Sabr

Release of 3 prisoners delayed by Israeli authorities

2011-11-26T05:58:00.000-08:00

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- Israeli prison authorities are delaying the release of three prisoners from Gaza who have completed their sentences.

The director of a prisoner's assembly, Muhammad Badr, on Friday named Abdullah Tawfiq al-Kurd, Wael Mousa Sharbaji and Wade Khamis Tamman as the prisoners who have had their release postponed.

Both al-Kurd and Sharbaji have finished their sentences of 9 and 7 years, respectively, and should have been released a month ago, Badr said.

Tamman, 30, has spent 10 years in jail and suffers from epilepsy.

Badr called on human rights organizations to help work for the release of all sick prisoners and put an end to violations by Israel.

It is not known why the release of the prisoners has been delayed.

Israeli forces raid home of freed female prisoner

2011-11-13T21:26:00.000-08:00

A Palestinian woman, with her hands chained, flashes victory signs as
she takes part in a protest calling for the release of Palestinian prisoners
from Israeli jails, near the International Committee of Red Cross offices in
Beirut, October 14, 2011. (REUTERS/Sharif Karim)

RAMALLAH (Ma’an) -- Israeli forces raided the house of a female former prisoner near Ramallah on Sunday, less than a month after she was released under Hamas' prisoner exchange deal with Israel.

Forces issued summons for Sumud Karaja, 23, to report to Israeli intelligence in the Ofer military base near her village of Saffa, locals told Ma'an.

Her identity card was also confiscated, they added.

An Israeli military spokesman said it was not an Israeli army-related incident.

Karaja among 27 female and 250 male prisoners released from Israeli jail on Oct. 18 in exchange for Hamas' return of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

She had served three years of a 20-year sentence on charges of stabbing an Israeli soldier at the military checkpoint in Qalandiya, near Ramallah.

Free at Last: Profiles of Courage

2011-11-12T23:59:00.000-08:00

Ufree

On 18 October 2011, the first 477 of an eventual 1,027 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails were released in exchange for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured five years previously. Of the Palestinians who have or will be freed, 280 were serving life sentences and 27 were women. Most had been deprived of family visits for years, and had suffered repeated torture, sentences to solitary confinement and refused access to education. The release came as more than 6,000 Palestinian prisoners staged a hunger strike to protest the harsh conditions.

While the release is good news welcomed throughout the occupied territories, some families will still be separated. Of the first 477 prisoners released, 110 were returned to their homes in the West Bank and 203 were deported to Jordan, Turkey, Qatar and Syria, which agreed to take prisoners who Israel insisted, must not be allowed to return home. The rest (131) were freed in Gaza -- even if they were not originally from there.

The agreement is the highest “price” Israel has ever paid for a single soldier. Israel places a high value on Israeli life and freedom, and assigns little worth to Palestinians. Thus, captures and exchanges are the only way to win their release. Approximately 5,300 Palestinian prisoners remain in Israeli jails, waiting to be freed.

Here are the stories of just two of the released Palestinians:

Ayman Kafishah; jailed since April 1997:

On April 5, 1997, Ayman was arrested by Israeli security forces and immediately transported to Ha Shikmah Prison in Israel. According to testimony he later delivered to the UN Commission on Human Rights and publicized by B’tselem, an Israeli human rights agency, Ayman was then interrogated nonstop for 36 hours. Tactics used to coerce him to talk included:

Violent shaking.
Forced squatting and sitting in painful, contorted positions for prolonged periods.
Wrist cuffs tightened until blood flow was cut off.
Sleep deprivation.
Refusal of permission to use the toilet.
Threats to arrest and torture his family members.

Ayman was denied the right to consult with his lawyer for a full month, and was not allowed any family visits for the entire 14 years he was jailed. His daughter, Sarah, knew of her father only through photographs.

Although Ayman was freed in the prisoner exchange for Shalit, his forced separation from his wife and daughter continues. He was immediately exiled to the Gaza Strip, and his family was denied permission to travel there to see him from the West Bank. They have seen him only on TV, waving to the crowds in Gaza.

“I was awakened (on Oct. 18, 2011) to the sound of my mother calling me,” recalls Sarah Kafishah. “I got up and rushed towards my mother, who was sitting in front of the TV. My mother knelt on the ground and thanked God.”

Sarah and her mother said in a statement that they thank the Palestinian negotiators and the Egyptian mediators for making the exchange happen. They also called on the international community to put pressure on Israel to allow Ayman’s family to leave the West Bank to visit him in Gaza. A 14-year separation is long enough.

Obada Saeed Bilal; jailed since April 2002:

A native of Nablus in the West Bank, Obada is the son of Saeed Bilal. Obada was studying journalism at Najah University when he was seized, during the Israeli military campaign on the West Bank codenamed "Defensive Shield." He was charged with being a supporter military activities, It was just two weeks after his marriage to Nelly AlSafadi.

Obada was sentenced to 11 years in jail and subjected to intensive torture, along with a number of stays in solitary confinement -- one time longer than six months. Says Obada: “I endured many rounds of continuous interrogation, during which the physical and psychological torture was so harsh my body became exhausted and I lost consciousness many times.”

Obada had always struggled with poor eyesight, but he went totally blind by the time he was released from prison.

His family has paid a heavy price to the Israeli occupying force. Obada’s wife, Nelly and three brothers also served time in Israeli prisons. Nelly, who was released several months before Obada, was arrested at a roadblock while trying to enter Ramallah. Although Obada was later moved to the same prison in which she was being held, they were never allowed to be together.

Although Obada was freed in the prisoner exchange for Shalit, he was immediately exiled to the Gaza Strip and his wife Nelly was denied permission to travel there to see him.

Both families are urging the international community and all human rights groups to put pressure on Israel to strop its daily integration to Palestinians on check points and crossing borders and it must immediately allow those families access through crossing borders.

18 Palestinian MPs out of 21 in Israeli jails are administratively detained

2011-11-10T06:11:00.000-08:00

[ 10/11/2011 - 12:34 PM ]

PIC

The Palestinian centre for the defence of captives said that the Israeli occupation still holds 21 Palestinian lawmakers, 18 of them under administrative detention, without charge or trial.
Thamer Sabaena, a researcher in captives affairs, said that the number of detained lawmakers rose to 21 after the detention of MP Hasan Yousuf, 18 of them are affiliated with the Change and Reform Party.

Motion in UK Parliament calls for release of 164 Palestinian child detainees

2011-11-10T06:07:00.000-08:00

DCI-Palestine

Posted on: 10 Nov 2011 | Filed under:

On 18 October 2011, an Early Day Motion was tabled in the UK House of Commons in support of UNICEF's appeal to the Israeli government to release all 164 Palestinian child detainees from Israeli military detention. The motion was signed by 25 members of the House of Commons. The full statement of the motion is presented below:

“That this House welcomes the prisoner exchange which has led to the release of the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and 477 Palestinian prisoners with a further 550 to be released in the next two months; notes, however, that the list of prisoners released in the first stage on 18 October 2011 does not include any children; further notes that according to figures released by the Israeli Prison Service and Defence of Children International-Palestine, at the end of September 2011 there were 164 Palestinian children (12 to 17 years) detained by Israel, including 35 between the ages of 12and 15 years; and that Israel's treatment of Palestinian child prisoners has raised serious concerns under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child; and therefore calls on the Government and the international community to support the appeal by UNICEF for the Israeli government to release all Palestinian child detainees so that they can be reunited with their families.”

EDM 2274: Prisoner exchange and Palestinian child prisoners

Urgent Appeal - (UA - 5/11) - Prisoner exchange – Release of Palestinian children

2011-11-09T06:03:00.000-08:00

DCI-Palestine

Posted on: 9 Nov 2011 | Filed under:

As part of the prisoner exchange deal, the Israeli authorities published a list of 477 prisoners, including 27 women, to be released in the first stage on 18 October. The list does not include any children. Please send appeals urging the Israeli authorities to release all Palestinian children currently held in detention.
Urgent Appeal - (UA - 5/11) - Prisoner exchange – Release of Palestinian children

Gaza official: Israel prison hospital ward closure 'punishment'

2011-11-08T05:56:00.000-08:00

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The spokesman for the Gaza government's health ministry slammed Israel's closure of a hospital section in its Ramle jail on Saturday, stressing Israeli authorities' responsibility for the lives of Palestinians in Israeli jail.

Ashraf al-Qedra said the authorities were strangling detainees by closing the medical facility, and called on human rights organizations to protect ill prisoners from neglect.

On Thursday the Fatah information department said the prison administration closed the section and moved 22 sick prisoners who were being treated to four small rooms with no kitchens or other facilities. Israel's prison administration placed two detainees in isolation cells for demonstrating, they said.

A spokesman for Israel's prisons authority said he was not aware of the closure.

Al-Qedra urged the press to continue to cover the situation of Palestinian prisoners in Israel after a deal between the government in Gaza and Israel to free 1,000 detainees over 2 months in exchange for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

Israel is punishing those detainees still in jail for the deal, he said.

Prison administration 'closes medical section'

2011-11-08T05:52:00.000-08:00

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) – The Israeli prison administration closed Thursday a section for sick detainees in Ramle prison hospital and isolated two representatives of the prisoners for demonstrating against the decision.

The Fatah information department said the prison administration closed the section and moved 22 sick prisoners who were being treated to four small rooms with no kitchens or other facilities.

The prison administration placed two detainees in isolation cells for demonstrating.

Researcher: 23 lawmakers in Israeli custody

2011-11-08T05:50:00.000-08:00

AZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israel holds 23 Palestinian lawmakers in its prisoners, a researcher in prisoners affairs said Wednesday.

Riyad al-Ashqar said the arrest of Hassan Yousef on Tuesday brought the total up to 23, in addition to two former ministers. Yousef spent six years in Israeli prison, and was released months ago before soldiers seized him again for belonging to Hamas.

Israeli authorities have also sentenced lawmaker Jamal Tirawi to 30 years in prison. All but three of the MPs have been placed in administrative detention, al-Ashqar says.

Freed prisoner hospitalized after release

2011-11-08T05:47:00.000-08:00

NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Freed prisoner Amal Jumaah, 41, has been transferred to hospital days after her release from Israeli prison, says her brother Jameel Jumaah.

Amal was hospitalized in Nablus for complications due to bleeding in her stomach. She suffers cancer of the uterus and other serious health issues complicated by her time in jail, he says.

Jameel says his sister's case was taken on by the office of the president. Her family is also asking officials to intervene and if possible send her to a hospital abroad.

The head of the prisoners society in Nablus, Imad Ishtawi, told Ma'an that he too was urging officials to examine options for helping all prisoners who require medical attention.

Amal belonged to Fatah's armed wing, and was sentenced to 11 years in prison. She served nine.

Occupation transfers Sheikh Hasan Yousef and his son to administrative detention

2011-11-08T05:34:00.000-08:00

[ 08/11/2011 - 09:55 PM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation authorities on Tuesday morning transferred Sheikh Hasan Yousef and his son Owais to administrative detention for six months at Ofer prison near Ramallah.
The family of Sheikh Yousef said that the occupation authorities informed him and his son, who arrested eight days ago, that the Israeli occupation intelligence decided to transfer them to administrative detention for six months based on “secret evidence".
The family further said that Sheikh Youssef underwent a few rounds of interrogation on the pretext that he organised a number of activities for Hamas in Ramallah, threatening to kidnap occupation soldiers to exchange with Palestinian captives, supporting the resistance on the Shalit exchange deal and organising functions in support of the freed captives.

They further said that when they could not charge him and try him, they decided to transfer him to administrative detention, based on secret evidence, that neither Sheikh Yousef, nor his lawyer are allowed to see.
His son Owais, who only got married ten days before his arrest, was also transferred to administrative detention after dropping an indictment list prepared by the occupation police in which he was accused of participating in the legislative elections, only to discover that he was in detention at Negev desert prison at the time of elections.

UNICEF appeals for release of Palestinian child detainees

2011-11-07T06:01:00.000-08:00

DCI-Palestine

Posted on: 7 Nov 2011 | Filed under:

On 17 October 2011, UNICEF appealed to the Israeli Government to release all Palestinian children currently in Israeli military detention, following the announcement that they will release Palestinian prisoners as part of a prisoner swap deal.
As of 1 October, 164 Palestinians under 18 year of age were detained by Israeli authorities, most of them under charges of stone throwing. It is not clear whether the list of 1,027 Palestinian prisoners who are to be released in two stages includes children.
“UNICEF calls on the Israeli Government to release Palestinian child detainees so that they can be reunited with their families”, said Jean Gough, UNICEF Special Representative in the occupied Palestinian territory. “As stated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the detention of children should be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time”, she added.
END

Link:

UNICEF

MEP De Rossa calls for release of Palestinian child detainees

2011-11-06T06:00:00.000-08:00

DCI-Palestine

Posted on: 6 Nov 2011 | Filed under:

17/10/2011 - Irish Labour MEP Proinsias De Rossa, President of the European Parliament's Palestine Delegation (DPLC), has reiterated his call for the release of all 164 Palestinian child detainees held in Israeli jails. According to Israeli prison statistics, there are currently 164 children being held ranging in age from 12 to 17; Thirty-five of whom are younger than 15. Seventy-six of these children are serving sentences and the balance of 88 are being held in pre-trial detention. The children are mainly charged with stone throwing.

The positive potential of the prisoner swap currently underway could be greatly enhanced if these children were unconditionally released. For Israel this would not only bring her into compliance with International Law but would be a generous humanitarian gesture which would enhance her reputation globally and in the region.

Each year approximately 700 Palestinian children from the West Bank are prosecuted in Israeli military courts following arrest by the Israeli army. It is estimated that since the year 2000 over 7,500 Palestinian children have been detained and prosecuted. In addition there are credible reports of mistreat treatment during arrest and pre-trial detention.*

The detention and trial of children by military courts and their mistreatment is directly contrary to the Geneva Conventions on the treatment of children by an occupying power.

I am calling on the Member States of the EU and the EU High Representative Ms Cathy Ashton to raise this matter with the Israeli authorities in the context of the current contacts seeking to restart final status negotiations and I am copying this call to Prime Minister Netanyahu through the Israeli Ambassador to the EU in Brussels.

Proinsias De Rossa MEP
President
DPLC
European Parliament
Brussels + 32.2. 284.7681
Dublin +353.1.874.6109
Mobile +353 87 2544 644

*LINK TO DEFENCE FOR CHILDREN INTERNATIONAL: http://www.dci-palestine.org/content/child-detention

Link:

Statement

Witnesses: Israeli forces detain teens in Hebron

2011-11-04T05:54:00.000-07:00

HEBRON (Ma’an) -- Israeli forces detained three people in Hebron at dawn on Friday, including two teenagers, locals said.

Eyewitnesses told Ma'an that soldiers raided a house in southern Hebron and detained Amjad Salhab, 13, and Izz al-Din Salhab 14.

In Yatta village, south of Hebron, forces also detained Ala al-Shamisti, 21, from his father's house early Friday, locals said. They told Ma'an the raid damaged furniture in the family home.

An Israeli army spokesman said forces conducted the raid with Israeli police, and confiscated weapons before detaining one man. There were no other detentions in Hebron overnight, he said.

Occupation authorities detain Ya’qub Abu Asab in Jerusalem

2011-11-04T05:21:00.000-07:00

[ 04/11/2011 - 10:30 AM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authorities on Friday at dawn detained Ya'qub Abu Asab, an academic and a member of the national committee against exile.
Abu Asab, who is pursuing postgraduate research in the management of institutions, was detained by Israeli occupation on several previous occasions, spending a total of nine years on aggregate in Israeli occupation jails for being a leading Islamic activist.
The Israeli occupation authorities have detained a number of Islamic leaders over the past couple of weeks, after the first phase of the prisoner-exchange which involved the release of 477 Palestinian captives.

Occupation bars freed captives from travelling to perform pilgrimage

2011-11-04T05:14:00.000-07:00

[ 04/11/2011 - 08:22 PM ]

AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authorities blocked recently freed captives from the West Bank from crossing to Jordan on their way to Makkah to perform pilgrimage.
According to those freed captives, they were travelling on coaches towards the King Hussain bridge border crossing, when their coaches were stopped at a military roadblock before reaching Jericho. They were told they would not be allowed to travel except for the two women Sana' Shehada and Alya' al-Ja'bari, the others were turned back.
They further said that the soldiers manning the roadblock had a list of their names and called their names out and told them they were banned from travelling.
The freed captives were told on Wednesday morning by the Awqaf Ministry that they should go to Ramallah to get their passports and join the pilgrims in the last minute. The main event of the pilgrimage takes place on Saturday.

Humilation Against The Detainees Continues

2011-11-04T05:07:00.000-07:00

Saturday October 29, 2011 13:33 by Mais Azza - IMEMC & Agencies

Palestinian detainees held by Israel at the Majiddo detention center, managed to leak a memo revealing that the violations against them have never stopped, adding that the Israeli Prisons Administration (IPA) is not abiding by vows it made to the detainees in order to end their hunger strike, the Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA) reported Saturday.

Image By Palestine-Info

The detainees stated that the (IPA) is trying to degrade and humiliate them, and is still forcing several detainees into solitary confinement in addition to depriving them from their internationally guaranteed visitation rights.

Former political prisoner, Shaher Zayed, 23, resident of Al-Yamoun village, near the northern West Bank city of Jenin, stated that although the detainees have stopped their hunger strike, that lasted for three weeks, after negotiating with the (IPA) and reaching an understanding, no actual implementation ever took place.

Zayed spent thirteen months in administrative detention in Israeli jails without any charges.

The detainees at Majiddo voiced an appeal to human rights organizations calling on them to act on obliging Israel to stop its violations.

Lopsided Prisoner Exchange

2011-11-04T05:04:00.000-07:00

Wednesday October 26, 2011 19:18 by Doris Norrito - 1 of International Middle East Media Center Editorial Group

The number detained and imprisoned [Palestinians] fluctuates as more are added daily. The number of Palestinians jailed by Israel once topped 12,000 and currently stands at over 5,000.

While over a thousand Palestinian prisoners are exchanged for the return of one captured Israeli soldier, it is “business as usual” as Israeli forces captured more than a dozen Palestinians throughout the West Bank during that same week.

On Friday, October 21, in occupied Bil’in, six Palestinians were arrested; each day, more are added. The number detained and imprisoned fluctuates daily. The number of Palestinians jailed by Israel once topped 12,000 and currently stands at over 5,000.

Following six years in captivity, Gilad Shalit, was thin and pale, but nonetheless appeared in good health. Unlike the treatment Shalit received, Palestinians report different prison experiences.

Iyad Burnat was first arrested at the age of seventeen, during the first intifada. Twenty years have passed. Now, at 37, he is married and has four children. Today he is the head of the Bil’in Popular Committee and the Bil’in Friends of Freedom and Justice movement.

He recalls his first experience in prison. Soldiers, some dressed in civilian clothes, came to his house and grabbed him in the middle of the night, telling his father they only wanted to speak with him for five minutes. At the detention center, he was stripped of his clothes and left outside in the snow attached to a metal post with his hands cuffed above his head. He spent the next 20 days in solitary confinement in a small cell, hands fastened to the ceiling so he was forced to stand. At night, he was taken to a small cell crowded with 36 other prisoners. He remembers a hole in the roof where the cold winter rain and snow fell in. Every ten minutes soldiers banged on the door to keep prisoners awake. During the day, he was questioned, beaten, punched and kicked in attempts to persuade him to sign a confession of throwing stones at soldiers. They kept asking for the names of resistance members and, though he insisted he knew nothing about political affiliations, after 21 days of torture, he said he “cracked” and signed the paper. Two years later, he was released and served an additional year under house arrest.

The same week the prisoner exchange was taking place there were 47 separate Israeli invasions. Israeli militia forces abducted 12 Palestinians including two children. In addition, three Palestinian civilians, including a child, were abducted at checkpoints in the West Bank. And in Bil'in, Citizen Ashraf Abu Rahma was kidnapped while standing peacefully with his flag.” Common charges are for stone throwing (at tanks and soldiers in body shields), organizing demonstrations and for incitement. Many people are held without charges.

In 2005, villagers began non-violent demonstrations protesting the Wall and settlements built on their land. Kidnappings (aka arrests) and detentions of Bil’in residents began in earnest. Protesting, villagers say that the wall is not for security, but is for stealing their land to expand illegal Israeli settlements. Israeli military forces retaliate with violence, house raids and kidnappings.

Abed Khaled, Iyad’s second son, is ten. His childhood memories are those of armed Israeli soldiers who roam his village streets and raid his home at night, smashing things and keeping him and his brothers and sister from sleeping. The children live in constant fear of soldiers breaking in. Sleepless, the boy listens to the nightmare cries of his brothers and sister. Abed Khaled fears for his father’s safety when he is away from home and busy with Committee activities opposing occupation and confiscation of their farmland. Iyad says he seeks peace and a future of justice and freedom for his children.

The non-violent demonstrators persevere. And so do the arrests. Joined by internationals and Israeli sympathizers, increasingly more supporters risk being taken or forced to leave. Some people are detained for a short time; others remain in custody indefinitely, often without charge.

Shalit will return to his family, his home and community; his crime, that of being a soldier. Many returning Palestinian prisoners will not go home but, as part of the agreement, will be exiled to other countries or to Gaza where they have never lived and know no one. Their crimes vary, but underlying all is the “crime” of defending their homeland and resistance to colonial occupation.

Freed Palestinian prisoner recounts torture and mistreatment in Israeli jails

2011-11-03T14:21:00.000-07:00

AIC

Mukhlis Burghal, a Palestinian prisoner who was freed in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, recalls, "[The] torture keeps changing: beatings, isolation, tear gas, suspension of family visits." And after spending over 24 years in Israeli prisons, Burghal looks towards the future.

After more than two decades in Israeli prisons, Burghal is getting used to things like cellular technology. "I want to be with my family, stay in my city, get to know it and get to know the people once again," Burghal says. (Photo: German Krimer)

Mukhlis Burghal grins like a child each time his mobile rings. He has become addicted to cellular technology since he discovered it just ten days ago.

“I´m in love with it; I have it on me everywhere I go”, Burghal, 49, confesses with a boyish smile that clashes with his white hair. His face is kind; his manners remarkably relaxed for a man who spent over 24 years in Israeli prisons. He discusses both his time in jail and his new-found freedom under the shade of lemon and tangerine trees behind his family home in Lod, not far from Tel Aviv.

On October 18, Burghal was released along with 476 Palestinians in exchange for Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier who as captured by Hamas more than five years ago. Burghal seems neither sad nor angry. He is far too interested in “absorbing,” as he puts it, everything: the new unfamiliar objects, like cell phones; the old things he has forgotten; and the memories that helped him survive beatings and mistreatment--people and places that are becoming alive once again.

“This is like being born again. It´s what I feel; I´m being reborn”, he says, as he glances at his five-year-old niece playing nearby.

During Burghal’s first free night, his house was full of people. Relatives, friends and neighbours had gathered to celebrate the day they had been waiting for since September 11th, 1987, when Israeli policemen arrested Burghal for throwing a grenade at a bus full of Israeli soldiers. Although the grenade did not go off and nobody died, a military court sentenced him to life imprisonment. 17 years later, his sentence was reduced to 40 years in prison.

But no one was thinking of those difficult times on the night Burghal was released.

“The most impressive and rejoicing part was seeing and feeling people. My family, all the citizens in my city, the Arab citizens, and many people from around here and from all over the country. I felt and saw happiness in the eyes of those people; this was what impressed me most and made me really happy,” he recalls, his eyes clouded by emotion.

Close to midnight, the house was still crowded, but Burghal and two of his brothers snuck away and went to their father´s grave. He died in 1991 and Burghal had never had the chance to say goodbye to him, to lay flowers on his tomb, or to or hug his mother. Burghal had not been allowed any calls, letters, or visits other than the regular 30-minute visit every fortnight (oin recent years, visits have been extended to 45 minutes).

Mukhlis had another “small dream” to achieve. In less than half an hour, the three men were barefoot, enjoying the sand of Jaffa beach. Above them, the stars and the moon projected a show of light and shadow, a show Mukhlis could only dream of for the last 24 years.

As he looks back, the grey-haired man who plays with his mobile with a shy smile does not speak with regret; nor does he make a stern statement in favor of the armed struggle or the “Palestinian revolution.”

“What will become of my life?” he wonders aloud. “The first thing I want is to spend a long time with my mother, I want to make her happy. I want to be with my family, stay in my city, get to know it and get to know the people once again. I want to reach a point where I can feel normal in this new life. I want to visit my brothers who live abroad, too. And then, maybe in a year or two, I´ll plan something out. For the time being, I can´t make any plans. All in all, I don´t see myself too distant from the activities for the community”.

The only time Burghal’s youthful smile fades is when he remembers his friends who are still behind bars.

“The hardest thing is to know there´s not much I can do for them. After so many years of sharing hardships they become your family. Their families are my family and mine is theirs”, he says, as he looks at his brother, who visited him every month during the quarter of a century he spent in prison.

Over the last few days, his family has learned about Burghal’s suffering--the mistreatment and deprivation he had to endure inside the prison.

“The initial questioning is one of the most difficult moments, the hardest”, Burghal says, touching his head. “My head ended up with 14 stitches.”

