Akashma Online News

Posted on April 02, 2012 by Marivel Guzman

First American Citizen Activist that started the International Campaign of Non Violent Protest of Resistance joining Palestinians Prisoners in hunger strike

UPDATED

21 days in hunger Strike for Justice

Sandra Twang: No to Abduction of Dignity!

Standing in solidarity with Hana Shalabi

by Sife Saleem – Original Posted Aljazeera Talk – Gaza 

Translated by: Jummana Al-Kahlout

A scream out for liberty exploded from the land of democracy and human rights, the United States of America. Sandra, an American citizen was inspired by a Palestinian hero fighting for freedom and now stands in solidarity with her, demanding justice. Her message is a call out to Barack Obama, the Israeli government and the international community’s conscience.

Sandra Rose Twang, the American peace activist has been on hunger strike since the 21^st of March 2012 in solidarity with Hana Shalabi. She told Aljazeera Talk that her solidarity movement is a message to Barrack Obama pleading him to intervene in Hana’s case and attempt to end the inhumane and unjust imprisonment of Palestinians in Israeli jails.

Sandra has spread her message on the internet asking people to support the cause and join the hunger strike to impose enough pressure to drive the American government to take action. “Hana Shalabi is a hero and a role model to me in her courage and power” Claims Sandra.

Twang has been interested in the Palestinian cause for the past two years and has educated herself enough to conclude that the Palestinian people are a strong nation who withstood suffering, injustice and discrimination for over 60 years.

Thus, she has joined their fight for liberation by standing in strong solidarity with Hana Shalabi in her hunger strike. She tells us “It was difficult to cope in the first few days, but I now feel fine. My youngest son supports me and so does my mother because they believe Palestinian’s have the right to live in dignity”  

“This is justice.” She adds. Hana is fighting for her basic human right, to live a decent life within Israeli prisons, which she is sitting in without even a hint of a fair trial! First degree murders receive a trial so why is Hana, whose crime is her “unacceptable” opinion, denied this right? She explains that it saddens her to see the international community failing to interact with Hana’s situation, expressing her sorrow at the evident reluctance.

“Palestinians are a symbol of courage” she says in a heart-felt manner.

Administrative detention is not just arrest. It is the abduction of dignity, land and life. The sole goal of this detention is to keep Palestinians deprived of basic human rights, consequently making their ultimate demand; to gain them back.

This is simply unacceptable. The United States has always been an advocate of human rights and international democracy, but Sandra fears that if the US continues to support the oppression of the Palestinian people, it is contradicting its own values and faces an almost inevitable backfire in the near future.

Sandra’s message to the Israeli government states “The world has stood by and allowed you to illegally occupy, kill and humiliate the people of Palestine; for this, you might think you have won, but a real country does not constitute of just land, a real country cannot stand on pillars of corruption, it is only a matter of time before you collapse”

The fate of 20,000 detainees illegally held in Israeli jails worries Sandra, and should worry the entire international community. Sandra is determined to fight for the freedom of these Palestinian prisoners and calls on people seeking peace and governments claiming justice to stand up and take a stance too.

Do not allow international silence to overwhelm you. Take action and enforce change.

US Senators Web Sites, and Direct Numbers

The silence protest staged by Palestinians Conscience Objectors is the best Non Resistance Weapon and only resource Palestinians have inside Israel Prisons,  Often denied  the rights of an attorney, which is the case in most of the detainees, they leave them with few option to exercise their rights. A silence hunger strike staged by an individual could be the lousiest of the protest can any one perform, the role of the press and the mouth to mouth news it is the key element to make it to succeed.

On March  23  the ethics committee of Israel Bureau of Prisons announced that Hana Shalabi was going to be forced to eat artificially using gastrointestinal tubes, a practice that it’s considered inhumane treatment by Amnesty International, because even though is propagated as a human practice to save the life of a prisoners it curtail their freedom of expression and rights to protest in a Non Violent Way. A Silence Fight It’s My Right! Hunger Strike For Justice

We have invented the most powerful flying machine, the smallest medical devices, the most dangerous weapon we can imagine and being so technologically advanced  we still can not comprehend in its entirely our humanity, but we are trying, little by little we understand more and more of us, our world become so important that we feel the necessity of help in the restoration and the unification of our human family.

What make us humans we ask ourselves? The Soul?, our Heart?, our feelings? what really do we have inside our bodies that make us compassionate or despicable beings? Does all the human beings are able to FEEL?. The Most Powerfull Weapon Our Humanity

“I am ashamed to say that my country in particular has acted in a most egregious way in its veto of any  UN response in holding Israel accountable for its crimes.

But now I want to tell you what drove me to this hunger strike.

There is a young woman, Hana Shalabi, now imprisoned in Hasharon Prison in Israel,  arrested on February 16, 2012 and is being held under  administrative detention,  detention without charge or trial. She is not allowed to know what she is accused of, to examine any of the evidence against her, thereby rendering her capability for due process null and void.”  Sandra Rose Twang