News update from day 64 of Khader Adnan’s hunger strike

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RAMALLAH (Reuters) — The health of a Palestinian prisoner on hunger strike for 61 days to protest against his detention, has significantly worsened, his wife said Thursday after visiting her husband in an Israeli hospital. Khader Adnan, 33, a member of Islamic Jihad, has been refusing to eat since mid-December, shortly after his arrest in the occupied West Bank by Israeli forces.
 
Jerusalem (CNN) — A 33-year-old West Bank baker who has become a symbol of Palestinian resistance to Israeli detention policies entered the 63rd day of a hunger strike Saturday despite a doctor’s warning that he could die any time. ”Mr. Khader Adnan is in immediate danger of death,” according to a report issued this week by the Israeli branch of the nonprofit Physicians for Human Rights, which sent a doctor to examine him. Adnan’s two-month protest is the longest hunger strike in Palestinian history and is a high-stakes gamble that increased scrutiny on Israel’s arrest and detention policies of Palestinians.
 
RAMALLAH (Ma’an) – Palestinian prisoners in Israel’s Ashkelon prison have started an open hunger strike to support Islamic Jihad affiliated prisoner Khader Adnan, the Palestinian prisoners’ society said Sunday. Prisoner Nasser Hmeid told the society’s lawyer Kareem Ajwah that six prisoners already started a hunger strike and that another group joins them every day, a statement from the society said. In a week, he added, all inmates in Ashkelon will be on hunger strike in an attempt to exert pressure on Israel to release Khader Adnan. 
 

Palestinians rally for prisoner

Thousands have rallied in Gaza and the West Bank in support of a Palestinian on the 62nd day of a hunger strike in protest at his detention by Israel.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-middle-east-17079461

 
Today marked the seventh anniversary of protests by the village of Bil’in, in the occupied territories, of Israeli confiscation of village land to make way for a Jewish settlement, but the focus of today’s demonstration was imprisoned hunger striker Khader Adnan.
 
Jewish Voice for Peace and Ta’anit Tzedek: Jewish Fast for Gaza are calling for a one day fast (from sunrise to sunset) on Friday, February 17, 2012 in solidarity with Khader Adnan, who today is in his 61st day of a hunger strike. Khader began his hunger strike on December 18th, 2011  after he was arrested  in a nighttime Israeli military raid on his home in the West Bank village of Arraba. Since his arrest, Khader has been held in “administrative detention”–without trial or charges against him.  It has been reported that he is affiliated with Islamic Jihad, but no evidence of that affiliation has been presented.  Regardless of his political beliefs, administrative detention and the interrogations which sparked his hunger strike are entirely unacceptable according to international law.
 
Today Khader Adnan began the 62nd day of his hunger strike in protest of his administrative detention by Israel. He is chained to a bed in Ziv Hospital in Safed even though he has been too weak to walk for several days. In an interview today with The Independent, Randa Adnan — his wife — said “I know my husband. He will not change his mind. I expect him to die.”
 
Washing your hands of Khader Adnan: My response to weasel words of EU’s Catherine Ashton, Ali Abunimah
Today my colleague David Cronin wrote about the weasel worded response of the EU High Representative Catherine Ashton, for comment on the case of Khader Adnan. Here is my response, which I sent her by email.

If #KhaderAdnan was a Jewish terrorist, he might be free, Max Blumenthal

As I write this, Khader Adnan is near death, on the 63rd day of a hunger strike to protest his detention without charges by Israeli occupation authorities. Having been seized on December 17 in the middle of the night by Israeli soldiers, jailed without trial, humiliated and abused, Adnan is waging one of the longest hunger strikes in Palestinian history.

 

Standing in solidarity with Khader Adnan
Nehad Khader – Electronic Intifada “We are in solidarity because we can all imagine ourselves as Khader Adnan. Maybe if his jailers thought for one moment that they could also be Khader Adnan they would have more compassion.” 

 
Day 62 and counting. Adnan’s hunger strike continues. On February 15, Israel let his wife Randa see him for the second time. She said “(h)is health has drastically deteriorated from the last time I saw him” a week ago. “I expect the worst. He insists on continuing with the hunger strike.” He wants to live but will die for justice. PLO official Saeb Erekat said Abbas pressed Russia, China, Britain, and EU authorities to help during meetings with acting EU representative to Palestine John Gatt-Rutter, UK Consul-General Vincent Fean, Russian representative Alexander Rudakov, and Chinese PA ambassador Yang Wei Guo.
 
