.

It added that representatives of the prison administration sat down with the representative of the detainees, in Ramon, Jamal Rajpoub, to discuss the latest incident, and decided to hold another meeting on Friday.

Rajoub said that “what happened in Ramon is a compliance with what, Ben Caspet, an Israeli journalist said, who described the Palestinian political prisoners as pigs”, the PPS reported.

The PPS said that there are 760 Palestinian detainees held in Ramon Prison, including 500 detainees who were sentenced to at least one life term, and that the prison has 7 sections; 15 rooms in each section, each room has eight detainees held in it.

Qaddoura Fares, head of the Palestinian Prisoners Society, held the Israeli Prison Authority responsible for the lives and well-being of the detainees, and said that this attack is an act of revenge against the detainees.

Fares called for the immediate protection for the detainees, and urged the International Community to intervene and stop the ongoing Israeli attacks and violations against them.

Updated From

8 Detainees Wounded In Ramon Prison
Saed Bannoura, IMEMC & Agencies - Wed, 22 Aug 2012 15:28:19

Palestinians Minister of Detainee, Issa Qaraqe’, stated that initial information revealed that eight Palestinian detainees, imprisoned at the Ramon Israeli prison, were injured after Israeli soldiers broke into their rooms and searched them.

Qaraqe’ said that under-cover forces of the Israeli army broke into section #6 in Ramon under the pretext of searching it.

The soldiers tried to force the detainees to undergo a strip-search but they refused. Soldiers then attacked them leading to clashes that resulted in eight injuries among the detainees, the Palestine News Network (PNN) reported.

The soldiers used gas bombs, and struck the detainees with batons targeting different parts of their bodies. They went on to seal section 6 and disconnected its power and water supplies.

Qaraqe’ held Israel responsible for the lives of the detainees and their well-being, and called on the international community to provide the needed protection to the detainees and to stop Israel’s ongoing violations against them.

Urgent: Hunger striker Hassan Safadi’s head violently slammed against cell door by prison guards

Joint Press Release, Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Al-Haq and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel
 

Ramallah, 16 August 2012 – Palestinian hunger strikers Hassan Safadi and Samer Al-Barq continue to be severely mistreated by the Israeli Prison Service (IPS), in the forms of physical brutality and psychological torture. Addameer, Al-Haq and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-I) express their utmost outrage at recent violent incidents that have left these already-weakened detainees on protracted hunger strikes with trauma and injury. Mr. Al-Barq is today on his 87^th day of hunger strike, which he began only one week after his previous 30-day hunger strike ended; Mr. Safadi is today on his 57^th day of hunger strike, which he also began shortly after the end of his previous 71-day hunger strike. 

In a visit with Addameer lawyer Fares Ziad on 14 August, Mr. Safadi recounted the most recent violent incident, which had occurred the previous day. At approximately 9:00 am on 13 August, IPS guards entered the isolation room that Mr. Safadi shares with fellow administrative detainee Mr. Al-Barq in Ramleh prison medical clinic and announced their intentions to move the two hunger strikers to a room with other prisoners in the medical clinic who are not on hunger strike. Mr. Safadi and Mr. Al-Barq refused the transfer, as they considered it an attempt to further pressure them to break their hunger strikes by surrounding them with individuals who would be regularly eating in front of them.

 

After refusing to be moved, the Israeli prison guards attacked both Mr. Safadi and Mr. Al-Barq. During the attack, Mr. Safadi’s head was slammed against the iron door of the cell two times, causing him to fall to the ground, unconscious. Prison guards then dragged him through the hall to be seen by all the other prisoners. Later that night, at around 10:00 pm, Mr. Safadi and Mr. Al-Barq were taken to a new isolation room with no mattresses. 

 

As a result of this cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, Mr. Safadi subsequently announced that he would no longer be drinking water, which had so far been his only sustenance throughout his hunger strike. To protest the IPS’s brutality, the other prisoners in Ramleh also began to return their meals.

 

Mr. Safadi and Mr. Al-Barq both remain on hunger strike in protest against their administrative detention orders being renewed following the conclusion of Palestinian prisoners’ mass hunger strike in May. Mr. Safadi had been explicitly included in the agreement ending the hunger strike and had been guaranteed his release following the expiration of his order at the time - a promise that was not kept. A final decision regarding Mr. Safadi’s extension has been consistently postponed by an Israeli military judge and has not been reached to date.

 

Two other Palestinian detainees in Israeli prison are also currently on hunger strike: Ayman Sharawna and Samer Al-Issawi, on days 47 and 16, respectively. Both detainees were former prisoners who were released in last October’s prisoner exchange deal and subsequently re-arrested. They are being held based on secret information and view their hunger strikes as their only tool to protest against their re-arrest.

 

Addameer, Al-Haq and PHR-I insist that the international community intervene with the relevant Israeli authorities and demand an immediate investigation into these and other condemnable acts taken against prisoners on hunger strike in attempts to break them.

 

Addameer, Al-Haq and PHR-I specifically call on:

• the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the European Union to take action in the strongest manner possible to save the lives of the hunger strikers and prevent any future mistreatment;
• European Parliament members to bring these cases to the attention of relevant Israeli authorities without delay and to send a fact-finding mission to examine the conditions of detention of Palestinians arbitrarily held in Israeli prisons;
• High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention and all UN Member States to put immediate pressure on Israel to abide by international humanitarian and human rights law and end its policy of arbitrary detention, and to abide by the standard rules for the treatment of prisoners adopted in 1955, which set out what is generally accepted as being decent principle and practice in the treatment of prisoners. 

