Vermonters for a Just Peace in Palestine/Israel
Prisoners Archive - March 2008
Treatment of Prisoners and Detainees by Israel and Others
Prisoners Archive - March 2008
Treatment of Prisoners and Detainees by Israel and Others
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Israeli forces targeting youth, elderly and ill in arrest campaigns Palestine News Network 3/31/2008 Najib Farrag -- Israeli forces are targeting minors, the elderly and ill during recent arrest campaigns, according to the latest report issued by the Palestinian Prisoner Society. Lawyers from the well-respected PPS gathered field research and testimonies from the arrestees themselves. On average, Israeli forces arrest 15 Palestinians per day over the last six months. Some were released, but the majority of the latest 700 imprisoned remain so. There are over 11,000 Palestinians currently in Israeli prisons. A lawyer from PPS reports that he visited the Etzion Detention Center in the Settlement Bloc of the same name. This military compound lies in the southern West Bank on confiscated Palestinian lands between Hebron and Bethlehem. The lawyer met with a large number of newly arrested Palestinians and found that the majority of them are minors, with the remainder being either elderly or ill. IOA blocks visits to female detainee Palestinian Information Center 3/29/2008 NABLUS, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authority has banned lawyer of Nafha legal society from visiting detainee Hanadi Kenaan raising doubts that she was subjected to illegal pressures and blackmailing. IOF troops took away Hanadi, 26, from her parents’ house in downtown Nablus on 27/3/2008. Nafha appealed to human and women rights groups to demand freedom of Hanadi and to pressure the IOA into allowing her lawyer’s visit. The Petah Tikwa interrogation center also prevented lawyer of detainee Yazid Eshtawi from visiting him at the pretext that interrogation with him was not over yet. In another incident Nafha lawyer said that the IOA moved detainee Ayat Al-Qaisi, 17, from Petah Tikwa to Hasharon central prison after ten days of suffering and psychological pressures during which her lawyer was not allowed to meet her for seven days. Female Detainee on hunger strike since 17 days IMEMC News, International Middle East Media Center 3/28/2008 Lawyer of Al Hoqooq Center for Detainees Studies reported on Thursday that detainee Noura Al Hashlamoon, 37, a mother of six children, from Aqbat Tafooh area in the southern West Bank city of Hebron, is on hunger strike since 17 days in protest to her continued solitary confinement. Al Hashlamoon is detained in Al Ramla Israeli prison and subjected to ongoing violations which include ongoing solitary confinement, barring her from receiving proper food, and barring her from showering or even changing her clothes. Freed female detainee, Raja’ Al Ghoul, stated that Al Hashlamoon is threatening to continue her hunger strike indefinitely until the Israeli Authorities release her. Ra’fat Hamdoona, head of the Center, appealed several human rights groups, including the International Red Cross to intervene and save the life of Al Hashlamoon, and to act for her release in order to enable her to be among her children. Qalqilia: surrounded by the Wall and under siege Palestine News Network 3/26/2008 Qalqilia / Mustafa Sabri - Has there been an earthquake in this place? Or was it the artillery shells? Did Israeli forces drop bombs from the sky? The latter is the truth. However, a visitor could not determine the source of this destruction from the hands of the Israelis in the northwestern West Bank. The entire region is shaking to its roots. Palestine News Network visited a house in Qalqilia which was the target of the tens of incursions and raids. Mohammed Hassan is accused by Israeli forces as being behind a car bombing five years ago. The Israelis came and attacked his family: they would be killed or go to prison if they did not submit to interrogation under the terms the Israelis wanted. His father was released several months ago from the Israeli Telmond Prison. The house was nothing to return to. Female prisoner released from Israeli jail after 16 months Ma’an News Agency 3/26/2008 Bethlehem – Ma’an – A 21-year-old Palestinian woman was released from an Israeli prison on Wednesday after 16 months detention. Jihan Fouad Mustapha Ad-Dahadha, from Ramallah, was imprisoned in December 2006 for being affiliated to Islamic Jihad. On her release she said that female prisoners are living under harsh conditions in Israeli jails. [end] Nonviolent resistance in Israeli prisons Palestine News Network 3/25/2008 PNN -- Palestinian political prisoners do what they can to resist occupation and the conditions under which they try to survive. The Rasala Center for Human Rights said yesterday, "The suffering of Palestinians in Israeli prisons is worsened amid silence. "Leftists PFLP and DFLP condemn continued imprisonment of Rabah Muhanna. There is little international attention paid to the over 11,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons. Yet in the Palestinian street, they are on the minds of most all people. Nearly everyone has someone in the prisons, if not a family member, then a close friend. Mothers hold a weekly nonviolent demonstration in front of the Red Cross headquarters in the northern West Bank demanding the release of their children. A woman has been on hunger-strike for 10 days now in Israeli prison, another is going on 18 days. IPA isolates 3 Palestinian female prisoners on hunger strike Palestinian Information Center 3/25/2008 NABLUS, (PIC)-- The Israeli prisons authority (IPA) has isolated three Palestinian female prisoners after 18 days of starting a hunger strike protesting incarceration conditions and repeated administrative detention. Rania Al-Sakaa, one of the detainees on strike, said in a message from her cell that she was suffering from exhaustion due to her heart ailment. Abir Odeh is another detainee on strike held in the same isolation with Rania. The internees said they were protesting medical neglect, bad meals and harsh treatment by IPA while