Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails to go on hunger strike

Around 1,600 prisoners expected to take part in protest against imprisonment without charge and solitary confinement


This is an article from The Guardian.  

www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/15/pal...
 

I participated in a conference call between a representative of Addameer and Jewish Voice For Peace earlier this week, and learned more about the present hunger strikes of Palestinian prisoners addressed by this article.

We were informed there are now approximately 1700 Palestinian prisoners on hunger strikes. I believe many of the hunger strikes started on April 17, which is what this article in The Guardian is addressing. The hunger strikes are to protest unlawful Israeli practices regarding Palestinian prisoners, such as administrative detentions that violate the Fourth Geneva Convention and the practice of which constitutes daily war crimes, unlawful solitary confinements, torture of prisoners, forced and violent DNA testing, physical attacks on prisoners inside prisons by Israeli officials, denial of medical care, and other unlawful practices that violate basic human rights guaranteed to all Palestinian prisoners by intl treaties Israel is subject to.

I point out further that every single Palestinian prisoner held inside prisons inside Israel today  are held in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits prisoners from being detained outside the occupied territories. Thus, the detention of all of these prisoners  constitutes daily war crimes by Israel. 

Here is more information from Addameer about prisoners Israel holds in detention, and the prisoners on hunger strike before April 17, from the article.

"There are around 4,600 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, according to the prisoners' rights group Addameer. More than 300 are held under "administrative detention", meaning they and their lawyers are not informed of accusations or evidence against them, no trial is held, and their term of imprisonment is determined by an Israeli military judge.

Of the 11 prisoners currently on hunger strike, two have refused food for 46 days. Bilal Diab, 27, who has been held under administrative detention since last August, has also refused fluids either orally or intravenously since 8 April, and has lost consciousness a number of times, according to Physicians for Human Rights."

No women or children are participating in the present hunger strikes. 

Sherri   
  

Apr 25, 2012 -- 9:55AM, Dostojevsky wrote:

To me this is disturbing. Just watched some videos - I don't look for things to watch, don't know what's 'there' but one link leads to another....I watched Israeli soldiers break into Palestian houses in the middle of the night, throw family into chaos, arrest children and adults. Watching the young faces of Israeli IDF or whoever they are, I can not help but think that they have not had stable cultural roots of society of where you are a part, part of the people, of the land, and you treat it with respect. They or their parents come from all over the world and no matter how many words are used, they are strangers to each other, strangers in Israel. And they like machines follow the orders. No American youth or Australian youth or European youth would behave like that. Even Australia is a young country of  only 200 years but long enough to have our own culture and traditions. Today we commemorated Anzac Day and lovely to see old and young united in rememberance of our contribution to building a nation.

I come to these forums with more questions than anything else;  I find this highly disturbing and cruel. Destructive to the Palestians but also destructive to the young men who are behaving like this; it is bound to affect their very being of who they are as human beings.

electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora/report...

"As I reported a couple of weeks ago, a new report by Defense for Children International - Palestine section has found that Israel’s routine arrests, detentions, interrogations, abuses and torture of Palestinian children are in breach of various UN and international laws, and that the majority of arrests of minors occur in the middle of the night. The report added that:

In the past 11 years alone, around 7,500 children, some as young as 12 years, are estimated to have been detained, interrogated, and imprisoned within this system. This averages out at between 500-700 children per year, or nearly two children, each and every day.

Wolf said that what’s important to note about Israel’s policy of arresting children “is the psychological effects that this has on not just the kids, but their families … how destructive it is to a community that feels like they can’t protect their kids. It tears at the fabric of family structures. One man in Beit Ommar had four of his sons in jail at one point. The psychological torture of having your kids dragged away from you in the middle of the night creates a collective dynamic of being under siege and total instability in family life.”

the video is here  uruknet.info/?p=m87531&hd=&size=1&l=e

 

We've certainly got another anti-Isrel pro-Palestinian with us.  Electronic Intifada, Mondoweiss and Uruknet are sleazy propaganda and blog sites and quoting from them diminishes whatever credibility some have left.

An analysis of the postings here will show that they are a combination of unsupported slander and name calling. Certainly there is no attempt at intellectual discourse. One other consideration is that the willingness to accept so many negative and dehumanizing terms to describe "Zionists" indicates a certain predisposition to judge negatively without any evidence. Though it has been argued that Christians should be guided by love of all, including those with whom they may disagree, I can't help but sense the overwhelming hatred that possesses some people.

Habesor 

Apr 25, 2012 -- 11:41PM, habesor wrote:

An analysis of the postings here will show that they are a combination of unsupported slander and name calling. Certainly there is no attempt at intellectual discourse. One other consideration is that the willingness to accept so many negative and dehumanizing terms to describe "Zionists" indicates a certain predisposition to judge negatively without any evidence. Though it has been argued that Christians should be guided by love of all, including those with whom they may disagree, I can't help but sense the overwhelming hatred that possesses some people.

Habesor

I agree, Habesor.  It is perfectly possible to excoriate a group for any improper actions or policies used by the IDF or any other organization within Israeli society, without attacking that society as a whole.  And failing to make that distinction is EXACTLY the hateful behavior which certain posters here have laid at Bush's and other Western leaders' doors.

Havng made such a caterwauling against said 'demonization of Muslims' - it is stunning to witness the same broad brush being applied to Israeli society, and indeed Zionism in general, by the selfsame individuals who PRIDE themselves on being 'people of conscience' and 'promoting Truth'.

And I think it's only natural, normal and healthy for you and I and others to refuse to accept such demonization of ourselves.  Which means we can NEVER agree with the 'pacifist humanitarian people of conscience' as long as they insist on slandering Zionism as indelibly inherently evil to nonJews.

Wait, Habesor - I am certain you and I will be told that it is our fault  : ))

"Watching the young faces of Israeli IDF or whoever they are, I can not help but think that they have not had stable cultural roots of society of where you are a part, part of the people, of the land, and you treat it with respect. They or their parents come from all over the world and no matter how many words are used, they are strangers to each other, strangers in Israel. And they like machines follow the orders. "

Dos, these are your feelings.  Feelings do not have truth value.  And incidentally, you could hardly be more wrong :   the young people of Israel have indeed got stable cultural roots in their society. They are indeed 'part of the people, of the land'.  YOU are the one who insists on seeing them as 'strangers' in their very homeland:   I think you projected your own feelings onto them.

 It's YOUR 'mishegos' ('obsession' would be closest in this instance).  US soldiers have parents from all over the world, too - some US soldiers aren't even citizens (yet!) themselves! - and they are NOT 'strangers to each other'.   One more way Israelis and Americans are alike.....

BTW, Americans can come from up to 5500 miles away from one another and ethnicity that doesn't get even that close on a global map.  I don't know if you've ever been in a military, but the US military people will tell you they are not 'strangers' to one another.

This bit about comparing military personnel to machines is another grossly inaccurate idea which seems mostly to exist in the minds of people who've never had a friend or relative in the military.  It seems the US military is different from many in Europe - even our privates are trained to think and take initiative.  Our NCO's have responsibilities beyond what many junior officers hold in European and other militaries.  And there's a hell of a lot LESS 'class differences'  in the US military than any other I know of....

And so far as I have ever been aware in over 40 years of contact and experience - the Israeli military is a lot more like the US than it is anyone else's.... 

ANY military action is about being a TEAM:  it's not exactly an opportunity to 'do one's own thing' - so nobody watching is likely to see overt expressions of individuality there.  That does NOT mean it doesn't exist, or isn't valued.  Just that it's not at the surface for the casual viewer....