Ramallah, 23 February 2012—Following the cessation of his 66-day hunger strike on the evening of 21 February 2012, a Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-Israel)-affiliated doctor and Addameer lawyer Samer Sam’an visited Khader Adnan today, 23 February, to closely monitor his current condition.

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

 Khader Adnan is now only a few short hours away from starting his 62nd day on Hunger Strike.

Tonight, his wife visited Khader, and she described his condition in a short 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

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.

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

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.

Khader's wife and children join protests after visiting her husband

One of the groups involved in the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit said Thursday that the transfer of some 450 Palestinian prisoners will begin Tuesday.

Spokesman Abu Mujahed of the Popular Resistance Committees said Thursday that as soon as the detainees are released, officials will check each one to make sure they are among those listed in the deal.

Once the prisoners are checked, the factions holding Shalit will release him too.

An official in the PRC’s military wing, meanwhile, released a list of prisoners it says Israel agreed to free in exchange for Shalit. The list includes 477 names along with the conditions of each prisoner’s release.

Several lists are floating around, including one which appeared on Hamas’ Al-Aqsa TV. The ministry of prisoners affairs in the Gaza Strip says none of them are entirely accurate.

Abu Mujahed, the PRC spokesman, said those detainees who are to be exiled from the West Bank will depart Israel via Egypt and enter Gaza. Those who will be exiled abroad will go to Turkey or Qatar via Cairo.

Israel and Hamas agreed Tuesday to swap more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for captive soldier Shalit, resolving one of the most emotive and intractable issues between them.

The deal was overseen by the Egyptian intelligence minister two weeks ago. Israel and Hamas send delegates to Cairo and it was agreed that 450 prisoners would be freed in a first round.

There are at least 6,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. They are regarded as heroes in their struggle against Israeli occupation and quest for statehood.

Shalit, who also holds French citizenship, was last seen in a videotape released by his captors in September 2009. He has received no visits from the Red Cross, despite many appeals.

Ma’an

Former professors of a Palestinian engineer captured in Ukraine and sent to Israel to face charges he built missiles for the militant group Hamas refute allegations in his indictment that he was taught weapons systems.

Dirar Abu Sisi, 42, vanished from a train in Ukraine in February and resurfaced days later in an Israeli prison. Abu Sisi, who claims innocence, is to stand trial in coming weeks on hundreds of counts of attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

Konstantin Petrovich Vlasov told The Associated Press that Abu Sisi was his doctoral student in civilian electricity systems at the Kharkiv National Academy of Municipal Services in the mid-1990s, but denies he was taught about weapons.

The Israeli indictment says a Konstantin Petrovich, Abu Sisi’s professor at a civilian institute, also taught at an academy for military engineering in the eastern city of Kharkiv, although no such school exists. Petrovich apparently is not a surname but a patronymic — a name derived from the first name of one’s father.

The Israeli document claims the professor is an expert in Soviet-made Scud missile control systems. It alleges that Konstantin Petrovich arranged for Abu Sisi to attend classes at the military academy, where he gained knowledge that enabled him to modernize missiles launched by Palestinian militants into Israel.

Israel would not immediately comment on the incongruities concerning the professor’s name or the purported military academy.

Vlasov, an expert in civilian electrical and mineral processing systems, said he had no connection to the military, never sent any of his students to a military academy and has never even seen a missile.

“This is all lies, there isn’t a single word of truth in it,” Vlasov, 80, said in a telephone interview. “I have never lectured at any military academy and never had anything to do with anything military. I have only seen missiles on TV.”

Vlasov initially supervised Abu Sisi’s doctoral work, then moved to the Russian city of St. Petersburg and handed Abu Sisi over to another professor at the academy, Filipp Govorov.

Abu Sisi’s dissertation on the use of transformers in city electricity grids, viewed by the AP at Ukraine’s national library, lists Govorov as Abu Sisi’s Ph.D. adviser.

Govorov also dismissed the charges against Abu Sisi.

“They said that he allegedly dealt with rockets, but what we did had nothing to do with it,” Govorov told the AP.