a third captive Noura Al-Hashlamon said she went on hunger strike a week ago because of renewing her administrative detention without trial or charge despite promises she would be freed, which made her end an earlier hunger strike. Entire Palestinian family held in occupation jails Palestinian Information Center 3/24/2008 NABLUS, (PIC)-- A Palestinian family from the Jama’in village, south of Nablus, has three of its four members in Israeli occupation jails, the Nafha legal society catering for prisoners’ affairs reported. It said that the father Jasser Abu Omar, 33, was serving a 45-month sentence in the Megiddo prison while his wife Khawla Zeitawi, 28, was serving a two-year sentence in Hasharon jail along with her one and a half year old daughter Ghada who was born in prison. A three-year old child called Salsabil is the only member of this family that is out of jail and is living with her aunt. The society wondered how could human rights organizations ignore such facts, and questioned their role towards the tragedy of an entire people who are still under occupation. Journalists targets of Israeli forces Palestine News Network 3/21/2008 Najib Farrag -- The Israeli authorities are keeping Bethlehem journalist Hassan Abdel Jawad in prison. The 56 year old was arrested two weeks ago when Israeli forces stormed Deheisha Refugee Camp and Beit Sahour at 3:00 am. They took six Palestinians that night after having attended a memorial service for the late founder of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, George Habash, the day before in the Church of Nativity. The head of the Palestinian Journalist Union, Naim Toubassi, told a PNN editor in his office in Ramallah on Wednesday, "The Hassan of today imparts information and he is not a well man. He has diabetes and a heart condition. I am certain that he poses no threat to the security of Israel. " In the Israeli indictment of the journalist, it is mentioned that he is a PFLP member. JPOST: PA urges Palestinians to ‘return’ International Solidarity Movement 3/22/2008 The Palestinian Authority is planning to mark Israel’s 60th anniversary by calling on all Palestinians living abroad to converge on Israel by land, sea and air. The plan, drawn by Ziad Abu Ein, a senior Fatah operative and Deputy Minister for Prisoners’ Affairs in the Palestinian Authority, states that the Palestinians have decided to implement United Nations Resolution 194 regarding the refugees. Article 11 of the resolution, which was passed in December 1948, says that "refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible. Israeli court turns down appeal to free longest serving administrative detainee Palestinian Information Center 3/22/2008 JENIN, (PIC)-- The Israeli military court in Negev jail has turned down an appeal to free the longest serving Palestinian administrative detainee who has been held in occupation jails for 51 months without trial. The lawyer of Nafha legal society said on Saturday that Adnan Hamarsha, 43, was detained on 31/12/2003, in the fourth such arrest by the Israeli occupation authority, without any charge and held in administrative detention since then. He added that Hamarsha, a father of six children, was moved from one Israeli jail to another and was held for 9 years in occupation jails. The wife of Hamarsha said that he suffered high blood pressure and heart ailment during his custody, and added that the Israeli military courts kept on extending his detention without charge at the pretext of having a secret file against him. Israeli court extends detention of six Palestinian prisoners Ma’an News Agency 3/22/2008 Jenin – Ma’an – An Israeli military court has extended the detention of six Palestinian prisoners from the West Bank cities of Jenin and Tulkarem. Jenin’s office for prisoners’ affairslisted the names of the detainees: Muhammad Nur Ismael Abu Ar-Rab from Qabatiya, Raed Sa’id As’ad from Tulkarem, Hussam Yahya Abu Ar-Rab from Qabatiya and Naji Wahsh Barjis from Jenin refugee camp. Israel currently holds more than 11,000 Palestinians in prisons and detention centers. [end] 5 girls being held in ’inhumane’ conditions Nadav Shragai, Ha’aretz 3/20/2008 The Israel Prisons Service is holding five teenage girls in filthy rooms and barring them from showering or receiving medical attention, the Israel Bar Association stated in a critical report on the police holding center in Jerusalem’s Russian Compound. The girls were arrested in connection with right-wing disturbances in the East Jerusalem village of Jabal Mukkaber last week. Committee members were "astonished by the humiliating and inhumane conditions in which the minors were held," stated the report by the IBA’s Israel Prison Service Committee, which is chaired by attorney Michael Atia. Some of the teens had been placed in a cell with a woman of about 60, whom officers said had severe mental disorders and suicidal impulses. The report stated the beds were dirty, the mattresses filthy and the blankets gave off a stench. IOF troops kidnap 7 members of one family in northern Gaza Palestinian Information Center 3/19/2008 BEIT HANUN, (PIC)-- IOF troops on Wednesday kidnapped seven members of a Palestinian family east of Beit Hanun city to the north of the Gaza Strip after wreaking havoc in the family home. Eyewitnesses reported that the soldiers advanced into eastern Beit Hanun and encircled a house for Salah family amidst intensified firing. They added that the soldiers arrested Assad Fahmi Salah, his three sons, and his brother Sa’eed and his two sons. The occupation forces bulldozed large areas of cultivated lands in the area while artillery shells slammed in fields east of Gaza city. A Palestinian society for prisoners and ex-prisoners denounced the IOF kidnapping of seven civilians after savagely breaking into their home. Wa’ed society said that the kidnap fell in line with the policy of holocaust against Gaza and the mass punishment imposed on the Strip. Palestinian prisoners issue message of support for Bethlehem after Israeli attack Ma’an News Agency 3/19/2008 Bethlehem – Ma’an Exclusive – A group of Fatah-affiliated Palestinian prisoners