Freedom and Justice for Palestine and its People.
Free Palestine Melbourne has launched a campaign demanding Australia push for the immediate release of Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti, imprisoned by Israel since 2002. Amid escalating threats to his life, the campaign joins a global call backed by hundreds of prominent figures worldwide.
Under the law, a Palestinian citizen of Israel or a Palestinian in the occupied and illegally annexed East Jerusalem who holds Israeli residency can be stripped of their status after being convicted or charged for an “act of terrorism” and receiving money from the PA.
Karim Younis, 66, has been released from Israeli prisons after serving 40 years for the killing of an Israeli soldier.
Occupied East Jerusalem – The longest-serving Palestinian prisoner, Karim Younis, has been released after serving 40 years in Israeli prisons.
Israeli prison authorities released Younis, 66, from Hadarim prison just north of Tel Aviv at dawn on Thursday morning.
He was arrested in 1983 and charged in Israeli courts with the killing of an Israeli soldier in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights three years prior.
Younis hails from the Palestinian village of Ara within Israel, where large crowds of relatives and friends greeted him on Thursday.
Younis spoke to Al Jazeera shortly after his release, comparing it to a “military operation”.
He said that he had been moved between different police cars before being dropped off at a location that turned out to be a bus station in Ranana, a town north of Tel Aviv. There, he was able to get in contact with his family, with the help of a passer-by.
Reporting from Ara, Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan said Younis was released at 5:30am (02:30GMT) and that people had poured into the streets of his village to welcome him.
“He was a key figure in the Palestinian struggle,” said Khan. “He is seen as somebody who was a rising star within Palestinian politics when he was arrested and charged with murder.”
While the vast majority of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are from the occupied West Bank, Younis is a Palestinian citizen of Israel.
“The Palestinians say he was simply resisting the occupation, the Israelis say this was an internal Israeli matter. He was originally sentenced to life, which was then commuted to 40 years. He is being released simply for the fact that he served his sentence,” added Khan.
Israeli military intelligence visited Younis’ family prior to his release and “told them not to mark it”, said Khan. However, it appears that the family and villagers in Ara have disregarded those instructions.
Younis said that officers came to his cell in the early hours of the morning and told him he was to be released. “I wanted to shower and get ready, but they prevented me,” he said.
Younis was eventually picked up by a relative and brought to his hometown of Ara.
Israeli authorities have not commented on the reports.
Upon his release, Younis visited the grave of his mother who died eight months ago, with images of him emotional at the grave shared by local and international media outlets.
There are some 4,700 Palestinian prisoners currently held in Israeli prisons, including 150 children and 835 people held without trial or charge.
I am contacting you about sick and hunger striking Palestinian prisoners, so that there can be urgent action taken especially for the cases of Nasser Abu Hamid and Abdel-Baset Maatan as they are both critically ill and should be immediately released. Actions such as statements, open letters, letters to the foreign minister, bringing it up in parliament to put pressure on the occupation so that there is intervention done for their release and proper medical treatment that they need and for the call to end administrative detention as we all know it is against international law and a violation of human rights. Details at the end of this post.
Nasser Abu Hamid from the Amari Refugee camp, has been detained since 2002 and sentenced to seven life sentences and 50 years. A cancerous tumour was detected in his lungs in august 2021. The prison stalled his treatment causing his health to decline, and now he is in a coma in the ICU for the past 5 days with his hands and feet shackled. Nasser Abu Hamid was the victim of a medical mistake during the implantation of a tube to empty the air from his lungs because the one who implanted the tube was not a specialised doctor and implanted it in the wrong place. The doctor confirmed that acute inflammation in his lungs, which was caused by a bacterial infection, led to the collapse of the work of his lungs and immune system, which led to him falling into a coma. From the family of Nasser Abu Hamid “The time allotted for our visit was only ten minutes, and the guards refused to let us approach Nasser on the grounds of the coronavirus. And when we were finally allowed to get a little closer, we could barely diagnose Nasser because he was lying on his stomach with his head connected to various tubes of life giving-devices near his bed”. It was also said how the occupation threatened to take Nasser off the medical equipment after “claiming” he wasn’t responding to it. There must be urgent intervention so that he will get the medical treatment he needs and to be transferred to a Palestinian hospital.
Abdel-Baset Maatan, 49 suffers from 2 types of cancer and has reached its final stage. He was detained without charge or trial since October 2021. The occupation refuses to provide him with the medical treatment he needs. The prisoners club say there is a real fear that the cancer has spread to his lung.
Prisoners affairs authority: Ofer prison administration continues to deny the prisoner suffering from cancer, Abdel Baset Maatan, the necessary treatment for his difficult and worrying health condition. After his arrest, the jailers confiscated the medicine he took with him from the house and gave him other medicines claiming they were similar to those he was taking.
Quoting from the family of Abdel Baset Maatan: “The situation of cancer sick administrative detainee is difficult and it is getting worse day by day. His health is deteriorating and may reach the same stage as Nasser Abu Hamid. His court date was held on December 20th 2021, but the verdict was postponed for a week until examinations and x-rays will conduct. Unfortunately until today there is no examinations, no x-rays have been done, and no new court date has been set”
Fikri Mansour who is on hunger strike over 50 days, no recent news about him. “The prisoner Fikri Mansour has been on hunger strike for 56 days, rejecting the abuse and the policy of constantly transferring him to solitary confinement.”
