MPPM demands an end to the violence against imprisoned Palestinian activists and holds Israel responsible for the lives of detainees on hunger strike

MPPM – Portuguese Movement for the Rights of Palestinian People and for Peace in the Middle East condemn the unacceptable and inhuman situation to which the Israeli authorities subject thousands of Palestinians under administrative detention - detention without charge or trial, indefinitely extendable - and in particular the Palestinian activists on hunger strike, whose lives are in danger.

On 21 October last, United Nations experts warned that Kayed Al-Fasous (who completed 115 days of hunger strike on 6 November 2021) and Miqdad Al-Qawasameh (108 days on hunger strike) were, already then, in imminent danger of death, and are currently in intensive care.

On 5 November, the EU Representative for the Palestinians also expressed concern about the situation of these activists and called on Israel to refrain from extensive use of administrative detention, to ensure fair judicial process for all prisoners and to prevent the death of these activists.

Despite the very precarious situation in which these Palestinian activists find themselves, the Israeli authorities renewed in late October the administrative detention order for Kayed Al-Fasous and do not allow his transfer to a Palestinian hospital.

Among the other activists on hunger strike against their administrative detentions, those whose health is deteriorating most rapidly are Alaa Al-Araj (90 days on hunger strike) and Hisham Ismail Abu Hawash (81 days on hunger strike), who were transferred to hospitals because of their worsening situation, and Shadi Abu Aka (74 days on hunger strike), who is in the Ramleh prison clinic.

These Palestinian activists are subject to administrative detention and have not yet been convicted or charged with any crime. The Israeli authorities justify these detentions as being based on 'classified secret information', which prevents the detainees and their legal representatives from preparing any kind of defence or asserting the already few and undermined rights that the State of Israel accords to Palestinian citizens.

These detainees, as well as any Palestinian citizen arrested by Israel under administrative detention - highly arbitrary and contrary to international law and human rights - are subject to the military courts of occupation and do not know if and when they will be released.

Furthermore, these activists have been transferred to Israeli territory, which also violates the Geneva Convention, which prohibits the occupying power from transferring prisoners from occupied territories to its own territory.

Despite criticism and condemnation of Israel by various countries and international institutions, it is estimated that there are currently over 500 Palestinian activists in Israeli prisons under administrative detention.

Given the continued use by Israel of the practice of administrative detention, the rapid deterioration in the state of health of these political prisoners and the grave danger to their lives, the MPPM urges the Portuguese government to

• Demonstrate to the Israeli authorities, through the means at its disposal and in an unequivocal and vehement manner, the repudiation of the use by Israel, in an extensive and indiscriminate manner, of the figure of administrative detention against Palestinian citizens;
• Demand from the Israeli authorities the immediate release of all those detained through this process and the guarantee that those detainees in the most fragile state of health will be handed over to their families and the Palestinian authorities in order to ensure the safeguarding of their lives;
• Demand from the government of Israel respect for the rights of Palestinian detainees, in compliance with the conventions and treaties to which it is a state party, within a more general framework of respect for the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people;
• Demand from the government of Israel an immediate end to the practice of torture and ill-treatment of Palestinian prisoners;
• Denounce the agreements with Israel that are based on respect for human rights, including the EU-Israel Association Agreement
• Recognize the State of Palestine, in the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The MPPM also calls upon all democrats and peace lovers, and all organisations that fight for the defence of human rights, to continue to demonstrate their support to the Palestinian cause and to denounce the crimes of Israel.

November 7th 2021

The MPPM National Direction