Editorial Note: The following news reports are summaries from original sources. They may also include corrections of Arabic names and political terminology. Comments are in parentheses.

 

 Israeli Occupation Forces Attack Palestinian Protesters at Ofer Detention Camp, Summary Military Trials to Hunger Strikers

Dozens treated for teargas suffocation in IOF quelling of Ofer sit-in

[ 26/04/2012 - 05:17 PM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)--

Israeli occupation forces (IOF) fired tear gas canisters at Palestinian citizens, who staged a sit-in at the Ofer prison, near Ramallah, in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners.

Local sources said that a big number of IOF troops attacked the peaceful sit-in with teargas, adding that many were treated on the field for breathing difficulty.

Violent confrontations took place after Bir Zeit students arrived to the scene to take part in the rally and all chanted supportive slogans of the hunger strikers.

IOF soldiers arrested Abdullah Abu Rahme, an activist in the Bilin village popular committees, after refusing to leave the scene. Abu Rahme affirmed that the Palestinians are entitled to organize sit-ins and solidarity rallies with Palestinian prisoners.

IPS stages summary trials for dozens of hunger strikers

[ 26/04/2012 - 05:20 PM ]

NAZARETH, (PIC)--

The Israeli prison service (IPS) has organized summary trials for dozens of Palestinian prisoners as a penal measure for going on hunger strike, prisoners told the PIC on Thursday.

They said that many prisoners were punished by visit deprivation, fines, and canteen denial in those trials, which took place over the past few days.

They pointed out that the IPS imposed an undeclared curfew on the prisoners and completely isolated them from the outside world, as they were deprived of visitation and the daily stroll outside their cells.

For its part, the Ahrar center for human rights said that the IPS moved 165 prisoners from Megiddo jail to Giloba and Shatta prisons including 140 affiliated with Hamas and 25 with the popular front for the liberation of Palestine.

It said that the prisoners had gone on hunger strike on 22 April and were jammed into small cells, each nine inmates crammed in a room made for six.

Solidarity sit-in to be staged outside 10 Downing Street on Saturday

[ 26/04/2012 - 05:13 PM ]

LONDON, (PIC)--

Three non-governmental organizations in the UK have called for a sit-in to be staged outside 10 Downing Street in London on Saturday in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners in Israeli occupation jails.

The Palestinian forum called on the Palestinian, Arab, and Islamic communities in London along with all freedom loving persons to join the sit-in to show solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners who have been on hunger strike for ten days in Israeli jails.

It said that the prisoners were protesting their harsh incarceration conditions and Israeli violations of their rights and of their relatives in addition to demanding an end to solitary confinement and the policy of administrative detention, which holds prisoners in custody for indefinite periods without charge.

The Palestinian Forum in Britain (PFB), Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and British Muslim Initiative (BMI) have called for the sit-in.