Halfway through his jail time, he received another severe beating that resulted in 16 stitches in his head, a punctured lung, a broken rib, and a dislocated jaw.

“[The] torture keeps changing: beatings, isolation, tear gas, suspension of family visits," he recalls, with an emotional detachment that makes his story even harder to hear.

Transfers from one jail to another were another method of torture. Prisoners sometimes travel for up to ten hours, inside a metal box, with metal seats, with hands and feet cuffed together. They stop for two or three hours at each prison where, if they are lucky, guards may allow them to go to a bathroom.

“The food is thrown inside the truck in plastic bags,” he says. “I myself always avoided eating during those trips because all cuffed up and very uncomfortable, I ended up vomiting.”

But one of the most difficult mistreatment that Palestinian prisoners endure is shoddy--or no-- medical attention, given on the whim of the Israeli authorities. Burghal remembered three of his mates who died from asthma attacks and another one who caught AIDS after the prison dentist used an old needle.

“That shows how much they care for us,” Burghal says.

Burghal had to face three medical issues during his long stay in prison; one in the knee, another one in his back, and the third in his teeth. For the first two, after having all the pre-surgery check-ups, doctors decided that the operations were “not necessary.” Now, Burghal is planning to undergo surgery abroad.

His teeth, on the other hand, turned into a legal battle which left a bitter taste in his mouth: “I managed to get a doctor from outside but once the treatment started, they called it off. So now it´s not finished. I was told I had to make a new request for the treatment since they wanted to study my case once again.”

Burghal has a thousand stories to tell from his life in prison; in these 24 years the world has changed and so has he. He went in as a 25-year-old and, now, he is 49. He went in a young man with his whole life ahead of him and came out a veteran whose prison mates called “Uncle.”

But he would rather not give too much thought to the years that passed and all he missed. He wants to travel, enjoy his family, and feel normal again. At midlife, Mukhlis wants to be reborn.

Zionist court refuses to release Muna Qaadan

2011-10-28T18:31:00.000-07:00

[ 28/10/2011 - 09:55 PM ]

JENIN, (PIC)-- The Zionist military court in Salem refused to release Muna Qaadan (39), from Arraba in Jenin district, on bail despite the fact that she was brought before court previously on the same charges.
Local sources said that the occupation authorities refused to release despite the fact that she denied the charge that she works for a charity, which is allegedly associated with the Islamic Jihad, in reference to Bara'a Society for Muslim Young Women. This is the same charge she was arrested on previously and then released.
Qaadan has been arbitrarily arrested since the end of last May, only days after the arrest of her brother Sheikh Tareq Qaadan from their home in Arraba.

Group: Israel resumes isolation of PFLP leader

2011-10-27T18:44:00.000-07:00

Israeli prison guards stand at the entrance to Ketziot prison in southern Israel,
ahead of a prisoner swap on Oct. 18. (Reuters/Yehuda Lachiani/Maariv)

JERUSALEM (Ma’an) -- The Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association said Thursday that an Israeli court in Beersheva decided to extend the isolation of Popular Front secretary-general Ahmad Saadat for a year.

The association added that the court ruled on secret documents that were presented by the Shin Beit which were released on August 8. Thus, the decision to extend his detention was made before the prisoners strike.

The association also said that Saadat was present in the court without his lawyers.

The court decision is the opposite of what the prison administration had reportedly promised the prisoners. They were to end isolation and other policies following the hunger strike, according to the association.

Saadat was recently taken to hospital in Ramle prison as his health deteriorated after the hunger strike. Saadat’s family has not been allowed to visit him since March 2009, according to the prisoners rights group.

The Israeli prison administration has not fulfilled its commitment to stop holding Palestinian prisoners in solitary confinement, the ministry of prisoner affairs in Ramallah said Wednesday.

Around 20 detainees are still in isolation despite Israel's pledge to end the practice following a 3-week mass hunger strike in jails across Israel to protest the policy, the ministry said in a statement.

Prisoners suspended the strike on Oct. 17 after they said Israel had announced it would meet the strikers' key demand.

Israel promised that detainees would be released from isolation immediately after 477 prisoners were released in a swap deal to free captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit on Oct. 18, minister of detainees affairs Issa Qaraqe said, announcing the agreement.

Some prisoners who remain in solitary confinement have been in isolation cells for many years, including Hassan Salama, Ahmad al-Mughrabi, Abdullah al-Barghouthi and Saadat, the ministry noted.

The UN special rapporteur on torture Juan Mendez told a UN General Assembly panel last week that all governments should ban solitary confinement except in extreme circumstances.

"Segregation, isolation, separation, cellular, lockdown, Supermax, the hole ... whatever the name, solitary confinement should be banned by states as a punishment or extortion technique," he said.

He also said indefinite and prolonged solitary confinement in excess of 15 days should be ended, citing studies that have established that lasting mental damage is caused after a few days of isolation.

"Considering the severe mental pain or suffering solitary confinement may cause, it can amount to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment when used as a punishment, during pre-trial detention, indefinitely or for a prolonged period, for persons with mental disabilities or juveniles," he said.

---------

Israeli Court Renews Solitary Confinement Of Saadat For Additional Year

Friday October 28, 2011 04:07 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

The Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Ad-Dameer, stated that the Israeli District Court in Be’er Shiva ordered a one year extension of the solitary confinement of the detained Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Ahmad Saadat.

Ahmad Saadat - Image Al Manar

The court stated that “it based its ruling on secret files provided by the Israeli Shabak on August, 8, 2011”.

The imprisoned PFLP secretary-general was sent to court without his lawyer, who never received a notice regarding this court session.

The Ad-Dameer stated that by sentencing Saadat to solitary confinement for an additional year, the court violated vows by the Israeli Prison Administration to end its solitary confinement policies, and to implement the demands of the detainees to receive treatment that abides by the International law. The vows came after that detainees conducted hunger-strike for 22 days.

The Ad-Dameer added that this ruling violates the International Law and all Human Rights treaties, especially international agreements concerning prisoners of war, and added that after 22 days of hunger-strike, Saadat was moved to the Al Ramla Prison hospital, after a sharp deterioration in his health condition.

The PFLP Secretary-General has been in solitary confinement also since March 16, 2009, not allowed any visitations and denied of his right to even write or receive letters from his family. Every isolation order issued against him since then was based on “secret information” to which not even his lawyer was allowed to have access to.

On December 28, 2008, an Israeli court sentenced Saadat, who is also an elected Palestinian Legislator, to thirty years, despite the fact that it dropped charges alleging that he planned the assassination of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi, who was killed in Al Hayat Hotel on 17 October 2001.

Saadat became the PFLP secretary-general in October 2001 after the Israeli army assassinated the former secretary-general, Abu Ali Mustafa, when two Israeli Army Apache helicopters fired missiles at his office in Ramallah, in the central West Bank, on August 27, 2001.

MADA: Israel extends journalist's detention without trial

2011-10-27T18:39:00.000-07:00

Journalists light candles to commemorate their colleagues killed in Israel's last
war on Gaza, Operation Cast Lead, in Gaza City on Jan. 6 2010.
(MaanImages/Wissam Nassar, File)

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Israel on Wednesday extended the imprisonment of a journalist who has not been charged or tried for any offense, a press freedom watchdog said.

Israeli forces detained Nawaf al-Amer, a program coordinator for Quds satellite TV station, in June from his home near Nablus in the northern West Bank.

On Wednesday, Israel extended al-Amer's detention for four months, the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) said in a statement.

Al-Amer has not been tried or given any reason for his arrest or imprisonment. His wife told MADA that Israel has prevented their sons from visiting their father since his arrest.

The center strongly condemned the extension of al-Amer's detention, noting that it stood "in flagrant violation of legal due process under international law."

Al-Amer is being held in administrative detention, a practice widely used by Israel against Palestinians under which detainees are held without charge or trial.

The Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem says administrative detention "is carried out under the thick cover of privilege, which denies detainees the possibility of mounting a proper defense."

MADA urged international organizations to protect Palestinian journalists and to lobby on behalf of those in detention.

Eshel's captives await a reply

2011-10-26T17:54:00.000-07:00

[ 25/10/2011 - 01:27 PM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- Palestinian Prisoner Society (PPS) on Tuesday said that most of the captives in Eshel who suspended their hunger strike, especially those affiliated with the PFLP, were returned to the prison wards. The PPS's lawyer who visited the prison said that a number of PFLP captives who were on hunger strike were moved to solitary at HaliKidar prison.
Following the suspension of the hunger strike the captives, especially those in ward 10, sent letters to Israeli prison officials explaining that the suspension was in order to give the Israeli prison service time to improve the detention conditions. The captives have so far not received any replies.

Egypt releases 6 Palestinians

2011-10-26T16:02:00.000-07:00

File photo of the Rafah crossing on the border of Egypt and Gaza.
(MaanImages/Hatem Omar)

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Egyptian authorities on Tuesday released six Palestinians who had been detained for illegally entering Egypt without permits.

Palestinian sources told Ma'an that six men from Rafah and Khan Younis in southern Gaza were returned to the Gaza Strip via the Rafah crossing.

They were identified as Ahmad al-Banna, Shadi al-Qirm, Iyad Mishal, Adnan Muhsin, Samir Arraj, and Ahmad Bardaweil.

Aruri: Israel's exile of prisoners strategic mistake

2011-10-25T17:22:00.000-07:00

[ 25/10/2011 - 12:58 PM ]

DAMASCUS, (PIC)-- Senior Hamas official in charge of the prisoners' file Saleh Al-Aruri said Israel makes a strategic mistake when it exiles Palestinian prisoners from their occupied homeland.

"The occupation's decision to banish prisoners cannot break their determination in terms of their insistence on struggling and fighting against the occupation, but on the contrary, this strengthens them and make them stronger and more motivated to resist and fight," Aruri said in a press release.

He pointed out that the second batch of the swap deal, due to be completed within two months, would include the release of longtime prisoners jailed for alleged security reasons and they would return to their homes without any exile.

In a related incident, Maariv newspaper said on Monday the majority of Palestinian prisoners released as part of the swap deal with Hamas Movement refused to sign a pledge not to return to resistance activities against Israel.

A few hours before implementing the swap deal, Shabak officers visited the jails from which those prisoners were released and failed misrably to force them to sign a written plegde to give up their activities against Israel, according to Maariv.

Israeli police detain 14 at prison protest

2011-10-21T15:56:00.000-07:00

Demonstrators at Israel's Ofer prison express support of detainees' hunger
strike on Oct. 5, 2011 (MaanImages)

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israeli police detained 14 Palestinian citizens of Israel on Thursday during a demonstration at Israel's Hasharon prison calling for the release of all Palestinian detainees, a human rights organization said.

Around 40 Palestinian-Israelis gathered to wave Palestinian flags and demand the release of prisoners that were not part of an exchange deal between Israel and Hamas, the head of Israel-based human rights group Huriyat Muhammad Kananeh told Ma'an.

Israel released 477 prisoners, including 27 women, in return for Hamas handing over captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit on Tuesday, and 550 additional prisoners will be released in two months under the swap deal.

Israeli police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said he could only confirm 12 were detained at the scene.

He told Ma'an the protest was illegal as it lacked coordination with authorities, and that protesters called for the kidnap of more soldiers and attacked a police officer.

Kananeh said police dispersed the protest by force, adding that three women were among those detained.

Demonstrators were calling for the release of the nine women still in Israeli jails, he said.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said on Thursday that Egypt has assured the movement that the remaining female prisoners will be released "in the coming days," as part of the swap deal.

Egypt arrests Israeli national at border crossing

2011-10-20T15:53:00.000-07:00

EL-ARISH, Egypt (Ma'an) -- Egyptian authorities arrested a Palestinian citizen of Israel at the Egypt border Thursday, saying they discovered a weapon and large quantity of ammunition in his possession.

The Palestinian-Israeli, who was not otherwise identified, told Egyptian security forces he worked for an Israeli tourism company and was traveling with his wife to the northern Sinai city of Taba, officials said.

Forces discovered an American-made weapon when searching the man's car as he entered Egypt via the Taba border crossing near the southern town of Eilat, Egyptian security officials told Ma'an.

The suspect was detained when he failed to provide an adequate explanation for the weapon and ammunition, and has been transferred for investigation to facilities in southern Sinai, they said.

The arrest comes amid a breakdown in Israel-Egypt relations, although they have improved in recent days following Cairo's successful mediation of a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas.

Egypt is also considering swapping a US-Israeli joint national, suspected of spying for Israel, for 81 Egyptians detained in Israel, the state-owned daily Al-Ahram said Sunday.

Israel enjoyed close ties with deposed President Hosni Mubarak, brought down in February in a popular uprising. Relations have remained tense as Egypt struggles to maintain security in the Sinai.

All Freed Detainees Are Now In Gaza, Ramallah

2011-10-18T04:42:00.000-07:00

Tuesday October 18, 2011 13:50 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

All Palestinian detainees released under the first phase of the prisoners-swap deal between Israel and the Hamas movement, except those sent to Egypt, are now in Gaza and Ramallah. This article includes the speeches of President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, and Hamas leader, Hasan Yousef, standing next to him.

Gaza Strip - Detainees Welcome Cermony - Still from Al Jazeera

The Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, headed by President Mahmoud Abbas, held a conference welcoming the detainees, and said “you are freedom fighters, for God and the country”.

Abbas said that he hopes that all detainees in Israeli prisons will be freed, and will be able to return home.

The President further stated that the suffering and steadfastness of the detainees will never be wasted.

“You sacrificed, you struggled, and you will see the outcome of this struggle; a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital”, Abbas said, “Your case was always our main focus around the world, we will continue to act for the release of all detainees”.

“God willing, we will soon see, brother Marwan Barghouthi, brother Ahmad Saadat, Ibrahim Hamed, Abbas Al Sayyid, and every detainee, coming back home”, Abbas stated, and also wished speedy recovery for Ahmad Saadat after his health condition deteriorated as he and the rest of the detainees continue their hunger-strike. Saadat is the secretary-general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

He also thanked Egypt for its role in the deal and in the reconciliation agreement between Fateh and Hamas, adding that this deal was initiated by the detainees in Israeli jails “who acted for the unity of their people”.

“Brothers and sisters, we are acting to achieve an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital. The future state will be in the 1967 borders, and Israel must stop all of its settlement activities and violations”, Abbas said, “I won't be telling a secret when I say that there is an agreement between us and and Israel for the release of more detainees after this deal is concluded, therefore, we are asking them (Israel) to abide by their vows. if they give weight to their own promises”.

“We are building the institutions of our future state, we have strong institutions, not found in other countries”, the president added, “brothers and sister, your families and friends wherever they are, are happy for you, for your release, but, let me say, that we owe all of this, after God, to all of the martyrs who sacrificed for our country”.

Abbas also thanked Egypt for its important role in reaching the deal.

Standing next to Abbas, Hamas leader, Hasan Yousef, stated in his speech the followed Abbas' speech that, “as much as we are happy for the release of the detainees, we are also in pain, because we still have brothers and sisters in Israeli jails”, and added that the Palestinian people will always act for the release of all detainees.

Yousef further stated that the Palestinian people have the capabilities to act for the release of all detainees, and that this prisoner-swap deal is a proof that resistance is an effective measure, to be conducted side-by-side with other venues of resistance and politics.

“Mr president, we all came here, to your home, representing all factions and segments of the society, to affirm our unity, we have no choice but to unite”, he added, “Mr. President, we all stand together, united, to counter the illegal Israeli policies that deny our legitimate rights. We want to thank Egypt, for its important local and regional role, and we want to thank every side that helped in achieving this deal, we want to thank the president, and all Arab countries, we are all brothers, and we must send a special thank you for our people in the Gaza Strip”.

Thousands then started chanting “With our soul and blood we sacrifice for Palestine”, and Yousef chanted with them.

In Gaza, Ismail Haniyya of Hamas and several political and military leaders of the movement and other factions, welcomed the detainees who were sent to Gaza and affirmed that resistance fights for the liberation of its people, and managed to achieve victories.

Meanwhile, Cairo declared a state of emergency at the Cairo International Airport as 40 of the released detainees will be flown out to Turkey, Qatar and Syria, as Israel conditioned their release with their exile.

It is worth mentioning that clashes were reported at the Betunia terminal leading to Ramallah, after the Israeli army closed the terminal as thousands of residents gathered there to welcome the detainees.

Thousands of residents, and families of the released detainees gathered near the terminal awaiting to greet and welcome the freed detainees.

The army used waste-water cannons, and fired gas bombs, to force the residents away, and said that the released detainees will be sent to the Palestinian Authority headquarters in Ramallah through another terminal.

The army then said that nobody will be allowed to greet the detainees at the terminal and forced the Red Cross out of the area before attacking the residents.

There are approximately 5000 detainees who are still imprisoned by Israel, dozens of them have been imprisoned since 20, 25 years or more.

First prisoners freed in West Bank, Gaza Strip

2011-10-18T04:40:00.000-07:00

Ma'an

RAFAH (AFP) -- The first Palestinian prisoners freed in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as part of a landmark deal for the return of a captured Israeli soldier arrived home on Tuesday, an AFP reporter said.

Israel freed 477 Palestinian prisoners, most of them to the Gaza Strip, where Hamas leaders greeted former prisoners piling off buses bearing Red Cross insignia.

"We are going home with dignity, thank God," one prisoner told Egyptian television from the bus.

"Thank God for this great achievement. The Palestinian people deserve to live in freedom like everyone else," said another freed prisoner, thanking Egypt for mediating the deal.

"This (exchange deal) is the first step towards the full liberation of the Palestinian people," he said.

Three cars belonging to the ruling Hamas movement followed by a Red Cross vehicle accompanied a convoy of eight buses carrying the prisoners to their waiting relatives in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah.

"More than 200,000 people have gathered now at the Katiba (in Gaza City) to participate in the main festival welcoming the prisoners," one of the Hamas officials involved in organizing the welcome rally said.

Buses carrying the first Palestinian prisoners to be freed in the West Bank headed towards the city of Ramallah on Tuesday, an AFP reporter said.

A convoy of several buses was heading to the seat of the Palestinian presidency, the Muqataa, in Ramallah, where the detainees were expected to be greeted by President Mahmoud Abbas.

Gaza's Hamas government had earlier released captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who in an interview shortly after said he hoped the prisoner exchange could lead to peace between both sides.

Crowds gathered in both Gaza and the West Bank awaiting the return of their prisoners.

"This is the greatest joy for the Palestinian people," said Azzia al-Qawasmeh, awaiting at a West Bank checkpoint for her son Amer, who she said had been in prison for 24 years.

The landmark deal between Israel and Hamas will see Israel freeing a total of 1,027 prisoners in exchange for the release of Shalit, a soldier who has been held by Gaza militants for more than five years.

Reuters contributed to this report

Barghouti: Prisoners were not consulted over swap deal

2011-10-18T00:41:00.000-07:00

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Detained Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti said Sunday that Hamas did not consult detainees over its prisoner swap deal with Israel.

Hamas has agreed to free Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for the release of 1,027 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.

Several prominent political leaders, including Barghouti, were left out of the deal.

In a statement relayed by his lawyer Elias Sabagh, Barghouti said he had learned of the deal from media reports. Prison leaders -- including Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine secretary-general Ahmad Saadat -- were not involved in negotiations, Barghouti said.

Further, prisoners who will be exiled under the agreement were not informed of the decision. Over 200 prisoners will not be released to their homes, but will be deported to Gaza or abroad.

Barghouti is a charismatic and popular figure widely viewed as a contender to succeed Mahmoud Abbas as president.

Minister: Detainees suspend strike after deal on isolation

2011-10-18T00:34:00.000-07:00

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Palestinians jailed in Israel suspended a three-week hunger strike on Monday, the minister of detainee affairs in Ramallah said.

Issa Qaraqe told the official Wafa news agency that prisoners ended the strike after Israeli prison authorities agreed to end the practice of solitary confinement.

Israel will stop holding detainees in isolation on Tuesday, immediately after releasing 477 prisoners in a swap deal to free captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, Qaraqe said.

Prisoners went on hunger strike on Sept. 27 to protest harsher conditions since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to toughen measures in June to pressure Hamas to free Shalit.

An end to solitary confinement was a key demand of the strikers.

The protest was started by detainees affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, whose leader Ahmad Saadat has been held in isolation for three years. Saadat, who joined the hunger strike, was one of several prominent prisoners left out of the swap deal.

PFLP central committee member Jamil Mizhir warned on Monday that the movement would take action against Israel after receiving reports that Saadat had been transferred to hospital.

Mizhir said in a statement that the group blamed Israel for his health condition,

"If Saadat's condition is at risk, the PFLP response will be very harsh," Mizhir warned.

According to recent estimates from the Palestinian Authority, there are currently 6,000 Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli jails.

Swap Deal Officially Kicked-Off

2011-10-18T00:30:00.000-07:00

Tuesday October 18, 2011 09:49 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

The prisoner-swap deal signed between Hamas and Israel has effectively entered the implementation process after the Israeli High Court of Justice rejected all appeals filed by Israelis against it. Shalit is now in Egypt; Egyptian sources reported. Hundreds of detainees loaded onto buses in preparation for their release.

Gilad Shalit

The deal will set 1027 Palestinian detainees free on two phases in exchange for the release of corporal Gilad Shalit. Media sources reported that Shalit was moved to Egypt in preparation to be handed to Israel after it releases the first 477 detainees.

Egyptian media sources reported that Shalit was moved to Egypt and is now in the hands of the Egyptian security services awaiting to be moved back to Israel.

Shalit reportedly crossed into Egypt when an SUV loaded with Palestinian fighters crossing the border towards Egypt, and quickly drove back to the Palestinian side of the border after handing Shalit to Egypt.

The second phase will ensure the release of 550 detainees two months after the first phase is concluded.

The implementation of the first phase of the deal started at 2 on Tuesday at dawn when 96 detainees were moved from the Negev Detention Camp to the Ofer Prison in preparation to be released into the West Bank.

334 detainees were loaded onto buses that will drive them to the Kerem Shalom (Karem Abu Salem) Crossing between Israel and Gaza.

On Tuesday around 4 at dawn, a bus loaded with 27 female detainees, 16 detainees from Jerusalem, and three from the 1948 territories drove off on its way to release them. Four female detainees were sent to Karem Abu Salem Crossing, while one detainee from the Golan Heights was moved to a local police station. Three detainees from the 1948 territories were moved to Majiddo Prison in preparation for their release.

On Monday evening, the Israeli High Court rejected four appeals filed by Israelis against the deal, stated that the swap-deal is totally legal, and granted the deal a green-light.

Palestinian Minister of Detainees in the West Bank, Issa Qaraqe', stated that Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, will personally welcome the West Bank released detainees at his headquarters in Ramallah. Leaders of different factions and institutions will be attending the ceremony.

The Hamas movement in Gaza also concluded its preparations for welcome the detainees who will be sent to Gaza. 163 detainees will be sent to the Rafah Border Terminal before heading to Gaza.

40 detainees will be forced into exile, while Hamas' Political Bureau head, Khaled Mashal, will be holding an official ceremony in Cairo to welcome them.

Israeli military and security sources reported that the army is preparing to counter any scenario that could jeopardize the deal, especially after Shalit is handed to Egyptian mediators.

Before being sent back home, Israel wants to conduct a comprehensive medical checkup on Shalit before he is airlifted to a military base in Israel, where his parents will be waiting for him. He will likely undergo another checkup at the second base before he is sent back home with his family.

Israel imposed media restrictions at the base in order to ensure privacy for Shalit and his family.

Shalit will be meeting Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, and Israeli Army Chief of Staff, Benny Gantz.

Zahhar: “Swap-deal Includes Lifting The Siege On Gaza”

2011-10-18T00:21:00.000-07:00

Tuesday October 18, 2011 09:08 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

Hamas political leader, Mahmoud Zahhar, told Israeli daily, Haaretz, that the prisoner-swap deal reached indirectly reached between Hamas and Israel includes lifting the Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip.

Mahmoud Zahhar - File Image - Islam Times

Zahhar added that this issue was agreed upon when the German mediator started his role in the swap talks. “This is still valid under the current agreement”, he said.

The Hamas leader further stated that the deal to release prisoner-of-war Gilad Shalit, in return for releasing more than a thousand Palestinian detainees, also includes a section obliging Israel to improve the living conditions of the Palestinian detainees, adding that Gaza Strip families of the detainees will be allow to visit their beloved one.

After Shalit was captured on June 26, 2006, Israel canceled all visitation rights to Gaza Strip families of political prisoners.

Zahhar also said that Israel will also have to ease the restrictions on border terminals leading to Gaza, including travel from Gaza to the West Bank via Israel.

He stated that the deal also includes increasing the exports of the Gaza Strip to Israel and abroad.

Meanwhile, officials at the Israeli Defense Ministry stated that the Shalit deal represents a shift in the relations between Hamas and Israel, adding that, in recent months, Israel started easing the siege on Gaza as part of an unofficial ceasefire between Hamas and Tel Aviv.