have issued a message from an Israeli jail on Wednesday expressing sorrow at the assassination by undercover Israeli forces of four Palestinian fighters in the West Bank city of Bethlehem a week ago. The message also called on rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah to hold negotiations aimed at uniting the Palestinian people. The prisoners applauded the Secretary-General of Hizbullah, Hasan Nasrallah, for offering to financially support families of the slain leaders in Bethlehem. The four Palestinian men, one of them affiliated with the armed wing of Fatah, the Al-Aqsa Brigades, were gunned down in their car by Israeli special forces last Wednesday. Since the beginning of 2008, Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails have sent dozens of messages from their prison cells by means of telephone calls, oral messages and swallowed "capsules" of paper. Prisons Service: Underage girls treated inhumanely in custody Nadav Shragai, Ha’aretz 3/19/2008 Underage girls held at the Russian Compound holding cells in Jerusalem suffer inhumane and humiliating treatment, so maintains a report issued by the Israel Prisons Service Committee of the Israel Bar. Committee members met with five girls between the ages of 14 and 17 who had been arrested during a right wing demonstrationin the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabal Mukaber earlier this week, during which activists tried to storm the house of a terrorist who killed eight yeshiva students in Jerusalem two weeks ago. In the interim report, the committee wrote that the cells in which the girls were held were filthy and unsanitary. "The underage girls were given used military blankets exuding a bad smell, to say the least," the report said. According to the report, three of the girls were placed in one cell together with an adult. . . Army releases Dr. Hamadan, a lecturer at Al Najah University IMEMC News, International Middle East Media Center 3/19/2008 The Nafha Society for Defending Detainees Rights and Human Rights reported on Wednesday that the Israeli Authorities release Dr, Ghassan Hamdan, a lecturer at Al Najah National University in the northern West BAnk city of Nablus. Dr. Hamdan was kidnapped by the Israeli forces on January 16, 2008 and was in solitary confinement and under interrogation in Petah Tikva interrogation facility. His lawyer was not allowed to meet him and Hamdan was subjected to physical and psychological pressures during his interrogation. [end] Israel to release a female Palestinian detainee IMEMC News, International Middle East Media Center 3/19/2008 Israeli District Court judge decided to release a Palestinian female detainee from the northern West Bank city of Nablus after she spent one month under interrogation without charges. The detainee, Tasneem Al Khayyat, 21, is a student at Al Najah University in Nablus. She was kidnapped by the army on February 18 2008 after the army broke into her home, and was in solitary confinement in Petah Tikva and Hasharon Israeli interrogation facilities. [end] Detentions and Threats Sharpen Crisis for West Bank Journalists Palestine News Network 3/18/2008 The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today has condemned a series of detentions and threats to journalists in the Palestinian West Bank, which it says are creating a new level of intimidation of journalists and the press in the region. Five journalists were arrested Tuesday by the Jordanian government in Amman for reporting "against a judge," while eight are in Israeli prison. The IFJ is calling for the release of journalists being held in Israeli prisons for their critical reporting. The arrest last week in Bethlehem of journalist Hasan Abdel Jawad, who is also a Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate (PJS) board member, brings to 8 journalists detained by Israeli authorities. "This targeting of Palestinian journalists by Israel is completely unacceptable," said IFJ President Jim Boumelha. "Our colleagues should be released and any further threats against journalists trying to do their job should be eliminated. The Popular Committees Appeals the release of a detained mother and her infant International Middle East Media Center 3/18/2008 The Palestinian Popular (Folk) Committees issued on Tuesday a press release appealing [for] the release of a Palestinian mother and her newly born child imprisoned at Hasharon Israeli detention facility. The Committees stated that detainee Fatima Al Ziq, 40, from Al Shujaeyya neighborhood in Gaza City, gave birth to her infant Yousef 40 days ago. Al Ziq was kidnapped by the Israeli army more than eight months ago. The infant is currently needs urgent medical attention. Azmi Shiokhy, Secretary-general of the Committees, stated that another detained child, Ghada Abu Omar, 19 months, the daughter of detainee Khawla Zeitwai, also needs medical attention. There are nearly 110 female detainees, and nearly 300 underage detainees currently imprisoned by Israel. Al Shiokhy voiced an appeal to the International Community, the Red Cross and several human rights groups to intervene and ensure the release of the detained women and children. Eight detainees receive administrative detention orders International Middle East Media Center 3/18/2008 The Nafha Society for Defending the Detainees’ Rights and Human Rights, reported on Tuesday that the Israeli Prison Authorities issued orders extending the remand of eight detainees under administrative detention without charges of trial. The society stated that the prosecution did not press any charges against the detainees and that they were sentenced to different imprisonment periods under what is known as "Administrative Detention" which Israel inherited from the British Mandate. The eight detainees are Bahjat Yameen from Qalqilia, sentenced to 6 months, Fursan Bani Fadil, from Nablus, 6 months, Ashraf Shamasna from Jerusalem, 6 months, Yasser Issa from Nablus, 6 months, Fadi Dweikat from Nablus, 6 months, Yousef Al Shomaly from Bethlehem, 4 months, Shihab Mizhir from Bethlehem, 4 months, and Shihab Al Husseiny from Hebron, 4 months. Detainee sentenced