Democratic Palestine : 3 (ص 19)
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- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 3 (ص 19)
- المحتوى
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Hunger Strike in Askelon
PFLP holds the Zionist entity
responsible for the outcome of
the political prisoners’ strike
in Askelon prison.
Due to the difficult conditions that
exist in the prisons of the Zionist occupa-
tion, the Palestinian militants in Askelon
prison declared a hunger strike on
March 5th, to last until the prison
administration responds to their just
demands. Their demands can be sum-
marized as follows:
1. Provision of the minimum
requirements for living in the prisons.
This includes food, clothing and sun-
breaks.
2. Allowing the relatives of the polit-
ical prisoners to make regular biweekly
visits and increasing the duration of the
visit.
3. Stopping the campaign of arbit-
rary transfers from one prison to
another, a practice which has become
almost daily.
4. Separation of the political prison-
ers from the criminal prisoners in
Damoun,
Shatta prisons.
5. Provision of medical treatment in
all prisons, in particular Askelon.
6. Breaking the isolation imposed
on the Japanese militant, Komozo
Okonoto, who is in Ramle prison. From
his imprisonment in 1972, until the pre-
sent, he has been in solitary confine-
ment, chained, tortured and forbidden to
have visitors.
The Palestinian militants also
emphasized that their hunger strike is in
solidarity with the women in Neve Tertza
prison, who have been refusing work
since May 1983.
The PFLP appeals to international
public opinion, and to the international
organizations that defend human rights,
to undertake their duty by putting pres-
sure on the occupation authorities to ful-
fill the demands of our militants in Aske-
Neve Tertza, Ramle and |
lon prison. Moreover, the PFLP holds
the Zionist entity totally responsible for
whatever results from this strike, which
threatens the life of our militants. @
Women Strikers Win
The hunger strike in Askelon prison
ended, but struggle for similar demands
goes on in many jails. On March 6th, the
women in Neve Tertza prison declared a
hunger strike in anticipation of Interna-
tional Women’s Day. This served to
dramatize the work strike they have
been waging since May 1983, refusing
to cook and serve the guards. The esca-
lation of the strike was apparently the
last straw for the prison administration
which has unsuccessfully tried to break
the work strike with punishments and
brutality. Instead, the women continued.
Through their determination, they eli-
cited sustained solidarity from outside
the prison. The unprecendently broad
support given by democratic Israeli
women’s organizations, and the efficient
role of the women’s lawyers, has
brought their case to public attention
inside occupied Palestine and abroad.
Accordingly, attention was also focused
on the prison administration’s brutality,
as wften the women were teargased in
their cells on October 3rd.
So, this time, the prison administra-
tion tried to get the women to send a
delegation in hopes of getting them to
end the strike. The women, however,
have boycotted any contact with the
authorities since the teargasing, and
thus refused to send a delegation.
Instead, they demanded the return of
their library which had earlier been con-
fiscated as punishment for the work
strike. Finally, this demand was fulfilled,
and the women sent a delegation to dis-
cuss with the prison governor. Agree-
ment was reached that the women
would not be forced to do unreasonable
kitchen duty, or to serve or clean up after
the guards and police. At the same time,
the prisoners’ rights to newspapers,
books and radios were recognized and
restored.
The victory of the women political
prisoners in Neve Tertza, who attained
all their demands in this round, points to
two elements which are the key to vic-
tories in prison strikes generally: First,
the organization and determination of
the prisoners’ themselves, and second,
broad, active solidarity from outside the
prison. The victory at Neve Tertza
should thus be a motivation for esca-
lated solidarity with all political prisoners
in occupied Palestine.
Torture factory
Currently, an important focus for
solidarity with political prisoners is
Fara’a detention center, near Nablus,
which was established by the Israeli
authorities in 1982, especially for youth-
ful «offenders», i.e. demonstrators and
political activists. Heavy torture is
applied on detainees awaiting trial, in
line with the Zionist authorities’ frantic
attempts to snuff out the mass demonst-
rations and stone-throwing which prevail
in the occupied territories. At present
there are about 150 detainees in this
center, which is run by the military
police, with a close section run by Shin
Bet. As a result of many cases of
reported torture, the Israeli League for
Human and Civil Rights held a press
conference in late March, where Secret-
ary Joseph Algazi accused the
authorities of torture and brutality and
termed Fara’a «a factory for extracting
confessions» e@
19 - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 3
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- مايو ١٩٨٤
- المنشئ
- الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين
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