Arouri: we are awaiting the Israeli reply regarding the nine female captives

2011-10-18T00:15:00.000-07:00

[ 17/10/2011 - 09:56 PM ]

CAIRO, (PIC)-- Hamas political bureau member, Sheikh Saleh al-Arouri who is responsible for the captives’ file, said that his movement submitted to the occupation, through the Egyptian mediator, a list of 9 female captives who were excluded from the exchange list and informed them that excluding them will be considered a breach of the agreement.
He told PIC, in an exclusive interview: “During the negotiations the Zionist side supplied a list of Palestinian female captives which included 27 captives. After we scrutinised the list we discovered that nine female captives were excluded from the list, so we returned the list to them and awaiting their reply.”
About the rumours that most of those captives included on the exchange list are affiliated with Hamas, he said that out 1027 captives due to be released, 600-700 will be from other factions, mostly affiliated with Fatah.
About the criticism the exchange deal attracted from figures in the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority and Fatah, especially failing to free a number of leaders, he said: "We managed to free over a 1000 captives, but there is still a huge number of captives in jails, thus those who criticise what we have achieved are required to free the rest of the captives instead of criticising what was achieved."

Qaraqe' Describes Prisoners-Swap Deal As Unilateral, Party-Oriented

2011-10-18T00:13:00.000-07:00

Monday October 17, 2011 12:42 by Majd Qumsieh - IMEMC & Agencies

The Minister of Detainees and Ex-detainees Affairs, Issa Qaraqe’, stated on Monday the 17th of October, that the deal is unilateral and party-directed, the Palestinian News Agency (WAFA) reported.

Image From www.ncr-iran.org

He explained in a speech with the “Voice of Palestine”, broadcast on Monday, that the deal excluded old detainees like Kareem Younis, in addition to several leaders who exude strong symbolism, like Ahmad Saadat and Marwan Al-Barghouthi.

He added that Hamas started negotiations about the deal in a secret manner, and did not consult anybody, nor asked for further information about the detainees.

Qaraqe' also stated that "it is unfair that the deal did not secure the release of all female detainees from Israeli prisons".

Furthermore, the minister warned that the situation of the hunger-striking detainees is gradually deteriorating. pointing out that the Ministry of Detainees has asked the Red Cross to visit Ahmad Saadat, who was brought to hospital last night, after his health took a turn for the worse.

PFLP warns against any harm befalling Saadat

2011-10-17T09:16:00.000-07:00

[ 17/10/2011 - 10:37 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Jamil Mizher, politburo member of the popular front for the liberation of Palestine, has held the Israeli occupation authority fully responsible for the life of the front’s detained leader Ahmed Saadat.
He said in a press release on Monday that his front would retaliate harshly if Saadat’s life was threatened. Saadat was taken to Ramle prison hospital after his health condition worsened.
He pointed out that Saadat suffered many diseases in addition to engaging in the hunger strike for 20 days.
Mizher urged for persistence in the support campaign with the Palestinian prisoners who have been waging the hunger strike to demand better incarceration conditions.

PFLP says it will respond if leader's health deteriorates

Published today (updated) 17/10/2011 15:12

Palestinians participate in a protest in support of Ahmed Saadat, jailed leader
of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, in the West Bank city of
Nablus, on December 25, 2008. (MaanImages/Rami Swidan)

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- PFLP central committee member Jamil Mizhir warned on Monday that the movement will take action against Israel if the health of their imprisoned leader deteriorates.

Ahmad Saadat is on hunger strike as part of a mass prisoner protest against worsening Israeli prison policies launched on Sept. 27. The Popular Front leader had been held in solitary confinement for three years.

Mizhir said in a statement that the group blamed Israel for his health condition, after receiving reports that Saadat had been transferred to hospital.

"If Saadat's condition is at risk, the PFLP response will be very harsh," Mizhir warned.

The PFLP official said the deal agreed last week for the release of over 1,000 prisoners in exchange for captured soldier Gilad Shalit will push the movement to continue resistance to eventually free all Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jail.

Mizhir said the group was concerned about Saadat and expressed support for the hunger strikers.

Prisoners have refused food for 21 days to protest harsher conditions since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to toughen measures in June to pressure Hamas to free Shalit.

Rights group Addameer called on Thursday for the international community to relaunch efforts to end what it called "collective punishment" of prisoners, as Shalit was set to be freed.

Recent estimates from the Palestinian Authority say there are currently 6,000 Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli jails.

Resheq: Turkey, Jordan, Syria to receive exiled prisoners

2011-10-17T09:05:00.000-07:00

[ 17/10/2011 - 11:04 AM ]

BEIRUT, (PIC)-- Turkey, Jordan, and Syria have expressed readiness to host the 40 Palestinian prisoners who will be freed from Israeli jails on condition of being banished outside Palestine, political bureau member of Hamas Ezzet Al-Resheq revealed.
He said in a press statement on Monday that preparations would be finalized within the next two days for hosting those ex-prisoners in those countries.
He said that a senior Hamas delegation led by its supreme leader Khaled Mishaal would fly to Cairo on Monday to receive and honor the liberated prisoners.
Resheq said that contacts were made with PA chief and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas to turn the occasion (receiving the freed prisoners) into a national occasion reflecting unity of the Palestinian people.

Hamas official: Qatar, Turkey to host prisoners

Published today (updated) 17/10/2011 15:17

A Palestinian groom is carried by his friend as he celebrates his wedding
and a prisoner swap between Hamas and Israel, in front of the
headquarters of the International Red Cross in Gaza City October 14, 2011.
(REUTERS/Mohammed Salem)

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzouq said on Monday that three countries are willing to host Palestinian detainees set to be released under a recent exchange deal between Hamas and Israel.

Marzouq, deputy head of the Hamas politburo, told the London based pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat that Qatar and Turkey had agreed to host exiled prisoners. Al-Hayat mentioned that Syria could also be among the countries willing to receive released detainees.

Turkish media said Friday that Turkey would accept all those exiled abroad.

A Hamas delegation headed by Khaled Mashaal will arrive in Cairo later on Monday to welcome released prisoners, Marzouq said.

The first stage of the prisoner swap is set to take place in the Egyptian Sinai, with Israel transferring some 430 Palestinian prisoners to a holding facility in the Negev desert on Sunday in preparation for the exchange on Tuesday.

Abu Marzouq praised Egypt's role in mediating negotiations for the prisoner deal to exchange 1,027 Palestinian detainees for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

Several countries offered to facilitate the swap, Marzouq said, but the final mediators had to be agreed on between Israel and Hamas.

The Hamas official also apologized for any misunderstanding over the number of female detainees to be released. Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal had described the list of 27 women due to be released as all female prisoners held by Israel.

Marzouq confirmed, however, that 9 female prisoners are not part of the prisoner deal.

While some of the 477 prisoners due to be released this week will go home to the West Bank and Gaza Strip, almost half will be exiled.

Some 40 detainees will be deported to third countries and 163 to Gaza.

According to the latest figures provided by the Palestinian Authority, there are around 6,000 Palestinians in Israeli jails. The majority remaining in prison have vowed to continue a hunger strike launched on Sept. 27, in protest against worsening conditions in Israeli prisons.

IOA isolates detained Palestinian MP

2011-10-17T09:02:00.000-07:00

[ 17/10/2011 - 11:04 AM ]

TULKAREM, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authority transferred detained Palestinian MP Abdulrahman Zeidan from Megiddo jail to an isolation cell in Shatta jail.
A statement by the office of Hamas lawmakers in the West Bank said that the transfer was a surprise step, apparently in a bid to abort the prisoners’ hunger strike that has been ongoing for the past three weeks.
Zeidan was arrested in his home in Tulkarem last June in a fresh wave of arrests targeting Hamas MPs in the West Bank.

Israel moves hundreds of prisoners near swap site

2011-10-17T09:00:00.000-07:00

A Palestinian prisoner gestures from the window of a bus as it leaves Nafha
Prison in the southern town of Mitzpe Ramon on Oct. 16, 2011, before a
prisoner swap that is expected to take place on Tuesday.
(REUTERS/Ilan Assayag)

Maan

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Israel bused some 430 Palestinian prisoners under heavy guard to a holding facility in the Negev desert on Sunday in preparation for them to be exchanged on Tuesday for captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, officials said.

The prisoner swap, to take place in the nearby Egyptian desert region of Sinai, is the first stage of the Egyptian- and German-brokered deal which will see over 1,000 Palestinians released from Israeli jail .

Forty-seven further Palestinians slated for release on Tuesday were moved to a holding cell in central Israel on Sunday.

While some of the 477 released this week will go home to the West Bank and Gaza Strip, almost half will be exiled, without stopping on Palestinian soil.

Some 200 detainees are slated for exile, 40 detainees to third countries and 163 to Gaza. Turkish media said on Friday that Turkey would accept all those exiled abroad.

On Sunday Hamas and Israel posted lists of the names of prisoners due to go free this week, opening the way for anyone opposed to their release to file a legal appeal within 48 hours. Israeli media reported on Sunday that a number of petitions had been filed, but the court has never stayed a government decision to release prisoners in the past.

"Unless the Supreme Court intervenes, or someone in Gaza goes nuts, it appears the deal will go through in two days," Yaakov Amidror, national security adviser for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told Army Radio.

'No crisis'

On Sunday, Gaza was preparing a heroes' welcome for 295 of the prisoners due to be sent to the territory. Workmen hammered together an open-air stage and streets were decorated with Hamas and Palestinian flags.

The deal has been widely celebrated by Palestinians, despite heartache over prisoners remaining in jail and exiled abroad.

Popular jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti said prisoners were not part of the negotiating process and first learned of the deal through the media, his lawyer told Ma'an on Sunday.

Barghouti and PFLP leader Ahmad Saadat are among several prominent figures who were left off the deal.

Hamas leader Ghazi Hamad told Ma'an on Sunday that there was no crisis in implementing the prisoners exchange. He denied a Voice of Palestine interview, which quoted him saying the number of exiles and female detainees to be released were sticking points to be resolved with Israel by the end of the week.

The remaining 550 prisoners are set to be released in two months, an arrangement Hamad said Egypt has guaranteed to ensure the second phase runs smoothly.

According to latest figures provided by the Palestinian Authority, there are around 6,000 Palestinians in Israeli jails. The majority remaining in jail have vowed to continue a hunger strike that entered its 20th day on Sunday, in protest of worsening conditions in Israeli prisons.

Mixed emotions in Israel

An opinion poll by Israel's Channel 10 TV showed the exchange was backed by two-thirds of Israelis. Shalit, now 25, was last seen, looking pale and thin, in a 2009 video shot by his captors.

The repatriation of captured soldiers, alive or dead, has long been an emotionally charged issue for Israelis, many of whom have served in the military. But they also feel a sting over the release of Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis.

Israel has said that around 300 of the 1,027 being freed in both stages of the deal were involved in violent crime.

One Israeli group opposed to the deal, the Almagor Terror Victims' Association, said the exchange would lead to more violence and abduction attempts.

"The judges should explain to terror victims how they allow Israelis to be murdered and (for the killers) to be released. They should look them in the eyes and explain," Meir Indor, head of Almagor, told Israeli television.

Gila Edri-Dekel, whose brother Sharon was abducted and killed by Palestinian militants in 1996, said her family has been in a state of angst since hearing that his killers were to be released in the swap.

"To see the number of prisoners released, to see his killers released, it is another punishment for my mother," Edri-Dekel told Army Radio.

Israel's Supreme Court will hear the group's petitions against the swap on Monday. Hours beforehand, the court took the rare step of granting Noam Shalit's request to argue himself in its chambers in favor of the deal for his son.

In a televised appeal, the soldier's mother Aviva Shalit, said "we understand their heavy hearts" of Israeli attack victims, but cautioned any delay in implementing the sensitive deal "is liable to put Gilad at risk."

Shalit, a tank crewman captured in 2006 by militants who tunneled into Israel from fenced-off Gaza and spirited him into the enclave, was expected to be handed over in Egypt's adjacent Sinai desert and flown to Israel.

Israel, which withdrew troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005, tightened its blockade of the small coastal territory which is home to around 1.5 million Palestinians after Shalit was seized.

Ma'an staff contributed to this report

Israel high court discusses prisoner exchange appeals

2011-10-17T08:58:00.000-07:00

A protester (R) holds a sign during a demonstration outside Israel's Supreme
Court in Jerusalem, Oct. 17, 2011, against a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas,
as people supporting the deal hold signs behind him. The signs read: The blood
of those murdered screams from the ground. Release of murderers - danger,
humiliation and blasphemy. (Reuters/Eric Gaillard)

Maan

By Ari Rabinovitch

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Israelis opposed to a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas sought Supreme Court intervention on Monday to block the release of hundreds of jailed Palestinians in return for captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

The first phase of the swap, to take place on Tuesday, should bring to a close a saga that has gripped Israelis over the five years of Shalit's captivity in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.

But under Israeli law, those against the planned release of 477 Palestinian prisoners, some of whom were convicted of deadly attacks, can appeal before the exchange is carried out.

Four petitions were filed with the Supreme Court by the Almagor Terror Victims Association and relatives of Israelis killed in Palestinian attacks.

Judging from similar appeals in prisoner exchange deals in the past, the court is unlikely to intervene in what it considers a political and security issue.

"I understand the difficulty in accepting that the vile people who committed the heinous crimes against your loved ones will not pay the full price they deserve," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote in a letter, released by his office, to bereaved Israeli families.

Hamas prepared a heroes' welcome in Gaza for 295 of the prisoners due to be sent to the Israeli-blockaded territory. Palestinians regard brethren jailed by Israel as prisoners of war in a struggle for statehood. Israel holds some 6,000 Palestinian prisoners.

An opinion poll in the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth found that 79 percent of the public supported the deal with Hamas.

Shalit, now 25, was captured in 2006 by militants who tunneled into Israel from the Gaza Strip and surprised his tank crew, killing two of his comrades.

Israel, which withdrew troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005, tightened its blockade of the coastal territory after he was seized and spirited into the Gaza Strip.

Emotions high

The repatriation of captured soldiers, alive or dead, has long been an emotionally charged issue for Israelis, many of whom have served in the military. But they also feel a sting over the high price they feel Israel paid for Shalit.

Yossi Zur, whose son Asaf was among 17 people killed in a suicide bombing on a bus in the Israeli city of Haifa in 2003, asked the Supreme Court to prevent the release of the prisoners, three of whom were linked to the attack.

"From our experience with past deals, and sadly we have a lot of experience, we know how many Israelis will be killed as a result of the release of these terrorists. I am here to protect my children who are still alive," Zur told Channel 10 television.

In a rare step, the court has allowed Shalit's parents to appear and argue in favor of the deal for their son.

"Nobody knows what the impact of any delay, or any change, even the smallest, in the terms would be," they wrote in a letter to the court.

Israel's Prison Service has bused the 477 Palestinian prisoners under heavy guard to two holding facilities ahead of their release.

On Tuesday, some of the Palestinians will be brought to Egypt's Sinai desert, where the exchange for Shalit will take place. Some of those prisoners will be taken to the Gaza Strip and 41 will be exiled abroad. Shalit will be flown to an air base in Israel to be reunited with his family.

A smaller group of prisoners on the release roster will be taken from Israel to the occupied West Bank, where they will be welcomed by President Mahmoud Abbas and their families.

Hamas sources said the exiled prisoners will be received by Turkey, Qatar and Syria after being brought to Cairo, where the movement's leader, Khaled Meshaal, will greet them.

In the second stage, expected to take place in about two months, the remaining 550 Palestinian prisoners will be freed, officials said.

Israel's deal with Hamas seemed unlikely to have an impact on international efforts to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, which collapsed 13 months ago over Israel's refusal to halt illegal settlement building in the West Bank.

Abbas has been pursuing a bid for UN recognition of statehood in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the absence of negotiations with Israel.

Prisoners society: 9 female detainees not included in deal

2011-10-16T19:24:00.000-07:00

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- The Palestinian prisoners society on Sunday released the names of 9 female detainees it said are not included in the prisoner exchange set to take place on Tuesday.

Suad Ahmad Abdul Raouf, Lina Ahmad al-Jarbuni, Khadija Kayed Abu Ayesh, Muna Amna, Bushra al-Tawil, Feda Abu Suneineh, Haniyeh Nasser, Rani Halasa and Worood Qassem will not be released along with the 27 other female detainees, according to the society.

The names include all three Palestinian female detainees born in Israel, and two women from Ramallah, according to lists by the prisoners society. However it also names at least one woman -- Muna Amna -- who appears on an Israeli list of those slated for release. Ma'an could not independently verify the prisoners' society list.

Earlier on Sunday, Israel's ministry of justice published a list of 450 men and 27 women to be released as part of a prisoner exchange for captured soldier Gilad Shalit.

Following publication of the names, the 27 women were transferred from Damun prison in the north to Sharon in central Israel ahead of their release, Israeli officials said.

The women were transported in four buses with blacked out windows, according to Israel Radio.

The plight of women imprisoned in Israel causes widespread concern among Palestinians.

In a televised statement announcing the deal on Tuesday, Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal had described a list of 27 women due to be released as all female prisoners held by Israel.

But the prisoners society said in Sunday's statement that there are a total of 36 female detainees in Israeli jails.

A lawyer from the prisoners society last Wednesday named 35 female detainees she said would be released, while lists provided by the Popular Resistance Committees' armed wing and Israel's prison service name 27 women.

According to figures provided by the Palestinian Authority in early October, there are at least 6,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, including 35 women.

AFP contributed to this report

Prisoners group: Israel to end isolation policy

2011-10-16T19:23:00.000-07:00

Lebanese and Palestinians carry banners and Palestinian flags as they take
part in a protest calling for the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli
jails, near the International Committee of Red Cross offices in Beirut, on
October 14, 2011. (Reuters/Sharif Karim)

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Israeli authorities told Palestinian prisoners they will end solitary confinement in jails with the exception of three Hamas-affiliated detainees, the head of the Palestinian Prisoners Society said Saturday.

Qadura Fares told Ma'an Israeli prison officers said they will completely end the policy of isolation cells, a key demand of a prisoners hunger strike that entered its 19th day on Saturday.

"This is a good sign that the issue of isolating (prisoners) will end and reach a resolution," Qadura said.

The prison administration will seek approval from Israel's internal security service, the Shin Bet. Officers in Israel's Ramon prison told detainees that the Shin Bet agreed to end isolation bar three Hamas cadres, he said.

Abdullah Barghouti, Ibrahim Hamed, and Mahmoud Issa -- members of Hamas's military wing -- will remain in solitary confinement.

Fares told Ma'an that the exceptions would block a solution to the issue. The three prisoners must be released from isolation, he said, adding that they should be released as part of an exchange deal agreed by Israel and Hamas this week.

The Hamas militants have not appeared on prisoner release lists under the deal to free over 1,000 Palestinians from Tuesday in exchange for captured Israeli solider Gilad Shalit.

Spokesman for the detainees ministry in Gaza Riyad al-Ashkar says more than 22 prisoners are currently in solitary confinement in Israeli jails.

Fares called for attention to the hunger strike and the impact it was having on detainees' health after 19 days without food.

Detainees launched the strike to protest worsening conditions in Israeli jails on Sept. 27, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to toughen measures against the 6,000 odd Palestinians in Israeli jail.

Rights group Addameer called on Thursday for the international community to relaunch efforts to end what it called "collective punishment" of prisoners, as Shalit was set to be freed.

Israel publishes list of prisoners as steps for release begin

2011-10-16T19:19:00.000-07:00

Palestinians hold placards and photographs of their relatives held in Israeli
jails during a protest calling for their release, next to the headquarters of
the International Red Cross in Jerusalem, October 14, 2011.
(REUTERS/Ammar Awad)

Ma'an

JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Israel on Sunday published the official list of 477 Palestinian prisoners to be released on Tuesday and took the first steps to releasing detainees.

The gate of a prison in northern Israel swung open on Sunday morning and three heavily guarded vehicles drove out carrying 15 Palestinian female inmates -- some making V-for-victory signs -- to another jail to await their release along with 12 other women and 450 male prisoners in the trade.

Israel's President Shimon Peres received on Saturday the details of the 477 prisoners to be released in the first stage of the exchange, and he is expected to sign their pardons by Tuesday, his spokeswoman said.

The list of 450 Palestinian men and 27 women was published by the justice ministry on the website of the Israel Prisons Service, to give the public 48 hours to lodge any legal appeals against the deal which will see the return of Shalit, who has spent more than five years in captivity.

Another 550 Palestinian prisoners are to be released within two months.

As soon as the list was published, Israel's main radio and television stations began running through the long list of deadly attacks the prisoners named on the list were convicted of.

Among the names mentioned were prisoners who were found guilty of taking part in the 2001 bombing of a Tel Aviv nightclub which killed 21 people, and the so-called Passover bombing of a hotel in the coastal town of Netanya in 2002, which killed 29 people, both of which were claimed by Hamas's armed wing.

"Pursuant to the government of Israel's decision from October 11, 2011, to approve the proceedings of the agreement for the liberation of abducted soldier Gilad Shalit, held by Hamas, prisoners will be released as detailed in the following list," said the document which details exactly where each prisoner is to be sent.

Soon after publishing the list, Israeli media reported that prison authorities had begun transferring detainees to prisons in southern and central Israel to prepare for the exchange.

Prisoners will undergo checks by the Red Cross in the Ketziot prison near Egypt's border, Haaretz reported, as well as in the Sharon facility in central Israel.

Detainees returning to the Gaza Strip will be transferred to Egypt first from where they will cross into the Strip via the Rafah crossing, Haaretz said.

Last week, several websites affiliated with the Islamist Hamas movement and the Popular Resistance Committees, both of which were involved in capturing Shalit, published lists purportedly naming Palestinians to be freed, but Sunday's list was the first official one released.

With the publication of the list, Israelis who wish to raise a legal challenge against the swap deal between Israel and Hamas, which was announced last Tuesday, can now petition against it.

On Friday, an Israeli group representing victims of Palestinian attacks lodged the first petition at the High Court to cancel, or at least delay, the deal.

The court has never in the past overturned any government decision to free prisoners involved in militant attacks against Israelis.

In their petition, the Almagor said that under the current timetable the victims' families would not have sufficient time to examine the names of prisoners set for release and prepare an appeal.

Shalit is to return to Israel on Tuesday at the same time as the first group of 477 prisoners are freed if the terms of the swap deal are respected, officials say.

Israel's chief negotiator David Meidan returned to Cairo late on Saturday to finalize the details of the prisoner exchange with Hamas, working through Egyptian mediators, media reports said.

Although greeted with initial enthusiasm, many Palestinians are disappointed with the terms of the prisoner swap, which entails some detainees being exiled abroad or away from their homes.

Some 200 detainees will be exiled, 40 detainees overseas and 163 to Gaza.

The prisoners' rights group Addameer says Israel has detained over 650,000 Palestinians since it occupied the West Bank and Gaza in 1967, around 20 percent of the population.

Under international law it is illegal for Israel, as an occupying power, to transfer Palestinians outside the occupied territory.

There are at least 6,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. They are held in high esteem within society for their role in the national struggle for self determination against Israeli occupation.

Reuters contributed to this report

Two Days after Prisoner Exchange Deal is Announced, Palestinian Prisoners Remain Steadfast in their Hunger Strike

2011-10-14T19:33:00.000-07:00

Addameer

Ramallah, 13 October 2011

As the world welcomed the conclusion of an extensive prisoner exchange deal between Israeli and Hamas authorities on 11 October, Palestinian political prisoners held in Israeli prisons resolutely entered their third week of a hunger strike, launched on 27 September in response to pronounced deteriorations in their detention conditions. Addameer is concerned that these prisoners’ dire health conditions and isolation will only be exacerbated over the next three days as Israeli prisons close during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.

Indeed, while the prisoner exchange deal will be thoroughly scrutinized over the next three days, it will be completely impossible for lawyers and International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) delegates to visit Israeli prisons during the same period because of the Sukkot holiday. As a result, until at least Sunday 16 October, there will be no independent monitoring of, or contact with, the hunger striking prisoners, some of whom are already in dismal health. Furthermore, it will be impossible to verify whether salt has been returned to prisoners who have been on a hunger strike for more than 14 days, as is required by Israeli law, an illegal measure that could significantly impact the prisoners’ health. As of 12 October, which marked the sixteenth day of the hunger strike and the last time Addameer lawyers were able to undertake visits, administrations in the visited prisons had not returned the salt to the strikers. In addition, Addameer expects that lawyer visits will be further complicated by the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) during the entire period of the prisoner releases, with authorities likely to attribute this to the logistics of the releases.

Addameer is extremely concerned about the three-day period during which striking prisoners will be left completely isolated from the outside world, especially at such an advanced stage in their hunger strike. Addameer therefore urges the ICRC to intervene with the IPS to allow them to visit the prisons during the Sukkot holidays and further reminds the IPS that it will be held responsible for the striking prisoners’ life. Finally, it should be recalled that the punitive and collective measures imposed by the IPS on Palestinian political prisoners in recent months were taken directly following a speech by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. As such, with Shalit now set to be released within the next few days, Addameer demands that the international community rally to ensure that these politically-motivated measures, which constitute collective punishment, be immediately reversed and the prisoners’ legitimate demands granted.

Transfer of freed Palestinian prisoners 'begins Tuesday'

2011-10-14T09:18:00.000-07:00

Women hug each other as they take part in a protest calling for the release of
their sons held in Israeli jails, inside the headquarters of the International Red
Cross in Gaza City October 13, 2011. (Reuters/Mohammed Salem)

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- One of the groups involved in the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit said Thursday that the transfer of some 450 Palestinian prisoners will begin Tuesday.

