Welcoming the agreement to end Palestinian prisoners' hunger strikes

Ahmad Nimer’s photos from Ramallah on 14 May 2012 as prisoner deal announced. [An album of his recent photos is posted here]:

Palestinian women welcome news that agreement was reached to end prisoner hunger strike in exchange for Israeli concessions
Palestinians in Ramallah welcome agreement ending prisoner hunger strike

Palestinians in Ramallah welcome deal ending prisoner hunger strikes

Some of the activists who helped make it happen join the celebration

Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Organization reported some details of the agreement here, today:

    “The details of the agreement signed last night by the prisoners’ committee representing the hunger strikers was recounted today to Addameer lawyer Fares Ziad in his visit to Ahed Abu Gholmeh, who is a member of the committee, and to Addameer lawyer Mahmoud Hassan during his visit to Ahmad Sa’adat in Ramleh prison medical clinic, who conveyed what he was told last night when members of the committee came to Ramleh to announce the end of the hunger strike.

    According to Ahed Abu Gholmeh, the nine members of the hunger strike committee met yesterday with a committee consisting of IPS officials and Israeli intelligence officers and determined the stipulations of their agreement. The written agreement contained five main provisions: the prisoners would end their hunger strike following the signing of the agreement; there will be an end to the use of long-term isolation of prisoners for ‘security’ reasons, and the 19 prisoners will be moved out of isolation within 72 hours; family visits for first degree relatives to prisoners from the Gaza Strip and for families from the West Bank who have been denied visits based on vague ‘security reasons’ will be reinstated within one month; the Israeli intelligence agency guarantees that there will be a committee formed to facilitate meetings between the IPS and prisoners in order to improve their daily conditions; there will be no new administrative detention orders or renewals of administrative detention orders for the 308 Palestinians currently in administrative detention, unless the secret files, upon which administrative detention is based, contain ‘very serious’ information.

    For the five administrative detainees on protracted hunger strikes, including Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahleh, who engaged in hunger strike for a miraculous 77 days, their administrative detention orders will not be renewed and they will be released upon the expiration of their current orders. These five have been transferred to public hospitals to receive adequate healthcare during their fragile recovery periods. In regards to Israel’s practice of administrative detention as a whole, Ahmad Sa’adat further noted that the agreement includes limitations to its widespread use in general. Addameer is concerned that these provisions of the agreement will not explicitly solve Israel’s lenient and problematic application of administrative detention, which as it stands is in stark violation of international law”.

Continue reading Welcoming the agreement to end Palestinian prisoners' hunger strikes

After four years, ICRC goes public with criticism of Israeli policy preventing visits of families from Gaza to Palestinian detainees in Israel

In its own special way, the ICRC has gone public with criticism of Israeli policy that has prevented family visits — for fully the past four years — to Palestinian detainees from Gaza being held in Israel prisons.

A media announcement has been released (this is going public) and a somewhat stilted video has been released (part of it viewable from the ICRC website here).

On the same webpage, the ICRC gives this explanation: “Gaza detainees barred from family visits: In June 2007, the Israeli authorities announced the suspension of family visits for Palestinians from Gaza who were being held in Israel. This decision, which was made a year after Palestinian armed groups captured the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, deprives both the detainees and their relatives of an essential lifeline, and cuts detainees off from the outside world. In the past four years, over 700 families from Gaza have been prevented from seeing their detained relatives”.

Almost simultaneously (though I didn’t see this until later), the ICRC Director-General Yves Daccord issued a statement in Geneva saying that “The total absence of information concerning Mr Shalit is completely unacceptable … The Shalit family have the right under international humanitarian law to be in contact with their son … Hamas has an obligation under international humanitarian law to protect Mr. Shalit’s life, to treat him humanely and to let him have contact with his family”.

The statement noted that “The ICRC continues to make every possible effort to gain access to Mr Shalit or at least to establish contact between him and his family”.

