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Posts Tagged ‘Palestinian Hana Shalabi in hunger strike’

A Silence Fight It’s My Right! Hunger Strike For Justice

April 6, 2012 3 comments

Posted on April 06, 2012 by Marivel Guzman, in Collaboration with Omar Karem (Gaza, Palestine)

The Silence of a Hunger Striker Can Be Heard Around the World With Your Help

Hani Shalabi, at Gaza hospital bed after being deported from Israel after she engaged in the longest woman huger strike in an Israeli prison. Photo/Omar Karem

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.

The rights group condemned any attempts to force Hana Shalabi, who had been on hunger strike for 37 days (at the time of this report) in protest of her continued detention without trial, to eat as “cruel” and called on Israel to either charge or release her.

Government guards waiting Hani Shalabi arrival to Gaza, after a long hunger strike in an Israeli prison she was deported to Gaza as a deal bargain to release her. Photo/Omar Karem

Amnesty International condemned any attempts to force Hana Shalabi, who was on hunger strike for 37 days in protest of her continued detention without trial, to eat as “cruel” and called on Israel to either charge or release her.

The World Medical Association (WMA) has longstanding clear guidelines for the ethical behavior of physicians in treating hunger strikers. The Israeli Medical Association is an active member in the WMA. It should be emphasized that doctors should not only refrain from such action, but they should object to it even if they are not involved directly in the process as stated clearly in the first principle of the declaration:
“Duty to act ethically. All physicians are bound by medical ethics in their professional contact with vulnerable people, even when not providing therapy. Whatever their role, physicians must try to prevent coercion or maltreatment of detainees and must protest if it occurs.”

Her father Yehia Shalabi expressed the family’s concern. “My daughter is on hunger strike since they arrested her,” he said. “Her health is in danger, because her stomach is empty. She cannot stand, she does not speak.” Hana Shalabi’s mother and father have joined her hunger strike.

Hana Shalabi case took global dimensions and sparked hundred of solidarity movements around the world, in the US many Universities students  groups joined Hana Shalabi in her hunger strike, some students staged 24 hours hunger strikes and others went to 3 days in public displays of solidarity.

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The Palestinian and Irish struggles are similar in dimension and they share the same pains and suffer the same struggles, Martin Hurson (RIP) became the first Irish prisoner to die behind bars when his hunger strike entered its 44th day. Many of the surviving Irish hunger strikers had serious damage to their health and never fully recovered.

In the US,  2 American Citizens have started their own hunger strike to protest the treatment of Palestinians Prisoners and to send a message to President Obama on the conditions of the citizens of Occupied Palestine.

Their Hunger Strike Non Violent protest have continued even after Hana Shalabi was forced to chose between life and her rights. She did not got charged with any crime, as it was the previous arrest where she spent 2 years in Administrative Detention, finally on April 2, she was deported to Gaza in a deal to save her life she accepted the exile, even thought Gaza it is Palestine, her family lives in West Bank known as the Occupied Territories, but Israel have placed an illegal blockade on Gaza Strip separating the Palestinians from their families. Erez crossing point, commonly known as “Non Men Land” divide Gaza from West Bank, no Palestinian is allowed to cross to either side, only International Workers and products that are allowed from Israel use that crossing.

Second American Citizen to Join The Hunger Strike for Justice for the Palestinians Prisoners in Administrative Detention in Israel Jails

Nancy Williams an American Peace Activist has added her voice to Hunger Striker Non Violent Resistance Movement against injustice in Palestine, she is today on her 7th day, she followed the lead of Sandra Rose Twang the first American Citizen to join the Hunger Striker Non Violent Movement in an act of Political Protest against our government for supporting Israel.

“Hello everyone, this is Nancy Williams. I began a hunger strike for Palestinians, on March 30, 2012, 12am. So now, I am in my 43rd hour of my hunger strike. Originally I was going to do this hunger strike for, when I heard about Hana Shalabi, who was also on a hunger strike. She was arrested by the Israeli government, illegally, and she stopped her hunger strike the other day. So, I decided to still go through with this because there are still many Palestinians that are arrested illegally. Women, children, older people, and something really needs to be done about it. I’m really hoping that my hunger strike helps. Not only that, but the Israeli government is violating International Human Rights laws.
Nancy Williams

Sandra Twang the First American Activist that started the International Campaign of Non Violent Protest of Resistance joining Palestinians Prisoners in hunger strike crossed the 15 days in hunger strike today.

