http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/blogs/lifestyle/5816-samer-issawi-to-be-released Samer Issawi to be released Ramona Wadi Tuesday, 23 April 2013 16:00
In what is being considered a major victory against administrative detention, Samer Issawi has accepted an agreement negotiated by Israeli and Palestinian officials to end his hunger strike. The Palestinian Prisoner Organisation has stated that Issawi will serve eight months for the alleged violation of bail conditions, after which he will be free to return to Jerusalem. The deal, which still has to be presented to Israel's military court and signed, would eliminate conspiracy charges against Issawi, leaving him to serve the remainder of his sentence for violating bail conditions. Israeli officials insist that Issawi's infringement of bail was proof of "continued involvement in attempting to establish terror cells." Issawi has insisted upon a written agreement as opposed to verbal pledges, which have been routinely disregarded by Israel's security service agency, GSS. Doctors had issued warnings about Issawi's rapidly deteriorating health, reaching an unprecedented urgency in the last few days as activists across the globe relentlessly campaigned for his release. Various forms of protest were instrumental in alerting world attention to Issawi's plight: daily Twitter storms organised by the Free Samer Issawi campaign; hunger strikes in solidarity with Issawi and other political prisoners in administrative detention; protests and the bombardment of corporate media by activists challenging the emanating silence. Once again, the power of social media was not to be disregarded as activists made use of online collaboration to further the Palestinian non-violent resistance. Zionist supporters have also reacted to the news on social media, regurgitating the culture of hatred prevalent in Israel to express their displeasure at the news. Calling Issawi a "terrorist" and "child bomber," once again a segment of Israeli society has proved itself a poor judge of what constitutes terror ignoring the fact that the Israeli army has waged a state terror against Palestinians since the initiation of the illegal occupation. Palestinian officials have hailed Issawi's victory against administrative detention as "a legendary form of peaceful resistance which forced Israel to recognise Palestinians' legitimate demands for freedom and dignity." The contrast between Israeli tactics of coercion and blackmail against Issawi's determination to persist in protest "until death or victory" has been hailed as "a victory which opens the door for prisoners who have been arrested indefinitely." Hamas minister for detainee affairs, Attalah Abu al Sabah also applauded Issawi's resilience and commitment to featuring Jerusalem in his struggle, adding that his stance was "a clear message to the entire Islamic world to support the holy city." As the initial euphoria wears off, questions such as the motives behind Israel's decision have started to surface, echoing Issawi's mistrust in the apartheid regime. Many have already expressed doubts about Israel's commitment to finalise the agreement, while others are doubtful regarding Israel's agreement not to press conspiracy charges or have Issawi rearrested upon some other alleged violation. As long as 'security' remains synonymous with 'terrorism' as opposed to resistance, Issawi's initial victory should be incorporated within the collective to transcend from a personal, and valid, victory into a tangible strategy to combat Israel's oppressive policy of administrative detention. ------------------------------ http://972mag.com/israels-justice-system-fails-to-protect-the-palestinians-it-rules/69855/ By +972blog <http://972mag.com/author/972blog/> |Published April 23, 2013Israel's justice system fails to protect the Palestinians it rules *Many Palestinians have despaired of complaining about violations against them. Yesh Dins new report, The Road to Dispossession<http://972mag.com/report-how-settlers-turn-palestinian-lands-into-illegal-outposts/69541/>, shows why.* By Yesh Din, written by Yossi Gurvitz [image: Farmer and settlers (Anne Paq / Activestills)]<http://972mag.com/photos-a-weekend-of-direct-actions-to-protect-palestinian-lands/47033/%d7%aa%d7%a7%d7%95%d7%a26/> A Jewish settler stands over a Palestinian farmer [illustrative photo]. (Anne Paq / Activestills) April 14, 2011 was a special morning for the Hizme family from the village of Turmusaya: it was one of the few days they were allowed to work their land, which unfortunately for them is close to the illegal outpost Adei Ad. They received the necessary permits from the army. Even so, some 90 minutes after they started working, IDF personnel showed up and asked them to leave, so as not to cause problems with the settlers. A short while later, an Israeli vehicle came around and seven Israeli civilians stepped out of it. When the soldiers noticed the civilians, they broadcast a good morning over their jeep loudspeaker system. As the good civilians left their vehicle, some of them hooded, they started attacking the Palestinians. The assault, which included use of clubs and tear gas, went on for several long minutes, as the soldiers in the jeep did nothing. During history lessons, we used to call an attack by a group of civilians on others as the agents of the government did nothing pogroms; the Israeli