Turkey cornered by a dangerous impasse

The Syrian crisis has turned into a confusing mess in the minds of ordinary Turkish citizens.

Truths, half-truths, urban legends and attempts at manipulating public opinion have all become intertwined.

No one really knows what the truth is behind the two terrorist attacks which took place in the heart of Ankara within the space of four months, turning our capital city into a bloodbath.

Meanwhile, official statements in Turkey and the United States – two supposedly “strategic partners” – following the highest-level meetings between the sides do not corroborate each other either.

One side claims that the other “has started seeing the truth about the Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Syria,” meaning that it has come around to accepting that this group is a terrorist organization.

The other side, however, does not say anything to substantiate this.

Our foreign minister insists that his U.S. colleague “told him they do not trust the PYD.”

People naturally ask themselves, “If so, why does he not say this himself?”

Adding to the confusion, spokespersons for the U.S. administration indicate openly that unless they have evidence that would force them to change position, they will continue to trust and work with the PYD and its military wing, the People’s Protection Units (YPG).

Not surprisingly, we are surrounded by citizens who say “Damn Syria! How did we ever get into this mess?

What do I care about Syria when Turkey is increasingly threatened?”

Those who try to study the matter more deeply, on the other hand, still do not understand what Ankara’s strategy in Syria is.

Beginning to shell YPG positions in northern Syria is, of course, a show of determination by Turkey and has added a new dimension to the overall game which no one can overlook.

What is not clear, however, is whether this will bring the expected results and increase Turkey’s security.

Most people fear that rather than doing that, it will drag Turkey into a war which a majority does not want.

People also note that the decision to shell the YPG has not only deepened ties between the PYD and Russia, but is also driving the PYD into closer cooperation with the Syrian regime.

This is, after all, a part of the world where, “the enemy of my enemy, even if he was my enemy in the past, is my friend today.”

So what happens if the Syrian regime, with support from Russia and the PYD, advances west of the Euphrates River which Ankara has declared a no-go zone for Syrian Kurds?

Will Turkey start shelling them, too?

Let’s say it did. Will the Syrian regime and Moscow, which has been spoiling for a fight with Ankara since Turkey downed one of its fighter jets in November 2015, just sit back and do nothing?

In the background to all this we have the foreign minister of Luxembourg, who claims he is also speaking for other NATO members, and says that the alliance will not get involved if Turkey military engages Syria or Russia.

If that is the case, how can Turkey rely on NATO – given that decisions there are taken unanimously – even though the alliance’s secretary-general has repeatedly said they support Turkey’s territorial integrity?

Let’s say NATO did not come to Turkey’s assistance; will the U.S., Britain, France and even Germany, despite the fact that Chancellor Angela Merkel is saying now that she supports the idea of a safe zone in Syria, rush to help?

Meanwhile, our prime minister is openly expressing his doubts now that friendly Arab regimes will rush to help if Turkey gets militarily involved in Syria.

No one has real answers to the vital questions posed by the situation Turkey is in. If we put aside the most blinded and hardened government supporters aside, the majority of Turks are also sensible enough to see the increasingly dangerous impasse their cornered country is in.

The fact that the government insists on continuing as it is, despite this dire situation, is only adding to their concerns. February/25/2016

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-cornered-by-a-dangerous-impasse.aspx?PageID=238&NID=95660&NewsCatID=416

Report: Russia threatened Turkey with nuclear weapons Report: Russia threatened Turkey with nuclear weapons

February 23, 2016, Tuesday/ 15:38:30/

TODAY'S ZAMAN | ANKARA

A reporter from the Consortium News web magazine has claimed Moscow warned President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of its readiness to use tactical nuclear weapons to defend Russian forces in Syria should Turkey conduct a ground operation in the country.

The Turkish media has covered Robert Parry's article published on consortiumnews.com on Feb. 18 in which the journalist highlighted the possibility of a full-scale nuclear war in Syria.

“A source close to Russian President Vladimir Putin told me that the Russians have warned Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan that Moscow is prepared to use tactical nuclear weapons if necessary to save their troops in the face of a Turkish-Saudi onslaught.

Since Turkey is a member of NATO, any such conflict could quickly escalate into a full-scale nuclear confrontation,” Parry said.

“If Turkey (with hundreds of thousands of troops massed near the Syrian border) and Saudi Arabia (with its sophisticated air force) follow through on threats and intervene militarily to save their rebel clients, who include Al Qaeda's Nusra Front, from a powerful Russian-backed Syrian government offensive, then Russia will have to decide what to do to protect its 20,000 or so military personnel inside Syria,” he added.

