Palestinian hunger striker's mother addresses letter to Obama urging son's release


Mother of Palestinian hunger striker Samer Issawi addresses letter to President Barack Obama, a day ahead of his planned visit Israel and West Bank for first time since re-election in November 2012


Ahram Online , Tuesday 19 Mar 2013
Mother of Samer Issawi record Palestinian prisoner who has resisted for more than 200 days, attends a solidarity sit-in outside the Red Cross offices in Jerusalem, February 2013 (Photo: AFP)

"I Mrs. Laila Tareq Issawi; the mother of Samer Issawi who is on hunger strike in the Israeli occupation prisons for 241 days, a new precedent in human history, call you; as the most important ally of Israeli as you describe yourself and the president of the most powerful country in the world as others describe you, to immediately interfere to save my son’s life which is under threat as I am writing these words and to have your hands blood free after Natanyahu has stained his with Samer’s blood.

Samer has been released as part of the prisoners swap deal done under the auspices of the Egyptian government and your blessings, Natanyahu’s government has rearrested him on the 7/7/2012 for being in a Palestinian territory and was sentenced by the Israeli courts for 8 months, which he fulfilled. Instead of releasing Samer, Israel has opened a secret file to keep him in prison and disrespecting the prisoners swap deal and their commitments.

I am a Palestinian mother like thousands of other Palestinian mothers ache and suffer. I am the mother of Fadi who was assassinated by Israel in 1994 in the spring of his life, and the mother of Midhat who is now in Israeli prisons and the mother of Ra’fat which Israel demolished his home and left his family homeless, I am the mother of Shireen, Firas and Shadi who could not avoid the repeated detention and torture. We are a family that Israel deprives from water and would have deprived us food and medicine if they could.

You, who comes to the land of Peace after being crowned with a Nobel Peace Prize and whom through his long four years of presidency failed to accomplish a single pursuant for peace or lift the grievances off a person, this is your chance to save Samer from the canines of this brutal occupation, so as not to wonder with millions of others in the world: why did you come to us?

This message was published on Shireen Issawi's Facebook page and shared by the "The Free Samer Issawi Campaign" on Tuesday. This letter by Issawi's mother comes a day ahead of his planned visit Israel and West Bank for first time since re-election in November 2012 on Wednesday."

SOURCE | http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/67225/World/Region/Palestinian-hunger-strikers-mother-addresses-lette.aspx