Schaamt u zich niet?

De laatste dagen 2 columns en een persbericht over de status van Mahmoud al-Sarsak naar de Nederlandse media gestuurd. Behalve Moslim Media is er niet een die heeft gereageerd, behalve met de zinnen: “Hartelijk dank voor uw bijdrage, die wij met belangstelling hebben gelezen. Helaas kunnen wij uw reactie niet publiceren. Wij ontvangen dagelijks een honderdtal brieven. De redactie is daar heel blij mee, maar de ruimte om brieven te publiceren is beperkt. Wij vragen hiervoor uw begrip en hopen u een volgende keer te mogen verwelkomen in de kolommen van Geachte redactie of op de U-pagina.” of “Bedankt voor uw bijdrage aan de opiniepagina. De opinieredactie krijgt wekelijks veel artikelen aangeboden. Helaas kunnen wij maar drie onderwerpen per dag behandelen. Dit dwingt ons tot een scherpe selectie, waarbij we veel op zichzelf interessante stukken moeten afwijzen, tot onze spijt. Ook voor dit stuk zagen we uiteindelijk geen mogelijkheid, helaas.” of “Uw bericht is doorgestuurd naar de redactie buitenland. Ik hoop u hiermee voldoende te hebben geïnformeerd.” 

Het is om te huilen met de Nederlandse media, er is er niet één die fatsoenlijke berichten heeft gebracht over Mahmoud al-Sarsak, de Palestijnse voetballer die sinds meer dan 80 dagen in hongerstaking is, omdat hij strijdt tegen de bezettende macht van zijn land, Palestina. Onafhankelijke media noem je dat … het is waardeloos, als er alleen maar wat geschreven mag en kan worden over de bezettende macht.

Ik ben het echt kwijt, EK voetbal en een Nederlandse ploeg die tegen Denemarken er niets van bakt, moeten op alle pagina’s groot en in oranje, het knalt zo wat van je krant, maar een voetballer die strijdt voor zijn leven, de belangrijkste wedstrijd in zo ’n leven, is niet van belang. Niet belangrijk om ergens in een klein hoekje in de krant worden genoemd. Neen, doodzwijgen, letterlijk en figuurlijk, want dan weten we van niets en hoeven we niets. Elke dag vraag ik me af: schaamt de Nederlandse media zich niet voor deze houding tegenover de Palestijnen en Palestina? In een donker moment, denk ik zelfs dat u betaald wordt door de bezettende macht, maar dat kan toch niet waar zijn?

Aan de andere kant snap ik nog iets niet. Ik ben niet oud genoeg om de Tweede Wereldoorlog bewust meegemaakt te hebben, maar ik heb altijd begrepen dat de mensen die ondergronds en bovengronds tegen Duitsland vochten, de bezettende macht in en van Nederland, verzetsstrijders en helden werden genoemd. Er werden zelfs films en een musical over deze helden gemaakt en ze werden voorzien van lintjes en onderscheidingen.
Waarom zijn dan verzetsstrijders – in een ander land – die ook tegen de bezettende macht vechten, dan geen helden maar terroristen? Waarom kan de Nederlandse media zich niet indenken dat ook in Palestina verzetsstrijders, helden zijn die vechten tegen de bezetters van hun land? Waar zit dan het verschil? Wat hebben de Palestijnen dan de Nederlandse media aangedaan dat ze doodgezwegen moeten worden?

Heren en dames journalisten van de Nederlandse media, schaamt u zich niet? U vertikt het om te schrijven over de strijd tegen een bezettende macht, u vertikt te schrijven over hoe de bezetters beetje bij beetje steeds meer land inpikken, huizen vernielen, olijfbomen molesteren en mensen in de gevangenis gooien zonder enig vorm van rechtszaak. Hoe gaat u met het nieuws om? Is er een hulpje bij u in dienst, die alles weggooit als er de woorden Palestina, Palestijnse verzetsstrijders, olijfbomen of Gaza in een artikel staan? Kunt u nog wel in de spiegel kijken? Voelt u die verantwoordelijkheid niet om ook te schrijven over de mensen in Palestina? Mag ik u eens uitnodigen om te schrijven over Mahmoud al-Sarsak? U weet wel, die Palestijnse voetballer die in hongerstaking is gegaan nadat hij om illegale redenen is opgepakt.