to two years International Middle East Media Center 3/18/2008 The Salem Israeli Military Court sentenced on Tuesday detainee Shabeeb Hasan, from Borqa village near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, to two years imprisoned and a 2000 NIS fine. The court also extended the remand of detainee Anas Hussein and Hassan Khabbas to 14 additional days and extended the remand of detainees Ruad Rayyan, Mohammad Merey and Abdullah ’Aassy from Qarawa village near the West Bank city of Salfit, until May 20. The court extended the remand of detainees Azzam Hamad and Nassr Ed Deen Kharaz, from Nablus, until May 15. [end] Israeli court bans family visits to Sheikh Abul Haija for five years running Palestinian Information Center 3/18/2008 JENIN, (PIC)-- The Israeli military court has turned down a request by detainee Sheikh Jamal Abul Haija, one of the Hamas leaders in the West Bank, to allow him family visits after being denied that right for five years. The wife, Asmaa Abul Haija, said, after the ruling was passed on Monday, that her husband had filed a complaint against the Israeli prisons authority (IPA). She noted that the court refused to allow her husband to speak during the hearing to respond to the prosecution and intelligence’s allegations, which demanded that the ban on his wife and his daughter Banan, a lawyer, and other adult sons be continued since they were all ex-detainees and the Sheikh still posed "dangers" to the Zionist security despite being behind bars!Asmaa said that the intelligence representative also demanded continued isolation of the Sheikh, who has been in solitary confinement ever since his detention in June 2003. IOA extends detention of the Palestinian female MP Palestinian Information Center 3/17/2008 NABLUS, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authority ahs extended the detention without trial of MP Dr. Mariam Saleh for four more months after failing to level any charge against her, the Nafha legal society said. It denounced the "arbitrary, repressive" decision, describing it as an "assault on the Palestinian people’s right to choose their own representatives. " The director of the society stated that the IOA has stripped itself of all values of humanity, mercy and ethics, explaining that it "deals with the Palestinians not like human beings with rights, which the entire world had recognized, but rather like creatures that do not deserve to live". He stressed that the Palestinian people’s unity and steadfastness are the real guarantees for the return of their rights, liberation of prisoners and forcing the IOA to evacuate the occupied lands. Hamas’s captives condemn IOA practices against female captives Palestinian Information Center 3/17/2008 TULKARM, (PIC)-- Despite their suffering in the darkness of the Israeli jails, detained Hamas members in Israeli prisons raised the issue of the Palestinian female captives in Israeli jails, urging Palestinian factions to pay more attention to their ordeal. In a letter they succeeded to leak from their detention cell, the Hamas captives explained that the Palestinian female captives are exposed to different kinds of physical and mental torture at the hands of their Israeli jailors that turned their life into "hell". Enumerating a number of the Israeli practices against them, the letter explained that the female captives were exposed to strip search, deliberate medical neglect, solitary confinement, high fines, and denial of family visits among other "vicious" Israeli practices. In addition, the letter asserted that many female detainees were beaten up at the hands of the Israeli. . . Nafha Society: "100 detainees under interrogation in Al Jalama prison, abused and isolated"¯ IMEMC News, International Middle East Media Center 3/17/2008 The Nafha Society for Defending the Rights of the Detainees and Human Rights reported on Monday that nearly 100 detainees are currently under interrogation in Al Jalama Israeli interrogation facility facing physical and psychological pressures. One of the lawyers of the society stated that he visited a number of detainees in Al Jalama and Petah Tikva prisons and observed the bad conditions and harsh treatment the detainees are facing. Detainee Ra’fat Yousef Awwad, from Awarta town near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, is gradually losing weight and his body is weakening by the day to the extent that he currently cannot stand or sit to perform prayers. Detainee Mohammad Radwan Yassin was recently moved to the prison clinic after suffering an acute infection in his stomach. He also suffered from a slipped-disc in his neck and back. Palestinian baby falls ill in Israeli prison Ma’an News Agency 3/16/2008 Nablus – Ma’an – The youngest prisoner in the world, 40-day-year old Yousif Az-Ziq from Gaza City, who was born to a Palestinian female prisoner Fatima Az-Ziq, was hospitalized in the prison’s clinic at the Israeli prison of Hasharon, after he suffered from a high fever. Sources from the Nafha Association for Defending Prisoners and Human Rights stated that a freed female prisoner, Samar Sbaih, had informed them of the situation. Sbaih said that the child’s temperature had risen seriously. Another infant prisoner, according to Nafha, is 19-month old baby girl Ghada Abu Umar, daughter of Khawla Zeitawi, who is serving a two-year sentence in an Israeli prison. The Nafha society appealed to international humanitarian organizations to free both women and child prisoners from Israeli prisons. 