Palestinian captives, dying to live free

Stephen Lendman: Israel's prison gulag is one of the world's most hellish. Palestinians held suffer horrifically. Inflicting pain and suffering is official Israeli policy. Rule of law principles are spurned.

Virtually all Palestinians held are political prisoners. Refusing food is their only resistance weapon. The Addameer Prisoner Support group estimates about 2,000 now engage in open-ended hunger strikes. Most began on April 17, Palestinian Prisoners Day.

Israel responded as expected. More pain and suffering was inflicted. Detainees are attacked and beaten. Personal possessions were confiscated. Electricity was cut off. Salt for water is prohibited.

Transfers are made harsher locations. Solitary confinement is imposed. Visits by family members and lawyers are denied. Addameer said its attorneys can't get access.

Israel hopes tough tactics will undermine the will to resist. Instead it's hardened.

Eight or more prisoners remain on extended strikes. On April 27, Thaer Halaheh and Bilal Diab reached day 59. Despite deteriorating health, an Israeli judge rejected their appeals against lawless administrative detention without charge. More on them below.

Hassan Safadi's High Court petition was rejected. He's refused food for 54 days. Omar Abu Shalal reached day 50. Jaffar Azzedine's on day 35.

In Ramleh Prison hospital, Mohammad Taj continues hunger striking after 41 days. He demands prisoner of war status and Third Geneva rights.

Mahmoud Sarsak reached day 36. He's imprisoned under Israel's draconian Unlawful Combatants Law (UCL). Without evidence, it's imposed based on "a reasonable basis" to believe Palestinians belong to a hostile group belligerently confronting Israel.

Israel calls wanting to live free belligerent and confrontational. UCL is similar to George Bush's "unlawful enemy combatant" designation.

Under America's 2009 Military Commissions Act (MCA), terminology was switched to "unprivileged enemy belligerent." Language changed, but not intent. Detainees charged lose all rights, including due process and judicial fairness.

Bush's UEC designation resurrected a defunct WW II provision. Four Geneva conventions superseded it. Under its new name, it's still enforced. Boyle once called it a:

"Quasi-category universe of legal nihilism where human beings can be disappeared, detained incommunicado, denied access to attorneys and regular courts, tried in kangaroo courts, executed, tortured, assassinated and subjected to numerous other manifestations of State Terrorism."

Israel enforces the same harshness. Like America, it gets away with murder with impunity. Prolonged arbitrary detention is imposed. Hundreds face it uncharged because no evidence proves wrongdoing or intent to commit it.

Detaining someone long-term constitutes a serious international law breach. Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states:

"Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention. No one shall be deprived of his liberty except on such grounds and in accordance with such procedures as are established by law."

"Anyone who is arrested shall be informed, at the time of arrest, of the reasons for his arrest and shall be promptly informed of any charges against him."

"Anyone who is deprived of his liberty by arrest or detention shall be entitled to take proceedings before a court, in order that that court may decide without delay on the lawfulness of his detention and order his release if the detention is not lawful."

Although some wiggle room permits use "in time of public emergency which threatens the life of the nation," Israel consistently violates Fourth Geneva's Article 78, stating:

"If the Occupying Power considers it necessary, for imperative reasons of security, to take measures concerning protected persons, it may, at the most, subject them to assigned residence or to internment."

"Decisions regarding such assigned residence or internment shall be made according to a regular procedure to be prescribed by the Occupying Power in accordance with the provisions of the present Convention. This procedure shall include the right of appeal (decided on) with the least possible delay. (If it's upheld), it shall be subject to periodical review...."

Extended uncharged detentions should never substitute for criminal proceedings. Nor should anyone face imprisonment for political reasons. Israel flaunts international law and its own. Palestinians suffer horrifically in gulag hell.

Despite extreme prison harshness, hunger strikers resolve to resist. Their numbers grow. Expect more to join them. Their will defies Israeli lawlessness. They're dying to live free.