PNN exclusive / Maisa Abu Ghazaleh – In honor of Palestinian Political Prisoners’ Day, the 17th of April, activists and mothers held a sit-in on Saturday at the Gates of Jerusalem’s Old City.
Posters and photographs of stolen loved-ones adorned the laps of hundreds. A special poster was made with the images of several hundred imprisoned Palestinians, made by the Jerusalem Commission for Prisoners. Two-hundred photos adorned the posters on which was written, “I am a prisoner from Jerusalem…What do you know of me.”
Demonstrators chanted slogans continuously condemning the arrest of Palestinian prisoners inside Israeli jails, along with singing songs for their release.
The political prisoners from Jerusalem are considered “forgotten” as they are not covered by any possible release through negotiations or exchanges. Their sentences are relatively high, reports the Commission.
They penned a letter yesterday to the Palestinian Authority and to the world stating that the political prisoners of Jerusalem are an integral part of the prisoners’ movement and must not be excluded from any discussions of political solutions.
Demonstrators expressed their rejection of the imposition of the orange uniforms on the prisoners, citing the harassment perpetrated against the prisoners and the withdrawal of their achievements obtained after bitter struggles with the administrations of the prisons, including those who have been killed.
The Coalition for Jerusalem, in cooperation with the families of prisoners and detainees of Jerusalem and the Prisoners Society in Jerusalem also joined the sit-in tent in East Jerusalem’s threatened Sheikh Jarrah.
