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<font size=5><b>Palestinian prisoners' hunger strike in third week<br>
</font><font size=4><a href="http://freeahmadsaadat.org/thirdweek.html">
Ahmad Sa'adat's health in jeopardy as struggle grows!
</a></b><a href="http://freeahmadsaadat.org/thirdweek.html"> <br><br>
</a></font><font size=3><b><a href="http://www.freeahmadsaadat.org/">The
Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat</a><br>
<a href="http://www.freeahmadsaadat.org">www.freeahmadsaadat.org</a> +
<a href="mailto:info@freeahmadsaadat.org">info@freeahmadsaadat.org</a><br>
Twitter:<a href="http://twitter.com/freeahmadsaadat">
http://twitter.com/freeahmadsaadat</a><br>
</b> <br>
<b>Palestinian prisoners have entered their third week of hunger
strike</b>. After two weeks of hunger strike, physical symptoms become
increasingly severe and prisoners' lives and health are ever more at
risk. <b>As prisoners have put their lives and bodies on the line to
defend the rights of themselves and their people, international support
and solidarity are continually escalating and much-needed.<br><br>
The health of Ahmad Sa'adat, General Secretary of the Popular Front for
the Liberation of Palestine and Palestinian national leader who has been
in isolation for two and one-half years and whose struggle is at the
center of the demand for an end to isolation, is in crisis.</b> Two
lawyers visited Sa'adat on October 7 and October 9, and reported that he
was fainting and vomiting - a direct consequence of the Israeli Prison
Service's confiscation of salt from prisoners. He has already lost over 7
kilos on the hunger strike. <b>Nevertheless, no independent doctors or
medical professionals have been permitted to examine Sa'adat.</b> It is
urgent that independent medical care reach Sa'adat - call and protest at
your Israeli consulate or embassy or demand that the International
Committee of the Red Cross take action to protect Sa'adat's
life!<br><br>
Despite his own health crisis, when asked about the duration of the
strike, <b>Sa'adat responded: "We are going to continue. We will not
accept these degrading conditions. Either we live in dignity or we die
with our heads high."<br>
</b> <br>
It is clear that if there are any consequences to Sa'adat's health or
life, Israel and its isolation policy bear full responsibility and have
yet more blood on their hands - but silence is complicity, and the world
governments, officials and authorities who allow this to continue without
raising a word of protest are also responsible for the ongoing crimes
against Palestinian political prisoners and the Palestinian people as a
whole.<br><br>
As of October 9, 300 prisoners were participating in a complete open
ended hunger strike and 3000 in a partial hunger strike. Additional
prisoners have been joining the strike on a daily basis - on October 10
and 11, over 1500 prisoners at Nafha, Ramon, Eshel, Asqelan, and Gilboa
prisons have joined in the open-ended strikes <br><br>
Hunger strike tents continue to grow in cities throughout Palestine - in
Ramallah, Qalqilya, Nablus, Gaza, Salfit, Tulkarem, Nazareth, Haifa.
Palestinian activists have gone on solidarity hunger strike and engaged
in ongoing mobilizations throughout Palestinian cities. In Gaza, three
international activists have joined in the solidarity hunger strikes.
Demonstrations in front of Ofer and Asqelan prisons were organized by
Palestinians in '48 Occupied Palestine. <b>On October 12, 2011, a general
strike is expected to close businesses, schools and offices throughout
Palestinian cities for hours, to express mass popular support for the
prisoners' struggle. <br><br>
</b>Negotiations to end the strike failed on Monday as Israeli prison
authorities continue to disregard Palestinian prisoners' rights.
<b>Prisoners have been repeatedly denied lawyers' visits in several
prisons. Prisoners have been increasingly denied salt or their salt
confiscated - a potentially deadly action for Sa'adat and other hunger
strikers. <br><br>
</b>Abdel Latif Gheith, Chair of the Board of Directors of Addameer
Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, was today slammed with a
six-month ban on entry into the West Bank (as defined by Israel.) Gheith
is a resident of East Jerusalem and was called to al-Moskobiyeh
interrogation center in Jerusalem to order him arbitrarily forbidden from
entering the West Bank, a severe violation of his right to freedom of
movement and obvious retaliation for his work in support of the
prisoners' hunger strike.<br><br>
<b>International solidarity to support Palestinian hunger strikers is
growing rapidly:<br><br>
In Gaza,
<a href="http://freeahmadsaadat.org/internationals.html">international
solidarity activists have joined solidarity hunger strike tents</a>.