Spokesman Abu Mujahed of the Popular Resistance Committees said Thursday that as soon as the detainees are released, officials will check each one to make sure they are among those listed in the deal.

Once the prisoners are checked, the factions holding Shalit will release him too.

An official in the PRC's military wing, meanwhile, released a list of prisoners it says Israel agreed to free in exchange for Shalit. The list includes 477 names along with the conditions of each prisoner's release.

Several lists are floating around, including one which appeared on Hamas' Al-Aqsa TV. The ministry of prisoners affairs in the Gaza Strip says none of them are entirely accurate.

Abu Mujahed, the PRC spokesman, said those detainees who are to be exiled from the West Bank will depart Israel via Egypt and enter Gaza. Those who will be exiled abroad will go to Turkey or Qatar via Cairo.

Israel and Hamas agreed Tuesday to swap more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for captive soldier Shalit, resolving one of the most emotive and intractable issues between them.

The deal was overseen by the Egyptian intelligence minister two weeks ago. Israel and Hamas send delegates to Cairo and it was agreed that 450 prisoners would be freed in a first round.

There are at least 6,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. They are regarded as heroes in their struggle against Israeli occupation and quest for statehood.

Shalit, who also holds French citizenship, was last seen in a videotape released by his captors in September 2009. He has received no visits from the Red Cross, despite many appeals.

Solidarity with Palestinians prisoners in the Israeli jails who went on a hunger strike

2011-10-14T09:16:00.000-07:00

WOFPP

On 27 October 2011, political prisoners in Israeli jails have declared an open hunger strike. This means that the strike is unlimited and will go on until their just demands are fulfilled. They are protesting against the inhuman conditions of detention and against the deterioration of their conditions. Every day more prisoners join the strike.

Among their main demands:

Stop holding Palestinians prisoners in isolation cells. Special call to stop the isolation of Palestinians leaders who, for years, have been held in isolation cells.
Stop prohibiting prisoners' families from visiting them. For more than five years, the Israeli authorities have prevented all the prisoners' families from the Gaza Strip from visiting the prison, and also hundreds of prisoners' families from the West Bank are prohibited from visiting.
Stop the harassments and humiliation by the Israeli occupation forces of the prisoners' families on their way to visiting the prison.
Against the deterioration of the conditions in the prison, including the prisoners' right to study, against the blocking of television channels, and against the prohibition to let in books.
Stop the frequent and humiliating searches, including searches in the nude.
Against health neglect and for appropriate and professional health treatment, according to the prisoners' needs, including prisoners' dental care.

On 9 October 2011, four women political prisoners have joined the open hunger strike:

Duaa elJayusi, from Tulkarem, arrested on 7 May 2002.

Worud Kasem, from Tira in the Triangle arrested on 14 October 2006.

Somod Karaja, from Safa, Ramallah district, arrested on 25 October 2009.

Linan Abu Ghulme, from Furik, Nablus district, an administrative detainee, arrested on 15 July 2010.

WOFPP's lawyer, Taghreed Jahshan, visited in Damoon prison on 10 October 2011 and heard from the administrative detainee Linan Abu Gholme that:
the prison authorities punished the women prisoners who joined the hunger strike and took many things from their cell, including television, radio, hot plate, kettle, notebooks, books, pens and all the food that was in the cell, including sugar and salt. In addition, other punishments imposed on them: preventing family visits, shopping in the canteen, sending letters, going out from their cell except for one hour a day at 6:30pm.
The prison authorities also made a very rigid and humiliating search in their cell. During the search the guards created an atmosphere of fear: near every prisoner a guard was standing in a threatening way. The prison authorities threatened the prisoners who joined the hunger strike to transfer them to isolation cells.

We protest against the humiliation of the prisoners who are on a hunger strike and supporting their just struggle against the inhuman conditions in which the Palestinian prisoners are held in the Israeli jails.

Activities for solidarity with the prisoners on hunger stike are held every day.

We join the activities and call to join the activities of support and solidarity with Palestinian prisoners in the Israli jails.

Freedom to the Prisoners of Freedom!

UFree celebrates prisoner release, but calls for release of thousands left behind

2011-10-14T09:11:00.000-07:00

UFREE

Oslo, Norway – Oct. 13, 2011 – The exchange in which the Israeli government will free 1,027 Palestinian prisoners in return for soldier Gilad Shalit is welcome news, but work must continue unabated to end the suffering of the 5,000-plus individuals who remain in jail, says UFree, the Oslo-based support network.

“The release of more than 1,000 prisoners, who for so long have been deprived of basic human rights such as education and visits by their family members, is reason to celebrate,” says Mohammed Hamdan, chairman of UFree. “However, more than 5,000 remain, and we must not forget them.”
According to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, more than 6,000 Palestinians are being held in Israeli prisons, including 180 minors – of whom 34 are between the ages of 12-15 – and 143 serving terms of more than 20 years. In its 2011 Annual Report on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Amnesty International stated, “Consistent allegations of torture and other ill-treatment, including of children, were frequently reported. Among the most commonly cited methods were beatings, threats to the detainee or their family, sleep deprivation, and being subjected to painful stress positions for long periods. Confessions allegedly obtained under duress were accepted as evidence in Israeli military and civilian courts.”
UFree has long worked to raise the awareness of the plight of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, launching petition campaigns among the general public and bringing the arbitrary arrests and poor conditions to the attention of European lawmakers and NGOs. For example, it appealed to international human rights organizations to pressure Israel to free AlJazeera journalist Samer Allawi (now released), and called on the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to push for release of the 21 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council held in Israeli jails for the last five years. It is unknown at this time whether any of these 21 will be among the 1,027 who will be released. However, it has been learned that one of the Palestinians’ key demands – that all of the 34 women prisoners be released – will be fulfilled.
Two weeks ago, a hunger strike was launched among the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, with about 2,000 now participating. Their demands include an end to arbitrary solitary confinement of Palestinian leaders and the right to pursue education and receive family visits.
“UFree calls for all humanitarian and international human rights organisations to use every legitimate means to press for the release of all Palestinian prisoners, and to support their hunger strike until their rights and dignity are restored,” says Hamdan. “Likewise, human rights organisations and the media must be granted access to these prisoners to assure that Israel is held accountable. Impunity must no longer be acceptable.”

Military Order 1676 – Raising the age of majority

2011-10-14T09:08:00.000-07:00

DCI-Palestine

[11 October 2011] – On 27 September 2011, General Avi Mizrahi, the Israeli military commander in the occupied West Bank, issued Military Order 1676 raising the age of majority in the military courts from 16 to 18 years. The new military order also makes provision for the notification of a child’s parents that the child has been arrested and informing the child that he/she has the right to consult with a lawyer, but without stating precisely when this consultation should occur. Contrary to international law, the new order has only been circulated in the Hebrew language.
DCI-Palestine welcomes the raising of the age of majority to 18, which after 44 years, brings Israeli military law in conformity with international standards on this issue. However, DCI remains concerned that Palestinian children as young as 12 years continue to be denied many basic rights when detained under military law, and prosecuted in military courts. These concerns include the following:

The majority of children continue to be arrested from their homes in the middle of the night by heavily armed soldiers, causing extreme fear and anxiety:
The overwhelming majority of children continue to be painfully tied with a single plastic cord in violation of Israeli army procedures introduced in April 2010;
Numerous and credible reports of the ill-treatment of children during arrest, transfer and interrogation continue to be received. In some cases this treatment may amount to torture. No effective action appears to have been taken to remedy this situation;
Children are still not informed of their right to remain silent;
Children continue to be interrogated in the absence of a parent, a right afforded to most Israeli children;
Children continue to be interrogated in the absence of a lawyer, and generally only receive legal advice after their interrogation is completed and they have provided a confession;
Effective measures to prevent ill-treatment during interrogation, such as the audio-visual recording of all interrogations, have still not been introduced, even though this safeguard was recommended by the UN Committee Against Torture in mid 2009;
Children continue to be denied bail in around 90 percent of cases in violation of article 37(b) of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child; and
The overwhelming majority of children continue to receive custodial sentences that are frequently served in prisons inside Israel, in violation of article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention which prohibits such transfers.

In order to meet its legally binding international obligations towards children, DCI continues to demand that Israeli military authorities implement binding orders that immediately and effectively address the above concerns.

B'Tselem

Army raises age of minority in military-justice system in West Bank to 18, same as in Israel, but fails to make other necessary changes to protect minors
On 27 September 2011, OC Central Command signed Amendment 10 to the Order Regarding Security Provisions. The amendment changes provisions relating to minors in the military-justice system, which applies to Palestinians in the West Bank. Israelis living in the West Bank are prosecuted according to Israeli penal law.
The amendment raises the age of minority from 16 to 18. B'Tselem welcomes this amendment, which aptly conforms the age of minority in the West Bank to the customary age around the world, including in Israel. However, it does not deal with the grave infringement of Palestinian minors’ rights, as Israeli authorities have not, thus far, respected the rights of Palestinians under the age of 16. B'Tselem’s report No Minor Matter revealed how the authorities breach the rights of Palestinian minors suspected of stone- throwing at all stages of the process: arrest, interrogation, trial, and imprisonment.

Involvement of parents: The obligation to notify parents, without delay, that their child has been arrested existed in the pre-amendment legislation. The amendment slightly expanded the requirement to include the giving of immediate notice to parents with respect to both arrest and interrogation of their child. However, the amendment contains several qualifications that enable those responsible to refrain from such notification. First, if the minor does not provide details on his parents, the authorities are not obligated obtain the details. Second, the amendment requires the authorities only to make a “reasonable effort under the circumstances” to locate the parents, but fails to define the expression “reasonable effort.” A third exception arises where there is a “reasonable suspicion” that notice will obstruct the interrogation or “harm the security of the region.” The order does not interpret these expressions, thus giving the interrogators great discretion.
Caution and right to consult: The amendment requires the authorities to inform minors who have been arrested of their right to consult with an attorney in private. However, the amendment does not properly guarantee realization of the right: it only requires the interrogator to inform the minor’s attorney about the interrogation, and specifies that the giving of notice will not delay the interrogation. In addition, the interrogator must give notice to “a defense attorney whose particulars were provided by the minor,” although it is unlikely that a minor under arrest will be in possession of an attorney's contact details.
Statute of limitations: Under the pre-existing legislation, a minor could not be prosecuted for an offense if two or more years had passed since commission of the offense. The amendment reduces the period to one year, except as regards a long list of offenses that are defined security offenses, such as causing death, assault, stone-throwing, organizing and participating in demonstrations, disturbing a soldier in the performance of his duties, and throwing a burning object. In effect, the amendment will not apply to most minors accused of committing what are classified as security offenses.
Holding minors with adults in detention and in prison: Holding minors with adults in detention and in prison: The amendment contains an exception to the sweeping prohibition on holding minors with adults, and states that minors over age 16 may be kept with adults, provided that doing so benefi44LRL9w4DDRJ5pRmSOJ; preferredOpdo not have access to minors during sleeping hours. There is no explanation why minors above age 16 are allowed to be held with adults, the age of minority now having been raised to 18. Holding minors and adults together is problematic. As a judge of the Youth Military Court in Judea, Major Sharon Rivlin-Ahai, said regarding incarceration of 16 and 17 year olds with adults: “It is unnecessary to go into detail on the damage such incarceration can cause a minor later in life” (Mil. Ct. (Judea) 1261/09, Military Prosecutor v. H.P., 23 February 2009).

These slight changes do not provide for proper protection the rights of Palestinian minors suspected of having committed offenses. There still is a substantial gap between the rights granted minors under Israeli and international law and those granted under the military legislation. B'Tselem calls for immediate changes in the military legislation to provide Palestinian minors with the protections to which they are entitled, including the right to have a parent present at the interrogation, prohibition of interrogation at night, strict prohibition on imprisoning minors under 14, advancement of to alternatives to detention and imprisonment, and all other protections provided in Israel’s Youth Law.

DCI - Palestine Detention Bulletin - Issue 21 - September 2011

2011-10-14T09:01:00.000-07:00

DCI-Palestine's monthly bulletin on detention issues.

In this issue: 9% decrease in the number of children imprisoned since last month; Complaint submitted to Israeli authorities regarding ill-treatment; Report submitted to UN Special Rapporteur on Torture on situation facing Palestinian children in East Jerusalem; New East Jerusalem report; New Military Order 1676 raises age of majority in military courts from 16 to 18.
Detention Bulletin - Issue 21- September 2011

PRC armed wing releases list of Palestinian prisoners

2011-10-14T08:59:00.000-07:00

Palestinians light candles as they take part in a rally in solidarity with prisoners
held in Israeli jails, in Gaza City October 13, 2011. (Reuters/Mohammed Salem)

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- A list of prisoners Israel is expected to free as part of an initial exchange deal for a captured soldier, provided by a member of the PRC’s armed wing.

Several lists are floating around, including one which appeared on Hamas' Al-Aqsa TV. The ministry of prisoners affairs in the Gaza Strip says none of them are entirely accurate.

That includes this list, which has not been verified by Israel or Hamas. It details each prisoner's name, place of origin, year of arrest, and the terms of his or her release. Twenty-seven women are among those expected to be freed.

