Khader Adnan is now on his 63rd day on Hunger Strike, and is very close to death.

Sahar Francis, a Lawyer for Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Ad-Dameer, visited Khader  yesterday, Friday17th Feb. Adnan told Francis that he is determined to continue his hunger strike, despite his gradually deteriorating health condition, and added that:

“his battle is not personal, but a Palestinian struggle against the illegal Administrative Detention, that confines hundreds of detainees behind bars without charges, in direct violation of International Law and the Fourth Geneva Conventions”.

Francis said that the Israeli Prison Administration agreed, only two days ago, to allow Adnan to bathe, cut his hairs and nails, for the first time since he was kidnapped and taken prisoner in December 2011.

She added that Adnan still enjoys high confidence, and solid determination, despite his bad health condition, and is determined to continue his strike.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, issued a statement today, Saturday, saying that the

“EU is concerned over reports of the deteriorating health condition of Khader Adnan,”

Ashton went on to say that

“the EU is concerned about the extensive use by Israel of administrative detention without formal charge.” 

Today, Khader’s wife Randa said that he was not ending his Hunger Strike, and is determined to carry on.

In his hometown, family and friends handed out bags of bread from his bakery.

On Wednesday, Randa visited him in hospital, and she described his condition in the following statement:

 ”His health has drastically deteriorated from the last time I saw him. . . .I expect the worst,”

“The world should pressure the Israeli government to release him before it’s too late.”

““Israel denied Khader fairness & decency, maybe the rest of humanity will show more mercy.”

 

A Doctor who examined Khader on Wednesday, described his condition as been “In immediate danger of death”, and his Lawyers have filed an urgent appeal. The appeal was approved by a High Court Justice, and will be heard at the earliest opportunity.

Richard Falk, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories,  described the situation as urgent, and said the international community should intervene on Mr. Adnan’s behalf.

“In view of the emergency of his situation, the Government of Israel must take immediate and effective action to safeguard Mr. Adnan’s life, while upholding his rights,” said Mr. Falk in a statement.

Richard Falk went even further today in an Op Ed piece in the following Al Jazeera article:

Saving Khader Adnan’s life is saving our own soul Richard Falk

The Jimmy Carter Center in Atlanta issued the following statement on Thursday:

“The Carter Center calls on the Israeli government to immediately charge or release Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan, who was arrested on Dec. 17, 2011, based on “secret evidence” and has been held in administrative detention without charge. Mr. Adnan has undertaken a hunger strike since his arrest 62 days ago and his life is in imminent danger. His grave medical condition has been verified by Physicians for Human Rights-Israel.”

Due to the urgency of Khader’s condition, the Palestinian Council of Human Rights Organizations (PCHRO) urges 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 save Khader’s life.

The PCHRO demands that the international community put pressure on Israel to end his arbitrary detention before it is too late.

Today in Gaza and the west Bank, thousands of people came out to show their support for Khader.

Speaking to a mass rally in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh had this to say about Khader:

“We stand by the heroic symbol of prisoners, brother Khader Adnan, in his unlimited hunger strike,”

Across the world, vigils are been held for Khader, and at the prison facility, Ofer, daily demonstrations are been held. The protesters have come under sustained attacks from the Israeli military, and many people have been injured after been shot with rubber bullets, and effects of tear gas inhalation.

Support for Khader Adnan has also come in from Oliver Hughes, whose brother Francis , 25, died in the H Blocks after 59 days. His cousin, Thomas McElwee, 33, also died on Hunger Strike after 62 days. In total, 10 Irish men died during this Hunger Strike in 1981 which included Bobby Sands.

OnTuesday, as Khader Adnan entered his 60th day on Hunger Strike, Oliver, sends a message of support and solidarity to Khader.

Click on the link below to hear Oliver’s message.

Khader Adnan receives message of support from Oliver Hughes. Feb 14th, 2012

Tommy McKearney, an Irish man who went 53 days on Hunger Strike also sent a message to Khader as he entered his 54th day last week

Khader Adnan receives message of support from former Hunger Striker Tommy McKearney

Khader was arrested on 17 December 2011 and has since been refusing food and medical treatment until he is granted release. On 8 January 2012, Israeli authorities issued a four-month administrative detention order, which was confirmed on 7 February 2012 by an Israeli military judge despite his worsening health condition.

