[Ppnews] Palestinian prisoners' hunger strike in third week
Political Prisoner News
ppnews at freedomarchives.org
Wed Oct 12 10:52:29 EDT 2011
Palestinian prisoners' hunger strike in third week
<http://freeahmadsaadat.org/thirdweek.html>Ahmad
Sa'adat's health in jeopardy as struggle grows!
<http://freeahmadsaadat.org/thirdweek.html>
<http://www.freeahmadsaadat.org/>The Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat
<http://www.freeahmadsaadat.org>www.freeahmadsaadat.org
+ <mailto:info at freeahmadsaadat.org>info at freeahmadsaadat.org
Twitter:<http://twitter.com/freeahmadsaadat>http://twitter.com/freeahmadsaadat
Palestinian prisoners have entered their third
week of hunger strike. After two weeks of hunger
strike, physical symptoms become increasingly
severe and prisoners' lives and health are ever
more at risk. As prisoners have put their lives
and bodies on the line to defend the rights of
themselves and their people, international
support and solidarity are continually escalating and much-needed.
The health of Ahmad Sa'adat, General Secretary of
the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
and Palestinian national leader who has been in
isolation for two and one-half years and whose
struggle is at the center of the demand for an
end to isolation, is in crisis. Two lawyers
visited Sa'adat on October 7 and October 9, and
reported that he was fainting and vomiting - a
direct consequence of the Israeli Prison
Service's confiscation of salt from prisoners. He
has already lost over 7 kilos on the hunger
strike. Nevertheless, no independent doctors or
medical professionals have been permitted to
examine Sa'adat. It is urgent that independent
medical care reach Sa'adat - call and protest at
your Israeli consulate or embassy or demand that
the International Committee of the Red Cross take
action to protect Sa'adat's life!
Despite his own health crisis, when asked about
the duration of the strike, Sa'adat responded:
"We are going to continue. We will not accept
these degrading conditions. Either we live in
dignity or we die with our heads high."
It is clear that if there are any consequences to
Sa'adat's health or life, Israel and its
isolation policy bear full responsibility and
have yet more blood on their hands - but silence
is complicity, and the world governments,
officials and authorities who allow this to
continue without raising a word of protest are
also responsible for the ongoing crimes against
Palestinian political prisoners and the Palestinian people as a whole.
As of October 9, 300 prisoners were participating
in a complete open ended hunger strike and 3000
in a partial hunger strike. Additional prisoners
have been joining the strike on a daily basis -
on October 10 and 11, over 1500 prisoners at
Nafha, Ramon, Eshel, Asqelan, and Gilboa prisons
have joined in the open-ended strikes
Hunger strike tents continue to grow in cities
throughout Palestine - in Ramallah, Qalqilya,
Nablus, Gaza, Salfit, Tulkarem, Nazareth, Haifa.
Palestinian activists have gone on solidarity
hunger strike and engaged in ongoing
mobilizations throughout Palestinian cities. In
Gaza, three international activists have joined
in the solidarity hunger strikes. Demonstrations
in front of Ofer and Asqelan prisons were
organized by Palestinians in '48 Occupied
Palestine. On October 12, 2011, a general strike
is expected to close businesses, schools and
offices throughout Palestinian cities for hours,
to express mass popular support for the prisoners' struggle.
Negotiations to end the strike failed on Monday
as Israeli prison authorities continue to
disregard Palestinian prisoners' rights.
Prisoners have been repeatedly denied lawyers'
visits in several prisons. Prisoners have been
increasingly denied salt or their salt
confiscated - a potentially deadly action for
Sa'adat and other hunger strikers.
Abdel Latif Gheith, Chair of the Board of
Directors of Addameer Prisoner Support and Human
Rights Association, was today slammed with a
six-month ban on entry into the West Bank (as
defined by Israel.) Gheith is a resident of East
Jerusalem and was called to al-Moskobiyeh
interrogation center in Jerusalem to order him
arbitrarily forbidden from entering the West
Bank, a severe violation of his right to freedom
of movement and obvious retaliation for his work
in support of the prisoners' hunger strike.