1. Ahmad Ayed Deryeh – Beit Fajjar – 2002 – exiled
2. Yahia Ibrahim Daamsa – Ertas – 2002 – exiled
3. Akram Mahmoud al-Namura – Dura – 2001 – exiled
4. Amir Saber Sawalma – Balata camp – 2003 – exiled
5. Amun Yousef al-Tallul – Dhahiriya – 1999 – exiled
6. Majed Hasan Abu Qateesh – Jerusalem – 1993 – exiled abroad
7. Jihad Muhammad Yaghmur – Jerusalem – 1994 – exiled abroad
8. Zaid Arsan Al-Kilany – Umm al-Rihan – 2001 – exiled
9. Salama Aziz Marei – Qarawat Bani Zeid – 1993 – exiled abroad
10. Salman Ahmad Abu Eid – Biddu – 2003 – released with conditions
11. Abdul Raouf Amin Al-Shalabi – Jenin camp – 1995 – exiled
12. Abdullah Ahmad Abu Sef – Hebron – 2003 – exiled
13. Ala Muhammad Qafesha – Hebron – 2004 – exiled
14. Muammar Murshed Ghawadra – Bir al-Basha – 2003 – released
15. Feras Fawzi Feddi – Beit Wazan – 2002 – exiled
16. Farah Ahmad Hamed – Silwad – 2003 – exiled
17. Lutfi Muhammad Darabe – Khirbet Mresh – 1993 – released with conditions
18. Muhammad Mussa – Beit Fajjar – 1993 – exiled
19. Mahmud Abdullah Seryeh – Jenin camp – 1996 – exiled
20. Nael Saadi Sakhel – Nablus – 2003 – exiled
21. Nidal Jawad Sarkaji – Nablus – 2002 – exiled abroad
22. Nimer Sadki Muhammad – Beit Furik – 2006 – exiled
23. Ayman Muhammad Abu Khalil - Jerusalem – 1994 – exiled abroad
24. Yaser Hasan Hammad – Silwad – 2003 – exiled
25. Anis Mahmud al-Namura - Dura – 2001 – exiled
26. Iyad Diyab Khezaran – Al-Faraa refugee camp – 1991 – exiled
27. Jamil Khamis Tarkhan – Izbat Beit Hanoun – 1993 – released
28. Hussam Yousef Barari – Zababda – 2003 – released
29. Hassan Yousef Zeid – Nazlet Zeid – 2003 – exiled for 3 years
30. Rebhi Suleiman Bisharat – Tammun – 2002 – exiled abroad
31. Shadi Yasin Yasin – Tulkarem – 2002 – exiled
32. Tareq Ibrahim Izz Ad-Din – Araba – 2002 – exiled
33. Tareq Muhammad Abu Maryam – Qalqiliya – 2002 – exiled
34. Taleb Ismail Abu Mustafa – Khan Younis camp – 1993 – released
35. Mazen Muhammad Jarad – Beit Hanoun – 1993 – released
36. Maher Hussein Abu Karsh – Shati camp – 1993 – released
37. Muhammad Abdul Rahman Zeid – Tubas – 2003 – exiled
38. Muhammad Afif Al-Far – Ash-Sheikh Radwan – 1993 – released
39. Muhammad Odeh Sakran – Al-Breij – 1993 – released
40. Muhammad Najeh Jarar – Wadi Baraqin – 2002 – exiled abroad
41. Nasser Yousef Fadi – Khan Younis camp – 1993 – released
42. Nidal Subhi Abdul Haq – Nablus – 2003 – released
43. Wael Kamel Jalbush – Marka – 2002 – released
44. Ahmad Taleb Hamad – Jordan valley – 2002 – released
45. Ayman Ismail al-Sharawna – Dura – 2002 – released with conditions
46. Baraka Rajeh Taha – Hebron – 2004 – released with conditions
47. Hamudeh Said Salah – Beit Wazen – 2000 – exiled for 3 years
48. Safwan uhammad Eweiwi – Hebron – 2002 – released
49. Daher Rebhi Kabha – Bartaa – 1994 – exiled
50. Muhammad Taleb Edris – Jerusalem – 1998 – exiled
51. Muayed Abdul Rahim Abdul Samad – Aneta – 1987 – released
52. Muhammad Ahmad Saleh – Qabatiya – 1994 – released with conditions
53. Salem Rajab al-Sarsur – Hebron – 1998 – exiled abroad
54. Muhammad Abdul Latif Ballut – Rantis – 2003 – exiled
55. Murad Awad al-Rujub – Dura – 2002 – exiled
56. Muath Said Abu Ramuz – Hebron – 2004 – released with conditions
57. Nasri Yousef al-Zer – Harmala – 2002 – exiled
58. Yasser Muhammad Salah – Ramallah – 2005 – released with conditions
59. Ibrahim Abdul Aziz Shalsh – Ramallah – 1995 – released with conditions
60. Ibrahim Fadel Jaber – Hebron – 1982 – released
61. Ibrahim Muhammad al-Hindi – Khan Younis – 2006 – released
62. Ibrahim Yousef Masri – Shuqba – 1995 – released with conditions
63. Ehsan Ali Madena – Jammain – 2001 – released
64. Ahmad Ibrahim Faleet – Deir al-Balah – 1992 – released
65. Hmad Abu Al-Suud Hanani – Nablus – 1987 – exiled abroad
66. Ahmad Khalil Awawda – Idhna – 1999 – released with conditions
67. Ahmad Salem Shaer – Rafah – 2001 – released
68. Ahmad Suleiman Fajem – Bani Suheila – 2002 – released
69. Ahmad Abdul Rahman Abu Hasira – Rimal – 1986 – released
70. Ahmad Abdul Karim Abu Taha – Jerusalem – 2002 – released
71. Ahmad Atta Hattu – Gaza City – 1993 – released
72. Ahmad Hussein Shukri – Ramallah – 1989 – released with conditions
73. Idrees Ahmad al-Rajabi – Hebron – 2003 – exiled
74. Ismail Abdul Hadi al-Masalma – Hebron – 1999 – released
75. Ismail Mussa al-Bakhit – Khan Younis camp – 1993 – released
76. Ashraf Hasan Baaluji – Tuffah – 1991 – release
77. Ashraf Ghazi al-Wawi – Tulkarem – 1993 – released
78. Ashraf Muhammad Awadat – Gaza City – 2003 – released
79. Akram Salama Said – Al-Maghazi – 2002 – released
80. Akram Abdul Rahman Salama – Khan Younis camp – 1996 – released
81. Akram Abdul Aziz Mansur – Qalqiliya – 1979 – released
82. Akram Abdullah Qassem – Ramallah – 2002 – released
83. Anwar Ahmad Hamad – Yabna camp – 2001 – released
84. Anwar Musallam Akhras – Rabwat – 1993 – released
85. Iyad Ahmad Abu Hasna – Canada camp – 1989 – released
86. Iyad Jamil Abu Taqyeh – Jabaliya camp – 1989 – released
87. Iyad Salem al-Areer – Turkman – 1993 – released
88. Iyad Muhammad Bisharat – Hebron – 2002 – exiled
89. Ayman Asad al-Shawwa – Al-Dorj – 1993 – released
90. Ayman Abdul Majid Amer – Hebron – exiled for 3 years
91. Ayman Mustafa al-Far – Sheikh Radwan – 1991 – released
92. Ayman Yousef Abu Daud – Hebron – 2004 – released with conditions
93. Nizar Samir al-Tamimi – Ramallah – 1993 – released
94. Basim Muhammad Al-Kurd – Beit Lahiya – 1993 – released
95. Bilal Ibrahim Abu Amr – Qalqiliya – 2002 – exiled for 3 years
96. Bilal Ismail Zara – Kafr Niama – 2004 – exiled
97. Baha al-Din Khatib – Rafah – 2001 – released
98. Tawfiq Abdullah Abu Naim – Al-Nuseirat camp – 1989 – released
99. Tayseer Salem al-Bardini – Rafah – 1993 – released
100. Thaer Mahmud Kurd – Jabaliya camp – 1988 – released
101. Jalal Kamel al-Loh – Beit Lahiya – 1988 – 1994 – released
102. Jalal Lutfi Saqer – Al-Nuseirat camp – 1992 – released
103. Jamal Amr Raqiq – Gaza City – 1989 – released
104. Jamil Ismail Baz – Al-Nuseirat camp – 1991 – released
105. Jihad Jamil Abu Ghobon – Jabaliya camp – 1988 - released
106. Jihad Muhammad Bani Juma – Jordan Valley – 1991 – released
107. Hatem Ibrahim Ismail – Nablus – 1995 – released
108. Hazem Ali al-Aedi – Al-Maghazi – 1991 – released
109. Hafez Mahmud Dabel – Al-Breij – 1990 – released
110. Hathefa Rashid Ghanem – Ramallah – 2004 – exiled
111. Hussam Suleiman Abu al-Jadyan – Ramallah – 2004 – released
112. Hasan Ahmad Maqadma – Al-Bureij – 1989 – released
113. Hasan Ismail Fayyad – Beit Hanoun – 2003 – released
114. Hassan Abdul Karim Judeh – Zawata – 2002 – released with conditions
115. Hassan Ali Salma – Beituniya – 1982 – released
116. Hasan Mahmud Novel – Jabaliya camp – 1988 – released
117. Ahmad Mustafa al-Najjar – United States – 2003 – exiled
118. Hasan Yousef Jafri – Ramallah – 1990 – released with conditions
119. Hamdi Amin Zweidi – Beit Hanun – 1993 – released
120. Hamza Nayef Zayed – Jenin – 1986 – exiled
121. Khaled Rajeh Taha – Hebron – 2004 – exiled for 3 years
122. Khaled Saleh Maghyeer – Yabna camp – 1992 – released
123. Khaled Muhammad Gheithan – Ramallah – 1995 – released with conditions
124. Khaled Matou Jeidi – Rafah – 1986 – released
125. Khaled Yousef Saleh – Qalqiliya – 1992 – exiled for 3 years
126. Khalil Muhammad Abu Alba – Sheikh Radwan – 2001 – released
127. Raed Ahmad Hallaq – Rimal – 1993 – released
128. Raed Amr Abu Lubda – Tal al-Sultan – 2001 – released
129. Rateb Abdullah al-Ajrab – Ramallah – 1991 – exiled
130. Rafat Ali Aruqi – Shati refugee camp – 1993 – released
131. Rasmi Saleh Mahariq – Samou – 1994 – released with conditions
132. Rohi Jamal Mushtaha – Shujaya, Gaza City – 1988 – released
133. Zakaria Muhammad al-Jasrawi – Samou – 1996 – released with conditions
134. Zuheir Salah Shashnyeh – Al-Breij – 1990 – released
135. Salem Ali Thweb – Bethlehem – 2002 – exiled
136. Yaser Tayseer Daoud – Jerusalem – 1991 – released
137. Samer Isam Mahrum – Jenin – 1986 – released
138. Yousef Mussa Hales – Jerusalem – 1991 – exiled
139. Sami Khaled al-Qashtan – Wadi Gaza – 2003 – released
140. Said Muhammad Sakik – Al-Durj – 1993 – released
141. Salim Ali Kayyal – Gaza City – 1983 – released
142. Suleiman Nayef Abu Tyour – Ramallah – 1991 – released with conditions
143. Shaaban Salim Hassuneh – Gaza City – 1990 – released
144. Saleh Muhammad Khariz – Ramallah – 1986 – released
145. Salah al-Din al-Awawda – Hebron – 1993 – exiled
146. Tareq Zeyad al-Rajabi – Hebron – 2003 – exiled abroad
147. Talal Ibrahim Shreim – Qalqiliya – 2002 – exiled abroad
148. Taha Adel Shakhshir – Nablus – 1992 – released with conditions
149. Ated Suleiman Masri – Al-Durj – 1993 – released
150. Amer Ahmad al-Qawasmeh – Hebron – 1988 – released
151. Amer Rabbah al-Rajabo – Hebron – 2004 – released with conditions
152. Ayed Mahmud Khalil – Tulkarem – 1989 – released with conditions
153. Muhammad Hasan Sharaha – Gaza City – 1989 – released
154. Abdul Raouf Mahmud Injas – Khirbet Bani Hareth – 2003 – exiled for 3 years
155. Abdul Rahman Rabie Shehab – Jabaliya – 1989 – released
156. Abdul Rahman Amr Abu Assaf – Qabatya – 1992 – released
157. Abdul Rahman Fadel al-Qiq – Rafah – 1986 – released
158. Abdul Aziz Muhammad Masri – Khan Younis – 1993 – released
159. Obeid al-Latif Ismail Shqer – Tulkarem – 1986 – released
160. Abdullah Judeh Abu Shalbak – Ramallah – 1991 – released with conditions
161. Abdullah Muhammad Az-Zeitawi – Nablus – 2001 – exiled
162. Abdul Mineim Othman Taama – Tulkarem – 1989 – released with conditions
163. Othman Ali Musleh – Qalqiliya – 1982 – released
164. Arafat Salem An-Natsheh – Hebron – 1994 – exiled
165. Ata Mahmud Falna – Safa – 1992 – exiled
166. Attyeh Hasan Abu Asab – Hebron – 1994 – released
167. Ala Hamdi al-Rajabi – Hebron – 2004 – exiled
168. Alyan Abdul Karim al-Zer – Al-Qarara – 2003 – released
169. Imad Ad-Din Ata Zuurob – Khan Younis – 1993 – released
170. Imad Abdul Rahman Ali – Qalqiliya – 1992 – released
171. Imad Ali Abu Rayyan – Beit Lahiya – 1991 – released
172. Amr Muhammad Shariji – Gaza City – 2003 – released
173. Amr Mahmud Al-Ghul – Gaza City – 1987 – released
174. Aweida Muhammad Qawlab – Sheikh Radwan – 1988 – released
175. Eid Abdullah Musleh – Al-Maghazi – 1992 – released
176. Fuad Muhammad Amareen – Al-Nuseirat camp – 1992 – released
177. Fiker Asfour Barghouthi – Ramallah – 1978 – released
178. Farhan Mahmud Khalida – Tulkarem – 2003 – exiled
179. Fahed Subhi Zaqzuqi – Jabaliya camp – 1992 – released
180. Fahim Ramadan Ibrahim – Tulkarem – 1989 – released
181. Kamal Sami Shabalu – Nablus – 2003 – exiled
182. Kamal Abdullah Abu Naim – Gaza City – 1992 – released
183. Kamal Muhammad Shalabi – Tulkarem – 2003 – exiled abroad
184. Muayed Saadeh Jallad – Tulkarem – 1994 – released with conditions
185. Mazen Muhammad al-Nahal – Rafah – 1992 – released
186. Maamoun Ismail Sattyn – Tulkarem – 2003 – exiled
187. Maher Khamis Zaqqut – Jabaliya camp – 1993 – released
188. Majdi Ahmad Hamad – Jabaliya camp – 1991 – released
189. Majdi Attyeh Ajjouli – Tulkarem – 1989 – released with conditions
190. Muhammad Ibrahim Derawi – Al-Zawabda – 2001 – released
191. Muhammad Ejmaan Abu Ayesh – Nasr City – 1992 – released
192. Muhammad Salama Abu Khusa – Lod – 1976 – released
193. Muhammad Salman Abu Jamus – Gaza City – 2001 – released
194. Muhammad Aref Basharat – Nablus – 1992 – released with conditions
195. Muhammad Abdul Rahman Zaqut – Jabaliya camp – 1989 – released
196. Muhammad Abdul Fattah Dahan – Al-Nuseirat camp – 1989 – released
197. Muhammad Abdul Karim Abu Ataya – Nasr City – 1992 – released
198. Muhammad Abed Husni – Shati camp – 1986 – released
199. Muhammad Ali Haraz – Al-Dorj – 1992 – released
200. Muhammad Muhammad Abu Hasera – Gaza City – 1993 – released
201. Muhammad Muhammad Hassan – Gaza City – 1987 – released
202. Muhammad Mustafa Othman – Jabaliya camp – 1996 – released
203. Muhammad Nayef Barakat – Tulkarem – 2000 – released
204. Muhammad Said Jaradat – Jenin – 1989 – released
205. Mahmoud Ali Qawasmeh – Hebron – 2004 – exiled for 3 years
206. Mahmoud Mustafa Mardawi – Qalqiliya – 1992 – exiled for 3 years
207. Marwan Muhammad Zurd – Al-Durj – 1993 – released
208. Mustafa Ali Ramadan – Al-Amal – 1992 – released
209. Mustafa Ghazi Ananeh – al-Nuseirat camp – 2001 – released
210. Muntaser Rebhi Abu Mutawe – Nablus – 2003 – exiled
211. Munther Shaaban Dahshan – Gaza City – 1994 – released
212. Mansur Yousef Shamasna – Qatna – 1996 – released with conditions
213. Mansur Atef Rayyan – Nablus – 1994 – exiled
214. Mahdi Amr Shawer – Hebron – 2002 – exiled for 3 years
215. Mussa Muhammad Dodin – Hebron – 1992 – exiled abroad
216. Mussa Nather al-Badawi – Sheikh Radwan – 2002 – released
217. Nael Saleh al-Barghouthi – Ramallah – 1978 – released with conditions
218. Naser Ghazi Edweidar – Al-Nuseirat camp – 1992 – released
219. Nafeth Ahmad Haraz – Gaza City – 1985 – released
220. Nayef Hussein al-Shawamra – Hebron – 1995 – released
221. Nabil Maderes Okel – Jabaliya camp – 2000 – released
222. Harrun Mansour Nasser al-Din – Hebron – 1992 – exiled abroad
223. Wael Makin Abu Fanuneh – Gaza City – 1989 released
224. Walid Ibrahim Abu Nassar – Bethlehem – 1993 – exiled
225. Waheeb Abdullah Abu al-Rab – Jenin – 1994 – released with conditions
226. Yasser Abdul Qader Hejaz – Ramallah – 1990 – released with conditions
227. Yasser Mahmud Khawaja – Rafah – 1988 – released
228. Yahia Ibrahim Sinwar – Khan Younis camp – 1988 – released
229. Yasser Ibrahim al-Julani – Hebron – 2003 – released with conditions
230. Mahmud Muhammad Attun – Jerusalem – 1993 – exiled abroad
231. Walid Abdul Hadi Aqel – Gaza City – 1992 – exiled abroad
232. Abdul Hadi Salman Rafe – Al-Nuseirat camp – 1989 – released
233. Muhammad Mustafa Abu Jalaleh – Jabaliya camp – 1991 – released
234. Ali Ahmad Amudo – Gaza City – 1994 – released
235. Ali Said Bilal – Nablus – 2002 – exiled
236. Mihwash Nueimat – Rafah – 2007 – released
237. Marwan Muhammad Abu Rumeileh – Jerusalem – 1993 – exiled abroad
238. Tayseer Hamdan Suleiman – Jerusalem – 1993 – exiled abroad
239. Fahed Sabri Shalludi – Jerusalem – 1993 – exiled abroad
240. Issam Talaat Qadmani – Jerusalem – 1994 – exiled abroad
241. Mutasem Sabri Moqdi – Qalqiliya – 1994 – exiled abroad
242. Mussa Muhammad Aqari – Jerusalem – 1993 – exiled abroad
243. Muhammad Ayman Razem – Jerusalem – 1996 – exiled abroad
244. Basel Hashem al-Haymuni – Hebron – 2004 – exiled
245. Bassam Ibrahim Abu Sneineh – Jerusalem – 2000 – exiled
246. Bassam Naim al-Natsheh – Hebron – 1999 – released with conditions
247. Hani Badawi Jaber – Jerusalem - 1985 – exiled abroad
248. Mueen Abdul Malek Ahmad – Jabaliya – 2004 – released
249. Musaab Ismail Hashlamon – Hebron – 2004 – exiled
250. Khaled Mussa Makhamra – Yatta – 2006 – released
251. Ismail Abdullah Hejazi – Jerusalem – 2007 – released
252. Muayed Suleiman Qawasma – Hebron – 2006 – exiled
253. Nidal Akram Abu Shakhedam – Hebron – 2008 – exiled
254. Muhammad Ahmad Abu Awad – Nablus – 2003 – exiled
255. Abbas Abdullah Shabaneh – Hebron – 1992 – released with conditions
256. Zaher Wajeeh Khatatbeh – Beit Furik – 1994 – released with conditions
257. Kefah Jamil Arda – Jenin – 1999 – exiled
258. Farid Muhammad Qaysi – Khan Younis – 1994 – released
259. Zeyad Hassan Awad – Edna – 2000 – released with conditions
260. Hussein Elias Rabie – Beit Anan – 2001 – exiled
261. Mahmud Muhammad al-Sweiti – Beit Awwa – 2000 – released with conditions
262. Zuheir Kheiri Eskafi – Hebron – 2000 – released with conditions
263. Rabie Salama Zughel – Beit Hanina – 1998 – exiled abroad
264. Rajab Muhammad Tahhan – Jerusalem – 1998 – released with conditions
265. Daoud Khalil Shawish – Jerusalem – 2000 – released
266. Ramzi Ibrahim al-Ouq – Aida camp – 2003 – exiled
267. Murid Salim al-Akhras – Rafah – 2001 – released
268. Reyad Zakarya Asela – Jerusalem – 2000 – exiled
269. Nahed Abdul Raof al-Fakhouri – Hebron – 2002 – exiled
270. Muhammad Bassam Mallah – Tulkarem – 2002 – exiled abroad
271. Samer Ibrahim Abu Ser – Jerusalem – 1988 – exiled
272. Muhammad Muhamma Karsou – Gaza City – 2002 – released
273. Ashraf Abdul Qader Abu Markhyeh – Hebron – 2002 – exiled
274. Abdul Aziz Amr – Jerusalem – 2004 – exiled
275. Amjad Ahmad Arqub – Dura – 2002 – exiled
276. Shadi Zayed Odeh – Qalqiliya – 2002 – released
277. Shueib Saleh Abu Suneneh – Jerusalem – 1998 – exiled
278. Mahmud Ibrahim Dahbur – Nablus – 2002 – exiled
279. Tareq Daud Halisi – Jerusalem – 1986 – exiled
280. Samir Fesal Sawafta – Al-Jafaltak – 2003 – exiled
281. Mahmud Shaker al-Rayes – Gaza City – 2003 – released
282. Murad Abdullah Abu Rukab – Gaza City – 2003 – released
283. Ashraf Khalil Abu al-Rub – Jenin – 2002 – released
284. Akram Zaki al-Saedi – Al-Nuseirat camp – 2003 – released
285. Abdul Naser Daud Halisi – Jerusalem – 1986 – exiled
286. Zakaria Lutfi Najib – Jerusalem – 1994 – exiled for 3 years
287. Iyad Ata Abu Fnoun – Bethlehem – 2003 – released
288. Muhammad Salim Qassem – Gaza City – 2004 – released
289. Ibrahim Muhammad Mussa – Beit Luqya – 2004 – exiled
290. Rabie Samir Shalabi – Cober – 2005 – released
291. Hawem Muhammad Asaliya – Jerusalem – 1986 – exiled abroad
292. Nasser Humeidan Shqerat – Jerusalem – 1993 – exiled
293. Ali Bader Maslamani – Jerusalem – 1986 – released
294. Raed Muhammad Riziq – Jabaliya – 2002 – released
295. Imad Yasser Mussa – Marka – 1998 – released with conditions
296. Nader Radwan Abu Turkey – Hebron – 2002 – exiled
297. Suleiman Salem Abu Yousef – Al-Samua – 1994 – released with conditions
298. Ahmad Yousef al-Tamimi – Nabi Saleh – 1993 – released
299. Feras Walid Abu Shkheidam – Hebron – 2001- released with conditions
300. Fuad Qasem Razem – Jerusalem – 1981 – exiled
301. (BLANK; SEE BELOW)
302. Asad Fahmi Abu Salah – Beit Hanoun – 2008 – released
303. Amed Hamed al-Masri – Jenin – 1991 – exiled
304. Luay Muhammad Odeh – Jerusalem – 2002 – exiled
305. Munes Ahmad Aqqad – Khan Younis – 2002 – released
306. Hussam Atef Badran – Nablus – 1992 – exiled abroad
307. Muhammad Ibrahim Hamada – Jerusalem – 1997 – exiled
308. Salem Hasan Shab – Bani Suheila – 1993 – released
309. (BLANK; SEE BELOW)
310. (BLANK; SEE BELOW)
311. (BLANK; SEE BELOW)
312. Abdul Halim Mahmoud Abdulla – Shati camp – 1990 – released
313. (BLANK; SEE BELOW)
314. Imad Mustafa Khamis al-Loh – Deir Al-Balah – 2003 – released
315. (BLANK; SEE BELOW)
316. Ghazi Jumaa Nims – Gaza City – 1985 – released
317. Telal Yousef al-Kabsh – Al-Samua – 1986 – exiled
318. Muhammad Abdul Latif Salha – Jabaliya – 2008 – released
319. Naser Amr Namla – Gaza City – 1990 released
320. Hani Muhammad Abu Setta – Khan Younis – 1994 – released
321. Ibrahim Asad Daud – Qalqiliya – 2003 – released
322. Ibrahim Hussein Elayan – Jerusalem – 1987 – exiled
323. Ibrahim Abdul Razzaq Mashal – Jerusalem – 1990 – released
324. Ibrahim Abdul Qader Abu Hajla – Qalqiliya – 2002 – released
325. Khaled Ahmad Muhsein – Jerusalem – 1986 – released
326. Khaled Muhammad Taha – Jerusalem – 1988 – exiled
327. Samer Tareq Muhammad – Jerusalem – 2002 – released
328. Aref Khaled Fawakhra – Jaba – 2002 – released
329. Amer Abdul Rahman Muqbel – Tulkarem – 2003 – released with conditions
330. Issa Saleh Jandal – Jerusalem – 1986 – released with conditions
331. Luay Ahmad Novel – Deir Sharaf – 2001 – released with conditions
332. Luay Younis Kurnoz – Ramallah – 2004 – exiled
333. Mazen Mustafa Alawi – Jerusalem – 1991 – exiled
334. Muhammad Salama Sofi – Rafah – 2007 – released
335. Mustafa Kamel Badarneh – Ramallah – 2003 released
336. Hilal Muhammad Jaradat – Al-Yamun – 1987 – exiled
337. Ahmad Abed Jawad – Barouqin – 2002 – exiled for 3 years
338. Nasser Mussa Abed Rabbo – Jerusalem – 1988 – released with conditions
339. Ashraf Khaled Hanini – Beit Furik – 2006 – exiled
340. Bilal Khalil Bisharat – Tammun – 2002 – exiled for 3 years
341. Hamdullah Fayeq Ali – Jamaeen – 2002 – exiled for 3 years
342. Nahed Issam Abu Kashak – Tulkarem – 2001 – exiled
343. Khader Suleiman Radi – Aida camp – 2003 – released with conditions
344. Salem Rashid Tabanja – Nablus – 2003 – exiled for 3 years
345. Saher Nabil Shtayya – Salem – 2001 – exiled for 3 years
346. Safwat Jebril al-Jabur – Yatta – 2002 – released
347. Talat Mustafa Maaruf – Beit Lahiya – 2008 – released
348. Amer Ahmad Mabruk – Tulkarem – 2003 – exiled for 3 years
349. Abdul Rahum Abdul Latif Abdil Rahim – Badya – 2004 – released with conditions
350. Ibrahim Salim Shamasna – Qatna – 1993 – exiled abroad
351. Kamal Abdul Rahman Awad – Jordan Valley – 2001 – exiled
352. Ibrahim Abdul Rahman Jundyeh – Aida camp – 2003 – exiled
353. Ahmad Jebrin Takrurt – Jericho – 1988 – exiled
354. Ahmad Hasan Hassan – Nablus – 1992 – released
355. Luay Nafeth Qufesha – Hebron – 2002 – exiled
356. Iyad Mussa Ubayyat – Bethlehem – 2003 – exiled
357. Ayman Hatem Shakhshir – Nablus – 2002 – exiled
358. Ayman Muhammad Qafeesha – Hebron – 1997 – exiled
359. Ihab Hashem Qannan – Khan Younis camp – 2002 – released
360. Ahmad Rabbah Amira – Jerusalem – 1988 – released with conditions
361. Muhammad Salim Ramadan – Jamaeen – 2002 – exiled for 3 years
362. Tawfiq Ibrahim Abdullah – Qalqiliya – 1986 – released
363. Jaser Ismail al-Barghouthi – Cober – 2003 – exiled
364. Jebril Ismail Jebril – Qalqiliya – 2002 – exiled
365. Jamal Hamad Abu Saleh – Silwan – 1990 – released with conditions
366. Jawad Tayseer As-Sabaana – Jenin – 2002 – exiled
367. Hamza Hassan Abu Arqub – Jamaeen - 2002 – exiled
368. Khaled Abdul Maez Amr – Silwad – 2003 – exiled
369. Khamis Zaki Akel – An-Nuseirat camp – 1992 – released
370. Muhammad Issa Awad – Yatta – 2002 – released
371. Rami Zaki Masri – Beit Hanun – 2006 – released
372. Rabie Khader Hamida – Ramallah – 2003 – exiled
373. Rajai Saadi al-Karaki – Hebron – 2000 – exiled
374. Zaher Ali Jibrin – Salfit – 1993 – exiled abroad
375. Mahdi Shukri Asi – Balata camp – 2002 – released
376. Zeyad Salim Salmi – Gaza City – 1993 – released
377. Said Ibrahim Shalaldah - Sair – 2005 – exiled
378. Said Muhammad Bisharat – Nablus- 2002 – exiled
379. Nizar Khader Dehliz – Rafah – 2002 – released
380. Shadi Talat Balawna – Tulkarem camp – 2003 – exiled
381. Sharif Hussein Zyadeh – Al-Breij camp – 2005 – released
382. Shakib Baher al-Eweiwi – Hebron – 2006 – exiled
383. Derar Muhammad al-Hroub – Duheisheh camp – 2002 – exiled
384. Tareq Ahmad Hasayen – Qalqiliya – 2003 – exiled
385. Zaher Salman Ayayda – Rafah – 1990 – released
386. Nimir Ibrahim Daruzeh – Nablus – 2003 – exiled abroad
387. Abdul Hakim Aziz Abed – Beit Dajan – 1993 - exiled abroad
388. Abdul Rahmad Ahmad Ali – Alar – 2001 – exiled
389. Abdul Rahman Hasan Salah – Kufur Dan – 2002 – released with conditions
390. Abdul Aziz Yousef Salha – Deir Jarir – 2001 – exiled
391. Abdul Nasser Arar – Qarawat Bani Zeid – 2006 – exiled
392. Abdul Rahman Ismail Ghneimat – Surif – 1997 - exiled
393. Adnan Muhammad Maraja – Silwan – 1990 – released
394. Issam Muhammad Jarar – Jenin – 2002 – exiled abroad
395. Ismat Abdul Aziz Matawe – Hebron – 2002 – exiled
396. Ala Ad-Din Reda al-Bazyan – Jerusalem – 1986 – released with conditions
397. Ala Khaled Badawi – Bethlehem – 2003 – exiled
398. Wayel Suleiman Arafa – Tulkarem – 2002 – exiled
399. Ali Muhammad Qadi – Al-Bira – 2005 – exiled
400. Ali Muhammad Asafra – Beit Kahel – 2002 – exiled
401. Yaser Talal Yousef – Bethlehem – 2006 released
402. Basem Muhammad Nazzal – Qabatiya – 1992 – exiled
403. Amer Ahmad Assida – Jordan Valley – 2002 – exiled
404. Awad Zeyad Awad Salaymeh – Hebron – 1993 – exiled
405. Fadi Muhammad Al-Jabaa – Hebron – 2003 – exiled
406. Fadi Muhammad Dweik – Hebron – 2002 – exiled
407. Zeidan Muhammad Zeidan – Jenin – 2002 – exiled
408. Fahed Fawwaz Al-Qasrawo – Hebron – 2003 – released
409. Fawwaz Muhammad Nasser – Beir Qeddis – 2003 – exiled
410. Christian Adel Isaac Bandak – Bethlehem – 2003 – exiled
411. Majed Muhammad Jabaa – Hebron – 1995 – exiled
412. Mazen Muahammad Faqha – Tubas – 2002 – exiled
413. Majdi Muhammad Amr – Dura – 2003 – exiled abroad
414. Majdi Muhammad Naasan – Ramallah – 2003 – exiled
415. Muhammad Issac al-Julani – Beit Kahel – 2006 – exiled
416. Amr Hamdan Abu Sneineh – Hebron – 2002 – exiled
417. Muhammad Badawi Masalmeh – Beit Awwa – 2002 – exiled
418. Muhammad Salem Awad – Edna – 2005 – exiled
419. Nidal Abdul Rahman Hamed – Silwad – 2004 – exiled
420. Muhammad Taher al-Karam – Jalqamus – 2001 – exiled
421. Mahmud Awad Damra – Ein Um al-Sharayet – 2006 – released
422. Muhammad Wayel Doughlas – Jordan Valley – 2001 – exiled abroad
423. Mahmud Ibrahim Hajabi – Tulkarem – 2002 – exiled
424. Mahmud Ghassub Saad – Ramallah – 2003 – exiled
425. Khuweiled Ismael al-Jalil – Jordan Valley – 1998 – exiled
426. Mustafa Mahmud Maslamani – Tubas – 2001 – exiled
427. Mustafa Mahmud Qaroush – Tulkarem – 1986 – released
428. Muath Wael Talab Abu Sharkh – Hebron – 2003 – exiled
429. Muammar Rashad al-Jabari – Hebron – 2003 – released with conditions
430. Kifah Ahmad Nawahda – Jenin – 2006 – exiled
431. Mussa Ibrahim Wazwaz – Hebron – 2006 – exiled
432. Nasser Abdul Fattah Nazzal – Qalqiliya – 2002 – exiled
433. Said Muhammad Badarna – Yaabud – 1994 – exiled abroad
434. Nayef Yousef Radwan – Qabya – 1995 – released with conditions
435. Amer Saoud Abu Sarhan – Bethlehem – 1990 – exiled
436. Naser Sami Yataymeh – Tulkarem – 2002 – exiled abroad
437. Allam Ahmad Kaabi – Nablus – 2003 – exiled
438. Nidal Abdul Razzaq Zallum – Al-Bira – 1989 – released with conditions
439. Nimir Raqi Hamida – Ramallah – 2003 – exiled
440. Hani Rasmi Jaber – Hebron – 1993 – released
441. Hisham Abdul Qader Hejaz – Ramallah – 2003 – exiled abroad
442. Haitham Seif Radwan – Ramallah – 2003 – exiled
443. Wael Kamel al-Jaabari – Hebron – 2000 – exiled
444. Ali Yousef Mughrabi – Bethlehem – 2002 – released
445. Walid Abdul Aziz Injas – Khirbet Bani Hareth – 2002 – exiled abroad
446. Yassin Yassin Suleiman Rabie – Al-Mazraa Al-Qabaliya – 2003 – exiled
447. Nizar Muhammad Ramadan – Jordan Valley – 1998 – exiled abroad
448. Yaacoub Adnan Zeid – Yaabod – 2000 – released with conditions
449. Yousef Deib Abu Adi – Kufur Neimeh – 2005 – exiled
450. Yousef Taher Al-Karam – Jalqamus – 2001 – exiled

Six names are on a separate list which does not specify the conditions of their release. They seem to have been removed from the six blank spots on the original.

1. Sami Khaled Younes – Israel – 1983
2. Ali Abdullah Amriya – Ibten – 1988
3. Muhammad Ahmad Jabbarin – Um al-Fahem – 1988
4. Muhammad Mansour Zeyada – Israel – 1987
5. Mukhles Ahmad Burghal – Israel – 1987
6. We’am Mahmud Amasha – Israel – 1999

Attached with the originals is a list of 27 Palestinian female detainees who are also expected to be freed in the first round, possibly as early as Tuesday.

1. Randa Muhammad Yusuf Shahatit – Hebron – 2009 – released
2. Abir Isa Amru – Hebron – 2001 – released
3. Iman Muhammad Gazzawi – Nablus – 2001 – released
4. Amal Fayiz Jumaa Mahmoud – Nablus – 2004 – released
5. Miryam Salim Tarabin – Jericho – 2005 – released
6. Abir Mahmoud Hasan Awda – Tulkarem – 2009 – released
7. Fatin al-Saadi – Jenin – 2008 – released
8. Wafa Samir al-Bass – Gaza City – 2008 – released
9. Abu Golmi Youssef Lanan – Nablus – 2010 – released
10. Sanabil Nabigh Yusuf Barik – Nablus – 2008 – released
11. Fayina Mustafa Khalil Abu Ayyash – Nablus – 2006 – released
12. Aisha Muhammad Abiyat – Bethlehem – 2009 – released
13. Hanan Ahmed Ali – Bethlehem – 2010 – released
14. Nasrin Abu Zina – Tulkarem – 2009 – released
15. Shalbi Hana – Jenin – 2009 – released
16. Kraja Samud – Ramallah – 2009 – released
17. Pollshchuk Irina – Ukraine – 2002 – released
18. Issawi Abd Faiz Ibtisam – Jerusalem – 2001 – released
19. Shadeh Muhammad Hussein Sanaa – Israel – 2002 – released
20. Al-Saadi Said Ali Qahara – Ramallah – 2002 – released
21. Jiwasi Ziyad Dawaa – Tulkarem – 2002 – released
22. Daragmeh Rawad Hussein Ruma – Jenin – 2004 – released
23. Latifa Muhammad Abu Daraa – Nablus – 2003 – released
24. Tamimi Ared Ahmad Ahlam – Jordan – 2001 – released to Jordan
25. Muna Jawad Ali Amna – Israel – 2001 – exiled
26. Aliaa Muhammad Yhya Jaadallah Jaabri – Hebron – 2011 – released
27. Ramyah Ratab Hassan Abu Samra – Hebron – 2010 – released

Lawyer: 35 female detainees to be released

2011-10-14T08:54:00.000-07:00

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Israel is to release more than 27 female detainees under the terms of a swap deal that was agreed between Hamas and the Israeli government, a prisoners society lawyer said Wednesday.