World association of professional footballers FIFPro calls on Israel to release Mahmoud Sarsak

FIFPro, the association representing professional footballers in dozens of countries, called on Israel immediately to release Mahmoud Sarsak, a Palestinian football player who has been on hunger strike since March to protest his detention for three years without charge or trial by Israel.

“FIFPro, the voice of all professional footballers in the world, demands that Mahmoud Sarsak be released from prison,” the statement begins.

The statement from FIFPro marks the first high-level attention to Sarsak’s case from professional football. However it is not a moment too soon given his grave health situation.

According to its website:

FIFPro is the worldwide representative organization for all professional players; more than 50,000 footballers in total. FIFPro exists since 1965 and currently has 46 members, 9 candidate members and 9 observers.

Israel is one of FIFPro’s 46 member countries.

The organization also said it is “very concerned about the situation of many other professional footballers in Palestine. Sarsak is not the only player who is suffering from the actions of the Israeli government. There are stories of other players who have been harassed, arrested or even killed.”

Sarsak was detained by Israel as he traveled from his home in Gaza to play in the West Bank. FIFPro notes:

For many players in Palestine, there is no real freedom of movement.

‘The freedom of movement is a fundamental right of every citizen’, says Philippe Piat, FIFPro’s vice-president and president of FIFPro Division Europe. ‘It is also written down in the FIFA Regulations that players must be allowed to play for the national team of their country.’

‘But actually for some footballers it is impossible to defend the colours of their country. They cannot cross the border. They cannot visit their family. They are locked up. This is an injustice.’

Israel blocking information about Sarsak’s condition

As the time since Sarsak’s strike exceeds 84 days, Israel has blocked information about his condition.

Yesterday, Sarsak was reportedly moved to a civilian hospital before being sent back to Ramle prison.

Ali Abunimah@AliAbunimah11 Jun 12

@Addameer_ps @PHR_IL @Cohen_Ran Any truth to claims#MahmoudSarsak was moved to Asaf HaRofeh hospital?

Ran Cohen@Cohen_Ran

@AliAbunimah @Addameer_ps @PHR_IL As far as we know he was transferred to Assaf Harofeh last night and then back to Ramleh prison clinic

Israeli authorities today claimed Sarsak had ended his strike, but those claims were impossible to independently verify. AFP reported:

Israel Prisons Service said on Monday that a Palestinian prisoner who has been on hunger strike for more than 80 days, had ended his protest, but Palestinian sources, including his lawyer, denied the claim.

“(Mahmud) Sarsak ended his hunger strike,” IPS spokeswoman Sivan Weizman told AFP, saying he had taken the decision to end his fast after consulting his lawyer and the prison administration. But Sarsak’s family in Gaza, as well as the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club in Ramallah, denied that he had ended his strike.

And his lawyer, Mohammed Jabarin, said he had no comment on the Israeli claim.

Israel denies legal process while attacking victim in media

As international concern has increased, so has high-level propaganda from Israeli government officials. As he has done with other hunger strikers, Israeli spokesman Ofir Gendelman began making lurid charges against Sarsak on Twitter. As many Twitter users pointed out to Gendelman, if there were a shred of evidence, Israel should present evidence and provide an internationally recognized legal process.

Ofir Gendelman@ofirgendelman

#MahmoudSarsak is not on a hunger strike right now. He is detained because he planned and carried out terrorist attacks, footballer or not.

Ofir Gendelman@ofirgendelman

I will comment tonight at 21:20 Jerusalem time on@BBCArabicNews on #MahmoudSarsak, Islamic Jihad terrorist who planned attacks & bombings

Ofir Gendelman@ofirgendelman11 Jun 12

Even if a terrorist plays soccer, it does not change the fact that he is still a terrorist #MahmoudSarsak

Dan Murphy@bungdan

@ofirgendelman really? Then bring the evidence forth in open court and get a conviction.

Yousef Munayyer@YousefMunayyer

Apparently @ofirgendelman is #Israel‘s judge, jury and executioner. If he calls someone a terrorist, he doesn’t need to provide evidence.

تغريد@Taghreedr

Real democracies are suppose to have a fair & just system out in the open @ofirgendelman

FIFPro Statement

FIFPro: release Mahmoud Sarsak from prison

Friday 8 June

FIFPro, the voice of all professional footballers in the world, demands that Mahmoud Sarsak be released from prison. The Palestinian national team player has been imprisoned by the Israeli government for three years without any trial.

