Hongerstaker en nu?

Een artikel op “mens-en-gezondheid.infonu.nl” van 5 september 2009 begint met de zin “Af en toe bereikt een hongerstaking het nieuws.” Dat klopt, omdat we het gewoon niet willen weten en onze media niet of nauwelijks schrijven over hongerstakers, m.n. niet over degenen in Palestina.

Ik weet ook niet of het u wilt weten, hoe het gaat met een hongerstaker, maar ik ben een specifieke hongerstaker al dagen aan het volgen. U weet wel, ik heb er al eerder over geschreven: Mahmoud al-Sarsak, de Palestijnse voetballer. Hij gaat nu ruim de 90 dagen over in zijn strijd. Een enkel klein artikel in de Nederlandse media op 4 juni en later nog een kopie van een artikel uit België. Maar ik zal u helpen.

Een hongerstaking kan een week goed verdragen worden, wat hongerpijn en maagkrampen, die mogelijk kunnen verdwijnen. Wel is er de mogelijkheid dat het bloedsuikergehalte daalt.  De eerste maand zal het gewicht afnemen; een lage bloeddruk en een trage hartslag kunnen duizeligheid en hoofdpijn veroorzaken. Daarnaast komen vermoeidheid, spierpijn , problemen met concentratie, dalende lichaamstemperatuur voor. Na de eerste maand gaat de hongerstaker zich echt ziek voelen en vanaf de 40^ste dag zal het erger worden: gehoorverlies, dubbelzien, misselijkheid, braken, slechter zien, bloedingen in het spijsverteringskanaal. Belangrijk is de 60^ste dag, een feitelijke grens, waarna verwardheid kan gaan optreden, coma en daarna het overlijden.
Belangrijk hierbij te bedenken is dat dit geldt voor voedselweigering; bij een dorststaking zijn de effecten vele malen heftiger en erger.

Maar het grootste probleem gaat komen, nadat de strijder gestopt is met zijn hongerstaking: hij moet weer gaan eten. Normaal gesproken kan men weer snel oraal voedsel opnemen, soms na enkele dagen. Echter er kan een hervoeding-syndroom ontstaan, dat nog gevaarlijker kan zijn dan de hongerstaking op zich. Een te snelle voedselinname kunnen symptomen opleveren als oedeem, sterk verlaagd fosfaatgehalte, verminderde spierkracht, longfunctie en hartfunctie. Volgens medici moet de hongerstaker ter voorkoming van dit syndroom, dat een dodelijke afloop kan hebben, de eerste paar dagen de voedselinname beperken tot één derde van het normale en langzaam op voeren.

Hierbij is de taak van een bekwame arts hard nodig in een ziekenhuis dat bekwaam is en goed ingericht in het geval van hongerstakers. Maar tevens zou elke medicus zich moeten laten horen, als een hongerstaker de weg van de hongerstaking opgaat, maar vooral door de bezettende macht wordt afgehouden van medische zorg.  Naast de media die ik niet hoor of zie, de Nederlandse voetballers niet een woord heb horen zeggen over Mahmoud al-Sarsak, is het me opgevallen dat de medici ook erg stil zijn. Laat uw eed eens horen en kom op voor deze hongerstaker, sta op en geef aan dat deze jongeman onmiddellijk hulp nodig heeft. Mahmoud al-Sarsak  is al meer dan 90 dagen onderweg en er gaan geruchten dat hij mogelijk half juli vrij zou komen. Tel eens uit hoeveel dagen dat hij ‘gezondheid technisch heeft geleden’ onder zijn strijd voor de vrijheid. Vrijheid die hij kwijt is geraakt zonder enige vorm van proces.  Opgepakt op weg naar een voetbalwedstrijd omdat men dacht dat hij een terrorist was. Hij had zich met niets ingelaten, behalve met voetballen. Het voetballen was zijn doen en laten. En nu vecht hij in een rolstoel om in leven te blijven. Schande dat we niet optreden, schande dat Nederland niets laat horen.