Today Khader Adnan entered his 63rd day on hunger strike. A trend has taken place on twitter under the name #hungerstrike63days, in an effort to spread the news of a subject that has gotten little to no attention by western media outlets. Even Haaretz the Israeli left wing newspaper only mentioned the strike as it entered its 60th day. One person commented on the trend saying “freedom is more important than food”, another commented “and the world is still indifferent to the injustice”. This trend has taken place not only to spread the news, but also show solidarity with Khader Adnan and the whole Palestinian people.  It’s not clear whether there will be a  #hungerstrike64days, as Khader Adnan’s health is deteriorating minute by minute, and the Israeli court has already rejected his appeal, and blamed him for his own health situation.  PNN will keep you updated on the situation on our website, and through our twitter page @pnnenglish.

After sixty days on hunger strike, Palestinian detainee Khadr Adnan remains shackled to a bed in an Israeli hospital in Safad. Mr Adnan is not an Israeli citizen and no criminal charges have ever been brought against him. He is a Palestinian who was abducted from his home in the occupied West Bank and taken forcibly to Israel. International humanitarian law prohibits “Individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or not… regardless of their motive.” We must assume that the only reason why this matter has been allowed to continue for so long is because the Israelis believe that in this, as in other instances when they treat international law with contempt, they have the power to act with impunity.
 

Watch: Huwaida Arraf and Ali Abunimah discuss Palestinian strategy, Khader Adnan and BDS on The Stream, Ali Abunimah
On 16 February, Ali Abunimah and Huwaida Arraf appeared on Aljazeera English’s The Stream. Major topics included Palestinian hunger striker Khader Adnan, the “reconciliation” deal between Hamas and Fatah, and the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement.

 
Land Theft & Destruction / Ethnic Cleansing / Apartheid & Occupation
 

Israel Demolishes Buildings in South Hebron-Area Villages
On 15 February, the Israeli military demolished five buildings in the Palestinian village of Saadet Tha’lah and destroyed a water tank and tore down 50 trees in the Palestinian village of Ar Rakeez.

Israeli national park expropriates Palestinian land
Israel’s use of national parks to expropriate Palestinian land and prevent development in East Jerusalem is the subject of Bimkom’s latest, January, report.
 
Bedouins in E1: “I said that this was my home, that I was born here, and he told me to go to Ramallah”
Yousef Thayafeen, 37, lives with his wife and their five children in Wa’r al Beik, an area bordering the town of Anata, a suburb of East Jerusalem cut off from the city by the separation wall.

 
Attacks on Palestinians
 
Israeli airstrikes early Thursday morning injured six persons, including rescue workers. Meanwhile, area residents say this is not the first time they have been subjected to Israeli strikes.
 
The Israeli occupation forces carried out a small-scale incursion into northern Gaza Strip on Friday evening and bombed a residential area east of Al-Bureij camp without any reported injuries.

 

Palestinian medical sources in the Gaza Strip reported that two residents were wounded, on Saturday evening, when the Israeli Air Force bombarded a blacksmith workshop in Az-Zeitoun neighborhood, east of Gaza City.

 
Detainees
 

Detained Hamas commander goes on hunger strike
Hassan Salame, a commander in the armed wing of Hamas, has decided to go on an open-ended hunger strike starting on Thursday.

 
Detainees In Ramon Punished For Protesting Abuse
The Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) reported Friday that Palestinian political detainees held at the Ramon Israeli prison, are being punished for protesting abuse against their families, who are being ordered to undergo humiliation and strip search before they visit their detained family members.

 

Palestinian’s Trial Shines Light on Justice System

As a grass-roots leader goes on trial, having been incriminated by a teenager, questions are being raised about the legal system Palestinians are placed into.
 

Ex-political prisoner shares journey though Israeli jails
Alexis Thiry–There were 4,937 political prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention centers in November 2011 according to Adameer, a Palestinian non-governmental organization. Yazan Abdulhadi was one of them before he was released on November 28, 2011, between the two swaps of the deal between Israel and Hamas to free Gilad Schalit (not as part of the deal). On January 7, 2012, he agreed to give an interview that would be published in +972 Magazine

 
Popular Protests 
 

IOF quell peaceful march of Kafr Qaddum village
Dozens of Palestinians and foreign activists suffered different injuries on Friday when their peaceful anti-settlement march were violently attacked by Israeli soldiers in Kafr Qaddum village.