Continue reading After four years, ICRC goes public with criticism of Israeli policy preventing visits of families from Gaza to Palestinian detainees in Israel

It's Friday – Friday prayer in the Muqata'a today + demonstrations in Bil'in + Sheikh Jarrah + Silwan

Palestinian TV showed the Friday prayer in … the Muqata’a Presidential headquarters in Ramallah today.

Front and center, the chief worshipper was Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen). The sermon was given by the Palestinian Authority (PA) Minister of Awqaf (Muslim Trust foundations), Mahmoud Habbash. After the eventful tension of recent weeks (particularly the extremely embarassing sex + corruption videotape scandal involving Abbas’ chief of office, Rafiq Husseini), it seemed to be a Friday prayer in penitential mode, with references to the role of the President, his duties, and the limits of his power.

(Less than two hours before the Friday prayers, Fahmi Shabaneh, the disgruntled Palestinian security officer who went to the Israeli media with the Husseini videotape held a press conference in this East Jerusalem {Beit Hanina} home, and said he had been reassured by Abbas that there would be an investigation into his allegations. Shabaneh said he would not hold a press conference this week, as he had threatened, to reveal more scandals, but would instead hand over all his evidence and documentation to Abbas… And through the grapevine, I heard this week that Rafiq Husseini told someone in East Jerusalem that the videotape was doctored with advanced techniques, that the living room and/or bedroom shown on the scandalous videotape was, in fact, his apartment — but, Husseini said, his secretary had never been with him there… proving, he reportedly argued (and as he has said before, despite much scepticism), that the whole thing was a fake.)

There were no famous faces in the room [UPDATE: many were instead at the demonstration in Bil’in, see below]. The room used for Friday prayers is the same room which is used for press conferences and meeting such as the Palestine National Council etc… On Abbas’ right hand was a Fatah Central Committee official with a big black mustache [Mahmoud Ismail] who was involved in the recent General Assembly + long-delayed elections of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (in which some Fatah officials, particularly Tawfik Tirawi) were deeply involved. I didn’t recognize anybody else except Presidential press office aide Mohammed Edwan, sitting at the far right end of the frong row of worshippers. Among those praying, there was at least one Palestinian policeman in uniform, a number of Presidential guard officers in camouflage green uniforms, and others who appeared to be low- to medium-level employees. At least one armed Presidential Guard officer was standing at alert behind the worshippers (but he only had a small side arm, and not a big huge black machine gun).

Palestinian television did not immediately go to the regular Friday weekly demonstration against The Wall in Bil’in today. Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad was among those present at the demonstration. (UPDATE: Palestinian Television’s nightly news showed a number of other political figures were there as well (maybe this is why they were not praying with Abu Mazen in the Muqata’a).

The Popular Struggle Committee sent out a press release saying that thousands were expected to attend or participate in the demonstration: “Following the victory forcing Israel to begin rerouting the path of the Wall, in face of the Army’s unprecedented attempts to crack down on the popular struggle, the people of Bil’in will celebrate five years of protest tomorrow. In a show of support to the popular struggle, the people of Bil’in will be joined by thousands from across the West Bank, among them Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and leaders from across the Palestinian political spectrum. Mohammed Khatib of the Bil’in Popular Committee said today that “The Army realizes the efficiency of our struggle and believes that it can be pacified with token gestures and repressed by the hundreds of arrests in last months. After managing to force Israel to finally follow its own court order and begin rerouting the Wall last week, we will prove tomorrow that Palestinian society, its left-wing as well as right, is united behind the popular movement, and the Israeli assault only stands to strengthen us.” Last week, 2.5 years after an Israeli Supreme Court decision deeming the path of the Wall on the lands of Bil’in illegal, preliminary infrastructure work to reroute the barrier in accordance with the ruling has finally began. … Roughly 680 dunams of the 2,000 dunams currently sequestered by the Wall will be returned to the village following the court-ordered rerouting of the trajectory”.