</b>"Palestinian prisoners are bravely resisting a system that seeks
to crush them, their families, their communities, and their national
life. Their struggle deserves our full support," said Joe Catron, an
activist from the U.S. engaged in an open-ended hunger strike.<br><br>
éirígí, an Irish republican socialist political party, held a
<a href="http://freeahmadsaadat.org/dublin107.html"><b>demonstration in
Dublin</a> demanding freedom for Ahmad Sa'adat</b> and supporting the
hunger strike.<br><br>
Protests took place throughout the U.S., including in <b>San Francisco
and at Occupy Wall Street in New York</b>, in support of the hunger
strike - and in solidarity with prisoners in California on hunger strike.
Protesters called for the freedom of Ahmad Sa'adat and all Palestinian
prisoners. <a href="http://freeahmadsaadat.org/ijan107.html">See a video
of a protest organized by the International Jewish Anti-Zionist
Network.</a><br><br>
<b><a href="http://freeahmadsaadat.org/greeksolidarity.html">Greek
organizations and social movements have stood in solidarity with
Palestinian prisoners</a></b>, including Greek trade unionists, city
councillors, and the Communist Organization of Greece.<br><br>
<b><a href="http://freeahmadsaadat.org/giabdallah.html">Georges Ibrahim
Abdallah, an Arab prisoner in French jails, joined the hunger
strike</a></b> as protests took place in solidarity with Palestinian
prisoners in
<a href="http://freeahmadsaadat.org/paris109.html"><b>Paris</a></b>.
Activists in
<a href="http://freeahmadsaadat.org/copenhagen1010.html"><b>Denmark</a>,
Sweden and
<a href="http://freeahmadsaadat.org/italiansolidarity.html">Italy</a></b>
joined in the solidarity actions across Europe. <br><br>
The <a href="http://freeahmadsaadat.org/nlgicrc.html"><b>National Lawyers
Guild in the US</a></b> and the
<a href="http://freeahmadsaadat.org/bncprisoners.html"><b>Palestinian
Boycott National Committee </a></b>issued statements and calls to action
in support of Palestinian political prisoners.<br><br>
A play, Ana Hurra, supporting Palestinian prisoners and telling their
stories, began a two-week
<a href="http://freeahmadsaadat.org/anahurra.html"><b>tour of the United
States</a></b>, and
<a href="http://freeahmadsaadat.org/twitter.html"><b>activists on Twitter
plan global solidarity hunger strikes.</a></b> <br><br>
<b>TAKE ACTION TO SUPPORT AHMAD SA'ADAT AND ALL PALESTINIAN
PRISONERS!<br><br>
</b>
1.<a href="http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/About+the+Ministry/Diplomatic+missions/Web+Sites+of+Israeli+Missions+Abroad.htm">
Picket, protest or call the Israeli embassy or consulate</a> in your
location and demand the immediate freedom of Ahmad Sa'adat and all
Palestinian political prisoners. <b>Make it clear that you support the
demands of Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike! Demand that
independent doctors and medical experts be allowed to examine and treat
Ahmad Sa'adat. Send us reports of your protests at Israeli embassies and
consulates.<br><br>
</b>2. Distribute the free downloadable
<a href="http://freeahmadsaadat.org/prison-hs-site.pdf">Campaign to Free
Ahmad Sa'adat flyer </a>in your community at local events.<br><br>
3. Write to the International Committee of the Red Cross and other human
rights organizations to exercise their responsibilities and act swiftly
to demand that the Israelis ensure that Ahmad Sa'adat and all Palestinian
prisoners are freed from punitive isolation. Email the ICRC, whose
humanitarian mission includes monitoring the conditions of prisoners, at
<a href="mailto:JER_jerusalem@icrc.org">JER_jerusalem@icrc.org</a>, and
inform them about the urgent situation of Ahmad Sa'adat.<b> Make it clear
that Ahmad Sa'adat's life and health are gravely at risk and that he must
be permitted independent medical care, and that the ICRC is aware and
responsible for any risk to Sa'adat's life or health.. <br><br>
</b>4. Join in the Twitter solidarity strike for Palestine - Tweet: <b>My
name is ( ) and I will go on a hunger strike on Wednesday in solidarity
with Palestinian prisoners. #TweepStrike #HS4Palestine<br><br>
</b>5.<b> </b>Email the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat
at<a href="mailto:info@freeahmadsaadat.org"> info@freeahmadsaadat.org</a>
with announcements, reports and information about your local events,
activities and flyer distributions.<br><br>
<br><br>
<b>The Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat<br><br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.freeahmadsaadat.org/">
http://www.freeahmadsaadat.org/</a><br>
<a href="mailto:info@freeahmadsaadat.org">info@freeahmadsaadat.org</a><br>
Twitter:<a href="http://twitter.com/freeahmadsaadat">
http://twitter.com/freeahmadsaadat</a><br><br>
<br>
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