Egypt voter turnout lower in run-off than in first round: election commission

Egyptians went to the pull in the second round of the presidential race, making a daunting choice between a former general of the old guard and an Islamist who says he is running for God.

Egypt’s Supreme Electoral Commission said that voter turnout in the run-off presidential election was lower on Saturday and Sunday than in the first round ballot.

Voting concluded at 10 p.m. (20:00 GMT), following a last-minute extension to deal with expectations of late voting.

Egyptians went to the pull in the second round of the presidential race, making a daunting choice between a former general of the old guard and an Islamist who says he is running for God.

Many were perplexed and fearful of the future and signs were that, as in last month’s first round, millions would not vote.

The contest, pitting Hosni Mubarak’s last prime minister Ahmed Shafiq against Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, the veteran Islamist movement, is supposed to seal a democratic transition that began with Mubarak’s overthrow 16 months ago.

But concern over a backlash among the disappointed losers saw the Interior Ministry put forces on alert across the country for the end of two days of voting at 10 p.m. (20:00 GMT).

“We have to vote because these elections are historic,” said Amr Omar, voting in Cairo, who called himself an activist of the youth revolution. Reluctantly putting aside misgivings about the Brotherhood’s religious agenda, he said: “I will vote for Morsy.

“Even if it means electing the hypocritical Islamists, we must break the vicious cycle of Mubarak’s police state.”

But many other Egyptians, weary of political turmoil and the economic crisis it has brought, believe Shafiq has the backing of the “deep state” – entrenched interests from the military to big business – and so may be better placed to bring prosperity.

Privately, officials from both camps suggested Shafiq had edged ahead with two hours of voting still ahead. After a baking hot day, many people preferred to cast ballots after dark.

The new president will inherit a struggling economy, deteriorating security and the challenge of uniting a nation divided by the 18-day uprising that toppled Mubarak in February 2011.

The election comes against the backdrop of a series of steps that have consolidated the ruling military’s power, infuriating activists and boosting the boycott movement.

On Thursday, the Supreme Constitutional Court ruled certain articles in the law governing parliamentary elections to be invalid, thus annulling the Islamist-led house.

The Brotherhood won 47 percent of the body’s seats in a drawn-out process between November last year and February.

(english.alarabiya.net / 17.06.2012)

PALESTINE PLACE SUCCESSFUL IN COURT TODAY – STAYING AS PLANNED

Today Palestine Place was represented in Central London County Court in heroic fashion by Jim Saxon, in what he described as ‘singularly the weirdest squat defence case I’ve ever run’. We successfully prevented an interim possession order from being issued against our space at 24 Grays Inn Road. This would have made it criminal to stay in the building (scheduled for demolition in August) with near-immediate effect, have been needlessly costly to both the owner of the space and the public purse, and would in fact have slowed down our planned exit from the space, as we would not have been able to remove all our items in time, and the owner would then have been obliged to return them. We instead were able to settle on a standard possession order, which is highly unlikely to be actioned before the end of next week at the earliest, allowing us to have our last day of events on Sunday 17th June as planned, and leave of our own accord.

Palestine Place is now completely safe from the threat of eviction. This is a great victory and relief for Palestine Place and its supporters, and we look forward to an amazing final weekend in this incredible space.

(palestineplace.wordpress.com / 17.06.2012)

Ex-Israeli soldier wants to join Palestinian resistance

Andre Pshenichnikov, a 23-year-old Jewish immigrant from Tajikistan, wants to renounce his Israeli citizenship and move to a Palestinian refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.

A former Israeli soldier has announced he wants to renounce his Israeli citizenship and move to a Palestinian refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.

Andre Pshenichnikov, a 23-year-old Jewish immigrant from Tajikistan, has said that he plans to live in the Deheishe Refugee Camp near Bethlehem, where he used to work as a waiter and a construction worker.

He is currently traveling in Europe for two months and plans to move to the occupied West Bank when he returns home.

