Samer Tariq Issawi (born December 16, 1979, in Issawiyeh, north east of

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

) is a Palestinian prisoner in Israel. On 15 April 2002, Samer was detained by the Israeli army in

Ramallah Ramallah ( , ; ) is a Palestinians, Palestinian city in the central West Bank, that serves as the administrative capital of the State of Palestine. It is situated on the Judaean Mountains, north of Jerusalem, at an average elevation of abov ...

as part of

Operation Defensive Shield Operation Defensive Shield ( ) was a 2002 Israeli military operation in the Israeli-occupied West Bank during the Second Intifada. Lasting for just over a month, it was the largest combat operation in the territory since the 1967 Arab–Israe ...

during the

Second Intifada The Second Intifada (; ), also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada, was a major uprising by Palestinians against Israel and its Israeli-occupied territories, occupation from 2000. Starting as a civilian uprising in Jerusalem and October 2000 prot ...

. Samer, who was affiliated with the

Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP; ) is a secular Palestinian Marxist–Leninist and Maoist organization. It is also frequently referred to as the Democratic Front, or al-Jabha al-Dīmūqrāṭiyya (). It is a member ...

, 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. 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 Gilad Shalit (, ''Gilˁad Šaliṭ'' ; born 28 August 1986) is a former MIA soldier of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) who, on 25 June 2006, was captured by Palestinian militants in a cross-border raid via tunnels near the Israeli border. Ham ...

. 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. His lawyer Andre Rosenthal stated that he had been taking his car to be fixed at a garage in the West Bank. 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. Issawi began a

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance where participants fasting, fast as an act of political protest, usually with the objective of achieving a specific goal, such as a policy change. Hunger strikers that do not take fluids are ...

in August 2012. On 7 January 2013, a protest took place in Washington, D.C., in support of Issawi.

Mahmoud Abbas Mahmoud Abbas (; born 15 November 1935), also known by the Kunya (Arabic), kunya Abu Mazen (, ), is a Palestinian politician who has been serving as the second president of Palestine and the President of the Palestinian National Authority, P ...

, president of the Palestinian state, sent a letter to UN Secretary General

Ban Ki-moon Ban Ki-moon (born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was the South Korean minister ...

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. 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. However, he was detained again, six months after his release. In 2015 he renewed his hunger strike.

References

Living people 1979 births Palestinian people imprisoned by Israel Palestinian hunger strikers People from Jerusalem {{Palestine-bio-stub