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has ruled out a military ground operation in Syria by Turkey and Saudi Arabia, saying any such move would need to involve all countries in the US-led coalition against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Çavuşoğlu said Russian air strikes were the biggest obstacle to achieving a cease-fire in Syria.

He also said US Secretary of State John Kerry had sent a copy of the draft agreement with Russia over the terms of the cease-fire in Syria to him.

He added that there must be pressure on Russia for the implementation of Resolution 2254 of the UN Security Council adopted last December.

http://www.todayszaman.com/diplomacy_report-russia-threatened-turkey-with-nuclear-weapons_413097.html

~~Issue No.1283, 18 February, 2016 16-02-2016 10:39PM ET

Erdogan eyes Syria

Continued domestic turbulence, including a near schism in the ruling party, appear behind Erdogan’s increasing intervention in Syria, writes Sayed Abdel-Meguid

When they switched on the symbol of the light bulb, their ambition was not so much to free themselves from the grip of the great master and founder of the Turkish Islamist movement, Necmettin Erbakan, as it was to revive respect for a large portion of their fellow citizens who had been wronged and excluded for reasons that should not stand in their way of public life and political office.

Those reasons had to do with the longstanding traditions and beliefs of the large swaths of conservative-minded ordinary folk in the Anatolian heartland.

So 10 men decided to act to enable those people’s voice to be heard within a democratic framework that embraces all and shuns no one.

They split off and were joined by others in the creation of a new political entity that proved very successful.

They chose as their lead torchbearer Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who had previously been elected mayor of Istanbul and from which position he had been removed when he served jail time for no other reason than he publicly recited some lines of poetry that were seen as opposed to the established principles of Turkey’s secular system.

Before long their dreams and actions inspired as much if not more admiration abroad than they did at home.

Without violence, a new era was ushered in beneath the banner of the Justice and Development Party (AKP). With each successive year, Turkey moved further and further up the rungs of progress.

The country’s economy began to burgeon, developing from the fledgling shoots that had been planted by the previous government of Bülent Ecevit and his brilliant minister of economy, Kemal Derviş, the architect of Turkey’s economic recovery programme.

At the same time, the AKP base continued to expand, bringing on board secularists, including writers and intellectuals who had no problem working with a religiously minded group as long as they too sought to serve the cause of freedom.

Then came 2007. That was when Erdogan began to show his authoritarian ambitions, which first set their crosshairs on his long-time companion on the road, the number-two man in the AKP journey, Abdullah Gül, whom he tried to keep from becoming president. That bid failed, as we know.

This did not keep Erdogan from having another go, five years later, to curtail Gül’s tenure because he, himself, had his sights set on that office.

Yet his various arguments and devices ran up against the wall of the Supreme Constitutional Court.

But even though Gül could have run for a second term as president, he chose instead to step aside, clearing the way for his friend while helping to maintain the cohesion of the party whose fraying seams had begun to gape.

The gapes have since broadened so rapidly and dramatically that, now, desperate efforts are needed to avert a major schism.

Gül, a modest and unassuming man, spent three hours with his fiery and impetuous friend and presidential successor in the hope of repairing the party they had launched together 15 years ago.

They met in the controversial presidential palace — the Ak Saray — that Edogan had built for himself to the tune of millions of Turkish lira at the cost of the Turkish taxpayer.

During the meeting, the 11th Turkish president expressed to the 12th his concerns regarding the current state of affairs in the country and the ruling party, which has been in power for 14 years now.

Naturally, it is impossible for us to know the substance of that confidential conversation in the Ak Saray, but it requires no great effort to know what prompted it.

Internal AKP squabbling has reached seismic proportions, as was revealed by one of its key leaders, Bülent Arınç, former deputy prime minister and former government spokesman who has since been replaced by Numan Kurtulmus.

The following day, Gül called on Arınç in his home in Ankara to calm Arınç and another friend down and to search for a solution to the crisis, which he hoped would pass. Did Gül’s peace-making efforts succeed?

So far it appears they did not. Or, perhaps more optimistically put, it looks like there is a long way to go to reconciliation.

The wounds are deep and will take time to heal.

Evidence of this is to be found in the fact that Arınç and other AKP moderates who have fallen afoul of Erdogan and his media pool were not present at the funeral of former president Gül’s father-in-law last Friday.