The appeal against his administrative detention order was rejected by an Israeli military judge on 13 February.

Anti-colonial heroes: Khader Adnan & Mahatma Ghandi

Today Irish rugby stars Trevor Hogan, Jerry Flannery, Gordan D’Arcy, Shane Horgan and Tipperary hurling captain Eoin Kelly have joined forces in a video pledge to raise funds for the sabotaged Irish Ship to Gaza ‘MV Saoirse to sail again.

MV Saoirse was set to sail as part of  this years ‘Freedom Flotilla 2′ but was sabotaged with a damaged prop shaft in port whilst in Turkey. Dr Fintan Lane, national coordinator of Irish Ship to Gaza, who own the vessel, said on the sabotage : “This is an appalling attack and should be condemned by all right-thinking people.  It is an act of violence against Irish citizens and could have caused death and injury.  If we had not spotted the damage as a result of a short trip in the bay, we would have gone to sea with a dangerously damaged propeller shaft and the boat would have sunk if the hull had been breached.  Imagine the scene if this had happened at nighttime.”

Trevor Hogan and Fintan Lane

He continued: “One of the most shocking aspects is the delayed nature of the sabotage.  It wasn’t designed to stop the ship from leaving its berth; instead, it was intended that the fatal damage to the ship would occur while she was at sea and this could have resulted in the deaths of several of those on board.  This was a potentially murderous act.”

Dr Lane, who was on board Challenger 1 in last year’s flotilla, said: “The Freedom Flotilla is a non-violent act of practical and humanitarian solidarity with the people of Gaza, yet Israel continues to use threats and violence to delay its sailing.  They attacked us in international waters last year; now they are attacking us in Turkish and Greek ports.  There is no line that Israel won’t cross.”

“We will not be intimidated by attacks like this — it simply highlights the aggression that the Palestinian people of Gaza have to put up with on a daily basis.  It strengthens our determination to continue until this illegal and immoral blockade is lifted.”

Follow the Irish Ship to Gaza at:
http://irishshiptogaza.org/

Israel’s naval blockade of the Gaza Strip violates international law, a panel of human rights experts reporting to a UN body said on Tuesday, disputing a conclusion reached by a separate UN probe into Israel’s raid on a Gaza-bound aid ship.

The so-called Palmer Report on the Israeli raid of May 2010 that killed nine Turkish activists said earlier this month that Israel had used unreasonable force in last year’s raid, but its naval blockade of the Hamas-ruled strip was legal.

A panel of five independent UN rights experts reporting to the UN Human Rights Council rejected that conclusion, saying the blockade had subjected Gazans to collective punishment in “flagrant contravention of international human rights and humanitarian law.”

The four-year blockade deprived 1.6 million Palestinians living in the enclave of fundamental rights, they said.

“In pronouncing itself on the legality of the naval blockade, the Palmer Report does not recognize the naval blockade as an integral part of Israel’s closure policy towards Gaza which has a disproportionate impact on the human rights of civilians,” they said in a joint statement.

An earlier fact-finding mission named by the same UN forum to investigate the flotilla incident also found in a report last September that the blockade violated international law. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says the blockade violates the Geneva Conventions.

Israel says its Gaza blockade is a precaution against arms reaching Hamas and other Palestinian guerrillas by sea.

The four-man panel headed by former New Zealand Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer found Israel had used unreasonable force in dealing with what it called “organized and violent resistance from a group of passengers.”

Turkey has downgraded ties with Israel over the incident.

Richard Falk, UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories and one of the five experts who issued Tuesday’s statement, said the Palmer report’s conclusions were influenced by a desire to salve Turkish-Israeli ties.

“The Palmer report was aimed at political reconciliation between Israel and Turkey. It is unfortunate that in the report politics should trump the law,” he said in the statement.
About one-third of Gaza’s arable land and 85 percent of its fishing waters are totally or partially inaccessible due to Israeli military measures, said Olivier De Schutter, UN special rapporteur on the right to food, another of the five.

