Vermonters for a Just Peace in Palestine/Israel
Prisoners Archive - January 2009
Treatment of Prisoners and Detainees by Israel and Others
Prisoners Archive - January 2009
Treatment of Prisoners and Detainees by Israel and Others
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Fate of Gazans taken during attacks remains unknown Ali Samdoui, Palestine News Network 1/29/2009 PNN exclusive -- Some 300 Palestinians were taken during the attacks on Gaza, but for many their fate remains in limbo. President of the Palestinian Prisoner Society, Qaddura Fares, told PNN today that the Israeli administration refuses to disclose their names. It is unknown know exactly who was taken or to where. Tens have been released and report the existence of many remaining, including those with untreated medical conditions. Approximately 40 people were put in Al Naqab Prison where they are being held without access to the Red Cross, lawyers or winter blankets. The Israelis are referring to these political prisoners as "enemy combatants. " On Thursday Fares expressed an ongoing concern. "Israeli occupation authorities continue to refuse to disclose the names of citizens who were detained during the war of aggression on Gaza and refuse to give an announcement. . . Rights groups challenge Israeli detentions of captured Gazans Ma’an News Agency 1/29/2009 Bethlehem Maan Israel held many Gaza prisoners in harsh and humiliating conditions and threatened their lives and their health, according to an investigation released on Wednesday. Seven Israeli human rights organizations appealed to the Military Judge Advocate General, Brigadier General Avichai Mandelblit and to Attorney General Meni Mazuz concerning the appalling conditions in which Palestinians arrested during the fighting in Gaza were held, Israeli human rights organization BTselem said in a statement. The groups investigation brings to light the humiliating and inhuman treatment to which [detainees] were subjected from the time of their arrest until their transfer to the custody of the Israel Prison Service, the statement said. The complaint, written by attorneys Bana Shoughry-Badarne, from the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI), Lila Margalit,. . . Gaza detainees suffer from ’inhuman’ Israeli actions Middle East Online 1/29/2009 TEL AVIV - Seven Israeli human rights groups demanded an inquiry on Wednesday into the "inhuman" treatment meted out to Palestinians taken prisoner during Israel’s offensive on the Gaza Strip. Evidence collected from detainees provided a "shocking portrayal of the harsh, inhuman and degrading conditions in which Palestinian prisoners were held during the initial days of their incarceration," they said in a statement. "Many detainees -- minors as well as adults -- were held for many hours, sometimes for days, in pits dug in the ground, exposed to bitter cold and harsh weather, handcuffed and blindfolded. "These pits lacked basic sanitary facilities. . . detainees went hungry. "Some of the detainees were held near tanks and in combat areas, in gross violation of international humanitarian law. " The groups submitted a complaint to Israel’s attorney general and the military. . . Dozens believed dead in reprisal attacks as Hamas retakes control Rory McCarthy in Gaza City, The Guardian 1/30/2009 Suspected collaborators shot during and after war Escaped criminals killed by relatives of their victims - Evidence is emerging of a wave of reprisal attacks and killings inside Gaza that have left dozens dead and more wounded in the wake of Israel’s war. Among the dead are Palestinians suspected of collaborating with the Israeli military. Others include criminals who were among the 600 prisoners to escape from Gaza City’s main jail when it was bombed as the war began. Their attackers are thought to be their victims’ relatives. During and after the war, there have also been attacks on security officials from Fatah, the bitter rival of Hamas, the Islamist movement in control of the Gaza Strip. One witness told the Guardian how her brother, a Fatah military intelligence officer, was shot three times in the legs in an apparent punishment attack by gunmen from Hamas’s armed wing. -- See also: Fatah downplays Hamas attacks on members during Gaza assault Report: Gaza detainees held bound for days Aviad Glickman, YNetNews 1/28/2009 Seven Israeli human rights groups file complaint with military advocate general chief, attorney general regarding what they describe as IDF’s ’inhumane, appalling treatment’ of Palestinian detainees during Gaza op - Seven Israeli human rights organizations urged Chief Military Advocate General Brig. - Gen. Avichai Mendelblit and Attorney General Menachem Mazuz on Wednesday to launch an investigation into reports that Gaza detainees were held in "horrid conditions" and treated "inhumanely" during the IDF’s operation in the Strip. In a letter to Mazuz and Mendelblit, the groups, which include the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights said that detainees arrested by IDF forces in Gaza suffered from appalling treatment while in the army’s custody. -- See also: B'tselem: Prisoners from Gaza were held in appalling conditions Rights groups: IDF subjected Gaza detainees to deplorable conditions Tomer Zarchin, Ha’aretz 1/29/2009 Seven human rights organizations approached Israel Defense Forces Military Advocate General Avihai Mandelblit and Attorney General Menachem Mazuz on Wednesday seeking an investigation into the IDF’s treatment of Palestinians detained during Israel’s Gaza offensive. The human rights groups argued that the detainees were treated in a deplorable manner and were subjected to humiliating conditions from the moment they were seized and up until being transferred to the custody of the Israel Prisons Service. In a letter, composed by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, B’Tselem and the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel among others, it was argued that the detainees had testified to the difficult conditions they faced during the first days of their imprisonment. Israel tortures Gaza prisoners Palestinian Information Center 1/28/2009 GAZA, (PIC)-- The ministry of prisoners’ affairs in Gaza has charged that the Israeli occupation