Saturday, 25 February 2012
Tuesday, 21 February 2012
Reports that Khader Adnan has ended hunger strike on 66th day
Reports from mainstream media are that Khader Adnan has ended his 66-day hunger strike.
As of 5.33pm on 21 February however there is no specific confirmation from himself that this is so.
The Israelis have said it, his lawyers have said it but at the time mentioned, reports from reliable sources are that his lawyer has been denied access to him in prison and cannot therefore confirm his acceptance of a deal.
The deal itself was that his "administrative detention" would end on 17 April and would not be renewed. There were of course "terms and conditions" attaching.
If the news is true, if Khader Adnan is happy with the terms, if the Israelis are true to their word and release him as stated, I am very happy that Khader's life has been spared. Happy for Khader, happy for his wife and children, happy for all of his loved ones.
If the news is not true, then I will continue to join countless thousands of others making further representations to the Israeli Government on his behalf
As of 5.33pm on 21 February however there is no specific confirmation from himself that this is so.
The Israelis have said it, his lawyers have said it but at the time mentioned, reports from reliable sources are that his lawyer has been denied access to him in prison and cannot therefore confirm his acceptance of a deal.
The deal itself was that his "administrative detention" would end on 17 April and would not be renewed. There were of course "terms and conditions" attaching.
If the news is true, if Khader Adnan is happy with the terms, if the Israelis are true to their word and release him as stated, I am very happy that Khader's life has been spared. Happy for Khader, happy for his wife and children, happy for all of his loved ones.
If the news is not true, then I will continue to join countless thousands of others making further representations to the Israeli Government on his behalf
Tuesday, 14 February 2012
Khader Adnan Dying in Israel chained to hospital bed
As Khader Adnan entered his 59th day on hunger strike, his
wife Randa has appealed to us, the international community, to end his
isolation and save his life.
As he lies dying, his Israeli captors have chained him to his military prison hospital bed.
“My husband is dying inside an Israeli jail. The world should make sure I am able to see him,” Randa said. “And it should pressure the Israeli government to release him before it’s too late.”
According to Joe Catron of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), Khader, a 33-year-old baker, a graduate economics student of Birzeit University, and Islamic Jihad Movement activist, was detained in a 3:30 am raid on his home in Arraba, Jenin on December 17.
He began a hunger strike the same day to protest Israel’s administrative detention policy and the brutality of his captors, and to demand his own freedom and the freedom of thousands of other prisoners held in Israeli jails who are being deprived of their simplest human rights
"Israeli interrogators" says Catron, "responded by continuing the beatings that began during his arrest, tying him into painful positions for hours, ripping hair from his beard, smearing dirt onto his face, throwing him into a “punishment cell” with bright lights and loud noises intended to prevent sleep, and denying him treatment for his gastric illness, the disc problems in his back, and the injuries their fellow soldiers had inflicted on him. After they graphically insulted members of his family, including his two young daughters and elderly mother – a form of psychological torture used by Israeli troops to extract information from Palestinian suspects – he launched a speech strike, refusing to talk with them as well", the ISM report continues
His wife and children were allowed to see him for 15 minutes for the first time last Tuesday but by then he could barely move to greet them.
Physicians for Human Rights have said that he has been transferred to five different hospitals over an eight day period.
A four hour vigil organised by the IPSC was held outside the Israeli Embassy in Dublin yesterday. A solidarity vigil outside Ramleh prison in Israel was met with tear gas assault and sixteen people were injured by rubber bullets
The picture shows 4 year old protesting outside Ramleh prison
As he lies dying, his Israeli captors have chained him to his military prison hospital bed.
“My husband is dying inside an Israeli jail. The world should make sure I am able to see him,” Randa said. “And it should pressure the Israeli government to release him before it’s too late.”
According to Joe Catron of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), Khader, a 33-year-old baker, a graduate economics student of Birzeit University, and Islamic Jihad Movement activist, was detained in a 3:30 am raid on his home in Arraba, Jenin on December 17.
He began a hunger strike the same day to protest Israel’s administrative detention policy and the brutality of his captors, and to demand his own freedom and the freedom of thousands of other prisoners held in Israeli jails who are being deprived of their simplest human rights
"Israeli interrogators" says Catron, "responded by continuing the beatings that began during his arrest, tying him into painful positions for hours, ripping hair from his beard, smearing dirt onto his face, throwing him into a “punishment cell” with bright lights and loud noises intended to prevent sleep, and denying him treatment for his gastric illness, the disc problems in his back, and the injuries their fellow soldiers had inflicted on him. After they graphically insulted members of his family, including his two young daughters and elderly mother – a form of psychological torture used by Israeli troops to extract information from Palestinian suspects – he launched a speech strike, refusing to talk with them as well", the ISM report continues
His wife and children were allowed to see him for 15 minutes for the first time last Tuesday but by then he could barely move to greet them.
Physicians for Human Rights have said that he has been transferred to five different hospitals over an eight day period.