Abu Sisi has acknowledged being in contact with senior Hamas members as part of his work in Gaza as a senior manager at the power plant, but says he is not a member of the militant group and did not build weapons or train soldiers for Hamas as his indictment claims.

Israel has said little about Abu Sisi’s arrest or how he ended up in Israel. It only confirmed holding him weeks after his disappearance. Abu Sisi’s family says he was kidnapped by the Mossad spy agency. Ukrainian government said it had no involvement in the arrest.

Abu Sisi’s Israeli lawyer, Tal Linoy, says he believes Israeli authorities detained Abu Sisi based on an erroneous tip that he had information about the whereabouts of Gilad Schalit, an Israeli soldier captured by Gaza militants nearly five years ago.

After that proved wrong, the government is now trying to save face, the lawyer said; he provided no evidence for his theory.

“I think they took him by mistake,” Linoy said. “Now this fire needs to be put out, because … the image of the state, the government and Israeli special services is at stake. They needed to dig something up.”

The  humanitarian aid ship MV Finch also known as the Spirit of Rachel Corrie has since 17th May 2011 been turned into a prison ship for all intents and purposes.

What reason can there be when both Egyptian and Malaysian Governments have publicly agreed that the ship can berth and discharge the much needed cargo of PVC pipes for Gaza’s sewerage system?

Yet, the ship and the crew are not allowed to berth and disembark.

They are detained without just excuse and are now entering the third week of detention.

This is totally unacceptable and the Egyptian Government’s actions should be criticised in no uncertain terms.

MATTHIAS CHANG,

MISSION LEADER,

THE SPIRIT OF RACHEL CORRIE,

30TH MAY 2011

Palestinian detainees in six Israeli prisons continued protest action Wednesday, observing another two days of hunger strike as a move to secure the release of their peers from extended periods in solitary confinement.

This is the third week in a row that strike actions have been implemented, and saw the Palestinian population in the Hadarim and Gelboa prisons join the more than 600 already striking prisoners from the Ramon, Nafha, Ashkelon and Eshil facilities, ministry of prisoners affairs spokesman in Gaza Riyadh Al-Ashqer said.

The detainees on strike have said that dozens of their peers are in solitary confinement, some for years, and they are calling for their release into the general prison population.

Many of those in solitary are members of the Palestinian political leadership or are influential figures in the prison community, helping to organize protests and cementing the prison community.

According to Al-Ashqer, prisoners are looking to expand their strike action, which now includes more than 2,500 prisoners, and begin an all-out hunger strike at the start of July.

There are upwards of 7,000 Palestinians being held in Israeli prisons, most considered prisoners of conscience or political prisoners who have been detained for their actions in resisting Israel’s occupation of territories captured in 1967.

Ma’an

Palestinian Detainees imprisoned in four Israeli detention facilities held a hunger strike on Saturday, as part of the gradually escalating hunger strike demanding the prison administration to release several detainees from solitary confinement.

The strike will be held twice each week, and will be gradually escalating until the Israeli Prison Administration (IPS) fulfills their demands.

The Ministry called of the residents to hold protests in solidarity with the detainees and called on media agencies to highlight the strike and the ongoing violations against the detainees.

Israel will hold up an $89 million cash transfer to the Palestinian Authority [PA] planned for this week because of a new unity deal between rival Palestinian factions.

“Israel wants assurances that any money transferred to the Palestinians will not reach the militant Hamas organisation, which is set to become part of the Palestinian government,” Yuval Steinitz, the Israeli finance minister, said on Sunday.

“I think the burden of proof is on the Palestinians, to make it certain, to give us guarantees that money delivered by Israel is not going to the Hamas, is not going to a terrorist organisation, is not going to finance terror operations against Israeli citizens,” he said.

Israel had threatened sanctions last week in response to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s surprise announcement of a unity deal with Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip and is shunned by the West for its hostility towards the Jewish state.

According to a report in the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, the Israeli officials would also cancel talks with the Abbas administration aimed at updating the tax transfer mechanism which provides it with $1 billion to $1.4 billion annually – two-thirds of PA budget.