authority was using cruel and internationally banned interrogation methods with detainees captured in Gaza during the Israeli onslaught. The ministry, in a press release on Wednesday, said that the Israeli occupation forces took with them more than 200 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip after their withdrawal and subjected them to torture rounds in order to extract any information on resistance elements and places from where the homemade rockets are being fired at Israeli targets. It pointed out that the prisoners were subjected to severe beating especially in the upper parts of the body, forced to sit in uncomfortable positions, deprived of sleep and forced to sit on children chairs while both hands and feet shackled in addition to violently shaking them and exposing them to extreme cold. Legal expert concerned over lives of Gaza prisoners Palestinian Information Center 1/26/2009 GAZA, (PIC)-- Abdul Nasser Farwana, an expert on prisoners’ affairs and an ex-prisoner in Israeli jails, has expressed concern over the lives of Palestinians kidnapped during the Gaza invasion at the hands of Israeli occupation forces. He said in a statement on Sunday that those who are thought to have direct or indirect links to resistance were particularly prone to field execution as well as the wounded. The researcher recalled that the IOF had previous record of crimes against unarmed prisoners, and expressed concern that the Red Cross was not allowed access to visit those detainees or know the fate and number of them. He said that IOF refusal to disclose the exact number of those detainees could mean allowing the opportunity to execute some of them in cold blood, and called in this respect for investigating the circumstances that led to the death of Palestinians found under the rubble of their homes after the IOF withdrawal. Prisoners Society in Hebron: Israeli forces arrested seven from Hebron area Ma’an News Agency 1/26/2009 Hebron Maan Seven Hebron-area residents were arrested by Israeli forces overnight Saturday, and the homes of the detained men ransacked. The Palestinian Prisoners society in the West Bank district of Hebron condemned the detentions, saying the Israeli occupation continues with its policy of arresting [West Bank] residents with or without a justification. The detentions cause harm to civilians and their families, as soldiers regularly ransack homes and intimidate family members, a statement said. The society identified the detained men as:Wisam Ar-Rajabi 31,Husein Muhammad Al-Atrash, 30,Ismail Abu Husein, 21,Ali Abd Al-Mutaleb, 16,From the nearby town of Ash-ShuyoukhYousef Ghassan Iseifan, 20. Israel sends 41 Gazan illegal combatants to desert prison camp Ma’an News Agency 1/24/2009 Gaza Maan Forty-one Palestinians seized by Israel during its invasion of the Gaza Strip have arrived at the Negev prison camp in southern Israel, a prisoners affairs expert reported on Friday. Researcher Abed An-Naser Farawnah said he has learned that the Gazan detainees have been remanded to Section Nine of the desert camp, far away from the other prisoners, and are being denied contact with other inmates. The Gazans have been designated illegal combatants, he said. Farawnah noted that the prisoners already in the Negev Prison asked the prison authorities to meet the new arrivals. The existing prisoners were told that the Gazans are under the direct control of Shin Bet, the Israeli security service. The others in the camp are dealt with under a law dealing with legitimate fighters. The prison administration said the prisoners arrived in two groups. Report: The IOF troops executed many detained civilians during its war on Gaza Palestinian Information Center 1/24/2009 GAZA, (PIC)-- The Palestinian center for the defense of prisoners on Saturday revealed that the IOF troops kidnapped during their aggression on the Gaza Strip about 300 Palestinian civilians, some of them were executed by gunfire or tank shells. In a statement received by the PIC, the center explained that the IOF troops, during the war on Gaza, used a number of Palestinian citizens as human shields to protect themselves from Palestinian gunfire in blatant violation of all international norms and conventions. Different Palestinian eyewitnesses told the center that the IOF troops executed prisoners individually and collectively. The eyewitnesses reported that the IOF troops executed children and women individually when asking them to come out one by one from their homes, adding that in some cases, the IOF troops put a number of Palestinian citizens in one house and then shelled or opened fire extensively on that house. Ex-prisoner dies after undergoing surgery in Gaza Ma’an News Agency 1/25/2009 Gaza Maan A 47-year-old former Palestinian prisoner, Ahmad Shabat, from the town of Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, died on Sunday evening after undergoing surgery in Ash-Shifa Hospital. According to one of his relatives, Shabat was unable to leave his house for a week during the Israeli war on Gaza, and was unable to receive treatment for a kidney condition. Shabats relative also said that he had inhaled gas fired by the Israeli army. He was hospitalized at Ash-Shifa after the Israeli army withdrew from Gaza last week. Shabat, a member of the Fatah movement, was jailed by Israel from 1975 to 1983. [end] Israel refuses to release Gaza man who served six-year sentence Ma’an News Agency 1/24/2009 Gaza Maan Israel refused to release a Palestinian political prisoner from Gaza on Saturday although he completed his six-year prison sentence. Muhammad Abu Aun, from Jabaliya Refugee Camp in the northern Gaza Strip, was instead remanded to Israels Negev Prison camp under a 2007 law that allows detainees to be held without trial as illegal combatants. The law was passed in September 2007, when Israel also pronounced Gaza an enemy entity. According to Muhammad Hassan, the lawyer defending Abu Aun, the head of the Israeli militarys Southern Command ordered him to be detained for another six months. [end] Four Islamic Jihad activists declare hunger strike in PA prison Ma’an News Agency 1/24/2009 Gaza Maan Four Islamic Jihad activists imprisoned by the Palestinian Authority (PA) declared a hunger strike on Friday