Members of Activestills posted a public street exhibition on the streets of West Jerusalem and Tel Aviv of photos that bring attention to Palestinian Prisoners Day. Photos by: Ahmad Al-Bazz, Shiraz Grinbaum, Keren Manor, Anne Paq, Ryan Rodrick Beiler, Yotam Ronen, and Oren Ziv The following text, in Hebrew, accompanied street exhibitions of the photos from this essay which were posted in public places in West Jerusalem and Tel Aviv the night before Palestinian Prisoners Day, April 17, 2013. Images of the street exhibitions, some of them later defaced, follow below: April 17 commemorates Palestinian Prisoners' Day. As of February 2013,…

Threat of Palestinian Authority's collapse forces Netanyahu, who has humiliated Abbas and his people as often as possible, to try to placate them. At the beginning of this week, when Palestinian riots threatened to get out of hand, especially if one of the hunger-striking prisoners died, what did Netanyahu do? He gave in. He announced on Sunday he was giving the Palestinian Authority its customs taxes for January, which he'd held back to punish Mahmoud Abbas for winning recognition for Palestinian statehood at the UN last November. Palestinians throw stones and Molotov cocktails at Israeli soldiers, PA security troops do…

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.    

A fateful moment awaits as Israel is forced to choose how it will handle the Palestinian prisoner revolt. In the next few days, something momentous will occur. A group of Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike for over 60 days will either be released from incarceration in Israeli prison without charge or trial, or they will likely die. And it will not end there, either. Many more have followed them down this perilous road of life, death and principle. In fact, thousands more. Two Palestinians—Khader Adnan and Hana Shalabi—have already crossed the finish line, securing their release from prison—through deals cut…

A movement of Palestinian prisoners protesting their incarceration and treatment inside Israeli prisons is continuing to reach momentous proportions. Billed the “War of Empty Stomachs,” the number of prisoners on hunger strike is now in the thousands. On April 17, the prisoner movement split into two when between 1,200 and 1,600 prisoners launched a coordinated, open-ended hunger strike against their treatment inside Israeli prisons, including the pervasive use of solitary confinement, denied family visits and right to education. Another 2,000 joined in a limited solidarity hunger strike. The prisoners had joined a group of hunger strikes launched independently by prisoners…

 3,500 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails fasted today as part of a growing protest against conditions in prison. 1,200 declared they will continue fasting, joining several administrative detainees on hunger strike; Thousands demonstrated throughout the West Bank and Gaza; Administrative detainee Khader Adnan, who went on a 66-day hunger strike, was released. Palestinian Prisoners' Day was commemorated today in the occupied territories and Israeli prisons in a fashion far more intensive than in previous years. More than two thirds of the 4,635 prisoners held by Israel (of whom 320 are administrative detainees and 183 are minors) returned their meals today,…

Palestinian administrative detainee Hana Shalabi is now on the 22nd day of her hunger strike, protesting her treatment during her arrest and over the course of her detention. Three court rulings from recent days may mark a shift in the system's attitude towards her, following the Khader Adnan case. Lawyers from the Palestinian prisoner rights group Addameer report that Shalabi's physical condition is deteriorating. After more than three weeks of no food and very little water, Shalabi is beginning to experience pain in her chest and waist, suffers from nausea and dizziness, and is having a hard time talking without…

Hana Shalabi, a Palestinian woman currently being held in administrative detention by Israel, entered the 15th day of her hunger strike today in protest of the maltreatment she suffered during her arrest. Her elderly parents and two Palestinian prisoners have joined her hunger strike. According to Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Israeli authorities detained Shalabi, from the village of Burqin near Jenin, on February 16. She was allegedly beaten during her arrest—as was her brother when he tried to stop an Israeli soldier from hitting her—and began the hunger strike on the same day in protest. Shalabi was released…

The Khader Adnan hunger strike affair showed the true face of all of the Israelis involved in the occupation, from its enablers in the courts to the Israeli mob. Khader Adnan became a Palestinian national hero two days ago, and rightly so. He brought the Netanyahu government, as well as the Israeli apparatus of darkness (as Uri Avneri called it in the 1950s) to its knees. In a hastily-convened hearing in the High Court of Justice (HCJ), the prosecution offered Adnan’s lawyers a classic saving-face deal: Adnan will be discharged on April 17 at the latest, the same day his administrative detention…

As Khader Adnan's case took over the news cycle this week, I noticed comments by thoughtful readers, generally on my Facebook feed, pointing out Adnan's association with terror. They have circulated a video in which Adnan asks who the next suicide bomber will be, pointed to his affiliation with Islamic Jihad, and  asked: How can you root for a terrorist? How can supposed progressives like us rally around him? (I would have posted the video but YouTube has blocked it in recent hours, claiming it violates its content standards. Note: Adnan does not make an explicit call for suicide bombing in the…

The Prime Minister's Office reported on Tuesday that Khader Adnan, now on the 66th day of his hunger strike, will call off his protest in a deal that will see him released on April 17. The report was confirmed on Tuesday evening by Physicians for Human Rights - Israel, which has been overseeing the case. Announcing the deal, Ofir Gendelman from the PMO tweeted, "#khaderadnan announced that he is ending his hunger strike. If there's no new evidence against him, he will be released from custody on 17.4." Israel's High Court of Justice had been set on Tuesday afternoon to hear…

At any given moment, hundreds of Palestinians are held by Israel without charges or trial. Of the Palestinians currently under administrative arrest, 88 have been held for more than a year. One has been held for more than five years. Some advocacy groups and Israeli officials have recently claimed that Khader Adnan, the 33-year-old Palestinian on a hunger strike for more than two months now, "is no saint," and that real security concerns led to his arrest. But we can never know for sure, since Adnan is held under administrative arrest, a measure that contradicts the logic at the heart of…

As Khader Adnan enters his 65th day of hunger strike, he is receiving increasing and substantial support among the Palestinian communities in Palestine and abroad. The Palestinian factions have called for a general strike in solidarity with Adnan on Tuesday. Despite initial frustrations of the delayed attention where rallies on Adnan’s behalf a few weeks ago had low attendance, it seems Adnan has become a symbol and leader of the Palestinian resistance movement. Even politicians couldn’t ignore his existence anymore. President Abbas was reportedly making calls on behalf of Adnan to Russia, China, Britain and the European Union. Hamas Prime…