On 22 July 2009 Sarsak – who lives in Rafah in the Gaza Strip – was arrested at a checkpoint when he was on his way to the West Bank for a match with his national team. He was interrogated for thirty days and then imprisoned without any trial or a precise legal charge. Family and friends are not allowed to visit him. They do not know why he is being detained for already nearly three years.

According to the Israeli government he is an illegal combatant and therefore they can imprison him indefinitely.

To protest against his condition and lack of civil liberties, Sarsak currently is on a hunger strike. The 25-year old footballer has not eaten for 85 days and has lost approximately thirty kilos in weight. According to human rights organisation Addameer the situation of Mahmoud is critical.

FIFPro is deeply concerned about Sarsak’s health and about his imprisonment and therefore asks for his release from jail.

FIFPro is also very concerned about the situation of many other professional footballers in Palestine. Sarsak is not the only player who is suffering from the actions of the Israeli government. There are stories of other players who have been harassed, arrested or even killed.

For many players in Palestine, there is no real freedom of movement.

‘The freedom of movement is a fundamental right of every citizen’, says Philippe Piat, FIFPro’s vice-president and president of FIFPro Division Europe. ‘It is also written down in the FIFA Regulations that players must be allowed to play for the national team of their country.’

‘But actually for some footballers it is impossible to defend the colours of their country. They cannot cross the border. They cannot visit their family. They are locked up. This is an injustice.’

Last year FIFPro paid two visits to Palestine to visit the footballers, to talk about their problems and to talk about the establishment of a professional footballers’ association in Palestine.

(electronicintifada.net / 11.06.2012)

International aid convoy arrives in Gaza Strip

We are here to share the pain and inshallah help to relief the pain. We brought some aid from Malaysia, from the people of Malaysia.”

Mousa Nordin, chairman of Viva Malaysia

A delegation of about a hundred pro-Palestine activists from several countries has arrived in the Gaza Strip to show its solidarity with the besieged Palestinian people,Press TV reports.

The convoy, which is part of the “Miles of Smiles Aid Convoy 13″, entered the coastal enclave via the Egypt-controlled Rafah Crossing on Sunday and was received by Palestinian officials.

The activists, some of whom had visited Gaza in previous aid missions, appealed to the international community to help reduce the sufferings of the Palestinians in the impoverished coastal sliver.

“We are here to share the pain and inshallah help to relief the pain. We brought some aid from Malaysia, from the people of Malaysia,” Mousa Nordin, the chairman of Viva Malaysia, told Press TV.

Activists say they are inspired by the resistance of the Palestinian people who have been enduring hardships under Israel’s decades-long occupation.

Convoy members managed to bring some symbolic amount of much needed medical aid and educational tools in order to build links with the Gazans.

The activists are scheduled to stay for four days to see firsthand the situation on the ground and meet officials, and to talk to people affected by the siege.

The Tel Aviv regime has denied the nearly 1.7 million residents of Gaza their basic rights, including the freedom of movement and the right to appropriate living conditions, work, health and education.

(www.presstv.ir / 11.06.2012)

UK supports Palestinian refugee agency

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The United Kingdom announced a three-year aid package for the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees on Monday, an UNRWA statement said.

UK International Development Minister Alan Duncan lauded the work of UNRWA on a visit to Burj Barajneh refugee camp in the Lebanese capital.

“UNRWA is helping to improve the living standards and long-term prospects for tens of thousands of Palestinians, as well as meeting more immediate humanitarian needs with food and income support for the most vulnerable,” the minister said.

UNRWA Commissioner-General Filippo Grandi said the multi-year support will “enable UNRWA to plan ahead to address needs on a longer term basis.”

The aid, which will fund education, ante-natal care, and cash transfers, amounts to £7.5 million already confirmed for 2012 and up to an additional £99.5 million by 2015, the statement said.

Some of the funds will be dependent of UNRWA delivering efficiency reforms, it added.

(www.maannews.net / 11.06.2012)

Monetary chief: PA bank borrowing reaches limit

Banks cannot lend more to the Palestinian Authority government without repayments, the monetary authority chief said Sunday.

RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — The head of the Palestine Monetary Authority said Sunday that the Palestinian Authority government has reached the maximum limit of borrowing from Palestinian banks.

Jihad Al-Wazir said in a statement that banks in Palestine increased lending to the government by over $300 million in the last two months, and cannot lend more unless repayments from donor countries come through.

The Authority has set supervisory measures to bolster the banking sector in the face of any political or economic shocks, al-Wazir added.