protesting what they said were the dire conditions in prison, Islamic Jihad said on Saturday. In a statement the Islamic movement identified the men as Abd-ar-Rahman As-Sadi who has been in prison for three months; Zakariyya Sarhan and his brother Jalil, who have been detained for seven months; and Alaa Abu Ar-Rub who has been jailed for four months after he was severely wounded by the Israeli army. Islamic Jihad said the PA in Ramallah is liable for the safety of the four along with other political prisoners. The movement called on all Palestinian factions to take a united stand for the release of political prisoners. Palestinians taken from Gaza being held as 'illegal combatants' PNN, Palestine News Network 1/23/2009 Gaza -- Head of Prisoners Affairs in the Palestinian Authority, Abdel Nasser Ferwana, reported Friday night that detainees from Gaza are being held in horrific conditions at Al Naqab. Forty-one Palestinians are being held in the Israeli desert prison in isolation. They are not allowed contact with anyone and are being held by the Israeli military as "illegal combatants. " There are approximately 11,000 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons, but they are not held under this Israeli law. Ferwana asked that the Israeli prisons department allow detainee representatives to visit them and provide for some of their basic needs, but the administration of Al Naqab rejected the request. The Palestinian Authority official said he was informed that "these Gazans are under the direct control of the army under the law if illegal combatants. Hamas: 'Government in Gaza to distribute 40 M Euro to aid Gaza residents' Saed Bannoura & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center News 1/22/2009 The Palestinian Information Center, affiliated with Hamas movement, reported Thursday that the dissolved Palestinian government in Gaza, headed by Ismail Haniyya, decided to distribute 40 M Euros on the residents of the Gaza Strip who were affected by the latest Israeli offensive. Taher Al Nunu, spokesperson of Hamas, said in a press conference in Gaza City, that the "Government decided to distribute the money to compensate the affected families". He added that 4000 Euros will be handed to families that completely lost their homes, two thousands to families that partially lost their homes, a thousand Euros each to family that lost a member, and 500 Euros to each wounded resident. Responding to claims by the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah that Hamas left prisoners at Al Saraya prison when it was shelled by Israel, Al Nunu said that "no prisoner was killed, and we have no political prisoners". Bethlehem families sound call for legal justice Najib Farrag, Palestine News Network 1/21/2009 Bethlehem -- As part of the resistance, Palestinians are again invoking international law by leading a global movement to try Israeli leaders for war crimes. Director of the Palestinian Prisoners Society in Bethlehem, Abdullah Zughari told a sit-in today in the West Bank city, "Israeli officials and military leaders be prosecuted as war criminals. . . . . . by the International Criminal Court, charged with the massacres and destruction in the Gaza Strip. "From the families of the 11,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons came an echo to the call moving toward The Hague. "One cannot allow the killing of children and women, and the destroying of homes and use of internationally prohibited weapons," said a father who added a demand for the release of political prisoners. Wednesday’s demonstration was held in front of the local headquarters of the international Red Cross on Jamal Abdel Nasser Street. Palestinians rally in Bethlehem demanding war crimes tribunal over Gaza Ma’an News Agency 1/21/2009 Bethlehem Maan Dozens of Palestinians rallied on Wednesday at the Red Cross headquarters in the West Bank city of Bethlehem in solidarity with the Gaza Strip demanding war crimes tribunals for Israeli leaders. The demonstration was organized by a committee of Palestinian political factions and the Palestinian Prisoner Society. Demonstrators chanted slogans condemning Israeli aggression in Gaza while others raised posters calling for war crimes prosecutions. On some posters, photos of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defence Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni appeared next to swastikas. [end] Israel releases Qalqiliya’s mayor from prison Ma’an News Agency 1/21/2009 Qalqilia Maan Israel released the mayor of the West Bank city of Qalqiliya from prison on Tuesday night after holding him for nearly two years. The 43-year-old Hamas-affiliated Mayor Wajih Qawwas was seized by Israeli troops in May 2007. Speaking to Maan upon his release, Qawwas said, All detainees wish that [Palestinian] unity will be achieved soon especially after the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip and the bloody Israeli massacres. The Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails hope that Palestinian factions will reconcile to oppose the Israeli attacks and the confiscation of lands, he said. Qawwas praised the Palestinians steadfastness and opposition to the Israeli attacks against civilians, mosques, lands and schools in the Gaza Strip. 250 Palestinians recently taken from Gaza held under interrogation PNN, Palestine News Network 1/20/2009 Najib Farrag -- At least 250 people were arrested during the Israeli operation in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian Legislative Council member working on the issue of political prisoners, Issa Qaraqa’ reported today that 250 more Palestinians are being held in the prisons of the Naqab Desert. "Conditions are extremely harsh," Qaraqa’ confirmed on Tuesday. "The prisoners have been subjected to beatings and abuse. A number of them are wounded and in need of treatment in hospitals. They are being held hostage by the Israeli intelligence service for interrogation. "The PLC deputy noted that Gaza Palestinians are being detained in Al Naqab because of a lack of space in the investigation rooms of Askelon, Jalama and Petah Tikva. They are in total isolation from the rest of the prison population. Qaraqa’ called the International Red Cross to visit the political prisoners from the Gaza Strip and see the conditions and circumstances. 