The Palestine Brief (10)

The Palestine Brief (10)

July 15, 20120 comments

Center for Political and Development Studies (CPDS)
15/07/2012

After 96 days of hunger strike, Sarsak declares victory

Father of eight on 95 day of hunger strike

1948 Palestinians refuse enlistment in army

After 96-day epic hunger strike, Sarsak “I was released from prisons and I declare victory”

UFree- The Israeli authorities set political prisoner Mahmoud Sarsak free after the longest individual hunger strike that lasted for 96 days. In a press release for UFree Network, Sarsak said despite the fact that he was a hunger striker, he managed by his steadfastness to force the Israeli occupation to accept his conditions that he launched a hunger strike for.

Mahmoud added, “My demands were represented in not recognizing the non-combatant law, which was issued by the Israeli military court, and releasing me to my home city, Rafah in Gaza Strip”. During his strike, Sarsak totally rejected many offers to expel him outside Gaza Strip.

Concerning international and local support, Sarsak appreciated the role of all human rights organizations that supported him and spread his plight in both Arab and international arenas. He praised the efforts of European organizations that introduce sufferings of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails to the world.

Three prisoners still on hunger strike

Three Palestinian prisoners are on an open-ended hunger strike in Israel’s jails, as follows:

1. Akram Abdullah Mahmoud Rikhawi (39), from Gaza, has been in detention since 07 June 2004. He started an open-ended hunger strike on 12 April 2012 and now suffers from many health problems.

2. Sami Helmi al-Barq (36), from Jayyous village in Qalqilya, has been in administrative detention since 11 June 2011. He has been on hunger strike since 22 May 2012.

3. Hassan Zahi al-Safadi (34), from Nablus, has been in administrative detention since 29 June 2011. He has been on hunger strike since 21 June 2012.

Hamed: Occupation court’s sentence “fake”

Palestinian prisoner Ibrahim Hamed, sentenced to 54 life sentences, said to the prisoners’ club’s lawyer that the sentence he got it ‘fake’. “This means there is a lack of trust. They sentence us for long years. Being in prison is a part of the struggle.” The prisoners’ club said in a statement that the sentence Hamed got is arbitrary and oppressive.

1948- Palestinians refuse enlistment in army

The Higher Arab Follow-up Committee which represents the Palestinians in 1948 territories stressed its rejection of the “civil service” and all forms of voluntary and compulsory enlistment of the Arabs from the territories occupied in 1948. The Committee emphasized in a press release the importance of continuing and intensifying the unitary activities that militate against the Zionist projects and plans.

It called on the Arab masses in Palestinian occupied territories as well as the producers and owners of companies and factories to participate in the “the first annual festival of the Palestinian products,” which will be held in Jericho town, starting from 15 Ramadan until the end of the month. The Committee decided to participate in the world’s Social Cultural Forum “Free Palestine”, which will take place in Porto Alegre in Brazil starting from November 28 until December 1st, 2012, in order to raise the issue of the Arab masses in the Palestinian territories occupied in 1948.[1]

• Human rights report: occupation defies international resolutions

A Palestinian Human rights report warned of the Israeli ongoing and accelerated settlement projects in the occupied West Bank, and the occupation’s decision to resume construction work of the apartheid wall around the occupied city of Jerusalem.

The National Bureau for the Defense of Land and Resistance to Settlements considered, in its weekly report issued on Saturday, that the decision to resume the construction of the apartheid wall, that separates City of Jerusalem from its Palestinian environment and isolates the south of the occupied West Bank from its central and northern areas, represented a new defiance to the International Court of Justice.

• Israeli Soldiers Invade Hebron

Israeli soldiers invaded, on Sunday morning, the towns of Doura and Ein Sinjer, south of the southern West Bank city of Hebron. Two Palestinian workers were wounded after being assaulted by settlers near Hebron.

Media sources in Hebron reported that more than 14 armored military vehicles and three military vans, invaded Ein Singer, located between Doura and Hebron. The soldiers carried maps while deploying in the streets and the lands of the village.

• European Commission president condemns settlements

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso says Mideast peace is still a top priority, and it cannot become an “orphan’’ of the upheavals taking place in the Arab world.