A four hour vigil organised by the IPSC was held outside the Israeli Embassy in Dublin yesterday. A solidarity vigil outside Ramleh prison in Israel was met with tear gas assault and sixteen people were injured by rubber bullets
The picture shows 4 year old protesting outside Ramleh prison
Tuesday, 31 January 2012
The plight of Aqaba
The village of Aqaba in the West Bank has had its share of trouble with the occupying Israeli State.
For years, the Israeli army carried out army "exercises" within the village, often injuring villagers with live bullets.
The present Mayor was himself so injured as a young boy and has since been confined to a wheelchair. An Israeli court eventually stopped this practice within the village but the army exercises continue in the environs.
With international help and financial support (including US support) a kindergarten school was built within the troubled village.
However, demolitions of homes by the Army and the rebuilding of them by villagers became an unwanted pattern of life for the people of Aqaba.
For years, the Israeli army carried out army "exercises" within the village, often injuring villagers with live bullets.
The present Mayor was himself so injured as a young boy and has since been confined to a wheelchair. An Israeli court eventually stopped this practice within the village but the army exercises continue in the environs.
With international help and financial support (including US support) a kindergarten school was built within the troubled village.
However, demolitions of homes by the Army and the rebuilding of them by villagers became an unwanted pattern of life for the people of Aqaba.
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"A month ago they were here last time," Mayor Haj Sami Sadeq told Gush Shalom, te Israeli Peace and Human Rights group. "They destroyed our access road, which we call 'The Peace Road' and demolished several houses. When the children who had been thrown out of their homes were crying, the soldiers posed for souvenir photos on the bulldozer, smiling and laughing".
An American Human Rights group invited the disabled mayor to a lecture of the US to raise awareness. Following this, the Civil Administration head, Brigadier General Motti Almaz, made an unprecedented personal visit to the village.
"He
sat with me at the local council offices. I told him: 'You're
destroying our homes and we build them again. What else can we do? This
is our village, we have nowhere else to go. I told him that in our
village there had never been clashes with the army, neither in the First
Intifada nor in the Second one. For years the army carried out training
with live ammunition among the village houses, villagers were killed
and wounded. I personally, the mayor, was hit at a young age and remain
in a wheelchair for life, and yet I feel no bitterness or hatred. I
support peace. I just ask that they live us alone. I asked Almaz to
approve a zoning plan for our village so that we can build legally. I asked him
to allow us to rebuild the access road to the village - with our own money and labor,
just that they don't destroy it. I asked him to let us build a school on 42 dunums
of state land which are in the middle of the village and which we can't use. To allow
us to be linked to the water pipe, so that we will no longer need to fetch water by tankers, at twenty Shekels
per cubic meter. I told him that ten years ago, the electricity pylons at the
entrance to the village were pulled down, and in 1999 Knesset Members wrote to
Defence Minster Ehud Barak and he gave instructions not to touch our electricity
- but still, two months ago they came and again pulled down twenty pylons. I
put all problems and issues to Brigadier General Almaz, and for everything I
said he answered 'We will look into it', 'We will take care of it'. And he went
off.", the Mayor told Gush Shalom
"What happened next? A few days later there arrived in our village the local representative of the Civil Administration, a man named Yigal (he does not tell his family name) and started handing out demolition orders.
Demolition orders for
houses, for cattle sheds, even for the tabun bread ovens. Seventeen demolition
orders in total. And he told us, this whole village is illegal, everything must
be destroyed. Is this the 'looking into it' which the Civil Administration Head
promised us?
Then the Head of the Jenin Area Civil Administration, located at
the Salem Chekpoint,
came to our village. I asked him 'Why did you send us Yigal with the demolition
orders?' And he said: 'No, I did not sent him, this did not
come from me'. And then. after another few days Yigal came back with another eight
demolition orders. Demolition orders also for our kindergarten and clinic. A total
of 25 demolition orders for a village which consists of 45 houses in all. So
what am I to do now? What can I tell villagers who ask me 'You are talking about
peace. Where is your peace?' "
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As there was no other link for a direct e-mail on general matters, I am doing two jobs with the one e-mail
1) Letting you know that there is no other way to contact you - a fault of the website
2) I am asking you to request the President to intervene in the Bradley Manning trial to have Bradley released immediately.
Whistle-blowers are an absolute necessity for a democratic and just society. They should be protected by law whenever they expose wrongdoing
Whistle-blowers who expose a war crime, as Bradley has done, should be protected and honoured by any President who believes in a just society. The link [below] shows that war crime clearly in Iraq. Bradley was a witness. Innocent people were mowed down from a United States helicopter and Bradley Manning was a witness to that war crime. He did the right thing and became a whistle-blower. President Obama must release him.
It is shameful that Bradley Manning has been tortured in prison and that the President has broken all rules of fairness by declaring Bradley guilty before his case was heard by a court.
It is also shameful and treacherous that the people of the United States have been unable to see the shocking video that can be seen everywhere else in the world.
I am requesting you to ask President Obama to do the right thing now and release this brave man.
With best personal wishes
Justin Morahan
Human rights activist and pacifist