Author: Théophile Niyitegeka

{Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners start hunger strike to demand basic rights as Israeli jails’ conditions hit ‘new low’.}

Some 1,500 Palestinian political prisoners held by Israel launched a mass hunger strike on Monday to press for basic rights and shed light on the difficult humanitarian conditions inside Israeli prisons.

The open-ended hunger strike, one of the largest in recent years, coincides with Palestinian Prisoners Day, annually commemorated on April 17. Led by jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti, the strike will see Palestinian prisoners from across the political spectrum participate from within six prisons inside Israel.

“They have central demands and will continue to fast until they achieve them. The prisoners see hunger striking as the only door they can knock on to attain their rights,” Amina al-Taweel, spokesperson for the Hebron-based Palestinian Prisoners Center for Studies, told Al Jazeera.

“Even though it is one of the most dangerous and difficult decisions, they are only making this choice because conditions [inside the prisons] have reached a new low,” said al-Taweel.

There are currently 6,500 Palestinian political prisoners held by Israel, including more than 500 administrative detainees, according to Jerusalem-based prisoner rights group Addameer.

Prisoners’ demands include installation of a public telephone in all prisons to allow communication with relatives, resuming bi-monthly family visits, allowing second-degree relatives to visit, increasing duration of the visits and allowing prisoners to take photographs with their families.

Many prisoners suffer from medical negligence in jails. Prisoners must pay for their own medical treatment, and are not provided with the adequate health care. Sick prisoners have also reported being denied water.

Since 1967, more than 50 Palestinian prisoners have died due to medical negligence inside Israeli jails, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. “Some people wait four years to get surgery,” said al-Taweel. “They’re calling for an end to this deliberate medical negligence.”

Additionally, prisoners are demanding better treatment when being transferred between prisons or between courts and prisons. Detainees are transported in a vehicle with blacked-out windows, known as the Bosta.

The vehicle is divided into tight metal cells, whereby the prisoner is chained from their arms and legs to a chair in a confined space, for long periods of time in the dark.

Other demands include installing air conditions in prisons, restoring kitchens, allowing detainees to keep books, newspapers and clothes, as well as ending the policies of administrative detention and solitary confinement.

Administrative detainees are arrested on “secret evidence”, unaware of the accusations against them and are not allowed to defend themselves in court. Their detention periods can be indefinitely renewed.

“The Israeli government will be responsible for any and all of the consequences of this hunger strike – if a prisoner dies, or becomes extremely ill – they are the ones that will have to handle the outcome. Palestinian prisoners have been demanding these basic rights for years,” said al-Taweel.

Al-Taweel said there are high expectations that the Israeli Prison Service will carry out a campaign of prisoner transferals, which she said would be an attempt to “try and break the will and determination of the prisoners”.

Al Jazeera reached out to the Israel Prison Service for comment but did not receive a response.

Under international humanitarian law, prisoners from occupied territories must be held in the occupied territory, not in the territory of the occupying power. Though most Palestinian political prisoners hail from the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, they are placed in prisons inside Israel, in direct contravention of international law.

Families of Palestinian prisoners must apply for permits to visit them and are regularly denied entry into Israel on security pretexts.

“One of the most significant concerns is a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention,” Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine Director at Human Rights Watch (HRW), told Al Jazeera.

“Palestinian prisoners are placed inside Israel as opposed to the West Bank and Gaza strip. This is a crippling restriction on access to family and loved ones,” explained Shakir.

A recent report from UK-based rights group Amnesty International also condemned Israel’s policy of holding Palestinian prisoners inside Israel, describing it as “unlawful and cruel”.

“Instead of unlawfully transferring prisoners outside the occupied territories, Israel must ensure all Palestinians arrested there are held in prisons and detention centres in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Until then, the Israeli authorities must stop imposing excessive restrictions on visitation rights as a means of punishing prisoners and their families, and ensure that conditions fully meet international standards,” the report read, quoting Magdalena Mughrabi, deputy regional director at Amnesty International.

Hunger striking as a method for pressuring Israel has become increasingly prevalent among Palestinian prisoners in recent years. In 2012, approximately 1,500 Palestinian prisoners launched a similar hunger strike for close to a month before managing to obtain their rights.

And, in 2014, 800 prisoners staged a strike against administrative detention for 63 days before a reaching a deal with the Israeli prison authorities and deciding to end their strike.

According to Shakir, a mass hunger strike is an attempt by Palestinian prisoners to shed light on such practices that raise serious questions about Israel’s policies under international law.

“It can help return the issue of Palestinian prisoners on top of the international community’s agenda. It’s about the plight of Palestinians behind bars,” said Shakir.

Source:Al Jazeera

{ISIL-linked group executes Filipino fisherman abducted last year as army pursues all-out-war in country’s southwest.}

The Philippine army says Abu Sayyaf fighters have beheaded one of four Filipino fishermen they took captive in December.