Barroso visited the Palestinian territories Sunday and met with the PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. He said he was concerned about Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank. Palestinians refuse to resume peace talks while construction proceeds in the settlements.

• Settlers kill 3 sheep, torch fields, club and stab villagers

On Saturday, 7 July 2012 at approximately 3:00PM (GMT+2) Israeli settlers from the illegal settlement of Itamar approached three Palestinian farmers in Yanoun who were harvesting their wheat and grazing their sheep. The settlers were armed with knives and killed three of the farmers’ sheep.

A clash then ensued, in which the settlers and farmers began throwing stones at one another. When Ecumenical Accompaniers (EAs) arrived to the scene, three fires were ablaze in the fields, but it was unknown whether the flames were intentionally lit by the settlers or were started by teargas canisters that the Israeli military fired at the farmers.[2]

• Yanoun: Settlers and soldiers attack village, injuring 5

On Saturday 7 July, 2012, the village of Yanoun, located 12km southeast of Nablus, was attacked by illegal settlers from the illegal Itamar settlement. Five Palestinians were injured in the attack and large sections of agricultural land were set ablaze.

The attack began at roughly 2pm. The illegal settlers descended on the village and began setting fire to sections of land and firing on sheep while they were grazing. In the course of the attack on Yanoun, 5 residents of Aqraba, (the neighboring village) were injured to varying degrees. Two men, Ibrahim Hamid Ibrahim, and Adwan Rajih bini Naber were beaten by settlers, and another, Joudat Hamid Ibrahim was stabbed in the shoulder after being beaten as well. When the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) arrived, they joined in the attacks, injuring two more. Hakimun Ahmed Yusuf Bini Jaber, 42, was shot in the arm with live ammunition by an IOF soldier and Ashraf Adel Hamid Ibrahim, 29, was shot in the back with a tear gas canister when the soldiers attempted to scatter villagers who were to aid the injured.[3]

• Misha’al: Hamas starts new relation with Jordan

Hamas political bureau chief, Khaled Misha’al told the Jordan-based Alghad Newspaper that the Islamic Resistance Movement- Hamas started a new relation with Jordan after 13 years of expulsion.

• Factsheet: The Humanitarian Impact of the barrier

A factsheet published by the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories (OCHA), revealed that the wall consists of concrete walls, fences, ditches, razor wire, groomed sand paths, an electronic monitoring system, patrol roads, and a buffer zone, the total length (constructed and projected) is approximately 708 km, more than twice the length of the 1949 Armistice (‘Green’) Line, which separates Israel from the occupied West Bank, approximately 62.1% of the Barrier is complete, a further 8% is under construction and 29.9% is planned but not yet constructed and when completed, some 85%, of the route will run inside the West Bank, rather than along the Green Line, isolating some 9.4% of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

• Abu Marzouk: reconciliation is for the Palestinian, Egyptian and Arab benefit

Deputy Political Bureau Chief of the Islamic Resistance Movement “Hamas”, Moussa Abu Marzouk, confirmed that his movement aims by suspending voter registration in Gaza to start registration for the Palestinian National Council in parallel with presidential and legislative elections, and to create an appropriate atmosphere for the Committee to resume its work.

Abu Marzouk denied, in statements to the London-based al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper published on Monday, that suspending the voter registration in Gaza was because of the results of the new Egyptian presidential elections. He added: “We will work with our brothers in Egypt and with the newly elected president to overcome these obstacles” and implement the reconciliation as it is for the Palestinian, Egyptian and Arab benefit.

[1] http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/en/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7ZXH6JEm61MyLQeq1OvrpitUG3Qt9ha1JqYx2cgqcyDWZ3oya74q%2f3p%2f0tRj2T4zwa2BM71dqX1fOTEJ1hnJLluHNaNBoM5oRbODutyI0bfk%3d

[2] http://mondoweiss.net/2012/07/pogrom-in-yanoun-settlers-kill-3-sheep-torch-fields-club-and-stab-villagers-leave-one-bound-in-a-field-overnight.html

[3] http://palsolidarity.org/2012/07/yanoun-settlers-and-soldiers-attack-village-injuring-5-2/

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