The arrival of Hana Shalabi to Gaza coincided with the International Seminar on Palestinian Political Prisoners and Detainees, which has as special guess the journalist and peace activist Lauren Booth from UK. Lauren Booth drew world attention in 2008-2009 Israel assault to Gaza Strip when she got caught up inside the Gaza Strip and was witness of the massacre that Israel perpetrated on the innocent population of Gaza.

Over the years Hunger Striking have become more and more powerful tool of Political protest, and seems to be taking the stage in the global Non Violent Resistance Movement against Injustice and Inequality.

From Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association ADDAMEER, the development on Hana Shalabi ordeal. Please kindly Share

Date of birth: 7 February 1982
Place of residence: Burqin, Jenin
Date of arrest: 16 February 2012
Place of detention: Meir Hospital
Number of administrative detention orders: 1
Expected end of current detention order: 23 June 2012
Hana Shalabi was released from over two years in administrative detention on 18 October 2011, as part of the prisoner exchange deal concluded by the Israeli government and Hamas, whereby 1,027 Palestinian political prisoners were released in exchange for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Hana was re-arrested less than four months later on 16 February 2012, and immediately began a hunger strike in protest of her detention.
ARREST
 
Hana Shalabi was arrested from her family home on 16 February 2012, when approximately 50 Israeli soldiers raided her house in Burqin village, near Jenin, in the early morning. The soldiers were accompanied by an intelligence officer and a large number of dogs and first raided her brother’s home before coming to her house. The IOF moved through his house with the pack of dogs, causing the children of the household to panic. When the soldiers entered Hana and her parents’ house, the intelligence officer commented that it would just be a “five minute visit.” The Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) then ordered Hana and some of her family members to leave the house, while holding her father and older brother in a room by themselves.
After the soldiers searched the house, the intelligence officer announced that they had an order to arrest Hana, without showing any arrest warrant or providing any reason for her arrest. Hana was not permitted to change her clothes. The IOF then proceeded to brutally threaten and abuse Hana and her family. First, Hana’s brother heard the intelligence officer say, “Hana must die.” Next, one of the soldiers grabbed her hand and pulled her. Hana objected and told him that if they needed to hold her, they should bring a female soldier to do it. He completely disregarded her and when she tried to remove his hand, he began to beat her upper body and slap her in the face. Hana’s brother, Omar, attempted to jump in front of her to protect her, but the soldiers attacked him and beat him with their guns.
A female soldier was then summoned to detain her. Hana requested to be able to say goodbye to her family and change her clothes, including putting on her veil, as she was only wearing a hooded sweatshirt and a pair of pants. The officer refused and told her that her mother could bring her clothes to her later. Hana said that she would not leave without wearing her veil and traditional Muslim dress. After a long argument, the soldier agreed to let her change in her brother’s house. The female soldier went with her and the rest of the soldiers waited outside while she changed. Hana was blindfolded and put in a military jeep, where she was made to sit on the ground on her knees. Each time she tried to move, the soldiers ordered her to stay still and shut up.
HUNGER STRIKE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETENTION
 
