Palestinian hunger strike

Thousands of Israelis attend a left-wing rally calling for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Rabin Square in Tel Aviv, May 27, 2017. (Flash90)

’50 years of occupation is 50 years too many’

As the Right celebrates 50 years of military rule over the Palestinians, the Left must not be afraid to create alliances between struggles and remind Israelis that ending the occupation is everyone’s task. By Eli Bitan The following is the full text of Local Call blogger and editor Eli Bitan’s speech in front of 10,000 left-wing protesters at Saturday’s anti-occupation…

By +972 Magazine May 28, 2017

Protest in support of hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners, Haifa, May 22, 2017. (Maria Zreik/Activestills.org)

Fighting media silence on the Palestinian hunger strike

Trump’s visit to Israel is just the latest thing to keep the Palestinian prisoners’ hunger strike — already largely ignored by the media — out of the headlines. By Tanya Rubinstein Donald Trump’s arrival in Israel on Monday filled social media with mockery and resentment, surrounding everything from ministers’ ridiculous statements and road closures to…

By Haokets May 23, 2017

View of a poster welcoming U.S. President Donald Trump in Jerusalem on May 19, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Anti-Trump protests greet U.S. president in Israel

A slew of protests against Donald Trump and American policy await the U.S. president, who visits Israel as the Palestinian prisoners’ hunger strike reaches its 36th day. By Yael Marom Donald Trump’s visit to Israel on Monday is already generating the expected smiles, celebrations and tensions, and disputes between Israeli ministers over who gets to…

By +972 Magazine May 22, 2017

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A Palestinian demonstrator gestures while lying on the ground during a protest in solidarity with hunger striking Palestinian prisoners, near Huwwara, West Bank, May 18, 2017. (Ahmad al-Bazz/Activestills.org)

Settler shoots and kills Palestinian during West Bank demo

An AP photographer was also wounded by the settler, during a protest in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike. Eyewitnesses say that an altercation between demonstrators and settlers escalated into stone-throwing by the former, after which the settler drew his gun and opened fire. An Israeli settler shot and killed a Palestinian near Huwwara in…

By Natasha Roth-Rowland May 18, 2017

Palestinian and right-wing Israeli students demonstrate at Hebrew University during Operation Protective Edge. (Kobi Gidon/Flash90)

Hebrew U. cancels conference on Palestinian prisoners, following pressure

Hebrew University canceled the conference after a student group associated with Naftali Bennett’s Jewish Home party penned an open letter to the university president. ‘The very existence of this conference lends legitimacy to terror.’ By Eli Bitan Hebrew University announced it is canceling an academic conference on the topic of Palestinian prisoners, which was slated to take place…

By +972 Magazine May 14, 2017

Ramzi Fayyad. (Orly Noy)

‘If this hunger strike succeeds, it could mean revolution’

He entered prison for the first time at the age of 10, was one of the founders of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, and became one of the representatives of Fatah’s security prisoners in Israeli jails. For the last decade, Ramzi Fayyad, who has been working to promote dialogue between representatives of released prisoners, views the the…

By Orly Noy May 13, 2017

Can a broad Palestinian civil rights campaign forge the way to peace?

The ongoing hunger strike by Palestinian prisoners signals a potential new direction toward a resolution to the conflict. But the success of such an approach rests on how Israel chooses to respond. By Paul R. Pillar President Trump’s expressed desire to resolve, somehow, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is welcome, but the grounds for skepticism about this…

By +972 Magazine May 12, 2017

Palestinian youth stand inside a mock prison cell during a demonstration in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli jails, Nablus, West Bank, May 8, 2017. (Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90)

WATCH: What do Palestinians on hunger strike want?

For the past four weeks, over 1,600 Palestinian prisoners have refused to eat in protest of their conditions inside Israeli jails. But what are they actually demanding? Mohammed Matry, a former political prisoner, talks about the prisoners’ strike in which he participated in the 1980s, Israel policy of forced feeding, and the basic demands of Palestinian prisoners today.…

By Social TV May 11, 2017

Palestinians take part in a protest in support of Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli jails, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, May 4, 2017. (Flash90)

Israelis simply don’t want to know about Palestinian prisoners

The Israeli public doesn’t care about Palestinians on hunger strike, about conditions in prison, or what happens to a body after it is deprived of food for so long. Sometime in the ’90s, “Popolitica,” a popular political talk show in Israel, brought on a woman from Israel’s geographical periphery who could not send her child to school…

By Orly Noy May 9, 2017

Palestinians participate in the March of Return, Galilee, May 2, 2017. (Maria Zreik/Activestills)

‘Israel has never recognized its Palestinian citizens’

Thousands of Palestinians participated in the March of Return on Tuesday, gathering at the site of the destroyed village of Al-Kabri in the Galilee. Below is a translated transcript of the speech given by Anat Matar, a member of the Israeli Committee for Palestinian Prisoners, at the event. By Anat Matar I am profoundly grateful…

By +972 Magazine May 3, 2017

Israelis covered fireworks in central Jerusalem on Independence Day, May 5, 2014. (Hadas Parush/Flash 90)

Why I’m going on hunger strike on Israeli Independence Day

As Israelis go out to enjoy barbecues and fireworks, I will be fasting in solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike, and the millions of Palestinians who live under occupation. By Adi Golan Bikhnafo On Tuesday, as the smell of barbecued meat and fireworks envelops Tel Aviv, I will be fasting in Jaffa’s Clock…

By +972 Magazine May 1, 2017

Israeli troops fire tear gas into a crowd of Palestinians protesting in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli prisons, Beita, Nablus region of the West Bank, April 28, 2017. (Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90)

‘Day of Rage’ protests across West Bank in support of hunger strikers

Israeli troops suppress the protests with live bullets, rubber-coated munitions, and tear gas, wounding dozens. 1,500 Palestinian prisoners are on hunger strike to demand improved conditions, an end to administrative detention. Thousands of Palestinians held protests in at least a dozen locations around the West Bank and East Jerusalem on Friday as part of a…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man April 28, 2017

Palestinian shops in Nablus are shuttered during a general strike in solidarity with hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners, April 27, 2017. (Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90)

Palestinians hold general strike in support of hunger-striking prisoners

Over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners have refused food for nearly two weeks to protest prison conditions and practices like administrative detention. A ‘day of rage’ is planned for Friday. A general strike in solidarity with hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners on took place across the West Bank and East Jerusalem on Thursday. Shops in commercial districts shuttered their…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man April 27, 2017