250 Gazans in Negev detention center; men are harshly beaten and interrogated Ma’an News Agency 1/20/2009 Bethlehem - Ma’an - At least 250 Gazans were detained by Israeli troops during the Gaza invasion, said member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) Issa Karake on Tuesday. The men are being held in the Negev prison, living in tents and being constantly beaten and attacked, said Karake. Several need hospital treatment, which they are being denied and many are also being used by the Israeli intelligence units as information sources and are interrogated for hours. The Gazans have been isolated and not permitted to interact with prisoners from the West Bank or East Jerusalem. Karake called on the Red Cross to visit the detainees and verify his story, then put pressure on Israel to release the men immediately. The men are very worried about their families, Karake said, adding that they would like to go home and make sure their loved ones are alright. Palestinian prisoners left untreated for virus at Israeli jail Ma’an News Agency 1/20/2009 Bethlehem - Ma’an - The Palestinians held in the Huwwara prison by Israeli forces have come down with a severe flu, which has remained untreated and is aggravating several pre-existing health conditions, said the Detainees Society Sunday. According to their report the Israeli prison administration has repeatedly refused to treat the prisoners, and continue harsh treatment despite the prevailing illness in the facility. A lawyer for the society noted that the prison was very cold and that prisoners commented that there were not enough blankets to keep them warm, though 15 prisoners have been transferred to facilities with better conditions, adding that the Huwwara prison has many in solitary confinement or in damp, dark cells. Some families remain indoors after ceasefire PNN, Palestine News Network 1/19/2009 Gaza -- The planes, tanks and missiles of Israeli forces did not only deprive the people of Gaza’s Zeitoun neighborhood of food and drink, but deprived them of all the meanings of security and peace of mind. Sleep became impossible, something of an unattainable miracle that Gazans had waited for since the twenty-seventh of December. The Israeli ceasefire may not be appropriate in terms or long-lasting, but it has allowed thousands of people have to sleep, now through the tears they still spill in mourning of the huge losses. Ramadan is a Gaza City resident from the Zeitoun neighborhood. He said that people were hostages in their homes which had become the cells of many families and the graves of others in this, "the world’s largest open air prison. " With more bodies uncovered each of the two days of ceasefire it is unknown how many people have died although the number. . . A ’Police State’ Celebrates Nora Barrows-Friedman, Inter Press Service 1/20/2009 JERUSALEM, Jan 19(IPS) - The Israeli government is stepping up efforts to suppress dissent and crush resistance in the streets. Police have been videotaping the demonstrations and subsequently arresting protesters in large numbers. According to Israeli police reports, at least 763 Israeli citizens, the majority of them Palestinian and 244 under 18 years old, have been arrested, imprisoned or detained for participating in such demonstrations. Most have been held and then released, but at least 30 of those arrested over the past three weeks are still being held in prison. Ameer Makhoul, director of Ittijah, the Union of Arab Community-Based Associations in Haifa, tells IPS that these demonstrations "are part of the uprising here inside the Green Line, to share responsibility and to share the challenge with the people in the Gaza strip. " Political prisoners suffer medical neglect in the cold, pray for Gaza Ali Samoudi, Palestine News Network 1/18/2009 Jenin -- Palestinians imprisoned by the Israeli administration number at approximately 11,000. Among them are hundreds of cases of serious medical neglect and more of general illness. The Palestinian Prisoner Society reports this week that the spread of influenza is reaching epidemic proportion. At Huwara Prison in southern Nablus, built on West Bank land as military prisons are, the administration is refusing to allow appropriate treatment or humane quarantine to combat the virus that has spread rapidly among the Palestinians inside. Large numbers of people are forced to share cramped spaces without proper heating or enough warm blankets. Food is inadequate in both quality and quantity. Farhan is from Nablus and is subject to bouts of severe pain in his right kidney in addition to influenza. Israeli court extends imprisonment of Hamas PLC member Ma’an News Agency 1/16/2009 Hebron Maan An Israeli court at Ramle prison extended on Tuesday the detention of Muhammad An-Natsha, a Hamas-affiliated member of the Palestinian parliament. The court ruled that An-Natsha is a danger to the security of the state of Israel. Jailed by Israel since 2002, An-Natsha was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) after campaigning from his prison cell. Israel is holding some 40 members of the PLC in Israeli jails, many of them seized in the summer of 2006 in response to the capture of an Israeli soldier by Palestinian fighters from Gaza. [end] Imprisoned women appeal for news of families in Gaza Ali Samoudi, Palestine News Network 1/15/2009 Jenin -- Palestinian political prisoners from the Gaza Strip are suffering a severe dearth of information about their families. The Israeli prison administration has all but banned news, reports the Palestinian Prisoners Society. "The suffering is exacerbated when contacts with relatives are disallowed. " Earlier this week a PPS lawyer discovered that dozens of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip have gone to the Israeli prison administration during the past 20 days to ask for the slightest contact with family members, but every request has been denied. Family visits and contacts for political prisoners from Gaza have been difficult for at least four years during which time the transfer of funds to prison store accounts, the Cantina, have been banned. Fatma Azzak is a woman who is sentenced to 14 years