He began questioning Israel’s policies toward Palestine while he was still serving in the military.

Now an outspoken anti-Zionist figure, Pshenichnikov told the Associated Press, “I hate Zionism… I want to be part of the Palestinian resistance… I call for other Israelis who support the existence of a state of Palestine to do the same, to come live in the West Bank or Gaza as Palestinians.”

(www.presstv.ir / 17.06.2012)

Witnesses: Settlers deliberately crash cars into Hebron mourners

 

HEBRON (Ma’an) — Settlers deliberately crashed several cars into a crowd of Palestinian mourners in Hebron on Saturday evening, witnesses said.

Several people sustained bruises when settler cars collided into mourners in the al-Ras area of Hebron, a Ma’an correspondent said.

People had gathered for the funeral of three people killed earlier in a car accident in Wadi al-Houz, east of Hebron.

“While we were escorting three members of the family who were killed in a traffic accident, three settler vehicles traveling on the main road deliberately crashed into the crowd injuring a number of mourners,” Fawwaz Rajabi, a family member at the funeral, said.

Mourners tried to stop the settlers but Israeli soldiers deployed in the area, preventing people from taking part in the funeral procession, Rajabi added.

Shaab Omran Al-Rajbi 26, his brother Saadi, 30, Hamza Saleem Al-Rajbi, 33, and Safwat Ratih Al-Ajlouni, 23 were killed on Saturday when the car they were traveling in flipped over.

A civil defense statement said Israeli army and police forces attended the scene, which lies in an area of the West Bank under Israeli military control.

Around 800 Jewish settlers live in Hebron’s Old City, among 30,000 Palestinians in the parts of the city that are under Israeli control.

(occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com / 17.06.2012)

Why the PA and the PLO have not saved Sarsak

By Mosab Qashoo

Anyone paying attention to what is going on in the Palestinian struggle will have heard about Mahmoud Sarsak, the Palestinian footballer exceeding three months on hunger strike. Meanwhile, the PA and PLO been publicizing their upcoming meeting with the head of the Israeli Kadima party, Shaul Mofaz, leaving a striking absence of any official comment on Sarsak’s situation. It seems very bizarre that the PA and PLO ignore one of their national heroes, a rising star in the society’s most popular sport, who is on the brink of death. He is the easiest person to defend. He has never been involved in politics, is not a member of a political party, he had all the necessary Israel-issued permits and was one of the youngest people to be on the Palestinian National soccer team. Above all, he has not been convicted by Israel of any wrongdoing despite them having three years to pin a charge on him. Even if we consider the PA and the PLO more cynically, any politician would see such a man in such a situation as a gift from the political gods. Imagine the affirmation they would receive if they negotiated his release. Imagine the photo-ops of officials visiting the soccer team Sarsak was on his way to joining when he was seized by Israel. They could even organize children’s soccer games in his honor. Yet they do not take advantage of this opportunity either for selfless nor for self-serving gains.

While all this might seem odd, it is actually quite a cunning move on their part. The Palestinian Authority maintains its power by channeling Palestinian energy into creating a picture of normalcy. They provide the Palestinians in the West Bank with the symbolic functions that a real sovereign state would have, while behind the scenes, everything is controlled by Israel. For example, the Palestinian passport, seen as one of the most important symbols of national identity, is still inscribed with the Israeli-issued military ID number assigned to that person. These celebrated symbols of statehood do have Palestinian colors and symbols on them but they are still functionally Israeli documents. While Palestinian officials are pretending they are making real changes, such changes are impossible to make while Israel still occupies the territories and prevents the refugees from returning. The empty symbolic gestures of the PA and the PLO serve to obscure the occupation from view as much as possible, especially within their “Ramallah bubble”.

