As far back as 2008, Israel's Health Ministry and Prison Service formulated clear criteria for the shackling of hospitalized prisoners. But as it turns out, the Prison Service still dictates the policy and doctors' hands are tied -- and shackling procedures are still being applied arbitrarily. http://youtu.be/jlPiOcBJgBQ Related: As Palestinian hunger strikes come to a head, world begins to take notice

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…

Physicians are extremely worried by the deteriorating medical condition of Palestinian prisoner Samer Issawi, who has not put food in his mouth for more than half a year. Doctors are concerned by the state of Issawi's heart, which is weakening and losing rhythm, and are assessing that he might also be suffering from brain damage due to severe lack of minerals, in addition to partial failures of his lungs and kidneys. The Palestinian Prisoner's Club attorney, Jawad Boulus, who visited Issawi in the Kaplan Hospital in Petah Tikva this morning, told +972 that there is a growing risk of sudden…

Samer Issawi, 33 years old, from the village of Issawiya on the outskirts of Jerusalem, was released from Israeli prison as part of Shalit deal, but was arrested a few months ago on suspicion of violating the terms of his release. Samer is being held in administrative detention, without trial, and indefinitely, while the army seeks to re-sentence him to the remainder of the 30-year sentence from his previous conviction. Ina protest of his illegal arrest, Issawi started a hunger strike, that has gone on for over 200 days. His life is in danger. Israel Social TV is an independent media NGO…

This week: The funeral of a Palestinian killed by Israeli forces; olive tree planters face settlers and soldiers; Women of the Wall's protest; a Palestinian action against family separations; Beit Safafa resists a road; solidarity with Samer Issawi continues; Israelis protest for human rights and animal rights, and African immigrants face anger in Tel Aviv.                      

A Palestinian man died in Israeli custody, reportedly during or after being interrogated by Israel on Saturday. The death comes amid spreading West Bank protests in solidarity with hunger striking prisoners. Near Nablus, settlers reportedly shoot a Palestinian man in the stomach. A 30-year-old Palestinian man, Arafat Jaradat, died while in Israeli custody today. According to Palestinian human rights organization Al Haq, Jaradat is believed to have died either during or shortly after he was interrogated in Meggido Prison. Speaking to the Agence France Presse, a spokeswoman for the Israel Prisons Service confirmed the death. She claimed, “It was probably…

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…

From Jenin to Gaza, Palestinians express solidarity with hunger-striking prisoners in Israeli detention. Also, Sudanese cultural celebrations, highways through Palestinian Jerusalem communities, Nabi Saleh's struggle, and pressure on an Israeli chocolatier.                        

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…

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,…

Palestinians call for the release of their relatives from Israeli jails, Al-Araqib residents recover from another demolition, and Occupy Wall Street marks its one-year anniversary. Activestills images tell the stories of the week. 

Demonstrations against the imprisonment of refugees and asylum seekers, protests in Ramallah over the high cost of living, an anti-war candlelight vigil, and more. Activestills images tell the stories of the week.