Activism

Invoking Bobby Sands and Mandela, 95 Israelis endorse Palestinian prisoners’ hunger strike

Berlin, 19 April 2017

Dear Comrades, friends, and partners in the struggle,

We, a group of conscientious Israeli-Jews, would like to express our deep respect and solidarity with you – the 1,500 or more Palestinians who embarked on a collective open ended hunger strike to demand your basic rights.

Given the brutal measures inflicted on political prisoners around the world, be it in the former apartheid regime in South Africa, the imperial British rule over Ireland or in present-day Palestine-Israel, hunger strikes remain a peaceful, non-violent, and legitimate tool of resistance.

The Israeli prison authorities employ mass incarceration, solitary confinement, administrative detentions, torture, and even the incarceration of minors as a matter of state policy. These unlawful practices of imprisonment are used as a tool of political repression and are carried out with the full backing of Israel’s apartheid judicial system. This system deprives the Palestinian society of its voice, identity, and collective hope of liberation from the chains of colonialism.

Caged under inhumane conditions, Palestinian prisoners who fight the “battle of empty stomachs” demonstrate once again that the active Palestinian leadership is the one located behind prison walls. From the confines of their prison cells, the prisoners embody the voice of Palestinian unity and struggle, along with the millions of exiled refugees who struggle daily for their right to return.

We draw inspiration from your courage and determination as well as from past hunger strikers such as Nelson Mandela, Bobby Sands, Alice Paul, and other outstanding figures who had confronted their oppressors to liberate themselves and liberate others. We stand with you in the struggle for freedom, equality, and justice, until the fall of apartheid.

In solidarity,

Zohar Atai, Shir Hever, Shajar Rachel, Barith Ball, Guy Hirchfeld, Shira Ramer Wittlin, Ronnie Barkan, Tammar Hoffman, Adi Raz, Ronnen Ben-Arie, Lihi Joffe…

CLICK HERE to view the full list of signatories and endorsers. 

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Maybe I missed it , but I did not notice our Israeli Left rep,s name on the list. What,s up Jon S , don,t you reach out to Hunger strikers.

Look on the bright side Jon S , the Eritreans in your neighbourhood might adopt hunger strikes as a form of resistance and you can be rid of them from your Jews only , god given nirvana .

i was living in the south of Ireland in 81 i wonder if you might think it worthwhile to here from

Bik Macfarlane, a key figure in the h-block protests and hunger strike, Bik after the biro because he took notes during political lectures, though hardly an “innocent man” many consider him an exemplary peoples militia commander, a fine singer, and legend has it that Sands ceded the leadership in the Maze to him because as Sands observed as they embarked on the hunger strike “You will let me die”a man of unshakable determination.

Brendan “Bik” Macfarlane on the hunger strike 1981, the nature of the struggle and the discourse of reaction.

https://youtu.be/-S9seYhVgIE

Very nice, very touching. What is needed now is for Israeli Jews like the ones who compiled this letter to link up with like-minded Jews elsewhere, and with anti-occupation organisations like JVP, others, BDS, other non-violent Palestinian groups. This new body should cooperate & coordinate their activities, and put up BIG money to counter all of Israel’s Hasbara activities effectively, and help BDS spread even faster. So: MONEY, COOPERATION, COORDINATION.

Far out!
That’s a bunch of people and orgs.