Hana Shalabi is now into the 31st day of an open-ended hunger strike to protest her “administrative detention“ by Israeli authorities. Israeli Physicians for Human Rights have expressed concern about her deteriorating condition – she is suffering from severe muscular atrophy, and is now losing consciousness for periods of time.
Hana is one of almost 5000 Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli jails, without charge or trial, and without access to the evidence against her. According to Addameer Human Rights Organisation’s submission to the Russell Tribunal, as of 01 November 2011, 269 of these prisoners were administrative detainees, 10 were women, 176 were children, and 22 were members of the Palestinian Legislative Council. [1]
Israel, the much-touted ‘only democracy in the Middle East’ [2], apparently sees no conflict betweenOrder No. 101 - Order Regarding the Prohibition of Acts of Incitement and Hostile Propaganda,issued in August 1967, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
Order 101 criminalizes a range of civic activities in the West Bank, including waving flags, organizing and participating in protests, assemblies or vigils, and “any publication of notice, poster, photo, pamphlet or other document containing material having a political significance” - in direct contravention of Articles 19 and 20 of the UDHR, which guarantee the right to freedom of opinion and expression, and of peaceful assembly and association.[3]
It sees no conflict between Military Order 1651 and UDHR Articles 9, 10 and 11.
Under Military Order 1651, Palestinians can be held for 8 days after their arrest before seeing a judge. This detention can be renewed for up to 180 days without any charges being brought, and they can be denied access to a lawyer for up to 90 days. If they are ordered detained until the end of the legal proceedings, this detention can last up to 2 years, which may then be extended by six-month periods with no maximum limitation.
UDHR Articles 9, 10 and 11 guarantee the right not to be arbitrarily detained, the right to a fair, and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, and the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.
It is such blatant breaches of Palestinians’ human rights that have seen 23 more prisoners, most of them also “administrative detainees”, join Hana Shalabi’s hunger strike, and thousands in the West Bank and Gaza attend marches, pickets, and other events demanding the end to this practice, and the release of all Palestinian political prisoners.
Despite their calls being joined by Richard Falk, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, they have so far fallen on deaf ears in Israel.
It seems the ‘only’ Middle Eastern democracy is incapable of observing the most basic requirement of such a state - conforming to the rule of law, whereby the law is supreme and binding on everyone, including the Israeli government.
It seems the ‘only’ Middle Eastern democracy is as determined to ensure its own demise through its failure to abide by the conventions of civilised society, as it is to ensure that of Hana Shalabi.
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