media prefers the term clashes. In the end, the soldiers fired some rounds in the air and the attackers took the hint and retreated. Its time to say, again, that IDF soldiers are, legally, both entitled and obliged to prevent such attacks and they are empowered to detain the rioters until police show up. One might have expected the police would crack this case relatively easily. The Palestinians photographed their attackers, and one of the wounded recognized the people assaulting him. Furthermore, given the cordial greetings by the soldiers in the jeep, its reasonable to assume they soldiers were familiar with the gang members. Even so, no indictments were served in this case. Police only bothered to interrogate the main suspect after three months, and then were satisfied with answers to general questions. The suspect was not, for instance, asked to supply an alibi. Neither did the police bother to find the soldiers who witnessed the assault. This isnt the only case of its kind. In a series of documented cases, the police simply refused to lodge the Palestinians complaints. Rabah Hizme, also a resident of Turmusaya, on August 6, 2009 wanted to register a complaint against an Israeli citizen who fired at him and with a drawn weapon, chased him to his village; the police refused to accept the complaint, claiming the gunman was engaged in self defense. This is interesting: the police basically decided the result of the investigation even as it refused to open one. In other cases, when a Palestinian wants to lodge a complaint, he is systematically worn down: come back tomorrow, we dont have an interpreter today, theres no investigator today, and why didnt you bring the documents we never asked you to bring. The goal, as with the robotic replies of a cellular companys automated phone system, is to convince the victims that there is no point, that hes wasting his time, that nothing will come out of this. Even when the police deign to register the complaint, the likelihood that something will come out of it is smaller than a Wall Street banker returning his loot. Of the cases followed by Yesh Din, 94 percent were closed without indictment. In 92 percent of those cases, the reason was the failure of the investigators: either unknown perpetrator, meaning the police couldnt find the criminal, or lack of sufficient evidence. In the case of Hussein Abu Aliya from Al Mughayer, whose trees were poisoned, when the police file was reviewed by Yesh Din, our people were astonished to find it contained just one document Abu Aliyas complaint. The police simply did nothing. In 2008, Mahmud Mizmeh Muhammad AlArj, a resident of Turmusaya, registered a complaint about settlers invading his territory. The police spent quite some time trying to ascertain that the land did indeed belong to AlArj; and once satisfied he was telling the truth, and that the land did belong to him, the investigation ended abruptly. After all, why investigate a crime, once you realize one did happen? You might accidentally stumble on the guilty party. This attitude is not limited to property crimes. On April 29, 2006, seven Palestinians trying to work their land near Adei Ad were attacked. About 15 armed Israelis coming out of Adei Ad assaulted them with their rifle butts, set a large black dog on them, and finally opened fire. A mare was killed in the shooting. Police didnt bother to properly investigate, inter alia avoiding testing all the weapons in Adei Ad, or trying to find out who keeps a large black dog there. The case was closed with the police claiming lack of evidence. Furthermore, the police do not fulfill their duties to inform the complainant about the results of the investigation; in about 70 percent of the complaints registered prior to the involvement of Yesh Din, no response was received. All of these are failures of the authorities resulting from complaints made by Palestinians. The reluctance of the authorities in the West Bank from enforcing laws on settlers is not limited to negligence in investigating their alleged crimes. All of the buildings in Adei Ad have demolitions orders against them. The great majority of those orders, particularly against homes, were not enforced. And these are just some of the testimonies about the failure of the Israeli justice system to protect people it rules in the occupied territories. For further testimonies, I recommend reading the full report<http://972mag.com/report-how-settlers-turn-palestinian-lands-into-illegal-outposts/69541/> . *Written by Yossi Gurvitz in his capacity as a blogger for Yesh Din<http://www.yesh-din.org/default.asp>, Volunteers for Human Rights. * *Related:* The quiet population transfer that dares not speak its name <http://972mag.com/the-quiet-population-transfer-that-dares-not-speak-its-name/69548/> m fails to pr <http://972mag.com/the-quiet-population-transfer-that-dares-not-speak-its-name/69548/> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:laamn-unsubscr...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:laamn-subscr...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:laamn-dig...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:laamn-ow...@egroups.com?subject=laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:la...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/laamn@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! 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