Jacqueline Fararja said 35 detainees would be released, a few more than the number mentioned by Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal when he gave an overview of the deal.

They are 27 sentenced to jail terms, five held without charge, and three others under Israel's administrative detention system, which allows prisoners to be detained for six months at a time during investigations.

Ma'an could not independently verify the number, but Fararja provided a list of 35 names. They are sorted by the place of origin and the number of years each prisoner had been sentenced before the deal. While Israel and Hamas say all female prisoners will be freed, the official count is still 27.

Tulkarem
Dua Ziad al-Jayousy – 3 life sentences, 33 years
Iman Muhammad Ghazzawi – 13 years
Nisreen Atef Abu Zeineh – 2 years and 8 months
Abeer Mahmud Odeh – arrested

Hebron
Abeer Atef Amr – 16 years
Randa Yousef Shahateet – 4 years
Alya Muhammad al-Jaabari – administrative detention
Ramia Rateb Abu Samra – arrested
Feda Atef Abu Suneineh

Jenin
Qahera Said al-Saadi – 3 life sentences
Faten Bassam al-Saadi – 4 years
Hana Yahia Shalabi – administrative detention
Rima Riyad Daraghma – 25 years
Muna Hussein Awa Qaadan

Ramallah
Ahlam Aref al-Tamimi – 16 life sentences
Sana Muhammad Shehada – 3 life sentences
Sumud Yasser Karaja – 20 years
Bushra Jamal al-Tawil – arrested
Hanyeh Muneer Nasser

Nablus
Amal Fayez Juma – 11 years
Fatna Mustafa Abu al-Eish – 11 years
Sanabel Nabegh Barik – 4 years
Linan Yousef Abu Ghalma – administrative detention
Latifa Muhammad Abu Thera

Bethlehem
Erena Nicholay Sarahna – 20 years
Aysha Muhammad Obayyat – 3 years
Hannan Ahmad Ali Hammouz

Qalqiliya
Suad Ahmad Nazzal – 2.5 years

Jericho
Mariam Salem Tarabeen – 8 years

Gaza Strip
Wafa Sameer al-Bes – 11 years

Jerusalem
Amneh Jawad Manneh – life sentence
Ibtesam Abdul Hafez al-Issawi – 15 years

Israel
Worood Maher Qassem – 6.5 years
Lina Ahmad Jarbuni – 17 years
Khadija Kayed Abu Ayesh – 3 years and 9 months

Prisoners joining hunger strike

2011-10-14T08:50:00.000-07:00

Palestinian woman walks next to photos of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli
jails, at al-Amari refugee camp in Ramallah, Oct. 12.
(Reuters/Mohamad Torokman)

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- As the hunger strike in Israeli prisons enters its 17th day Thursday, 240 prisoners in Gilboa prison have officially joined the action to improve conditions, the prisoners minister in the West Bank said.

Issa Qaraqe said prisoners from Ofer prison have also set in motion a plan to gradually increase participation, while 30 Palestinians in Eshel jail are striking now along with 140 who will join within the week.

Qaraqe expects thousands of detainees to join the strike. The Israeli government continues to reject demands for humane and fair conditions, he said.

Palestinians jailed in Israel went on a mass hunger strike on Sept. 27 to protest harsh conditions. Thousands of demonstrators have staged rallies to support prisoners who are refusing food.

Palestinian singer and activist Rim Banna meanwhile has announced she is on hunger strike for a third consecutive day in solidarity with the detainees throughout the Israeli prison system.

Banna wrote on her Facebook page that she began "a hunger strike in a solidarity with the 6000 Palestinian and Arab political detainees in their struggle 'of the empty stomachs battle' in Israeli prisons."

"Please join and support the detainees to achieve their demands," she said.

Hamas releases names of prisoners to be freed

2011-10-13T06:55:00.000-07:00

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Hamas-affiliated website al-Aqsa posted a list of prisoners it said were due to be released in coming days as part of the prisoner swap with Israel.

Israel and Hamas reached an agreement Tuesday to release over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for an Israeli soldier held by Gaza militants since 2006.

A senior Palestinian official familiar with the deal told Ma'an on Wednesday that 450 prisoners would be released in "10 to 14 days," and a further 550 detainees will be freed in two months. Israel will choose which prisoners to release in the second phase, the official said.

Some 203 prisoners from the West Bank will not return home: 40 will be exiled outside to other countries and the rest will be sent to Gaza, the official said.

Sources close to the negotiations told Ma'an on Thursday that the prisoners would be freed at the same time as Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, and that prisoners who will be sent to the Gaza Strip will be released into Egypt, and will enter Gaza via the Rafah crossing.

The list published on al-Aqsa TV website includes prominent figures including Hamas leader Yehya al-Sinwar and the longest-serving Palestinian prisoner in Israeli jail Nael al-Barghouthi.

The eldest Palestinian detainee Sami Younis, 78, will also be released, the site said.

Nael al-Barghouthi: we are soldiers returning to their bases with high spirits

2011-10-13T06:53:00.001-07:00

[ 12/10/2011 - 09:59 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- The longest serving captive Nael al-Barghouthi congratulated the Palestinian people on the conclusion of the exchange deal with the Israeli occupation and said that: "after 30 years of captivity, we are just soldiers returning to their bases.”
Barghouthi, who is on the list of prisoners to be freed from occupation jails, told “Falastin” newspaper that the Zionist illusion was dispersed with this deal which proved to be a spiritual uniting force of the Palestinian people.
He added that he hoped this unity would result in effective efforts to free the rest of Palestinian and Arab captives from occupation jails. He also praised the Palestinian resistance which inspired change in the Arab world which will lead to a brighter future.
He thanked the negotiating team and praised their resilience and wished this spirit of resilience is transferred to the rest of Palestinian factions so that Palestinians can work for liberation and return of refugees.
Barghouthi, who has served 33 years, remembered his mother who died while he was in captivity and could not see him and prayed for God to bless her and bless all the mothers who died while their children were in captivity.

Resheq: Exchange deal an historic accomplishment

2011-10-13T06:52:00.000-07:00

[ 13/10/2011 - 10:01 AM ]

DAMASCUS, (PIC)-- 315 prisoners serving life sentences would be among those released in the exchange deal with Israel, political bureau member of Hamas Ezzet Al-Resheq said on Wednesday.
He told the PIC that the deal, which he described as an historic accomplishment for the Palestinian people and resistance, would include prisoners from all Palestinian factions and areas in addition to the Syrian Golan Heights.
He said that the deal accomplished 90% of the movement’s demands, adding that some of the “senior prisoners” could not be included in the deal, however.
Resheq said that Hamas leadership had to choose between going ahead in the deal or face delays for several others years or maybe forgetting about the deal altogether.
He said that after intensive meetings the leadership decided to go ahead with the “honorable” deal after securing more than 90% of the movement’s demands and conditions.
The Hamas leader affirmed that his movement would continue to seek the release of all remaining Palestinian prisoners.
For his part, another Hamas leader in Gaza, Dr. Salah Al-Bardawil, said that the deal would be implemented by next Monday or Tuesday maximum.
He said that Hamas hoped that all “heavy weight” prisoners were released but he said that securing 95% of demands was a success in view of what he described as “ferocious rounds of negotiations”.
Bardawil revealed that the oldest serving prisoner in the world Nael Al-Barghouthi would be among those released, but noted that Ahmed Saadat, secretary general of the popular front, and Marwan Al-Barghouthi, a senior Fatah leader and MP, would not be among those released.

Aruri: Deal includes all prisoners demands, no more isolation

2011-10-13T06:49:00.000-07:00

[ 13/10/2011 - 10:11 AM ]

CAIRO, (PIC)-- Saleh Al-Aruri, a Hamas leader and former prisoner, said that the exchange deal would include implementing all demands of the Palestinian prisoners and ending the solitary confinement policy.
Aruri, who is in charge of the prisoners’ file in Hamas, told Quds TV network on Wednesday evening that the prisoners’ demands would be met after implementation of the exchange deal.
The Hamas leader, who took part in the negotiations leading to that swap deal, said that there would be no more prisoners held in isolation and families would be allowed to visit their relatives in custody.
Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails have been on hunger strike for more than two weeks en masse protesting harsh incarceration conditions.
Aruri said that most of the oldest serving prisoners were included in the deal, adding that after its accomplishment less than 5000 prisoners would still be held in Israeli prisons.
Meanwhile, Abu Obaida, the spokesman for the armed wing of Hamas the Qassam Brigades, said in a statement on Wednesday to the armed wing’s website, that the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who is to be released in the deal, would not be the last to be captured by Palestinian resistance as long as Palestinian prisoners are still held in Israeli jails.
He said that the Qassam Brigades would never forget the remaining prisoners, vowing to retain their issue a priority, adding that his armed wing would not be content with improving the incarceration condition of those prisoners but would continue to work for their release with all means possible.

IOA deports 17 foreign solidarity activists

2011-10-13T06:45:00.000-07:00

[ 13/10/2011 - 10:20 AM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) deported 17 European solidarity activists from the West Bank after two days of detention for participating in pro Palestinian rallies.
Sources in the solidarity campaign with detained Palestinian leader Ahmed Saadat said that the activists were detained on Sunday night while demonstrating in front of the Nafha jail in solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners, including Saadat, who are on hunger strike.
They said that the activists were held and interrogated at a police station on the charge of supporting a “hostile Palestinian organization”.
The sources noted that the activists were banned from contacting anyone until they were taken two days later in military vehicles to the Ben Gurion airport where they were deported.
The campaign managers charged the IOA with trying to restrict foreign participation in Palestinian solidarity rallies, adding that they would continue, nevertheless, in supporting Palestinian just struggle against occupation.

Latest Update on the Palestinian Prisoners’ Campaign of Disobedience

2011-10-12T15:46:00.000-07:00

Addameer

Ramallah 11 October

The campaign of civil disobedience launched by Palestinian prisoners on 27 September is now entering its third week. Hundreds of prisoners have joined the campaign by going on either open-ended or 3 day hunger strike. On 10 and 11 October, the entire prisoner population in the prisons of Gilboa (336) Nafha (511), Rimon (716), Eshel (262) and Ashkelon (142) have reportedly declared an open ended hunger strike, with more expected to do the same in the coming days. Four women are also on hunger strike at Damon prison and, like other hunger-strikers, have been denied salt and had electronic items confiscated from their cells.

Our lawyers are regularly trying to visit the hunger strikers, despite the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) continuing to place obstacles in the way of these visits by declaring a ’situation of emergency’ in the prisons. Today our lawyers were prevented from meeting hunger-striking prisoners in Jalameh detention center and Megiddo prison. At Megiddo the prison authorities told our lawyer that they could not allow visits to two prisoners as they had refused to stand up for the roll call and are too weak to see him. When asked for an official statement on this policy, the prison authorities refused.

Families of prisoners from Gilboa have reported to Addameer that the hunger strikers call on international human rights activists, groups and organizations to support their struggle by writing to the Israeli Prison Service to protest against the increasingly punitive measures being taken against them. Addameer supports this call, and requests you to take action by sending the attached letters in Hebrew and English demanding that the IPS immediately desist from the use of isolation and excessive fines against the hunger strikers, and from denying the hunger strikers salt - a vital nutrient to maintain their health. The letters include the relevant addressees from the Israeli Prison Service and other Israeli authorities.

Analysis: Barghouti's fate now firmly in Israel's hands

2011-10-12T15:42:00.000-07:00

Ma'an

By Tom Perry

RAMALLAH (Reuters) -- Left out of a prisoner swap between Hamas and Israel, the Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti must now wait for a different type of deal to get him out of the Israeli jail where he is serving multiple life sentences.

It may never happen.

Hamas's indirect negotiations with Israel to exchange the soldier Gilad Shalit for 1,000 Palestinians in Israeli jails were seen over the last few years as Barghouti's best hope of release.

But the 52-year-old leading member of the Fatah movement was excluded from the swap announced on Tuesday by Hamas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"It was their last hope. Now the situation is very difficult," said one friend of the Barghouti family, reflecting sentiment among his supporters.

Barghouti is a popular figure among Palestinians. His supporters have portrayed him as a Nelson Mandela-like figure who could galvanize and reunite a divided national movement.

Many Palestinians see him as a leading contender to succeed Mahmoud Abbas, 76, as president. There are few other obvious successors to Abbas within the Fatah party which he leads.

In 2004, an Israeli court sentenced Barghouti to five life sentences and 40 years in jail. He was accused of orchestrating ambushes and suicide attacks during the Palestinian Intifada that was under way at the time.

All other factors remaining equal, Barghouti's fate is now firmly in Israel's hands. If he is to be set free, it will happen in a way that suits Israeli interests.

The prospects of that seem remote in the short term. But with time, an Israeli government may see advantage in letting him go, perhaps as a way to influence Palestinian politics and weaken Hamas, or to revive peace negotiations.

Viewed as a murderer by many Israelis, Barghouti was one of the prisoners Israel had refused to let go during rounds of indirect talks with Hamas since Shalit was captured by Gaza-based militants in 2006.

During his trial, whenever the Israeli prosecutor called him a terrorist, he would respond "occupation is terrorizing," speaking in fluent Hebrew learned during his previous jail stints.

Despite his notoriety in Israel, some left-wing Israeli activists and politicians have visited him in prison, sharing the view that he could be a future Palestinian leader.

Some speculate it could suit an Israeli government one day to release Barghouti as a counterweight to the Hamas group, which is deeply hostile to Israel and has governed Gaza since it seized power there from the Palestinian Authority in 2007.

"I don't think Netanyahu is the person to tailor a deal on Marwan Barghouti, but if another Israeli prime minister is in power, perhaps from the center or left, one could expect a political deal to reinforce Fatah," said Yitzhak Reiter of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

"This is not a prediction, but it is one possible scenario."

'A different kind of deal'

Barghouti was a leading activist in both the first and second Palestinian uprisings against Israel.

Born in the West Bank, he supports the idea of an end to the Middle East conflict through the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem -- territory occupied by Israel in 1967.

After Yasser Arafat's death in 2004, Barghouti declared his candidacy for the Palestinian presidency. He then withdrew from the vote, clearing the way for an easy victory for Abbas.

Barghouti's charisma still resonates from behind bars. His portrait as a Palestinian hero has a prominent place on the towering Israeli security wall at a notorious flash point crossing between Ramallah and Jerusalem.

But hopes of his release on Tuesday were dashed.

Ultimately, it suited neither Israel nor the Fatah movement to have Barghouti liberated as part of a deal brought about by Hamas, said Bassem Zubaidi, a Palestinian political scientist from the West Bank university of Birzeit.

"Neither the Israelis nor Fatah are willing to give that credit to Hamas," he said. "Therefore I think, if he is to be released, it will be in a different kind of deal."

Barghouti's belief in the two-state solution to the Middle East conflict sets him apart from Hamas, which refuses to recognize Israel and maintains a commitment to violence.

Although convicted by an Israeli court of militancy, he could yet be a future negotiating partner for Israel.

"If he is to project himself as a moderate, that will resonate with the Israelis," Zubaidi said.

450 prisoners to be freed 'in 10 - 14 days'

2011-10-12T15:38:00.000-07:00

Palestinians chant slogans as they take part in a rally celebrating a
prisoner swap between Hamas and Israel, in Gaza City October 12, 2011.
(REUTERS/Mohammed Salem)

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israel will release 450 prisoners "in 10 to 14 days," including 279 detainees sentenced to life imprisonment, a senior Palestinian official familiar with the prisoner swap deal said Wednesday.

Of these, 110 prisoners will be released to their homes in the West Bank and 131 will return to the Gaza Strip, the official told Ma'an.

Of the 110 prisoners to be freed to the West Bank, 33 are affiliated to Fatah, 15 to the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the remainder are Hamas affiliates, the official told Ma'an.

Six of the prisoners to be released in the first phase are from Jerusalem, or inside Israel, and they will return to their homes, he added.

Some 203 prisoners from the West Bank will not be allowed to return home: 40 will be sent into exile in foreign countries and the rest will be sent to Gaza, he said.

The release will be the first phase of an agreement to free over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for an Israeli soldier held in Gaza since 2006.

Under the agreement, a further 550 prisoners will be released in two months. Israel will choose which prisoners to release in this phase, the official said.

Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal confirmed the deal in a televised address from Damascus on Tuesday night.

"Hamas and Israel have reached an agreement under which 1,027 Palestinians, of whom 27 are women, will be freed in two phases," he said at a news conference broadcast on Arabic-language news channels.

He said the first phase of the deal would see 450 prisoners freed "in one week," with another 550 Palestinians to be freed "in two months."

Mashaal met with Israeli negotiators and Egyptian mediators on Wednesday to discuss the practical implementation of the deal, sources close to the matter told Ma'an.

The head of Israel's domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet Yoram Cohen briefed reporters on Tuesday, and said 203 of the prisoners slated for release in the first phase would be exiled to countries not yet named.

Cohen told the Israeli news site Ynet that prisoners returned to the West Bank would not be allowed to enter Israel or travel abroad for 10 years, and would be restricted to the area of their homes.

They will have to report to the Israeli army every month and will be subject to military arrangements, he added.

The deal, which was reached on Thursday and signed on Tuesday, comes after years of failed attempts to agree a prisoner exchange despite the efforts of Egyptian and German mediators.

Israeli tank gunner Gilad Shalit was captured in a deadly cross-border raid on June 25, 2006 by militants from three Gaza-based groups including Hamas, the Popular Resistance Committees and a Salafi group called the Army of Islam.

The deal had repeatedly stalled over the issue of which prisoners would be released and where they would be allowed to go, with Israel insisting that some go to Gaza or be exiled overseas, and not return to their homes in the West Bank.

Sources: the first stage will see the release of all female captives

2011-10-12T14:30:00.000-07:00

[ 12/10/2011 - 09:22 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Well-informed sources said that the first stage of the prisoner-exchange deal which will be implemented in a few days will see the release of 450 male captives and all 27 female captives.
The sources informed PIC correspondent that the amongst the 450 captives to be released in the first stage there are 315 who were serving life sentences and 135 serving long sentences.
The sources also said that five of the female captives are serving life sentences, including Ahlam al-Tamimi and Qahera al-Sa'di.
The first group to be released will also include 45 captives from Jerusalem, 5 captives from 1948-occupied Palestine, 1 captive from the Golan, 131 from the Gaza Strip and 268 from the West Bank, according to the sources.
The second stage will see the release of 550 captives.

Details emerge of prisoner swap

2011-10-12T14:15:00.000-07:00

Ma'an

By Ori Lewis and Nidal al-Mughrabi

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Prospects of a long-elusive deal with Hamas to secure the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for 1,000 Palestinian prisoners began to take off in July, Israel's negotiator said on Tuesday.

David Meidan, who did the talking for Israel, said Israeli intelligence identified three months ago that the Islamist movement which rules the Gaza Strip and holds Shalit had become more pragmatic and was ready to do a deal with Egypt as mediator.

"From that point on things took off," said Yoram Cohen, head of Israel's domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet, who briefed reporters along with Meidan.

Rumors of an imminent prisoner-swap agreement with Hamas that would bring Shalit home have surfaced on several occasions in the past three years, and on two occasions a deal was thought to be very close, but final agreement eluded the two sides.

On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that his government and Hamas had initialed a prisoner swap pact last Thursday and had finalized it on Tuesday.

Israel will free 450 people in the coming days in the first phase of the exchange while Hamas releases Shalit, who was 19 when he was abducted by the Gaza border in 2006. A further 550 Palestinians would be freed later.

Cohen said 203 would go into exile in countries not yet named, 110 would go home to the West Bank and East Jerusalem and 131 to Gaza. Six Israeli Arabs would also be released.

The list did not include activist Marwan Barghouti, convicted of murder for his role in attacks on Israelis during a Palestinian uprising, or Ahmed Saadat, a faction leader who master-minded the killing of an Israeli cabinet minister in 2001.

Signed in Cairo

The deal was signed for Hamas by Nizar Awadalah in Cairo at the end of a final session which lasted 24 hours and concluded at breakfast time on Tuesday.

Hamas has lost political leverage to its rival Fatah in recent months as President Mahmoud Abbas, the Fatah leader, seized the diplomatic initiative with a campaign to win statehood for Palestine through full United Nations membership.

The armed movement has clamped down on smaller militant groups which carried out cross-border rocket and mortar attacks against Israel, risking Israeli military retaliation.

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal hailed the swap as "a national achievement" and celebrations broke out in the blockaded enclave which Hamas took over in a brief war with Fatah in 2007.

Cohen and Meidan, the last in a series of Israeli negotiators, praised the Egyptians, saying they played a vital and instrumental role in securing the deal and had facilitated its conclusion in a professional manner.

Israel's relations with Egypt were likely to be reinforced by the cooperation, after months of strain following the toppling of Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak which stirred fears among Israelis that their peace pact could be revoked by Egypt's future leaders.

Arab Spring

Announcing the deal to his cabinet, Netanyahu said he feared time was running out for Shalit amid political upheaval in the Arab world.

"I believe we have reached the best agreement possible at this time when storms are raging in the Middle East. I don't know if we could have reached a better agreement, or even achieved one at all, in the near future," he said.

"It's possible that this window of opportunity would have closed for good and we never would have brought Gilad home."

In 2009, negotiations on a swap foundered when Israel described 100 prisoners whose release was sought by Hamas as posing particular security risks and said they would never be freed.

A non-Israeli official involved in the talks, but speaking on condition of anonymity, also told Reuters in Gaza that the ice began to break three months ago, when Israel and Hamas held indirect talks and both began to show more flexibility.

"Israel offered a big part of those names. Hamas sacrificed some names as well and they met in the middle," he said.

He said Israel had agreed to free some of the top militants whose names are not well known in Israel. Meidan said Israel had refused to free some of "the worst murderers".

Netanyahu was involved the whole time through his negotiators deal, the official told Reuters in Gaza.

Netanyahu telephoned Egypt's chief of intelligence Murad Muwafi when the agreement was made in principle and gave it the green light, and Israel's President Shimon Peres agreed to amnesty for those Palestinians to be freed.

Popular revolt in the Arab world had helped improve the negotiating climate, he said, supporting Israeli comments that Hamas -- which was slow to endorse the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt -- felt its room for maneuver shrinking.

"Circumstances changed and Israel was aware of that and the changes in the surrounding areas helped getting things done."

Palestinian singer joins hunger strike

2011-10-12T14:07:00.000-07:00

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Palestinian singer and activist Rim Banna is on hunger strike for third consecutive day in solidarity with the Palestinian detainees who have been on hunger strike for the past two weeks.

"I am the Palestinian singer Rim Banna," the famous singer wrote on her Facebook page.

Monday in Nazareth, Banna said she began "a hunger strike in a solidarity with the 6000 Palestinian and Arab political detainees in their struggle 'of the empty stomachs battle' in Israeli prisons."

"Please join and support the detainees to achieve their demands," she said.

Banna called on the youth in Nazareth to join her and not to twist the strike into factional strike by holding factional slogans or symbols.

On Wednesday, she committed to continuing her sit-in and hunger strike although she suffers from severe sickness. She announced that she would not stop and appealed for solidarity with the detainees.

Palestinians jailed in Israel went on a mass hunger strike on Sept. 27 to protest harsh conditions. Thousands of demonstrators have staged rallies to support prisoners who are refusing food.

Families relieved by prisoner swap

2011-10-12T14:04:00.000-07:00

Family members of Palestinian
prisoners still do not know who will
be released (IRIN/Erica Silverman)

Ma'an

GAZA CITY (IRIN) -- Palestinian families are eagerly awaiting the publication of the names of the more than 1,000 detainees that are to be released in a ground-breaking prisoner swap deal with Israel.

The Israeli cabinet approved the agreement today, under which captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit will be freed in exchange for 1,029 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

Shalit has been in Hamas captivity since June 2006, captured in a cross-border raid executed by Hamas-linked militants. In response, Israel targeted Gaza’s main power station that supplies electricity to Gaza residents.

Outside the International Committee of the Red Cross office in Gaza City, Um Mahmoud holds a large photograph of her son Mahmoud Rais, now aged 30. He was arrested in 2003.

“He was detained at an Israeli checkpoint inside Gaza and we never learned why he was sentenced,” she says. “This release is a victory for Palestinians and for the government.”

Um Mohamed also clutches a photograph of her husband Salama Musleh, arrested and detained by Israeli authorities in 2003 for killing an Israeli settler. She claims the settler killed seven Palestinians.

“God wiling I will find my husband’s name on the list, I have been waiting 18 years,” she says, adding: “The Palestinian Authority failed to release Palestinian prisoners without a peace process.”

