As part of the prisoner exchange deal, the Israeli authorities published a list of 477 prisoners, including 27 women, to be released in the first stage on 18 October. The list does not include any children.
FOA has called a 24 hour hunger strike to draw attention to the approximately 7,000 Palestinian prisoners, especially children who are still being held by Israel. According to the latest figures released by the Israeli Prison Service and DCI-Palestine, at the end of September there were 164 Palestinian children aged between 12-17 years old in Israeli detention facilities, including 35 young children between the ages of 12–15 years.
Shamiul Joarder, Head of Public Affairs at Friends of Al Aqsa is participating in the 24 hour hunger strike which is being held in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners. He stated: ‘Almost 700 children are detained each year under the Israeli military court system. The crime of the majority of these children was throwing stones at Israeli armoured personnel carriers, which carries an inexplicable sentence of between 6 months and a year.
The conditions that Palestinian political prisoners face are appalling. Some do not even have access to clean drinking water and many are held in detention without fair trial. Many have not committed any crimes, other than to oppose to occupation. This show of solidarity seems pitifully inadequate, but it is the least we can do.”
Shamiul Joarder also stated “We need to keep an eye on the whole picture as Israel can replace these Palestinian prisoners very quickly since they have imprisoned approximately 70,000 Palestinians in the last 11 years.”
The 24 hour hunger strike will begin on Wednesday 19th at 18:00 and the fast will be broken outside the University College Union, Malet Street, London on Thursday 20th at 18:00.It will take place before the event ‘Why We Need a Boycott of Israel on Our Campuses’ where FOA will have a stall.
Participants in the hunger strike will be wearing shackles and distributing leaflets about Palestinian prisoners to the public. FOA are requesting for people to participate in the hunger strike and to join us to break the fast.
