Palestinian Prisoner's Day
BY: Yara Jouzy/ Contributing Writer
Palestinians have been prisoners and detainees in Israeli prisons for decades, facing brutal, inhumane, and illegal treatment. Every year, these prisoners restart a movement of solidarity and carry out an open-ended hunger strike. On Monday, almost 1,100 Palestinian prisoners joined a hunger strike for Palestinian Prisoner’s Day, where Palestinians in Israeli prisons demand change by participating in the human rights movement.
On Twitter, #PalestinianPrisonersDay is trending globally. Grassroots activists all over the world are using the hashtag to voice their support for the hunger strikers, who will likely receive little to no attention from Western media sources.
Israeli authorities are already preparing for the hunger strike. They have set up a field hospital outside of the prison to provide medical supplies to those in need.
President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority offered his support for the hunger strike, calling for help from the international community. “Intervene quickly to save the lives,” Abbas said about the protesting prisoners.
This yearly movement has brought Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to show support for the prisoners and detainees. Families and friends want to be able to have regular family visits and see their relatives given the rights every human deserves.
There are over 6,200 Palestinians held in eight Israeli prisons, facing mistreatment everyday. These prisoners are detained from their rights to phone calls, to lawyers, and to proper prison conditions. Most of the prisoners don’t even go to trial, which is an undeniable human right for anyone who is arrested.
Sadly, hundreds of these prisoners are children, many of whom were abducted in the middle of the night from their homes by Israeli forces for alleged crimes. Palestinian children over the age of 16 are treated as adults, although Israel is a cosigner of the Convention of the Rights of a Child, which identifies any individual under the age of 18 as a child.
Although they were not tried and sentenced, Palestinian detainees face the same treatment as prisoners. These detainees can be interrogated for up to 180 days, and can be detained for 12 days without even being told the reason for their arrest. In most cases, the detainees are put in overcrowded prison tents. These tents have no access to clean food, clothes, or shelter throughout the year no matter the season.
The less fortunate of the detained often die from injuries they sustain while being tortured during the interrogation process. These methods of maltreatment are approved by the Israeli judicial system. The interrogation process operates through intentional physical and mental abuse – a treatment denounced by much of the world that is known to be ineffective in retrieving information. The Palestinians are humiliated, left with permanent marks, and ripped from their families for extended periods of time with no end date in sight.
Because of these conditions, the prisoners are following the hunger strike movement led by the prisoner, Marwan Barghouti, who is serving a life sentence due to his participation in the second Palestinian intifada. Although the Palestinians are in terrible conditions already, they are fighting against the abuse, resisting the inhumane treatment, and standing in solidarity for all Palestinian prisoners who have been abused or are currently being abused.
Palestinian prisoners shaved their heads, removed all food from their cells, and came together as one, regardless of religion or beliefs. The prisoners intend to participate in the movement until they are given full rights. In the 21st century, such treatment is no longer acceptable.