It is not yet clear whether any children will be included in the release. At the end of June 2011, 209 Palestinian boys aged 12-17 were in Israeli detention, according to UNICEF.

During the reporting period (May and June 2011), 15 cases were documented of ill-treatment - in some cases amounting to torture of Palestinian boys aged 13-17 by the Israeli authorities during arrest, interrogation and detention.

Affidavits were taken for all cases that involved the use of hand-ties (14 instances), blindfolding (11), beatings (10), stripped of clothes (10), exposure to heat/cold/rain (5), kicking (5), and verbal abuse (5).

Hunger strike

Ex-prisoners and families of detainees have been staging a hunger strike outside ICRC headquarters in Gaza City for over a week, in solidarity with the estimated 1,000 Palestinian prisoners inside Israeli jails who began a massive hunger strike on 27 September protesting inhumane conditions inside the jails.

Strikers’ demands include ending the use of isolation cells and the denial of basic health treatment.

“The ICRC has facilitated medical visits to the strikers from the start,” said ICRC spokesperson Phiri. “We have shifted resources to focus on these prisoners,” he said.

According to the agreement, brokered by Egyptian intelligence, Shalit is expected to be released in about a week, along with the release of 479 Palestinian security prisoners.

Of these 479 prisoners, 96 are from the West Bank and 131 from the Gaza Strip; they will be allowed to return to their homes. Fourteen prisoners from East Jerusalem and six Israeli Arabs will also be allowed to return to their homes.

About half of the released prisoners (203) will not be allowed to return to their homes. Forty will be deported and the rest transferred to Gaza.

Twenty-seven women, all the women imprisoned in Israel for security offenses, will be released. Two will be deported, one to Gaza and one to Jordan.

In two months, Israel will release another 550 prisoners of its choosing.

Over 5,200 Palestinians were being held in Israeli custody for occupation-related offenses in August, including 29 women, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Of that number 272 are administrative detainees, Palestinians held by the Israeli authorities without charge or trial, allegedly for preventive purposes.

“Sigh of relief”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the deal succeeded in bringing Shalit home, while maintaining the security of Israeli citizens.

Some in Israel, however, questioned the move, concerned that releasing so many Palestinian prisoners for one Israeli soldier could encourage future abductions.

“For the last five years, the Shalit case has shaped the feelings of many Israelis towards Gaza, as well as the policies of successive Israeli governments towards Gaza,” said Sari Bashi, director of Israeli NGO Gisha, the legal center for freedom of movement.

“The sigh of relief is palpable throughout Israel and of course the relief felt by the Shalit family and the families of the prisoners who will be released,” she said.

Israeli men and women must serve in the military. In a country where most families watch their young son or daughter leave for the army, the Shalit case has been an emotional issue.

Arab League urges release of all prisoners

2011-10-12T14:01:00.000-07:00

Women take part in a rally calling for the release of their sons held in Israeli jails,
inside the headquarters of the International Red Cross in Gaza City on Oct. 12.
(Reuters/Mohammed Salem)

Ma'an

CAIRO (Reuters) -- The head of the Arab League on Wednesday welcomed a major prisoner swap that will free Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in return for the release of over 1,000 Palestinians, but said that thousands of other Palestinians who are also being held by Israel should also be freed.

Women will be included among the released prisoners, totaling 27, and over 300 of the detainees to be released are serving life terms for violent attacks according to Hamas.

Under the terms of the deal, which was negotiated between the Israeli government and Hamas, Shalit will be released after he was captured in 2006 by militants.

Arab League head Nabil al-Arabi, who met with Greek Foreign Minister Stavros Lambrinidis at the League headquarters in Cairo, said the deal was welcome but more needed to be done.

"Tomorrow's meeting is about the resolution of the issue of the prisoners. There are more than 6,000 prisoners, and if 1,000 are released then this is great, and the Arab League welcomes this, but we want the release of all the Palestinian prisoners," he said.

The pact was mediated by Egypt. Its role is likely to strengthen Israel's ties with Cairo, which have suffered since the fall of Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak in a revolution this year.

Egyptian security detain 5 Palestinians

2011-10-12T13:58:00.000-07:00

An Egyptian security force operates near a watchtower on the Egyptian
side of Gaza's border town, Rafah (MaanImages/Hatem Omar, File)

EL-ARISH, Egypt (Ma’an) -- Egyptian security forces detained five Palestinians who entered the country through Gaza tunnels to film a documentary, officials said Wednesday.

Egyptian authorities said five Palestinians, including a journalist, entered via tunnel in the Salad-Ad-Din area of Rafah in order to film a documentary about the border area.

They are being held for investigation, Egyptian security said. The Palestinians were not immediately identified.

Report: Prisoner list to be published Sunday

2011-10-12T13:56:00.000-07:00

TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma'an) -- A list of prisoners to be released in the first phase of the prisoner exchange deal will be published by Sunday morning, Israel's Justice Ministry said Wednesday.

Israel's Ynet news agency said the ministry indicated that the list would appear on the Israel Prisoner Service's website, and the public will have 48 hours "to submit reservations and objections."

PFLP military wing to Netanyahu: Don't test us

2011-10-12T13:54:00.000-07:00

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- The armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine on Tuesday warned the Israeli government not to harm Palestinian detainees.

"We say to (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu: Don't test us because we are faithful to our leaders," the Abu Ali Mustapha Brigades said in a statement.

PFLP affiliates detained in Israel started a mass hunger strike on Sept. 27 to protest prison conditions and the ongoing solitary confinement of their leader Ahmad Saadat.

Saadat is also on hunger strike, and the head of the Palestinian Prisoners' Society legal team Jawad Boulos said Monday he had visited the Popular Front leader in Israel's Nafha prison on Sunday night, and described his condition as "very worrying."

Israel has held Saadat in isolation for three years. He was found guilty of ordering the murder of Israel's tourism minister in 2001.

The head of Israel's domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet Yoram Cohen said Tuesday that Saadat would not be included in a deal to free Palestinian prisoners in exchange for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

4 indicted for bomb attack near Jerusalem bus station

2011-10-12T13:52:00.001-07:00

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Four members of Hamas have been indicted for an attack in Jerusalem in March which killed a British citizen, the Israeli army said Tuesday.

The incident took place on March 23, 2011 near the central bus station in West Jerusalem, killing Mary-Jane Gardner and injuring 67.

The army said it was executed by a Hamas cell working in the West Bank city of Hebron.

Israel welcomes Shalit swap with mixed emotions

2011-10-12T13:50:00.000-07:00

Hamas national security officers are reflected in a souvenir shop window with a
poster of jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti as they patrol a street to
celebrate a prisoner swap between Hamas and Israel, in Gaza City Oct. 12.
(Reuters/Mohammed Salem)

Ma'an

By Ari Rabinovitch and Nidal al-Mughrabi

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Israelis welcomed on Wednesday a major prisoner swap that will free soldier Gilad Shalit after five years in captivity in return for the release of 1,000 Palestinians, but emotions were mixed over the lopsided exchange negotiated with Hamas.

"We are proving, for who knows how many times, that each of our soldiers is a world unto himself, and we will make a supreme effort to bring him home. The deal is a tough one, but it was the best possible to reach in these conditions," Home Front Security Minister Matan Vilnai told Israeli Radio.

He said the terms thrashed out since secret negotiations got serious about three months ago did not give the Islamist group Hamas, who hold Shalit, everything they asked for.

"We got the maximum we were able. And we are again proving that we will make supreme efforts to bring our soldiers home. It's the case for every family living in Israel," Vilnai said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won overwhelming cabinet approval for the swap at a special night-time session. He had been under constant public pressure to bring Shalit home.

But some ministers opposed the agreement, warning it would encourage more hostage-taking by militant Palestinians.

Uzi Landau, Minister of National Infrastructure, was one of three in the 29-member cabinet who did not back the deal.

"The release of terrorists is a message that is simple: abductions pay off. Terror pays," he said. "Yesterday unfortunately, with the government decision, one of the things we took into account is that they will begin more vigorously plans for new abductions ... It's a big victory for Hamas."

Hamas and its supporters in the Gaza Strip have threatened to abduct more Israeli soldiers until all 6,000 Palestinians are free from Israeli prisons.

"This deal lays the foundations for a new stage. The enemy's acceptance of the conditions of the resistance did not come from a position of strength, it came from a position of weakness," wrote Deputy Culture Minister Mustafa al-Sawaf in a Gaza newspaper.

Over 300 of the Palestinians to be released are serving life terms, according to Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal.

The deal resolves one of the most emotive and intractable issues between Israel and the Palestinians but has no obvious direct effect on peace negotiations which have been stalled for the past year, apart from potentially improving the climate for a resumption as urged by Washington and its allies.

The breakthrough pact was achieved after many false dawns in years of secret efforts to free Shalit.

The young soldier was grabbed by militants who tunneled into an Israeli army border position next to Gaza in June, 2006. Israeli forces withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, subsequently shutting off the coastal enclave behind a heavily guarded security fence.

Shalit was 19 at the time and is now 25. The last sign of life received from the soldier was a videotape released by his captors in September 2009 showing him pleading for his life.

Deal resolves emotive issues

Sawaf said the deal was a lesson to the Palestinian Authority of Hamas's rival President Mahmoud Abbas and peace negotiators who "humiliate themselves before the enemy."

"We hope Abbas would learn this lesson and abandon illusions that will not achieve a state and will not establish a state. He should reconsider his position and return to the side of Palestinian people," Sawaf wrote.

"Resistance got what it wanted and Hamas fulfilled the promise it made," he asserted.

On the sidelines of the agreed swap, the United States said it was hopeful Israel and the Palestinians would hold a preliminary meeting to revive talks on Oct. 23 in Jordan.

Prospects for peacemaking have been clouded by Abbas' bid for UN recognition of a Palestinian state and by Israeli settlement activity, which Abbas has said must stop if negotiations are to begin again.

A source involved in the talks said the pact had been mediated by Egypt. Its role is likely to strengthen Israel's ties with Cairo, which have suffered since the fall of Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak in a revolution this year.

Israel is to free 1,027 prisoners, including 27 women, in two stages. Within a week, 450 will be swapped simultaneously for Shalit and the rest will be freed two months later.

Yoram Cohen, head of Israel's Shin Bet internal security service told reporters 110 of the prisoners to be released in the first stage would go home to the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and 131 would go to the Gaza Strip where they live. Six Palestinian-Israelis were also on the list.

Cohen said 203 prisoners from the West Bank would be exiled to the Gaza Strip or abroad. The move appeared to be an attempt by Israel to prevent Hamas from regrouping in the territory, controlled by Abbas' Palestinian Authority.

Two of the most famous Palestinians serving time in Israeli prisons are not part of the swap, Cohen said. They are Marwan Barghouti, a leader of Abbas's Fatah faction serving five life prison terms for murder, and Ahmed Saadat, found guilty of ordering the murder of Israel's tourism minister in 2001.

Official: Barghouti, Saadat won't be freed

2011-10-12T13:46:00.001-07:00

Ma'an

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Two of the most famous militants serving time in Israeli prisons are not part of a mass prisoner swap agreed with Hamas, Israel's top security official said on Tuesday.

Marwan Barghouti, a charismatic leader of the Fatah faction serving five life prison terms for murder, and Ahmed Saadat, found guilty of ordering the murder of Israel's tourism minister in 2001, will not be freed, the head of Israel's Shin Bet spy agency said.

Israel announced on Tuesday it was ready to swap more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in return for Israeli captive soldier Gilad Shalit in a deal struck with Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip.

In previous negotiations aimed at securing Shalit's release, the names of both Barghouti and Saadat had often been raised, but Shin Bet chief, Yoram Cohen, told reporters that neither man was included in the final accord.

Israeli cabinet approves prisoner swap to free soldier

2011-10-12T13:45:00.001-07:00

Ma'an

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Israel's cabinet on Tuesday approved a deal with Hamas to free Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, an official statement said.

Ministers voted 26 to 3 in favor of the Egyptian-mediated deal for the soldier held captive since June 2006, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged them to ratify the lopsided swap that he called "the best deal we could achieve".

Hamas steals Abbas thunder with prisoner deal

2011-10-12T13:42:00.000-07:00

Hamas militants take part in a rally as they celebrate news of a prisoner swap
between Hamas and Israel, in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip Oct. 11, 2011.
(Reuters/ Mohammed Salem)

Ma'an

By Tom Perry

RAMALLAH (Reuters) -- Hamas has jumped back into the Middle East spotlight with a prisoner swap deal with Israel that will score points over President Mahmoud Abbas and steal some of the thunder he generated by pushing for statehood at the UN.

But the deal hailed by the Islamist group which governs Gaza as a national victory was dimmed by Israel's refusal to free some prominent prisoners from rival factions, chief among them Marwan Barghouti -- a leading figure in Abbas' Fatah movement.

Hamas had repeatedly pledged to secure Barghouti's release in any deal to set free Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier captured in 2006. Israel is now set to free more than 1,000 Palestinians for Shalit in the deal announced Tuesday.

"They would have given up on an important person in Barghouti. Someone important to the national movement," said Hany al-Masri, a political commentator based in Ramallah in the West Bank. "It's still a victory, but not such a great one."

The exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, announcing the deal from his Damascus headquarters, said the prisoners included more than 300 serving life terms in Israeli jails. They were drawn from members of all the Palestinian factions.

But he did not name any of them, fueling early speculation that Barghouti and Ahmed Saadat, the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation Of Palestine, had been left out of the deal.

Meshaal described the lopsided swap as "a national achievement" for the Palestinians, whose struggle for statehood has been hindered by the divide between the Hamas-run Gaza Strip and Abbas' West Bank-based Palestinian Authority.

"This deal embodies and strengthens the unity of the people by including all the factions," Meshaal said.

Though lacking Saadat and Barghouti, the swap will resonate with Palestinians, who regard the 6,000 or more prisoners held by Israel as national heroes and freedom fighters.

From a domestic perspective, the timing comes at a good moment for Hamas. A hunger strike among Palestinian prisoners whose demands include an end to solitary confinement is making daily headlines in the Palestinian media.

Eclipsed by Abbas

The prisoner swap switches attention back to the Islamist group that has appeared eclipsed in recent weeks by Abbas' drive to secure full UN membership for a Palestinian state in the face of stiff US and Israeli opposition.

Hamas' criticism of the diplomatic move had appeared out of tune with public support that peaked with a strong speech Abbas delivered to the UN General Assembly on Sept. 23.

"Hamas proves again that it has cards and they can pull them out at the speed of light," said Zakaria al-Qaq, a Palestinian political commentator. "It's about scoring goals. It isn't a matter of elections, it's about credibility."

For now, the opinion polls are of little consequence to either Fatah or Hamas: neither is likely to face an electoral test any time soon because of the division between Gaza and the West Bank. The split has persisted, despite an agreement announced in May designed to end it.

But credibility matters to both. Abbas, 76, a believer in peace negotiations despite a deadlock that has lasted over a year, has enhanced his standing in recent months, showing a more defiant approach towards Israel and the United States.

He has stuck by his commitment not to return to talks with Israel without a full halt to its settlement construction on land where the Palestinians aim to found an independent state.

And his attempt to secure UN membership, though doomed to failure by the prospect of a US veto, has won support as a welcome change after two decades of negotiations.

Hamas' critics, meanwhile, say the movement has been facing a credibility crisis, struggling to reconcile its commitment to armed struggle against Israel with the responsibilities of governing Gaza, where it seized power from Abbas in 2007.

They have pointed to a contradiction between Hamas' words and deeds as it has sought to rein in militants whose rocket attacks into Israel have drawn punishing reprisals.

In his televised address, a defiant Meshaal promised to secure the release of more prisoners. "We met our promise to you today, and we will do so tomorrow, God willing," he said.

Talal Okal, a Gaza-based commentator, said: "This has restored the shine to Hamas."

Qaq added: "The Hamas movement is sending a message: that negotiations are not worth it, and its method, resistance, is the one that produces results."

Intifada Association announcement on interruption of Israeli ambassador speech and detention of its members

2011-10-12T09:51:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Athens, Greece

Tonight, members of the Intifada Association, supported by other solidarity activists, staged a peaceful protest raising the Palestinian flag during the first public speech of the Ambassador of the Israeli Apartheid in Greece, Arie Mekel. The Ambassador s speech was held in a conference organized by a host of pro-zionist entities (HEL.C.E.I.A., R.I.E.A.S., Defencenet). Many Greek parliamentarians attended the conference.
When the Israeli Ambassador stepped up on the podium, the members of the Intifada Association raised a Palestinian flag and expressed their solidarity to Palestinians with mottos such as “Free Palestine”, “Solidarity to Hunger Strikers”, “End torture in Israeli prisons”, and “Boycott The Israeli Apartheid”. Α group of undercover policemen intervened and violently expelled the two activists from the conference room, only to surrender them to a police unit outside the building where the conference was taking place.

(Video from Omnia TV)

There, the head of the police unit ordered the activists immediate arrest, repeatedly urging his officers to confiscate the Palestinian flag (an order which the officers hesitated to obey), without ever mentioning any specific charges that would justify the activists arrest. The two activists were subsequently taken to the State Protection Department of Athens General Police Headquarters, where they were stripped of their mobile phones and denied communication with their lawyers (whom luckily they had already notified).
The immediate response of solidarity people, from various political organizations, including other Greek pro-palestinian groups, coupled by the pressure of lawyers, succeeded in degrading the arrest into a routine detention at the Police Headquarters, in order for the activists to be identified (despite the fact that they had their ID s on them). Finally the two activists were released.

It is notable that it s the first time in such a protest, that the security men not only threw the protesters out of the room (as it had happened in 2008) but they also arrested (initially) or at least detained them (finally). In Palestine, raising a Palestinia flag is prohibited by the military order 938. Despite the fact that the implementation of this order has been mitigated after the Oslo agreements in 1993, now it seems that in 2011 it has started to be implemented also in Greece!

The 11/10 protest was just a symbolic act of solidarity to the Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike.

In the mean time, an agreement was announced, for a prisoners swap between more than 1000 Palestinian prisoners (from the more than 5000 in Israeli jails) and the one and only Israeli soldier of the occupation forces who s a prisoner of war.

We remind you that Intifada Association is organizing on the 20^th of October, 7.30 p.m. at the National Technical University an open discussion: “Greek-Israeli alliance. Will we permit it? ”. With the economist Leonidas Vatikiotis, Vaggelis Pissias from “Ship to Gaza – Greece” and the journalist Aris Hadjistefanou.

Freedom for all the Palestinian prisoners

Boycott Israeli Apartheid

Free Palestine

Greek Association for Solidarity with the Palestinian People - INTIFADA

Hip-hop band DAM supports Palestinian prisoners’ actions with new track

2011-10-12T05:56:00.000-07:00

Electronic Intifada

Submitted by Adri Nieuwhof on Wed, 10/12/2011 - 10:24

Yesterday, Palestinian hip-hop band DAM released a new track ‘A Letter From a Prison Cell’ to support the Palestinian prisoners in their hunger strike. DAM wrote the text for the new track featuring Trio Joubran, Bachar Khalifa, Nibal Malshi and Ibrahim Sakalla. DAM clarify their support to the Palestinian prisoners:

We are adding our voices to their call for justice and demands for their legal rights. ‘A Letter From a Prison Cell’ tells the stories of three prisoners who refuse to be ignored and become another statistic. They have written letters to the outside world and the song voices those words.

The track has the potential to become the musical flag ship of the Hunger Strike for Palestine movement. The video is subtitled in Arabic and English.

Listen to ’A Letter From a Prison Cell’ and share the video.

Foreign nationals in Gaza participate in the hunger strike

Three foreign nationals residing in Gaza have entered their fifth day of an open-ended hunger strike and protest encampment in front of the office of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza. In its 11 October press release, ISM Gaza quotes hunger striker Vera Macht from Germany: “The situation of Palestinian prisoners is truly heartbreaking. Parents are separated from their children, and wives from their husbands, for years, without so much as a letter or video.” Hunger striker Joe Catron from the United States added: “Palestinian prisoners are bravely resisting a system that seeks to crush them, their families, their communities, and their national life. Their struggle deserves our full support.”

ISM Gaza writes in its press statement:

In Gaza, hundreds have been gathering in front of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on a daily basis to demonstrate for prisoner rights. Protesters have maintained a permanent encampment in and around the ICRC courtyard since Sunday, 2 October. Additionally, Palestinian activists in Gaza have called for international supporters to join the hunger strike for 24 hours on Wednesday, 12 October, and use Twitter to publicize their participation and solidarity (See: The Electronic Intifada). All hunger strikers are asked to tweet “My name is ( ) and I will go on a hunger strike on Wednesday in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners. #TweepStrike #HS4Palestine.”

Action in Greece

At the first public appearance of the new Israeli ambassador to Greece, Arie Mekel, two members of the “Intifada Association” unfolded a Palestinian flag inside the hall where the event took place. They raised their voice and shouted: “Free Palestine; Solidarity with Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails; Stop torture in Israeli jails; Boycott Israeli apartheid; and Free Palestine.”

The police removed the two activists from the hall and drove them to the police headquarters. The activists managed to inform a legal adviser about their “arrest.” After the police verified their identity, the two activists were released. Watch the video:

Meanwhile, Hamas and Israel struck a swap deal on the release of over one-thousand Palestinian prisoners and the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Marwan Barghouti and Ahmad Saadat will not be released, according to Israeli intelligence sources quoted in an article published by IMEMC.

If the swap deal materializes, about five-thousand Palestinian political prisoners still remain in Israeli jails. Every reason for the Hunger Strike for Palestine movement to continue its actions.

Joyful Palestinians celebrate prisoner swap

2011-10-11T17:51:00.000-07:00

Ma'an

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA CITY (Reuters) -- Palestinians in the Gaza Strip fired guns in the air and blared their car horns Tuesday to celebrate a prisoner swap deal between Israel and Hamas, which will exchange 1,000 Palestinians for Israeli captive Gilad Shalit.

Hailed by Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal in a speech from Damascus as a "national achievement", the prisoner swap was the best news Gaza has had for years.

Israeli and Hamas leaders announced the signing of the Egyptian-brokered deal, clinched after many failed attempts in secret talks since Shalit was abducted by gunmen in the summer of 2006.

It is expected to begin in the coming days, and the names of those to be freed have yet to be published.

But Abdel-Karim Abu Attaya, 76, was already looked forward to a reunion with his son Mohammed, who has served 20 years in an Israeli jail for being a member of the Hamas armed wing and carrying out attacks against the Israeli occupation of Gaza, which ended in 2005.

"Happiness brought tears to my eyes," he said, adding that he would see to it that his son soon had a wife.

"I am the happiest man. I congratulate the family of Gilad Shalit as well. I hope all Palestinian prisoners will be freed," the father of eleven said.

Gunmen fired rifles and congratulations were issued from the loudspeakers of Gaza's many mosques.

"We must continue in our struggle until all prisoners are freed," said Abdallah Abu Huwaidy. Some 6,000 Palestinians are serving sentences in prisons in Israel, which Hamas refuses to recognise.

Thousands of Gaza residents from all political factions rallied across the narrow coastal enclave to celebrate news of the deal, which Hamas officials said would include prisoners of the various militant groups.

Abu Attaya, spokesman of the Popular Resistance Committees, whose fighters joined Hamas in the capture of Shalit, said militants would kidnap more Israeli soldiers until all Palestinian prisoners are freed.

"The coming weeks and month will witness more responses and more, similar operations. We will continue the same path to kidnap Zionist soldiers in order to clear all prisons," the masked spokesman said, clutching an assault rifle.

"Today the resistance talks," an activist cried over the loudspeaker of one mosque. "Today the enemy submitted to our demands and that was just the start."

Israel: Arab Spring forced us to accept Hamas's demands for freeing Shalit

2011-10-11T17:48:00.000-07:00

PIC

[ 10/10/2011 - 10:03 PM ]

Nael Barghouthi captured on 4 April 1978, Gilad Shalit captured 25 June 2006

From Khalid Amayreh in occupied Palestine

After losing all hopes for rescuing imprisoned Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who is held in the Gaza Strip, Israel has apparently agreed to accept virtually all Hamas's conditions for a prisoner swap deal that would also see the release from Israeli jails and dungeons of as many as a thousand Palestinian prisoners, including men, women, and children.

Israeli prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu said an agreement with Hamas had been reached and that Shalit would be returning home in the coming days.

Speaking during an emergency session of his cabinet Tuesday evening, Netanyahu said there was a window of opportunity to release Shalit which he said the government decided to seize.

Acting otherwise, he added, and in light of the "storms" blowing throughout the Arab world, could mean that "Shalit may never come back."

Netanyahu was apparently alluding to the Arab Spring and the collapse of pro-Israeli regimes in both Egypt and Tunisia .

Hamas' officials in the Gaza Strip and abroad have confirmed the conclusion of a swap agreement with Israel.

In Damascus, Hamas' leader Khaled Mishaal revealed details of the long-awaited deal. He told an impromptu news conference in the Syrian capital that the swap deal stipulated the release of a thousand male prisoners as well as 27 female prisoners.

He also pointed out that the deal would see prisoners with multiple life-imprisonment terms from Jerusalem and the Arab community in Israel released.