The Mayor of Geneva, Switzerland, was also present this week …
UPDATE: Ma’an News Agency reported that the man who was almost elected Mayor of Tel Aviv (he had the entire youth vote, apparently) Dov Heinin, MK of Democratic Front for Peace and Equality, was also present … “A group of Palestinian teens and young men successfully pulled down a 30-meter length of barbed fence from the separation wall, as the crowds were met with high-pressure skunk water sprayed at them by Israeli forces in full riot gear”, Ma’an added, here.

Later, the Popular Struggle Committee reported that about 1,000 people attended, and that two demonstrators were injured in Bil’in
(“One was struck with a tear-gas projectile in the leg and another was shot in the stomach by a rubber-coated bullet”), while about ten demonstrators were injured in other villages: “Al-Ma’sara, south of Bethlehem, Ni’ilin and Nabi Saleh, where 10 protesters were hit by rubber-coated bullets, including a Swedish national who was struck in the mouth”.

Although the Popular Struggle Committee said it regards the rerouting of The Wall near Bil’in as a victory, it vowed that “protest will continue until the Occupation is over and the Wall is dismantled in its entirety”.

Afterwards, it was reported (in Haaretz, among other places) that “Demonstrators participating in rally protesting the Israel’s West Bank separation fence dismantled a section of the barrier on Friday, during a rally marking five years since the beginning of the Bil’in protests. About a thousand people took part in the rally, which was also attended by Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, Palestinian parliament member Mustafa Barghouti as well as Fatah strongman Nabil Shaath. During the rally several protesters managed to cross the barrier, placing a Palestinian flag on top of an Israel Defense Forces outpost, while others dismantled a 30-meter section of the fence itself. IDF sources claimed that the fence’s repair could cost several hundred thousand NIS“.

So, here is part of the fence that has to be moved by order of the Israeli Supreme Court, and the Israeli military is complaining that they will have to repair it at great cost …

The Haaretz article also reported that (no doubt because of Salam Fayyad’s presence — and Fayyad is one of two Palestinian officials whose movement around the West Bank is coordinated with Israeli security forces, who also reportedly escort his convoy) — Israeli security forces “were aligned in rear positions to allow the demonstrators to protest in a ‘non-violent fashion’, but began using dispersal instruments as soon as protesters commenced hurling stones. A source in the IDF’s GOC Central Command told Haaretz that the incident proved that the IDF was willing to allow non-violent protest, but that it was clear that some of the participants act violently, hurling stones and causing thousands of shekels in damages to the fence”. This Haaretz article can be read in full here

Another weekly demonstration was expected in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem today, where an hour in advance a tight and manned police barrier appeared to bar entrance to the entire neighborhood (including the site of the tomb of Shimon Hatzadik, believed to have been a high priest in the Second Jewish Temple, which has now been taken over by Orthodox Jewish worshippers). A row of white police vans stood behind the barricade, and there were groups of police and Border Policemen in various uniforms under the warm mid-day sun.

UPDATE: Ma’an later added that “Israeli forces attempted to disperse the press and diverted protesters from attaining the residential areas closed off by Israeli police, as settlers entered the contested neighborhood”. This Ma’an report is here.

UPDATE. The Jerusalem Post later reported that “1 man was detained on Friday afternoon dozens of left-wing activists and east Jerusalem locals gathered for the weekly protest against the expansion of the Jewish enclave in Sheikh Jarrah, a predominantly Arab neighborhood. The activist was taken in for questioning after attempting to organize a march in the neighborhood without an appropriate permit”. This JPost report is here.

And, there was also supposed to be a demonstration in the Silwan area of East Jerusalem as well, around the other side of the Old City, where Jerusalem’s Mayor has ordered the demonstration of 200 Palestinian homes, if he has also to demolish one seven-story building housing Jewish settlers in the same neighborhood — also built “illegally”, without required permits, which in turn are dependent on municipal planning that is non-existent.

Leonard Cohen in Ramallah?

