Israel destroys two homes of families of Palestinian attackers in Jerusalem

Israeli forces on Monday demolished the family home of a Palestinian attacker killed in October and sealed off the home of another attacker's family with cement, the families told Ma'an.
The homes, in the Jabal al-Mukabbir neighborhood of East Jerusalem, belonged to relatives of Alaa Abu Jamal and Baha Elayyan who were both shot dead on Oct. 13 after carrying out separate attacks that left four Israelis dead. The Israeli authorities have been holding the bodies of Alaa Abu Jamal and Baha Elayyan since they were shot dead in another controversial Israeli practice that has been seen by some as further raising tensions.
Israeli forces reportedly stormed the homes and ordered the families to evacuate them before they proceeded with the demolitions. Abu Jamal's family told Ma'an that Israeli forces sealed with cement the home of Safa Abu Jamal, Alaa's sister, after claiming to have secret information that it belonged to her slain brother.The home consisted of one floor and three apartments. It was inhabited by Safa, her husband, and their two children.

Fifteen months for Palestinian deputy Khalida Jarrar

Khalida Jarrar

 


Palestinian leftist and feminist parliamentarian and advocate for political prisoners Khalidda Jarrar  has been sentenced by an Israeli occupation military court in Ofer to 15 months imprisonment today, 6 December 2015. Arrested by occupation military forces who invaded her Ramallah home on 2 April, the imprisonment of Jarrar, former executive director and current vice-chair of the board of directors of Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, has sparked widespread Palestinian, Arab and international outrage.
Jarrar is a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council for the Abu Ali Mustafa bloc, the parliamentary bloc affiliated with the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. In 2014, she had been targeted for forced displacement to Jericho from Ramallah by an occupation military order, which she succeeded in defeating after a month-long sit-in at the PLC office and an international support campaign.

Israel arrests Hamas-affiliated Palestinians

In this picture from December 2012 a Palestinian man talks to a ICRC staffer in front of a poster concerning people Israel arrested or banned from Jerusalem. Second from left on the poster is Ahmad Attoun, who was rearrested last night  (AFP)

Israeli forces conducted an arrest sweep of Hamas-affiliated officials in the West Bank overnight Sunday, including two Palestinian MPs. An Israeli military spokeswoman said 25 Palestinians were held overnight, but would not elaborate on the identity of the detainees.
Locals identified the legislators detained as Hatim Qafisha from Hebron city and Ahmad Attoun, a lawmaker from Jerusalem who was exiled by Israel to Al-Bireh in the West Bank. Thirteen other Hamas officials were seized in the raids, according to local sources.
Israel holds 4,743 Palestinians in its prisons, including 12 Palestinian MPs and 178 held without charge, according to latest figures from prisoners group Addameer.

Terms of agreement show that Palestinian hungerstrikers scored a modest victory

 Prison in Ramleh.

On Tuesday, almost 24 hours after the Palestinian hungerstrikers, whose number was estimated at about 2.000, ended their action, more details emerged about the deal that was reached with the Israeli prison service (IPS) and the security service Shin Bet. According to what Addameer, the human rights organisation that looks after the prisoners,  published and and based on what I heard from sources within Addameer, I can now conclude that the prisoners scored a modest success. The following was agreed upon: 

- Not only Thaer Halahleh and Bilal Dhiab, the ones who were holding the longest strikes, will be freed at the end of their term of administrative detention, but this goes for ALL 308 Palestinians currently in administrative detention. At the end of their terms there will be no renewal of the detention and if lateron rearrests occur these have to be based on new evidence and not on what is presently in their files. Moreover, a civil court has to handle the cases of administrative detention and not, as is the case till now, a military court.  

-there will be an end to the use of long-term isolation of prisoners for “security” reasons. The 19 prisoners currently in isolation, among them Ahmed Sa'adat, the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine who has been in solitary confinement for three years, will be moved out of isolation within 72 hours.

 - family visits for first degree relatives to prisoners from the Gaza Strip, who have not seen any relatives since 2007, after the Israeli corporal Gilat Shalit was kidnapped, and for families from the West Bank who have been denied visits based on vague “security reasons” will be reinstated within one month. Also the right to study at institutes of higher learning, that was taken away from the prisoners in 2011, was reinstated.

-  there will be a committee formed, consisting of prisoners, members of the security service Shin Bet and people fro the IPS, to discuss the conditions in the prisons and handle complaints. 

The written agreement in turn demands from the prisoners that all of the halt their hungerstrike and that they refrain from 'terrorist activities' in prison. 

Addameer was happy with the agreement, that most probably could only be reached because Israel wanted to avoid extra tensions on 15 May, 'Nakba day', a day that is always good for demonstrations and unrest anyway. Addameer warns, however, that the fulfillment of the agreement has to be closely monitored. Israel has reneged on its commitments more than once in the past. 

