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Prisoners adjourn hunger strike until Sunday

2 September 2004


In an interview with Mandela’s lawyer Buthaina Duqmaq at Ha Darim Prison on 2 September 2004, inmates Houssam Khader and Samir Qanttar affirmed negotiations with the Israeli Prison Authority have actually begun on day one of the hunger strike contrary to what Israeli media has been reporting. They asserted the popular and organized solidarity movement with the prisoners forced Israeli authorities into negotiations with the striking prisoners. Both inmates emphasized the prisoners’ high spirits to challenge the status quo and their coalescence with the committee leading the strike coerced the Israeli side into marathon-like negotiations to lessen the negative impact of the strike on Israeli image. 

The myth of Gandhi and Palestinian reality

Ali Abunimah 8 September 2004


The recent visit of Mohandas K. Gandhi’s grandson, Arun Gandhi, to Palestine has sparked new discussion about the role of nonviolence in the Palestinian struggle for freedom. In a speech before the Palestinian Legislative Council, Gandhi called upon 50,000 Palestinian refugees to march back home en masse from their exile in Jordan, forcing the Israelis to choose between relenting to a wave of people power, or gunning the marchers down in cold blood. EI co-founder Ali Abunimah sorts the genuine efforts to energize the struggle with non-violent tactics from the spurious ones designed to shift the blame from the occupier to the occupied. 

Prisoners at Nafha prison boycott clinic

31 August 2004


In an interview with advocate Buthaina Duqmaq, Abdul-Salam Shukry and Mohmoud Haskour, two Palestinian prisoners, affirmed inmates at Nafha Prison have high spirits and vow to continue the hunger strike until their humanitarian and just demands are realized. They asserted any deal between the prisoners and the Israeli prison authorities must be concluded only with prisoners’ leadership. Israeli military authorities have scattered prison leaders among several isolation sections to create a wedge among inmates. Advocate Duqmaq learned that several infirm cases were reported at Nafha Prison. “We are solely responsible  for our safety and wellbeing should we continue the hunger strike”. 

Report: "Operation Forward" in Beit Hanoun

20 August 2004


A preliminary assessment of the effects of the Israeli operation “Forward Shield,” in the northern Gaza Strip, particularly in Beit Hanoun, shows that Beit Hanoun and neighbouring areas suffered considerable damage. This report covers the period 29 June to 5 August 2004. Aside from the deaths and injuries, damage and destruction to property and infrastructure are primary humanitarian concerns resulting from the operation. Public and private property - homes, agricultural land, factories, educational facilities, roads, electricity, and water and sewerage networks - were damaged or destroyed in Beit Hanoun. 

Interview with Palestinian Justice Minister Nahed al-Rayyes

Samah Sabawi 2 September 2004

“The situation fell out of control and it became difficult for me to do my job. It became difficult for the Ministry of Justice to operate, especially after the Palestinian Cabinet passed a ministerial decision that further limited our ability to work within our legal channels to implement law and order. Basically, the wording of the new orders was vague and didn’t clearly establish boundaries for different departments within the government to operate. It became impossible to work.” Palestinian Justice Minister Nahed al-Rayyes, who recently submitted his resignation, granted Samah Sabawi in Amman, Jordan this exclusive interview by telephone from his home in Gaza on 27 August 2004. 

Prisoner Stories: Rami Rizik Fadayel

Rima Merriman Ramallah, Palestine 2 September 2004


Rami Fadayel’s parents, Rizik and Muna, and his aunt Samia attended Rami’s commencement exercises in 2002 at Birzeit University, where he received a degree in accounting. They wanted to hear his name being called out. Rami himself could not be at the commencement. He was wanted by the Israeli forces and did not risk passing through the check point at Surda to get to Birzeit. Rami, who is now 24 years old, was likewise absent from his own engagement party, which his family held for him on April 4, 2004, on the Day of the Palestinian Prisoner. Arrested on January 11, 2003, he was in Ofar prison in Ramallah serving a sentence of 42 months. 

Ali Abunimah on Flashpoints

Nora Barrows-Friedman 2 September 2004


Listen to an interview with EI cofounder Ali Abunimah on Flashpoints, 94.1FM, Berkeley, California. Senior producer Nora Barrows-Friedman interviews Ali about the Palestinian Prisoners’ Hunger Strike, Israel’s reaction to the mass protest against prison conditions, and other events on the ground. The show was originally broadcast on Flashpoints on 25 August 2004. MP3 format, 8MB, 17:23 minutes duration. 

CKUT Radio: Palestinian Prisoner Hunger Strike

Stefan Christoff 2 September 2004


Listen to an interview with Mahmoud Ziadi, spokes person of the Committee for the Families of Political Prisoners and Detainees in the West Bank. The interview focuses on the current hunger strike of more than 7,000 Palestinian political prisoners throughout Occupied Palestine, while also drawing the links between the current hunger strike and the ongoing Palestinian struggle for liberation from the deadly and illegal Israeli occupation. Interviewer: Stefan Christoff. Format: MP3, 12:15 minutes. 

Prisoner Stories: Mua'ath Mohammad Samarah

Rima Merriman Ramallah, Palestine 2 September 2004


In telling the story of his son’s imprisonment, Mohammad Samarah reflects on an irony that seems to him sad and inspirational at the same time. His youngest son, Mu’aath (27), is being held at an Israeli prison called Jalbou’. It’s a new prison north of Jenin in the Jalboun hills built to replace an older prison by the same name that was located in the Palestinian village of Shatta. The irony, Mohammad Samarah explains, lies in the fact that his family comes from a village in Jalboun called Noores. The Israelis have wiped out this Palestinian village, but overlooking its ruins, there is now an Israeli “settlement” tauntingly echoing what used to be by calling itself Nooret. 

Destroying History

Ahmad Sub Laban 6 September 2004


On August 9, Israeli bulldozers sank their jaws into three buildings in the old city of Hebron. The demolitions, to make way for a settler-only road to connect the Kiryat Arba settlement with the Ibrahimi Mosque, caused an outrage. Imad Hamdan, public relations director for the Hebron Reconstruction Committee, believes Israel is waging a war on the heritage of Hebron’s old city, pointing to the fact that there are tens of other houses slated for demolition, some of which date back to the Mamluk and Ottoman eras and others that were built during the British Mandate. It is a clear indication to Hamdan of an Israeli attempt to Judaize the old city and the area around the Ibrahimi Mosque.