Hana was taken to Salem Detention Center and left blindfolded for two hours in a tiny room. She was then subjected to beatings and a humiliating strip search by a male, which caused her severe trauma. Hana described the forced strip search and subsequent assault at the hands of the IOF as “utterly degrading” and that what they did to her was “not acceptable in all customs of the world”. Hana began an open hunger strike on the first day of her arrest in protest of the ill-treatment she was subjected to during and following her arrest. She was kept in solitary confinement for the first three days of her detention in HaSharon Prison, in a section of the prison far from where the other Palestinian women are held.
On the fourth day following her arrest, Hana was transferred to a different section of the prison near the other Palestinian detainees, but was again placed in a room alone. The Israeli Prison Service (IPS) administration attempted continuously to convince her to end her hunger strike, employing such methods of pressure as threatening to place her in solitary confinement for an extended period. Two days later, on 21 February, Hana was transferred back to Salem for interrogation.
After being brought back to HaSharon Prison, she was taken to Salem Military Court on 23 February, where one of her lawyers informed her that she might be placed in administrative detention. She was brought back to HaSharon and was not shown a written administrative detention order. Her lawyers received a copy of the order, which stated that she would be held in administrative detention for six months, until 16 August. As with all other administrative detainees, Hana’s administrative detention order is based on secret information collected by the Israeli Security Agency and available to the military judge but not to the detainee or her lawyer.
On the same day, 23 February, Hana was also sentenced to seven days of solitary confinement as punishment for her hunger strike. The IPS continued to threaten her with prolonged isolation or placing other female prisoners in isolation. After four days, on 27 February, Hana was transferred out of solitary confinement and into the same section as the other Palestinian female prisoners. Hana viewed this as a further attempt to pressure her to break her hunger strike, as the other women were eating in their cells.
After an initial medical examination by the IPS, Hana refused any more medical treatment from the IPS from 27 February. On 4 March, the IPS denied the request made my Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-Israel) to visit Hana. However, PHR-Israel filed a petition to an Israeli District Court, which decided on 7 March to permit visitation to Hana.
The hearing to consider the confirmation of her administrative detention order was supposed to occur on 27 February at Ofer Military Court, but was postponed until 29 February. During the hearing, the military judge announced that he would not be making a decision and would instead be meeting with an Israeli Intelligence officer on 4 March. In the meeting, neither Hana nor her lawyers were permitted to be present. On 4 March, during the Military Court of First Instance session to review her administrative detention order, military judge Dalya Kaufman dismissed the request by Hana’s lawyers to call on witnesses to testify to the assault and abuse inflicted upon Hana. The judge stated that the request was denied based on the fact that “the prosecution requested the military police to conduct an investigation”. The judge then confirmed her administrative detention order for a period of four months, shortened from the original six-month order.
Her appeal was heard on 7 March, but no decision was made on that date. During the hearing, the military judge only allowed four of Hana’s lawyers to be present in the room and asked all others to leave. After hearing the legal arguments of her defense team and the military prosecution, the judge requested that the prosecution consider revising its position before he made a decision.
Despite Hana’s deteriorating health condition, Addameer lawyer Mahmoud Hassan noted in her appeals hearing that she was handled very roughly by soldiers at Ofer military court. Prior to the hearing, members of the Nahshon escort and intervention unit of the IPS arrived to transfer her to Ofer from HaSharon. A female soldier informed Hana that she would be conducting a strip search in front of the other female prisoners in the corridor, where there are cameras. After arguing, the female soldier agreed to conduct the strip search in the bathroom. Hana was then told that she would be punished upon her return to HaSharon and her arms and legs were shackled in a very strict manner.
A PHR-Israel doctor was able to visit Hana for the first time on 8 March, and subsequently on 12 March and 19 March in prison. During a visit by Addameer lawyer Muna Neddaf on 16 March, Hana stated that the IPS’ attempts to get her to end her hunger strike have included continuing to deny her family visits for the next month from 13 March; pressure from a Muslim cleric who is a member of the IPS “Ethics Committee”; and attempts to undermine her confidence and trust in her PHR-Israel doctor, including providing her with misinformation and telling her the doctor does not care about her. The IPS continues to consider force-feeding in disregard to the principles of medical ethics and the guidelines of the World Medical Association and the Israeli Medical Association.
A PHR-Israel doctor concluded on 19 March that Hana was in immediate mortal danger and should be immediately transferred to a hospital for close observation. Hana was transferred to the civilian Meir Hospital that night. However, for unknown reasons, she was not admitted to the hospital and the IPS transferred her back to the IPS medical center in Ramleh Prison Hospital later on the same night. Her doctor was not informed until the following day. Hana reported being handled violently during the various transfers, including being “dragged across the floor.” The IPS subsequently told her doctor that they would not consider her transfer back to the hospital until the doctor issued another medical opinion. Hana was finally transferred back to Meir Hospital on the night of 20 March.
 
On the 39th day of her hunger strike on 25 March, the Israeli Military Appeals Court rejected the appeal against Hana’s administrative detention order yesterday. The court decision ordered Hana to remain detained for the full duration of her four month administrative detention order, to be expired 23 June. In his decision, the military judge disregarded Hana’s critical medical condition; rather, he stated that she is responsible for her own recovery. The military judge also did not consider Hana’s complaints of torture and ill-treatment during and following her arrest as reason for her release, instead noting that her complaint was still under investigation. Hana’s lawyers have submitted a petition to the Israeli High Court for her release.
On 26 March, a PHR-Israel doctor visited Hana in Meir Hospital. Following the visit, the doctor reported that on 24 March, because of drastic deterioration in her blood test results, Hana agreed to receive calcium and Vitamin K, which protected her from immediate heart attack. Her doctor also stated that Hana’s muscle atrophy and wasting increased, which includes her heart muscle. Hana still refuses nutrition aside from vitamins and salts in her water and is in danger of death. The hospital Ethics Committee may consider the possibility of force-feeding, in disregard to the principles of medical ethics and the guidelines of the World Medical Association and the Israeli Medical Association.
HANA’S FAMILY AND PERSONAL INFORMATION
 