40-day-old Palestinian baby in Israeli jails falls ill Palestinian Information Center 3/16/2008 GAZA, (PIC)-- The Nafah society for the defense of human and prisoners’ rights was informed by an ex-detainee in Israeli jails that a 40-day-old baby called Youssef Al-Zak was transferred to a clinic in the Israeli Hasharon prison with high temperature. The society stated that the baby was born in the prison 40 days ago to Fatima Al-Zak, 42, a prisoner in the Hasharon prison who was kidnapped from the Shujaiyeh neighborhood in Gaza eight months ago. The society pointed that there is another Palestinian baby in the prison called Ghada Abu Omar, a one year old, born to prisoner Khoula Zitawi who was sentenced to two years. The society appealed to human rights organizations to intervene to rescue the two babies imprisoned with their mothers and to work for the release of more than 400 women and children inside Israeli jails. Israeli court renews administrative detention of Palestinian mother for 7th time Palestinian Information Center 3/15/2008 GAZA, (PIC)-- The PA ministry of prisoners’ affairs in Gaza strongly denounced the Israeli prison courts for renewing the administrative detention of a Palestinian woman called Nora Hashlamoun, 37, from Al-Khalil city, southern West Bank, for the seventh consecutive time. Riyadh Al-Ashqar, the director of the ministry’s information office, stated that prisoner Hashlamoun went on hunger strike last December for 27 consecutive days in order to demand the non-renewal of her administrative detention and her immediate release, where she spent more than two years under administrative detention without any charge being leveled against her. Ashqar added that the Telmond prison administration transferred her to solitary confinement to dissuade her from continuing in her hunger strike, pointing out that she suffered from a kidney disease as a result of medical negligence practiced by the prison administration against Palestinian prisoners. News in Brief Ha’aretz 3/14/2008 2 cops suspected of abusing Palestinian - Two police officers serving in the Ma’aleh Adumim station were arrested by Internal Affairs officers Wednesday on suspicion of abusing a Palestinian prisoner. The two are suspected of beating the prisoner and abused him physically and sexually. A gag order has been placed on the identity of the officers, and after their arrest they were released to house arrest. Allegedly, the abuse took place last November against a resident of Azariya in the West Bank. (Jonathan Lis) Islamic leader fears attacks by rightists - The head of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement, Sheikh Ra’ad Salah, said yesterday he would not appear before police for questioning over allegedly inciting remarks he made last year because he fears he will be attacked by rightist Jews. In a statement released by the movement, Salah and other activists said they were taking... Wa’ed: Israel escalated arbitrary practices against detained Palestinian women Palestinian Information Center 3/8/2008 GAZA, (PIC)-- On the occasion of the international women’s day, the Wa’ed society for detainees and ex-detainees highlighted that the conditions of Palestinian female prisoners in Israeli jails witnessed a serious deterioration this year as the Israeli prisons authority escalated all forms of penalties and humiliation against them. The society explained that the Palestinian female prisoners suffer very difficult living conditions including overcrowding inside their cells which forces some women to sleep on the floor; besides, the cells are full of insects, cockroaches and rats. The society added that the Israeli prisons’ administrations take pleasure in imposing a lot of inhumane arbitrary measures against the incarcerated Palestinian women including imposing fines, depriving them of family visits, detaining them in solitary cells and carrying out strip searches. Palestinian MP wounded in Zionist settlers’ assault on her car Palestinian Information Center 3/8/2008 NABLUS, (PIC)-- A group of Zionist fanatic settlers threw stones at the car of MP Dr. Siham Thabet, the wife of martyr Dr. Thabet Thabet, near Yitshar settlement, Nablus district, on Friday wounding her in the face, locals reported. They said that the lawmaker was injured in the attack after the front and rear window shields of her car were smashed in the attack. IOF soldiers rushed to the scene and Dr. Siham, who was accompanied by her son Ahmed and was en route from Tulkarm to Ramallah, was carried to a Nablus hospital after coordination with the Red Cross. In another incident, the IOA deported detainee Ahlam Jawher, 30, to Jordan on Thursday after detaining her for almost 45 days in jail. She was deprived of family and lawyers’ visits, and underwent a series of interrogation rounds. Ahlam was a human rights activist. The PJB calls on Abbas’s security to release sick journalist Palestinian Information Center 7/3/2008 GAZA, (PIC)-- The Palestinian Journalists Bloc (PJB) called on media and human rights organisations to intervene to secure the release of a sick journalist from Abbas’s security prisons. Musaab Kataloni has recently undergone medical surgery and needs regular medical attention. He was kidnapped from his home in Nablus by Abbas’s General Intelligence on Wednesday and because he could not walk he was carried to the car which took him to an unknown destination. According to the journalist’s family they were visited by Abbas’s security men around 9:00 PM and ordered Musaab out because he was under arrest, without producing any official papers to that effect. Musaab’s family also said that he has undergone a surgery on his knee and cannot walk without two crutches and that his doctor advised him to rest and not to undertake difficult tasks for six months. Consequences of the PMRS bombing on the health system in Gaza Palestine Monitor, Palestine Monitor 3/6/2008 This article is based on an interview Palestine Monitor had with Magali Thill and Asier Rodriguez from the Spanish NGO ACSUR. The massacre that the Israeli military has been inflicting upon the civilians of the Gaza strip during the last couple of days is one of rarely seen proportions. Over one hundred people were killed in just a few days time, hundreds of others injured, the vast majority of them unarmed citizens. This indiscriminate slaughtering of men, women and children was the most violent Israeli attack on Gaza in several years, but for the people living there, it"™s just another cause of suffering. Years of occupation, violence and bloodshed have totally exhausted the 1. 