Erdogan and his clique were there, front and centre, of course, so someone must have whispered to Arınç to stay away so as to avert an unfortunate and perhaps unseemly encounter.

Meanwhile, the voice of the pro-Erdogan propaganda machine rose to a strident pitch.

Pro-government dailies declared that the “progress of the Great Leader” — that would be Erdogan — “will not be halted by little men here and there” — meaning Arinc and others whose names Erdogan refuses to say anymore.

“Let it be known to all near and far that the party stands as tall and proud as the New Turkey,” they proclaim. “Its edifice is solid and eternal and capable of squash those who conspire against it ...

Look what happened to Abdüllatif Şener, who had helped build the AKP. He rebelled against the leader of the party, was dismissed and founded a party of his own.

Where is he now?

He is long forgotten and many others met the same fate,” they say. Pro-AKP and pro-Erdogan pollsters have also been busy, which is why it was not surprising to find the results of a recent poll broadcast immediately after the meeting between Gül and Erdogan.

According to the survey, if another round of parliamentary elections were held now, the AKP would win 52 per cent of the vote while the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) would come away with only 4.5 per cent.

The HDP had surpassed the parliamentary threshold of 10 per cent in the two previous rounds, winning over 13 per cent in the 7 June elections and 11 per cent in the 1 November elections.

The right-wing National Movement Party (MHP) would win about 11 per cent of the vote while the Republican Peoples Party (CHP) would remain as it is with about 25 per cent of the parliamentary seats. In other words, according to this poll, far from being riddled with rifts, the ruling party is as solid as ever under Erdogan’s wise leadership.

Moreover, it was even 2.5 points more popular than it was on 1 November.

So why does Erdogan not appear chuffed by all these facts and figures and the overwhelming support he hears from so many quarters of the media?

Perhaps it is because he is only too well aware of how the poll results are cooked and why the many quarters of the media echo exactly what he wants to hear.

On the other hand, he also knows that Arınç and his colleagues are not the type of adversaries who can be forced or bought into silence.

They actually have principles and their personal and professional records bear this out. So in order to salvage his party there is little leeway there.

On top of the problems within his party, there are the alarming developments across the border in Syria. But instead of fearing the dangers of the Syrian quagmire, he appears to be bracing for the plunge.

Maybe he is bargaining on the diversion this will offer from the disturbing developments the home front, and on the patriotic ardour it will stir.

However, by all indications, Turks are opposed to a ground offensive into Syria that Turkish opposition forces caution will reap nothing but disaster for Turkey and its people.

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/News/15548/19/Erdogan-eyes-Syria.aspx

Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (11- 17 February 2016)

February 18, 2016 317 Israeli forces continue systematic crimes in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) (11 – 17 February 2016) w7

•◦Israeli forces continued to use excessive force in the oPt

◦6 Palestinian civilians, including 3 children and a young woman, were killed in the West Bank.

◦56 Palestinian civilians, including 13 children and a woman, were wounded in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

•Israeli forces conducted 81 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and a limited one in the central Gaza Strip.

•76 Palestinian civilians, including 19 children, were arrested. Twenty-one of them, including 14 children, were arrested in occupied Jerusalem and its suburbs.

•7 Palestinian civilians, including 3 children, were arrested in the central and southern Gaza Strip while sneaking through the border fence into Israel to look for work.

•Jewish majority efforts continued in occupied East Jerusalem.

•11 agricultural facilities in al-Eisawiya village, northeast of the city, were demolished. •Israeli forces issued notices for the demolition of dozens of houses in al-Eizariya village.

•Settlement activities continued in the West Bank.

•35 dwellings, 41 livestock barns and 26 structures attached to them in Nablus and Tubas were demolished.

•22 families consisting of 164 individuals, including 105 children, were rendered homeless.

•Israeli forces turned the West Bank into cantons and continued to impose the illegal closure on the Gaza Strip for the 9th

•Dozens of temporary checkpoints were established in the West Bank and others were re-established to obstruct the movement of Palestinian civilians.

•4 Palestinian civilians, including a child, were arrested at military checkpoints.

•A trader was arrested at Beit Hanoun “Erez” crossing, north of the Gaza Strip.

Summary

Israeli violations of international law and international humanitarian law in the oPt continued during the reporting period (11 – 17 February 2016).

Shooting:

Israeli forces have continued to commit crimes, inflicting civilian casualties.

They have also continued to use excessive force against Palestinian civilians participating in peaceful protests in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the majority of whom were youngsters. Occupied East Jerusalem witnessed similar attacks.