Leonard Cohen might not be Michael Jackson, but he has a devoted, even passionate, following in various parts of the world.   Israel is one of those places.

The occupied Palestinian territory is not.

Yet, an announcement has been made that Leonard Cohen will perform in Ramallah in late September — a day after he performs on 24 September in Israel’s Ramat Gan stadium near Tel Aviv, with a seating capacity of 50,000.

Leonard Cohen’s appearance in Ramallah was, in fact, added as an afterthought, in response to the boycott calls for him to avoid performing in Israel.

Instead of cancelling the Israeli show, it was apparently thought that adding a Palestinian one might add some “balance”. But, it might be too late for that.  The situation is too polarized.

Now, both performances — part of Leonard Cohen’s multi-city and nearly year-long World Tour 09, with more mileage and events than Michael Jackson’s 50-concert revival in London — are in question, due to a small but growing international campaign to boycott Israel.

For Palestinians, it would be better if Leonard Cohen didn’t perform in Israel at all, and would only come to Ramallah (or Gaza).  But that’s more on the level of political symbolism, because Leonard Cohen is not at all well known among Palestinians.

Consideration was given to hosting the Leonard Cohen Palestinian concert in the 9,000-seat Feisal Husseini football stadium (upgraded to international standards with EU funding) in ar-Ram, right next to a particularly in-your-face section of The Wall which runs right down the middle of what used to be the main street between Jerusalem and Ramallah.  But, it was apparently then decided that it would be better to have the concert in Ramallah’s Cultural Palace (built with Japanese funding), a smaller and enclosed venue, right next to the hilltop where Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish is buried (and where he gave his final performance on 1 July 2008).

After initial planning, a Palestinian opposition emerged, with objections to hosting Leonard Cohen in Ramallah (that is, if he still intends to perform in Israel).  Israel’s Operation Cast Lead in Gaza earlier this year has only intensified the moral outrage on the Palestinian side.

The search for a solution has been put in the hands of Qaddura Fares, one of a group identified as “Young” Fatah leaders, and head of the Palestinian Prisoner’s Club, “If there were peace”, there would be no problem, Fares indicated in an interview in his Ramallah office last week —  but, he said, “there is no atmosphere for peace” right now.

Qaddura Fares said that his suggestion was that Leonard Cohen should come if he would agree to sing for the release of Palestinian prisoners (there are over 11,000 of them, including several hundred children) — and for the release of the Israeli soldier who is believed to be still held captive somewhere in Gaza, Corporal Gilad Shalit.  “Yes, why not?”, Qaddura Fares said, and smiled.  “All of them are prisoners, and they have the right to be free”.

He indicated that Leonard Cohen’s agents/promoters have “accepted the idea”.  There is also a proposal, he said, that Amnesty International should somehow be involved. There are still a lot of problems, Qaddura Fares noted.  “A lot of intellectuals and artists have refused to come to Israel because of the boycott call.  And so, for the Boycott Forum, we would be making an obstacle for their progress if Leonard Cohen comes to Tel Aviv and Ramallah”.

He said that “if Leonard Cohen comes “just for summer, and for love, maybe it would be a mistake.  But, Israel has been dealing with out prisoners as if they were killers and terrorists, and if Leonard Cohen comes to sing for their release, then maybe it will recognize that they are freedom fighters.  Maybe if he comes for such a sensitive issue, it will be useful for Palestinians and for Israelis”.

Qaddura Fares noted that a group of Palestinian intellectuals asked to meet him to discuss the issue, and he agreed.  “They tried to convince me it’s a mistake to bring Leonard Cohen.  They promised they would bring famous singers who would visit only Palestine and not Israel”. Why hadn’t these Palestinian intellectuals brought these singers before?  Qaddura Fares replied that he had asked them the same question.  He recounted that he told them: “Every Monday I go to the Red Cross and sit with the mothers and wives of the prisoners — between 20 and 50 women come every week.  But never did I see these intellectuals there.  And, I said to them, “What’s the problem if we invite Leonard Cohen.  We can continue our discussion”.

