8.9 C
New York

stories of peoples' struggles

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Growing solidarity with Palestinian prisoners on sixth day of hunger strike to #EndAdministrativeDetention

Must read

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is an international network of activists building solidarity with Palestinian prisoners.

30 Palestinian prisoners are on hunger strike for the sixth day to demand an end to their administrative detention without charge or trial. As they have continued their strike, the occupation prison authorities have imposed new sanctions upon them: their rooms have been turned into isolation sections and fines were imposed on the hunger strikers, reported the Handala Center for Prisoners’ Affairs. Salah Hammouri, the Palestinian-French lawyer jailed without charge or trial, has been isolated from his fellow hunger strikers in a solitary confinement cell.

  • Join the social media storm to support the hunger strikers: Friday, 30 September
    10 am Pacific – 1 pm Eastern – 5 pm UTC – 7 pm central Europe – 8 pm Palestine
    Use the hashtag #EndAdministrativeDetention
    Sample tweets and resources: https://bit.ly/ourdecisionisfreedom

The administrative detainees have also announced their boycott of the occupation military courts, continuing a tactic that had been adopted for over 6 months by all administrative detainees collectively, refusing to engage with the illegitimate courts that rubber stamp the orders of the military to detain them with no charge or trial. 28 of the hunger strikers are held in four isolation rooms in Ofer prison, while Salah Hammouri is isolated in solitary confinement in Hadarim prison.

After he launched the collective hunger strike, Basil Mizher, a Palestinian lawyer jailed without charge or trial, had his administrative detention renewed for another 3 months on 28 September 2022 by the occupation military. Mizher wrote a message when launching the strike, which was read out by his mother to a solidarity protest in Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem:

“My profession is that of a lawyer, which I barely remember, since I have been unable to actually practice since my graduation. Since passing the bar examination to practice law, I have been subjected to administrative detention three times. I went to prison instead of to my profession, so I became unemployed and my freedom was taken away due to the policy of administrative detention.

Either we are subjugated to oppression and deprivation and accept the perpetual theft of our freedom and our lives in full view of the world, or we revolt against injustice and knock down the walls of the jailer with all the tools we have. The open hunger strike is a rejection of this policy of subordination and domestication.

We emphasize that the goal of this strike is not to die of starvation, but that fighting with our stomachs is the last means we resort to in order to live.”

As the hunger strike continues and Palestinian prisoners continue to resist by putting their bodies and lives on the line for freedom, Palestinians, Arabs and people of conscience everywhere are standing with the hunger strikers.

In Shenstone, the ongoing Palestine Action camp across the street from the Israeli Elbit drone manufacturing facility, which is maintaining a continuous presence to shut Elbit down, took a stand in support of the hunger strikers:

Palestine Action activists have shut down two Elbit facilities in Britain permanently due to their direct action activities, and on 10 October, eight activists will be fighting back against unjust criminal charges that aim to suppress the movement. Join the campaign to support Palestine Action here.

In Toulouse, France, the Collectif Palestine Vaincra organized a public stand at Jean Jaurès University in support of the hunger strikers and to demand justice for Palestine.

In the Paris region, Samidoun Paris Banlieue postered in support of the hunger strikers, including Palestinian-French lawyer Salah Hammouri, as well as for the freedom of Georges Abdallah, the Lebanese struggler for Palestine imprisoned in France for the past 38 years:

In Spain, Samidoun España joined comrades from the Masar Badil (Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path) at the Fiesta, the annual event organized by the Communist Party of Spain to call for freedom for the hunger strikers and all Palestinian prisoners.

Multiple events are being organized in the upcoming days. On Saturday, 1 October, demonstrators will gather in Manchester, Britain, and Toulouse, France, to support the hunger strikers, organized by Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! and the Collectif Palestine Vaincra, while supporters of Palestine will gather in Vancouver, Canada on Sunday, 2 October to show solidarity with the hunger strikers.

These events join actions and mobilizations taking place across Palestine and throughout the Arab region. In Gaza, Al-Bireh, Bethlehem, Dheisheh camp, Haifa and al-Nairab refugee camp in Syria, Palestinians have come out to stand with the hunger strikers and the resistance confronting occupation from Jenin to Nablus to behind the prison bars.