During the reporting period, Israeli forces killed 6 Palestinian civilians, including 3 children and a young woman, in the West Bank, 2 of whom were killed in occupied Jerusalem.

In addition, they wounded 56 civilians, including 13 children and a woman; 46 of whom, including 11 children and a woman, were in the West Bank and 10, including 2 children, were in the Gaza Strip.

Concerning the nature of injuries, 46 civilians were hit with live bullets, 9 were hit with rubber-coated metal bullets and a civilian was hit with a tear gas canister right to the face.

In the West Bank, Israeli forces killed 6 Palestinian civilians, including 3 children and a young woman, and wounded 46 others, including 11 children.

Forty-three of them were hit with live bullets and 3 others were hit with rubber-coated metal bullets.

Among the wounded were 42 civilians, who were wounded during an Israeli incursion into al-Am’ari refugee camp in al-Bireh, in the central West Bank, to carry out arrests. Killings committed by Israeli forces in the West Bank were as follows:

On 13 February 2016, Israeli forces deployed in al-Sahlah Street in the centre of Hebron shot and killed Kalzar al-Ewaiwe (18) after she stabbed an Israeli soldier at the military checkpoint near the Shari’a Court.

On the same day, Israeli forces guarding the annexation wall, west of Jenin, killed Nehad Waked (16) and Fo’ad Waked (16), from al-Arqah village, west of Jenin. Israeli forces claimed that the two children had opened fire from a homemade automatic gun at a military vehicle guarding the wall.

The Israeli media published a photo of a homemade machine gun, which was a simulation of an M16, claiming that it belonged to the 2 children.

On 14 February 2016, Israeli police officers opened fire at Mansour al-Shawamrah (20) and Omer Amr (20), both from al-Qbaiba village, northwest of occupied Jerusalem, while being present in front of the walls of the Old City, near the light rail, under the pretext of an alleged shooting at Israeli soldiers.

As a result, both of them were killed with several bullets throughout their bodies. It should be noted that they were officers at the Palestinian National Security Service.

On the same day, Israeli forces stationed at “Mazmouria” checkpoint that was erected at the entrance to “HarHoma” settlement between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, opened fire at Na’im Ahmed Safi (17), from al-Ebeidiya village, east of Bethlehem, under the pretext of an alleged stabbing against an Israeli soldier at the checkpoint.

As a result, Safi was shot and killed with several bullets. Concerning injuries, 43 civilians, including 9 children, were wounded during Israeli incursions; a woman was wounded at a military checkpoint in Hebron; a 16-year-old male sustained a bullet wound to the head; a civilian was wounded during a peaceful protest in Ni’lin village, west of Ramallah, and a 17-year-old male sustained a bullet wound to the left side during a protest around Ofer Prison, southwest of Ramallah.

In the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces wounded 10 Palestinian civilians, including 2 children; 9 of whom were wounded during a protest along the border fence, east of al-Shaja’iya neighbourhood, east of Gaza City.

In addition, a civilian was wounded during a protest near the annexation wall, east of al-Bureij refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip.

Three of them were hit with live bullets, 6 others were hit with rubber-coated metal bullets and one was hit by a tear gas canister to the face.

Incursions:

During the reporting period, Israeli forces conducted at least 81 military incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and 7 ones in occupied East Jerusalem and its suburbs.

During these incursions, Israeli forces arrested at least 76 Palestinian civilians, including 19 children.

Twenty-one of them, including 14 children, were arrested in East Jerusalem and its suburbs.

During the reporting period, following the killing of 2 Palestinian children from al-Arqah village, west of Jenin, near the annexation wall in the village, Israeli forces cordoned the village and closed its entrances with sand barriers.

Israeli forces claimed that the 2 children had opened fire at a military vehicle near the annexation wall, south of the village.

In the Gaza Strip, on 17 February 2016, Israeli forces conducted a limited incursion in the east of al-Bureij refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip.

They levelled lands along the fence and re-deployed in al-Salqa Valley, east of Deir al-Balah.

In the same context, on 11 February 2016, Israeli forces arrested 4 Palestinian civilians, including 3 children, while attempting to sneak into Israel through the border fence, southeast of al-Bureij refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip, to look for work.

They were released on the next day. On 16 February 2016, Israeli forces stationed at the border fence between the Gaza Strip and Israel arrested 3 Palestinian civilians while attempting to sneak into Israel through the border fence in al-Shouka village, south of the Gaza Strip.