 
BDS
 
Veteran British pop star Engelbert Humperdinck faced calls to refrain from returning to Israel on Saturday, ahead of a planned trip to Lebanon in March. Humperdinck, famous for his hits “Release Me” and “The Last Waltz,” performed in Tel Aviv in December despite a campaign led by British university students. He is due to perform at Casino Du Liban in Jounieh on March 9 and 10. A letter from the Campaign to Boycott Supporters of Israel in Lebanon (CBSI) condemned Humperdinck for performing in Israel but did not call for his performances to be cancelled.
 
The Presbyterian Church (USA) will vote on a resolution to divest from Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard and Motorola at its next General Assembly to be held June 30 – July 7, 2012 in Pittsburgh, Pa. The church is considering divestment because “products made by those companies are used in nonpeaceful ways in the Israel-Palestine conflict” and dialogue and shareholder actions with the companies have not yielded results.
 
A new handbook for BDS activists around the world offers tactical and practical suggestions for strengthening global boycott actions.
 

Video: right-wing groups attack U.S. professors over Ilan Pappe speaking tour, Allison Deger

A group called the AMCHA Initiative, founded by University of California faculty, launched a campaign against three California professors over an upcoming Ilan Pappe speaking tour.  The organization currently has two campaigns, one against Cal State Northridge professor David Klein (also highlighted in the latest video), and one against the University of California system, both over charges of anti-Semitism.
 
So Norman Finkelstein gave an interview in London on the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Campaign (BDS). I noticed that Finkelstein’s views on the subject have been attracting a lot of attention and criticism. I was asked about such views during my UK university tour last month and in each case I stated that I would not publicly criticize Finkelstein although I disagree with some of the views he holds. But his recent remarks, I felt, went too far.
 
 
Bahrain
 
Bahrain released all females political prisoners bar one on Thursday, with prominent activist Zainab Al-Khawaja detained indefinitely, according to activists. Twelve female protesters were released on Thursday evening in a move welcomed by pro-democracy campaigners. Khawaja, who has become the leading female activist in the country after writing about the protests under the Twitter name @angryarabiya, remains in jail. Khawaja was arrested last Sunday as she tried to approach the Pearl Roundabout, the scene of large-scale protests last year until Bahraini and Saudi security forces crushed the revolt.
 
Saudi-backed Bahraini security forces have launched a fierce overnight crackdown on anti-regime protesters across several regions of the country, Press TV reports.

 
Bahrain police, protesters clash, Western activists held (Reuters)
Reuters – Bahraini police detained two Western activists who had joined a women’s protest on Friday, after clashing overnight with protesters in Shi’ite districts of the Gulf Arab state.

 

People & Power – Bahrain: Audacity of hope 
One year on from the suppression of pro-democracy protests in Bahrain, activists are still hoping that political reform can be achieved. Is the hope that inspired last year’s uprising still shining brightly?

 
Why Bahrain is not Syria, Pepe Escobar
How poignant that the first anniversary of a true Arab pro-democracy movement in the Persian Gulf – then ruthlessly crushed – falls on February 14, when Valentine’s Day is celebrated in the West. Talk about a doomed love affair. And how does Washington honor this tragic love story? By resuming arms sales to the repressive Sunni al-Khalifa dynasty in power in Bahrain. So just to recap; United States President Barack Obama told Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad to “step aside and allow a democratic transition to proceed immediately” while King Hamad al-Khalifa gets new toys to crack down on his subversively pro-democratic subjects. Is this a case of cognitive dissonance? Of course not; after all Syria is supported by Russia and China at the United Nations Security Council while Bahrain hosts the US’s Fifth Fleet – the defender of the “free world” against those evil Iranians who want to shut down the Strait of Hormuz.

 
Egypt
 

Moussa: The peace treaty with Israel should be reconsidered

Amr Moussa, a likely candidate for the presidential elections in Egypt, said on Thursday that his country should reconsider some sides of its peace treaty with Israel.
 
Lebanon

BEIRUT (Ma’an) — A Lebanese military court has handed down three death sentences for spying for Israel, two of them in absentia, the Now Lebanon news website reported Friday. It cited a report from the state National News Agency saying the court ordered the sentences for Haitham Sahmarani, who is in custody, and Sahira Sahmarani and her husband Mohammed Amin Khazaal, who are both at large. More than 100 people have been arrested on suspicion of spying for the Israeli Mossad since April 2009, including members of the security forces and telecom employees, Now Lebanon reported.
 