Hana’s mother, 65 years old, and father, 67 years old, were on hunger strike in solidarity with their daughter following the issuance of her administrative detention order. They later began to undergo a daily fast, along with other members of her family. None of Hana’s family members have been permitted to visit her since her arrest, as punishment for her hunger strike. On the day of her appeal on 7 March, Hana’s father arrived at Ofer military base at 8:00 am in order to see her, but the military judge and Israeli soldiers made every effort to ensure that he would not be able to see her even from a distance. Furthermore, the door of the courtroom in which the hearing took place was locked so that no one would be able to open the door for him to look through from outside. The military judge repeatedly rejected all of Hana’s lawyers’ inquiries related to this matter.
Hana is one of nine children in a family of farmers in Burqin village, next to Jenin. On 29 September 2005, Hana’s brother Samer was killed by Israeli forces during an incursion in the village. He had been released from prison for only three months after spending nine months in prison when a group of soldiers came to their farm to re-arrest him and instead shot and killed him and his close friend.
After being released from prison on 18 October, Hana planned to study nursing at Al-Rawda College in Nablus. As she was re-arrested less than four months later, she did not have time to enroll.
Prior to her first arrest by the Israeli authorities, Hana was arrested and held by the Palestinian intelligence forces for a week in 2009 for the purpose of interrogation. During this period, Hana was permitted to sleep at home and was kept in detention from 9:00 a.m. until 11:00 p.m. each day.
PREVIOUS ARREST AND DETENTION
Hana was first arrested by Israeli authorities from her family home on 14 September 2009. At approximately 1:30 a.m. that morning, Israeli soldiers in 12 military jeeps surrounded her house in Burqin village. The soldiers ordered Hana’s entire family outside of the house and demanded Hana give them her identity card. They then proceeded to conduct a thorough search of the family’s home. During the search, one of the soldiers forcibly removed framed pictures of Hana’s brother Samer, who was killed by the Israeli army in 2005, tore them apart and walked over the pieces in front of the entire family. The soldiers then started shouting and cursing at Hana and her family members. When Hana’s father attempted to intervene and protect his daughter from continued verbal abuse, one Israeli soldier pushed him in the chest with the butt of a rifle. Clearly distressed, Hana’s mother fainted at this scene. The soldiers then handcuffed Hana in painfully tight shackles around her wrists and placed her under arrest.
Hana was then transferred by military jeep to Salem Detention Center. During the transfer, Hana’s abaya, a traditional Muslim religious dress covering the entire body worn by women over home clothes, came open, uncovering her clothes and parts of her body. Some of the male soldiers accompanying her in the jeep took pictures of her at this point, consciously exploiting her situation, knowing she would feel offended and humiliated by such photos. Upon arrival to Salem Detention Center, a doctor gave Hana a quick physical examination. Immediately after the examination, Hana was transferred to Kishon Detention Center inside Israel where her interrogation formally began.
Solitary confinement and abuse
 
Hana was held in solitary confinement at Kishon Detention Center for eight consecutive days, in a cell measuring six square meters that contained no windows or natural sunlight. The cell contained only a mattress and a bathroom, and was reportedly very dirty. Hana was subjected to exhausting interrogation sessions every day, which lasted from 10:00 a.m. until the late evening hours. The lack of natural sunlight during this period caused her to lose all sense of time and she was often unable to determine whether it was night or day. As this period of isolation and disorientation coincided with the holy month of Ramadan, Hana was unable to monitor time in order to respect her fast. As a result, she decided not to eat at all, refusing meals and drinking water only during the entire eight day period.
Hana was also subjected to sexual harassment and physical violence during her interrogation. Hana told Addameer attorney Safa Abdo of an incident that occurred at end of an interrogation session, in which she did not confess to committing a crime, as her interrogators had expected. In a move that Addameer contends was an effort to provoke Hana, one of the Israeli interrogators called Hana “habibti” (Arabic for “darling”) in a provocative manner. Feeling humiliated and angry at the interrogator’s offensive use of an intimate term, Hana started shouting at him. The interrogators responded by slapping her on her face and beating her on her arms and hands. The guards then took her back to her cell where they tied her to the bed frame and continued humiliating her by taking pictures of her laying in that position.
Addameer filed a complaint regarding these violations and only received a reply two years later from the district prosecution in Haifa that they were closing the file for “lack of evidence,” without informing her lawyers what process had taken place to investigate the complaint. Most complaints of this kind are similarly closed due to the unclear claim of “lack of evidence,” showing a consistent policy that they are not taken seriously by the Israeli courts. Addameer is greatly concerned by the deliberate verbal abuse Israeli detaining authorities display towards Palestinian female prisoners by directing sexual threats towards them and using inappropriate, vulgar language.
Administrative detention
 
