Farawana: No one has the real number of political prisoners who have given birth in Israeli jails

14.10.09 - 11:29
Gaza / PNN – Abdel Nasser Ferwana was once a political prisoner himself.
This is not surprising considering that some 85 percent of Palestinian males spend at least some of the moments of their lives being detained by Israeli forces.
What sets apart Ferwana, however, is that he has dedicated his life to researching the issue, to presenting as much information as possible to the public and to advocating.
Today he is challenging the validity and accuracy of human rights organizations and medial outlets that claim only four to eight political prisoners have given birth in Israeli jails. The researcher, who has official ties to the Palestinian Authority, said today that no one has the exact number of prisoners who have given birth in Israeli prisons since 1967 until today.
The reason behind the discrepancy, Ferwana said today, is the lack of documentation published on the subject before the Al Aqsa Intifada. “The research just isn’t there,” the prisoners’ affairs official said on Wednesday. “Agencies and institutions must be concerned to adopt a comprehensive strategic plan to document this important part of history and the feminist movement.”
Ferwana himself has already issued a study entitled, “Children See, Despite the Darkness of the Light of Cells”, in January 2008. “Palestine behind Bars” has circumstances of the births and available date. Various media outlets have also published information on prison births as they occurred.
Ferwana noted, “The cases of the birth of prisoners during the Intifada have received more attention and more accurate documentation than those cases that have been in prison before the start of the second Intifada in September 2000, and therefore we always ask whether we are sure that the published and documented information in inclusive and correct. All organizations support the number of four cases since the Intifada, and an additional four, but we are certain there are more.”