At least two-thirds of Gazan households lack secure access to food, he said. “People are forced to make unacceptable trade-offs, often having to choose between food or medicine or water for their families.”

The other three experts were the UN special rapporteurs on physical and mental health, extreme poverty and human rights, and access to water and sanitation.

Haaretz

Today the ‘Irish Ship to Gaza’ group have announced that their vessel MV Saoirse will again be sailing to break the ILLEGAL blockade of the coastal enclave.

MV Saoirse was set to sail as part of  this years ‘Freedom Flotilla 2′ but was sabotaged with a damaged prop shaft in port whilst in Turkey. Dr Fintan Lane, national coordinator of Irish Ship to Gaza, who own the vessel, said on the sabotage : “This is an appalling attack and should be condemned by all right-thinking people.  It is an act of violence against Irish citizens and could have caused death and injury.  If we had not spotted the damage as a result of a short trip in the bay, we would have gone to sea with a dangerously damaged propeller shaft and the boat would have sunk if the hull had been breached.  Imagine the scene if this had happened at nighttime.”

He continued: “One of the most shocking aspects is the delayed nature of the sabotage.  It wasn’t designed to stop the ship from leaving its berth; instead, it was intended that the fatal damage to the ship would occur while she was at sea and this could have resulted in the deaths of several of those on board.  This was a potentially murderous act.”

Dr Lane, who was on board Challenger 1 in last year’s flotilla, said: “The Freedom Flotilla is a non-violent act of practical and humanitarian solidarity with the people of Gaza, yet Israel continues to use threats and violence to delay its sailing.  They attacked us in international waters last year; now they are attacking us in Turkish and Greek ports.  There is no line that Israel won’t cross.”

“We will not be intimidated by attacks like this — it simply highlights the aggression that the Palestinian people of Gaza have to put up with on a daily basis.  It strengthens our determination to continue until this illegal and immoral blockade is lifted.”

Follow the Irish Ship to Gaza at:
http://irishshiptogaza.org/

Israel likes to portray itself as a small, defenceless nation in the middle of a sea of angry Arabs. However, while Israel is anything but defenceless – it is after all a nuclear power with one of the most well-equipped and well-trained armies in the world – it is indeed beginning to be the focus of an upsurge of hostility and anger from its neighbours. Even long-time allies have started to lose their patience with Israel for its consistent law-breaking, daily human rights violations, lack of accountability and unabashed arrogance about the fact that it has, until now, been able to commit serious crimes with impunity.

Israel’s status as a pariah state is becoming more and more entrenched as a result of two key developments. The first is the gradual democratisation of countries in the Middle East and the second is Israel’s own conduct in refusing, for example, to apologise for killing the citizens of a former friendly state, or to bring those responsible to justice.

In terms of the democratic shifts in the region, countries like Turkey and Egypt, which once turned a blind eye to Israel’s criminality or were complicit therein, are finally waking up and taking a stand against the bully of the Middle East. Israel’s past reliance on its close ties with the Turkish military is no longer a winning hand. Since the ruling AKP came to power the army has been sent back to barracks and its influence over Turkish politics has diminished. The Israeli government now has to contend with its peers in Ankara and the likes of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyib Erdogan, who is making it very clear that the past alliance between Israel and Turkey is no longer assured. Understandably, he maintains that any relationship between the two countries is conditional and must be based on mutual respect. It is Israel’s apparent lack of respect and, it could be said, contempt for the people of Turkey which is placing the once cosy relationship in jeopardy.

Ever since May 2010 when Israeli commandos killed nine Turkish citizens on board the Mavi Marmara on a humanitarian mission to break the siege on Gaza but still in international waters, Turkey’s stance against Israel has been hardening. Erdogan’s government in Ankara has waited patiently to give time for diplomacy to run its course in the hope that Israel would do the right thing and offer, at the very least, an apology for the killings. To no avail, it seems; the Israelis responsible have not been brought to justice and Israel’s piracy and kidnapping has gone unpunished. Israel’s refusal to offer a simple apology for the murder of Turkish civilians is an insult that the government of Turkey cannot let pass; it has become a matter of national dignity.

