On August 20, Heba Ahmed al-Labadi fell into the dark hole of the Israeli legal system, joining 413 Palestinian prisoners who are currently held in so-called administrative detention.
The current violence targeting Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails dates back to January 2. It was then that Israel’s Public Security Minister, Gilad Erdan declared that the “party is over.”
“Every so often, infuriating pictures appear of cooking in the terrorist wings. This party is coming to an end,” Erdan was quoted in the Jerusalem Post.
The prices paid, for simply living as a Palestinian in Palestine, can be listed for days on end. But perhaps the price which is the most arduous, is the lack of security you have in knowing wether your family members, most importantly children, won’t be ambushed, tortured and locked away in a military prison.
The Canadian media has mostly ignored recent Palestinian efforts to non-violently disrupt a half-century old occupation. They’ve barely reported on a prisoners’ hunger strike and associated solidarity protests, let alone Canada’s effort to suppress “popular protests” in the West Bank.
Hana insists on embracing life, even within the confines of war-torn and besieged Gaza.
Israeli soldiers escort blindfolded Palestinian women to the Kissufim Israeli army base,after they were detained during a military operation in the Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2008.(AP Photo/Yehuda Lahiani)
The Palestinian society is exposed daily to Israeli occupation repressive measures, including the kidnapping and detention of more than 800,000 Palestinians since 1967, including over 15,000 women.
Then there is the tragedy of the collectively kidnapped people of Palestine.
Israel’s technical solutions work to an extent. They confine Palestinians to ever smaller spaces: the prison of Gaza, the city under lockdown, the torture cell, or the doctor’s surgery where a feeding tube can be inserted. But the craving for self-determination and dignity are more than technical problems. You cannot force-feed occupation to people to still their hunger for freedom.
The Israeli government has sought to break the will of the strikers by seeking a legislative mandate to engage in coercive forms of force-feeding Palestinian Hunger Strikers
Palestine Hunger Strikers and Israeli Force-Feeding Pending Legislation
The young men were killed by Israeli forces outside Ofer prison, West of Ramallah during a stone- throwing protest marking the Palestinian Nakba and in solidarity with administrative prisoners who went on hunger strike 22 days ago, the medical sources reported.
