On December 22, 2021, detained Palestinian women in Israeli prisons launched an open-ended hunger strike in demand for their human rights and for the release of Mona Qaadan, Marah Bakir, and Shorouq Dwayyat from solitary confinement.
The three women were placed in isolation due to their involvement with the protests against the attacks on detained Palestinians in Nafha Prison, specifically Section 12 of it.
Two of the women concerned are Bakir and Dwayyat. Both were elected as representatives of women prisoners in Damon Prison. Due to their involvement in the protests for the defence of Palestinian women prisoners rights, both women were transferred out of Damon Prison, to be later put in solitary confinement. Dwayyat, who is from Al-Quds, is currently sentenced to more than 10 years. Meanwhile, Qaadan is held in solitary confinement within Gilboa Prison, a high-security prison which the six Palestinian detainees escaped from earlier this year.
For over three months, Palestinian women in Israeli prisons have been denied all family visits. The installation of public telephones has also been avoided, further denying any communication between the women and their families.
The women have also been subjected to inhumane living conditions with insufficient heating and blankets during the winter season. Additionally, their privacy has been extremely violated due to the placement of surveillance cameras in the hallways and the prison’s courtyard, keeping the women under close watch.
The womens’ health is disregarded with the lack of a specialized gynecologist available within the prison. Additionally, some women, like Israa Jaabis, who have severe health conditions, continue to be denied proper medical care, leaving them highly vulnerable to any sort of additional infections.
In Damon prison, the Israeli Prison Administration has been conducting night raids and executing arbitrary cell transfers in the middle of the night to disturb the daily lives of these women. Other instances documented the Israeli Prison Administration switching off electricity, threatening to gasfill prison cells, and denying purchases from the prison shop.
Furthermore, the Israeli Prison Administration has been physically assaulting the women by beating and dragging them, pulling off their hijabs, preventing them from showering, and placing some of them in solitary confinement.
As the women began to protest this brutal treatment, the Prison Administration issued fines for the women’s resistance and further punished them by extending the cancellation of all family visits.
The repressive regime was met by outrage from Palestinian people and other detained Palestinian men and women. As a result, the women formed a strike, closed their sections, and returned their morning meals on December 22 in order to initiate the open-ended hunger strike. Their main demand is the release of the women from solitary confinement.
Since 2015, the rate of detained Palestinian women has indeed significantly increased, reaching more than 1000. As of last November, the number of women in Damon prison was 32, 9 of whom are mothers. Historically, since 1948, more than 16,000 women have been arrested by the occupation forces. This was usually done to blackmail the families of these women to surrender themselves and confess information. Every month, between 10 and 15 women and girls are arrested for an indefinite period of time, ranging from hours to days. Some face interrogations in harsh conditions in Hasharon Prison, while others face imprisonment for years.
Riyad Al-Ashqar, director of the Palestinian Prisoners Center for Studies, suggested that more repressive measures could be underway seeing that this is the first time that the Israeli Prison Administration places a women’s prison representative in solitary confinement.
The latest update notes that Qaadan and Dwayyat were released from solitary confinement in Gilboa Prison and that they returned to their cells in Damon Prison. Bakir is also set to be released from solitary confinement at the Jalameh interrogation center. However, the fight does not end here.
The women on strike are calling for “the formation of a specialized international investigation committee to investigate the abuse and assault they face at the hands of the prison administration of the occupation prisons.”
On that same note, the Palestinian Prisoners Center for Studies has demanded that all institutions focusing on women’s rights take a stand in support of Palestinian women’s rights and help put an end to their suffering.