Palestinian children 'abused' in Israeli jail

Recent studies allege a system of abuse targeting children detained by Israel's military court system. Dalia Hatuqa Aug. 14, 2012 Al Jazeera

Israeli military courts imprison about 500-700 Palestinian children per year, according to a new study [AFP]

Ramallah, occupied Palestinian territories - A dirty mattress fills up a space barely two metres long and one metre wide. A suffocating stench emanating from the toilet hovers over the windowless room, and a light turned on 24/7 means sleep is a distant dream. This is the infamous Cell 36 in Al Jalameh Prison in Israel. It's one of the cells that many Palestinian children have either heard of or, worse, been inside when placed in solitary confinement. The children imprisoned here are most often taken from their homes between midnight and 5am. Most don't even see it coming. In one case, in Beit Ummar near Bethlehem, Israeli soldiers detained a Palestinian boy after reportedly taking some of the house's doors off their hinges. Most of the children detained live close to "friction points", areas close to Israeli settlements, roads used by settlers or near the separation wall. And their offence is almost always throwing stones at settlers or troops. "Mohammad was interrogated for two to three hours every day while sitting on a low seat with his hands tied to the chair." These vivid details emerged recently in a report based on the testimonies of more than 300 Palestinian children, which were collected over four years. The study by Defence for Children International, Bound, Blindfolded and Convicted: Children Held in Military Detention highlights a pattern of abuse towards children detained under the Israeli military court system. In the past 11 years, DCI estimates that around 7,500 children, some as young as 12, have been detained, interrogated and imprisoned within this system. This is about 500-700 children per year, or nearly two children every day. Mohammad S, from the northern West Bank town of Tulkarem, was 16 when he was arrested, according to the report. It was 2:30am when Israeli soldiers dragged him out of bed. He was blindfolded and verbally abused and taken to an unknown destination, where he says he was forced to lay down in the cold for an hour. He was later taken to an interrogation centre near Nablus at around 11am, and only then was he allowed to drink some water and use the bathroom, after he underwent a strip search. Tied and blindfolded still, he was then taken to Al Jalameh, near Haifa in Israel. There he was taken to Cell 36, where he was forced to spend his first night sleeping on the floor because there was no mattress or blanket. Mohammad says he spent 17 days in solitary confinement in Cell 36 and Cell 37, interrupted only by interrogations. Mohammad was reportedly interrogated for two to three hours every day, while sitting on a low seat with his hands tied to the chair. Children have taken part in demonstrations aganist the treatment of those held in prison [AFP] The most crucial hours "The first 48 hours after a child is taken are the most important because that's when the most abuse happens," DCI's lawyer Gerard Horton said. Children taken from their homes in the night are blindfolded and bound and made to lie face down or up on the floors of military vehicles, according to the centre's report. Very rarely are parents told where their child is being taken, and, unlike Israeli children from within either Israel or the settlements in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian minors are reportedly not allowed to have a parent present before or during initial interrogation, and generally do not see a lawyer until after their interrogation is over. Specifically, Israeli children have access to a lawyer within 48 hours and those under the age of 14 cannot be imprisoned. Palestinian children, however, can be jailed even if they are as young as 12 and, like adults, can be held in jail without having formal charges against them for up to 188 days. "The key issue is one of equality. If two children, a Palestinian and an Israeli, are caught throwing stones at each other, then one will be processed in a juvenile justice system and one in a military court," Horton said. "They have completely different rights. It's hard to justify this after 45 years of occupation. It's not a question of whether offences are committed. What we are saying is children should not be treated completely differently." As soon as children are taken from their homes, and placed inside an Israeli military vehicle, they are often kicked or slapped, according to testimonies obtained by DCI. Some said they were laughed at and others said they heard cameras clicking. Nightmares Because children are often taken late at night, they are driven to the nearest settlement to wait until Israeli police interrogators open up shop in the morning. This means children are sometimes placed out in the cold or rain for many hours. Requests for water or using the bathroom are most often denied, and children are taken straight to interrogation after a night of little sleep. That's what Ahmad F said happened to him. A 15-year-old from 'Iraq Burin village, just outside Nablus, he was arrested in July 2011. He was taken to the nearby Huwwara interrogation centre, where he was left outside from 5am until 3pm. At one point, soldiers brought a dog. "They brought the dog's food and put it on my head," Ahmad told DCI. "Then they put another piece of bread on my trousers near my genitals, so I tried to move away but [the dog] started barking. I was terrified." "During interrogation, many children reported being facing with slurs and threatened with physical violence. In a small number of cases, interrogators have reportedly threatened minors with rape." During interrogation, many children reported being facing with slurs and threatened with physical violence. In a small number of cases, interrogators have reportedly threatened minors with rape. In 29 per cent of cases studied by DCI, Arabic-speaking children were either shown or given documentation written in Hebrew to sign. An Israeli spokesperson denied this to Al Jazeera, saying "the norm is that interrogations in Arabic should be either recorded or written in Arabic". Israeli officials did say, however, they had identified 13 cases from the report where children had signed a confession written in Hebrew. Yet the spokesperson maintained that video recordings of those interrogations had been available, should the lawyers acting for the children doubt the accuracy of the written Hebrew statements. After children sign a "confession", they are brought before an Israeli military court. Since 2009, an Israeli spokesperson said, children have faced juvenile military courts. Most often, that's the first time the minor will see their lawyer. The confession is generally the primary evidence against the child, say DCI officials. Other evidence will often consist of a statement by an interrogator, and sometimes a soldier. Because so few are granted bail, children face a legal dilemma: they can ask the lawyer to challenge the system - and by doing so potentially wait, locked up, for four to six months - or plead guilty and get a two or three month prison sentence for a "first offence". Pleading guilty "So, very rarely does anyone challenge the system," said DCI's Horton, as the quickest way to be released is to plead guilty. This goes some way to explain why, according to the military courts, the conviction rate for adults and children in 2010 was 99.74 per cent. According to DCI, some fifty to sixty per cent of the time, children are taken to prisons inside Israel, making it difficult for parents to visit. "Some parents are denied permits on unspecified 'security grounds'. For the others, the bureaucracy can take up to two months to get a permit, which means if their children are sentenced to less time, they will not receive a visit," Horton said. "However, some permits are processed in less than two months, and those children sentenced to more time will also generally receive visits." "Israel's practice of holding children 'for substantial periods in solitary confinement would, if it occurred, be capable of amounting to torture', the report concluded." The allegations of what seems to be a deliberate system of abuse appear to be corroborated by another report published by a group of British jurists. The UK government-backed delegation of nine lawyers, with human rights, crime and child welfare backgrounds, concluded that Israel's soldiers regularly breach the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and the Fourth Geneva Convention, of which Israel is a signatory. Their report, Children in Military Custody, attributed much of Israel's reluctance to treat Palestinian children in accordance with international norms to "a belief, which was advanced to us by a military prosecutor, that every Palestinian child is a 'potential terrorist'". The lawyers said this seemed to be "the starting point of a spiral of injustice, and one which only Israel, as the Occupying Power in the West Bank, can reverse". Israel's practice of holding children "for substantial periods in solitary confinement would, if it occurred, be capable of amounting to torture", the report concluded. Of all the children represented by DCI, 12 per cent reported being held in solitary confinement for an average of 11 days. Denial The Israel Security Agency (ISA), also known as Shin Bet, denied that children were mistreated under the military court system, calling claims to the contrary "utterly baseless". The ISA also said that claims regarding the prevention of legal counsel were also completely groundless. "No one questioned, including minors being questioned, is kept alone in a cell as a punitive measure or in order to obtain a confession," said the ISA in a statement when the Guardian first released a special report about the status of child detainees in Israel. A Palestinian youth uses a slingshot to hurl a stone at Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank [REUTERS] The ISA also said that it provides minors special protection because of their age and adheres to "international treaties of which the State of Israel is a signatory, and according to Israeli law, including the right to legal counsel and visits by the Red Cross". Speaking to Al Jazeera, an Israeli spokesperson accused the DCI report of bias, and refuted the group's finding that the majority of children prosecuted were charged with throwing stones: "This was the basis for only 40 per cent of the indictments filed against minors in the West Bank ... the young age of offenders is not relevant to the gravity of the act: it has been proven beyond doubt that a stone thrown by a 15-year-old child can be no less fatal than a stone thrown by an adult." Stone-throwing can prove deadly, stressed the spokesperson, citing a case from September 2011, when an Israeli settler and his one-year-old son were killed after their car overturned as a result of stones hurled at them. "Two Palestinians from Halhul confessed to throwing the stone which caused the deaths of Asher and Yonatan. The stone was hurled from a driving car," the spokesperson said. The official said that children were also involved in grenade throwing, the use of explosives, shooting and assault The spokesperson also denied that the ISA used isolation as an interrogation technique or as punishment to exert confessions out of minors. "There are certain cases in which an interrogee will be held alone for a few days at the most, in order to prevent information in his/her possession from leaking to other terrorist activists in the same detention facility, which could compromise the interrogation of the suspect. Note that even in these cases, the interrogee is not held in absolute confinement, but is entitled to meet with Red Cross representatives, medical staff etc." Furthermore, the spokesperson rejected the idea that pleading guilty was the quickest way out of the system for a defendant, deeming the accusation "misleading, distorted, and premised upon incorrect information". "Should a minor defendant choose to plead 'not guilty' and challenge the prosecutorial evidence by proceeding to a full trial and mounting a good-faith defence, military courts will, in the vast majority of the cases, conduct the hearings very efficiently, sometimes even in a few weeks." Yet, since the DCI and UK reports came out, "there's no substantive change on the ground", Horton said. "The response by the military authorities has been to start talking about making some changes and amending the military orders. But when you look at the details, the changes are of little substance." "In reality, what we are seeing is a de facto annexation of most of the West Bank; it's not a temporary military occupation," he concluded. "The military courts are an integral part of this process used to control the population."

