[E-rundbrief] Info 129 - Gush Shalom (Israel/ Pal�stina): Hungerstreik der Gefangenen f�r Verhandlungen.
Matthias Reichl
mareichl at ping.at
Sa Aug 14 19:35:47 CEST 2004
E-Rundbrief - Info 129 - Gush Shalom (Israel/ Palästina): Partner behind
the door; Palestinian prisoners to start hunger strike.
Wahlen in Palästina und Friedensverhandlungen; Hungerstreik der
Gefangenen gegen Folter und inhumane Haftbedingungen - für Verhandlungen
mit den Behörden - Internationaler Aufruf zur Unterstützung.
Bad Ischl, 14.8.2004
Begegnungszentrum für aktive Gewaltlosigkeit
www.begegnungszentrum.at
==================================================================
GUSH SHALOM - pob 3322, Tel-Aviv 61033 www.gush-shalom.org
[] Partner behind the door / Gush ad English
[] Palestinian prisoners to start hunger strike
# Minister Hanegbi: Let them starve themselves to death
# "Refusal to talk is arrogant and disastrous"
(Gush Shalom press release)
# Call to solidarity action by the families of the prisoners
*****
[] Partner behind the door / Gush ad English
THE PARTNER BEHIND THE DOOR
Already a year and half ago the Palestinian Authority intended to hold
elections. But it's quite impossible to have free elections when army
checkpoints prevent traffic between cities and villages and with
candidates who can any moment be imprisoned by the army, if not targeted
for "elimination" by Apache helicopters.
This week the Palestinian President Yasser Arafat suggested again that
the State of Israel removes the obstacles and facititates democratic
elections among the Palestinians, under international supervision.
Simultaneously there should be declared a general cease-fire between
Israel and the Palestinians, the Palestinian Authority would impose it on
all the factions and militias, and right after the elections an Israeli
delegation would start accelerated negotiations with the elected
Palestinian leadership.
This message Arafat transmitted through a delegation of some twenty Gush
Shalom activists who visited him in his Ramalla Compound. It was
published widely in foreign media, but our own political establishment
ignored it totally. Instead we continue to hear also this week, again and
again, the same mantra: "we don't have a partner, it's all corruption and
chaos over there...
DO PALESTINIANS HAVE A PARTNER ON THE ISRAELI SIDE?
Gush Shalom ad published in Ha'aretz, August 13 2004
~~~
[] Palestinian prisoners to start hunger strike
# Minister Hanegbi: Let them starve themselves to death
# "Refusal to talk is arrogant and disastrous"
(Gush Shalom press release)
# Call to solidarity action by the families of the prisoners
# Minister Hanegbi: Let them starve themselves to death
English
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/464469.html
http://www.maarivintl.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=article&articleID=10670
# "Refusal to talk is arrogant and disastrous"
Gush Shalom Press Release, August 14, 2004
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Negotiate with the Palestinians - on prison conditions and on overall
solutions; "Refusal to talk - arrogant and disastrous"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gush Shalom, the Israeli Peace Bloc, calls upon the Sharon Government to
open immediate negotiations on prison conditions with the representatives
of the Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails - ahead of the
prisoners' hunger strike scheduled for tomorrow. Many of the prisoners'
demands are reasonable, and their fulfilment would detract nothing from
"security" - for example, providing regular family visits. At present,
family visits to Palestinian prisoners are rare and irregular, with
families often having to spend a whole day's traveling for a visit of
half or three quarters of an hour. Moreover, many prisoners-for example,
prisoners from Nablus - get no family visits at all.
Internal Security Minister Hanegby expressed an intransigent and arrogant
position, declaring his blanket and outright rejection of all the
prisoners' demands. This is part and parcel of a government policy which
insists upon imposing unilateral solutions and rejects any negotiations
with the Palestinians - on prison conditions, and overall solution, or
anything in between. Hanegby's demagoguery on "murderous terrorists" and
"blood on the hands" relies on the ignorance of the general public. Few
Israelis know, for example, that more than a thousand Palestinians are
held in "administrative detention" without trial, against whom no charges
were ever presented, much less proven. Also, in many of the cases where
Palestinians are serving prison terms handed down by a court, these terms
in fact result from unfair "show trials" whose result was in fact
predetermined in advance - such as the Maerwan Bargouti trial.
It is futile for the state of Israel to re-invent basic rules and ignore
the historical experience gathered in dozens of countries around the
world. A significant part of the present UN member states emerged out of
a struggle by underground organizations - organizations invariably called
"terrorist murderers" but the colonial authorities and considered by
themselves to be freedom fighters, and with whom the authorities
eventually had to negotiate.