The brave activism demonstrated by the various waves of hunger strikers is a direct threat to their scheme. They want Palestinians to forget the occupation and its brutality. The hunger strikers bring it front and center. They represent a decentralized and informal “people power” that cannot be easily contained and controlled, at degrees unseen since the 1st intifada. The Palestinian Authority fear an intifada perhaps more than Israel, as it would erase their final remaining excuse to stay in existence, the symbolic formation of a normalized Palestinian state with formal negotiators, armies and ambassadors. The PA has an official minister for Prisoners, which makes the presence of political prisoners permanent by normalizing the current system. In an intifada, the people speak and act directly for themselves. For Sarsak, each person could be his/her own prisoners minister. Most importantly, an intifada would be a direct confrontation with the occupation that the P.A. so desperately tries to imagine away. Thus the PA and the PLO have been silent for fear of awakening the people from their collective daydream of non-occupied life. The narrative of Mahmoud Sarsak, heroic soccer star taking on the occupation armed only with an empty stomach, would have the ability to bring the intifada back, and the P.A. knows it.

(Facebook / 17.06.2012)

Facts: MAHMOUD KAMEL MOHAMMAD SARSAK

Date of Birth: 20 January 1987

Place of residence: Rafah Refugee Camp, Gaza

Occupation: University student and member of the Palestinian national football team

Date of arrest: 22 July 2009

Place of detention: Ramleh prison medical center

Click here to view this profile as a PDF.

Mahmoud Sarsak is currently the only individual held under Israel’s “Unlawful Combatants Law,” which allows for Palestinians from Gaza to be detained for an unlimited amount of time without charge or trial. Mahmoud began a hunger strike on 19 March 2012 and entered his 80^th day on 6 June, making him the longest hunger striker in Palestinian history. His health is rapidly deteriorating and he is demanding his immediate release.

ARREST

 

Mahmoud Sarsak was arrested on 22 July 2009 by Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) at Erez checkpoint while attempting to cross to the West Bank from Gaza in order to participate in a football match in Balata refugee camp. Mahmoud, who was 22 years old at the time, was a member of the Palestinian national football team and had obtained permission to travel through Erez checkpoint and enter the West Bank.

Following his arrest, Mahmoud was transferred to interrogation at Ashkelon. He was held in interrogation for a total of thirty days, during which he was questioned about alleged affiliation to the Islamic Jihad political party. No evidence was provided to elucidate these claims and Mahmoud rejects the allegations.

A recent Amnesty International report further notes:

“According to his lawyer, during interrogation Mahmoud Sarsak was tied to a chair and kept sitting for long hours at a time in a stress position with his arms tied behind his back and to a pole in the floor—a practice known as shabeh. Mahmoud Sarsak’s family were not notified of their son’s arrest and whereabouts until two days after his arrest. […] Upon learning of his arrest, the family appointed a lawyer who was unable to see Mahmoud Sarsak for the first ten days because the Israeli Security Agency prevented him from doing so.”

UNLAWFUL COMBATANTS LAW AND HUNGER STRIKE

On 23 August 2009, Mahmoud was given a detention order under Israel’s “Unlawful Combatants Law.” This law allows for Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to be detained for an unlimited amount of time without being charged or brought to trial. Under this law, detainees are issued a permanent detention order and are then brought before an Israeli District Court only once every six months for judicial review of their order. In practice, the Unlawful Combatants Law contains fewer protections for detainees than even the few that are granted under administrative detention orders in the West Bank.

As per customary Israeli practice, Mahmoud would have obtained security-clearance from Israeli authorities prior to being granted permission to cross the Erez checkpoint. This raises serious questions about the validity of the alleged concern on the part of Israeli authorities that justifies his detention under the Unlawful Combatant Law. As in the case of administrative detainees, Mahmoud’s detention is based on secret information collected by Israeli authorities and not available to Mahmoud or his lawyer. This practice violates international humanitarian law, which permits some limited use of internment in emergency situations, but requires that the authorities follow basic rules for detention, including a fair hearing at which the detainee can challenge the reasons for his or her detention. These minimum rules of due process have been clearly violated in Mahmoud’s case, leaving him without any legitimate means to defend himself.

