April 17 is the International Day in Solidarity with Palestinian Political Prisoners. Because most offices in the US are closed on Sundays, groups around the country held demonstrations on April 18. Many of the actions were held at Red Cross offices.

The ICRC is charged by the United Nations to monitor the conditions of prisoners and ensure that international laws governing those conditions are being followed. They are the only international organization which has regular access to Israeli prisons and the only ones who can arrange visits for families of prisoners or deliver clothes and other supplies. Prison activists and lawyers in the Occupied Palestinian Territories charge that the Red Cross is not carrying out frequent visits to central Israeli prisons, and has failed to deliver urgently needed supplies. They also are not aggressively demanding that Israel stop its illegal abuses of prisoners' human rights. In particular, this year's demonstrations highlighted the case of Manal Ghannam and her son, 18-month-old Nour, who are imprisoned in Telmond. Nour has been subjected to tear gas in the prison; he and Manal both have medical conditions which are not being treated by the prison officials, and Nour's relatives have not been allowed to bring any toys for him to play with.

Two dozen activists protested outside the Bay Area Red Cross offices in San Francisco on Monday, April 18, to spotlight the International Committee of the Red Cross's neglect of Palestinian political prisoners. They held up pictures of Palestinian prisoners and their families, and gave out several hundred fliers calling on passersby to contact the ICRC and demand they do their job. Photos | Sumoud