The story of Palestinian political prisoner Khader Adnan has largely been shut out of mainstream media in many countries, especially the US, Canada, Britain and Australia, which continue to provide Israel with carte blanche to do as it wishes, regardless of international law.

Photo:  mondoweiss.net.

Yesterday Richard Falk published the following brief essay, an eloquent cry for justice, in Al Jazeera. 

Richard Falk is Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University and Visiting Distinguished Professor in Global and International Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara.  He is currently serving his third year of a six-year term as a United Nations Special Rapporteur on Palestinian human rights.  He has written extensively on international law.

“The world watches as tragedy unfolds beneath its gaze.  Khader Adnan is entering his 61st day as a hunger striker in an Israeli prison, being held under an administrative detention order without trial, charges, or any indication of the evidence against him.

From the outset of his brutal arrest in the middle of the night – in the presence of his wife and young daughters – he has been subject to the sort of inhumane and degrading treatment that is totally unlawful and morally inexcusable.  Its only justification is to intimidate, if not terrify, Palestinians who have lived for 45 years under the yoke of an oppressive occupation.

This occupation continuously whittles away at Palestinians’ rights under international humanitarian law – especially their right to self-determination, which is encroached upon every time a new housing unit is added to the colonising settlements that dot the hilltops surrounding Jerusalem and the West Bank.

The case of Khader Adnan is a revealing microcosm of the unbearable cruelty of prolonged occupation.  It draws a contrast in the West between the dignity of an Israeli prisoner and the steadfast refusal to heed the abuse of thousands of Palestinians languishing in Israeli jails through court sentence or administrative order.

Mr Adnan’s father poignantly highlighted this contrast a few days ago by referring to Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier held by Hamas in captivity for several years and recently released in good health: “Where are the mother and father of Gilad Shalit?  Do they not feel for me in this humanitarian case? Where are they?”

He went further in drawing this comparison: “My son was arrested from his house, from among his wife and children, was taken prisoner.  He was not carrying any weapon.  Whereas Shalit was fighting against the people of Gaza, and destroying their homes, and firing upon, and Shalit was released.”

It is true that foreign authority figures, from the UN Secretary General on down, showed their empathy for the agony experienced by Israelis concerned for the well-being of Shalit, but these same personalities are notably silent in the much more compelling ordeal being experienced before our eyes in the form of Mr Adnan’s captivity, seemingly unto death.  It should not be surprising that surviving family members of IRA hunger strikers should step forward expressing solidarity with Mr Adnan and compare the Irish experience of resistance to that of the Palestinians.

And who is Khader Adnan? We do not know very much about him except that he is a member of the Islamic Jihad Party.  There are no accusations against him that implicate him in violence against civilians.  His fellow prisoner from an earlier period of confinement in Ashkelon Prison, Abu Maria, recalls his normalcy and humanity while sharing a cell, emphasising his interest in informing other Palestinians: “Prison was like a university in those times and he was one of the professors.”  Commenting on his hunger strike that has brought him extreme pain, Abu Maria says he is convinced that Khader Adnan wants to live, but will not live in humiliation: “He is showing his commitment and resistance in the only way he can right now, with his body.”

Adameer, the respected Palestinian NGO concerned with prisoners, “holds Israel accountable for the life of Khader Adnan, whose health has entered an alarmingly critical stage that will now have irreversible consequences and could lead to his fatal collapse at any moment”.  Physicians who have observed his current condition conclude that, at most, he could live a few more days, saying that such a hunger strike cannot be sustained beyond 70 days in any event.  Any attempt at forced feeding to keep a prisoner from dying is widely viewed as an additional abuse, a form of torture.

Finally, the reliance by Israel on administrative detention in cases of this sort is totally unacceptable from the perspective of the Geneva Convention, especially so when no disclosure of the exceptional circumstances that might warrant for reasons of imminent security the use of such an extra-legal form of imprisonment.  There are currently at least 300 Palestinians being held in a manner similar to that of Mr Adnan, and so it is no wonder that sympathy hunger strikes among Palestinians are underway as expressions of solidarity.

Have we not reached a stage in our appreciation of human rights that we should outlaw such state barbarism?  Let us hope that the awful experience of Khader Adnan does not end with his death, and let us hope further that it sparks a worldwide protest against both administrative detention and prisoner abuse.  The Palestinian people have suffered more than enough already.”

Child’s play in Israel.