The escalation in diplomatic tensions between the two “allies” has seen Turkey expel Israeli diplomats from Ankara and downgrade its own diplomatic representation in Tel Aviv. Turkey has also said that its navy will now maintain a constant presence in the Mediterranean and provide a military escort for any future humanitarian flotillas heading for Gaza. Furthermore, Prime Minister Erdogan is visiting Egypt, with speculation rife about a possible visit to the besieged Gaza Strip. That would be a bold statement creating both anger and embarrassment in Israel which would be applauded across the Arab and Muslim world. Erdogan’s visit to Cairo may also see Turkey and Egypt solidifying their stand against Israel; if so, that would be bad news for the Zionist state.

Israel’s arrogance and refusal to apologise for its criminality is foolhardy as it has the potential to lose one of its strongest allies in the region. Turkey is emerging as a huge regional power, politically and economically, and is leading the way for many other countries to step out of the shadows and challenge Israel. Many of the emerging post-revolution Arab governments will be looking to Turkey for leadership and guidance and may well take Ankara’s lead on how to deal with Tel Aviv.

In Egypt, the same two issues are also having a major impact on the country’s relationship with Israel. Democratic change and Israeli intransigence place the countries’ peace treaty under threat. The Zionist state has enjoyed the protection of its Egyptian ally ever since the Camp David accords in 1979; post-revolutionary Egypt, however, is emerging as an entirely different kettle of fish. While the government and military institutions may more or less still be the same, the Egyptian people are not and never will be the same again. The nation has found its voice and will not be silenced. If the first significant victim of the Egyptian people’s freedom was Hosni Mubarak, the second may well be the treaty with their Israeli neighbour. It suited Israel to be surrounded by Arab dictators, particularly Mubarak, at its beck and call, but that era has now passed.

When Israeli troops killed six Egyptian soldiers on the border recently, could Tel Aviv have guessed that this would prompt demonstrations in Cairo leading to the Zionist ambassador and his staff having to flee the country? It is significant that the Palestinian flag was raised alongside the Egyptian flag over the embassy after the demonstration; that is indicative of the mood of the people of Egypt. The sight of the Palestinian flag around the Middle East does not bode well for the Zionist state.

Israel is in a quandary, not simply because the Middle East is undergoing such a seismic shift but also, primarily, because Israel is not evolving and adapting its own policies to the changes taking place around it. The stubborn refusal to amend its policies and practices towards the Palestinians is clearly costing Israel in terms of relations with its erstwhile allies.

Cries from Tel Aviv about the attack on the “sovereign land” of its embassy in Cairo fall on stony ground. How can the Israeli government have the audacity to complain while it continues to abuse Palestinians in their own land; build illegal settlements across the occupied Palestinian territories; kill Egyptians going about their lawful business; launch invasions of Lebanon apparently at will; and annex land stolen from its Arab neighbours? Israel cannot continue to insist on one set of rules for itself and another for everyone else. It has to get used to being judged by the laws and conventions by which the rest of the world is expected to abide. There is a limit to global patience, and it is running out, as is the time for Israel to make amends. If it ends the occupation of Palestine, perhaps that will give Israel a glimmer of hope. If not, what sort of future can there be for a pariah Zionist state in a sea of emerging Arab democracies?

Dr Hanan Chehata

Middle East Monitor Online

Turkish warships will escort any Turkish aid vessels to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said in remarks broadcast on Al Jazeera television on Thursday.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan

Erdogan also said that Turkey had taken steps to stop Israel from unilaterally exploiting natural resources from the eastern Mediterranean, according to Al Jazeera’s Arabic translation of excerpts of the interview, which was conducted in Turkish.
Last Saturday, Turkish officials told Hurriyet Daily News that the Turkish navy will significantly strengthen its presence in the easter Mediterranean Sea, as one of the steps the Turkish government has decided to take following the release of the UN Palmer report on the 2010 Gaza flotilla.