Efforts to Create Jewish Majority

On 15 February 2016, officers from the Israeli municipality and Nature Authority raided a parking lot belonging to Nasri Moheisen in al-Eisawiya village, northeast of occupied Jerusalem. They gave him 24 hours to vacate the parking lot.

It should be noted that the aforementioned person uses that parking lot for his vehicles and trucks.

On 16 February 2016, the Civil Administration officers distributed notices for the demolition of dozens of houses in al-Baba Mount in al-Eizariya village, southeast of occupied Jerusalem, amidst a tight closure on the area.

An eyewitness said that the demolition notices were distributed to push their owners to leave them for the interest of establishing a “National” park and other settlement projects as part of “E1” plan that would completely isolate Jerusalem.

On 17 February 2016, the Israeli municipality vehicles demolished agricultural structures and large areas of lands in al-Eisawiya village, northeast of the city.

The demolitions included several dunums of agricultural lands on which 11 agricultural structures were established.

Restrictions on movement:

Israel continued to impose a tight closure of the oPt, imposing severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem.

The illegal closure of the Gaza Strip, which has been steadily tightened since June 2007 has had a disastrous impact on the humanitarian and economic situation in the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli authorities impose measures to undermine the freedom of trade, including the basic needs for the Gaza Strip population and the agricultural and industrial products to be exported.

For 9 consecutive years, Israel has tightened the land and naval closure to isolate the Gaza Strip from the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem, and other countries around the world.

This resulted in grave violations of the economic, social and cultural rights and a deterioration of living conditions for 1.8 million people.

The Israeli authorities have established Karm Abu Salem (Kerem Shaloum) as the sole crossing for imports and exports in order to exercise its control over the Gaza Strip’s economy.

They also aim at imposing a complete ban on the Gaza Strip’s exports.

The Israeli closure raised the rate of poverty to 38.8%, 21.1% of which suffer from extreme poverty. Moreover, the rate of unemployment increased up to 44%, which reflects the unprecedented economic deterioration in the Gaza Strip.

Settlement activities:

On 11 February 2016, Israeli forces demolished 11 dwellings, 11 livestock barns and 14 structures attached to them in al-Farisiya, Ein al-Beida and Bardala areas in northern Jordan Valley, east of Tubas.

As a result, 49 families, including 25 children, were rendered homeless.

On the same day, Israeli vehicles demolished industrial facilities, an agricultural room and an artesian well and confiscated a bulldozer and a mobile house in al-Naq’a, al-Zawiya and al-Halaba areas in Beit Our al-Tahta village, southwest of Ramallah.

On 15 February 2016, Israeli vehicles demolished 24 residential tents, 30 livestock barns and 12 structures attached to them in al-Rashash area, south of Douma village, southeast of Nablus.

As a result, 115 families, including 80 children, were rendered homeless.

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Recommendations to the International Community

PCHR emphasizes the international community’s position that the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are still under Israeli occupation, in spite of Israeli military redeployment outside the Gaza Strip in 2005.

PCHR further confirms that Israeli forces continued to impose collective punishment measures on the Gaza Strip, which have escalated since the 2006 Palestinian parliamentary elections, in which Hamas won the majority of seats of the Palestinian Legislative Council.

PCHR stresses that there is international recognition of Israel’s obligation to respect international human rights instruments and the international humanitarian law, especially the Hague Regulations concerning the Laws and Customs of War on Land and the Geneva Conventions.

Israel is bound to apply the international human rights law and the law of war sometime reciprocally and other times in parallel in a way that achieves the best protection for civilians and remedy for victims.

In light of continued arbitrary measures, land confiscation and settlement activities in the West Bank, and the latest 51-day offensive against civilians in the Gaza Strip, PCHR calls upon the international community, especially the United Nations, the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Convention and the European Union – in the context of their natural obligation to respect and enforce the international law – to cooperate and act according to the following recommendations:

1. PCHR calls upon the international community and the United Nations to use all available means to allow the Palestinian people to enjoy their right to self-determination, through the establishment of the Palestinian State, which was recognized by the UN General Assembly with a vast majority, using all international legal mechanisms, including sanctions to end the occupation of the State of Palestine;

2. PCHR calls upon the United Nations to provide international protection to Palestinians in the oPt, and to ensure the non-recurrence of aggression against the oPt, especially the Gaza Strip;

3. PCHR calls upon the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions to compel Israel, as a High Contracting Party to the Conventions, to apply the Conventions in the oPt;