This is the startling image that opens Making Militarism Visible, the English-language version of New Profile’s touring educational exhibit, Neither shall they learn war anymore (a biblical quote.)

Ruth Hiller reports from Israel that Making Militarism Visible is now available online.  It’s a slide show, 34 images, with text.

For more about Ruth Hiller and New Profile, see Civil-izing Israel, chapter 11 in Our Way to Fight.  But for now, a quick introduction:

New Profile is a registered non-profit Israeli organization devoted to changing Israel “from a militarized to a civil society.”  Though small, volunteer, feminist and rigorously non-violent, it has drawn the fury of the most powerful military state in the Middle East, one of the dozen or so most powerful on the planet.  New Profile members have been arrested and interrogated, and high-level attempts are ongoing to shut down the organization, or at least to make its members shut up.  Why?

Here is a clue:

“New Profile has made its aim to work towards changing Israeli society  –

• from a militarized to a civil society
• from a discriminating and oppressive society to an egalitarian one
• from an occupying nation to a respectful neighbor.”  (from the New Profile statement.)

New Profile defines itself  as a ‘movement for the civil-ization of Israeli society.’   I asked Ruth Hiller what that means.

She replied, “What you see on your travels here, guns and soldiers everywhere, we don’t see at all.  I have to retrain myself to see these things.  That’s how a militarized society works – it’s so regular, so normal, we no longer see it.  Civil society isn’t just about having schools, a fire brigade and such things, it’s also about how we behave as neighbours, it’s about respectful coexistence, and no obvious hierarchy between the military and civil spheres.  Do you want a country with a military or a military with a country?  Who makes a better prime minister, a general or a civilian?  How does military training prepare you for a civilian job?  Creating a civil society means creating something egalitarian, rather than having a male elite run everything as it does here, with qualifications entirely defined by your military background.  But we don’t ask such questions here in Israel, we’re too afraid – we’re people of the book who don’t know how to question.”

New Profile definitely does ask these questions.  So does Making Militarism Visible.

Introducing it, Ruth Hiller says:  “Please take a look.  We invite you to share the exhibit widely, and to use the visuals to explain how Israeli society perceives and justifies our deep and ever present military mindsets.  These images hopefully will provide a better understanding of the mechanisms that keep an entire country mobilized, fearful for its existence, and in a state of emergency for over 63 years.

You are invited to share the complete version or to use those images which you feel are relevant to your audience.”

To my way of thinking, the questions that New Profile insists on asking become more relevant by the day, not just in Israel but also in the United States, and increasingly in Canada, Britain and other countries where the elites are doing their best — or worst — to militarize civil society.

After bowing to public pressure and reversing their ban of the Our Way to Fight video, apparently Shaw TV executives are now in face-saving mode.

Linda Taffs of Pasifik.ca sent this update:   “They have suddenly decided that we can no longer have our regular Saturday prime time of 8:30 pm, but have instead given us times that are not so good:  Tue 1:30am, Tue 7am, Tue 2:30pm, and Sat 12:30pm.  We think losing our Saturday evening show is unfair, and we are asking the CRTC [Canadian Radio-Television Telecommunications Commission] for direction.  Thanks once again for your support.”

If they can’t silence us, at least they can push us deeper into the margins.

I see the change as corporate face-saving, and a sharp reminder to know our place: They are the gatekeepers, we are the sheep.  On the other hand, I also see it as proof of impact.  The sheep are getting uppity.  These days, forces that count on us seeing them as omnipotent are feeling threatened.  It’s hard to believe, given all the weapons of mass destruction/distraction at their disposal.  But the 1% want, demand, need total control.  Total control is hard to maintain at the best of times, and for the 1% these are not the best of times:  on all sides they see challenges and threats.  To them, any perceived loss of control is intolerable, and the violence of their reaction is directly proportional to how vulnerable they feel.

So far in our little skirmish with a branch of the Canadian megalo-media, judging by their reaction it would appear that the people who run Shaw TV are only feeling a little threatened.

The Israeli regime is another matter altogether.  Who knows whether or not it believes the image of constant, overwhelming paranoia that it markets to its own population and, via the always helpful mainstream western media, to everyone else.  What really matters is the devastation it causes, and justifies, and gets away with, in the name of this image.

Two current examples follow.  Each includes a plea for action.

