- following the call by Palestinian Civil Society
- Free All Palestinian Political Prisoners !
On April 17, 2012, over 2,000 Palestinian prisoners launched an open-ended hunger strike that came to an end two days ago after some of their demands were met. Their strike was hit hard with retaliation from Israel Prison Services, including beatings, transferring from one prison to another, confiscation of salt (an act that could have severe health consequences for hunger strikers), denial of family and lawyer visits, and isolation and solitary confinement of hunger strikers. These are only some of the measures that the Israeli prison authorities use against political prisoners.
Since the beginning of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories in 1967, over 700,000 Palestinians have been detained by Israel. This forms approximately 20% of the total population of the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza strip, and it forms 40% of the total male Palestinian inhabitants of the same areas. Approximately 5,000 Palestinian prisoners are being detained by Israel as of the end of 2011.
All Israeli prisons and detention centers are found in the Israeli territories in violation to International Law and Geneva Convention. Palestinians are tried within Israeli military courts, under regulations set by the military itself, regulations that do not meet international standards of fair trial.
One of the methods used vastly in Israeli prisons, as means of threatening and torturing political activists, is administrative detention. It is based on secret information brought forward during military tribunals, to which neither the detainee nor his/her lawyer have access to. Administrative detention is indefinitely renewable under military regulations. A detainee may be given an administrative detention order for a period of between 1 – 6 months, after which the order may be renewed again.
Emphasizing imprisonment as a critical component of Israel’s system of occupation, colonialism and apartheid practiced against the Palestinian people, Palestinian civil society and human rights organizations have called for intensifying the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign to target corporations profiting directly from the Israeli prison system, and violating international law.
To get involved in solidarity activities with Palestine, in Montreal, visit and contact: www.tadamon.ca
To have more info about political prisoners: www.addameer.org
To know more about the BDS movement and campaigns: www.bdsmovement.net
