[Ppnews] Support for the Hunger Strikers across Palestine

Political Prisoner News ppnews at freedomarchives.org
Mon May 14 10:18:20 EDT 2012



<http://samidoun.ca/2012/05/stop-the-wall-support-for-the-hunger-strikers-across-palestine/>Stop 
the Wall: Support for the Hunger Strikers across Palestine

by <http://samidoun.ca/?author=1>samidoun

<http://stopthewall.org/2012/05/12/support-hunger-strikers-across-palestine>Stop 
the Wall reported on the ongoing massive 
solidarity inside Palestine and throughout 
Palestine for the hunger strikers, including mass 
demonstrations in all major cities. A day of 
action is scheduled for this Thursday, May 17, 
the one month anniversary of the launch of the 
mass open hunger strike, and a protest in 
Ramallah at Ofer Prison on Tuesday, May 15 as a 
Nakba commemoration/prisoner solidarity action:

Every day the support for the Palestinian hunger 
strikers in Israeli jails spreads, creating 
national unity in solidarity with their protest. 
As groups across Palestine show their support, it 
becomes more apparent how pivotal this strike is 
in terms of the wider struggle – it is becoming a 
rallying point, a symbol of national cohesion 
reminiscent of the Intifadas. Despite internal 
disputes, unity is being displayed by 
Palestinians across the country in the face of 
Israeli occupation and repression of all shows of 
support of the prisoners. Momentum is building on 
the back of the “War of Empty Stomachs”, a 
war being raged to gain the recognition of rights 
guaranteed by International Law, but denied by the Israeli occupier.

Yesterday, more than 2000 Palestinian prisoners 
entered their 24th day of hunger strike, with 
Thaer Halahla and Bilal Diab now the longest ever 
hunger strikers on 74 days, while 6 other 
prisoners have refused food for in excess of 50 
and 60 days. These 8 prisoners are now at serious 
risk of death, starving for their right to live.

Demonstrations took place yesterday across the 
West Bank, under the slogan “Friday Anger: 
Victory for the Prisoners”, and were met with 
violent suppression by the Israeli Occupying 
Forces (IOF). Tear gas, rubber coated bullets, 
flash-bang grenades and foul smelling water mixed 
with harmful chemicals, were used to disperse 
protesters, showing their solidarity with their 
brothers and sisters in the prisons.

At the demonstration in the village of Aboud, 
Ramallah District, a young protestor, Majid Salah 
al-Barghouti (18), after having been shot in the 
eye had to be evacuated to hospital where his 
condition was described as serious.

In the town of Beit Ummar, Hebron District, the 
IOF had taken to the roofs in anticipation of the 
weekly demonstration after Friday prayers, from 
whence they proceeded to bombard the crowd. 
Khaldun Jameel Masharqa (20) was hit in the chest 
with a smoke bomb, and Hammad Ahmed Abu Maria 
(21) was hit in the hand by another. This was 
followed by the closure of the entrances of the 
town, preventing all from passing.

In Hebron thousands gathered to march the 
streets, ending up at a tent in the city center 
set up to demonstrate solidarity with the prisoners.

In Nablus there was a demonstration of around 
3000 Palestinians condemning the silence of the 
International Community concerning the hunger strike.

At Ofer prison, a regular flashpoint with daily 
demonstrations, a dozen young men were shot with 
rubber coated bullets, with many others suffering 
temporary blindness and suffocation having been tear gassed.

In the areas occupied in 1948, more than 10,000 
Palestinians participated in a festival of 
solidarity with the prisoners in the town of Kafr 
Kana, in the Galilee, holding up pictures of the 
prisoners and Palestinian flags and slogans 
demanding liberation of prisoners from Israeli 
jails. In Haifa, Palestinians closed their shops 
and displayed banners saying "The shops are 
closed because our prisoners are in danger."

In Jerusalem, hundreds of Jerusalemites 
participated in a rally including prisoners’ 
families as well as actors and representatives of 
national institutions. The scene was filled with 
Palestinian flags, pro-prisoner and 
anti-occupation slogans amid tight security 
imposed by the occupation forces, with 
significant elements of the police, border guards 
and special units in attendance. The protestors 
took to the streets, rendezvousing with other 
activists before marching on the headquarters of 
the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Demonstrations have been taking place daily 
across the whole of the occupied territories in 
solidarity with the prisoners, and this trend is 
likely to continue as the struggle in the prisons goes on.

<http://www.flickr.com/photos/stopthewall/sets/72157629692330544/>http://www.flickr.com/photos/stopthewall/sets/72157629692330544/

<http://samidoun.ca/?author=1>samidoun | May 14, 
2012 at 6:52 am URL: <http://wp.me/p2cx3f-k4>http://wp.me/p2cx3f-k4



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