1.  Khader Adnan, dying of Israeli ‘administrative detention.’

Now in the 57^th day of a hunger strike since the army invaded his home on December 17, Khader Adnan is protesting his violent arrest, multiple interrogations and continuing detention without charge or trial.  A standard weapon of the Israeli and other military occupations, administrative detention violates the right to a fair trial as guaranteed by Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.  At age 33, this is the seventh time Khader Adnan has been detained.

According to information provided to his Israeli and Palestinians lawyers by the Israeli Security Agency, Adnan was interrogated almost every day from January 18 until January 29, and on some days twice.

Alleged to be a leader of Islamic Jihad, he has not been charged with any crime.  One of his Israeli lawyers, Tamar Peleg-Sryck, comments:  “It should be made clear that he is alleged of political opinions and political activities – without a hint of any sort of violence.  However, the army accepted the Shabak [the Israeli secret police] claim that he ‘endangers the security’ and should remain in detention.’

On January 10 an Israeli military court sentenced him to four months of administrative detention, due to end May 8, but Amnesty International said that it could be renewed indefinitely, which is the usual practice.

Physicians for Human Rights – Israel concluded its public appeal with this demand:  “Based on the fact that Israel uses it [administrative detention] in a sweeping manner toward Palestinians, and its vast violation of human rights – including preventing fair trial, it should be rejected and Khader Adnan should be released.”

In a recent statement, Amnesty International reports that Khader Adnan’s life is now in imminent danger.

People around the world are joining a hunger strike in solidarity with Adnan.  It can be followed on Twitter, using the hashtag #9febHungerStrike.

Several petitions are also circulating, desperate attempts to save his life.  The latest is directed to the International Committee of the Red Cross:

“We are writing to express our frustration at your slow acting in regards to the Palestinian detainee, Mr. Khader Adnan, who has been on hunger strike since 17 December 2011.  Mr. Adnan is protesting his being held under administrative detention by the Israeli occupation forces.  Adnan’s detention is based on military order with secret evidence that he and his attorney are not allowed to review.  According to the order, he was sentenced to jail for a six month period that may be renewed without limitation.  His detention is continuing without trial or charges.  According to International Humanitarian Law, it is the responsibility of the ICRC to take active steps to save his life by applying pressure on the Israeli government to release him.”

Please click here to sign the petition.

2.  Terri Ginsberg, fired for criticizing Israel.

From Muzzlewatch comes this story of another kind of assault, in this case on freedom of speech at a US university.  Muzzlewatch is a project of Jewish Voice for Peace, ‘tracking efforts to stifle open debate about US-Israeli foreign policy.’

“A visiting film studies professor at North Carolina State University, Terri Ginsberg was dismissed after sharing views critical of Zionism and the state of Israel.  (You can read prior coverage of her case in Muzzlewatch, the Electronic Intifada and Ha’aretz).  She filed a grievance with the university, which denied her a hearing – three times. So she took her case to the courts. Two lower courts have decided against her, and she is now appealing to the Supreme Court of North Carolina.

“This case has implications on multiple levels: it is an issue of academic freedom, in which the university dismissed an instructor because they disliked their politics.  It is also a case of employee protections, or lack thereof, because it was Ginsberg’s politics, and not her performance, that led to her dismissal.

“The news here is that Ginsberg is NOT giving up.  The university has admitted that they objected to her views on Israel and Palestine.  Ginsberg has lost her job and countless other job opportunities because of this experience, and young people in North Carolina and at other schools are missing the opportunity to study with this courageous scholar.  But Terri Ginsberg is fighting back.

You can support her.  Please sign this petition.”

This just arrived from Pasifik.ca, which produced the Our Way to Fight video that Shaw TV banned as “too unbalanced and controversial”:

“Hello friends and supporters of Pasifik.ca,

The general manager of Shaw TV Vancouver just called us to say that Shaw TV will be playing “Our Way To Fight” this coming weekend.

Many thanks for all the letters of support for justice and peace in this latest struggle between this Pasifik.ca program and the community channel management.

Thanking you for your expression of solidarity,
Linda
for Pasifik.ca volunteers”

I add my thanks to theirs.   I have no illusions about how small this victory was on the scale of things, nor how many more battles like this we’ll have to fight.

On the other hand, I have an doubts as to how crucial each of these small victories is in the big picture.

Also, I have to say:  Shaw TV’s foolishness generated more publicity for the book than the small publishers who put it out could ever have bought!  But that too was entirely due to the quick response of many good people in several countries.  Shukran, toda, thank you.

This is what I call Our Way to Fight.