Israel to Detain Migrant Children in Prison

  Friday August 10, 2012 by Kelly Joiner - International Middle East Media Center Editorial Group & Agencies 

African children, whose parents bring them to Israel illegally will now be held in Givon Prison in Ramle, rather than a special facility for migrant youth, in violation of international law concerning the treatment of children and a 2011 Israeli High Court ruling.

Source: Ha'aretz

According to a report in Israeli daily Ha’aretz, the move to place the children in prison came after six boys escaped from the youth facility last week. The children will now be housed in an adult prison according to the Israeli prison service, in order to ensure that no more children escape.

This decision contravenes a 2011 Israeli High Court ruling that children cannot be held in prisons or with adults. The court cited as justification the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) to which Israel is a signatory.

The CRC states that at all times, the most important principle regarding the treatment of children is what is in the best interests of the child. The director of the Hotline for Migrant Workers, Reut Michaeli commented, “Givon Prison is a prison in every sense of the word. Once again we're learning that the good of the child is not the main thing on the state's mind."

Although children are being housed in a separate wing from adults, the facility is still a prison designed for adults. The Israeli prison service claims that the situation is temporary.

However, Israel routinely detains Palestinian children in Israeli military prisons with adults. Numerous international organizations including Defence For Children International have documented this practice which Israel’s own courts have found to be illegal.

Given the fact that this inhumane violation of the rights of Palestinian children continues with several hundred Palestinian children currently incarcerated in Israeli military prisons, as well as the increasing xenophobia of the Israeli population, it is unlikely that migrant children will escape this same fate unless the institutional structures within Israel begin to support human rights for all, not only Jewish Israelis.

Woroud Qasem and Bilal Diab released today

Aug. 9, 2012 Samidoun

Palestinian prisoners Woroud Qasem and Bilal Diab were released today from Israeli occupation prisons.

Woroud Qasem, from al-Tira in occupied Palestine ’48 was released today, August 9, 2012 after serving nearly six years in prison. She was welcomed back to her village by hundreds of people who came to greet her; she was one of a few women political prisoners who were not released in the October 2011 prisoner exchange. She delivered a speech upon her return, calling upon all institutions to highlight the struggle and suffering of Palestinian political prisoners.

See video of her release:

Also released today is former hunger striker Bilal Diab, whose 78-day hunger strike alongside fellow administrative detainee Thaer Halahleh lasted throughout the April-May 2012 mass prisoner hunger strike.  Diab was also welcomed by hundreds who greeted him as a hero, as he returned to his village Kufr al-Rai, outside Nablus. Among others, his fellow former hunger strikers and heroes of the “battle of the empty stomachs,” Halahleh and Khader Adnan, were among the first to greet him.

Long term hunger striker Hassan Safadi, who was in administrative detention as well, and who Israel refused to release in June in violation of the agreement ending the April-May 2012 hunger strike, remains on hunger strike, demanding his release, alongside fellow prisoners Samer al-Barq, Ayman Sharawna and Samer al-Issawi.
Linah Alsaafin interviewed his family for the Electronic Intifada, as well as covering the releases of Qasem and Diab.

