WAWA/WeAreWideAwake is my Public Service to America as a muckracker who has journeyed seven times to Israel Palestine since June 2005.
WAWA is dedicated to confronting media and governments that shield the whole
truth.
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Awake are compelled by the "fierce urgency of Now" [Rev MLK, Jr.] to raise
awareness and promote the human dialogue about many of the crucial issues of our
day: the state of our Union and in protection of democracy, what life is like
under military occupation in Palestine, the Christian EXODUS from the Holy Land,
and spirituality-from a Theologically Liberated Christian Anarchist
POV.
"Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all...and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded; and that, in place of them, just and amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated. The nation which indulges towards another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave...a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils." George Washington's Farewell Address - 1796
"My aim is to agitate & disturb people. I'm not selling bread, I'm selling yeast." Unamuno
"Imagine All the People Sharing All the World." John Lennon
"If enough Christians followed the gospel, they could bring any state to its knees." Father Philip Francis Berrigan
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"If I can't dance, it's not my revolution." Emma Goldman
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DO SOMETHING!
Photo of George shown here and in web site banner courtesy of Debbie Hill, 2000.
We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that, among these, are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; and, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it. -July 4, 1776. The Declaration of Independence
HomeBlogApril / May 2012 May 14, 2012: Palestinian Prisoners Hunger Strike: Global Call and this is NO Game!
May 14, 2012: Palestinian Prisoners Hunger Strike: Global Call and this is NO Game!
May 14, 2012: Palestinian Prisoners Hunger Strike: Global Call and this is NO Game! UPDATED: May 15 LEADS
Palestinian Prisoners End Mass Hunger Strike by Lourdes Garcia-Navarro
For weeks now, there have been daily rallies in support of the prisoners in Israeli jails who have been refusing food in protest. Most Palestinians have had a family member imprisoned by Israeli authorities at some point, so the mass fast galvanized the Palestinian population in a way few things have recently.
The deal today was brokered by an Egyptian representative and was signed in an Israeli prison. Palestinians in Israeli jails will now have expanded visitation rights from family members and, crucially, from the Gaza Strip. Since 2006, family members there have not been allowed to visit their relatives in West Bank jails, and there will now be an end to the widespread practice of solitary confinement.
One of the main demands was not met. Palestinian prisoners wanted a stop to administrative detention, a practice in which Israel can hold prisoners indefinitely without charge or legal recourse. Administrative detention will continue, but the practice will be reviewed, according to Israeli authorities.
The apparent success of the hunger strike in getting concessions from Israel has renewed the focus on non-violent resistance. Over the past few years, Palestinian activists and officials have encouraged its use against the Israeli occupation, saying it works to pressure the Israeli government.
Still, it's not believed all the prisoners will end their fast. Two of the hunger strikers have not eaten for 78 days. That's eight days longer than IRA prisoner Bobby Sands, when he died on his strike in 1981. Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahleh have said they will not start eating again until their administrative detentions are lifted. Both men are members of Islamic Jihad, a violent Palestinian militant group that has carried out scores of attacks on Israelis, but because they were never charged with anything, it's not clear why they're still being held or if, with this new deal, they will be released.
On January 5, 2006, I traveled to Ramallah to the Headquarters of
ADAMEER[Arabic for conscience] and met with spokesmen, Ala Jaradat a slightly built man who
delivered a powerful message in a soft spoken voice:
"Since 1967, 650,000 to 700,000
Palestinians have been arrested and detained. That totals 20% of the
total population and 80% of all adult Palestinian males have been
arrested.
"Most
of these arrests occur after midnight when large numbers of IDF storm
into neighborhoods or refugee camps, horrifying everyone and arresting
anyone 14 years or older. Sometimes they storm into business offices and
arrest the breadwinners of the families without any charges.
"These arrests and detentions
are based on military orders; we live under a kind of Marshall Law which
rules every aspect of Palestinian life: where we live, our license
plates that restrict our movement and limited voting rights. Under these
military orders the Israeli government is free to hold anyone eight
days without accusations or charges. They can hold anyone up to 180 days
for interrogation and up to 60 days without benefit of a lawyer.
"The Israeli government never
agreed to the Second Geneva Convention, the Knesset never ratified it,
and when it comes to the Occupied Territories they totally ignore it.
Israel is the only State that approved torture of detainees. I know
there are dictators who use torture, but Israel is the only State that
supported torture until 1999. That is when International, Israeli and
Palestinian pressure groups forced the issue and Barack was confronted
about it when he visited the United States.
"The IDF will round up and
arrest family members and use threats against their relatives to force
confessions. The interrogations lead to Military Trials which is
theoretically like court with three Judges presiding but only one is
required to have an education and a law degree is not at all necessary.
The Military Commander appoints the translators, issues all orders,
assigns the judges, and has total control. One appeal is allowed, but if
the judges are settlers the Palestinian is in deep shit!
"Administrative Detentions are
issued by the Military Commander for a period of six months and the
reason is always labeled ‘Security’ and the charges can be renewed
indefinitely. One Palestinian spent eight years under Administrative
detention and hundreds have endured four or more years. Today fifty are
being held for the past four years. They may be released for a day or
two and then they are rearrested because they are social or political
activists but reasons are not given by the Israeli government.
