Many Palestinians and their supporters will go on a mass hunger strike worldwide for 24 hours on Wednesday, October 12.
Show your support by tweeting the following: Join Us! RT: My name is ( ) and I`ll go on a hunger Strike on Wednesday in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners.
Follow the strike on on twitter: #TweepStrike & #HS4Palestine #RightsPrisoners #HungerStrike
In some cities those going on hunger strike will organize gatherings and sit ins to raise awareness.
Background (from Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association):
On 27 September 2011, Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons announced the start of a campaign of disobedience to protest an escalating series of punitive measures taken against them by the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) in recent months. The campaign is composed of several elements, including a hunger strike and refusal to cooperate with a number of IPS rules, such as wearing prison uniforms and participating in multiple daily roll calls.
These actions have been announced following a speech given by Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu in which he stated that whilst captured IDF soldier Gilad Shalit remained incarcerated by militant groups in Gaza, tougher treatment would be imposed on Palestinian prisoners– a clear policy of collective punishment which has since resulted in the withdrawal of university education and the denial of basic rights such as family visits and access to adequate food in some of the prisons.
The Palestinian prisoners have made several key demands, some of which are listed below:
- End the abusive use of isolation;
- End restrictions on University education in the prisons;
- End the denial of books and newspapers;
- End the shackling to and from meetings with lawyers and family members;
- End the excessive use of fines as punishment;
- And ultimately end all forms of collective punishment, including the refusal of family visits, night searches of prisoners’ cells, and the denial of basic health treatment.
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