4. PCHR calls upon the Parties to international human rights instruments, especially the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, to pressurize Israel to comply with their provisions in the oPt, and to compel it to incorporate the human rights situation in the oPt in its reports submitted to the concerned committees;

5. PCHR calls upon the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions to fulfil their obligation to ensure the application of the Conventions, including extending the scope of their jurisdiction in order to prosecute suspected war criminals, regardless of the nationality of the perpetrator and the place of a crime, to pave the way for prosecuting suspected Israeli war criminals and end the longstanding impunity they have enjoyed;

6. PCHR calls on States that apply the principle of universal jurisdiction not to surrender to Israeli pressure to limit universal jurisdiction to perpetuate the impunity enjoyed by suspected Israeli war criminals; 7.PCHR calls upon the international community to act in order to stop all Israeli settlement expansion activities in the oPt through imposing sanctions on Israeli settlements and criminalizing trading with them;

8. PCHR calls upon the UN General Assembly to transfer the Goldstone Report to the UN Security Council in order to refer it to the International Criminal Court in accordance with Article 13(b) of the Rome Statute;

9. PCHR calls upon the United Nations to confirm that holding war criminals in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is a precondition to achieve stability and peace in the regions, and that peace cannot be built on the expense of human rights;

10. PCHR calls upon the UN General Assembly and Human Rights Council to explicitly declare that the Israeli closure policy in Gaza and the annexation wall in the West Bank are illegal, and accordingly refer the two issues to the UN Security Council to impose sanctions on Israel to compel it to remove them;

11. PCHR calls upon the international community, in light of its failure to the stop the aggression on the Palestinian people, to at least fulfil its obligation to reconstruct the Gaza Strip after the series of hostilities launched by Israel which directly targeted the civilian infrastructure;

12. PCHR calls upon the United Nations and the European Union to express a clear position towards the annexation wall following the international recognition of the State of Palestine on the 1967 borders, as the annexation wall seizes large parts of the State of Palestine;

13. PCHR calls upon the European Union to activate Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which provides that both sides must respect human rights as a precondition for economic cooperation between the EU states and Israel, and the EU must not ignore Israeli violations and crimes against Palestinian civilians; …………………………………………………………

Public Document For further information please visit our website www.pchrgaza.org or contact PCHR’s office in Gaza City, Gaza Strip by email pchr@pchrgaza.org or telephone +972 08 282 4776 – 282 5893.

http://pchrgaza.org/en/?p=7873

Israeli forces raid hospital where hunger-striker al-Qiq is detained

Feb. 20, 2016 10:34 P.M. (Updated: Feb. 21, 2016 12:26 P.M.) Facebook1,071Twitter

JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli special forces accompanied by police dogs raided the Afula hospital where Palestinian hunger-striker Muhammad al-Qiq is currently being detained on Saturday, a Palestinian Authority official said. Hanan al-Khatib, a lawyer for the PA Committee of Prisoners’ Affairs said the sudden raid came after al-Qiq suffered from spasms and seizures several hours earlier, causing panic among doctors who rushed to al-Qiq's room and evacuated it.

The purpose of the raid remained unclear on Saturday evening, but al-Khatib said the raid sent out the message that Israeli authorities were aware that "Muhammad could die at any moment."

Earlier on Saturday, Palestinian Prisoners Society leader Qadura Fares told Ma’an that Palestinian officials were involved in talks to reach a compromise with Israeli authorities regarding al-Qiq that would be accepted by the Palestinian journalist and his family by Sunday.

The raid comes a day after the Committee of Prisoners' Affairs said Israeli intelligence services had refused to allow al-Qiq’s family to visit him during his hunger strike, in contradiction with an earlier ruling by the Israeli Supreme Court. Al-Qiq, a 33-year-old father of two, went on hunger strike in late November to protest his administrative detention -- internment without trial or charge.

He has since gone without food for 88 days, and has been in critical condition for weeks. Israel has negotiated in cases of hunger strikes launched by Palestinian prisoners in the past out of fear that prisoners’ death could spark unrest in the occupied Palestinian territory, but the territory has already seen months of unrest.

Palestinian Prisoners’ Society head Qadura Fares said earlier this month that the Israeli security establishment now believes it has "nothing to lose" by failing to release al-Qiq before his death.

Al-Qiq has vowed to maintain his strike until transferred a Palestinian hospital in Ramallah and released from Israeli custody, requests that were most recently denied by Israel's High Court of Justice earlier this week.

http://maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=770378