GAZA, (PIC)-- The parents and uncle of deported ex-detainee Hana’s Shalabi arrived in Gaza Strip on Wednesday evening and were received by government officials and Islamic Jihad leaders. The family members crossed into Gaza through the Rafah border terminal after leaving their Jenin village to Jordan then to Egypt. more

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Former hunger-striker Hana Shalabi was escorted Sunday through the Erez crossing between Israel and the northern Gaza Strip, a Ma'an reporter said. She was exiled to Gaza temporarily in a deal with Israel to end her hunger strike. Palestinian officials have condemned Israel for displacing her from her native West Bank. Relatives were allowed to meet with her for an hour, they said. Earlier, the the Palestinian Authority ministry of prisoners affairs said Shalabi's parents and other relatives would not be allowed to see her. Shalabi, from Jenin, ended a 43-day hunger strike on Thursday after reaching a deal with Israeli authorities that she will be deported to Gaza for three years before returning home. Palestinian human rights groups, meanwhile, say they are alarmed by the deal and Israel's refusal to deny them access to Shalabi in the days leading up to her release. A joint statement from Addameer and PHR-Israel said they fear that the restriction ...

The Ad-Dameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association reported that female detainee, Hana’ Ash-Shalabi, is being deported to the Gaza Strip, and that the Red Cross is bringing her family to the Erez terminal to see her shortly before she is sent to Gaza. Once sent to the besieged coastal region, Ash-Shalabi will not be able to see her family, similar to all West Bank detainees who were released from Israeli prisons under the condition that they be sent to Gaza or exiled out of Palestine. The Israeli act comes in direct violation to International Law, the Fourth Geneva Convention, and all related Human Rights principles and resolution. more

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- A Palestinian who was deported to Gaza in 2002 has urged Hana Shalabi not to accept a deal under which she will be deported. Shalabi, from Jenin, ended a 43-day hunger strike on Thursday after reaching a deal with Israeli authorities that she will be deported to the Gaza Strip for three years. Fahmi Canaan, from Bethlehem, was one of 26 Palestinians deported to Gaza in 2002 after taking shelter in the Nativity Church in Bethlehem. Israeli forces surrounded the church for 40 days before the deal was reached to deport the men inside, who were wanted by the Israeli army. But Canaan said Thursday that the deportees were told they would be allowed to return home after two years but Israel reneged on the deal. more

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- A deal to release Palestinian hunger-striker Hana Shalabi to the Gaza Strip temporarily was reached late Thursday, officials with knowledge of the negotiations told Ma'an. The officials say Shalabi will be sent to Gaza for three years in exchange for giving up a 43-day strike against Israel's policy of holding detainees without charge. The Palestinian prisoners society confirmed the deal in a statement praising Shalabi's resolve. It expressed its appreciation for her efforts to bring attention to Israel's policies toward prisoners. Qadoura Fares of the prisoners society said Shalabi agreed to the deal "in return for ending her strike and being freed. ... We reject deportation, but this is her decision and her own life," Fares said. Shalabi's lawyer, Jawwad Boulous, also confirmed the agreement. more

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Dozens of children demonstrated outside Red Cross headquarters in Gaza City on Thursday calling for the release of hunger-striking detainee Hana Shalabi. Shalabi has refused food for 43 days since Israeli forces detained her from her home in the northern West Bank on Feb. 16. Israel has sentenced her to four months but she has not been charged with any crime. Children released balloons decorated with Shalabi's face, sang and waved Palestinian flags. They carried banners reading: "We are all Hana Shalabi," and "The children of Palestine will not give up on you even if the whole world does." more

From Mondoweiss It has been more than forty days since Hana Shalabi began her courageous fast - and her protest is still being ignored. A group of students from universities across the US and Europe have banded together to highlight her struggle and that of the Palestinians more broadly. Those students issued the following call to action today: HANA SHALABI: UNIVERSITY CAMPUSES STAND WITH YOU As students from American and European universities, we stand in solidarity with Hana Shalabi and her pursuit of justice and human rights as her voice is silenced by arbitrary administrative detention. We call on you to stand this Thursday March 29, 2012 with Hana Shalabi on her hunger strike. On March 25th, 2012 Hana al-Shalabi's appeal in Israeli Military courts against her re-arrest and placement under illegal administrative detention was rejected after 40 days in custody without charge or trial. Her re-arrest comes only four months after her release from over two years of administrative de...