Yet another Palestinian civil society leader targeted by Israel: Addameer Chairperson Abdullatif Ghaith receives ban from leaving the country

9 August 2012 Addameer
Joint Statement

As organizations dedicated to the promotion and protection of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), the Palestinian Council of Human Rights Organizations (PCHRO), expresses its utmost dismay at the recent Israeli decision to ban Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association Chairperson Abdullatif Ghaith from travelling abroad. Mr. Ghaith, a 71-year-old East Jerusalem resident, is one of the founders of Addameer and has been serving on its Board for the past 20 years. He is also a well-known public figure resulting from his long history of human rights activism in Jerusalem and the rest of the OPT, in addition to his prominent political activism including his run for Palestinian Legislative Council elections in 2006.

On 2 August 2012, Mr. Ghaith received a phone call from Israeli intelligence representatives requesting that he present himself immediately to Moskobiyyeh interrogation center in Jerusalem. Upon presenting himself the following day, Mr. Ghaith was ordered to sign an order banning him from travelling abroad. The ban, which is signed by Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai, will remain in place until 31 January 2013. The order claims that Mr. Ghaith constitutes a threat to “state security”, although no evidence is given to support such claim.

This is not the first time Mr. Ghaith has been targeted by Israel for his human rights activism. The current order banning him from travelling abroad is in addition to an existing ban that prevents him from entering the West Bank (as defined by Israel). This West Bank ban originally came into effect on 10 October 2011 for a duration of six months, although it was subsequently extended for an additional six months in April 2012 and is now due to expire in September 2012. Furthermore, since becoming Chairperson of Addameer, Mr. Ghaith has been held without charge or trial in Israeli prison under administrative detention on three separate occasions, lasting for six months on each occasion. His most recent administrative detention lasted from June 2004 to January 2005.

The continued targeting of Mr. Ghaith cannot be viewed in isolation but must rather be viewed within a much broader context of a systematic attempt by Israel to suppress Palestinian civil society and stifle Palestinian development, while strengthening Israel’s occupation. Evidence of this repression can be seen in the increasing number of Palestinian civil society organizations that have been ordered to close, particularly in East Jerusalem, and the targeting of human rights defenders throughout the OPT. Other prominent members of Palestinian civil society have also been targeted in the same manner by Israel, such as the director of human rights organization Al-Haq, Shawan Jabarin, who has been banned from travelling abroad since 2006, with two exceptions this year in which his travel was highly restricted.

Human rights defenders are formally defined as persons who work, peacefully, for any or all of the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Mr. Ghaith’s life’s work on behalf of political prisoners—inspired by his own experience as a prisoner—clearly falls within the category of a human rights defender, in that his activities are peaceful in nature and aimed at the promotion of human rights. According to Mr. Ghaith, “Israel considers every activity that tackles Israeli violations of human rights as a threat to state security. Israel wants its occupation to proceed without any accountability. This is not an issue of an individual; it involves all Palestinians.”

The PCHRO strongly condemns the travel ban imposed on Mr. Ghaith and continued Israeli attempts to silence Palestinian civil society. The ban on Mr. Ghaith not only violates his fundamental human rights, namely his right to freedom of movement, but also disregards the special protections afforded to him as a human rights defender according to the United Nations General Assembly Declaration on human rights defenders.

The PCHRO therefore calls on the international community to intervene immediately with the Israeli authorities to lift all bans restricting Mr. Ghaith’s freedom of movement so that he may continue to carry out his human rights work unimpeded. In particular, the PCHRO calls on the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights Defenders to intervene with Israel and raise the case of Mr. Ghaith and other Palestinian human rights defenders, such as Mr. Jabarin. The PCHRO also urges the European Union, especially the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, to act in accordance with its decision to “throw its full weight behind advocates of liberty, democracy and human rights throughout the world” by consistently bringing up with Israel its continued infringements of the special protections afforded to Palestinian human rights defenders, as well as calling for the lifting of the travel bans imposed on Mr. Ghaith and Mr. Jabarin.
      

 The Palestinian Council of Human Rights Organizations:

	Addameer Prisoners’ Support and Human Rights Association Sahar Francis General Director		Aldameer Association for Human Rights Khalil Abu Shammala General Director
	Al-Haq Shawan Jabarin General Director		Al Mezan Center for Human Rights Issam Younis General Director
	Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights Najwa Darwish General Director		Defence for Children International Palestine Section Rifat Kassis General Director
	Ensan Center for Human Rights and Democracy Shawqi Issa General Director		Hurryyat - Centre for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights Helmi Al-araj General Director
	Jerusalem Center for Legal Aid and Human Rights Issam Aruri General Director		Ramallah Center for Human Rights Studies Iyad Barghouti General Director
	Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling Maha Abu Dayyeh General Director

Israel Offers Prisoners Release in Exchange for Palestinian UN Bid

  Tuesday August 07, 2012 by Craig Harrington - IMEMC & Agencies 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced plans to release political prisoners in exchange for the Palestinian Authority dropping its upcoming bid for statehood recognition at the United Nations.

Presidnet Abbas and Prime Minister Netanyahu will face off once again over Palestinian prisoners

In a move to avoid a showdown at the United Nations in coming months, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has offered prisoner release in exchange for Palestine dropping its bid for UN membership, reports Ma’an News. Up to 50 prisoners would be involved in the prospective exchange. The Hebrew-language publication Maariv also reported the announcement.

In addition to the release of prisoners, Netanyahu offered to return to the peace negotiations that he walked away from nearly two years ago.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has been planning to seek official state recognition at the United Nations for more than two years. The Abbas government knows that it has the support of the vast majority of the voting members of the UN General Assembly. Other than the United States, Palestine’s statehood bid is likely to have the support, or at worst the abstention, of the other ‘veto’ members of the UN Security Council.

The decision by Netanyahu to offer prisoner release is important on several levels. No state would release actual terrorists as doing so would combine negotiating with terrorists, caving to the demands of terrorism, and undermining the safety of the country and its people. Many of the thousands of Palestinians currently detained in Israeli prisoners have been implicitly linked to terrorism. Their release would be a ready admission by the Israeli government that the prisoners it holds in indefinite detention do not present a real threat to Israeli safety and are instead ‘political prisoners’ – something expressly forbidden by international human rights law.

In addition to the admission that Israel arrest and detention policies are not expressly aimed toward building peace and security, the offered prisoner release may indicate that the Netanyahu government is running out of options to stall the Palestinian Authority.

The government in Ramallah already knows that any UN resolution would be vetoed by the United States and condemned by the few lock-step allies of Israel. Such a resolution would also potentially result in crippling economic sanctions on the already depressed Palestinian economy. Knowing the risks the PA has decided to continue pursuing its course and could bring a resolution to the General Assembly as early as next month.