5 million citizens who are living as prisoners in this tiny strip of land. Since Hamas took over power in the Gaza strip, and Israel and the international community imposed very severe sanctions, the living... Police ordered to arrest 300 infiltrators each day Roni Lifshitz, YNetNews 3/5/2008 Following orders from prime minister, Immigration Administration launches operation that would see 300 infiltrators to Israel arrested each day. Court system, Prison Service also prepare for operation - The Immigration Administration has launched a special operation during which 300 people who have infiltrated Israel through the Egyptian border will be arrested each day. A document distributed by the police’s Branch of Operations and obtained by Ynet reveled that each infiltrator arrested would be handed over to the Population Authority, which will determine whether to release or deport him. As part of this operation, the court system is preparing to increase its capacity and the Israel Prison Service has also designated extra lockup facilities for this purpose. According to the document, in the course of the operation officers will approach every... Israeli Arab jailed for 16 years over ’honor killing’ of his sister The Associated Press, Ha’aretz 3/6/2008 A Tel Aviv court has sentenced an Israeli Arab man to 16 years in prison for involvement in the murder of his sister in an "honor killing," after several female relatives took the rare step of testifying against him, according to court documents. Hamda Abu Ghanem was the ninth woman killed in the clan in recent years by men in the family. She was shot in January last year as she slept at her parents’ home in a Muslim neighborhood of Ramle, a mixed Jewish-Arab town of 65,000 in central Israel. Honor killings refer to murder of women by relatives for allegedly sullying the good name of the family, usually because of sexual misdeeds. Incriminating evidence against the brother, Kamil Abu Ghanem, included an account by an aunt who said she saw him enter the family home, heard shots, and then saw him flee the area. IOA transfers two Hamas prisoners from Hadarim to Nafha prison as punitive act Palestinian Information Center 3/4/2008 OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The higher committee of Hamas prisoners strongly denounced the IOA for transferring Hamas prisoners Ruhi Mushtaha and Yahya Al-Senwar from the Hadarim prison to the Nafha desert prison in the context of punitive measures against them without any justification. The committee described this Israel act as "arbitrary" especially since the transferred prisoners are its members. Prisoner Senwar was kidnapped 20 years ago and now he is serving a prison term of 54 years; whereas, Mushtaha received, when he was also kidnapped 20 years ago, a lifetime prison term. In another context, MP Yasser Mansour imprisoned in Israeli jails deplored on Tuesday the PA security apparatuses in Ramallah for continuing to detain mayor of Bidya in the Salfit city, Ramadan Shatat, and municipal member, Izzaddin Ibrahim, while Israel are still committing crimes against the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank. PCHR calls for investigation into death of Palestinian prisoner, citing possible medical negligence Ma’an News Agency 3/4/2008 Bethlehem – Ma’an – The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) has called for an investigation into the death of 47-year-old Fadel ‘Ouda ‘Atiya Shaheen, who died on 29 February 2008 in the Israeli prison of Be’r al-Saba’, saying that there is reason to believe that the prison’s administration failed to respond to his deteriorating health condition. Shaheen, who was from the Al-Jalaa neighborhood in Gaza City, was seized on 15 October 2004 by Israeli troops stationed at the now defunct Abu Houli checkpoint in the central Gaza Strip. He was indicted on 16 November 2004 and sentenced to 8. 5 years of prison. PCHR said that at the time of writing the press release, Shaheen’s body was in the process of being transported to his family in the Gaza Strip through the Erez crossing after an autopsy was performed in an Israeli forensic medicine institute. Torture coalition demands investigation into death of PA detainee Report, United Against Torture Coalition, Electronic Intifada 3/3/2008 Torture coalition demands investigation into death of PA detainee Majd al-Barghouti died on 22 February, while he was being illegally detained by the General Intelligence Service (GIS) of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in Ramallah. The forensic medical report, ordered by the Palestinian Attorney General, calls the sudden death "natural" and lists the cause of death as heart failure, due to an abnormally enlarged heart. Although the report states that there were no signs of violence on any part of the body, it notes that there were dark colored marks on his arms, right knee and right thigh, "which were not related to the cause of death." There is evidence "including photographs" indicating that prior to his death, Sheikh Majid ’Abdul ’Aziz Mustafa al-Barghouti, 44 years old, was subjected to torture and ill-treatment. Palestinian People’s Party: Israel responsible for death of Palestinian prisoner Ma’an News Agency 3/1/2008 Gaza – Ma’an - The Palestinian People’s Party (PPP) said on Saturday that the Israel prison authorities are entirely responsible for the death of 47-year-old Fadel ’Udah Shahin who died in Ishel prison in Be’er Sheva on Friday. They said his death was a result of medical neglect and failure to provide him with the necessary treatment. The PPP appealed to all humanitarian international institutions and human rights organizations as well as the Red Cross for immediate intervention to alleviate the suffering of Palestinian detainees and improve their living conditions. They called for the implementation of international protection as enjoyed by civilian prisoners in time of war according to the Geneva Convention. They also demanded the formation of an international investigation committee to discover the real reasons for Shahin’s death and to investigate dozens of others similar cases.  Articles