After Hana’s interrogation period concluded, she remained in Kishon Detention Center for nine additional days, which Israeli authorities claimed were necessary for the purpose of investigation.
On 29 September 2009, Israeli Military Commander Ilan Malka issued a six-month administrative detention order against Hana on the premise that she posed a threat to the “security of the area”. The order was set to expire on 28 March 2010. At the judicial review of the order, which took place on 5 October 2009 at the Court of Administrative Detainees in Ofer Military Base, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, military judge Ilan Nun confirmed the order for the entire six month period, but agreed to count the two weeks Hana had already been detained towards her detention period. In his decision, Nun alleged that, based on the “secret information” made available to him by the military prosecution, Hana was intending to carry out a “terrorist attack”. The judge further claimed that Hana had already undertaken initial steps in preparation for the attack, though he provided no proof to support this allegation.
Addameer contends that the judge’s decision raised serious questions and fair trial issues. Seventeen days of investigation by the Israeli Security Agency, including eight days of consecutive interrogation did not prove the suspicions against Hana and no evidence of the alleged “intention” was brought before the court. Moreover, at no point did the court establish Hana’s affiliation with a Palestinian political party or armed group, nor did it establish whether Hana planned to carry out the alleged attack by herself or in partnership with anyone else. Additionally, the nature of a possible partnership was never investigated. Importantly, all suspicions directed towards Hana remained vague and general, leaving her without any legitimate means to defend herself. Although administrative detention orders issued by the Israeli military commander are the subject of review and further appeal by a military court, neither lawyers nor detainees are permitted to see the “secret information” used as a basis for the detention orders, rendering any possible legal defense meaningless.
Hana’s attorneys filed an appeal against her administrative detention order, but the appeal was refused and Hana’s order remained set until 13 March 2010. This was subsequently extended for six months. On 12 September 2010, Hana’s administrative detention order was extended for an additional six month period. In March 2011, her order was again renewed, and in July 2011 it was renewed for a fourth time, due to expire on 9 November 2011.
Hana was released from prison on 18 October 2011, as part of the prisoner exchange deal concluded by the Israeli government and Hamas, whereby 1,027 Palestinian political prisoners were released in exchange for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Though her administrative detention order at the time was set to expire less than a month later, it remains unclear whether or not her order would have been renewed an additional time.
Detention conditions
Prior to her transfer to HaSharon Prison, Hana spent a total of 17 days in Kishon Detention Center, where she was not once given a change of clean clothes. Hana continued to be detained in interrogation-like conditions for three days after her administrative detention order was issued. On 1 October 2009, she was eventually transferred to Section 2 of HaSharon Prison, where, allegedly due to overcrowding in the section where Palestinian female prisoners are detained, she was placed in the same section as Israeli females detained for criminal offenses. This placement was a direct violation of Israeli Prison Service Regulations, which stipulate that administrative detainees are to be held separately from all other detainees and prisoners, including those who have been convicted of a crime. Moreover, while detained in the same sections as Israeli criminal offenders, Palestinian female prisoners are almost always discriminated against, enjoy fewer recreation hours and are often subjected to humiliation and abusive language from Israeli prisoners, who threaten them of physical attack. As a result, Palestinian women live in constant fear and often experience insomnia, and other psychological problems for the entire time they are detained in the same sections with Israeli women.
Addameer attorney Safa Abdo filed a complaint with the HaSharon Prison administration regarding Hana’s detention conditions. On 25 October 2009, after being held for 25 days among Israeli criminal offenders, Hana was finally moved to Section 12 of HaSharon Prison with the other Palestinian female prisoners and detainees.
Hana remained held in Section 12 of HaSharon Prison, one of Israel’s largest facilities, together with approximately 18 other Palestinian female prisoners before being released. The building which now constitutes the prison complex served as the headquarters of the British Mounted Police during the British Mandate in Palestine and, as such, was never designed for the incarceration of women. As a result, Hana suffered from the harsh detention conditions and complained of overcrowding, humidity, lack of natural sunlight and adequate ventilation, as well as poor hygiene standards.
 