Indeed, Israel itself is a clear case in point. In the years previous to
1948, Jewish underground organizations challenged British rule in
mandatory Palestine. The British authorities conducted a fierce campaign
against these organizations, declared their members to be dangerous
terrorists, imprisoned thousands of them and executed many. Indeed,these
organizations were responsible for such acts as the 1946 blowing up of
the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, in which more than a hundred people
were killed in a single minute - a horrific 'record' which none of the
Palestinian organizations, in their numerous attacks on Israeli targets,
ever came close to matching.
Nevertheless, the British had to release all of the Jewish underground
prisoners. From their ranks, and those of the 'wanted terrorists' on
whose heads the British authorities had declared a price, there
eventually emerged no less than three prime minsters of the state of
Israel - Yithchak Rabin, Menachem Begin and Yitchak Shamir. (Rabin,
arrested in 1946 and held in a large British prison camp at Rafah, was
elected by his fellow prisoners to represent them, and was involved in
negotiations with the administration on prison conditions.)
All three ex-prisoner or ex-terrorist Prime Minsters of Israel were in
turn invited to state visits in Britain and received with full honours at
10 Downing Street. There can be no doubt that a similar stage will be
reached in Israel's relations with the Palestinians in general, and with
the Palestinian prisoners in particular. The sooner the government comes
to this realization, the lesser the number of casualties and the amount
of suffering still in store for both peoples.
Further info: Adam Keller, Gush Shalom Spokesperson
+972-(0)3-5565804, +972-(056)709603
# Call to solidarity action by the families of the prisoners
------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent: Thu, 12 Aug 2004 21:34:11 +0300
From: <nur at netvision.net.il>
Campaign for the Rights of Political Prisoners
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Palestinian Political Prisoners in Israeli Prisons Begin Hunger Strike
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To all Friends and Supporters of Human Rights around the World:
The Committee for the Families of Political Prisoners and Detainees in
the West Bank, representing 7,500 political prisoners currently in
Israeli prisons, is seeking the support of the international community in
its campaign against the gross violations of their rights that the
prisoners are enduring and against the appalling conditions under which
they are being detained.
Political prisoners in Israeli prisons will be commencing a hunger strike
on Sunday, August 15, 2004 to protest their conditions. They complain
that the conditions they experience are reminiscent of the former Abu
Ghoraib facility in Iraq which gained worldwide notoriety recently for
its treatment of detainees.
When informed by the prisoners of their intended hunger strike prison
authorities responded with harsher treatment, vowing not to give in to
any of the prisoners' demands even if the hunger strikes result in the
deaths of prisoners.
Some of the conditions that the prisoners are protesting include:
-- Arbitrary and indiscriminate beating of prisoners in their cells,
in prison courtyards and during transportation to and from prisons.
-- Arbitrary and indiscriminate firing of tear gas into prisoner's cells
and prison courtyards and intimidation of prisoners by guards entering
their cells with guns.
--Humiliating strip searches of prisoners in full view of other prisoners
and guards each time they enter or exit their cells
--Subjecting prisoners to solitary confinement for excessive periods of
time, for months and even years.
--Arbitrary imposition of financial penalties on prisoners for minor
infractions, arbitrary revocation of visitation rights and extended
confinement to cells as punishment for minor infractions such as singing
or speaking too loudly
--Confining children with adult prisoners and political prisoners with
criminals
--Withholding or delaying medical treatment and the provision of
medication to sick detainees
--Severely restricting the category of family members entitled to visit
prisoners thus denying visitation rights to other close family members
--Arbitrary denial of travel permits to family members of prisoners
living in the West Bank or Gaza so that they cannot travel to prisons to
see their relatives
--Imposing conditions on travel for family members and obstacles that
result in travel of a few hours being prolonged to 16 or 17 hours for a
45-minute visit
--Conducting humiliating strip searches of visiting family members even
though they are usually separated from the prisoners by a full glass
barrier as well as a wire mesh barrier.
--Providing such poor visitation facilities that prisoners find it
difficult to see or hear their loved ones
--Maintaining prisoners on near starvation diets that are insufficient to
sustain health.
--Applying rules concerning items that prisoners may receive from their
families arbitrarily and inconsistently, on the whim of the guards, with
each visit.
