TOMORROW A17, HOLLYWOOD/VINE LOS ANGELES, CA
Please join us on April 17 -- Palestinian Prisoners Day, as we stand in solidarity with the political prisoners in Israeli prisons.We will gather at Hollywood and Vine at 4pm for a protest and march to the headquarters of a mainstream media station. Currently over 4800 Palestinians are being held in Israeli prisons and detention centers. This figure includes around 220 Palestinian children and 12 women. Virtually all of these prisoners face some form of torture and abuse while in detention, including: severe beatings; denial of food and medical treatment; being exposed to painfully loud music; sleep deprivation; being tied for long periods of time in painful, contorted positions; and threats to rape or kill family members. In violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, Palestinian prisoners from the West Bank and Gaza Strip are taken to detention centers and prisons inside Israel where they are prevented from visits and communication with their families or loved ones. In this manner, thousands of prisoners have been denied any contact with their families for years at a time. Moreover, around 180 Palestinians are being held in administrative detention, kept behind bars without trial or charge for years at a time. Nine elected members of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) are also being held as political prisoners by Israel. These practices are not the accidental policies of the Israeli government or the result of ‘bad apples’ in the Israeli police or military. They are deliberate and systematic. Israel uses torture and abuse consciously - to destroy families and the social fabric of Palestinian society, to intimidate and terrorize a people under military occupation, and, most insidiously, to recruit collaborators with the occupation. Furthermore, Israel uses these prisoners as ‘bargaining chips’ in negotiations, promising to release a few hundred in return for Palestinian ‘concessions’.