israelfacts:

A Palestinian woman waves her national flag after she managed to climb atop an Israeli military vehicle during a demonstration by hundreds of people gathered outside Ofer military prison near the West Bank city of Ramallah on May 1, 2012 in a show of support for thousands of prisoners held in Israeli jails, many of whom are on hunger strike protesting for their basic human rights.

She, along with other protesters, were sprayed with ‘skunk’ water and pepper spray (video) — from just a few inches away — by the Israeli army, who also fired tear gas and rubber bullets. (Photos: Abir Kopty / Reuters)

From Mondoweiss:

Now in its second week, a mass hunger strike is spreading across Israeli prisons with some 2,000 Palestinians protesting for their basic rights: an end to solitary confinement and imprisonment without charge, and access to education, media and family visits. And while prisoners in the Karameh (dignity) hunger strike have yet to achieve their goals, after 14 days without food, they have successfully mobilized Palestinian society and pressured Israeli authorities—in ways that are reminiscent of the first Intifada.

Known as the “battle of the empty stomachs,” the open-ended strike began on April 17, 2012, Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, with an initial 1,200 protestors. Within days the strike spread to other prisoners. Now the number of strikers has increased to over 2,000, with new groups joining daily. 105 Fatah affiliated prisoners held in Israel’s Eshel detention facility are the latest group to announce their participation, which will begin tomorrow.

The sudden increase in protesting Palestinian prisoners is also accompanied by hunger striking Egyptians who are held in Israeli detention. Last Friday 40 of the 63 imprisoned Egyptians joined the protest to demand their release, which was planned to take place that same day. However, after negotiations between Egypt and Israel on a gas pipeline failed, Israel punitively canceled the prisoner release, inciting the protest.

palestiniangunmen:

I´m sick of The Wall
I´m sick of the checkpoints between Palestinian cities
I´m sick of illegal israeli settlers and settlements
I´m sick of having the Hebrew language on my ID card
I´m sick of people not knowing anything about our history but knowing so much about Jewish history
I´m sick of people ignoring the Palestinian Right of Return and accepting the Jewish Law of Return
I´m sick of the Oslo Agreement which no one here wanted in the first place
I´m sick of the Palestinian Authority having zero authority
I´m sick of watching my father being humiliated at checkpoints by people my age and younger
I´m sick of the fact that my international friends have to lie about coming to visit; being interrogated, stripsearched and sometimes deported in the process just because they spent time with Palestinians.
I´m sick of people not understanding what “Occupation” is
I´m sick of being scared all the time
I´m sick of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder being a normal state of being here in Palestine
I´m sick of how ineffective the UN has become
I´m sick of International Humanitarian Law not applying to the State of israel.
I´m sick of how fighting for basic human rights for Palestinians or being critical of israeli policy is so often labelled “anti-Semitic”
I´m sick of the fact that everybody forgets I´m a Semite
I´m sick of hearing israelis complain about discrimination when the State of israel was founded on a principle of ethnic purity
I´m sick of living in a time when racial profiling has become acceptable
I´m sick of constantly being treated as a suspect
I´m sick of how mainstream media portrays us and our situation
I´m sick of the whole world caring about Gilad Shalit when there are more than 7000 Palestinians inside israeli prisons
I´m sick of trying to defend myself, friends or countrymen and being labelled a terrorist
I´m sick of the fact that everywhere I go I can see The Wall, a settlement or israeli soldier
I´m sick of 63 years of [Zionist] occupation