“The eastern Mediterranean will no longer be a place where Israeli naval forces can freely exercise their bullying practices against civilian vessels,” a Turkish official was quoted as saying.

As part of the plan, the Turkish navy will increase its patrols in the eastern Mediterranean and pursue “a more aggressive strategy”.

Haaretz

The trial of four surviving defendants in the April 14 kidnapping and murder of Italian journalist and International Solidarity Movement activist Vittorio Arrigoni began today in a Gaza military court.

The hearing, which began at 10:30 am, was open to the public. Two International Solidarity Movement members, along with a number of Vittorio’s Palestinian and international friends, observed it.

It was held in a light, airy hall in Gaza’s military court compound. The four defendants, Abu Ghoul, age 25, Khader Jram, age 26, Mohammed Salfi, age 23, and Hasanah Tarek, age 25, appeared to be in good health, occasionally smiling or waving to family in the courtroom.

Proceedings began with a request by attorneys from the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), which holds power of attorney for Vittorio’s family in Bulciago, Italy, that they be allowed to participate in the trial.

Military judge Abu Omar Atallah responded that while Palestinian military law does not allow for participation in criminal trials by third parties, the case and its files would be open to PCHR as well as the public.

After the PCHR attorneys moved their chairs from the front of the courtroom back into the public seating, prosecutors attempted to introduce the video contents of a compact disk, as well as a forensic report on the crime scene, as evidence.

The defense counsel responded that the prosecution had not yet made these materials available to them, and that they would need time to review them before deciding on their legal strategy.

Prosecutors also asked that testimony from their witnesses be postponed to allow them further time to prepare. The defense counsel objected, noting that testimony had been scheduled to begin today.

Taking these positions into account, Atallah opted to allow time for the preparation of witnesses by the prosecution, and the review of evidence by the defense. Before adjourning the court at 11:30 am, he scheduled its next hearing for Thursday, September 22.

The first session of a trial to sentence the murderers of Italian activist Vittorio Arrigoni is due to start on Thursday in a Gaza court, a Ma’an correspondent reported.

The Italian activist and journalist was murdered after being kidnapped by a group that identified itself as Salafist, on April 15, 2011.

He was found hanged in a house northwest of Gaza City.

Hamas security forces were able to find the group responsible for the murder in An-Nuseirat refugee camp, three days after the murder.

Clashes erupted between the group and Hamas forces, killing two of the accused murderers. A third was injured and a fourth detained.

President Abbas condemned the murder of Arrigoni as a “grotesque and disgraceful crime.”

News of the Italian activist’s murder was greeted with widespread condemnation, and demonstrations and vigils were held across the West Bank in his memory.

Ma’an

Turkish charter airlines yesterday began to cut back weekly flights on routes to and from Israel against the backdrop of the crisis in relations between the two counties and the rise in canceled reservations for travel to Turkey.

Meanwhile, El Al Israel Airlines has contingency plans that would address the possibility that Turkey would bar the Israeli carrier from overflying Turkish territory, Haaretz has learned.

The contingency plan was developed after relations between Turkey and Israel deteriorated last year in the wake of a confrontation between the Israel Navy and the Gaza flotilla ship Mavi Marmara. Relations deteriorated further this past week with the release of a United Nations commission report on the incident, a clash in which nine Turkish passengers were killed.

On Monday, a group of air travelers who arrived in Istanbul on a flight from Israel complained of humiliating treatment. Turkish passengers claimed similar treatment at Ben-Gurion International Airport the day before.

If Turkish airspace is closed to Israeli airlines, it would require El Al to fly longer routes to several destinations, particularly in the Far East, including flights to China and Thailand, and to former Soviet republics. In addition to the inconvenience it would cause passengers due to longer flights, it would also require El Al aircraft to use more fuel, with the added expense involved.

