After staging an intermittent hunger strike for some nine months, hunger striking Palestinian prisoner Samer Issawi agreed to start eating again, pending the signing of a deal later in the day. The deal would see him released to his home in Jerusalem in eight months. Update (April 23, 4:10 p.m.): Issawi has signed the deal and ended his hunger strike, Maan reports. He is expected to be released in late December of this year. Palestinian hunger striking prisoner Samer Issawi has agreed to end his hunger strike, and will be released to his home Jerusalem in eight months' time, Reuters reported…

Unlike Prisoner X, there is no public outrage in Israel over the way the legal system is preventing Samer Issawi from receiving a fair trial. But then again, Issawi is Palestinian. Samer Issawi, the Palestinian prisoner who has been on an intermittent hunger strike for over 200 days, had his day in court on Thursday. According to the sentence handed down by the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court, one might ostensibly believe that Issawi would be released on March 6, when his prison term is completed. But Samer Issawi is Palestinian, and therefore subject to a multi-layered legal system in which his…

Four Palestinian prisoners are on hunger strikes to protest their administrative detention and the conditions in which they are being held. While the EU calls on Israel to respect its obligations toward Palestinian prisoners' human rights, an Israeli NGO reports they are being treated unethically in hospital. All anyone in Israel has spoken about for the past week is ‘Prisoner X,’ the Jewish-Israeli-Australian Mossad agent held secretly by his own country, who supposedly took his own life in prison two years ago. But only a few miles from Israeli newsrooms in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, outrage over a different type…

Hundreds of Palestinian took part today in demonstrations in solidarity  with Palestinian prisoners, specifically those administrative detainees on hunger strike. Dozens were lightly wounded from tear gas inhalation, and several from live ammunition. The main protest today occurred outside Ofer Prison, just outside Ramallah, in support of Samer Issawi, who has not eaten since July 29, 2012, along with the rest of the Palestinians on hunger strike. Hundreds of Palestinians, including MK Ahmad Tibi, Palestinian MP Mustafa Barghouti and Islamic leader Sheikh Raed Salah gathered near Ofer at noon for a Friday prayer before marching toward the prison,some  confronting army…

New Year's resolutions offer us a glimpse into the hopes of the children who live under Israeli occupation. A colleague of mine, a fellow journalist and writer, teaches English to Palestinian children in Hebron. I visited her recently in the West Bank and she generously shared her teenage students' New Year's resolutions. They are published here, sans names, with the students' permission. From a teenage boy: *Study hard *Be lovely *Don't hurt others *Work better *Keep your mouth closed *Imagine well *Never give up *Eat healthy food *Hate injustice *Like to help others *Smile *Fight bad insects The next one…

The Interior Ministry declared Sanait Tesfauneh, an asylum-seeker from Eritrea, a 'threat to public security' and placed her in administrative detention after she was suspected of purchasing a forged work permit. Now, several organizations are attempting to challenge the detention system that deprives asylum seekers of their civil liberties. Victor Hugo's Les Misérables was published in 1862. Over the years the book became the most famous indictment against the treatment of the weak by society, authorities, and the law. Hugo tells the tale of Jean Valjean who was unable to find work to support his family, so he smashed a…

At 1:00 a.m. Monday morning, Israeli forces entered 'autonomous' Area A and arrested Ayman Nasser, a researcher at Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association. Two soldiers held Nasser's wife at gunpoint while other soldiers searched the house the couple shares with their four children, who range in age from three to 13.   Nasser is currently being held at a detention facility in Jerusalem. Addameer says that the his arrest represents Israel's "latest attempt... to target not only Addameer as an organization advocating for Palestinian prisoner's rights but also the targeting of Palestinian civil society in general." Since 1991,…

The following booklet, published by Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, encompasses a series of reflections by Addameer volunteers and associates who visited Israeli military courts in occupied Palestinian territory between 2009 and 2011. The contributors witnessed hearings for Palestinians accused of stone-throwing, involvement in demonstrations and other political activities deemed an offense according to Israeli military regulations. Eyes on Israeli Military Court- Impressions ADDAMEER (Arabic for conscience) Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association is a Palestinian non-governmental, civil institution that works to support Palestinian political prisoners held in Israeli and Palestinian prisons. Established in 1992 by a group of…

Mahmoud Sarsak's lawyer has confirmed reports that a deal has been struck with Israel, prompting his release and putting an end to 92 days of hunger strike. Mohammad Jabarin, lawyer of hunger striking Palestinian national football team's midfielder Mahmoud Sarsak, has told Ma'an news agency that Sarsak will be released from prison on July 10, after three years without charge or trial, during which he was considered an "unlawful combatant." The deal was struck after 92 days of Sarsak's hunger strike. Sarsak's life was considered at serious risk, and Israel was facing growing international pressure – most recently expressed by Eric…

Manchester United's 'King Eric' Cantona and FIFA President Sepp Blatter call upon Israel to release Palestinian footballer Mahmoud Sarsak, now on his 91st day of hunger strike. An Israeli conscientious objector in military prison has joined the Palestinian hunger strike in solidarity. [UPDATE: BREAKING: Israel to free hunger striking footballer Mahmoud Sarsak] The world renowned footballer Eric Cantona is calling upon the UEFA to cancel plans for Israel host the 2013 European Under-21 Football Championship due to its violation of human rights, and especially due to the ongoing imprisonment of the Palestinian national team's midfielder, Mahmoud Sarsak, who is today…

Mahmoud Sarsak, midfielder for the Palestinian national football team, has been on hunger strike for 82 days in protest of his detention without trial. Physicians for Human Rights has expressed "grave concern for his life." Sarsak (25) is a resident of the Rafah refugee camp and a prominent player in the Palestinian national football team. On July 22, 2009 Sarsak arrived at the Erez checkpoint between Gaza and Israel with a valid permit to enter the West Bank, where he was seeking to advance his sporting career, after already having received offers from a German football team. However, the permit didn't…

The army used tear gas and plastic-coated steel bullets against stone-throwing demonstrators, at least 200 required medical treatment. [UPDATE: Photo gallery from the Nakba Day demonstrations has been added at the bottom of this piece.]  By Max Schindler RAMALLAH – Tuesday's annual Nakba Day commemorations, marking the Palestinian catastrophe of 1948, focused largely on support for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Until an agreement reached on Monday night, more than 1,500 prisoners had fasted for weeks, demanding an end to administrative detention and for improving their prison conditions. Yesterday, Israel announced that it would meet a few of the prisoners'…

The High Court of Justice rejected the petition filed by hunger striking administrative detainees Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahla to release them immediately. The two have been refusing to eat for 70 days – and doctors fear for their lives. Justices ruled on Monday that there is a suspicion that the two detainees are active within Islamic Jihad, and therefore their continued detention is approved. However, justices also noted that their interrogations were insufficient, and that better investigations need be carried out in the future. The ruling ends with this statement (translation mine): [The hunger strike] cannot in itself form…