Eyad Hrebat is a prisoner living in difficult and complex health conditions and needs surgery. He has been detained since September 21st 2002 and is sentenced to life imprisonment, plus 20 years. Eyad contracted a prostate infection, which led to his inability to excrete urine. He was subsequently transferred to the hospital, and an external tube was installed to remove the urine. Upon his return to prison, the tube ruptured, which led to a laceration in the bladder and prostate, after which he was transferred again to Soroka Hospital. Eyad needed real medical treatment and care. Since his first surgery, Eyad underwent more than 6 surgeries. The doctors discovered he contracted a bacterial infection, caused by improper treatment of the cyst on his prostate, which spread all over his body including lung. Eyad cant speak, can’t talk, can’t sleep due to severity of the pain, he has open and bleeding wound from previous surgery. He also was shacked in hand, leg and neck!
What can you do to help:
Here are examples of tweets that can be tweeted, don’t use these ones as they are just examples, just make sure to use the hashtags for the respective person:
Critically ill Palestinian prisoners such as Nasser Abu Hamid are medically neglected under the occupation which is a crime, and administrative detention is a violation of international law. He must be released and transferred to a Palestinian hospital to recover #FreeNasser
Abdel-Basset Maatan suffers from cancer and he must be immediately released and be treated with the proper medical treatment he needs. The occupation medically neglect palestinians as an act of slow killing. This is unlawful and must be stopped #FreeThemAll #StopAD
Letters and phone calls to:
Lidia Thorpe: senator.thorpe[REMOVE-ME]@aph.gov(OMIT,ANTI-SPAM).au (03) 9232 8140, (02) 6277 3353
Ken O’Dowd: https://www.kenodowd.com.au/constituentenquiryform/ (07) 4972 5465, (07) 4982 4266
Adam Bandt: adam.bandt.mp@{DELETE_ME}aph.gov[REMOVE-ME].au (03) 9417 0772
Janet Rice: senator.rice(OMIT,ANTI-SPAM)@[REMOVE-ME]aph.gov.au (03) 9381 1446
Mehreen Faruqi: senator.faruqi@[REMOVE-ME]aph.gov{DELETE_ME}.au (02) 9211 1500
Maria Vamvakinou: maria.vamvakinou.mp(OMIT,ANTI-SPAM)@[REMOVE-ME]aph.gov.au (03) 9367 5216, (02) 6277 4249
https://mondoweiss.net/2021/09/prisoners-escape-inspires-palestinian-protest-across-west-bank/
Update: Four of the six fugitives, including Zakaria Zubeidi, were reported to have been captured in northern Israel on Sept. 10-11 since this post was published.
Israeli forces are hunting the West Bank for the six Palestinian prisoners who made their escape nearly five days ago, leading to angry protests over the military occupation of Palestinian land. A Palestinian doctor was reportedly shot to death in Jerusalem today.
Political prisoner Khalida Jarrar shares the essential role literature plays for Palestinian prisoners struggling to retain their humanity and remain connected to the outside world.
https://mondoweiss.net/2020/12/khalida-jarrar-smuggles-a-letter-for-palestine-writes/
Dear Friends
This is the petition we have made in support of Palestinian children who are being ill-treated by Israel. If you could sign and share it with your friends/groups It would be much appreciated. We are aiming to get enough signatures and interest to allow us to present this petition to the Australian Senate. When presented, the petition will be read out in the Australian Senate and entered into hansard.
Below is link to on-line-petition:
http://chng.it/yz2W8rs4JD
Warm regards,
Defend Palestinian Children
Kathleen Halfpenny
kathleenhalfpenny[REMOVE-ME]@bigpond.com{DELETE_ME}.au
Related further reading:
https://www.dci-palestine.org/palestinian_children_in_the_israeli_military_detention_system
https://www.breakingthesilence.org.il
http://www.militarycourtwatch.org/page.php?id=a6r85VcpyUa4755A52Y2mp3c4v
https://m.facebook.com/JewishVoiceforPeace/videos/579521642659266/
Zoom Rally to Free Prisoners from Rikers Island to Palestine. #PalestinianPrisonersDay: JVP’s Executive Director, Stefanie Fox hosted an incredible lineup of speakers at a Zoom Rally of more than 500:
Speaker included:
Marc Lamont Hill, Professor of Media Studies and Urban Education at Temple University
Ahed and Bassem Tamimi, Nabi Saleh, Palestine
Mariame Kaba, Organizer and Educator
Arab Marwan Barghouti, son of Palestinian political leader and hunger strike organizer Marwan Barghouti
Dareen Tatour, Poet
Randa Wahbe, Al-Shabaka and Addameer
Brad Parker, Defense for Children International, Palestine
Azadeh Shahshahani, Legal & Advocacy Director, Project South; past president, National Lawyers Guild
Lex Steppling, Director of Policy and Campaigns, Dignity and Power Now
Andrea James, Executive Director, National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls