Since May 5, people around the world have united behind Khader Adnan, a Palestinian political prisoner who until recently was held under administrative detention by Israel. Adnan went on hunger strike to protest his unjust imprisonment, as well as that of hundreds of other Palestinians, including over a dozen Palestinian lawmakers. His struggle has again focused the world’s attention on Israel’s human rights abuses in occupied Palestine.
Adnan was one of 5,686 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Of those prisoners, 379 are held under administrative detention. Israel’s system of indefinite detention without trial violates international law and has been sharply criticized by the United Nations and human rights organizations such as Amnesty International. This month, the United Nations welcomed the release of Adnan and called for Israel to end its unlawful practices.
In Tampa, Fla., two activists with Block the Boat – Tampa recently joined the international hunger strike for 13 days in solidarity with Adnan. Chris Mince and Dezeray Lynn also held an action outside the Tampa Red Cross building as part of the #Fast4Freedom social media campaign. Around 170 people, from 11 countries and four continents, participated in the #Fast4Freedom. Most of them lived in the West Bank.
Adnan has now been released thanks to the international pressure generated by actions such as that in Tampa. After being released, he was arrested again for entering Jerusalem but subsequently released for urgent medical treatment in Jenin. Adnan’s release has been an uplifting victory for the Palestinian people in their struggle against occupation and apartheid.
“I see the happiness among Palestinians flowing and the Palestinian pain and hope for the freedom of all prisoners, God willing,” said Adnan after his release.
Liberation News spoke to Dezeray Lynn to learn more about the facts surrounding Khader Adnan’s imprisonment and the movement sparked by his hunger strike.
A volunteer with International Women’s Peace Service, Lynn recently returned from the West Bank, where she worked from the village of Deir Istiya. Lynn conducted dozens of interviews with Palestinian prisoners and their families, including the mother of one of the Hares boys. She also provided international accompaniment to people facing home demolition orders and went to Friday demonstrations, where Palestinians protest the occupation, blocking of their roads, and diverting of their resources to the illegal settlements. A firsthand witness to Israel’s violence, Lynn suffered a rib contusion when she was hit with a teargas canister. “The Israeli military fires on everybody there—disabled, elderly, medics, journalists, human rights activists, everyone,” said Lynn. “They shoot people with live ammunition literally at almost every demonstration.”
Liberation: Who is Khader Adnan? What is administrative detention and why is he protesting it?
Dezeray Lynn: Khader is a Palestinian father of six children. He’s 37 years old. He’s enduring his tenth stretch on this system of imprisonment called administrative detention. Administrative detention is where they imprison Palestinians. A lot of them are political prisoners, so 15 Palestinian lawmakers, parliamentarians, that are on it. They’re held without charges or trial. They can be held for months or years without any familial contact or contact with a lawyer.
[Adnan] has launched numerous hunger strikes, but this is his second history-making hunger strike. The first one he did that really united Palestinian prisoners was in 2011-2012. He was on hunger strike for 66 days against this human rights violating system called administrative detention. They agreed to release him at the last minute. Every time these negotiations involve saving face for the state of Israel while these Palestinian prisoners are starving. They were withholding salt for them at times, which could have killed them. This time, he launched his hunger strike on May 5th. It went 55 days.Liberation: *What were the circumstances of Adnan’s arrest and what has happened since then?
Lynn: He was arrested in July—this is the most important part of the story, I feel like—last summer, while we were committing another genocidal offensive in Gaza. The offensive ended up killing over 2,200 Palestinians, mostly civilians and women, over 500 children, infants, babies, toddlers. This was the environment of what was happening when they arrested Khader. They arrested him because he is suspected to be a member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a splinter group to Hamas and opposition to the occupation, which I think they have every right to have opposition to the occupation. So, he’s a political prisoner for suspected involvement in PIJ.
In November, there was a court ruling, and the Israeli courts even said he should be released, that his administrative detention shouldn’t be renewed, but that ruling was never implemented. So he was going to be held until September, but then he knows that there are 400+ Palestinians on administrative detention and that [Israel] waits until the last day of the six month period of imprisonment to tell them that they have renewed their imprisonment for another six months.
[Adnan] was being kept from family visitation for unspecified security reasons. His six young children are under the age of seven. They were able to see him yesterday. He’s been arrested ten times. He’s been given no formal charges at any of these arrests. He’s not been tried for anything. So he was requesting to be given a trial or to be released, which is completely reasonable. So they agreed to release him on July 12th and hopefully they stick to what they agreed. He’s receiving medical treatment now.Liberation: *Tell us about the solidarity actions leading up to Israel’s release of Adnan. Why has Israel given in?
Lynn: The state of Israel is committing human rights violations and breaking international law on a daily basis. So I think that the more people were getting involved and the more attention was being garnered by it, the further on his hunger strike went…[the more Israel felt compelled to release him.] Ireland got involved strongly, Scotland got involved strongly, London got involved strongly, Tampa. There were 170 people that went on a 24-hour solidarity hunger strike. People all over the West Bank and in Gaza were protesting outside the international Red Cross building. They were breaking their Ramadan fast with salt and water. They were protesting and more and more attention was being brought to it. So, Israel just wanted to release him and have all this pressure go away.
But I also feel like it was really strategic, because yesterday while everyone was rightfully celebrating that this freedom fighter and his perilous struggle were victorious, Israel went and broke international law by raiding the flagship of the Freedom Flotilla III, the “Marianne.” They raided the ship in international waters, which is an act of piracy. They arrested all the human rights activists aboard and they seized the ship. The cargo was solar panels and human rights relief for the people in Gaza who are in desperate, critical need of these supplies. So it was perfect timing for them to commit this violation of international law.
Liberation: What is the significance of this victory?
Lynn: I’m going to speak from the heart here in saying that a victory like this is the last thing that Israel wants. Why? Because it’s empowering. One man’s hunger strike, on two different occasions, won his rightful liberation. This is why Israel tried to stifle the joy of the Palestinian people by releasing Khader at dawn, a time they thought would not get much attention. They thought wrong.
Khader Adnan, the freedom fighter, got a hero’s welcome upon his release. Hunger strikes work. They’re a powerful tool that are perilous, but the greatest victories in history have been hard fought battles. The occupation may continue, but with Palestinians waging such mighty resistance—world-wide attention getting resistance— and if we, as allies and supporters and the complicit (particularly in the U.S. as we are European colonizers of indigenous people’s lands), are willing to get behind their lead and fight with our blood, sweat and tears, we’ll see the freedom that Khader Adnan won spread over the Palestinian state and really all over the globe. All we have to do is to want it. Khader wanted it and won it. This is something that is and will continue to inspire Palestinians in dark times by giving them a tool that no matter what happens, cannot be taken away.
