Fifty-one years after the first hunger strike was launched on Robben Island, we are witnessing another, writes Shannon Ebrahim.
Some of our greatest freedom fighters resorted to hunger strikes in prison as the most peaceful form of struggle against abuse, inadequate food and barely survival prison conditions.
Fifty-one years after the first hunger strike was launched on Robben Island, we are witnessing another - by political prisoners in Israeli jails. Their grievances are similar - abuse, deplorable prison conditions and inadequate medical care.
Sunny Singh was one of the political prisoners on Robben Island who took part in the historic hunger strike of 1966, which was the first major act of resistance by the prisoners against the brutality of apartheid’s inhumane prison colony.
What beggars belief is that the reaction of the apartheid prison authorities to the hunger strike was more measured than the reaction of the Israeli Prison Service to the hunger strike of 1100 Palestinian political prisoners, launched on April 17.
Just a week after political prisoners refused food on Robben Island in 1966, many were collapsing and the commanding officer felt compelled to address their grievances.
The Israeli Prison Service has refused to address any of the prisoners’ grievances, leaving many at death’s door. Reports have emerged that the health of Marwan Barghouti, who has been dubbed the “Palestinian Mandela,” has declined, and he is refusing medical treatment.
Within a week of the first Robben Island hunger strike, the prisoners were satisfied that their grievances were being addressed, and the strike ended. The situation for Palestinian prisoners could not be more different.
The Palestinian Committee of Prisoners’ Affairs has reported that the Israeli Prison Service moved hunger-striking prisoners to different sections of Israeli jails, confiscated their clothes and personal belongings, and placed leading figures in solitary confinement.
According to the Maan news agency in Bethlehem, Israeli Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan asked for the creation of a military hospital to ensure that hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners would not be transferred to civilian hospitals, which have so far refused to force feed prisoners. Israeli Prison Service spokesperson Assaf Librati was quoted as saying that the hunger strikers would be disciplined. No hunger striker on Robben Island was disciplined.
Barghouthi smuggled out of maximum security prison a text and in an op-ed in the New York Times published on April 16, explained why the prisoners were launching a hunger strike. Barghouti has described the hunger strike as “the most peaceful form of resistance available.”
The Israeli Prison Service has said that Barghouthi was to be “prosecuted in a discipline court” as punishment for his article. Once again, the comparison with similar events under apartheid South Africa is food for thought. Ebrahim Ismail Ebrahim, who had also engaged in the 1966 hunger strike, had been imprisoned in John Vorster Square in 1987. On being moved to Pretoria Maximum security prison, he had smuggled a letter to his lawyer, Priscilla Jana. It was a tiny handwritten note on a piece of toilet paper, which Ebrahim had lowered down on a plastic string to prisoners in the cells below. It recounted his torture in John Vorster Square by the notorious Nic Deetlefs.
But ironically, Ebrahim was never punished by the apartheid prison service for smuggling out his note,even though its contents were widely reported in the media.
Unfortunately Barghouti is facing what would seem a far more draconian prison system. Today Barghouti is one of 6500 political prisoners in Israeli jails, 300 of which are under the age of 18, and 536 under administrative detention, which can be compared to detention under Section 29 of the Internal Security Act in apartheid South Africa.
Torture has also been documented. The case of Arafat Jaradat is a tragic case of what has happened. The Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association said Jaradat died six days after he was arrested by the Israelis in 2013. The postmortem showed he had six broken bones in his spine, neck, arms and leg. He died of cardiac arrest.
The cases of alleged torture are too many to recount, but among the most notorious are the testimonies of women such as Rasmea Odeh and Aisha Odeh who have spoken about being raped with batons.
Palestinian leaders have denounced Israel’s refusal to negotiate with the hunger strikers, warning of a “new intifada” if any of them die. Former Robben Island political prisoners have initiated a hunger strike in solidarity with their Palestinian brothers. It seems there will be a long struggle ahead.
* Shannon Ebrahim is Independent Media's foreign editor.