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Administrative detention is a procedure that allows the Israeli military to hold detainees indefinitely on secret evidence without charging them or allowing them to stand trial. In the occupied Palestinian West Bank, the Israeli army is authorized to issue administrative detention orders against Palestinian civilians on the basis of Military Order 1651. This order empowers military commanders to detain an individual for up to six month renewable periods if they have “reasonable grounds to presume that the security of the area or public security require the detention.” On or just before the expiry date, the detention order is frequently renewed. This process can be continued indefinitely.
For more information about administrative detention and Addameer’s Campaign to Stop Administrative Detention please visit our website: www.addameer.org.
The Arab Association for Human Rights denounces the current practice of administrative detention under which 309 Palestinians are detained. The Association de mands that the international community, particularly the United Nations and European Union, act quickly to protect Prisoner Hana Shalbi’s life and urge the Israeli authorities to release her immediately or bring her before the court respecting the internationally recognized due process of law. Alterative News
Read Addameer’s report on administrative detention:
Read Addameer’s report on detention conditions for female prisoners: “In Need of Protection”: Palestinian Female Prisoners in Israeli Detention, November 2008
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ACT NOW!
Here is how you can help Palestinians Prisoners
*Write to the Israeli government, military and legal authorities and demand that All Prisoners in Administrative Detention be released immediately.
  • Brigadier General Danny Efroni
    Military Judge Advocate General
    6 David Elazar Street
    Harkiya, Tel Aviv
    Israel
    Fax: +972 3 608 0366; +972 3 569 4526
    Email: arbel@mail.idf.il; avimn@idf.gov.il
  • Maj. Gen. Avi Mizrahi
    OC Central Command Nehemia Base, Central Command
    Neveh Yaacov, Jerusalam
    Fax: +972 2 530 5741
  • Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Ehud Barak
    Ministry of Defense
    37 Kaplan Street, Hakirya
    Tel Aviv 61909, Israel
    Fax: +972 3 691 6940 / 696 2757
  • Col. Eli Bar On
    Legal Advisor of Judea and Samaria PO Box 5
    Beth El 90631
    Fax: +972 2 9977326
*Write to your own elected representatives urging them to pressure Israel to release Conscience Objector Palestinians Prisoners and to put an end to such an unjust, arbitrary and cruel system of incarceration without trial.  It is Illegal and it is Unfair, and Inhuman.
Lauren Booth Journalist was on the first Free Gaza voyage and stayed to work in Gaza after the boats left. Her heartfelt letter to the people of Israel should be read by everyone who hopes for peace in the Middle East. This stunning video tribute to her words was designed and produced by the Free Gaza movement.
Before all, she is human and she witnessed the atrocities that Israel committed in Gaza during the assault, she shared the pains of the mothers losing their sons, and the children left without parents murdered in from of their eyes, could be the most devastating event any human can suffer without losing the faith in God, but for Palestinians that Faith is what have kept them alive and resisting this 65 long occupation.
Categories: News, US Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Palestinian hunger striker Hana Shalabi hospitalized

March 24, 2012 Leave a comment

Posted on March 24, 2012 by Marivel Guzman

Administrative detainee Hana Shalabi: 36 Days on Hunger Strike

Updated

PHR-Israel & Addameer: Joint Statement

Ramallah-Jaffa, 6 March 2012- Notwithstanding the Israeli Military Court decision on 4 March to shorten her administrative detention order from six months to four months, Hana Shalabi expressed her undeterred intention to continue her hunger strike, now on its 20th day, in protest of the torture, assault and degrading treatment to which she has been subjected and of her ongoing detention without charge or trial.

Yesterday, 5 March, Hana stated during a visit with Addameer-affiliated lawyer Muna Naddaf that she has not eaten and has only been drinking water since her arrest. During the past four days, she has only been able to drink 1.5 liters of water total due to experiencing extreme nausea, though she has not been vomiting. She stated that she is feeling pain in her chest below her heart and pain above her waist, in addition to dizziness. The lawyer noted that Hana had difficulty speaking without pausing, and would breathe for moments before resuming speech. The lawyer also observed that Hana looked very tired and did not move very much.

