Recent CPTnet stories

Prayers for Peacemakers, May 16, 2012

May 16th, 2012
in:

PRAYERS FOR PEACEMAKERS, May 16, 2012

Pray for Palestinian prisoners on a hunger strike to protest detention without charges or trials, and other punishments. CPT members joined the fast May 15, the anniversary of the 1948 expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes.

IRAQI KURDISTAN REFLECTION: "…live justly and peaceably with all creation."

May 14th, 2012
in:

The organizers hoped that the Green Festival would bring some of these issues to the attention of the Kurds of Suleimaniya.  And they were successful.  Around 2000 people left their leisurely stroll around the park to listen to Kurdish and American music and look at the displays.  They were able to see that the ubiquitous 250-millilitre water bottle could be threaded onto a wooden frame to create a green house.  They heard from high school students that wind and solar power might work well in the region.  They saw the advantages of placing trash into receptacles that would go to the dump.  They took in the beauty, through nature photographs and paintings, of their region, which reminded them that they must find ways of preserving it.

AL-KHALIL (HEBRON) ACTION ALERT: Fast with the prisoners of Palestine

May 11th, 2012
in:

CPTnet
11 May 2012
AL-KHALIL (HEBRON) ACTION ALERT: Fast with the prisoners of Palestine

On Monday 7 May 2012, the Israeli High Court of Justice denied the petition of two hunger-striking Palestinians against their administrative detention, meaning the Israeli authorities have never charged them with any crime or given them a trial.  The two prisoners continue their hunger strike, are now on their seventy-fifth day, and are in critical condition.  Their attorneys said they were not allowed to see classified material that the state had cited as grounds for imprisonment.

One thousand six hundred prisoners joined the hunger strike and are now in their twenty-fourth day.   The prisoners are demanding an end to administrative detention, solitary confinement and other punitive punishment measures taken against Palestinian prisoners, including the denial of family and lawyer visits, especially to prisoners from the Gaza Strip to whom the Israeli authorities have denied family visits since 2007.

Prisoners have  face harsh collective punishment from the beginning of the hunger strike.  Some have received fines between 250 (€50) and 500 (€100) shekels for each day of their  strike.  In Naqab prison, prisoners are experiencing daily random inspections that last for approximately forty to fifty minutes.  These inspections include cell and body searches.  In addition, prisoners are no longer permitted to leave their rooms for the daily break period. 

This 15 May 2012 marks the 64th anniversary of the Nakba, when pre-Israeli state paramilitary forces expelled hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes and land in 1948.  The annual Nakba fast this year is focusing on the plight of the prisoners.  CPT Palestine is gravely concerned about the health of the prisoners and in an act of solidarity, team members will be joining the fast.  The  team invites you to join the fast from 7:00 a.m. on 15 May.

IRAQI KURDISTAN: April Update

May 10th, 2012
in:

In the regional capitol of Erbil/Hawler, the team conducted an action at the entrance to KRG Parliament facilities with banners, posters, and a flyer with a message and a photo of Internally Displaced Persons in the riverbed camp they were forced into last spring.  At the Turkish and Iranian consulates, also in Erbil/Hawler, the team explained that suspending attacks on villages for the entire year would be a courageous and compassionate response by powerful governments to the challenges they recognize in the continuing struggle to secure their national sovereignty.

Kurdish MPs were reminded that "Iranian shelling destroys village life" and "Turkish bombing murders people" and encouraged nonviolently to take action to protect their people

Prayers for Peacemakers, May 9, 2012

May 8th, 2012
in:

PRAYERS FOR PEACEMAKERS, May 9, 2012

Give thanks for the CPT Holy Week delegation to Southern Bolivar, Colombia. Pray for delegation members as they work in solidarity with communities ravaged by internal conflict with their lands coveted by armed groups for their wealth of natural resources.