Israel collects some tax and customs fees for the Palestinians under the peace agreements of the 1990s.

Israel has held up cash transfers several times in the past decade, citing concerns that the money was being used to fund attacks against Israelis.

Deal raises concern

There was no immediate Palestinian reaction to the Israeli move.

The deal signed between Fatah and Hamas is meant to lead immediately to a transitional government and new elections within one year.

Israel suspends transfer of $89m to Palestinian Authority in view of recent unity deal between Fatah and Hamas.

The Israeli government said the deal rules out the renewal of deadlocked peace talks and threatens Israeli-Palestinian security cooperation in the West Bank.

The agreement “should worry not only all Israeli citizens but all those across the world who want to see peace between us and our Palestinian neighbours”, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister said on Sunday.

Israel has also expressed its concern to the UN about the deal.

Ehud Barak, the defence minister, on Saturday told Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, of “Israel’s concern” over the unity accord struck on Wednesday between Hamas and Fatah, according to a statement.

Months after trying to place controversial ads about Israel on Metro buses, the Seattle group behind the ads said its latest effort to put a similar message on billboards has also been rejected.

The group, the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign (SeaMAC), said billboard company Clear Channel Outdoor had placed three of the group’s signs last week and this week.

The signs say, “Equal rights for Palestinians – Stop funding the Israeli military.”

But on Wednesday, Clear Channel announced it was canceling the contract, saying it re-evaluated its decision after people complained, according to SeaMAC.

“We don’t under what is objectionable about equal rights…” SeaMAC volunteer Ed Mast said Thursday, standing near billboard on Elliott Avenue West that once had his message. It now said, “A mind is a terrible thing to waste.”

“This leaves us censored now twice in Seattle.”

Olivia Lippens, president of Clear Channel Outdoor Seattle, said the company is committed to ensuring that “all messages we post, and any websites they promote, adhere to community standards and are not offensive towards any business.”

“Upon further review, it became evident that a campaign sponsored by Stop 30 Billion.org promoted a website that is not in keeping with those standards,” Lippens said in a statement.

“As a result of that review, we removed this advertising from our displays.”

The website Lippens refers to is for an umbrella group called the Coalition to Stop $30 Billion to Israel. The $30 billion refers to the amount the United States has committed to giving Israel in military aid over the next decade, says the group.

(The actual website on the billboards is for SeaMAC, whose site is stop30billion-seattle.org).

Mast said the billboards were placed on Aurora Avenue, Elliott Avenue West and Lake City Way. Lippens said Clear Channel was working to remove them in the next few days.

Last year, King County had authorized SeaMAC to put ads on Metro buses that said, “Israeli war crimes: Your tax dollars at work.”

But news of the ads prompted a torrent of complaints and threats of violence, and county officials worried about civil disobedience and terrorist acts.

Executive Dow Constantine reversed the decision in December, before the ads ever went up. SeaMAC and the ACLU then sued the county, saying the decision violated the Constitution.

The controversy also prompted King County Metro to announce new transit advertising policy earlier this month, saying it will take ads for non-profits, but that certain political and public issue ads will be banned.

One-fourth of the Palestinian population residing in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) has been put behind the bars by the Israeli government, making Palestinians the most imprisoned people in the world, according to a new report.
Besides, Israel is the only state worldwide that has child prisoners under the age of 18. They number 280. “Their living conditions are harsh. Prison administration refuses to allow mature prisoners to join them. Israel uses all sorts of punishment and tortures against child prisoners to recruit them as spies. They threaten them with rape and other forms of violence,” contends the report by ‘Friends of Humanity International’.

“There is no one single family that didn’t experience the arrest of one of its members. The majority of those detained are male, which constitutes over 40 percent of the total male Palestinian population” in the OPT, says the report titled ‘A year of Jails storming and attempts to weaken prisoners determination’.

“Since Israel began its illegal occupation of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967, more than 650,000 Palestinians have been detained, representing approximately twenty percent of the current total Palestinian population in the Occupied Territories,” notes the report released in Vienna on April 22, 2011.

