Hana al-Shalabi

The Palestinian prisoner rights group Addameer put out a statement today marking International Women’s Day (March 8), calling for the release of all Palestinian female political prisoners.

The mother of Hana al-Shalabi, the Palestinian woman who has been on hunger strike since 16 February when she was violently seized from her home by Israeli occupation forces, has spoken out in a video interview.

Palestinian orphan children were first among other children to express solidarity with Palestinian administrative detainee Hana Shalabi.

While almost the entire US Congress genuflected to Israel and its supposed “democracy” at the annual AIPAC convention in Washington this week, victims of Israel’s political repression, including Hana al-Shalabi who is on day 20 of her hunger strike, languished in its prisons ignored by world media.

Amnesty International has expressed concern over the worsening health of Hana al-Shalabi, a Palestinian woman who has been on hunger strike since 16 February against her detention without charge or trial by Israeli occupation authorities.

The social media efforts which recently brought global attention to Palestinian nonviolent resistance (Khader Adnan) and to the impact of Israeli occupation on Palestinian intimate and family relationships (Love Under Apartheid) did not do so by chance. Neither effort could have succeeded without a sound understanding of several key social media concepts. Although several news articles and blog posts have reported on these campaigns, none have yet explored the question of why the efforts were effective.

Today marks the 15th day of Hana al-Shalabi’s hunger strike against her arbitrary imprisonment by Israeli occupation forces in the West Bank. Currently held in the Hasharon prison, she was seized from her home near Jenin in a violent nighttime raid in the early hours of 16 February.

The Palestinian prisoners advocacy group Addameer announced on Twitter yesterday that Israel had renewed an administrative detention order against Palestinian writer Ahmad Qatamesh for an additional six months. This is the third consecutive administrative detention order issued against Qatamesh.