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The ethics committee of Meir Hospital may consider force-feeding hunger-striking detainee Hana Shalabi, human rights organizations said Monday. The committee will meet Tuesday to discuss Shalabi's case and could discuss force-feeding her, Addameer prisoner rights group and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel said in a joint statement. Amnesty International warned forcible feeding "could constitute cruel and inhuman treatment," a release from the group said. Shalabi has been on hunger strike for 40 days since she was detained from her home in the northern West Bank. On March 20 she was transferred to Meir Hospital in central Israel. more

Ramallah, Palestinian Territories: An Israeli military court on Sunday rejected the appeal of a Palestinian woman who has been on hunger strike for 39 days, her lawyer told AFP. Hana Shalabi was appealing a four-month administrative detention order allowing her to be held without charge. "The Israeli military court rejected the appeal and now we will go to the High Court," Jawad Bulus said. "Hana will continue her hunger strike." Shalabi was detained on February 16, and a military court initially ordered her to be held for six months. That was later reduced to four months, the decision she unsuccessfully appealed. Shalabi has been on hunger strike since her arrest, to protest both her detention without charge and violence she says was inflicted during her arrest. On Friday, rights group Amnesty International urged Israel to prosecute or free Shalabi, saying she was "at risk of death." She was hospitalised on March 19, after 33 days without food, with doct...

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Hunger-striking Palestinian detainee Hana Shalabi says she will stay on strike until victory, despite pressure to back down after 34 days without food. "It's true our lives are very precious, but our freedom is even more precious and more powerful than their cells," Shalabi said, according to her lawyer Jawad Bulus of the Palestinian prisoners society. Bulus visited the detainee during medical tests Monday in Jaffa, before she was moved to the hospital in Ramla. According to the attorney, Shalabi has been staying in the same room which once housed Khader Adnan, a hunger-striker who agreed to stop his strike after a deal with Israeli prosecutors. Shalabi has lost about 16 kilos since starting her strike last month, Bulus said. She claims the Israelis are using psychological pressure to force her to end her strike. Shalabi also complained that the room is unusually cold, and she suffers pain to muscles and her chest. The hunger-striker also disputed ...

Palestinian Minister of Detainees, Issa Qaraqe’, stated on Monday evening that hunger-striking detainee Hana’ Ash-Shalabi, who has been on hunger strike since 34 days, was moved to Meir Israeli Hospital, in Kfar Saba, after a sharp deterioration in her health condition. Qaraqe’ said that Ash-Shalabi was hospitalized after she was examined by a medical team of the Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), adding that the doctors had to wait for three hours until they were allowed to see her. He further stated that the physicians determined that Ash-Shalabi is unable to stand, nauseated, suffering from pain in her abdomen, headache, her heartbeats are slower than they should be, and low sugar levels. Qaraqe’ said that Ash-Shalabi refuses to take any medications or liquids except in the presence of PHR doctors who will be visiting her again Tuesday morning. more Meanwhile, Maan reports supporters are jining her hunger strike and boycotting courts

March 14-15, 2012 marks the sixth anniversary of the attack on Jericho prison and the Israeli abduction of Palestinian national leader Ahmad Sa'adat and his comrades, who had been held under U.S. and British guard in a Palestinian Authority prison. For the past three years, since March 18, 2009, Ahmad Sa'adat has been in isolation in an Israeli occupation prison, subject to solitary confinement, poor health care and intense repression. Similarly, Ahed Abu Ghoulmeh, one of his comrades also abducted from Jericho in 2006, has been in isolation for many months. The demand to end the isolation of Ahmad Sa'adat - and his fellow prisoners in solitary confinement - sparked the September-October 2011 hunger strikes that swept through the occupation's prisons. As we mark this anniversary, a Palestinian prisoner's hunger strike has once again captured the attention of the world, very soon after the heroic 66-day hunger strike of Khader Adnan. Hana al-Shalabi, released in the ...