Nasrallah: our enemy knows how we avenge Mughniyeh
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said his party was not involved in recent bombings that took place in India, Georgia, and Thailand earlier this month, while reiterating the party’s intention to avenge the killing of its leader Imad Mughniyeh four years ago. ”It is insulting for Hezbollah to avenge its great leader by killing ordinary Israelis, as fr those who are our target, they know who they are and they are taking measures and I tell them to remain doing so for we shall avenge Imad Mughniyeh in an honorable way,” Nasrallah said.

 
Saudi Arabia
 

Saudi women hold sit-in protest in Qatif
A group of Saudi women have staged a sit-in protest in the kingdom’s oil-rich Eastern Province to draw international attention to their sufferings.

 
Saudi authorities should free Hamza Kashgari and drop any charges against him based on comments he made on Twitter expressing his personal religious views. On the morning of February 12, 2012, Malaysian authorities deported Kashgari back to Saudi Arabia to face charges of apostasy there, hours before lawyers obtained a Malaysian High Court injunction against his deportation.

 
Those who threaten ‘Twitter blasphemy’ writer Hamza Kashgari should stop and remember what Islam is for | Tehmina Kazi
Islam is not a sword or shield for the global political stage, but a belief system designed to purify the human heart. As of 6pm (UK time) today, 7,894 people had signed a petition urging the Saudi government to drop all charges of blasphemy against Hamza Kashgari, a columnist for the Jeddah-based daily Al-Bilad. Kashgari, 23, had sparked outrage for detailing an imaginary conversation with the prophet Muhammad on his Twitter account, in which he addressed him as an equal: “I will say that I have loved aspects of you, hated others, and could not understand many more.”
 

IOC/Saudi Arabia: End Ban on Women in Sport
As the world prepares for the 2012 Olympics, the Saudi government is systematically discriminating against women in sports and physical education, and has never sent a female athlete to the Olympics, with no penalty from the international Olympic authorities. Human Rights Watch called on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to make ending discrimination against women in sports in the kingdom a condition for Saudi Arabia’s participation in Olympic sporting events, including the 2012 London Games.

 
“Mustapha Ouanes, an Algerian-born engineer and a member of the Saudi royal family’s entourage, has been convicted of rape in New York, the Atlantic Wire reported.  Ouanes was charged for bringing two women back to his hotel room after a night of drinking in January 2010 and raping one of them after they fell asleep, according to the Atlantic….Ouanes, a Canadian citizen, works for a firm that contracts with the Saudi royal family, and spent about half his time working and traveling with a Saudi prince, the Atlantic reported.”  Let me tell you what I know about the story and which has not been reported yet: the Prince in question is none other than Prince `Abdul-`Aziz bin Fahd, and the man in question works for Saudi Oger (owned by the Hariri family).
 
Syria
 

Syria: Fears for activists arrested in Damascus raid

The Syrian authorities must release or charge a group of at least 14 people arrested on Thursday in a raid on the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression in Damascus, Amnesty International said today. A lawyer based in Syria told Amnesty International that the centre’s director Mazen Darwish and Syrian-American blogger Razan Ghazzawi were among those detained.  
 
Israel’s Efraim Halevy believes a collapse of the Assad regime in Syria could deal a blow to ally Iran’s regional ambitions and nuclear program. Instability in Syria poses stark security risks for Israel, but it also offers a chance to deliver a stinging blow toIran’s regional ambitions and even its nuclear program, Israel’s former national security advisor says.

 
Analysis / Op-ed
 

“Four days in Ramallah through the lens of dehumanization” – remembering Anthony Shadid, Paul Mutter

I didn’t know Anthony Shadid personally, but I respected his writing. His last story for the NYT, on militias running amok in Libya, was perhaps the best one I’d read about the country’s internal conflict since it began in 2011. It reminded readers – well, those few who care to recall Libya – that “interventions” do not end when the last bomber flies back to base, whether we’re claiming “mission accomplished” in the name of neoconservatism or the “responsibility to protect.”

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Glenn Greenwald has a column about Khadar Adnan. “Khader Adnan and normalized Western justice” is at
http://www.salon.com/2012/02/20/khader_adnan_and_normalized_western_justice/singleton/

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