They maintain a financial leverage ratio of 12 percent, higher than many European banks and put aside 15 percent of profits into a special account, Wazir said earlier.

PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said in January that his government owes $1.1 billion in bank loans, as well as $400 million in unpaid revenues to private sector contractors.

Fayyad has tried to embark on a number of austerity measures on government spending and reform of the tax system.

The IMF says the aid-dependent Palestinian economy has entered a “difficult phase” with a severe liquidity crunch worsening since last year due to a drop in aid from Western backers and wealthy Gulf states and Israeli restrictions on trade.

(www.maannews.net / 11.06.2012)

Palestinians: Vatican set to indirectly recognize annexation of East Jerusalem

Negotiations between Israel and the Holy See on the fiscal status of Catholic institutions in Israel seems to make no distinction between the two sides of the Green Line.

Pope Benedict XVI prays before the Western Wall in the old city of Jerusalem, May 12, 2009.

The draft of an economic agreement between Israel and the Vatican contains no distinction between sovereign Israel and the territories occupied in 1967. The lack of a preamble containing such a distinction is at the center of heightened tension between Palestinian Christian denominations and the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Vatican.

Palestinian sources told Haaretz that the agreement meant indirect recognition of Israeli annexation of East Jerusalem and of the imposition of Israeli law in part of the West Bank.

France, which has special standing as custodian of holy Christian sites and Christian communities, is also said to be concerned at the apparent latent recognition of the annexation and the economic implications for the communities, and particularly its Christian institutions in the country and the people who are part of them.

However, a well-informed source told Haaretz “there is nothing in the agreement to harm the rights of the Palestinians,” and that the agreement was made with the sovereign State of Israel in its internationally recognized identity, and therefore there was no need for a clarifying preamble.

The Bilateral Permanent Working Commission between the Holy See and the State of Israel is to meet in Rome on Monday and Tuesday. They are to continue talks that took place in Jerusalem last week on matters of disagreement.

Negotiations toward an agreement on the fiscal status of Catholic institutions in Israel have been underway for 13 years, 11 more than the original two years allocated in what is known as the “fundamental agreement.”The signing of that accord by Israel and the Vatican on December 30, 1993, led to the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Vatican and Israel.
Over the past few months, NGOs and members of various Christian denominations in Israel have begun to receive details about the draft agreement, which has been presented to them as a lapse and a failure by the Vatican. Haaretz was told that the people who informed Palestinian Christians and NGOs of their concerns preferred not to approach the Palestinian Authority immediately because they did not believe the PA could act on its own in this diplomatic and legal realm.

Members of the Christian community in Jerusalem and the West Bank have held a number of emergency meetings recently and have contacted the Vatican to make clear that the agreement under discussion is not merely a fiscal and a technical agreement, and that a lack of distinction between occupied territory and Israeli territory could have severe implications.

The legal agreement, known as the “Legal Personality Agreement” was signed on November 10, 1997, but was never ratified by Israel.

Meetings on fiscal issues began in 1999 and have still not concluded. They relate to property rights, actions involving property by church bodies, and Issues of taxation and tax exemption. The parties decided to exclude a list, known as “Schedule 1,” of institutions on both sides of the Green Line from the text of that agreement, with regard to which they felt they would not be able to resolve differences soon. Among the sites and institutions on the list are those in which ownership and possession are in dispute, such as properties that Israel has expropriated or whose owners were declared absentees and the Church wants to take possession of again, or sites that Israel has declared open to the public and the Church believes should remain in the private sphere.

A draft of the agreement, dated January 25, 2012 which Haaretz has obtained, does appear to address Israeli law in a general way, without relating to or alluding to Israel’s status as an occupying power according to international law. That is also the case with regard to sites in East Jerusalem. A Palestinian lawyer who reflects the position of the Palestinian Christian denominations with regard to the agreement now being formulated told Haaretz that in bilateral agreements with Israel there is a clause defining what is meant by “Israel” from which a distinction clearly emerges between the two sides of the Green Line. For example, the bilateral agreement for the avoidance of double taxation between Israel and Switzerland, a clarification states: “The term Israel means the ‘State of Israel,’ and when used in a geographical sense, the term ‘Israel’ includes its continental shelf and other maritime areas over which it exercises sovereign rights and jurisdiction according to international law” (that is, as an occupying power). Accordingly, the Palestinian lawyer said, the term “Israeli law” without any kind of codicil or restriction, is a dangerous precedent and implies recognition of the annexation of East Jerusalem and Israeli civil rule over areas of the West Bank (where a number of the sites on Schedule 1 are located).

