April 17 is Palestinian Prisoners’ Day. According to ADDAMEER, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Rights NGO:
over 6,800 Palestinians, from the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem, and 1948 Palestine, are currently imprisoned by the Israeli state. Of those, over 300 are children, 34 are women, 18 are elected Palestinian representatives and almost 300 are ‘Administrative Detainees’ – that is they have been interned without trial not having been charged with any crime or seeing the secret evidence against them.
The prisoners are being detained in 17 prisons and detention centers; such as, Nafha, Ramon, Ashkelon, Beersheba, HaDarom, Gilboa, Shata, Al-Ramla, Damon, Hasharon, Naqab, Ofer and Megiddo.
Over four decades of illegal Israeli military occupation, Palestinians from all walks of life have been illegally detained by Israel. Since the beginning of the occupation in 1967, over 650,000 Palestinians have been detained by Israel,.
An estimated 10,000 Palestinian women have been arrested and detained since 1967 under Israeli military orders, which govern nearly every aspect of life in the occupied Palestinian territory. As of 1 February 2011, 36 Palestinian women remain in Israel’s prisons and detention centers, including 3 women in administrative detention. The two prisons in which Palestinian women are detained are located outside the 1967 occupied territory, in direct contravention of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Israel breaks every convention in the book in their treatment of Palestinian prisoners at Naqab (Negev) in 2007. The horrendous abuses of prisoners in the video below can only be described as the actions of a fascist regime and dispel any misconception that Israel’s police and army are “moral”.
Comment by @djonesowens1, who worked on the video:
Few people realize that most of these prisoners are unjustly imprisoned and have been brutalized throughout their lives. After spending all this time working with the translator, I realize most people just cannot “get it”. But, it’s a contribution to the piles of evidence against a sadistic, insane regime.
Related Links
Another country : Thousands of Palestinians go on trial every year in the Ofer military court for offenses like illegally entering Israel or demonstrating against the separation fence.
On Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, April 17, 2011, the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat salutes all of the over 5,700 Palestinian prisoners inside the Israeli occupation’s jails, and calls upon all those concerned for justice and freedom to join and build the largest possible international movement to secure the freedom of all Palestinian prisoners, and of the entire Palestinian people.
Israeli Military Court remands Palestinian Organizer, Bassem Tamimi, Indefinitely – moral? hahaha : this is what happens to peaceful Palestinian protesters.
Another country : Thousands of Palestinians go on trial every year in the Ofer military court for offenses like illegally entering Israel or demonstrating against the separation fence. No one really wants to know what goes on there. So is there any point at all to telling this story?
IOF troops detain 845 Palestinians in three months including 105 children
Why Justice Won’t Be Done in the Itamar Murder Case
Palestine/ Israel Goldstone Links
Goldstone’s 3 colleagues on the UN Fact Finding Commission stand by report:
Mr. Goldstone notes that, according to the follow-up, Israel has begun 400 inquires into wrongdoing during the military campaign in Gaza, which it called Operation Cast Lead, and that much has been learned. His former colleagues say, by contrast, that of the 400 inquiries, 3 have yielded submissions for prosecution and 2 have led to someone being punished, in both cases with minor penalties.
“Therefore, the mechanisms that are being used by the Israeli authorities to investigate the incidents are proving inadequate to genuinely ascertain the facts and any ensuing legal responsibility,” they write.
“In addition, with regard to the issue of the policies guiding Operation Cast Lead, the committee states that there is ‘no indication that Israel has opened investigations into the actions of those who designed, planned, ordered and oversaw Operation Cast Lead.’ In other words, one of the most serious allegations about the conduct of Israel’s military operations remains completely unaddressed.”
The three conclude by saying that pressure had been applied to all members of the panel but that, unlike Mr. Goldstone, they had not yielded to it. They say: “Had we given in to pressures from any quarter to sanitize our conclusions, we would be doing a serious injustice to the hundreds of innocent civilians killed during the Gaza conflict, the thousands injured, and the hundreds of thousands whose lives continue to be deeply affected by the conflict and the blockade.
“The report has triggered a process that is still under way and should continue until justice is done and respect for international human rights and humanitarian law by everyone is ensured.”
The Goldstone Affair
Matter of Policy: Gaza War and Goldstone’s Moral Collapse
Finkelstein says Goldstone restored Israel’s only faculty (aggression) based on a claimed drone image it has never produced
Israel has produced hundreds of drone images and if it really had one of the single most shocking incident of the conflict, the al-Samouni attack of Jan. 5, 2009, as Goldstone and Israel state, why has this image not been produced?
Palestine / Israel Links
Vittorio Arrigoni: pacifist supporter of the Palestinian cause
Vittorio Arrigoni, “hero of Palestine”
Israeli Troops Demolish Homes Near Jericho
Michael Jansen: Murder of Vittorio Arrigoni
An open letter to our rabbinical colleagues
US committed to support Israeli crimes
Israeli tanks open fire in northern Gaza
Fatah: Netanyahu vision for provisional statehood problematic
“2Pac tortured by Jewish gangsters using Tel Aviv mob method”
“The problem will remain unresolved unless the United States steps forward, ” Brzezinski said. “I think it behooves the United States to step forward with a generalized framework of what the peace has to be.”
A Moment Of Silence
#BDS: No surprise Bob Dylan is visiting the ‘neighborhood bully’
60% of polled Israelis support a new war on Gaza
‘Lack of evidence’ in Gaza death probe: Israel – another coverup.