 As for the condition of Thaer Halahleh and Bilal Dhiab, whose health is extremely bad after 77 days  without food, and three others who have also been striking much longer than the rest, Hassan Safadi (71 days), Omar Abu Shalal (69 days) and Jaafar Azzedine (54 days), they will be taken care of. It is not clear whether there will be no permanent damage to their health. It is considered a miracle that they are even still alive.

Palestinian Khader Adnan ends heroic hunger strike after 66 days

 Khader Adnan, the 33-year old baker from a village near Jenin op the West Bank, who was holding a hunger strike since his arrest on 17 December against the way he was treated and against  the so called 'administrative detention' provisions under which he was held, confirmed Tuesday evening that he ends his strike after 66 days. Adnan did so after his lawyers agreed with Israel that he will be released on 17 April,  some three weeks earlier than 8 May as was indicated in the original administrative order. According to a Justice Ministry statement, after that he will not be rearrested unless new evidence will be found against him in the meantime'.

 The prisoners society Addameer said in a statement:

 Khader previously stated to Addameer lawyers that though he was calling for his immediate and unconditional release, the minimum requirements he would consider for ending his hunger strike would be the guarantee that he would not receive a new administrative detention order and that his duration of detention would be considered from the date of his arrest on 17 December 2011 and not from the date that he received his administrative detention order on 8 January 2012. The provisions of the deal reached today as announced by the lawyer involved do meet these minimum requirements.

  A hearing at the Supreme Court that was scheduled to take place on Tuesday morning (it was brought forward from the original date on Thursday) was cancelled due to the fact that there was a deal. With the deal Israel averted the necessity to let the High court rule about the question whether administrative detention is admissible, which in itself would have been a precedent. Israel also averted the problems it would have been facing had Adnan died. Prisoners had announced a massive action beforehand and demonstrations d throughout Palestine were to be expected.

 Adnan, who is Ziv Hospital in Safed, held the strike longer than anyone before him in Palestine and was on the threshold of death (Bobby Sands the legendary hunger striker of the IRA in Belfast, died in 1981 after a hunger strike that was exactly as long as the period that Adnan held out, 66 days). Addameer voiced concern for his health situation, which still needs to be handled wit extreme care in view of his weakened condition. 

Adnan's pregnant wife Randa was overfilled with joy.   “This is of course a victory,” she said in a telephone interview with the press agency AP. “The Israelis had no proof and that’s why they’ve agreed to these four months. He’s shown by his steadfastness that we can be victorious.”

What Adnan for certain has achieved with his action, is that the way Israel uses administrative detention, which is considered illegal under international law, against people it wants to have out of the way. Israeli officials, like spokesman Mark Regev and others, have called Adnan a 'terrorist',  based on the fact that he is a member of the Islamic Jihad. However, they could not hide the fact that Adnan has never been involved in any violent acts  and that Israel is simply unable to bring charges against him.  

 

Hungerstriking Khader Adnan is fast approaching death

Demonstration in Tel Aviv in front of Red Cross office, 12-2-12 (Active Stills, Oren Ziv)

Both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch called on Israel last week to either bring charges against him or immediately release Khader Adnan, 33, is - what is unlawful -  kept in administrative detention and is in hunger strike since his arrest in December.   

 As the human rights organisation Addameer stated:

Khader was arrested on 17 December 2011, when Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) raided his home outside Jenin at 3:30 am. Before entering his house, soldiers used the driver that takes Khader’s father to the vegetable market, Mohammad Mustafa, as a human shield by forcing him to knock on the door of the house and call out Khader’s name while blindfolded. A huge force of soldiers then entered the house shouting. Recognizing Khader immediately, they grabbed him violently in front of his two young daughters and ailing mother.

The soldiers blindfolded him and tied his hands behind his back using plastic shackles before leading him out of his house and taking him to a military jeep. Khader was then thrown on his back and the soldiers began slapping him in the face and kicking his legs. They kept him lying on his back until they reached Dutan settlement, beating him on the head throughout the 10-minute drive. When they reached the settlement, Khader was pushed aggressively out of the jeep. Because of the blindfold, Khader did not see the wall right in front of him and smashed into it, causing injuries to his face.

Demonstration last week of schoolboys in Ramallah.

Adnan, who is a leader of the Islamic Jihad on the West Bank, started his trike under the motto ´´My dignity is more precious  than food´´.  Today is his day no 57. Adnan is extremely weak, his health is deteriorating rapidly. He is kept shackled against his bed in an Israeli hospital in Safed. He only takes water and some pills. His hunger strike is the longest ever held by a Palestinian. It brings to mind the case of Bobby Sands of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and 10 of his comrades who in 1981 maintained their hunger strike till the very end. Bobby himself died after 66 days. The strike and subsequent death of the participants gave a fresh impulse to the struggle of the IRA