Brigadier-General Cirilito Sobejana, military commander on the southern island of Jolo island, said on Sunday the boat’s captain had been executed in the jungle near the town of Patikul on Thursday but that his remains had yet to be recovered.

Noel Besconde was abducted along with three crewmen by the Abu Sayyaf group, which has ties to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, in December while on board a fishing vessel in the Celebes Sea.

Abu Sayyaf is a small group known for beheadings, kidnappings, bombings and extortion in the south of the mainly Catholic country.

Sobejana said it was possible the abductors beheaded Besconde because he was sick and had become a liability

“The reason why he was beheaded is that he was delaying their movement,” Sobejana said. “They [Abu Sayyaf fighters] are highly mobile and we are pursuing them.”

Troops have not yet found Besconde’s body, but Sobejana said the military received a video of the beheading.

Sobejana said the group had demanded about $60,500 as ransom for Besconde’s release but the government maintains its policy of refusing to pay ransom.

The Philippine army has declared all-out war againt Abu Sayyaf on the islands of Jolo and Basilan, but is constrained by the group’s presence among large civilian communities.

{{Rooted in separatism}}

Abu Sayyaf has its roots in separatism, but its activities are mostly banditry and piracy. It has invested the profits of its business in modern weapons and fast boats.

Sobejana said the Abu Sayyaf is still holding Besconde’s crew, along with more than a dozen foreign nationals in Jolo, which is the primary island of the province of Sulu.

The group last year beheaded Canadians John Ridsdel and Robert Hall. An elderly German, Jurgen Kantner, suffered the same fate in February when a $600,000 ransom demand was not paid.

The army said on Wednesday that an Abu Sayyaf leader who was directly involved in the kidnapping and execution of the Ridsdel and Hall was among those was killed by Philippine troops during clashes last weekend on a resort island.

Source:Al Jazeera

{McMaster discusses joint efforts to combat “terrorist groups”, just days after US use of GBU-43 bomb in country’s east.}

US President Donald Trump’s national security adviser has met Afghan officials in Kabul, just days after the US dropped the “mother of all bombs” on suspected ISIL fighters in the country’s east.

General HR McMaster, the first high-level US official to visit the country since Trump took office, held meetings on Sunday with President Ashraf Ghani; Hanif Atmar, national security adviser; and other high-level Afghan officials to discuss “joint efforts to counter terrorist groups”, according to a statement released by the US embassy.

For its part, the Afghan presidential palace said via Twitter that the two sides discussed “bilateral ties, security, counter-terrorism and development”.

Speaking to ABC News from Afghanistan, McMaster said the Trump administration is weighing diplomatic, military and economic responses to the Taliban and ISIL, or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group, in Afghanistan.

“Our enemy sensed that and they have redoubled their efforts and it’s time for us, alongside our Afghan partners, to respond,” said McMaster.

The visit comes just days after the US dropped the GBU-43 Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) bomb, one of the largest conventional weapons ever used in combat nicknamed the “mother of all bombs”, during an operation against ISIL, also known as ISIS, in the Achin district of Nangarhar province.

While military officials say the strike was based solely on tactical needs, it has led to speculation that Trump’s defence advisers are planning to escalate the war against armed anti-government groups in Afghanistan.

In a sharp warning to the US administration, Hamid Karzai, the former Afghan president, has called the bombing an “inhuman act, a brutal act against an innocent country”.

“A bomb of that magnitude has consequences for the environment, for our lives, for our plants, for our water, for our soil – this is poison,” he told Al Jazeera.

The GBU-43 is estimated to have killed nearly 100 fighters and no civilians, according to Afghan officials, although this has not been independently verified.

General John Nicholson, the US forces commander in Afghanistan, has requested thousands of additional troops to “break the stalemate,” between the Afghan forces and the Taliban, on top of the estimated 8,000 US troops already stationed in country.

{{Anti-corruption efforts}}

Trump, who took office on January 20, had asked US officials, including some in the treasury and commerce departments, to work together to integrate the various political, diplomatic, military and economic responses available, McMaster said.

“We’ll give [President Trump] those options. And we’ll be prepared to execute whatever decision he makes,” he said.

McMaster praised anti-corruption efforts and assured Ghani that the US would continue to support and cooperate with Afghanistan on a number of issues.

Ghani told McMaster that “terrorism is a serious issue for the security of the world and the region” and if serious steps are not taken it would affect “generations” of people, according to the palace.

Illicit drugs and corruption also top the list of threats to Afghanistan’s security, Ghani told the visiting officials.

The Afghan government refers to both the Taliban and ISIL as “terrorists”.

Afghan forces have struggled to contain Taliban fighters since most international troops were withdrawn in 2014, leaving them to fight largely alone.

At the peak in 2011, the US had more than 100,000 troops stationed in Afghanistan.