International solidarity to support Palestinian
hunger strikers is growing rapidly:
In Gaza,
<http://freeahmadsaadat.org/internationals.html>international
solidarity activists have joined solidarity
hunger strike tents. "Palestinian prisoners are
bravely resisting a system that seeks to crush
them, their families, their communities, and
their national life. Their struggle deserves our
full support," said Joe Catron, an activist from
the U.S. engaged in an open-ended hunger strike.
éirígí, an Irish republican socialist political
party, held a
<http://freeahmadsaadat.org/dublin107.html>demonstration
in Dublin demanding freedom for Ahmad Sa'adat and supporting the hunger strike.
Protests took place throughout the U.S.,
including in San Francisco and at Occupy Wall
Street in New York, in support of the hunger
strike - and in solidarity with prisoners in
California on hunger strike. Protesters called
for the freedom of Ahmad Sa'adat and all
Palestinian prisoners.
<http://freeahmadsaadat.org/ijan107.html>See a
video of a protest organized by the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network.
<http://freeahmadsaadat.org/greeksolidarity.html>Greek
organizations and social movements have stood in
solidarity with Palestinian prisoners, including
Greek trade unionists, city councillors, and the
Communist Organization of Greece.
<http://freeahmadsaadat.org/giabdallah.html>Georges
Ibrahim Abdallah, an Arab prisoner in French
jails, joined the hunger strike as protests took
place in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners in
<http://freeahmadsaadat.org/paris109.html>Paris.
Activists in
<http://freeahmadsaadat.org/copenhagen1010.html>Denmark,
Sweden and
<http://freeahmadsaadat.org/italiansolidarity.html>Italyjoined
in the solidarity actions across Europe.
The
<http://freeahmadsaadat.org/nlgicrc.html>National
Lawyers Guild in the US and the
<http://freeahmadsaadat.org/bncprisoners.html>Palestinian
Boycott National Committee issued statements and
calls to action in support of Palestinian political prisoners.
A play, Ana Hurra, supporting Palestinian
prisoners and telling their stories, began a
two-week
<http://freeahmadsaadat.org/anahurra.html>tour of
the United States, and
<http://freeahmadsaadat.org/twitter.html>activists
on Twitter plan global solidarity hunger strikes.
TAKE ACTION TO SUPPORT AHMAD SA'ADAT AND ALL PALESTINIAN PRISONERS!
1.<http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/About+the+Ministry/Diplomatic+missions/Web+Sites+of+Israeli+Missions+Abroad.htm>
Picket, protest or call the Israeli embassy or
consulate in your location and demand the
immediate freedom of Ahmad Sa'adat and all
Palestinian political prisoners. Make it clear
that you support the demands of Palestinian
prisoners on hunger strike! Demand that
independent doctors and medical experts be
allowed to examine and treat Ahmad Sa'adat. Send
us reports of your protests at Israeli embassies and consulates.
2. Distribute the free downloadable
<http://freeahmadsaadat.org/prison-hs-site.pdf>Campaign
to Free Ahmad Sa'adat flyer in your community at local events.
3. Write to the International Committee of the
Red Cross and other human rights organizations to
exercise their responsibilities and act swiftly
to demand that the Israelis ensure that Ahmad
Sa'adat and all Palestinian prisoners are freed
from punitive isolation. Email the ICRC, whose
humanitarian mission includes monitoring the
conditions of prisoners, at
<mailto:JER_jerusalem at icrc.org>JER_jerusalem at icrc.org,
and inform them about the urgent situation of
Ahmad Sa'adat. Make it clear that Ahmad Sa'adat's
life and health are gravely at risk and that he
must be permitted independent medical care, and
that the ICRC is aware and responsible for any
risk to Sa'adat's life or health..
4. Join in the Twitter solidarity strike for
Palestine - Tweet: My name is ( ) and I will go
on a hunger strike on Wednesday in solidarity
with Palestinian prisoners. #TweepStrike #HS4Palestine
5. Email the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat
at<mailto:info at freeahmadsaadat.org>
info at freeahmadsaadat.org with announcements,
reports and information about your local events,
activities and flyer distributions.
The Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat
<http://www.freeahmadsaadat.org/>http://www.freeahmadsaadat.org/
<mailto:info at freeahmadsaadat.org>info at freeahmadsaadat.org
Twitter:<http://twitter.com/freeahmadsaadat>http://twitter.com/freeahmadsaadat
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863-9977
www.Freedomarchives.org
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