But, Qaddoura Fares said, he would leave the decision up to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Club — and that he wanted “a collective decision”, meaning near unanimity, or at least no opposition.  Then, he said, “I can organize Fatah and other groups to support the invitation”.

The decision is imminent, Qaddoura Fares said.

Continue reading Leonard Cohen in Ramallah?

How can Israel deport released Palestinian prisoners? The Road Map says that this should not be done

There was a rather mysterious flurry of rumors and SMS news flashes yesterday that Israel’s Corporal Gilad Shalit — seized in late June 2006 at the Kerem Shalom tri-point where the borders of Israel, Egypt and Gaza meet, and presumably held somewhere in Gaza ever since — was suddenly about to be released. Demonstrations were held yesterday at both sides of the Erez terminal for “passenger crossing” between Israel and Gaza. On the Israeli side, demonstrators were urging that no goods be sent into Gaza as long as Shalit was still held captive, and the International Red Cross still not allowed to see him. On the Palestinian side, demonstrators were calling for the crossings to be opened, and the seige on Gaza lifted — and for the release of some 11,000 Palestinians being held in Israeli detention. There were reports (perhaps wrong) that at least some of the Palestinians were also calling for Shalit to be released…

In any case, despite the rumors and news flashes, nothing happened.

An article published in Haaretz earlier in the week reported that “According to information recently received in Israel, Egypt would like to see negotiations for the release of Shalit resume from the point at which they left off during the final days of the Olmert government. However, the Egyptians have also asked Israel to abandon its plan to exile some of the Palestinian prisoners that will be released in exchange for Shalit’s freedom”.

The same issue — Israeli demands to deport some currently imprisoned Palestinians, either to Gaza or to Europe — arose a few months ago, as we reported at the time here . As we wrote then, the Road Map recognized that this specific issue of deportations was a problem. So, it is hard to see why and how Israel is asking for this now. Does Israel think that a negotiated, agreed deportation of the Palestinians it is holding prisoner would be any more legal, or any more acceptable, or in conformity to the Road Map obligations? Would the Quartet (US, Russia, EU and UN) agree to such a re-writing of the Road Map?

Phase One of the Road Map — endorsed and strongly-backed by the U.S. and the Quartet of Middle East Negotiators (which also includes the European Union, Russia, and the United Nations Secretary-General) requires Israel to stop deportations. The Road Map specifies that the Government of Israel should take no action “undermining trust, including deportations, attacks on civilians; confiscation and/or demolition of Palestinian homes and property, as a punitive measure or to facilitate Israeli constructions; destruction of Palestinian institutions and infrastructure; and other measures specified in the Tenet Work Plan”.

The Road Map was presented in 2003, and was written not too long after the unsatisfactory resolution of the stand-off at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, in which Israel sent several dozen Palestinian men into what was supposed to be a temporary one-year exile in Gaza or Europe. Those men were put under pressure, in order to spare the community from the effects of the continued Israeli seige in Bethlehem, to agree to be deported voluntarily.

And that’s what would have to happen again, if any country would be asked to accept Palestinian prisoners who would agree to a “voluntary” deportation in order to facilitate Israel’s consent to a prisoner release now.

But the Road Map did not say that “voluntary deportations” are OK, unlike other kinds of deportations which were to have stopped.

And then, there’s always Gaza. No third country would have to give consent. Israel can just decide on its own to send somebody there. On 26 May, for example, Mahmoud Azzam, a Palestinian prisoner originally from Jenin was released from Israeli jail and then deported to Gaza. If there’s another Israeli military operation on Gaza — as some government ministers are urging — that deportation could become a death sentence.

The Quartet said nothing.

Seven years after the seige on Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity, almost all of those deportees are still in exile, with no end to their ordeal in sight. Deportation is a deeply traumatic experience for Palestinians, after half the population was exiled or displaced in the fighting that surrounded the creation of the state of Israeli in 1948.