The Palestinian Authority has offered no indication that it has considered Tel Aviv’s latest tactic to stall international recognition. Nimir Hammad, an advisor to the Palestinian President, refused to link any prospective UN bid with a prisoner release.

Doctor and lawyer visits to hunger strikers reveal mistreatment by Israeli Prison Service

Joint Press Release, Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Al-Haq and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel

Ramallah-Jaffa, 7 August 2012 — Four Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli detention remain steadfast in their open hunger strikes as their health conditions continue to deteriorate. Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Al-Haq and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-IL) are particularly concerned for the lives of administrative detainees Samer Al-Barq and Hassan Safadi, who have been on protracted hunger strikes and are subject to consistent mistreatment at the hands of the Israeli Prison Service (IPS).

Addameer lawyer Fares Ziad visited Mr. Al-Barq and Mr. Safadi in Ramleh prison medical center two days ago, 5 August, and a PHR-IL doctor was also able to visit them on 2 August.

Mr. Al-Barq is currently on his 78^th day of renewed hunger strike, directly following his previous 30-day hunger strike. According to an affidavit taken by Mr. Ziad, Mr. Al-Barq was transferred from Ramleh to Ofer military court on 31 July by IPS special forces, or Nahshon, known for their particularly brutal treatment of prisoners during transfers. During this transfer, the special forces ordered Mr. Al-Barq to walk, and when he told them that he could not, they beat him on his legs. They eventually brought him a wheelchair but did not help him, so he was forced to crawl to the chair and wheel it himself.

Mr. Safadi, who is now on his 48^th day of renewed hunger strike, following his previous 71-day hunger strike, also recounted a disturbing incident to Mr. Ziad. On 30 July, five Israeli soldiers raided his room. They first tore his pillow before starting to insult him and beat him all over his body, leaving his left leg injured. Mr. Safadi noted that his room is searched three or four times each day in a violent manner, though he is held in a small isolation cell with only his clothes. He and Mr. Al-Barq are now held together in this cell, which is only about 1.5 by 1.8 meters in size, with no windows or ventilation.

Mr. Safadi elaborated to the PHR-IL doctor it was only after he complained to guards that it was hard to breathe in his cell that they immediately brought Mr. Al-Barq to share the tiny cell with him. Furthermore, there is no space in the room for the wheelchair that is being used by both hunger strikers for everyday activities, including the use of shower and toilet. After he again protested these conditions and treatment, he and Mr. Al-Barq were both beaten.

In the PHR-IL doctor’s visit on 2 August, the IPS doctor noted that Mr. Al-Barq and Mr. Safadi are often refusing any treatments such as minerals and vitamins. Both of them told the doctor that they are doing so as a last resort to protest against the humiliating and violent treatment by IPS staff. Since Ramadan began on 20 July, they drink water only at night. The two hunger strikers are also refusing to give blood tests during Ramadan due to religious adherence. During the visit, the IPS would not allow the independent doctor to examine the hunger strikers without the presence of IPS staff, in violation of the Israeli Patients’ Rights Law. An IPS paramedic was present in the examination room and at some point also brought other patients into the room.

The PHR-IL doctor commented following the visit that there is “reason to believe that in the future the health of the two strikers will deteriorate, and therefore their condition requires special attention and close monitoring.” He further noted that he believed the hunger strikers should be examined by an impartial doctor once a week, without any restrictions such as needing court orders for permission.

Notably, two other Palestinian political prisoners are also currently on hunger strike: Ayman Sharawna and Samer Al-Issawi, on days 38 and 7 respectively. Both were released in last October’s prisoner exchange deal and subsequently re-arrested.
     

The doctor reported that both Mr. Al-Barq and Mr. Safadi were fully conscious and aware during the visit. Though during the past days he was accepting some minerals and vitamins, Mr. Al-Barq told the doctor that he plans to stop all treatment because of the beating. He suffers from weakness and general pain in his body with no specific origin. Due to a slow pulse he was sent to the emergency room in Assaf Harofeh hospital but was released without recommendations for treatment. Mr. Safadi currently suffers from vertigo, especially when he attempts to stand, and pain on the left side of his rib cage.

   

Addameer, Al-Haq and PHR-IL are outraged by the mistreatment and violent attacks on Palestinian prisoners in general, and especially in the cases of these fragile hunger strikers. Addameer, Al-Haq and PHR-IL urge the international community to intervene with Israel on behalf of these detainees before their conditions deteriorate even further and demand:

• that the agreements reached on 14 and 15 May 2012 be respected, including the release of administrative detainees who were promised release at the end of their current orders;
• that the terms of the prisoner exchange deal be fully respected and that prisoners released in the deal not be rearrested by Israel;
• that Hassan Safadi, Samer Al-Barq and Omar Abu Shalal,  along with all other administrative detainees, be immediately and unconditionally released;
• unrestricted access for independent physicians to all hunger strikers.

PA security arrests hunger striker Hassan Safadi’s brother

Aug. 6, 2012 Samidoun

Photo: ActiveStills/Ahmad al-Bazz

Palestinian Authority security forces arrested hunger striking prisoner Hassan Safadi’s brother, Saleh Safadi (30 years old) today, August 6, 2012, reported Addameer. Around 30 members of the PA security forces raided their home at 3:00 am and took Saleh to Jenaid prison near Nablus, without giving any reasons for the arrest. Saleh previously spent 1 year under “administrative detention” in Israeli occupation prisons in 2007.

Hassan Safadi is currently on hunger strike in Israeli prisons; he is on his 47th day of a renewed hunger strike, following an earlier 81 day hunger strike. Hassan was one of the long-term hunger strikers held in administrative detention without charge or trial who, under the agreement to end the mass prisoners hunger strike on May 14, 2012, was supposed to be released at the expiration of his term of administrative detention. This was not Hassan’s first experience in administrative detention – from 2007-2010 he was the longest serving Palestinian political prisoner under administrative detention without charge or trial.