IDF leaders learn to be ‘humanitarian officers’ in battle – practise on occupying a Lebanese village.
Gaza police identify murder suspects
From the slavery of falsehood to the freedom of truth
3 Myths About Israel Promoted by the Right-Wing Pro-Israel Lobby
‘I never feel safe, not because of Palestinians but because of Israel’s leaders and policies.’
Ireland to press Israel on Gaza aid
There are nearly 34,000 African migrants in Israel and threaten the nation’s Jewish character.
Hebron Settler Leader: ‘Burn Awarta to Ground, Turn it to Ash’
PA: Jewish freedom holiday restricts Palestinians
Marrickville Links
Rates, roads – and justice in Gaza
Fiona Byrne: ‘When the resolution was passed, the council sought a report to provide comprehensive information about the potential impacts of the policy. The eventual report was unfortunately not in the spirit of the original motion, and the options presented were financially impractical. I personally believe that the council can support the campaign without having a negative financial impact on our ratepayers.
To this effect I will be tabling a mayoral minute tomorrow night recommending that the council maintain in-principle support for the campaign, while rescinding the part of the original motion which called for the council to implement the policy in our local area. I will also recommend we acknowledge Israel’s right to exist and condemn all acts of violence.
In this way Marrickville Council can continue to show our support for the Palestinians, while not having a financial burden on ratepayers or affecting the operations of the council.’
Backlash forces end to Israel boycott
Hey Barry O’Farrell, piss off out of Marrickville
Znet spin: Tech safe as Mayor set to dump Israel ban
Council’s Israeli boycott set to lose its teeth (The Australian spin)
Marrickville council – continue to stand on the right side of history!
It is disappointing but perhaps not surprising that your stand in support of freedom and equality has come under such intense scrutiny. This can only be seen as an attempt by Israel and its supporters to whitewash Israel’s system of occupation, colonisation and apartheid, and to character-assassinate or smear those who challenge it. People of conscience, cultural superstars, financial institutions, businesses, trade unions and faith groups all over the world are joining our non-violent movement. On behalf of Palestinian civil society, we are today writing to urge you to remain part of this moral struggle, to maintain your BDS policy and to find creative and tactically feasible ways in which to implement it.
John Pilger to Sydney’s Marrickville council; stand up for Palestine
“Sometimes, looked at from the outside, Australia is a strange place. In other ‘western democracies’ the ‘debate’ about the enduring injustice dealt the Palestinians and Israel’s lawlessness has moved forward to the point where the cynical campaign of anti-Semitism smears is no longer effective — in the UK, much of Europe and even the United States.
If Israel’s bloody assault on Lebanon was not the turning point, the criminal attack on the imprisoned population of Gaza certainly was. The same is true of the BDS movement. This eminently reasonable, decent and necessary campaign enjoys a respectability across the world, not least in South Africa, where it’s backed by the likes of Desmond Tutu and especially those Jews who fought the apartheid regime. The University of Johannesburg, the country’s biggest, has just broken all ties with Israel. Justice for Palestine, said, Mandela, is ‘the greatest moral issue of our time’. That’s the company those Marrickville councillors who have stood up for this ‘greatest moral issue’, keep. And those who have wavered and walked away should think again – remembering other waverers who, long ago, walked away from speaking out against what was being done to Jews. The scale is very different; the principle is the same. Do not be intimidated by Murdoch vendettas or by anyone else. All power to you.”
Joe Hildebrand : right-wing spambot – Michael Brull dissects a case of limp punditry against BDS
The new Greens – just another political party? : another rightwing limp lettuce leaf tilts at whinemills.
Left is a gift that keeps on giving : Tim Blair moans on as usual
Albanese bullies the Greens and lies about BDS which doesn’t advocate a one or two state solution: “The problem with the BDS is that it is a one-state solution, it doesn’t provide a way forward”.
Albanese’s hogwash : The Greens swipe at Albanese
@AlboMP the Australian has quoted you lying about #BDS – it doesn’t advocate 1 or 2 states http://is.gd/lXB6BP facts: http://is.gd/8gIiBC
Marrickville Council’s Israel boycott given support by local priests
News Ltd wages war on local council for supporting Palestinian human rights
Australian City Faces Attacks for Supporting BDS
Austin Mackell @austingmackell reminds the Marrickville Greens that matters of principle work both ways
Prominent academics and political and cultural figures write to Marrickville Council in support of BDS policy
Councillors and Mayors from UK, Spain and Sweden write to Marrickville Council in support of BDS policy
Greens’ boycott rebounds : More Australian slime
Albanese Merely Posturing over Marrickville Council
Libya Links
When War Games Go Live: “Staging” a “Humanitarian War” against “SOUTHLAND”
Using Libya to abort the Arab Spring
Gadhafi’s Cluster Bombs–and Uncle Sam’s
Nato must send in troops to save Misrata, say rebels : here comes the occupation?
Imperialist powers prepare escalation of Libyan war
Other Links
Public defenceless against influence-peddling arms race
91 victims and rising: Met police admits scale of phone hacking
Sri Lanka forces committed war crimes, says UN
U.S. Ranks Dead Last In Overall Social Spending
Hey Facebook: What’s SO wrong about a pic of two men kissing?
Criticism of Behrendt hides political agenda : ripping apart the NT Intervention.
Rich men in the tax-free kingdom of God