Crossing the Line interviews journalist Jonathan Cook Podcast, Electronic Intifada 3/31/2008 This week on Crossing the Line: According to much of the international media, Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai was apparently "misunderstood" when he said that Gaza faced a "shoah," the Hebrew word for "holocaust." But was his comment really misunderstood? Host Naji Ali speaks with Nazareth-based journalist Jonathan Cook about Vilnai’s remarks and the Israeli government’s longer-term strategy for Palestinians in the occupied territories. Listen Now [MP3 - 21.4 MB, 46:50 min] Crossing the Line is a weekly podcast dedicated to giving voice to the voiceless in occupied Palestine. Through investigative news, arts, eyewitness accounts, and music, Crossing the Line does its best to present the lives of people on the ground. Crossing the Line’s host, Naji Ali, is an independent journalist currently living in San Francisco.Ali’s South African roots and desire for social change are the reason for his strong solidarity with the Palestinian people. In 1990 Ali was arrested in South Africa where he was detained and tortured for nearly two years by the South African secret police. Ali also lived and worked in the Old City of Hebron in the occupied West Bank. Gaza’s suffering children Saleh Al-Naami, Al-Ahram Weekly 3/27/2008 The Israeli occupation and its relentless attacks destroy the mental health and lives of children of Gaza. The Israeli occupation and its relentless attacks destroy the mental health and lives of children of Gaza, writes Click to view caption A Palestinian woman holding a her country’s flag and photos of some of the 9,000 prisoners held in Israeli jails during a protest calling for their release outside the International Red Cross building in Gaza Every once in a while Ibrahim Hawash, 42, calls his wife Noha from his nightshift job to make sure that she has followed the treatment course prescribed by their family doctor for the involuntary urination of their four children, who are in primary school. The doctor says that the four children lost their ability to control urination due to the fear they underwent when Israeli army jets bombed a home near theirs in the Jabalya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip during the "Warm Winter" military campaign three weeks ago. The four children still remember the terrifying night when they woke frightened up to the sound of a thundering explosion in the area and found that the glass of their home’s windows had fallen onto their bed. Hawash, who works in one of the Palestinian security agencies, says that his children refuse to sleep alone, insisting on sleeping in the same room as their parents because they are scared of the night. He adds that he exerted great efforts to convince two of his children to go back to school, for they were afraid that they would be killed in an Israeli bombing operation on their way there, or while at school. Thousands of Palestinian children have experienced what Hawash’s four children are undergoing. Mohamed Kharsa, 10, lives in the Tufah neighbourhood northeast of Gaza City, which has been subject to severe Israeli attacks. He runs away to his family home whenever he hears the roar of Israeli planes in the sky. Scapegoat upon scapegoat: Angela Merkel addresses the Knesset Raymond Deane, Electronic Intifada 3/20/2008 German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s historic speech to the Israeli Knesset on 18 March 2008 has been almost universally applauded, and has been described by Charlotte Knobloch, President of the Central Council of German Jews, as having "opened a new chapter in the relationship between Israel and Germany." Given the huge influence of Germany within the European Union, it is imperative to subject Merkel’s speech to a close reading and to question the assumptions implicit both in the speech itself and in the German media response to it. Having expressed Germans’ "shame" for the Holocaust, she goes on to point out that "while we are speaking here, thousands of people are living in fear and terror of Hamas’s rocket-attacks and terrorism." Her clumsy choice of words seems to emphasize the failure to mention the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who are living in daily fear and terror of Israeli incursions, home demolitions, assassinations, air-strikes, arbitrary arrest, imprisonment and torture. In prison, who knows why? Mohammed Omer, Electronic Intifada 3/19/2008 GAZA CITY, 19 March (IPS) - You would think the baby boy named Yousef has his life ahead of him. But who knows, with a child born to Palestinian parents from Gaza. What’s more, Yousef was born in an Israeli prison. He is the only one of Fatima al-Zeq’s nine children who is with her for that reason -- she was arrested nine months ago. But these days the baby is not with her. He developed stomach pain, began to vomit, and has been transferred to a hospital inside Hasharon prison in Israel. Fatima has written to human rights organizations in Gaza asking for their help in seeing that the baby is looked after, something she cannot do herself. Her other children do not know why mother is in prison; the Israelis haven’t told them or the Palestinian authorities. And they declined to tell IPS. If anything, the Israelis say the arrests are for "security reasons." Take off the Masks Gadi Gvaryahu, MIFTAH 3/18/2008 One cannot but recall that Jewish murderers who massacred others with a machinegun at the Cave of the Patriarchs and in the Islamic College in Hebron. One cannot but recall the funeral held for “Baruch (Goldstein) the man” at his magnificent gravesite and the park around it. And this is what one of the important rabbis of Religious Zionism said in his eulogy for the killer from Hebron: “He is a martyr killed by gentiles for being a Jew, and therefore he joins the victims of the Nazi Holocaust.” One cannot but recall the honor bestowed upon his relatives. So take off the masks. One cannot but recall the Jew who entered the Islamic college in Hebron armed with a machinegun and murdered three students. He was sentenced to life in prison and later pardoned by the president. Today he is known as a rabbi and publishes articles. And we have not forgotten the Jewish murderer who killed seven Arab laborers at the