In violation of the agreement, his administrative detention was extended for an additional six months rather than his release being secured on June 21, 2012. He immediately re-started his hunger strike in protest of this violation, demanding his immediate release and was placed in isolation. Addameer and Physicians for Human Rights have reported:

Hassan is currently being held in an isolated cell. Hassan has reported escalating pressure from the IPS to end his hunger strike. Hassan further noted that his court hearing on 25 July has been delayed again until 07 August, stressing that he is in no condition to travel 15 hours every time for the court hearings. He also reported suffering from kidney problems, sight problems, extreme weakness, severe weight loss, headaches, dizziness and has difficulty standing.

Hassan’s mother – interviewed earlier by the Electronic Intifada – was just released from hospital today, to return home to find Saleh detained as well, also without charge. Hassan himself was just assaulted by occupation forces at the beginning of the week.

Hassan is not the only hunger striker in occupation prisons – Samer al-Barq is on his 77th day of hunger strike, and Ayman Sharawna is on his 37th day. Samer Issawi announced his hunger strike on August 2, joining Ayman Sharawna, who is also protesting his re-arrest swiftly after being released in the prisoner exchange of October 2011.

Take Action: Free Palestinian farmers and agricultural workers targeted for imprisonment

Aug. 4, 2012 Samidoun

 

As they organize to defend their land and Palestinian farming against the onslaught of settlements and siege, Palestinian agricultural workers and organizers have been subject to an intensified arrest campaign in the occupied West Bank of Palestine. Click here to sign our petition at change.org or sign on below to demand an immediate end to the targeting of the Union of Agricultural Work Committees and all Palestinian farmers and agricultural workers, and the freedom of the Palestinian organizers imprisoned for defending their rights.

A number of staff of the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (Facebook), a Palestinian grassroots organization that organizes Palestinian farmers to defend their land and develop their products, have been targeted in recent days for arrest by Israeli occupation forces.

Dr. Moayad Bisharat

On July 31, Dr. Moayad Ahmad Bisharat, the coordinator of UAWC’s Jericho office was abducted at dawn from his home. The UAWC office in Jericho was then ransacked by Israeli forces, who confiscated the computers, laptops, and files of the organization.

This is the most recent in a series of arrests of UAWC activists in recent weeks, including the Director of Development and Operations, the engineer Fuad Abu Saif on July 26 in an early morning raid on his home in Hebron, in which his computer, mobile phone and other communication devices were seized. The director of the UAWC Jericho office, Mohammad Nujoom was abducted on July 16 as he re-entered Palestine from abroad. Both were taken to the Moskobiya compound for interrogation.

Engineer Fuad Abu Saif

In addition, UAWC Board Member Ahmad Soufan, held in administrative detention for one year, was recently ordered into a third term of six months in arbitrary administrative detention without charge or trial. Two other UAWC leaders, Abdel Razzak Farraj, administrative and financial director, and Board member Dr. Yousef Abdul Haq, were both finally released from administrative detention after multiple renewals of their imprisonment.

As the UAWC noted in its statement on the arrests, these arrests are part and parcel of the ongoing attacks on Palestinians’ right to the land, including massive settlement building, land confiscation, home demolitions, and the construction of the apartheid wall, as well as the siege and firing on farmers and agricultural workers in Gaza. The UAWC called on international organizers to defend Palestinian national rights and demand the freedom of the UAWC detainees and all Palestinian prisoners.

UAWC, which recently marked its 25th anniversity, has been struggling with Palestinian farmers and agricultural workers to defend and develop their land, support Palestinian agricultural projects, and support farmers’ steadfastness on the land in the face of Israeli occupation and aggression.
The attack on the UAWC is part of the overall attack on Palestinian farmers and agricultural workers, from olive farmers whose trees are set ablaze by settlers, tthose whose land was stolen for settlements, “military use,” or “buffer zones”, to the fishers of Gaza, who daily brave military attack for seeking to fish in their sea. It reflects the over 64 years of occupation, land theft, displacement and dispossession of the occupation of Palestine. Farmers and agricultural workers are on the front lines of resistance as they struggle to remain on their land – and are thus being targeted for arrest and imprisonment in an attempt to undermine the steadfastness of the farmers.

Western governments, including those of the United States and Canada, are not only silent in the face of these attacks, they are directly complicit, as they pledge expanded military support and allegiance to Israel as its occupation, apartheid and human rights violations continue and escalate. It is urgent that people make their own voices heard to challenge and break this complicity.

TAKE ACTION!

1. Click here to sign our petition at change.org, or sign on below! This petition will be presented to Israeli embassies in the US, Canada and other countries on Wednesday, August 15, demanding the release of these prisoners, justice for all prisoners, and an end to the attack on Palestinian farmers and agricultural workers. Individual and organizational signatories are welcome – we particularly urge groups and organizations to sign on to and distribute the petition. If you experience any difficulty signing on, please send your endorsement to samidoun@samidoun.ca.

2. Boycott Israeli goods and agricultural products! The Palestinian movement has called for boycott, divestment and sanctions targeting Israeli goods and institutions until it ends its violations of Palestinian rights. Israeli oranges, organic peppers, dates, and other agricultural products are the fruits of stolen land. Boycott those products and help to raise awareness in your community!

3. Support Palestinian agricultural products, including olive oil, spices, and maftoul, farmed by Palestinian farmers and not occupation settlements.

4.  Join a protest or demonstration outside an Israeli consulate for Palestinian prisoners. Many groups and organizations are holding events – join one or announce your own. Organizing an event, action or forum on Palestinian prisoners on your city or campus? Use this form to contact us and we will post the event widely. If you need suggestions, materials or speakers for your event, please contact us at samidoun@samidoun.ca. 

5. Help to support UAWC – here is information on how you can donate to support UAWC’s much needed work among Palestinian farmers and fishers.

Sign On: End the Persecution of Palestinian Agricultural Workers!

Endorse the petition, to be submitted August 15, 2012, to call for freedom for Palestinian agricultural workers targeted for defending their land.

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Petition Text
As they organize to defend their land and Palestinian farming against the onslaught of settlements and siege, Palestinian agricultural workers and organizers have been subject to an intensified arrest campaign in the occupied West Bank of Palestine. We write to demand an immediate end to the targeting of the Union of Agricultural Work Committees and all Palestinian farmers and agricultural workers, and the freedom of the Palestinian organizers imprisoned for defending their rights.
A number of staff of the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, a Palestinian grassroots organization that organizes Palestinian farmers to defend their land and develop their products, have been targeted in recent days for arrest by Israeli occupation forces.

