And this is the country that Bernie Sanders recently told reporters, at the
Carter Center, that he still supports. He is still saying that He wants
Israel to treat Palestinians fairly, that he wants equal treatment for both
sides, and that with fairness, a two state solution can be found. And that
is why he signed the letter with all of the other senators, complaining that
the UN is singling out Israel for criticism and that this is anti-semitic.
Well, they didn't use that word, they implied it.
Miriam
Israel Resorts to Psychological Warfare to Try to Break Palestinian Hunger
Strike
Wednesday, May 10, 2017
By Charlotte Silver, The Electronic Intifada | Report
More than 1,500 Palestinian prisoners entered their fourth week without food
on Monday as Israel intensifies its efforts to break the hunger strike.
The striking prisoners are demanding improvements in conditions and an end
to solitary confinement, heavy restrictions on family visits and
administrative detention -- prolonged imprisonment without charge or trial.
Israel has refused to negotiate with or discuss the demands of the hunger
strikers, referring to the prisoners as terrorists and calling the strike a
media ploy.
Meanwhile, the Israel Prison Service is attempting to demoralize its
participants and their supporters.
Threats of Force-Feeding
Israeli media report that the government is considering bringing in foreign
doctors to potentially force feed hunger strikers.
The Israeli Medical Association stands with global medical opinion that
force feeding is "never ethically acceptable," as is stated in the World
Medical Association's Malta Declaration, and is tantamount to torture.
In a statement released on Saturday, strikers said "we emphasize that any
attempt to implement the crime of forced feeding against any prisoner on
hunger strike will mean for us a project of the execution of the prisoners."
Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike died as a result of being subjected
to forced feeding in the 1970s and '80s, according to the rights group
Addameer.
"Psychological Warfare"
On Sunday, Israel released footage that it said shows hunger strike leader
Marwan Barghouti eating sweets in the bathroom stall of his prison cell on
on 27 April and 5 May.
The videos are time-stamped but could not be independently verified.
Israel Prison Service sources told the Tel Aviv daily Haaretz that they
intentionally set Barghouti up.
Israeli authorities have sought to discredit Barghouti since he launched the
mass hunger strike last month, casting the protest as a political maneuver
to assert his popularity and vie for leadership of the Palestinian
Authority.
Public security minister Gilad Erdan, who pushed for the legalization of
forced feeding in 2015, called Barghouti a "murderer and a hypocrite."
"The Palestinian prisoners' hunger strike has nothing to do with their
prison conditions, and everything to do with the political interest of
Marwan Barghouti," Erdan stated on Sunday, repeating claims he made in The
New York Times last week.
Barghouti's lawyer called the video "psychological warfare" against the
prisoners.
"We can't address the content of the clip so long as they don't let us meet
with Marwan. Let us visit him and then we will check the claims with him,"
the lawyer said.
Barghouti's wife, Fadwa Barghouti, said the video was a "low" move by
Israel.
"The prisoners are familiar with Israel's lies and games and the video they
released signals the beginning of its fall," she said at a press conference
on Sunday.
Punishment
After nearly three weeks of refusing to allow hunger strikers to meet with
their lawyers, on 3 May the Israel Prison Service was told by the high court
that the practice was illegal.
Over the weekend, lawyers met with detainees at Ketziot and Nitzan prisons
for the first time since the strike began.
At Ketziot, lawyers reported that several of their clients were unable to
walk or stand.
In addition to increased raids and transfers to solitary confinement, Israel
has also begun seizing money from striking prisoners' accounts.
In response, the Palestinian Authority announced that it would stop paying
an allowance to prisoners. This money is used for purchases at the prison
commissary, including salts, which are a vital nutrient for hunger strikers.
According to lawyers who visited Ketziot, the prison authorities have denied
prisoners access to the commissary and have begun fining them for not
standing up during roll call.
A committee formed to support the hunger strike is calling on the
Palestinian Authority to halt security coordination with Israel and suspend
municipal elections scheduled for 13 May.
There are some 6,300 Palestinian prisoners currently being held by Israel,
according to the rights group Addameer.
Charlotte Silver
Charlotte Silver is a journalist in San Francisco, formerly based in the
West Bank, Palestine. Follow her on Twitter: @CharESilver.
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