Hundreds of Palestinians join hunger strike

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Comment by Tony Nuspl on February 25, 2013 at 10:11pm

Major Protests, Hunger Strikes after Palestinian Detainee Dies of T...

Israel Promises 'Investigation' of Killing

by Jason Ditz, February 24, 2013

every single one of Israel’s 4,500 Palestinian detainees took part in a hunger strike today to protest the death of detainee Arafat Jaradat in custody on Saturday.

Jaradat died at Megiddo Prison, with Israeli officials claiming he had a “heart attack” shortly after confessing to throwing stones at a protest last week. PA pathologist Saber Aloul, present at the autopsy, said the body had multiple signs of torture.

 

http://news.antiwar.com/2013/02/24/major-protests-hunger-strikes-af...

 

Palestinians protest inmate's death

From Kareem Khadder and Josh Levs, CNN

February 25, 2013 -- Updated 1032 GMT (1832 HKT)

Jerusalem (CNN) -- All of the Palestinians in Israeli prisons -- about 4,500 people -- took part in a hunger strike Sunday, and crowds protested in the streets of the West Bank as Palestinian officials called for an international investigation into an inmate's death.

"The martyr Jaradat was subjected to extreme torture which led to his death, and there are no indications that he died from cardiac arrest as the Israeli occupation authorities claimed," Qaraqe said Sunday. He added that "signs of beating and torture appeared on his limbs, neck, and spine, and blood clots appeared around his mouth and nose."

He cited information from a Palestinian doctor who was present for the autopsy in Tel Aviv.

Human Rights Watch, meanwhile, called on Israel on Saturday to "immediately charge or release Palestinians detained without charge or trial for prolonged periods."

Palestinian prisoners in Israeli detention are one of many flashpoints in the Middle East conflict. Prisoners have launched hunger strikes in the past in hopes of bringing attention to their cause and pushing Israel to ease conditions or allow some prisoners to leave.

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/02/24/world/meast/israel-prison-death/i...

Comment by Tony Nuspl on June 26, 2012 at 2:15pm

Sarah Marusek reports from Beirut:

Throughout the spring [of 2012], there was a frenzy of non-violent events in the region showing solidarity with the Palestinian hunger strikers. On March 30 an unprecedented series of peaceful demonstrations were organized in the Palestinian territories and the neighboring countries of Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, under the banner of the Global March to Jerusalem. And then on May 15, people came out into the streets once again to remember the Nakba.

All of the major Palestinian parties are coordinating these activities, including Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The US considers the latter three terrorist groups.

As with the hunger strikes, the Western media are largely ignoring the remarkable fact that these three parties are now actively embracing non-violent resistance to achieve their political goals.

In a recent op-ed, Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire and anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan argued that the international community must give Palestinian non-violent resistance a chance. They are right. The only problem is that we first need to know that it exists before we can encourage it.

byline: Sarah Marusek is a member of the International Central Committee of the Global March to Jerusalem and is a social science doctoral candidate at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University. She is in Lebanon on an International Education Graduate Fellowship for International Study to research Islamic charities.

Read the full article, published by The Christian Science Monitor:

http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2012/0607/West-must-rec...

Comment by Tony Nuspl on March 30, 2012 at 1:09pm

Israel to Deport Hunger Striker to Gaza Strip
Over a Month Into Strike, Shalabi 'Sentenced' to Three Years in Gaza
reporting by Jason Ditz, antiwar.com
March 29, 2012

Detainee Hana Shalabi’s five week hunger strike came to an unusual end today, with the announcement that she reached a deal with Israel to end her open-ended detention.

Under the deal, Shalabi is being “sentenced” to a three year term in exile in the Gaza Strip, but will be free once she arrives in the enclave. She will end her hunger strike as well under the terms of the agreement.

29-year-old Shalabi was held for over two years in detention without charges, and was released in October as part of the prisoner swap deal for Gilad Shalit. In February Israel put her back under detention, once again with no charges.

http://news.antiwar.com/2012/03/29/israel-to-deport-hunger-striker-...

Comment by Tony Nuspl on March 21, 2012 at 5:54pm

Palestinian hunger striker Hanaa al-Shalabi was transferred to a hospital on Monday, 19 March 2012.

Shalabi became the second high profile hunger striker of the year for Israel, after a multi-month strike by Khader Adnan. Shalabi, like Adnan, is being held without charges under a military “detention” order.

Shalabi had been held for over two years under a similar “detention order” ..., and was released in October as part of the prisoner swap for Gilad Shalit. She was captured again in February, however, and started the strike in protest of her complete lack of legal recourse for open-ended summary detentions.

http://news.antiwar.com/2012/03/19/palestinian-hunger-striker-hospi...

Comment by Tony Nuspl on February 25, 2012 at 11:51am

Palestinian political prisoner Khader Adnan ended his 65-day hunger strike, within days of ending his life (death by starvation is almost certain by day 70). Mainstream media failed to cover this story, almost entirely, according to this article on TruthOut.org:

http://www.truth-out.org/palestinian-hunger-striker-wins-victory-battle-wills-israeli-army/1330095526

More context, from an opinion piece that appeared on Antiwar.com, with the title "Adnan's Victory for Non-Violence" by Uri Avnery, a longtime Israeli peace activist. Since 1948 he has advocated the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

"The 33-year-old activist from the village of Arabba near Jenin in the northern West Bank has been an Islamic Jihad leader from his student days in Bir Zeit University. Islamic Jihad is the most extreme of the significant Palestinian groups, and Adnan has openly, on camera, preached armed resistance. He has called upon young Palestinians to put on explosive vests and carry out suicide attacks. ...

In the end, Adnan has created a paradox for himself and his comrades.

The very essence of his and his organization’s ideology is that there is no effective method of resistance to the Israeli occupation and oppression but violence of the most extreme kind. Non-violence, in their view, is nonsense. Worse, it means capitulation and, in the end, betrayal. Islamic Jihad now accuses Hamas of flirting with this idea.

Yet a hunger strike is the ultimate form of non-violence. Gandhi used it frequently, relying on its moral impact.

Khaled Adnan’s achievement is exactly that: a shining victory for non-violence.

At long last, Israeli diplomats and security officials became seriously alarmed. If Adnan fasted to death, no one could foresee the consequences. In the occupied territories, widespread riots could be expected, perhaps with further deaths. Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails could start a general hunger strike, which could easily spread to the Palestinian population outside.

Adnan, who has already gained the status of a national hero, ... certainly achieved his main purpose: to draw attention to the practice itself of administrative arrest [administrative detention without formal arraignment or trial]."

http://original.antiwar.com/avnery/2012/02/24/adnans-victory/

TPF is neither affiliated with nor endorsed by the originator of the above articles.

Comment by Tony Nuspl on February 21, 2012 at 1:12pm

Israel Backs Down, Agrees to Free Hunger Striker

The deal reached between Israel and lawyers for the hunger striker appears to meet minimum conditions Adnan had previously communicated to his lawyers. Khader Adnan has agreed to end his hunger strike. Confirmation came this evening from "Physicians for Human Rights - Israel," one of whose doctors visited Adnan.

"Allegations against Adnan it must be noted are just that. Adnan was never charged with any crime by Israel, and it seems unlikely Israel would release him if it had any evidence whatsoever to back up [its] lurid claims."

http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/deal-reached-end-k...