On July 31, Dr. Moayad Ahmad Bisharat, the coordinator of UAWC’s Jericho office was abducted at dawn from his home. The UAWC office in Jericho was then ransacked by Israeli forces, who confiscated the computers, laptops, and files of the organization. This is the most recent in a series of arrests of UAWC activists in recent weeks, including the Director of Development and Operations, the engineer Fouad Abu Saif on July 26 in an early morning raid on his home in Hebron, in which his computer, mobile phone and other communication devices were seized. The director of the UAWC Jericho office, Mohammad Nujoom was abducted on July 16 as he re-entered Palestine from abroad. Both were taken to the Moskobiya compound for interrogation.

In addition, UAWC Board Member Ahmad Soufan, held in administrative detention for one year, was recently ordered into a third term of six months in arbitrary administrative detention without charge or trial. Two other UAWC leaders, Abdel Razzak Farraj, administrative and financial director, and Board member Dr. Yousef Abdul Haq, were both finally released from administrative detention after multiple renewals of their imprisonment.

As the UAWC noted in its statement on the arrests, these arrests are part and parcel of the ongoing attacks on Palestinians’ right to the land, including massive settlement building, land confiscation, home demolitions, and the construction of the apartheid wall, as well as the siege and firing on farmers and agricultural workers in Gaza. The UAWC called on international organizers to defend Palestinian national rights and demand the freedom of the UAWC detainees and all Palestinian prisoners.

UAWC, which recently marked its 25th anniversity, has been struggling with Palestinian farmers and agricultural workers to defend and develop their land, support Palestinian agricultural projects, and support farmers’ steadfastness on the land in the face of Israeli occupation and aggression.
The attack on the UAWC is part of the overall attack on Palestinian farmers and agricultural workers, from olive farmers whose trees are set ablaze by settlers, tthose whose land was stolen for settlements, “military use,” or “buffer zones”, to the fishers of Gaza, who daily brave military attack for seeking to fish in their sea. It reflects the over 64 years of occupation, land theft, displacement and dispossession of the occupation of Palestine. Farmers and agricultural workers are on the front lines of resistance as they struggle to remain on their land – and are thes being targeted for arrest and imprisonment in an attempt to undermine the steadfastness of the farmers.

We demand that the Israeli government immediately free Bisharat, Abu Seif, Nujoom and Seifan and end this targeted attack on Palestinian agricultural workers.

Furthermore, we demand an end to the policy of settlement construction, land confiscation and home demolitions targeting Palestinian farmers and villages in the West Bank, and an end to the targeting of Palestinian farmers in Gaza in the “buffer zones” and fishers at sea.

Finally, we demand an end to the mass imprisonment of Palestinians and freedom for all Palestinian political prisoners.

Lawyer: Hunger strikers assaulted by prison authorities

Aug. 2, 2012 Ma'an

Some 2,000 prisoners held an open hunger strike in April.

 

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Israeli prison authorities on Wednesday assaulted two prisoners on hunger strike, a lawyer from the Palestinian Prisoners Society said.

Jawad Boulos said that hunger strikers Samer al-Barq and Hassan Safadi had both been severely assaulted, after a visit to Ramle prison clinic on Wednesday.

"At 2 a.m., (Safadi) was in bed when jailers attacked him and forced him to stand and tore his clothes up and his mattress and pillow. When he tried to resist one of the jailers punched him in the face and fought with him until an officer intervened," Boulos said in a statement.

The prison administration transfered al-Barq to another prison. Using a wheelchair due to his poor health, guards at the jail asked him to stand up and walk, and when he was unable to they threw him to the ground, Boulos said.

He was sent to a clinic due to his health condition.

Al-Barq, 36, has been on hunger strike for 73 days and Hassan Safadi, 34, for 43 days.

Al-Barq, from Qalqiliya, went on hunger strike after his administrative detention was renewed and Safadi, from Nablus, restarted his hunger strike after his detention without charge was renewed in violation of the agreement ending a mass hunger strike in May.

Some 2,000 prisoners went on hunger strike in April until reaching a deal a month later when Israeli authorities pledged not to renew administrative detention orders among other agreements.

Beyond the Walls

Aug 1, 2012 Al Jazeera

 

 Filmmaker: Ahmed Adnan al-Ramahi "Nothing is harsher than imprisonment. It's the cruelest form of torture." A former Palestinian prisoner

This film tells the story of Arab and Palestinian captives who were detained in Israeli jails and how they had to adapt to a new life after their release. Upon release, the prisoners faced a number of difficulties adjusting to a new life of freedom, albeit within an occupied territory. They explain their mixed feelings about the changes in society and the political landscape experienced upon being released from the day-to-day monotony of prison life. Beyond the Walls contains beautifully-filmed interviews and novel graphics to provide a moving portrait of the interviewees and the emotions and feelings they are describing.

Anwar Yaseen

"Freedom is not something physical. It's a philosophical idea. You get used to a daily routine and you don't appreciate it until you are forbidden from doing it. I never opened a door or even touched the handle of a door for 17 years. I didn't walk on sand for a long time. People walk on sand and grass every day. But they never appreciate what this means. Not until they are forbidden from doing it. People shake hands with others. We were deprived of these little details. This is the philosophical idea of freedom."

Mahmoud Mishlawi

"Life in prison is free of hypocrisy .... We had nothing to lose. We were ready to face anything. Almost all of us were sentenced to life imprisonment. I felt like a stranger in the 'outside world' for a long time .... I felt a new life was ahead of me. I felt like a stranger among my family and friends. It was distressing. I couldn't sleep. I was in a constant state of anxiety. I was in better intellectual and social harmony with my fellow detainees."

Tahseen al-Halabi

"It was a challenge. Living under the strict rules and brutal conditions imposed on us by the prison authorities. We took up the challenge to cope with prison life. When we were released we were keen to live. But life was different. We slept on a 2cm-wide mattress for 12 years. Now we have beds and blankets. We jumped on the bed like little kids."

Tereza Halasa

"None of my family dares to touch me to wake me. I’d immediately hit them. They call out from far away. In jail, they used to hit the keys on the bars to wake us up. Everything was different when we were released .... Those who have been in prison should undergo medical tests and rehabilitation on leaving. Especially since many detainees were young. It's not much to ask for. But we need someone to make us understand how the society has changed."

