Friday, November 21, 2008

An American on Hunger Strike over Gaza in an Israeli Jail

Afshin Rattansi talks Donna Wallach, sister of Darlene Wallach, captured by Israeli soldiers in Gaza as news comes in of a Scottish solidarity activist transferred to solitary confinement in an Israeli detention center on Friday after he and two others declared a hunger strike.

British citizen Andrew Muncie relayed a message via his jailed colleagues that he has been isolated and his mobile phone confiscated.

Muncie was arrested along with an American, Darlene Wallach, and an Italian Vittorio Arrigoni, along with 15 Palestinian fishermen off the coast of Gaza. The three activists were accompanying the fishermen, who face daily harassment by the Israeli navy.

The three declared a hunger strike on Thursday night, demanding that Israel return three fishing vessels it seized during Tuesdays raid in Gazan waters. The solidarity campaigners say that the Palestinians who own the boats rely on them for their livelihoods.