After nearly three years of detention without charge or trial, and as part of a growing movement among Palestinian political prisoners, Mahmoud launched a hunger strike on 19 March in protest against the latest extension of his detention. After launching his hunger strike, he was transferred to Ohalei Keidar prison on 8 April. He was then held in solitary confinement at Eshel prison until his transfer to Ramleh prison medical center on 16 April as a result of his deteriorating health.

 

At one point during his hunger strike, Mahmoud was promised that his detention would not be extended and he would be released on 1 July if he agreed to end his hunger strike. Since he insisted to have the agreement in writing, the offer was withdrawn. Mahmoud refused an Israeli proposal to deport him to Norway for three months and then return. He was not included in the final agreement that ended Palestinian prisoners’ mass hunger strike on 14 May, either in its written or oral form. When he inquired as to the date of his release, Mahmoud was told that it will only be considered at the next date of judicial review for his detention, on 22 August.

During a visit with Addameer lawyer Mona Neddaf on 23 May, Mahmoud’s health was in such grave condition that he could only speak with her for a matter of moments. Despite the urgency of his condition, the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) denied Mahmoud access to independent doctors from Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-Israel) until 6 June, his 80^th day of hunger strike. This visit was only permitted after numerous petitions filed to the Israeli District Court. The IPS also refuses to transfer him to a civilian hospital for proper treatment.

Following the visit, the PHR-Israel doctor reported that Mahmoud has experienced extreme loss of muscle tissue and drastic weight loss. He has lost 33 percent of his body weight, from an original weight of 76 kilos down to his present weight of 51 kilos. He also suffers from frequent incidents of fainting and loss of consciousness, in addition to lapses in memory. The doctor further reported that Mahmoud is in danger of pulse disruptions (arrhythmias) that are endangering his life. PHR-Israel’s independent doctor strongly recommended that Mahmoud be immediately transferred to a hospital, as he is now at immediate risk of death.

MAHMOUD AND HIS FAMILY

 

Mahmoud hails from an athletic family and joined the Rafah Sports Club when he was only 8 years old. Football quickly became his favorite hobby and he started playing with the adult team at 14 years of age, due to his outstanding skill. When he joined the Palestinian national football team as a center forward, he was its youngest player. Mahmoud also represented Palestine in football matches all around the world, including Norway, Turkey, Egypt, Qatar and Iraq. In addition to playing professional football, Mahmoud was also in his third year of university, concentrating in Information Technology Studies, before he was arrested.

 

Mahmoud’s family consists of his father, who is 70 years old, his mother, who is 60 years old, his seven brothers and five sisters. None of his family members have seen him since the day he was arrested, as family visits for prisoners from Gaza have been denied since 2007. Mahmoud has been denied all requests for phone calls to his family.

This lack of contact has been particularly difficult for his family given that his father currently suffers from heart disease and is undergoing medical treatment in Egypt. Mahmoud has also not been allowed to receive any items from his family such as clothes and books, despite his family’s continuous attempts to provide them to him through the International Committee of the Red Cross. Mahmoud’s only means of communicating with his family has been through his lawyer and even these visits are not permitted on a  consistent basis.

****

ACT NOW!

Here is how you can help Mahmoud Sarsak:

*Write to the Israeli government, military and legal authorities and demand that Mahmoud Sarsak be released immediately and receive adequate medical care.

• Brigadier General Danny Efroni
  Military Judge Advocate General
  6 David Elazar Street
  Harkiya, Tel Aviv
  Israel
  Fax: +972 3 608 0366; +972 3 569 4526
  Email: arbel@mail.idf.il; avimn@idf.gov.il
• Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon
  OC Central Command Nehemia Base, Central Command
  Neveh Yaacov, Jerusalam
  Fax: +972 2 530 5741
• Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Ehud Barak
  Ministry of Defense
  37 Kaplan Street, Hakirya
  Tel Aviv 61909, Israel
  Fax: +972 3 691 6940 / 696 2757
• Col. Eli Bar On
  Legal Advisor of Judea and Samaria PO Box 5
  Beth El 90631
  Fax: +972 2 9977326

*Write to your own elected representatives urging them to pressure Israel to release Mahmoud Sarsak and to put an end to such an unjust, arbitrary and cruel system of incarceration without trial.