A well-informed source rejected this interpretation and told Haaretz that the agreement contains no geographical reference to any institution it mentions and there are no negotiations underway over the status of institutions in East Jerusalem. He said the agreement recognizes that “the Vatican has some obligations but [also] some immunities because of the special character of the Church and religion.”

A Foreign Ministry official who is not familiar with the draft said that the Vatican’s position is clear and is known to the ministry, and has not changed: The Vatican does not recognize Israeli sovereignty beyond the Green Line.

Ekemeleddin Ihsanoglu, the secretary general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, which has 57 member-countries, and who was informed of concerns over the agreement, wrote a letter to Archbishop Dominque Mamberti, who is the secretary for relations with states of the Holy See.

The archbishop answered in early May that “the eventual agreement will not represent a change in the position of the Holy See.”

Mamberti also wrote: “The Church, with particular attention to fiscal questions, is asking the State of Israel to treat her institutions in a fair manner, wherever the State of Israel exercised its authority de facto without taking into consideration or determining whether it does so as a sovereign state or as an occupying state, thus without entering into the political aspect of the question.”

Mamberti wrote that the Church remains “extraneous to all merely temporal or political conflicts…unless the contending parties or the international institutions make concordant appeal to its mission of peace.”

This is the response the members of the Christian denominations in the country heard, which only increased their concerns over what they see as erosion of the Church’s position.

A number of Palestinian Christians have complained that the Church and the spiritual authority of the Vatican should have taken into consideration the special situation of Christians under Israeli occupation – and it has not done so. As a state, they say, the Vatican is obligated to international law, and it did not take this into account in formulating the accord with Israel.

The draft to be discussed over the next few days has undergone changes since January 2012, but Palestinian sources believe that these changes are not dramatic. In fact, the lack of distinction between the two sides of the Green Line was already in the legal agreement (which was not ratified).

Rabbi David Rosen, the international director of interreligious affairs of the American Jewish Committee, who worked for the establishment of diplomatic ties, viewed precisely this as an achievement for Israel. In an article published in 1999, he wrote “the Catholic Church thereby not only reaffirmed its recognition of the sovereignty of the Jewish people in its historic homeland, but also registered and placed its institutions under Israel’s legal authority and protection [including its]…institutions in East Jerusalem.

(www.haaretz.com / 11.06.2012)

Palestinian prisoner eases hunger strike

Ramallah: A Palestinian official says a prisoner held by Israel has agreed to ease his hunger strike, and his life is no longer in danger.

Qadoura Fares, who heads a prisoners rights group, says Mahmoud Sarsak, 25, a former player with the Palestinian national football team, agreed to take nourishment today after a more than 80-day hunger strike. The Gaza man has been held without charge since 2009 and is demanding to be released.

Fares said Sarsak agreed to drink milk for 72 hours while Israel reviews the case. Israel’s prison service said Sarsak was no longer fasting.

Israeli authorities claim Sarsak was involved in militant activity, including the training and recruiting of militants and producing explosives.

Palestinian prisoners ended a mass hunger strike last month, but Sarsak held out.

(zeenews.india.com / 11.06.2012)

Let Sarsak Live! Palestinian footballer, 80 days on hunger strike

An activist volunteers to represent Mahmoud Sarsak who is now near death after nearly three months without food,
he is symbolically bound and kneeling at the stone engraved “Gaza” outside the BBC headquarters in London,
to protest the corporate media’s complicity in Palestinian suffering, their deafening silence
at the plight of Palestinian prisoners forced to hunger strike to resist their illegal detention.

Mahmoud Sarsak in action

On 5th June 2012 a protest was held in London to bring attention to the plight of Palestinian prisoner Mahmoud Sarsak who is on his 80th day of hunger strike and on the verge of dying, which has been largely ignored by the corporate media, including the BBC.

The protest commenced from the Palestine Place, a reclaimed space near Chancery Lane, and moved through central London including Oxford Street, stopping at the headquarters of the BBC, then on to Marble Arch and culminating in Hyde Park.

Mahmoud Sarsak, a professional footballer from Rafah refugee camp in Gaza, has been imprisoned by Israel for 3 years without charge or trial.

He was abducted by Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint while on his way to join the Palestine National Football Team for a match in Balata refugee camp in the West Bank.