"At any given moment 10% of
those in prison are under Administrative Detention. There are currently
8,000 prisoners and 800 of them are under Administrative Detention. The
government does not have to inform anyone about these arrests except
the Red Cross and only if they are imprisoned over two weeks, but most
arrests go unreported.
"Any Palestinian under the age of 16 is tried as an adult, but
for an Israeli Jew it is 18 years of age. Under 12 years old the child
can be arrested but not detained. Over 12 they can be arrested,
detained, interrogated, prosecuted and sentenced for throwing stones.
"Most of the Israeli Jews that
are imprisoned are in for violent crimes against society and they are
mixed in with the Palestinian population. The guards encourage them to
do what ever they want to do against the Palestinian population. This is
an open invitation by the Israeli government to incite violence and
terror in the prison system. We have sworn affidavits from Palestinians
claiming it was the guards who encouraged the violence inflicted upon
them.
"In
August 2004 the Palestinians went on a hunger strike to raise awareness
of this problem and the Minister of Health who is responsible for them
stated publicly: 'Our hospitals are off limits to them They can all
starve themselves to death.'
"No human rights organizations are allowed access
to the prisoners. Only lawyers and the Red Cross can visit them but
have no access to the facilities where they are detained.
"The methods and photos from
Abu Grahib and Guantanamo were no shock to any Palestinian who had been
in prison between 1967 and the ‘80’s. All the methods used in Abu Grahib
were normal procedures against Palestinians. In 1999 Internationals,
Palestinians and Israelis for human rights threatened a boycott against
Israel and that is what forced the Supreme Court to address the torture
issue. They did not ban torture and the General Prosecutor can choose
not to prosecute those who still use it."
Palestinian Prisoners Score Heroic Victory Struggle to End Israel’s Oppression and International Complicity Continues
15 May 2012 -- Nearly a month into the Palestinian prisoners' hunger strike, a historic victory has been achieved, as Israeli authorities were forced to comply with the prisoners’ main demands. Coinciding with the Palestinian commemoration of the 64th anniversary of the Nakba, the systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing that uprooted most Palestinians from their homeland around 1948, the prisoners’ victory has heightened hope about the prospects for Palestinian freedom, justice, self determination and the return of refugees.
This important triumph for the Palestinian popular struggle could not have been reached without the unwavering resolve of the prisoners themselves, grassroots mobilization in their support in Palestine, and the immense wave of effective solidarity and calls for holding Israel accountable that the strike has triggered around the world.
More than a thousand people around the globe have pledged to undertake a 24-hour hunger strike in solidarity with the prisoners, to take place this Thursday. While the solidarity hunger-strike has been called off, due to the prisoners' victory, injustice and illegal repression continue in Israeli prisons.
Emphasizing imprisonment as a critical component of Israel’s system of occupation, colonialism and apartheid practiced against the Palestinian people, Palestinian civil society and human rights organizations have called for intensifying the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign to target corporations profiting directly from the Israeli prison system. In particular, we call for action to be taken to hold to account G4S, the world’s largest international security corporation, which helps to maintain and profit from Israel’s prison system, for its complicity with Israeli violations of international law.
Please click here to demand G4S ends its involvement in the Israeli prison system and its complicity in violations of Palestinian human rights.
Signed: Popular Struggle Coordination Committee Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC)
This Thursday, May 17th, will mark a month since over 2,000 Palestinian political
prisoners in Israeli jails began a hunger strike because Israel refuses to accept the
prisoners' demands for their basic human rights, including humane treatment, so many now face immediate risk of death.
The prisoners have
decided to starve to death in their isolation cells, and a
global mobilization has begun and this story can be followed best @
"HOPE has two children.The first is ANGER at the way things are. The second is COURAGE to DO SOMETHING about it."-St. Augustine
"He who is not angry when there is just cause for anger is immoral. Why? Because anger looks to the good of justice. And if you can live amid injustice without anger, you are immoral as well as unjust." - Aquinas
Everyone has the right to freedom of
opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions
without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and
ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
" In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway."-Mother Teresa
“You cannot talk like sane men around a peace table while the atomic bomb itself is ticking beneath it. Do not treat the atomic bomb as a weapon of offense; do not treat it as an instrument of the police. Treat the bomb for what it is: the visible insanity of a civilization that has ceased...to obey the laws of life.”- Lewis Mumford, 1946
The age of warrior kings and of warrior presidents has passed. The nuclear age calls for a different kind of leadership....a leadership of intellect, judgment, tolerance and rationality, a leadership committed to human values, to world peace, and to the improvement of the human condition. The attributes upon which we must draw are the human attributes of compassion and common sense, of intellect and creative imagination, and of empathy and understanding between cultures." - William Fulbright
“Any nation that year after year continues to raise the Defense budget while cutting social programs to the neediest is a nation approaching spiritual death.” - Rev. MLK
Establishment of Israel
"On the day of the termination of the British mandate and on the strength of the United Nations General Assembly declare The State of Israel will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel: it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion it will guarantee freedom of religion [and] conscience and will be faithful to the Charter of the United Nations." - May 14, 1948. The Declaration of the Establishment of Israel
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