in Israeli prison. Gaza op: Most detainees not Hamas men Hanan Greenberg, YNetNews 1/13/2009 Defense officials disappointed by low number of terrorists apprehended in wake of Gaza incursion -Despite the accomplishments boasted by the defense establishment in respect to the military operation in Gaza, it appears the IDF has failed to detain a significant number of Hamas terrorists. In 10 days of fighting in the Gaza Strip, more than 200 Palestinians have been arrested and brought to Israel for questioning. But to the dismay of defense officials, fewer than 30 have been found to have connections to Hamas or any other terror organization. Upon analysis of this data, officials have decided to forgo the establishment of a judiciary facility that had been planned for Ketziot Prison. As part of the preparation for the operation in Gaza, the IDF had planned to establish the judiciary facility in order to interrogate and classify detainees. Reports: Only 30 of 200 Gazans seized during invasion are linked to armed groups Ma’an News Agency 1/13/2009 Bethlehem Maan Only 30 of the 200 Palestinians seized by the Israeli army throughout the war in Gaza have been linked to Hamas or other armed groups, Israeli media reported on Tuesday. According to the reports, Israeli authorities have also put on hold a plan to open a new wing of the Negev prison camp in which many Palestinians are held. The detainees are reportedly being treated as illegal combatants, and will be placed in administrative detention, a practice under which Palestinians can be held indefinitely without trial. Military prosecutors say that judges have already been assigned to the cases of the 200 detainees, and they will be remanded to prison terms according to recommendations from the Israeli security services. 700 people, mostly Arabs, arrested so far in protests against IDF Gaza op Jonathan Lis, Ha’aretz 1/12/2009 Seven hundred protesters against the Israel Defense Forces operation in Gaza, mostly Israeli Arabs or residents of East Jerusalem, have been arrested since the operation began, and dozens have been indicted. The protesters, 226 of whom are still in custody, are suspected of involvement in disturbances, illegal demonstrations or stone-throwing, police said. Of the detainees, 237 are minors. Most of the protests that led to arrests took place in Jerusalem or the north. Palestinians and Israeli left-wing activists claim that in the wake of Operation Cast Lead, the IDF has reintroduced the use of a semiautomatic rifle that uses live ammunition to disperse crowds that was banned after the second Intifada. The Ruger. 22 rifle was banned following the Al-Aqsa Intifada, in which it was used to break up protests and caused the deaths of a number of Palestinians, including youths and children. Israeli soldier shoots 12-year-old boy near Hebron Ma’an News Agency 1/8/2009 Hebron Maan Israeli soldiers fired on a small boy during clashes that erupted in a refugee camp near Hebron on Thursday. An Israeli soldier shot 12-year-old Ya’qub Nassar in the stomach. Paramedics evacuated him to Hebron Hospital, where medical sources reported that he is "seriously injured. " An 18-year-old Palestinian, Sami Ibrahim Thibi, was shot in the neck and also taken to a hospital. Medical sources there described his condition as serious. Medical officials at Hebron Hospital told Ma’an that the 12-year-old boy is undergoing surgery on his stomach, where a bullet entered before passing through his back. Gunfire broke out during a rally in which Palestinian youths and Israeli soldiers clashed at the Al-Fawar Refugee Camp, which is just south of the southern West Bank city of Hebron. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society said on Thuresday. . . Mass demonstration in Ramallah in solidarity with Gaza Ma’an News Agency 1/4/2009 Ramallah Maan Hundreds of Palestinians took to the streets in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Sunday to denounce the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip. Demonstrators carried banners calling for Palestinian national unity, for Palestinian factions to oppose the Israeli onslaught, and for the international community to intervene and stop the massacres. The Undersecretary of the Palestinian Prisoners Affairs Ministry said that now is the time for Palestinians to resolve their internal issues, and that the involvement of Fatah in the protests was a sign of commitment to unity. Ramallah is the seat of the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority (PA), while Gaza is ruled by the rival Hamas movement. General Tawfiq At-Tirawi, the former head of PA intelligence also participated in the demonstration.  Articles
The Myth of Disengagement Abu Yusef from Occupied Palestine, Palestine Monitor 1/29/2009 "Gaza is a prison; and Israel seems to have thrown away the key." - John Dugard, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights In 2004, former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced to the world his plan to unilaterally "disengage" from the 37 year occupation of the Gaza Strip. According to Sharon, protecting the small number of Israeli settlers within one of the world’s most densely populated and hostile environments was becoming far more trouble than it was worth. Underneath this seemingly pragmatic discourse though was the growing belief/fear inside of Israel over the explosion of the demographic bomb in historical Palestine in which Palestinians would soon outnumber their Jewish counterparts leading to charges of Apartheid. By disengaging or supposedly de-occupying the Gaza Strip, Israel was able to cleanly shave off nearly 1.4 million Palestinians from under its perceived control. Sharons decision led to the breakdown of Likuds coalition and eventually the Likud party itself. Sharon forged on by picking up rare support from the Israeli left and forming the more centrist Kadima party to carry out his unilateral plan under a new governing coalition. ’Five Minutes’ With the PA Interrogators Khalid Amayreh – The West Bank, Palestine Chronicle 1/28/2009 When the Beirut-based Al-Quds satellite television interviewed me last week on the recent genocidal Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip, it never occurred to me that the