A guest post by Asa Winstanley*
It hit the headlines yesterday that a deal to swap 1000 Palestinian political prisoners for the Israeli tank operative captured by armed Palestinian factions five years ago had been reached. Such a deal between Hamas and Israel has been mooted multiple times since the soldier was captured during Israeli hostilities against the Gaza Strip in 2006, which included the infamous Beach party massacre of the Ghalia family.
At the time of writing, there are contradictory reports on whether or not high-profile Palestinian leaders such as Fateh’s Marwan Barghouti and the PFLP’s Ahmed Saadat will be included or not. This is a developing story, but what is clear is that if such a deal does go through, even though it will be a victory for Palestinian resistance, thousands of Palestinian prisoners will remain in Israeli detention.
According to Israeli human rights group B’Tselem (and based on Israeli prison service figures) over 5200 Palestinians prisoners were in Israeli captivity as of August. 176 of these are children – often detained for things like throwing a stone at an armoured Israeli jeep or participating in peaceful demonstrations against Israel’s apartheid wall. And 272 are “administrative detainees”, which means they are held without charge, so often don’t even know what they are alleged to have done.
On the 27th of September, Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails launched what has developed into the most important act of prison resistance since the 2004 hunger strikes. Although initiated by prisoners from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), hundreds prisoners of all factions quickly joined it, either on three-day or open-ended hunger strikes. The prisoners’ act of resistance was undertaken because of concern at their deteriorating conditions as “security prisoners”.
The demands have been reported in the Palestinian press and supported by the BDS National Committee (the coalition of Palestinian civi society groups that coordinate the boycott divestment and sanctions campaign):
1) Ending the policy of solitary confinement
2) Ending the ban on college education for prisoners
3) Ending the policy of collective punishment, including the denial of visits, and imposing financial penalties on prisoners
4) Ending the policy of provocative incursions and invasions of prisoners’ cells
5) Stopping the policy of shackling the hands and legs of prisoners during visits by family members and lawyers
6) Improving the health conditions of hundreds of sick and injured prisoners and providing them with the needed treatments
7) Allowing books, newspapers and clothes to enter prisons
8) Allowing the broadcast of satellite TV channels that have been banned by Israeli Prison Service (IPS)
9) Ending the policy of restricting visits to 30 minutes every month, and the arbitrary denial of visits
If you want to read more about the conditions of the Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails, I recommend the book 'Threat' from Pluto Press (you can read my review of it here). A key essay in the book is the one by Alon Harel (a Hebrew University law professor) on pp. 37-46. There, he explains the “security prisoner” category that most Palestinian prisoners fall under, and how it includes not only captured Palestinian fighters, but purely political activists convicted of “crimes” like organising non-violent demonstrations against the Israeli occupation.
Unsurprisingly, the Israeli press very much under-reported and downplayed the hunger strikes. But thanks to the energy of young Palestinian activists, helped by the internet, a global movement of solidarity with the hunger strikers has taken off. Palestinian solidarity activists around the world have been using the #HS4Palestine tag to tweet that they would be joining in the hunger strike today, Wednesday the 12th, in a symbolic act of solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners and their demands.
At midnight this morning I joined in and will continue until midnight tonight. Please join in if you can.
Asa Winstanley is an investigative journalist based in London who has lived in and reported from occupied Palestine. He edited the book Corporate Complicity in Israel’s Occupation, out in October. His website is www.winstanleys.org, and he tweets from @AsaWinstanley
All comments are moderated, and should be respectful of other voices in the discussion. Comments may be edited or deleted at the moderator's discretion.
| Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 License
2 Comments on "Why I’m joining today’s hunger strike for Palestinian prisoners"
By Sarah, on 12 October 2011 - 12:17 |
Great post. But correct the date as today is Wednesday 12th, not 27th.
By Jamie, on 12 October 2011 - 12:27 |
D’oh! Thanks - changed.