We, the Palestinian Council of Human Rights Organisations (PCHRO), would like to mark International Women's Day by expressing our solidarity with administrative detainee Hana Shalabi. Hana is today beginning her 22nd successive day of hunger strike in protest at her internment without charge or trial and her ongoing ill-treatment at the hands of the Israeli authorities. Hana, 29 years old, previously spent more than two years in administrative detention before she was released in October 2011 as part of the prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas. Less than four months later she was arrested once more by Israeli authorities at her home near Jenin, when she was beaten with the butt of a rifle by an Israeli soldier. Following her arrest, she was beaten, blindfolded and later forcibly strip-searched and assaulted by an Israeli male soldier. Hana was given a six-month administrative detention order and spent the first three days of her internment in solitary confinement. She wa...

by Joe Catron Hundreds of Palestinian women filled the street outside Gaza’s International Committee of the Red Cross this morning, marking International Women’s Day by demanding the release of administrative detainee Hana Shalabi on the 22nd day of her open hunger strike. The rally contained Palestinian women of every age, including many university students and other youth. more pics

ENIN (Ma'an) -- As the world marks International Women's Day, the mother of hunger-striking detainee Hana Shalabi appealed to the international community to save her daughter. "I demand that the world stands by her now. My daughter is dying in prison. We are also dying here. This is my appeal to the world," Badiya Shalabi told Al-Haq human rights organization. Hana Shalabi has been on hunger strike since Israeli forces detained her from her home in the northern West Bank on Feb. 16. She was beaten, blindfolded and forcibly strip-searched and assaulted by a male Israeli soldier, the Palestinian Council of Human Rights Organizations said. Shalabi's lawyer Mahmoud Hassan told Ma'an she is determined to maintain the strike until she is released. On Wednesday an Israeli military judge postponed a decision on her appeal. She appeared weak and exhausted in court and was shackled and handcuffed, Hassan said, adding that she had lost over 10 kilograms. more

Photo courtesy Joe Catron, 2012 Hundreds of Palestinians, mainly from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Palestinian People’s Party (PPP), the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), and other leftist factions, rallied for administrative detainee Hana Shalabi, now on her 19th day of an open hunger strike, outside Gaza’s International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) this morning, ahead of International Women’s Day Thursday. Their presence bolstered the numbers of a protest tent already erected at the ICRC entrance, and maintaining a continuous presence there, to support Shalabi. Among the crowd, different kinds of red flags mixed easily with the black and yellow ones of Shalabi’s Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine. more

RAMALLAH (Ma’an) -- Hana Shalabi said Sunday that she will continue her hunger strike despite an announcement by Israel's Ofer military court that her prison time will be reduced by two months. Lawyer Fadi Qawasmi visited Shalabi on Sunday at Hasharon prison and informed her of the court's decision to reduce her imprisonment time by two months. Shalabi told him that she would continue her hunger strike protest, which is now in its 18th day. more

Hana' Mother Carrying Her Picture. Hana has entered her 15th day on hunger strike - qudsnet.com The Palestinian Minister of Detainees, Issa Qaraqie, announced today that his ministry is organizing an international campaign against Israeli administrative detentions, and their ill-treatment of Palestinian political detainees held in Israeli jails. “This campaign an open invitation to all human-right groups and supporters of the Palestinian cause, governmental or non-governmental associations, to sign a petition that calls for pressuring the Israeli occupation to end its policy of administrative detention, since it's illegal under international law and inhuman practice.” Qaraqie told the IMEMC on Thursday. Meanwhile, Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons said on Thursday that they are going to boycott Israeli military courts in protest of administrative detention orders, and the ill-treatment by their captors. The recent developments come as political detainee, Hana ...