The Road Map can be read here.

[Israel’s reservations to the Road Map can be viewed here. Among these is point number 6, which reads: “In connection to both the introductory statements and the final settlement, declared references must be made to Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state and to the waiver of any right of return for Palestinian refugees to the State of Israel.]

Palestinian is now longest-ever-held political prisoner

The Palestinian independent news agency Ma’an reported that “The director of the statistics department in the Palestinian ministry of Prisoners and Freed Prisoners, Abdul-Nasser Farawnah released on Sunday a comprehensive report about the long term Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails showing that many of them have entered the Guinness Book of Records. According to the report, Palestinian prisoner Sa’id Al-Ataba has been detained for more than 30 years which is the longest imprisonment in the world. No other political prisoner had served such a long period: Nelson Mandela had served 26 years … The report also adds that 232 Palestinian prisoners have already served more than 15 years in Israeli jails including 73 who have served more than 20 years” … This Ma’an news item is posted here.

There are currently over 11,000 Palestinians in Israeli jails or detention centers — many of them have been taken to Israel from the occupied West Bank or Gaza, which is against the Geneva Convention.

Palestinian Prisoners release – update

UPDATE: The BBC is reporting that 29 Palestinian prisoners are now moving in an armoured bus toward the Gaza Strip. The Ramattan independent Palestinian news agency reports that the bus arrived at the Erez crossing at noon. The Maan independent Palestinian news agency says, however, that “Israeli forces have been firing heavily on the area surrounding the Erez crossing in the northern Gaza Strip, eyewitnesses told Ma’an reporter”. Yesterday, a 14-year-old boy was shot and wounded when he, with other family members, surged forward in anticipation of their loved ones’ arrival, and passed into an area that the IDF views as a no-go zone.

[One of the 30 originally approved for release has apparently left Fatah and joined Hamas, and the Israelis will not release anyone from Hamas, so only 29 instead of 30 prisoners are being released Tuesday. But, has anyone thought, if those reports from Gaza about Hamas repression of Fatah are true, what might be awaiting these releasees? Hamas leaders, however, have welcomed this release, as they say they have welcomed all releases of Palestinian prisoners, no matter how small.]

Earlier today, Kol Israel Radio reported that the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff, Gabi Ashkenazi, wrote a letter a few days ago objecting to the release of any Palestinian prisoners to Gaza, while IDF Corporal Gilead Shalit remains captive there. Shalit was siezed in June 2006.

Haaretz reports on Tuesday that there is anger at Ashkenazi among members of the Knesset for having circulated his letter among members of the Israeli Cabinet. These Knesset members say this action “may have delayed” the release yesterday of the 30 Palestinian prisoners who were scheduled to return Gaza. The list of Palestinian prisoners to be released had, actually, been previously approved by the “inner” or Security Cabinet, as well as by the full Cabinet. Haaretz says that Ashkenazi himself had also given his approval, but said in his letter that it is nonetheless immoral. The Knesset members apparently object to the military interferening in politics (!)

Haaretz also reports that a spokesperson for Israel’s President Shimon Peres refused to confirm whether this action was the reason Peres yesterday refused to sign the pardon for these Palestinians. Peres’ signature on the pardon is apparently required for the release of the Prisoners from Gaza to go through. As Haaretz explains today: “Peres’ signature was not required for the release of West Bank-based prisoners because the area is under the authority of the Israel Defense Forces and the men were freed in accordance with an order signed by an IDF general.”

These prisoners then underwent an “extra security check” on Monday.

The Haaretz story explaining the “legal and technical” issues holding up the release of some 29 or 30 Palestinians from Gaza is here.

This is a subtle new re-statement of the position still held by some in Israel (though nowhere else in the world) that Gaza is not under Israeli occupation, while the West Bank is.
Continue reading Palestinian Prisoners release – update