Gan Havradim junction in 1990. So take off the masks. Dreaming of a better future in Gaza Fida Qishta writing from Rafah, occupied Gaza Strip, Electronic Intifada 3/11/2008 Israeli officials said on 3 March that they finished their military operation in the Gaza Strip, but the Israeli attacks continue, and we fear that Israel is still planning a major invasion. On 29 February, Israel’s Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai warned of "a bigger holocaust" for Palestinians. From 27 February through 2 March, the Israeli army killed around 110 Palestinians in Gaza, about half of them civilians, and nearly a quarter children, according to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights in Gaza. Hundreds were injured. Palestinians killed two Israeli soldiers and one Israeli civilian. What is happening in Gaza hurts all Palestinians, not just Hamas. Before this assault, the Gaza Strip, with 1.5 million residents, was already like a prison under siege, with dwindling supplies of food, medicine, fuel, clean water and electricity, and growing poverty. Many families eat just one meal a day. We have no electricity for 6-12 hours daily. Interview with Fouad al-Khuffash about Palestinian women prisoners Saed Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 3/9/2008 Q. Please introduce yourself for our listeners. Fouad al-Khuffash, the Director of the Ahrar Center for the Rights of Detainees. Our Center runs a website documenting the stories of Palestinian detainees - their issues and the suffering they face in the prisons of the Israeli occupation. Q. Recently, you published a report about detainee Ahlam Jawhar.Can you tell us, first, when was Ahlam abducted by the Israeli occupation forces, and what has happened to her since then? Sister Ahlam Jawhar is a thirty-year old Palestinian woman who was living with her family in Huwwara village near Nablus.She works in the human rights field as a peace activist, with the group ’Friends of Humanity International’, based in Vienna, Austria.Sister Ahlam was kidnapped forty days ago on January 12th, 2008.Since then, she was subjected to the ugliest sorts of torture in Peta Tikva interrogation facility, located on the part of Palestine that has been occupied by Israel since 1948. She was barred from meeting with her lawyer during interrogation. They subjected her to psychological torture by preventing her from sleeping, and forcing her to stand with her hands raised for long periods of time. Destructive Emotion Arab News - Editorial, MIFTAH 3/8/2008 Arabs are often accused of being too emotional over the Palestinian situation rather than calculating and manipulative like the Israelis. It is a notion to which many Arabs subscribe as well, seeing it as a major reason for Israel’s continued dominance over the Palestinians. It is, in fact, impossible not to be emotional in the face of the suffering and injustice endured by the Palestinians, especially at the moment with the brutal slaughter in Prison Camp Gaza? Only the inhuman can remain unmoved. But the theory of overemotionalism is not so simple. It is not a straightforward case of weak, divided, emotional Arabs outmaneuvered by calculating, manipulative Israelis. Events in Gaza provide evidence of that. The Israelis are being just as emotional and illogical as anyone else — indeed far more so. Their response to the rocket attacks from Gaza has been one of cruel, bullying blind rage — a mad outburst of bombs, tanks and missiles, killing well over a hundred men, women and children in response to just one Israeli killed. Hysterical threats of a “holocaust” in the Strip attest to a political mindset that is out of control, illogical and in conflict with Israel’s own long-tern interests. Revealed: the US plan to start a Palestinian civil war Report, Electronic Intifada 3/4/2008 United States officials including President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice participated in a conspiracy to arm and train Contra-style Palestinian militias nominally loyal to the Fatah party to overthrow the democratically-elected Hamas government in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, an investigative article in the April 2008 issue of Vanity Fair has revealed. [1] The allegations of such a conspiracy, long reported by The Electronic Intifada, are corroborated in Vanity Fair with confidential US government documents, interviews with former US officials, Israeli officials and with Muhammad Dahlan, the Gaza strongman personally chosen by Bush. The article, by David Rose, recounts gruesome torture documented on videotape of Hamas members by the US-armed and funded militias under Dahlan’s control. Hamas had repeatedly alleged such torture as part of its justification for its move to overthrow the Dahlan militias and take full control of the interior of the Gaza Strip in June 2007. -- See also: The Gaza Bombshell, by David Rose and Who is Mohammad Dahlan? Horror and shame Khaled Amayreh, Al-Ahram Weekly 2/28/2008 The torturing to death of a Palestinian Islamist by Palestinian Authority intelligence sends out shockwaves of revulsion while the occupation continues to attack Palestinian society The popular standing of the Palestinian Authority (PA), headed by President Mahmoud Abbas, suffered a serious moral setback this week when agents of the Palestinian mukhabarat, or general intelligence, allegedly tortured an Islamist detainee to death. Majd Al-Barghouti, 44 and a father of eight, was reportedly abducted from the local mosque in the village of Kobar near Ramallah two weeks ago for interrogation pertaining to a firearm the mukhabarat alleged he possessed and was hiding. According to prison inmates, who were being detained in a neighbouring chamber at the mukhabarat headquarters in Ramallah, Barghouti was subjected for eight successive days to severe bodily torture quot;We heard him screaming day and night. His screams were heart-rending, but we could do nothing to help him," said one detainee who was released following Barghouti’s death. 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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