Samer Tariq Issawi (born December 16, 1979, in Issawiyeh, north east of Jerusalem) is a Palestinian prisoner in Israel. [1] [2]
On 15 April 2002, Samer was detained by the Israeli army in Ramallah as part of Operation Defensive Shield during the Second Intifada. [3] Samer, who was affiliated with the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, [1] allegedly manufactured and distributed pipe bombs and in several instances fired indiscriminately at Israeli civilians. He was convicted of membership in an illegal organization, possession of explosives, and attempted murder. [1]
Nearly 10 years later, in October 2011, Samer was released along with 1027 Palestinian prisoners as a result of an Egypt-brokered deal between Hamas and the Israeli government for the return of Gilad Shalit. [4] However, on 7 July 2012, he was re-detained near for violating the terms of his release by leaving Jerusalem and entering the West Bank. [2] [1] His lawyer Andre Rosenthal stated that he had been taking his car to be fixed at a garage in the West Bank. [5]
He was convicted of an 8-month sentence, which according to the terms of his release could include a reinstatement of the rest of his original 26-year sentence. [5] Issawi began a hunger strike on August 2012.
On 7 January 2013, a protest took place in Washington, D.C., in support of Issawi. [6]
Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian state, sent a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and began a publicity campaign on 13 February 2013 to raise awareness of the condition of Issawi and three other prisoners of Israel engaged in a hunger strike to protest that they were being held in prison without being convicted. [7]
On April 22, 2013, it was announced that Samer was ending his hunger strike. A deal had been reached where Samer would serve eight months for violating the terms of his bail, and then be released to Jerusalem. [8] However, he was detained again, six months after his release. In 2015 he renewed his hunger strike. [9]
Marwan Barghouti is a Palestinian political leader convicted and imprisoned for his role in deadly attacks against Israel. He is regarded as a leader of the First and Second Intifadas. Barghouti at one time supported the peace process, but later became disillusioned after 2000, becoming a leader of Tanzim, a paramilitary offshoot of Fatah.
Ahmad Sa'adat, also known as Abu Ghassan, is a Palestinian militant and Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a Marxist–Leninist Palestinian nationalist organisation. Sa'adat graduated in 1975 from the UNRWA Teachers College, Ramallah, specializing in Mathematics. Sa'adat was elected General Secretary of the PFLP by its Central Committee in October 2001, to succeed Abu Ali Mustafa after his assassination by Israel during the Second Intifada.
Sheikh Raed Salah Abu Shakra is a Palestinian religious leader from Umm al-Fahm, Israel. He is the leader of the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel. Salah was elected mayor of his town Umm al-Falm, an Israeli-Arab city bordering the Green Line, three times. As a Palestinian with Israeli citizenship, he came to prominence for his defense of the holy sites and his participation on the Mavi Marmara, the Turkish boat that was stormed by Israeli navy as it attempted to break the siege of Gaza in May 2010.
The next legislative elections in Palestine have been repeatedly postponed or cancelled. Most recently it was scheduled for 22 May 2021 according to a decree by President Mahmoud Abbas on 15 January 2021, but was indefinitely postponed on 29 April 2021.
The future of Palestinian prisoners detained by Israel in the context of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict is considered central to progress in the Israeli–Palestinian peace process. Cases of prison sentences include the charges of terrorism or being a member of an "illegal terrorist organization", such as Hamas or prior to the Oslo Accords the Palestine Liberation Organization, but according to some accounts also by political activism such as raising a Palestinian flag.
Samir Kuntar was a Lebanese Druze member of the Palestine Liberation Front and Hezbollah. He was convicted of terrorism and murder by an Israeli court. After his release from prison as part of the 2008 Israel–Hezbollah prisoner exchange, he received Syria's highest medal, was honored by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and was designated a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the US government.
Jibril Mahmoud Muhammad Rajoub, also known by his kunya Abu Rami, is a Palestinian political leader, legislator, and former militant. He leads the Palestinian Football Association and the Palestine Olympic Committee. He was the head of the Preventive Security Force in the West Bank until being dismissed in 2002. He had been a member of the Fatah Revolutionary Council until 2009 and was elected to the Fatah Central Committee at the party's 2009 congress, serving as Deputy-Secretary until 2017, before being elected Secretary General of the Central Committee in 2017.
The Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange, also known as Wafa al-Ahrar, followed a 2011 agreement between Israel and Hamas to release Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for 1,027 prisoners — almost all Palestinians and Arab-Israelis, although there were also a Ukrainian, a Jordanian and a Syrian. Two hundred and eighty of these had been sentenced to life in prison for planning and perpetrating various attacks against Israeli targets.
Khader Adnan Mohammad Musa was a Palestinian activist and prisoner in Israel who died after an 87-day hunger strike in protest of his detention without trial. By the time of his death, he had been arrested 12 times by Israel. He became prominent as a figure after a 66-day hunger strike in 2011 that led to a mass hunger strike among Palestinian prisoners and his ultimate release.
Hana Shalabi is a Palestinian prisoner in Israel, held in administrative detention.
Bassem Tamimi is a Palestinian grassroots activist and an organizer of protests against Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank. He was convicted by an Israeli military court in 2012 for "sending people to throw stones, and holding a march without a permit".
The 2013–2014 Israeli–Palestinian peace talks were part of the Israeli–Palestinian peace process. Direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians began on 29 July 2013 following an attempt by United States Secretary of State John Kerry to restart the peace process.
Ismail Haniyeh is a Palestinian politician who is widely considered to be the chief political leader of Hamas, which has governed the Gaza Strip since 2007. He is the current chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau. As of 2023, he lives in Qatar.
Muhammad al-Qiq or Mohammed al-Qeeq is a Palestinian journalist, correspondent and reporter for Saudi News Agency Almajd TV Network. Al-Qiq received international attention in 2015 when he began a hunger strike in protest of him being incarcerated under Israeli administrative detention. He was released on May 19, 2016, after enduring a 94-day hunger strike.
Events of 2019 in the State of Palestine.
Events in the year 2020 in State of Palestine.
Bushra al-Tawil or Bushra al-Taweel is a Palestinian journalist, former Palestinian prisoner and prisoners' rights activist from Ramallah who has frequently been held under administrative detention without charge by Israel. She is the spokesperson for the Aneen Al-Qaid Media Network, a local news agency specialized in covering news about the Palestinian detainees, and political prisoners.
(Kmar Am)Maher al-Akhras is a Palestinian man who was detained by Israel on July 27, 2020, at which point he began a hunger strike that lasted for 103 days. He was set to be released on November 26, 2020.
Nasser Abu Hamid was a Palestinian militant. He was a leader of the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades. He was known as "Barghouti's right hand man". He was arrested in April 2002 and was given seven life sentences plus 50 years for multiple murder convictions. After twenty years in prison, he died from cancer.