--Withdrawing studying privileges that in the past allowed prisoners to
continue their high school or university studies through correspondence
courses
The treatment of Palestinian prisoners in Israel violates both
international and Israeli laws, as well as rules governing the
administration of Israeli prisons. The Committee for the Families is
planning a series of activities in the West Bank to coincide with the
start of the hunger strike on August 15th. A press conference in Ramallah
will kick off the campaign. Hunger strike solidarity tents will be set up
in the centre of all the cities in the West Bank and in all the Red Cross
Centres and will be occupied by the public around the clock for as long
as the prisoners' strike lasts. The Palestinian Prime Minister's office
has declared August 18th a National Day for Prisoners for all
Palestinians to show solidarity with the prisoners. All government
ministers, members of the Palestinian National Council and heads of all
political parties will join the public in the Solidarity Tents and fast
in support of the prisoners.
Other planned activities are: On Friday, August 20, after Jum'a prayers
at mosques processions will march towards the Solidarity Tents. On
Saturday, August 21st, Palestinians in various Israeli cities will march,
together with other supporters, to the prisons where Palestinian
political prisoners are being held and on Sunday, August 22, after church
services processions will march to the Solidarity Tents. These
processions will be held every weekend during the campaign. On August
23rd children of the prisoners will lead a procession. On August 25th all
professionals involved in the Justice system in Palestine will congregate
at the Solidarity Tents in their official legal gowns and will lead a
procession to the centre of their cities. On August 26th the grandson of
Mahatma Gandhi, Arun Gandhi, will lead a mass procession in Ramallah. On
August 29th all members of the public are invited to join the open hunger
strike and in the evening candlelight processions will be held.
The families of the Palestinian political prisoners plead with you, the
members of the international community, to join in solidarity with our
sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters who are being
held in Israeli prisons by organizing an International Day of Solidarity
with Palestinian Prisoners on September 4, 2004. We ask you to
demonstrate, march, hold silent vigils or activities to publicize the
plight of the political prisoners and bring pressure on the government of
Israel to cease these violations of law and to treat Palestinian
prisoners as human beings entitled to basic human rights.
We ask you also register your protests by letter, fax, email, or
telephone to the officials listed below. Ask them to stop the harsh
treatment of Palestinian political prisoners and to accede the demands of
the striking prisoners so that the conditions under which they are
imprisoned are consistent with international norms of human rights and
basic decency.
Also, please register your protest with your own political
representatives and governments ministers.
Please send a copy of your protest message to alhureih at yahoo.com Messages
of support from organizations would also be appreciated by the prisoners
and their families. Please send them to the same address with some
details of the organization. For more information visit our temporary
website at www.palsolidarity.org/prisoners or telephone (972) 2 277 4602
or email: info at palsolidarity.org
With much appreciation for your valued support,
Mahmoud Ziadi, General Secretariat,
Families of Palestinian Political Prisoners
PO Box 2151, Ramallah, Palestine.
List of Israeli government officials:
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon,
Office of the Prime Minister
3 Kaplan Street, P O Box 187
Jerusalem 91919, Israel
Fax: +972 2 6705475
E-mail: pm_eng at pmo.gov.il
Minister of Justice Yosef Lapid
Ministry of Justice
29 Salah al-Din Street
Jerusalem 91010, Israel
Fax: +972 2 6285438
E-mail: sar at justice.gov.il
Minister of Defence Shaul Mofaz
Ministry of Defence,
37 Kaplan St., Tel-Aviv 61909, Israel.
Fax: +972-3-69-62757/16940/17915
e-mail: sar at mod.gov.il or pniot at mod.gov
Minister of Interior Security Tzahi Hanegbi
Ministry of Interior Security
Kiryat Hamemshala, P O Box 18182
Jerusalem 91181
Tel: 972-2-5309999 Fax: 2-5847872/11832
sar at mops.gov.il
Addresses of Israeli embassies worldwide can be found at
www.embassyworld.com/embassy/isreal1.htm or go to the Government of
Israel website at www.info.gov.il/FirstGov/
~~~
....
# Truth against Truth - opposite views on the history of the conflict
in 101 steps
English
http://www.gush-shalom.org/Docs/Truth_Eng.pdf
# Boycott List of Settlement Products (newly updated)
Now also with list of settlements
English
http://gush-shalom.org/Boycott/boyceng.htm
--
http://www.gush-shalom.org/english/index.html (English)
with
\\photos of recent actions
\\the weekly Gush Shalom ad
\\the columns of Uri Avnery
\\Gush Shalom's history & action chronicle
\\position papers & analysis (in "documents")
\\and a lot more
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Israel
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Please, add your email address where to send our
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(Etwas gekürzt. M.R.)
========================================
Matthias Reichl
Begegnungszentrum für aktive Gewaltlosigkeit
Wolfgangerstr.26
A-4820 Bad Ischl
Tel. +43-6132-24590
e-mail: mareichl at ping.at
http://www.begegnungszentrum.at
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