Scroll down to read Erakat's statement.

Institute for Public Accuracy
980 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@...
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Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Palestinian Hunger Strikers: "Fighting Ingrained Duplicity"
Reuters is reporting: "Standing up to Israel through non-violent resistance can
produce encouraging results, Palestinians said on Tuesday, after a prisoner
hunger strike produced some Israeli concessions.
"The deal under which some 1,600 Palestinian prisoners agreed on Monday to end
a month-long fast against Israel's prison policy was struck on the eve of Nakba
(catastrophe) Day..."
ALLAM JARRAR, via Ryme Katkhouda, rymepmc@... or Kinda Mohamadieh,
kinda.mohamadieh@..., http://www.annd.org, http://www.pngo.net
Jarrar is with the Palestinian NGO Network. He is in Washington, D.C. with
a delegation of the Arab NGO Network for Development, which also includes
representatives from Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Tunisia, Yemen and other Arab
countries. The delegation just released a paper, "Overview and Suggestions for
Improving Key Areas in U.S. Foreign Policy Towards the Arab Region." Point one
is "The centrality of recognizing the Palestinian rights to democratic and
development processes."
NOURA ERAKAT, nourae@..., http://www.badil.org,
http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/contributors/436
RICHARD FALK, (805) 565-3999, (805) 448-1453, rfalk@...
Erakat is an adjunct professor of international human rights law in the
Middle East at Georgetown University and the U.S.-based legal advocacy
consultant for the Badil Center for Palestinian Refugee and Residency Rights.
She is also a contributing editor to Jadaliyya.com.
Available for a limited number of interviews, Falk is professor of
international law emeritus, Princeton University and Special Rapporteur on
Occupied Palestinian Territories for the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Erakat said today: "It is empowering that on the day of the 64th
commemoration of the Nakba, or the day that marks the initial displacement and
dispossession of Palestinians, that Thaer Halahleh and Bilal Diab will be
ending their hunger strike in exchange for their freedom. As a result of an
Egyptian-brokered deal between Israelis and Palestinians, all the hunger
strikers will end their strike upon Israel's vow to not renew their arbitrary
detention without charge or trial upon its expiration. This marks a significant
milestone in the struggle against colonial violence in Palestine. It does not
however, signal an end to the struggle as demonstrated by the case of Hana
al-Shalabi who spent two years in administrative detention before obtaining her
release as part of the Hamas-brokered prisoner exchange only to be re-arreseted
two months later. A definitive end to these punitive and racist practices
necessitates the political will of international governments and agencies who
have the ability to exert the requisite pressure upon Israel to comply with
international law and human rights norms." Falk and Erakat recently wrote the piece "Palestinian Hunger Strikers:
Fighting Ingrained Duplicity," which states: "On his seventy-third day of
hunger strike, Thaer Halahleh was vomiting blood, bleeding from his lips and
gums, while his body weighs in at 121 pounds—a fraction of its pre-hunger
strike size. The thirty-three-year-old Palestinian follows the still-palpable
footsteps of Adnan Khader and Hana Shalabi whose hunger strikes resulted in
release. He also stands alongside Bilal Diab who is also entering his
seventy-third day of visceral protest. Together, they inspired nearly 2,500
Palestinian political prisoners to go on hunger strike in protest of Israel's
policy of indefinite detention without charge or trial.
"Administrative detention has constituted a core of Israel's 1,500
occupation laws that apply to Palestinians only, and which are not subject to
any type of civilian or public review. Derived from British Mandate laws,
administrative detention permits Israeli Forces to arrest Palestinians for up
to six months without charge or trial, and without any show of incriminating
evidence. Such detention orders can be renewed indefinitely, each time for
another six-month term.
"Ayed Dudeen is one of the longest-serving detainees in Israeli captivity.
First arrested in October 2007, Israeli officials renewed his detention thirty
times without charge or trial. After languishing in a prison cell for nearly
four years without due process, prison authorities released him in August 2011
only to re-arrest him two weeks later. His wife Amal no longer tells their six
children that their father is coming home, because, in her words, 'I do not
want to give them false hope anymore, I just hope that this nightmare will go
away.'"
http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/5474/palestinian-hunger-strikers_fighting-ingrained-dup
See recent New York Times report: "Palestinians Go Hungry to Make Their Voices
Heard"
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/04/world/middleeast/palestinian-resistance-shifts-to-hunger-strikes.html?_r=1
For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167
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