few sound bites I uttered would land me in a slimy prison cell at the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority (PA) Preventive Security Apparatus (PSA) in Hebron. During that interview, I was asked why the American-backed regime in Ramallah was not allowing large protests in solidarity with the Gaza Strip. I answered that the PA didn’t want things to get out of control and that it didn’t wish to antagonize Israel. Interestingly, Israel itself had allowed a massive demonstration against the war on Gaza to take place in the Israeli Arab town of Sakhnin where as many as 150,000 people, including some Jewish peace activists, took to the streets to protest the nauseating killings and bombings of civilian targets all over the coastal enclave. I further pointed out that Israel didn’t really respect the PA and was effectively treating it as a subservient entity serving Israeli interests. Gaza prisoners held in harsh and humiliating conditions Press release, Israeli human rights organizations, Electronic Intifada 1/28/2009 This morning seven Israeli human rights organizations appealed to the Military Judge Advocate General, Brigadier General Avichai Mandelblit, and to Attorney General Meni Mazuz concerning the appalling conditions in which Palestinians arrested during the fighting in Gaza were held, and the humiliating and inhuman treatment to which they were subjected from the time of their arrest until their transfer to the custody of the Israel Prison Service. The complaint, written by Attorneys Bana Shoughry-Badarne, from the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, Lila Margalit, from the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and Abeer Jubran-Dakuar, from Hamoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual, was submitted on behalf of those organizations and on behalf of Physicians for Human Rights - Israel, B’Tselem, Yesh Din and Adalah.It is based on statements collected from detainees by lawyers from the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, as well as on testimony given to Hamoked: the Center for the Defense of the Individual. Israel’s friends cannot justify this slaughter Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, The Independent 1/19/2009 On Saturday night, I was at the BBC to discuss the Sunday papers on their TV news channel. Optimism was up. Israel was about to halt its assault on Gaza. Be thankful for miserable mercies. Easier said than felt. For the trapped people of Gaza, this respite will bring some relief. It will not, cannot curb their grief and outrage after what was done to them while the West stood still. First systematically starved, the population was denied escape and more than 1,200 were slaughtered like animals in an abattoir. A writer of Muslim origin accusing Israel of crimes against Palestinians is always provocative. But race and religion are red herrings. Palestine is a political cause. Some of its most articulate voices Edward Said, Hanan Ashrawi have been Christian. Yes, true, Hamas represents an Islamicisation of the conflict, something I abhor, but the injustices suffered by Palestine go back way before Hamas. I have always defended Israel’s right to be but cannot extend unconditional support and immunity from censure in perpetuity. Nor can countless, conscientious Jewish men and women who publicly condemn Israel’s abominations. The Israeli academic Oren Yiftachel, who has long defended Palestine, has said his country: "Turned Gaza into a massive prison and is choosing to prolong the cycle of state terror and prison resistance that goes with that." In other words, Israel wants to keep the conflict alive. Punishing the Palestinians Ralph Nader, Palestine Chronicle 1/17/2009 What is going on in Gaza is what Bill Moyers called it earlier this month: ’state terrorism.’ In the long sixty-year tortured history of the Palestinian expulsion from their lands, Congress has maintained that it is always the Palestinians, the Palestinian Authority, and now Hamas who are to blame for all hostilities and their consequences with the Israeli government. The latest illustration of this Washington puppet show, backed by the most modern weapons and billions of taxpayer dollars annually sent to Israel, was the grotesquely one-sided Resolutions whisked through the Senate and the House of Representatives. While a massive bombing and invasion of Gaza was underway, the resolution blaming Hamas for all the civilian casualties and devastation—99% of it inflicted on Palestinians—zoomed through the Senate by voice vote and through the House by a vote of 390 to 5 with 22 legislators voting present. There is more dissent against this destruction of Gaza among the Israeli people, the Knesset, the Israeli media, and Jewish-Americans than among the dittoheads on Capitol Hill. How to sell ’ethical warfare’ Neve Gordon, The Guardian 1/16/2009 One of my students was arrested yesterday and spent the night in a prison cell. R’s offence was protesting the Israeli assault on Gaza. He joins over 700 other Israelis who have been detained since the beginning of Israel’s ruthless war on Gaza: an estimated 230 of whom are still behind bars. Within the Israeli context, this strategy of quelling protest and stifling resistance is unprecedented, and it is quite disturbing that the international media has failed to comment on it. Simultaneously, the Israeli media has been towing the government line to such a degree that no criticism of the war has been voiced on any of the three local television stations. Indeed, the situation has become so absurd that reporters and anchors are currently less critical of the war than the military spokespeople. In the absence of any critical analysis, it is not so surprising that 78% of Israelis, or about 98% of all Jewish Israelis, support the war. But eliding critical voices is not the only way that public support has been secured. Support has also been manufactured through ostensibly logical argumentation. One of the ways the media, military and government have been convincing Israelis to rally behind the assault is by claiming that Israel is carrying out a moral military campaign against Hamas. The logic, as Eyal Weizman has cogently observed in his groundbreaking book Hollow Land, is