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April 18, 2012

Palestinians Mark Prisoners’ Day as Hunger Striker Released 
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Palestinians rallied across the Occupied West Bank on Tuesday to mark
Prisoners' Day in solidarity with the thousands held in Israeli jails.
The rallies coincided with a massive act of civil resistance inside the
prisons, with at least 1,200 Palestinian prisoners launching an
open-ended hunger strike. In the Gaza Strip, Hanna Shalabi, a former
Palestinian prisoner who recently staged a five-week hunger strike to
protest her detention without charge, offered support for the action.

Hana Shalabi: "The day also coincided with the release of Khader Adnan,
a Palestinian prisoner who staged a 66-day hunger strike that ended in
February. Israeli human rights attorney Lea Tsemel said the hunger
strikes were an expected response to worsening conditions for
Palestinian prisoners."

The day also coincided with the release of Khader Adnan, a Palestinian
prisoner who staged a 66-day hunger strike that ended in February.
Israeli human rights attorney Lea Tsemel said the hunger strikes were an
expected response to worsening conditions for Palestinian prisoners.
This is Israeli human rights attorney Lea Tsemel.

Lea Tsemel: "I see only deterioration, in the punishments, in the
attitudes, in the interrogations. The law has changed in order to impose
more and more pressure on the Palestinian prisoners. You know, a hunger
strike is always the last resort of a person who is under pressure. It's
against oneself, it's torturing oneself. It's threatening perhaps in
death to oneself. And yet it is the last possibility for the
Palestinians to get together and shout out the voice of the prisoners."

 

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