Democratic Palestine : 9 (ص 14)
غرض
- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 9 (ص 14)
- المحتوى
-
Hunger Strikes
The hunger strikes waged by Pales-
tinian prisoners in Zionist jails from late
February until April 5th, exhibited a high
degree of coordination. This existed not
only among the political prisoners who
initiated and sustained the strike in
Askelon, but from prison to prison, and
between the prisoners, their relatives
and supporters outside.
On February 22nd, 500 Palestinian
prisoners in Askelon (along Palestine's
southern coast) initiated a partial hunger
strike, accepting only tea and bread.
Thus they prepared for an extended
confrontation with the prison authorities,
leaving open the possibility of a total
hunger strike, if their demands were not
taken seriously. Their demands were
those of all political prisoners in Zionist
jails: improvement of living conditions
and medical service, and a stop to arbit-
rary searches which the guards use to
harass and attack the prisoners. Among
the strikers at Askelon, 148 have been
seriously ill for years. In view of the
Zionist prison policy, they knew that they
would not get their demands totally or at
once, but that without struggle, condi-
tions could only get worse.
In the first part of March, Palestinian
political prisoners in Hebron, Jnaid
(Nablus), Nafha (the Naqab), Damoun
(Haifa), and Gaza Central Prison staged
strikes in solidarity with the Askelon
militants. In some cases, the solidarity
strikes also had a background in particu-
lar events at that prison. For example, in
Damoun, prisoners declared a strike
‘immediately after they had been strip-
ped and beaten by guards supposedly
searching for political material. In addi-
tion to protesting this assault, the prison-
ers demanded that young Palestinian
detainees be housed with the other polit-
ical prisoners and not in the criminal sec-
tion, where they are subjected to added
harassment and attempts at corruption
by Jewish criminal prisoners. They also
protested the detention of 23 «security»
prisoners in small cells. The warden
ceded to their demands verbally after
four days of the strike, but his promises
were not fulfilled, so the strike resumed,
joining the others.
Mothers lead solidarity
Women have long been prominent
in organizing solidarity with political pris-
oners. This time, relatives of the strikers
played an especially sustained role. A
sit-in began in the International Red
Cross office in Jerusalem, almost simul-
taneously with the Askelon strike. Then
mothers began to sit-in at the Red Cross
office in Gaza where many of the prison-
ers’ families live. By late March, the
Jerusalem IRC oftice closed, claiming it
impossible to work with the sit-in going
on, but the mothers continued by camp-
ing outside. On March 25th, 300 rela-
tives and supporters gathered in
Jerusalem to protest the prison
authorities’ refusal to meet the strikers’
demands. Speakers at the rally included
mothers of prisoners, unionists, student
council representatives and the head of
the Higher Islamic Council.
On April 1st, progressive Israeli
women demonstrated at the Prison Ser-
vice Authority office in Jerusalem and
were joined by the mothers of the sit-in.
On April 4th, East Jerusalem closed
down in solidarity with the political pris-
oners. A large solidarity meeting was
held in lbrahimiyeh College and violently
disrupted by the Zionist forces who fired
machineguns and tear gas. Many stu-
dents were seriously injured, 132
arrested and enormous damage done to
educational facilities.
A victory
The prisoners’ persistence and‘the
widespread solidarity evidently had their
effect on the newly appointed Prison
Service director who needed to defuse
tension in the prisons. After 41 days, the
Askelon prisoners ended their strike
when the authorities promised to meet a
whole series of their demands. If this is
implemented, it signals a victory, setting
an example for the possibility of improv-
ing the conditions of other political pris-
oners by struggle.
Operation Galilee
Liberated in «Operation Galilee» which reduced the
Dy
number of political prisoners in Zionist jails by almost one-third
\, - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 9
- تاريخ
- يونيو ١٩٨٥
- المنشئ
- الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين
Contribute
Not viewed