Hana reiterated that since February 27 she has refused medical examinations by Israeli Prison Service (IPS) doctors. During the previous visit with Addameer Lawyer Samer Sam’an on 27 February, Hana stated that she would only agree to receive medical attention from Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-Israel). On 4 March, the IPS denied the request made by PHR-Israel to allow PHR-Israel doctors to visit Hana. The request was denied on the grounds that granting visiting access to an external doctor is based on the right to a second medical opinion, and since Hana refuses to be examined by doctors from the IPS, she does not qualify as a case where such a visit is granted. On 4 March, PHR-Israel filed a petition to the District Court in Petach Tikva demanding that the IPS approve without delay a visit by PHR-Israel doctors to Hana. The petition, which will be heard tomorrow, 7 March, states that according to the Israeli Medical Association, two weeks after the beginning of a hunger strike the decomposition of muscle tissue commences, including the heart muscle.

Hana confirmed that on 16 February, she was forcibly strip searched by a male soldier and assaulted, merely hours after soldiers brought her to Salem Detention Center following her arrest. In the affidavit given to Addameer Lawyer Samer Sam’an, Hana described the forced strip search and assault at the hands of the soldiers of the Israeli Occupying Forces as “utterly degrading” and that what they did to her was “not acceptable in all customs of the world”. She subsequently began her hunger strike and was placed in solitary confinement.

On 4 March, during the Military Court of First Instance session to review her administrative detention order issued by the Israeli military commander on 23 February, Judge Dalya Kaufman dismissed the request by Hana’s lawyers to call on witnesses to testify to the assault and abuse inflicted upon Hana. The judge stated that the request was denied based on the fact that “the prosecution requested the military police to conduct an investigation”. The judge then confirmed her administrative detention order for a period of four months.

On 5 March, an appeal was filed to the Israeli Military Court of Appeals regarding Hana’s administrative detention order. The session is scheduled for tomorrow, 7 March, at 1:30pm. On 1 March, Hana’s lawyers also filed a complaint to the Israeli Attorney General and to the Israeli military prosecutor regarding the assault.

Notably, during the past week, other Palestinian political prisoners have begun to join in Hana’s hunger strike in protest of the unjust Israeli military court system, which does not afford them due process and does not conform to or abide by International legal standards.

Addameer and PHR-Israel call on the local and international communities, including the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the European Union, to take immediate action and intervene with Israel in the strongest manner possible to pressure Israel to immediately facilitate medical visits to Hana Shalabi, unconditionally release Hana Shalabi and cease the use of administrative detention, and to conduct serious and independent investigation into the assault of Hana Shalabi and end its practice of torture, inhuman and degrading treatment.

More Stories …………..

Palestinians march to support hunger striking prisoner – Palestinians marched near the Old City of Jerusalem in support of hunger striking prisoner Hana Shalabi, who is protesting her administrative detention, meaning imprisonment without charge, by Israel. Demotrix

Palestinian hunger striker Hana Shalabi hospitalized- Female Palestinian prisoner Hana Shalabi, who has been on a hunger strike since February 16, has been hospitalized.  “Hana Shalabi was transferred this evening to Israel’s Meir hospital after her state of health deteriorated,” Palestinian Prisoner Affairs Minister Issa Qaraqaa said on Monday.  Press TV

American Citizen in Hunger Strike in solidarity with Hana Shalabi and the Plight of the Palestinians People – My name is Sandra Twang,  a 56 year old woman who lives in a very small rural village in central New York. I am writing this letter to inform you that I am on a hunger strike,  I have almost finished my second day,  have eaten nothing for 2 days and I plan to continue, unless something is done about the gross oppression and genocide of the Palestinian peoples. Sandra Twang Hunger Strike

Categories: Akashma, Awareness, Palestine, West Bank Tags: , , , , ,

Letter from Sandra to U.S. President -Sandra Twang Hunger Strike

March 24, 2012 2 comments

Posted on March 24, 2012 by Marivel Guzman

A Plea from an American Peace Activist Sandra Rose Twang to President Obama

by Sandra Rose Twang

President of the United States Barak Obama
The White House
Washington, DC

Dear Mr. President,

My name is Sandra Twang,  a 56 year old woman who lives in a very small rural village in central New York.

I am writing this letter to inform you that I am on a hunger strike,  I have almost finished my second day,  have eaten nothing for 2 days and I plan to continue, unless something is done about the gross oppression and genocide of the Palestinian peoples.

I learned of Palestine only a few years ago and have been educating myself on the subject since.

What I learned has created such pain in my heart for these people that I can no longer bear it.

