Hunger striker near death

Reuters - Mohamad Torokman

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Palestinian hunger-striker Samer Issawi is on the verge of death according to a statement from his sister Shirine Issawi Thursday, a day after he decided to refuse both liquids and vitamins.

The statement was given to the web magazine Palestine Online.

Palestine’s prisoners’ rights group Addameer had reported Wednesday that Issawi was suffering from severe heart problems, the latest in a series of illnesses Issawi has contracted since the start of his 236 day hunger strike.

Issawi has lost 45 kilograms and his condition is reported to have deteriorated significantly since his hearing on February 21, which ruled that he would be released on March 6. Issawi remains in police custody, and his legs are said to be shackled to his hospital bed.

Addameer also said that Issawi’s doctors summoned his lawyer Jawad Boulos to convince the 33 year old to resume taking liquids.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have slammed Israel’s refusal to grant Issawi bail as a violation of international humanitarian law.

Issawi was first arrested ten years ago on charges of arms possession, and was released in a Hamas-Israel prisoner exchange deal in October 2011. On 7 July 2012, Israel rearrested him extrajudicially, in direct violation of the deal's terms, and was told he would he would have to be imprisoned for 20 years, completing his original sentence. He was charged with violating the conditions of his release by leaving Jerusalem.

Three other Palestinian prisoners are currently refusing food: Ayman Sharawneh, Jaafar Ezzedine, and Tarek Qa'adan. Sharawneh is in critical condition, according to Addameer.

http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/palestinian-hunger-striker-issawi-verge-death

(Al-Akhbar)

G4S targeted in the UK

UK-wide on Friday 1st March, citizens braved the cold weather to make public their strong disapproval of G4S's culpable involvement in the Israeli regime. In south Bristol the local branch had its entrance partially redecorated.

Hebron farmers kicked off land

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=568129
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 23 February --' Settlers' and Israeli forces attacked a number of
farmers while working in their lands in *Susiya area of southern Hebron on Saturday,landowners said. Fuad al-Shamsi said that they were surprised when they headed to their lands as they do every Saturday when a group of settlers were shepherding sheep on their land which is planted with blooming trees. When farmers tried to enter their own lands, the settlers attacked them and released their dogs at them, frightening young children, while Israeli forces looked on. Mohammad Mahmoud al-Shamaste, 45, Mahmoud Mohammad al-Shamaste, 25, were arrested and held for half an hour and then released.  The farmers say that Israeli forces announced the territory of Susiya is a closed military zone. They accused the settlers of trying to confiscate their land and include it within Susiya's nearby Zionist/Israeli colony.http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=568129

Palestinian Oscar nominee held at LA airport

Imad Burnat, co-director of '5 Broken Cameras' which was Oscar nominated, had to endure with his family a replay of that all-too-familiar checkpoint experience en route to Hollywood, when he had to call on fellow- documentarist Michael Moore to help prove he was in the US for a legitimate purpose. Unfortunately he didn't get the Oscar this time. http://journomania.net/culture/38-art-and-culture/806-imad-burnat-the-palestinian-director-of-the-5-broken-cameras-on-the-red-carpet.html

Israel - a land without scholars?

Palestinian amateur archaeologist Waleed Al-Aqqad's  collection of ancient artifacts

Since the Nakba there has been an almost unbroken history of Israeli buying up or looting archeological artifacts, often, apparently, without knowledge of their true worth and mainly to use them in re-writing the history of their land with a particular bias. Asmaa al-Ghoul writes in AlMonitor, ' The pillaging from the Gaza Strip of thousands of historical artifacts, some dating back to the time of Alexander the Great, at the hands of the Israeli occupation has stripped Gaza of its rich history.'

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/02/archaeological-pillaging-gaza.html#ixzz2Ku2pJ3vr

Palestinian ghettoes were always the plan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pN8c1A0EPZg

The Israeli army doubles as a demolition squad, emphasising the Grand Plan, which was always intended to include Palestinian ghettos.http://www.haaretz.com/news/israeli-elections-2013/israeli-elections-opinion-analysis/palestinian-ghettos-were-always-the-plan.premium-1.495144>
Haaretz 20 Jan by Amira Hass -- Right-wing politician Naftali Bennett’s
plan to annex Israeli-controlled parts of the West Bank is just the logical
next step in Israel’s historic effort to ghettoize the Palestinians -- When
Habayit Hayehudi party leader and rising political star Naftali Bennett
calls for annexing Area C, the part of the West Bank under full Israeli
security and civil control, he is following the logic of every single
Israeli government: maximize the territory, minimize the Arabs ...http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/20/binyamin-netanyahu-palestinian-state-1967>

Egypt steps in for hunger strikers

A delegation from the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Detainees met with Egyptian and Arab League officials in Cairo on Friday to discuss the issue of Palestinians jailed by Israel.
The delegation, led by PA minister of detainees Issa Qaraqe, held talks on Palestinian hunger strikers and the re-arrest of prisoners released under a swap deal with Israel in 2011, it's been announced.
Qaraqe also delivered a letter from Abbas to President Mursi.
Jawad Boulus, a lawyer for prisoners' rights, and Salah Zeidan, a member of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, were part of the delegation.
Egypt has exerted considerable efforts to intervene to save the lives of Palestinian hunger strikers, Qaraqe said.
An Egyptian-brokered prisoner swap deal in late 2011 saw Israel agree to release a total of 1,027 Palestinians in exchange for captive soldier Gilad Shalit.

As of Dec. 1, 2012, according to the Addameer Prisoners' Group, there were 4,656 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention centers, including 178 'administrative' detainees. details from Maan agency: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=555239