There are currently approximately 743 Palestinian prisoners jailed under administrative detention orders out of a total of approximately 4,650 total Palestinian prisoners in occupation jails. Administrative detention was first introduced to Palestine by the British colonial mandate before being adopted by the Zionist project. Detention orders can be issued for up to six months at a time on the basis of “secret evidence” denied to both the detainee and their lawyer. These orders are indefinitely renewable, with many Palestinians spending years at a time jailed under administrative detention, and neither they nor their families and communities are ever sure when they will be released, an additional form of collective punishment and psychological torture.

The first 30 administrative detainees who began the strike are listed below, with additional prisoners scheduled to join in the battle as it continues. They include community leaders like Nidal Abu Aker and Ghassan Zawahreh, who have spent years in administrative detention; French-Palestinian lawyer and human rights defender Salah Hammouri, student organizers like Zaid Qaddoumi, and a number of others:

1. Nidal Abu Aker, 54, of Dheisheh refugee camp, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 1 August 2022.
2. Ehab Masoud, 50, of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 17 October 2021.
3. Asim Al Kaabi, 44, of Balata refugee camp, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 24 August 2022.
4. Ahmed Hajjaj, 44, of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 24 August 2022.
5. Thaer Taha, 43, of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 1 May 2022.
6. Rami Fadayel, 43, of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 5 September 2022.
7. Lotfi Salah, 43, of Bethlehem
8. Salah Hammouri, 37, of Jerusalem, imprisoned without charge or trial since 7 March 2022.
9. Ghassan Zawahreh, 40, of Dheisheh refugee camp, imprisoned without charge or trial since 19 August 2022.
10. Kanaan Kanaan, 30, of Hizma, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 3 August 2022.
11. Ashraf Abu Aram, 36, of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 7 June 2021.
12. Ghassan Karajah, 32, of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 11 August 2022.
13. Saleh Abu Alia, 32, of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 4 March 2022.
14. Awad Kanaan, 32, of Hizma, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 2 February 2022.
15. Leith Kassaberah, 31, of Beit Anan, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 1 February 2022
16. Saleh Al-Jaidi, 30, of Dheisheh refugee camp, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 4 August 2022.
17. Basil Mezher, 29, of Dheisheh refugee camp, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 12 November 2021.
18. Majd Al-Khawaja, 28, of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 14 June 2022.
19. Jihad Shreiteh, 28, of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 8 May 2022.
20. Haitham Siyaj, of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 3 November 2021.
21. Mustafa Al-Hasanat, 29, of Bethlehem, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 3 February 2022.
22. Azmi Shreiteh al Barghouthi, 23, of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 8 May 2022.
23. Muhammad Abu Ghazi, 22, of Arroub refugee camp, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 13 March 2022.
24. Ahmed Al-Kharouf, 22 of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 13 June 2022.
25. Nasrallah Barghouti, 22 of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention.
26. Muhammad Fuqaha, 22, of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 15 March 2022.
27. Tamer Al-Hajouj, 22, of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 15 March 2022.
28. Raghad Shamroukh, of Dheisheh refugee camp, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 12 September 2022.
29. Zaid Qaddoumi, of Beit Jala, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 16 September 2022.
30. Senar Hamad, 20, of Ramallah, imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 18 April 2022.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges all supporters of Palestine and the prisoners’ struggle to join the campaign to end administrative detention and to support these valiant prisoners putting their bodies and lives on the line to resist and struggle for a liberated Palestine, through their hunger strike for freedom.

Download these distributable flyers and posters to highlight the struggle to free Palestinian prisoners:

1. Mobilize actions, demonstrations and creative interventions – Take to the streets to defend the Palestinian people and their resistance! As was made clear during the Unity Intifada/Seif al-Quds in May 2021, there is a vast depth of support for the Palestinian people everywhere around the world, including inside the imperialist powers. It is our responsibility to act and make it impossible to continue their support for the crimes against the Palestinian people.

2. Build the boycott of Israel – This is a critical moment to escalate the campaign to isolate the Israeli regime at all levels, including through boycott campaigns that target the occupation’s economic exploitation of the Palestinian land, people and resources as well as those international corporations, like HP and G4S, that profit from the ongoing colonization of Palestine.

More articles

spot_img

Latest article