The report points out that Israel has illegally detained Palestinian men, women and children through an extensive and systematic set of regulations that control every aspect of Palestinian life. They restrict or deny their basic human rights.

Authors of the report, Fuad Al Khoffash and Ghassan Obaid, call a spade a spade: “The conditions of the prisons and treatment of prisoners are horrendous, violating numerous international laws. The Israeli military, which governs the Occupied Territories, constantly changes or issues new military orders that are often unknown to local populations until implemented. Palestinian prisoners are then subject to Israeli military tribunals, which rarely follow required international standards of fair trial. Palestinians not only live under an illegal occupation, but also under an unstable and unjust system of law and order.”

The majority of Palestinian political prisoners are charged with offenses under Israeli military orders of which there are some 1,500 governing the West Bank and 1,400 enforced in Gaza before Israel’s withdrawal from that area in 2005.

These military regulations carry a broad definition of “security” and they ban, amongst other things, political expression. For example, according to Military order 101 it is forbidden to conduct a protest march or meeting (grouping of ten or more where the subject concerns or is related to politics) “without permission of the Military Commander”. The distribution of political articles and pictures with “political connotations” is also forbidden under the same order.

Al Khoffash and Obaid add: “Israeli policies towards its prisoners routinely violate international law. Torture has become an endemic problem within Israeli prisons and increasing numbers of children are beginning to end up in Israeli jails. These general trends are areas of growing concern as they have remained unabated for decades.”

While there is a general problem facing Palestinians in Israeli prisons, the report provides details of the suffering faced by Palestinian prisoners incarcerated by Israel.

The report says: “Year 2010 was not an ordinary year for Palestinian prisoners. Yet, if there is a common feature to describe the reality of the movement of prisoners and the captives, we could label it as ‘A year of Jails storming and attempts to Weaken Prisoners Determination’.”

Al Khoffash and Obaid add: “The In 2010 there was also the largest movement of prison leaders of Palestinian detainees in an effort to disrupt prisoners and create a state of instability within prisons. This policy intended to hinder the work of Prisoners Movement, to plan and organize their struggle within jails such as protests and hunger strikes.

“The year also witnessed a sharp decrease in the number of prisoners in Israeli jails which was 6500 persons distributed in dozens of Israelis jails. The year included various random campaigns to arrest people in the West Bank cities and villages. Such campaigns were carried almost daily. Indeed there are daily operations storming houses, villages and towns in return of releases of some prisoners. It seems Israel is trying to send a message pointing out that no Palestinian is immune and protected from these campaigns and operations.”

The report has gathered some shocking information: The prisoners were tortured and their belongings were confiscated. They were hit, beaten, including with electric sticks and sprayed with tear gas. They were separated individually or moved to other departments in the jail, not dissimilar to what happened to those in Hadarim detention centre.

“In Hadarim centre, prisoners in division three were moved to division five. Walls between divisions were demolished while prisoners were deprived from taking electric equipments with them. Prisoners were corralled and put in a detention which lacked any basic provisions required in every prison. All this happened under a pretext of searching for mobile phones.”

The same incident happened in Nafha detention centre, located in the desert which the Israeli army stormed more than ten times. On every occasion, says the report, confrontation took place between prison guards and prisoners, resulting in bloody attacks against prisoners and their leaders.

On one occasion, an Israeli officer, at Nafha detention (which host Palestinian prisoners of highest sentences from Gaza Strip), phoned the wife of one of the prisoners with abuse to evoke response, while searching his private belongings. The incident caused enormous damage and has pushed the Management of the prison to apologize and provide further assurance that an open investigation in the manner in which prison cells are raided and prisoners restrained by carried out.

“The Israeli state and Prison Service facility has escalated their humiliating and torture tactics. Rarely a week passes before another raid or attack against prisoner’s chambers. Such conditions made the lives of prisoners extremely difficult, forced to live in continuous tension fearing frequent and untimely attacks,” the authors of the report note. (IDN-InDepthNews/26.04.2011)