(www.addameer.org / 17.06.2012)

Israel’s fear of free discussion exposed by email intrusions

Israel’s famed airport security has just become tighter. American tourists have recently reported that their personal emails have been targeted by Israeli officials upon arrival in the country.

Strict and unapologetic airport security is closely associated with Israel’s international image, despite the fact that such caution borders on the absurd when it comes to foreigners of Palestinian origin or those suspected of Palestine-related activism. In the post-September 11 environment of security paranoia, the Israeli model is among the most stringent. It is a model some in the United States wish to emulate.

The dark side to this security, which includes racial profiling and in most cases a complete disregard of civil rights, is becoming increasingly difficult to conceal. This past April, with much international fanfare, Israel deported a number of European activists who attempted to travel to the occupied West Bank through Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport. Their experience of detainment, interrogation and deportation symbolised Israel’s approach to maintaining control of the West Bank. The treatment that some tourists receive at Tel Aviv’s airport is deeply connected to Israel’s infrastructure of occupation.

Israel’s image as a small country surrounded by enemies has been carefully designed to rationalise its extensive programme of racial profiling. From West Bank checkpoints to queues outside of bus stations in Tel Aviv, anyone with even indicators of anything associated with Palestinians is subjected to interrogation by the security apparatus.

Last week, security officials deported Sandra Tamari, an American of Palestinian origin, after eight hours of questioning. Ms Tamari was targeted because of her involvement with Palestinian solidarity organisations that support the global campaign to boycott Israel. In the course of hours of questioning, officials demanded that Ms Tamari open her personal email account for review.

Why would Israeli officials be interested in the emails of a middle-aged Palestinian activist from the United States? If, in fact, there was a national security rationale for investigating Ms Tamari’s email, one would surmise that it would have been a priority long before she arrived at Israel’s only international airport.

For years, Israel has collected personal information about travellers to the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. And security officials intimidate travellers who are deemed problematic.

It used to be that officials would rifle through people’s notebooks and journals. Even Israeli Jews involved in Palestinian solidarity projects are subject to similar interrogations at border crossings. According to activists’ accounts, Israeli officials have been forthright in explaining such interrogations: intimation and data collection.

The desire to obtain seemingly innocuous personal information is a subtle but profound demonstration of one of the country’s most insecure realities. With a powerful army, with a nuclear arsenal, and with concrete barriers protecting the country on every side, Israel remains terrified of its actions being challenged on intellectual grounds.

Reviewing email conversations demonstrates an almost hysterical approach – in today’s reality of instant communication, it is a sad reminder of Israel’s propaganda efforts in the face of increasingly organised civil-society campaigns that link Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to apartheid South Africa.

Instead of trawling for information relating to the security of Israeli citizens, emails involving activists such as Ms Tamari reveal information about the intellectual process that movements such as the global Israeli boycott campaign are formulating.

As the discussion about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict transforms – from the narrative of the peace process to the struggle for human and civil rights – Israeli authorities are increasingly playing catch up. Nowhere is this trend more profound than on social media networks where Israeli military spokespeople are losing the war of ideas.

The Associated Press reporter Matt Lee recently asked a US State Department official if there would be a major change to the US travel warnings regardings Israel, one of which warns that Israeli security officials may scrutinise visitors’ personal emails. As long as people continue to oppose Israel’s 45-year occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, as well as its systematic discrimination against Palestinian citizens inside Israel, the necessity of such a travel warning does not seem like a ridiculous afterthought. No matter its military prowess, Israel will probably remain in perpetual fear of free thought.

(www.thenational.ae / 17.06.2012)