What is even more painful is my governments active participation in this genocide by providing 3 billion dollars a year to the government of Israel, military hardware, and the most heinous provision , a blind eye to this genocide of an entire people..

In all instances the United States has stepped away from its legal responsibility to denounce this incredible theft of land and the building of Jewish only settlements pushing the Palestinians into smaller and smaller enclaves which are rapidly becoming open air prisons with the building of an apartheid wall , hundreds of checkpoints and Israeli only roads.

The gross treatment of the Palestinians and the neglect of recognition of their human rights is appalling, their mobility is limited and defined by a government which seems to me to have no understanding of international law.

Their children are stolen from their beds in the middle of the night, by the Israeli Defense Forces who then take them to prison to be interrogated and many times tortured. Many as young as 12 years old, their parents are not allowed to accompany them and there is no legal counsel provided.

The Non-violent protestors, human beings confronting the building of 30 ft cement prison walls around their entire villages , for many the only way out through is a gateway which is a checkpoint with IDF soldiers attending.

A curfew set for when they can leave and when they must return by.

Many Palestinians are farmers, their olive groves on the other side of this prison wall, unable to access them unless the Israeli government allows it,  with this cutting them off from their only source of income.

Many non violent Palestinian protestors have been killed while exercising their right to protest these injustices, as has our own youth Rachael Corrie, whose death was dismissed and given no dignity for her incredible sacrifice in her fight to protect the Palestinians.

Then there is the story of Gaza, an enclave totally surrounded by prison walls.

The people of Gaza cannot leave Gaza they are truly prisoners.

In December 2008 thru January 2009, the Israeli government bombed this enclave for 22 days killing  more then 1387 people, 320 were children under the age of 18, 107 were women and 773 were civilians only 330 took part in the hostilities. ( B’Tselem’s investigation which is an Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories). Report
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Because Gaza is totally surrounded by a razor wire and a prison wall there was no place for the civilians to go. Both Israel and Egypt blocked all crossings , and there are no bomb shelters in Gaza because the Israeli government will not allow cement into Gaza.

The severe oppression of Gaza is so horrendous that international activists and human rights organizations around the world have tried to break this horrible siege and blockade .

The people of the world are aware of this crime and because of a lack of response by the governments have taken it upon themselves as human rights defenders to attempt to break this blockade.

The atrocities in Gaza are particularly grotesque in that they involve the random firing of missiles into urban areas , the shooting of farmers whose land lies close to the prison wall , shooting at fisherman who dare to go out beyond 3 miles from their shore . These atrocities go on and on year after year with the international community doing nothing.

I am ashamed to say that my country in particular has acted in a most egregious way in its veto of any 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.

She was only released from prison 4 months ago from administrative detention of 2 years, the day of her arrest from her home, violated by the arresting soldiers who beat her and provided no information to her why she was being arrested.

She has protested her arrest and the unjust legal system and refusal to allow her due process by going on a hunger strike. She is as I write this 36 days into her strike and dying , with the Israeli government, cold heatedly refusing to answer her charges of illegal detainment and freeing her.

Hana confirmed that on 16 February, she was forcibly strip searched by a male soldier and assaulted, merely hours after soldiers brought her to Salem Detention Center following her arrest. In the affidavit given to Addameer Lawyer Samer Sam’an, Hana described the forced strip search and assault at the hands of the soldiers of the Israeli Occupying Forces as “utterly degrading” and that what they did to her was “not acceptable in all customs of the world”. She subsequently began her hunger strike and was placed in solitary confinement.

There are more then 300 Palestinians at this time being held under this type of detainment. Many are on hunger strike demanding their right to due process.

I cannot believe that my country allows this type of international crime and continues to support a corrupt government who has no respect for international law or respects for human rights laws or due process.

My heart cries for her but in the same breath her courage is breath taking and I feel that I can not abandon her, and if I do not join her, then I would be as guilty as those who are taking her life.

My own governments silence fills me with fear of who we are. Our silence screams criminality in our continued support of Israeli crimes against these brave people.

So, I am letting you know that I will continue not to eat until you, Mr. Obama, address this issue with a heart and a respect for international and human rights laws.

The Palestinian people have a beautiful culture and  they are very intelligent.

Their problem is,  they have no saying and have not for some time of their own destiny . If Israel is allowed to continue with these crimes I fear for the Palestinians, because I do not know what happens to a people who are forced to live under such severe oppression generation after generation.

Respectfully and with high hopes,

Sandra Rose Twang

Categories: Akashma, Awareness, Gaza Tags: , , , ,
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