Mahmoud has now been on hunger strike for 80 days to protest being held without charge or reason for 3 years and to be allowed to defend himself as is his most basic right under international law.

After nearly three months without food, Mahmoud Sarsak has lost his sight and hearing and is on the verge of dying..

A finale plea from Mahmoud Sarsak and fellow prisoner Akram Rikhawi, received from inside prison on 3rd June 2012:

“To the freedom loving people of the world, we cry out to you, and to all people in the worl who believe in the justice of our cause: Do not abandon us to the vindictive hands of the jailers to take what they want from our frail bodies..

We say: There is still enough time and the support that comes late is better than that which does not come at all.. It is better that you receive us alive and victorious rather than as lifeless bodies in black bags..”

Video: Let Sarsak Live

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwJoWQfoucU&feature=player_embedded

Preparation at Palestine House

Leaving Palestine House to commence protest

Marching, leafleting, playing football.. all raise awareness

At BBC headquarters

Leafleting Oxford Street – Europe’s busiest shopping street

Marble Arch and on to Hyde Park to play football and raise awareness

“Don’t wait until we’re in body bags”: Two Palestinian hunger strikers’ “final distress call”

Electronic Intifada, Ali Abunimah, 3rd June 2012

Mahmoud Sarsak and Akram Rikhawi who have been on hunger strike for 78 and 59 days respectively issued the following urgent distress call from Israel’s Ramle prison today. It was published by Addameer on its Facebook page in Arabic and rush-translated by The Electronic Intifada:

The message of prisoners Mahmoud Sarsak and Akram Rikhawi from inside prison

In the name of God the Compassionate and Merciful…

To the masses of Palestine, who cling to the land, who grip as if to hot coals, to all the revolutionaries and freedom loving people in the world who stood by our cause and our victory throughout history; To those who always extended to us their steadfastness and fortitude in the face of adversity, our fellow Arabs and Muslims, and freedom loving people of the world;

To the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mr. Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazin), and to the the brother Minister of Prisoner and Ex-Prisoner Affairs Mr. Issa Qaraqe, and to the honorable freedom fighter Qaddoura Faris, president of the Prisoners’ Club, and to national and Islamic parties and movements:

This is an urgent and final distress call from captivity, slow and programmed death inside the cells of so-called Ramle Prison hospital, that you know that your sons and brothers are still struggling against death and you pay no attention to them and do not remember their cause – as if, after the end of the general strike all the demands of the prisoners were met.

We are still here, continuing our open-ended hunger strike and that battle has not ended despite 78 days of strike for one of us, and 59 days for the other.

Regretfully, we thought that you would support us in our hunger strike, but instead you have stood on our wounds and our pain.

From here, we cry out to you, to our brothers, to dignified people, that you bear your responsibility, for after God, we have no one but you and the freedom loving people of the world to bring victory to our cause.

Second: As the hunger strike continues to erode our bodies and sap what is left of our strength, we cry out to you to help us in our battle on every level and field, local, regional and international, especially in the media, and especially Palestinian television which represents the Palestinian people.

And also in the newspapers, radio and electronic media, so that our voices can reach the freedom loving people of the world and expose this entity, and for the victory of our cause.

We say: there is still enough time and the support that comes late is better than that which does not come at all. It is better that you receive us alive and victorious rather than as lifeless bodies in black bags.

Therefore we two hunger strikers remain on our strike, Mahmoud Sarsak who has endured 78 days, and Sheikh Akram Rikhawi who has endured 59 days and was already ill, having spent 8 years in Ramle Prison clinic suffering from illnesses, and who now struggles against death.

We inform you that we will remain on our strike until all our demands are met and we will not submit to the demands of the Prison Service regardless of what we suffer in restrictions, provocations, and bargaining, and we will not accept promises and half-measures despite the deterioration of our health and our entry into difficult and dangerous situations, especially since we have lost more than 25kg and 18kg.

Our people, our leaders in Gaza, in the West Bank and outside, and freedom loving people of the world, we cry out to you, and to all people in the world who believe in the justice of our cause: do not abandon us to the vindictive hands of the jailers to take what they want from our frail bodies.

You are the ones able to support us for victory in our battle.

Your brothers who remain on hunger strike until victory or martyrdom,

Mahmoud Sarsak
Akram Rikhawi

src: http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/dont-wait-until-were-body-bags-two-palestinian-hunger-strikers-final-distress

(www.inminds.co.uk / 11.06.2012)