Former Palestinian hunger striker Thaer Halahleh re-arrested by Israeli military forces

Thaer Halahleh

This morning, Israeli forces abducted 33 year old former Palestinian Hunger Striker Thaer Halahleh for the 8th time. He is being held without charge.

Image by Arabs48

Thus far Halahleh has never been charged with a crime, he is being imprisoned by Israel under the inhumane archaic practice of administrative detention.

Thaer Halahleh was last kidnapped by Israeli forces on June 26, 2010. Enduring a 77-day “battle of empty bowels” to protest his detention without charge, repeatedly renewed against him, he was released by the Israeli Prison Administration on Jun 5, 2012 on the brink of death.

Ma’an News: Israel re-arrests hunger striker released last year

Israeli soldiers raided Halahla’s home and a neighboring residence in Ramallah, damaging the contents of his home and confiscating his mobile phone, witnesses told Ma’an.

His wife Shirin Halahla passed out during the arrest and was taken to hospital for treatment.

Halahla, from the Hebron-district town of Kharas, held a 77-day hunger strike last year to protest his detention without charge by Israel.

He was released in June 2012 after reaching a deal with Israeli prison authorities and greeted by crowds of supporters.

Halahla’s strike was part of a mass protest action by Palestinians in Israeli jails last year, which saw over 2,000 prisoners refuse food.

He relocated to Ramallah some three months ago, and was reportedly involved with activities to support Palestinian prisoners.

Thaer Halahla, 33, has been arrested eight times by Israel and has spent 6 and a half years in administrative detention, without ever being charged with a crime, Addameer says.

On May 13, 2012 Thaer Halahleh wrote this letter to his one-year-old firstborn, a baby girl whom he had never met: “My Beloved Lamar…Forgive me”

“My Beloved Lamar, forgive me because the occupation took me away from you, and took away from me the pleasure of witnessing my firstborn child that I have always prayed to God to see, to kiss, to be happy with. It is not your fault; this is our destiny as Palestinian people to have our lives and the lives of our children taken away from us, to be apart from each other and to have a miserable life. Nothing is complete in our lives because of this unjust occupation that is lurking on every corner of our lives turning it into eeriness, a continuous pursuit and torture. Despite the fact that I was deprived from holding you and hearing your voice, from watching you grow up and move around in the house and in your bed, and that I was deprived of my role as a human and a father with my daughter, your existence has given me all the power and hope, and when I saw your picture with your mother in the sit-in tent, you were so calm staring in wonder at people, as if you were looking for your father, looking at my pictures that are hung inside the tent asking in silence why is my father not coming back. I felt that you are with me, in my sentiment and inside my mind, as if you are a part of my heartbeats, steadfast and the blood that flows in my veins, opening all doors for me spreading clear skies around me, and unleashing your free childish voice after this long silence.”

“Lamar my love: I know that you are not to be blamed and that you don’t yet understand why your father is going through this battle of hunger strike for the 75th day, but when you grow up you will understand that the battle of freedom is the battle of going back to you, so that I can never be taken away from you again or to be deprived of your smile or seeing you, so that the occupier will never kidnap me again from you.”

“When you grow up you will understand how injustice was brought upon your father and upon thousands of Palestinians whom the occupation has put in prisons and jail cells, shattering their lives and future for no reason other than their pursuit of freedom, dignity and independence. You will know that your father did not tolerate injustice and submission, and that he would never accept insult and compromise, and that he is going through a hunger strike to protest against the Jewish state that wants to turn us into humiliated slaves without any rights or patriotic dignity.”

“My beloved Lamar keep your head up always and be proud of your father, and thank everyone who supported me, who supported the prisoners in their struggle, and don’t be afraid for God is with us always, and God never lets down people who have faith and patience. We are righteous, and right will always prevail against injustice and wrong doers.”

“Lamar my love: that day will come, and I will make it up to you for everything, and tell you the whole story, and your days that will follow will be more beautiful, so let your days pass now and wear your prettiest clothes, run and then run again in the gardens of your long life, go forward and forward for nothing is behind you but the past, and this is your voice I hear all the time as a melody of freedom”.

Since 2000, Israel has issued over 20,000 detention orders on Palestinians. Over 4,743 Palestinians are currently detained by Israel; 10 of them women, 193 of them children, and 178 of them held under administrative detention.