one of restraint. Sleep hard to come by in bombarded Gaza Eva Bartlett writing from the occupied Gaza Strip, Electronic Intifada 1/10/2009 It’s 2:50am and I can’t sleep. Some mornings I wake up from a new explosion and realize I’ve somehow managed to fall into a sleep despite the blasts.Other mornings, I wake up disoriented, first wondering where I am, as I’m sleeping in some hospital waiting room or ambulance office, or the house of a driver since the Red Crescent office in eastern Jabaliya was first shelled and then made off-limits by the invading Israeli forces in the eastern Jabaliya region... and then in the north, the northwest, the east, the south ... Yesterday morning I awoke to an eerie near-quiet: for the time there were no bomb blasts, just the Israeli drones continuing to lord over the sky. Then the blasts came. At 8:38am I noted "resumption of loud, reverberating explosions.In the Saraya area again (the former British prison has been hit a number of times already)? 8:59 am: four very loud explosions with deep reverberations." At 12:15pm I’d noted and photographed the white stream of chemical clouds billowing over large expanses of eastern Gaza. At 1:05 pm: "Since last night until now, 23 persons have been killed, all civilians," reporter Yousef al-Helo told me, adding, "This afternoon, two people -- including women and children -- were killed in a shelling on Beit Lahia." Hamas and the Continued Turnaround Hassan Haidar, MIFTAH 1/8/2009 Hamas - like Hezbollah, the other devout follower of the Syrian and Iranian regimes - is an expert at changing notions and truths, and using words in a manner that is contrary to their definition. Hence, simply staying alive becomes a "victory"; the increase in the number of deaths and injuries becomes the ability to "resist"; "scratching" the Israeli cities with a few rockets becomes a "strategic balance", and the lack of readiness for battle and of surveillance of the enemy’s intentions, as well as being surprised by the extent of the enemy’s response become "betrayal". It must be noted that Hamas has accused Israel of betrayal ever since the beginning of the conflict between them, but has not made a priority of taking its precautions against it. Slogans that praise genocide and death turn into a political program for the future, the rational becomes an "enemy", the intermediary a "swindler", and the international community a "conniver". It is why Khaled Mashal reassures "loved ones that resistance in Gaza is doing fine, its infrastructure is unharmed, and has only registered very slight losses" - as if all the destruction, the dead and the wounded who cannot get access to treatment do not enter in the calculations of Hamas, which is forcefully holding the Gaza Strip’s fate in its hands. Hamas was not even embarrassed to pursue the Fateh fighters and return them to prison after their detention place was destroyed by Israeli bombing. This brutality will never break our will to be free Khalid Mish'al, The Guardian 1/6/2009 For 18 months my people in Gaza have been under siege, incarcerated inside the world’s biggest prison, sealed off from land, air and sea, caged and starved, denied even medication for our sick. After the slow death policy came the bombardment. In this most densely populated of places, nothing has been spared Israel’s warplanes, from government buildings to homes, mosques, hospitals, schools and markets. More than 540 have been killed and thousands permanently maimed. A third are women and children. Whole families have been massacred, some while they slept. This river of blood is being shed under lies and false pretexts. For six months we in Hamas observed the ceasefire. Israel broke it repeatedly from the start. Israel was required to open crossings to Gaza, and extend the truce to the West Bank. It proceeded to tighten its deadly siege of Gaza, repeatedly cutting electricity and water supplies. The collective punishment did not halt, but accelerated - as did the assassinations and killings. Thirty Gazans were killed by Israeli fire and hundreds of patients died as a direct effect of the siege during the so-called ceasefire. Israel enjoyed a period of calm. Our people did not. A Gaza Account: Life in the Line of Fire Eyad El-Sarraj - Gaza, Palestine Chronicle 1/4/2009 ’Israel looks to be increasingly living outside the norms of the world community.’ This carnage goes on, as does another humanitarian crisis brought about by the Israeli siege of Gaza: a lack of medicines, bread, flour, gas, electricity, fuel and almost everything else. The Israeli siege has literally turned Gaza into a massive prison. All our borders are sealed, so there is no way out. By Tuesday night, Gaza was like a ghost town. Its streets were deserted and people didn’t dare to come out of their houses. The children suffer the most, I think. They see the fear in their mothers’ eyes. The image of their fathers as a source of security is shattered. Their fathers could not provide them with food, and now they are unable to protect them. The rockets will eventually stop flying, I am certain, but it may be too late for these children. To me, the chances seem great that they will join Hamas as they search for a replacement for the father figure, someone to provide and protect. In this way, Israeli actions will only strengthen Hamas. Top 5 Lies about Israel’s Assault on Gaza Jeremy R. Hammond, Palestine Chronicle 1/3/2009 ’No place is safe within the Gaza Strip.’ (Zoriah - zoriah.net) Lie #1: Israel is only targeting legitimate military sites and is seeking to protect innocent lives. Israel never targets civilians. The Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated pieces of property in the world. The presence of militants within a civilian population does not, under international law, deprive that population of their protected status, and hence any assault upon that population under the guise of targeting militants is, in fact, a war crime. Moreover, the people Israel claims are legitimate targets are members of Hamas, which Israel says is a terrorist organization. Hamas has been responsible for firing rockets into Israel. These rockets are extremely inaccurate and thus, even if Hamas intended to hit military targets within Israel, are indiscriminate by nature. When rockets from Gaza kill Israeli civilians, it is a war crime. Hamas has a military wing. However, it is not entirely a military organization, but a political one. Members of Hamas are the democratically elected representatives of the Palestinian people. Dozens of these elected leaders have been kidnapped and held in Israeli prisons without charge. Others have been targeted for assassination, such as Nizar Rayan, a top Hamas official. To kill Rayan, Israel targeted a residential apartment building. The strike not only killed Rayan but two of his wives and four of his children, along with six others. There is no justification for such an attack under international law. This was a war crime. I can’t hug my mother in Gaza Ghada Ageel writing from the UK, Electronic Intifada 1/1/2009 There is nothing worse in life than being glued to the TV screen, watching one’s nation being slaughtered on an hourly basis while able to do nothing. There is nothing more painful in this universe than hearing the tears and cries of one’s mother on the phone and be unable to hug her, to wipe her tears or to comfort her with any words or means. There is nothing more terrifying than living through every night in fear that the coming morning will bring the worst possible news a person can bear, that a member of one’s immediate family has been killed. And last but not least there is nothing more horrible on this globe than something happening to a family member when he or she is barred from returning to his or her family and home. Like many other members of my community, I wonder what is happening to humanity in the 21st century that makes it deaf to the cries of Gaza’s children and of its entire population, trapped in their open-air prison for more than two years now. LinksAdalah Adalah (Justice in Arabic) is the first non-profit, non-sectarian Palestinian-run legal center in Israel. The main goal of Adalah’s work is to achieve equal rights and minority rights protections for Palestinian citizens of Israel. Addameer Prisoners’ Support and Human Rights Organization: Addameer (conscience) is a Palestinian non-governmental, civil institution which focuses on human rights issues. Supports Palestinian prisoners, advocates for rights of political prisoners, works to end torture. Amnesty International Amnesty International (AI) is a worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights. AI’s vision is of a world in which every person enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards. Amnesty International USA Amnesty International (AI) is a worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights. AI’s vision is of a world in which every person enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards. Arab Association for Human Rights - HRA The HRA was founded in 1988 to promote and protect the political, civil, economic, and cultural rights of the Palestinian Arab minority in Israel and to further the domestic implementation of international human rights principles. It is an independent non-governmental organisation registered in Israel. Association for Civil Rights in Israel - ACRI In Hebrew - The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) was founded in 1972 as a non-political and independent body, with the goal of protecting human and civil rights in Israel and in the territories under Israeli control. B’tselem The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories. It endeavors to document and educate the Israeli public and policymakers about human rights violations in the Occupied Territories, combat the phenomenon of denial prevalent among the Israeli public, and help create a human rights culture in Israel. Boycott Israeli Medical Association UK: The Medical Committee for Boycott of the Israeli Medical Association (IMA) will document the systematic torture of Palestinian people by agents of Israel. It will publicise the practice in order to bring world opinion to bear on Israel. And it will challenge the Israeli Medical Association which has repeatedly failed to issue advice to doctors who are involved in any way with torture. Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch is an independent, nongovernmental organization, supported by contributions from private individuals and foundations worldwide. Human Rights Watch is dedicated to protecting the human rights of people around the world. Palestinian Center for Human Rights The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) is an independent legal body based in Gaza City dedicated to protecting human rights, promoting the rule of law, and upholding democratic principles in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Palestinian Prisoners Society The Palestinian Prisoner Society is a social and human institution and its members are prisoners inside prisons and released prisoners. Membership is open to every Palestinian prisoner inside and outside prisons who meets the conditions of membership. Physicians for Human Rights - Israel Physicians for Human Rights - Israel (PHR-Israel) was established in 1988 as a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, dedicated to promoting and protecting the medical human rights of all residents of Israel and the Occupied Territories. Public Committee Against Torture in Israel - PCATI An independent human rights organization founded that monitors the implementation conditions in detention centers and continues the struggle against the use of torture in interrogation in Israel and the Palestinian Authority. United Nations Information System on the Question of Palestine The main collection contains the texts of current and historical United Nations material concerning the question of Palestine and other issues related to the Middle East situation and the search for peace. World Organisation Against Torture OMCT is today the largest international coalition of NGOs fighting against torture,summary executions, forced disappearances and all other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in order to preserve Human Rights. It has at its disposal a network, SOS Torture, consisting of some 240 non-governmental organisations which act as sources of information.
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