Ahmed Abu Hedbah

"You're locked in a room filled with 20 others. You see them day and night. After five or 10 days you've said all there is to say. After that, you're just repeating yourself. You find yourself breaking down."

Ahmed Abu al-Sukkar

"I don’t regret the 27 years I spent in jail. People respect me for it. I get treated well wherever I go - not only by old people, but also by the young; especially those whom we raised in jail. I don't regret those years. I only regret the present days. We have the right to liberate Palestine. We don't only want parts of the West Bank. We demand the land beyond the 1967 border. But unfortunately, even a third world war won't remove those settlements. Let's be honest."

Saleh Abu Laban

"After 15 years of oppression and being addressed as a 'saboteur', in a moment I became a national hero. I became a human being. When we go to a restaurant I refuse to sit at tables facing the wall. Sitting facing a wall reminds me of jail. It means humiliation and insecurity. I never again want to sit facing a wall."

Al Jazeera World can be seen each week at the following times GMT: Tuesday: 2000; Wednesday: 1200; Thursday: 0100; Friday: 0600; Saturday: 2000; Sunday: 1200; Monday: 0100; Tuesday: 0600. Click here for more Al Jazeera World.

Concern mounts for three remaining hunger strikers

 Addameer

Ramallah-Jaffa, 30 July 2012 — Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Al-Haq and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-IL) are gravely concerned for the life and health of the three remaining Palestinian hunger strikers held by Israel. Of utmost concern is the health and life of administrative detainees Samer Al-Barq, today on his 70^th day of renewed hunger strike, and Hassan Safadi who is on his 40^th day of renewed hunger strike. Samer, whose current strike follows his previous 28-day strike and whose health continues to deteriorate rapidly, is only taking salts and vitamins and he is still being held in isolation.

Following the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) denial of access of an independent doctor to the hunger strikers Samer, Hassan and prisoner Akram Rikhawi, PHR-IL submitted three appeals to the district court of Petah Tekva requesting immediate access to independent doctors. On 23 July, the district court ordered the IPS to allow an independent doctor to see Samer no later than 1 August and to see Hassan and Akram within two days of the hearing.

Despite prior coordination with the IPS regarding a PHR-IL doctor’s visit to Ramleh prison medical centre on 25 July to examine both Akram and Hassan, the IPS informed the doctor on her arrival that Hassan had been taken to a court hearing and therefore only Akram could be examined. In clear breach of the court order, the IPS still ignores PHR-IL requests to allow the independent doctor visit to Samer and Hassan.  

Akram Rikhawi ended his hunger strike on 22 July after 102 days upon reaching an agreement with the IPS. According to the agreement Akram will be released on 25 January 2013 to his home in the Gaza Strip, which is six months prior to his original release date.

Following the visit to Akram, the PHR-IL doctor reported that though his general feeling has improved, he is still suffering from multiple conditions which have been left untreated.  Akram’s asthma continues to be a cause for concern and is severely unstable despite treatment with steroids. The doctor also emphasized that asthma is a life-threatening illness that in the case of a severe attack could lead to death. Furthermore, the doctor also found that Akram suffers from unbalanced diabetes and recommended the renewal of his treatment which was stopped during the hunger strike

Akram also suffers from severe weakness in his left foot with a lack of full sensation in his left thigh. As his condition has not improved since ending the strike, this would indicate progressive motor and sensory damage to the left thigh. The PHR-IL doctor recommended Akram's immediate referral to a public hospital in order to identify the etiology and to perform a full neurological investigation.

It should be noted that in the two previous visits of the PHR-IL doctors to Akram, on 6 June and 5July, both recommended further medical neurological investigation and warned of the danger of peripheral nerve damage. The doctors also recommended immediate examination by a lung specialist. To date, these recommendations have not been performed.  

Hassan Safadi is on his 40^th day of renewed hunger strike, after previously spending 71 days on prolonged hunger strike. His last administrative detention order was due to expire on 29 June and, according to the agreement ending the Palestinian prisoners’ mass hunger strike, he was supposed to be released on that date. However on 21 June he was informed of the renewal of his administrative detention order for a further six months, in violation of the agreement.

According to PHR-IL lawyer Mohamad Mahagni following his visit to Hassan on 22 July, Hassan is currently being held in an isolated cell. Hassan has reported escalating pressure from the IPS to end his hunger strike. Hassan further noted that his court hearing on 25 July has been delayed again until 07 August, stressing that he is in no condition to travel 15 hours every time for the court hearings. He also reported suffering from kidney problems, sight problems, extreme weakness, severe weight loss, headaches, dizziness and has difficulty standing.

Today represents Ayman Sharawna’s 30^th day of hunger strike. Ayman was released as part of the prisoner exchange deal in October 2011, only to be re-arrested on 31 January 2012. No charges have been filed against him. Ayman has been recently transferred to Ramleh prison medical center due to the deterioration in his health.  

While administrative detention is allowed under international humanitarian law, it must be used only under exceptional circumstances as it infringes upon basic human rights, including the right to a fair trial. Indeed, the denial of a fair trial constitutes a 'grave breach’ of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Furthermore, the European Parliament called on Israel in a September 2008 resolution to “guarantee that minimum standards on detention be respected, to bring to trial all detainees, [and] to put an end to the use of 'administrative detention orders”. The United Nations Human Rights Committee has stated several times that prolonged administrative detention is likely to result in the exposure of detainees to “torture, ill-treatment and other violations of human rights.”

In light of the further deterioration of the conditions of the remaining Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike, Addameer, Al-Haq and PHR-IL urge the international community to immediately intervene on their behalf and demand: 

• That the agreements reached on 14 and 15 May 2012 be respected, including the release of administrative detainees who were promised release at the end of their current orders, renewal of family visits and lifting of the punitive measures used against Palestinians in Israeli custody;  
• Unrestricted access for independent physicians to all hunger strikers;
• The immediate transfer of Akram Rikhawi and Samer Al-Barq, as well as all other hunger strikers who have been striking to for more than 40 days to public hospitals;
• That no hunger striker be shackled while hospitalized;
• That all hunger strikers—especially those in advanced stages of hunger strike—be allowed family visits, while they are still lucid;
• That all information regarding prisoners medical conditions be given to their families,   in accordance with standards of medical ethics;
• That Hassan Safadi, Samer Al-Barq and Omar Abo-Shalal  along with all other administrative detainees, be immediately and unconditionally released.