Foreign Ministry staff expressed the hope that the Turks would not disrupt Israeli air traffic over Turkey, noting that it would engender international condemnation as a violation of agreements. Israeli carriers pay Turkey for the right to overfly the country, payments that collectively can amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

The latest decline in ties between Turkey and Israel follows a summer travel season in which there was an upturn in travel between the two countries with charter operators increasing service between Israel and Turkish destinations. Tourism operators will not only suffer a loss of flight business if Israelis don’t travel to Turkey, but will also lose out on guarantees they made on hotel space in Turkey for future stays. A reduction in air service from Turkey could also affect foreign tourism by travelers who add short stays in Israel to vacations in Turkey.

A senior Israeli official has warned that it would be a “diplomatic mistake” for Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to visit the Gaza Strip. Reports in the Jerusalem Post quoted an Israeli official who said that Erdogan would damage Turkey’s relations with the United States by visiting Gaza. Mr. Erdogan is due to visit Cairo and has hinted that he may go to Gaza straight from Egypt.

According to the media reports, a visit by the Prime Minister to Gaza, and meetings with officials from Ismail Haniyeh’s cabinet in Gaza “would also weaken Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. A trip to Hamas-controlled Gaza would, it is assumed, pose a threat to Mr. Abbas’s legitimacy as the representative of the Palestinians.

Since Ankara cut its diplomatic and military relations with Israel, there has been media speculation about Mr Erdogan’s intention to make an official visit to the Gaza Strip, although the visit has not been confirmed officially.

Middle East Monitor

Under the financial pressure of EU bailouts to Greece, following their complicity in the blockade of Gaza earlier this year with the prevention of the ‘Freedom Flotilla 2′ vessels moored in Greek ports, Greece and Israel signed a security cooperation agreement. The content of the memorandum was not disclosed

Greek Defense Minister Panos Beglitis, making the first official visit by a Greek defense minister to Israel, and his Israeli counterpart, Ehud Barak, signed a cooperation memorandum on ‘security’ in Jerusalem on Sunday during the first day of Beglitis’ three-day trip.

“I come as my country’s defense minister to state our political will as a government, as well as the majority of the country’s political forces, for the two countries, the two governments, the two peoples, to work together so that we can further develop and deepen our bilateral relations in all sectors of mutual interest and concern,” Beglitis said.

The visit is part of a cooperation memorandum signed last year between Prime Minister George Papandreou and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Last week a Greek Parliament committee approved the purchase from Israel of Rafael-made Spice 1000 and 2000 bomb precision upgrade kits at a cost of $155 million for 400 systems.

Israel’s ambassador to Greece, Arie Mekel, noted the “unprecedented number of high-level visits” between Israel and Greece this year. He said the visit by Beglitis “highlights again the dramatic upgrade of the relations between Greece and Israel for the benefit of both countries.”

Beglitis clarified that his visit concerns bilateral relations with the State of Israel exclusively and is not functioning competitively with other countries in the region.

His visit comes in the wake of the release last week of the United Nations’ Palmer report which said that Israel’s naval blockade of the Gaza Strip is legal, but that Israel used excessive force when boarding the Turkish-flagged ship Mavi Marmara, leading to the deaths of nine Turkish citizens, in May 2010. Turkey has demanded an apology and, with none forthcoming, said it would ramp up sanctions against Israel.

Beglitis was scheduled to meet Monday with Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres, and also will have a private meeting with Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. He met previously with the chief of Israel’s military, Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz.

Barak said he was pleased by the upgrading of the military and defense cooperation between Israel and Greece.

“We are seeing with satisfaction the deepening and widening of relations between us and the Greeks in all sectors, including the security sector, and we desire to see the deepening and widening of this cooperation between the governments, between the Defense Ministries and between our peoples,” Barak said.

Turkey’s prime minister says more sanctions against Israel could follow the expulsion of the Israel’s ambassador and suspension of military ties.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday that other Israeli diplomats order out of the country have until Wednesday to leave Turkey. Turkey also suspended military deals last week after Israel refused to apologize for the botched Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound protest flotilla that killed nine pro-Palestinian activists last year. Israel has expressed regret for the loss of lives.

Erdogan described the raid as “savagery” and accused Israel of acting like “a spoiled boy” in the region.

AP