Source:Al Jazeera

{‘Yes’ campaign secures narrow win in referendum to amend Turkey’s constitution and give more power to the presidency.}

Istanbul, Turkey – Turkey’s leaders claimed victory for the “Yes” campaign in the referendum to amend the country’s constitution and grant the presidential office new executive powers.

The changes voted for on Sunday transform Turkey’s governance from a parliamentary system to an executive presidency, significantly expanding the powers of the top office.

“I pray the outcome will bring auspiciousness to our country,” said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a news conference in Istanbul.

“The president will serve the country bearing in mind one nation, one flag, one state… The referendum is over and the debate prior to that is over.”

As of 20:00GMT on Sunday, the “Yes” campaign was leading with 51.3 percent to 48.7 percent with 99 percent of votes counted.

The changes were backed by the governing Justice and Development Party (AK Party), founded by Erdogan, and the leadership of the Nationalist Action Party (MHP), whose parliamentary support was vital to take the amendments to a public vote.

“We are all brothers and sisters in a single body standing against traitors,” Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said, speaking at the AK Party’s headquarters to cheering supporters.

“Thank you Turkey, thank you my holy nation… the nation said the last word and said ‘Yes’.”

The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), the pro-Kurdish People’s Democracy Party (HDP) and other critics argue the amendments give too much power to one individual, undermining the separation of powers in the government.

The opposition demanded a recount citing voting irregularities.

The constitutional changes will only enter into force after the presidential and parliamentary elections set for 2019. Erdogan will have to be elected then to claim the powers this referendum brings.

This result gives the president new powers to assign ministers, high-level state officials, and vice-presidents, as well as half the members in the country’s highest judicial body.

It will also allow the president to dissolve parliament, and issue executive decrees and state of emergencies.

Erdogan said Turkey’s political system had created too many short-lived governments, leading to instability and economic malaise.

During the past few years, deadly bomb attacks claimed by or blamed on Kurdish armed groups and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have killed hundreds of security forces and civilians.

How will Turkey change if it votes ‘Yes’ on April 16?

Security concerns were further emphasised when some members of the Turkish army tried to topple the government last July in a failed coup.

Turkey’s presidency traditionally was neutral and largely ceremonial.

However, Erdogan has effectively transformed the office to a more politically active one after he became Turkey’s first president to be elected by popular vote in 2014 after previous constitutional changes passed in a similar referendum in 2010.

Erdogan’s AK Party launched a massive campaign to convince Turks to vote for the constitutional changes, inside and outside of the country.

The party has ruled Turkey for 15 years after taking over the nation of 75 million people during a political crisis and economic downturn in 2002.

Source:Al Jazeera

{Two million Palestinians in the besieged territory now down to a few hours of electricity a day as tensions rise.}

The Gaza Strip’s only functioning power plant has shut down after running out of fuel, leaving two million people in the Hamas-governed Palestinian territory with only six hours of electricity a day.

Samir Metir, head of Gaza’s electricity provider, told AFP news agency that all the plant’s fuel, purchased with funding from Qatar and Turkey, had been used up.

He said it was not clear when the territory would receive another shipment, owing to a “dispute” between the electricity authority in Gaza and Fatah-led Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank.

Hamas seized power in Gaza in 2007 from Fatah, the party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

A mooted power-sharing agreement between the two factions in Gaza has failed to materialise, and residents have been subjected to a decade-long Israeli blockade, strangling the local economy and severely limiting supplies.

Metir said the power plant cannot afford to pay the enormous fuel taxes imposed by the PA.

“Today we had about six hours of electricity at my house. Now it’s off for the next 12 hours,” Ezz Zanoun, a photographer in Gaza City, told Al Jazeera on Sunday.

“Tomorrow it might be worse. We’re expecting about four hours [of electricity] – and from there the real problems start.”

Protests broke out in January over the power shortages, which the Gaza health ministry said could have “dangerous consequences” for patients in hospitals.

The crisis was resolved by tax-free donations from Qatar and Turkey, which ran out last week. But now the PA is no longer willing to waive the fuel for Gaza.

Fuel supply for Gaza’s two million inhabitants has been a long-running source of dispute, with most homes in the territory receiving two eight-hour periods of electricity a day even when the power plant is operating normally.

As things stand, residents can expect two six-hour periods of electricity, Metir said, “including electricity bought from Israel and Egypt”.

Zanoun told Al Jazeera that due to shifting schedules, households are often relegated to only one six-hour period a day.

At least 65 percent of residents in Gaza live in poverty, 72 percent are food-insecure, and 80 percent have grown dependent on international aid, according to a recent report published by the EU-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor.

Unemployment in the territory hit an unprecedented 43 percent in the last quarter of 2016.

A Fatah-led delegation is expected to travel to Gaza later this month to discuss reunification efforts with Hamas.

Source:Al Jazeera