Mishaal added that the deal would be carried out in two stages, first the transfer of Shalit outside the Gaza Strip, which would coincide with the release of 450 Palestinian prisoners, and second the release of the rest of the prisoners once Shalit returns to Israel.

Mishaal saluted the people of Gaza for their sacrifices and also thanked Egypt , Turkey , Syria and Germany for their positive roles in concluding the deal.

Abu Ubaida, a resistance Islamist leader in Gaza told al-Jazeera Television Tuesday night that the agreement was a landmark victory for Hamas and other Palestinian resistance factions.

"This is a great victory for the Palestinian people. We send this gift to the martyrs, including Sheikh Ahmed Yasin."

He said that Israel was forced to accede to virtually all the demands and conditions of Hamas.

According to the agreement, all women and children prisoners will also be freed.

Among prisoner leaders to be released are the main commanders of Hamas's resistance wing including Abdullah Barghouthi, Yahya Sinwar, Abdullah al Sayed as well as leaders of the Islamic Jihad organization. Marwan el Barghouthi, the imprisoned Fatah leader, and Ahmed Saadat, Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) will be among the freed prisoners.

A spokesman of the resistance movement in Gaza, Abu Mujahed, attributed the success of the deal to "the resilience and unflinching determination of the resistance to see to it that all our demands are met."

"It was not easy, but eventually we are about to get what we wanted."

He added that Palestinian freedom fighters knew from the very inception that Israel wouldn't agree to free that many prisoners unless it was forced to.

"Israel only understands this language."

Abu Mujahed said the deal also stipulated that Israel would meet all the demands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails who have gone on an open-ended hunger strike in protest against worsening prison conditions.

Egypt reportedly played a key role in concluding the deal.

An Egyptian official was quoted as saying that "after 64 months of tough negotiations we were able to complete the deal. It was a very difficult task, which included thousands of hours of negotiations."

Egyptian officials have also said that the deal which has been reached also includes the release of accused Israeli spy Ilan Garpel.

During deliberations leading up to the Israeli acceptance of the deal, Netanyahu reportedly told his ministers that failing to endorse the deal would probably doom Shalit's fate forever.

"If the government fails to approve the deal, the whole move to release Shalit could go down the drain, conceivably postponing his release by many years."

Netanyahu spoke of "powerful storms" hovering over the Arab world, which he said would make rescuing Shalit utterly unlikely if the government didn't seize this opportunity.

The deal is widely viewed as a great moral and political booster for Hamas. It is also likely to contribute to further enhancing relations between Hamas and Cairo.

Moreover, many Palestinians feel the deal will be especially auspicious in terms of pushing national reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas forward.

Hamas's fighters, along with fighters from the People Resistance and Army of Islam took part in the military operation on 25 June, 2006, during which Shalit was taken prisoners.

Israel tried in vain every conceivable feat and trick to repatriate Shalit, including launching widespread and murderous aggressions against the Gaza Strip in which thousands of Palestinians lost their lives.

Hamas, Israel reach deal to exchange prisoners

2011-10-11T17:32:00.000-07:00

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israel and Hamas agreed Tuesday to swap more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for Israeli captive soldier Gilad Shalit, resolving one of the most emotive and intractable issues between them.

Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal said Israel will release 1,027 prisoners in two stages. Within a week, 450 will be swapped for Shalit and the rest will be freed two months later. Twenty-seven women are among those on the release roster.

"We are happy with this great achievement and we thank our God for that. But our happiness is mixed with sorrow because we were not able to gain the freedom of all prisoners," Meshaal said in a televised address from Damascus.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, asking his cabinet to approve the lopsided swap and under constant public pressure to bring Shalit home, said the soldier would be reunited with his family "in the coming days".

Palestinians in Gaza greeted the agreement, brokered by Egypt and a German mediator, with celebratory gunfire. Hamas confirmed that it only remained to conclude technical arrangements for the exchange.

A high-ranking source in Hamas said the deal was conducted largely under Egyptian auspices, and that its final implementation will begin by the start of November.

The deal was overseen by the Egyptian intelligence minister two weeks ago. Israel and Hamas send delegates to Cairo and it was agreed that 450 prisoners would be freed in a first round.

There are at least 6,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. They are regarded as heroes in their struggle against Israeli occupation and quest for statehood.

The wife of Marwan Barghouti, a charismatic activist seen as a future Palestinian leader, told Reuters in the West Bank that she was eagerly awaiting word that he will be included in the prisoner swap.

In Gaza the families of men jailed for life by Israel waited to see if their names would be on the list.

According to Abu Mujahed, a spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees which participated int he raid to capture Shalit, the deal will include prisoners from Jerusalem and who hold Israeli citizenship.

"All the women and children, the sick and the elderly" are included too, he said.

Hamas, the PRC and the Army of Islam will clarify the details of the agreement on Wednesday, he said noting that in any case, "99 percent" of the factions' demands have been met.

It was not immediately clear how many of the prisoners were jailed for attacks that caused Israeli casualties. Under Israeli law, opponents of their release have at least 48 hours to appeal to courts to keep them behind bars.

In tandem with a public campaign waged by Shalit's parents for his freedom, relatives of Israelis killed in Palestinian attacks have lobbied Netanyahu not to give in to Hamas by releasing prisoners with blood on their hands.

Israeli television quoted Netanyahu as telling Shalit's parents that ever since he took office three years ago "I've been waiting for the chance to make this telephone call" to inform them of the deal.

Shalit's family, which has maintained a vigil in a protest tent near Netanyahu's Jerusalem home for months, had accused him of not doing enough to secure his release.

Announcing to his cabinet, and television cameras, that a deal had been signed earlier in the day, Netanyahu said he feared time was running out for Shalit amid political upheaval in the Arab world.

"I believe we have reached the best agreement possible at this time when storms are raging in the Middle East. I don't know if we could have reached a better agreement, or even achieved one at all, in the near future," he said.

"It's possible that this window of opportunity would have closed for good and we never would have brought Gilad home."

Israel has carried out several lopsided prisoner swaps in the past, notably in 1985 when hundreds of Palestinian prisoners were freed in exchange for several soldiers captured by a guerrilla group in Lebanon.

The ordeal of Shalit, a fresh-faced corporal, transfixed Israel after the tank gunner was captured by militants who tunneled their way out of Gaza and then forced him back over the border.

He was 19 at the time and had begun his mandatory three-year army service nearly a year previously.

Shalit, who also holds French citizenship, was last seen in a videotape released by his captors in September 2009 showing him looking pale and thin.

He received no visits from the International Committee of the Red Cross, despite many appeals.

Reuters contributed to this report.

-------------

Mishaal: The deal stipulates release of 1027 Palestinian captives

[ 11/10/2011 - 09:36 PM ]

DAMASCUS, (PIC)-- Head of the Hamas political bureau, Khaled Mishaal, revealed that the prisoner exchange deal reached between Hamas and the Israeli occupation through German and Egyptian mediation, stipulates the release of 1027 Palestinian captives in exchange for Israeli captive Gilad Shalit.
In a televised speech on Tuesday evening Mishaal said: "The exchange deal will be in two stages; the first stage will see 450 captives released within a week, the second stage will see the release of 550 after two months of the first stage."
He also said that all 27 female captives will be released and the first stage will include 315 captives serving life sentences.
He added that his movement was keen on including captives who entered prison at various stages of the Palestinian struggle from various factions as well as captives from various areas; Jerusalem, 1948-occupied Palestine, the Golan and the diaspora, pointing out this was an expression of the unity of the Palestinian people everywhere.
Mishaal described the deal as a “national achievement,” adding “To my brothers in the PA and Palestinian factions inside and outside Palestine I say this achievement belongs to all of us. We are proud of it and prepare for further achievements. Let us join hands and plan for more achievements for our national project until we liberate out Palestine and establish our state."
He promised that his movement will spare no efforts to get the rest of the Palestinian captives released.
He praised the Qassam Brigades and other Palestinian factions who participated in capturing the occupation soldier Gilad Shalit to exchange him for Palestinian captives.

Minister: Hunger strike about isolation, not chicken

2011-10-09T19:50:00.000-07:00

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The main goal of Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli jails is an end to solitary confinement policies, the Palestinian Authority prisoners' affairs minister said Sunday.

The use of isolation cells is the "strategic demand" of prisoners, who have refused food for 13 days, Issa Qaraqe said, accusing Israeli media of "incitement" for stating its aims were access to satellite TV or whole chickens.

Qaraqe, speaking at a solidarity tent for the hunger strikers in Abu Dis, said solitary confinement, as well as prevention of family visits, fines, and use of hand and feet cuffs, were the main demands of the movement.

Detainees said earlier Sunday that Israeli prison authorities had accepted some of their demands, including transmission of satellite television, provision of whole chickens, family visits without handcuffs, and visits between different sections of prisons.

Prison authorities are still refusing to end the practice of prisoner isolation, and have also refused to increase detainee allowances to more than 300 shekels.

The prison administration will hold a hearing to discuss the rest of the demands by detainees, prisoners said.

Israel's prison service said on Sunday more prisoners had joined the strike -- it counts 234 strikers -- and after returning six meals, prisoners have all food products and electrical equipment removed from their cells, Israeli news site Ynet reported.

Qadura Fares, head of the Palestinian Prisoners' Society, said all 200 PFLP inmates had been observing the strike since the start, while another 200 or so prisoners were joining the strike for three days per week.

Popular Front affiliated detainees launched the strike on Sept. 27 to protest harsh conditions, in particular solitary confinement policies under which the groups' leader Ahmad Saadat has been held in isolation for three years.

Qaraqe said detainees' health was deteriorating due to the hunger strike, and prison authorities were not providing necessary medical checks.

The prisoners' minister called for political and legal support to help the detainees, and held the Israeli government responsible for their lives.

Thousands of demonstrators staged rallies in the West Bank and Jerusalem and set up sit-in tents this week to support prisoners who are refusing food.

Tents were also erected in Cairo, Paris and Canada to support the strike, Qaraqe said.

Palestinian detainees say their conditions have deteriorated after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to toughen their conditions in June, in an effort to pressure Hamas to release a kidnapped Israeli solider.

Gilad Shalit was captured just outside the Gaza Strip in 2006 and Hamas is seeking the release of more than 1,000 prisoners in return for his freedom.

According to latest reports from the Palestinian Authority 6,000 Palestinians are being detained in Israeli prisons, including 219 in Administrative Detention who are held without charge.

AFP contributed to this report

Israel approves several hunger strike demands

2011-10-09T19:40:00.000-07:00

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Israeli prison authorities have decided to meet some of the demands by Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli jails, detainees said Sunday.

The prison administration has agreed to allow the transmission of satellite television, has allowed prisoners to go on family visits without handcuffs, and has permitted visits between different sections of prisons to take place.

A demand by prisoners to be given whole chickens, instead of chopped chicken, has also been met, detainees told Ma'an.

Prison authorities are still refusing to end the practice of prisoner isolation, and have also refused to increase detainee allowances to more than 300 shekels.

The prison administration will hold a hearing to discuss the rest of the demands by detainees, prisoners said.

Palestinians jailed in Israel went on a mass hunger strike on Sept. 27 to protest harsh conditions.

In June, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to toughen conditions for Palestinians in Israeli jails, in an effort to pressure Hamas to release captured Israeli solider Gilad Shalit.

The hunger strike has now lasted 13 days.

Thousands of demonstrators staged rallies in the West Bank and Jerusalem this week to support prisoners who are refusing food.

According to latest reports from the Palestinian Authority 6,000 Palestinians are being detained in Israeli prisons, including 219 in Administrative Detention who are held without charge.

Voices from the Occupation: Ahmad F. - Detention

2011-10-09T19:22:00.000-07:00

DCI Palestine

Name: Ahmad F.
Date of arrest: 6 July 2011
Age: 15
Location: Burin village, occupied West Bank
Accusation: Throwing stones
On 6 July 2011, a 15-year-old boy from Burin village, near Nablus, in the occupied West Bank, is arrested by Israeli soldiers from the family home at 2:00 am.

At around 2:00 am, on 6 July, 15-year-old Ahmad was up late socialising with family members who had just arrived from Jordan. “We were all sitting on the balcony […] when we heard people climbing up the stairs,” recalls Ahmad. “Suddenly, many soldiers stormed the house. We were surprised to see them. They started shouting at us and ordering us into the living room.” Some soldiers started searching the house causing a big mess. Ahmad’s two-year-old nephew started crying, and this “annoyed the soldiers who started shouting and asking his mother to shut him up.”

Approximately one hour after the soldiers arrived, Ahmad was informed that he was ‘wanted for interrogation’. “One of the soldiers immediately tied my hands from the front with three sets of plastic cords. One cord for each hand and one cord connecting the two. The ties were very tight and caused me much pain. Then another soldier grabbed me by the arm and took me out of the house.” Ahmad’s brother asked the soldiers where he was being taken and was attacked by a soldier. “He started hitting him hard with the barrel of his rifle in front of the family, including the children, who became horrified and started crying,” recalls Ahmad. On exiting the house Ahmad was also blindfolded.
Ahmad reports being led about 50 metres to some waiting vehicles, which then transported him to Huwwara interrogation and detention centre, on the outskirts of Nablus. On arrival at the centre Ahmad was pulled out of the vehicle and made to stand beside it. ‘They were chanting, laughing and shouting in my ears,” recalls Ahmad. “They were making fun of me. One of them placed his mobile phone beside my ear and played a police siren so loud. Then one of them grabbed me by the arm and placed my head against the car engine, as another one kept stepping on the accelerator. They did this several times. My whole body started shaking.” Ahmad reports that he was then taken inside the gates of the centre but left outside from about 5:00 am until 3:00 pm the following day. He was not brought any food. Whilst waiting outside, Ahmad reports being verbally abused and told: ‘We want you to die out here.’ Whenever Ahmad tried to sleep a soldier would start shouting and kicking him to keep him awake.
At one point, whilst Ahmad was waiting outside, some soldiers brought a dog and Ahmad was pushed to the ground. “I managed to see the dog from under my blindfold,” he says. “They brought the dog’s food and put it on my head. I think it was a piece of bread, and the dog had to eat it off my head. His saliva started drooling all over my head and that freaked me out. I was so scared my body started shaking because I thought he was going to bite me. They saw me shaking and started laughing and making fun of me. Then they put another piece of bread on my trousers near my genitals, so I tried to move away but he started barking. I was terrified.”
Later that day Ahmad was taken to the police station in Ari’el settlement and interrogated. “The interrogator removed my blindfold but kept me tied,” recalls Ahmad. “The interrogator accused me of throwing stones, but I denied it.” The following day, Ahmad was placed inside another vehicle and transferred to Megiddo prison, inside Israel. “The air conditioner was turned on and it was freezing inside. I asked them to turn it off, but they refused even though my body started shivering.” The vehicle made a number of stops before arriving at Megiddo at around 11:00 pm. Ahmad was not provided with any food during the eight hour journey, and was strip searched on arrival at the prison.
Forcibly transferring Palestinian children out of the occupied West Bank violates Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. For further information on Palestinian children in detention see – In their own Words: A report on the situation facing Palestinian children detained in the Israeli military court system (July 2011).

DCI submits complaint on behalf of child detainee

2011-10-09T19:19:00.000-07:00

DCI Palestine

[19 September 2011] – On 7 September 2011, DCI submitted a complaint to the Israeli authorities on behalf 17-year-old Ahmad R. The complaint requests that the Judge Advocate General opens an investigation into allegations that Ahmad was mistreated by Israeli soldiers in May 2011.
At around 1:30 am, on 20 May 2011, Ahmad was asleep at the family home in Azzun, in the occupied West Bank, when he was woken by a sound bomb. Ahmad was ordered out of the house with the rest of his family and made to strip naked in front of everybody. After being permitted to re-dress, Ahmad was tied and blindfolded, before being placed in a military vehicle and transferred to the nearby settlement of Zufin. Ahmad reports that he was beaten by soldiers whilst inside the vehicle. On arrival at the settlement, Ahmad was dragged out of the vehicle and fell down on his face, causing both his mouth and nose to bleed.
Four days after being arrested, Ahmad was transferred to Petah Tikva interrogation centre, near Ben Gurion airport inside Israel, in violation of Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention which expressly prohibits such transfers.
Ahmad’s story is available on-line.

Health minister says prisoners’ lives at risk amid sanctions over hunger strike

2011-10-09T18:35:00.001-07:00

[ 09/10/2011 - 06:51 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Health Minister Bassam Na’im warned the Palestinian captives are in grave danger because of medical neglect inside the Israeli prisons, as the prison administrations have imposed tighter restrictions on the 13th day of hunger strikes including thousands.
Speaking at a sit-in outside of the Red Cross in Gaza on Sunday, Na’im said that many of the prisoners suffer from chronic illnesses, such as kidney disease and cancer, and have not received even minimal medical care ensured by the international laws.
Na’im added that the strike is the top priority on the agenda of Haneyya’s government “given the threat [the strike] is believed to have on the lives of our captured heroes in light of the Zionist policies of more crackdowns, isolation, and deprivation of their basic rights”.
Meanwhile, the International Solidarity Foundation for Human Rights in Nablus said “very concerning results” of the strike were discovered in a visit with isolated prisoners in HaSharon prison.
An ISFHR lawyer found in long-awaited interviews with three prisoners that each prisoner lost 12 kg because of going on hunger strike for 13 days.
It also came to light that the prisoners, who joined the strike at its onset, were subject to a number of punitive measures, such as fines, restriction of family visits, a five-month ban on canteen, and they were transferred to even smaller prison cells.
Moreover, the Ashkelon prison administration had confiscated all salt, which is the only source of food the prisoners have used, as it is needed to preserve the intestines from damage after not eating for long periods.
The removal of salt from the prisoners bears very serious implications and has very concerning results, said ISFHR researcher Ahmed al-Beitawi.
However, the prisoners said they remained committed to following through with the hunger strike until their demands are met.
“Right after hearing that several of our brothers in captivity joined the hunger strike in solidarity with the prisoners in isolation, [we felt it was our duty] as isolated prisoners to be the first to take part in the strike to end our years of ongoing suffering under the ears and eyes of the entire world,” said one of the prisoners Hassan Salama.
He added that the prisoners are still in very high spirits despite repressive measures the prison authority has imposed against them, and they are determined to continue the strike.

Naim warns of imminent danger threatening Palestinians in Israeli captivity

2011-10-09T18:34:00.000-07:00

[ 09/10/2011 - 05:44 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Dr. Basem Naim, the health minister in Gaza, has warned of imminent danger threatening the lives of Palestinian captives in Israeli occupation jails as a result of the deliberate medical neglect of their health conditions.
He told a sit-in staged by families of those prisoners held in in front of the Red Crescent offices in Gaza city on Sunday that many of those detainees suffer from chronic disease such as kidney failure and cancer without any proper care being accorded to them on the part of the prison administrations.
The minister said that his government gives top priority to the issue of those prisoners in view of the growing harassment against them on the part of the Israeli prison authority, adding that the government was rallying international support for this issue.
Naim told the rally, held in solidarity with the prisoners who have been on hunger strike for the past two weeks, that the Palestinian people were unanimous in backing the issue of those prisoners.

European politicians rally support for hunger strike in Israeli prisons

2011-10-09T18:27:00.001-07:00

[ 09/10/2011 - 12:35 PM ]

LONDON, (PIC)-- European parliamentarians are participating in the drafting of a petition aimed at rallying support inside the British Parliament as thousands of Palestinian prisoners embark on the 13th day of hunger strike.

The European network to support the Palestinian prisoners (UFree), based in Norwegian capital Oslo, said it has received “positive responses” by members of the British Parliament with regard to the matter. Many have expressed interest in learning the details of the strike as well as human rights violations inside the prisons that triggered the mass protests, UFree said in a statement on Sunday.

UFree said several European parliamentarians and rights groups have signed an e-petition in solidarity with the prisoners at the onset of the strike, in a campaign to raise awareness of the prisoners’ cause in Europe. Meanwhile, European parliamentarians and activists have pledged to cooperate in increasing the number of signatures to the petition and putting forth more efforts for the cause.

UFree said a positive response was received by Amnesty International, as he UN body asked UFree to provide reports detailing the strike and the circumstances enveloping the prisoners in the Israeli prisons. Amnesty also promised to work seriously to bring justice to the prisoners in a way that is guaranteed by UN conventions concerning prisoner rights.

Meanwhile, Palestinian youths have begun to make Facebook calls in Arabic and English to gather support for the prisoners during the hunger strike in a bid to counter an Israeli media onslaught to justify ongoing abuses against the prisoners inside the Israeli prisons.

The campaign uses a crew to provide moment by moment coverage of developments in the strike.

Hundreds of trade union officials protested outside of the Red Cross offices in Gaza Saturday morning in solidarity with the prisoners’ strike.

A representative of the Palestinian trade unions association Osama al-Balaawi wore symbolic chains as calls were made to free the prisoners, improve conditions inside the prisons, and launch an international investigation against Israeli officials for abuses against the captives.

Women Prisoners: WOFPP Newsletter September 2011

2011-10-09T12:12:00.000-07:00

WOFPP

Newsletter September 2011

There are, at present, 33 women political prisoners in the Israeli jails: 17 in Hasharon Prison (Tel Mond), 16 in Damoon Prison (Carmel Mountain).

Hasharon Prison (Tel Mond)

The conditions in the cells

It is very hot in the cells. There is no air-condition and, at present, many fans are out of order. Until recently, the prisoners could buy fans in the canteen but the conditions deteriorated, and the prison authorities do not allow them to buy new fans. The prison authorities also refused their request to buy cooler boxes in order to have cold water in the unbearable heat.

Punishments

Ahlam elTamimi, from Ramallah, was arrested on 14 September 2001. On 30 September 2011, at the feast of Eid Elfiter, during the women political prisoners praying, Ahlam made a sermon. The prison authorities claimed that her sermon was an "incitement sermon" and transferred her to an isolation cell for two days. The prison authorities also punished the other prisoners by forbidding them from going out of the cell for 48 hours. Even Suha Abu Manshar with her baby who stays with her in prison was not allowed to go out with him.

Health care

Wafaa elBis, from Jebalya Refugee Camp in the Gaza Strip, was arrested on 20 June 2005. She had an operation on her hand. WOFPP's lawyer, Taghreed Jahshan, visited her in prison after she had returned from hospital. Wafaa told her that after the operation she should get physiotherapy treatment but she has not received any. This is the second operation on her finger. After the previous operation she did not get any physiotherapy treatment either, and maybe this is the reason why she had to undergo another operation.

Searches

Recently, during the searches, the guards confiscated all the women political prisoners' phone notebooks. The guards told the prisoners that they would never give them back because the prisoners should not have phone notebooks at all.

Lawyers' visits

The prison authorities do not allow the women political prisoners to bring a pen and paper to meetings with lawyers.

Women under administrative detention

Hanaa Shalabi, from Burqin, Jenin district, an administrative detainee, was arrested on 14 September 2009. In July 2011, the Israeli authorities extended her administrative detention an additional four months. In August after she submitted an appeal it was reduced to three months.

'Aliya J'abri, from Hebron, an administrative detainee, 30 years old, was arrested on 15 February 2011. The Israeli authorities extended her administrative detention an additional three months.

Prisoners who were transferred to Hasharon Prison

Maryam elTarbin, from Jericho, was arrested on 25 January 2005. After she was held in Neve Tirza Prison (Ramle) in a separation cell for about six months, she was transferred, on 30 August 2011, from there to Hasharon Prison.

Ramya Abu Samra , 31 years old, form Yatta, Hebron district, was arrested on 16 December 2010. On 12 September 2011, she was transferred from Damoon Prison to Hasharon Prison.

Released Prisoners

Suha Abu Manshar, from Hebron, 22 years old, mother of a baby who was with her in prison. She was arrested on 14 August 2011, sentenced to 30 days imprisonment and a fine of 25000 NIS (about 6950 USD), and released on 13 September 2011.

Damoon Prison (Carmel Mountain)

Searches

About once a week, there are searches in the night. Recently, the prison authorities confiscated books from women political prisoners. These books were not returned to the prisoners, though in the past the prison authorities had allowed to let in these books.

Health care

In September, during about two weeks, there was no physician in the prison.

Handicraft

The prison authorities are still refusing to hand over the materials for handicraft that - months ago - the Red Cross had brought for the prisoners.

Women under administrative detention

Linan Abu Ghulme, an administrative detainee from Bet Furiq, Nablus district, was arrested on 15 July 2010. In August 2011, she was brought to a session in a military court. On the way to and from the court she was held for four days in a separation cell in the criminal prisoners' wing in Neve Tirza Prison. The conditions were very bad: The cell was very small without windows, the guards' attitude was very harsh, and they did not allow her to let in things that she had brought from Damoon Prison, such as sheets and shampoo.

Sentences

Somud Karaja, 23 yeas old, from Safa, Ramallah district, was arrested on 25 October 2009. On 16 August 2011, a military court sentenced her to 20 years' imprisonment.

For donations to WOFPP :
Bank account:
Women's Organization for Political Prisoners (WOFPP)
Account number: 471067
BANK HAPOALIM
Branch 532
Daniel Frisch St. 3,Tel Aviv 64078, ISRAEL
IBAN number: IL 60-0125-3200-0000-0471-067
BIC (swift): POALILIT

Address to receive the contribution:
WOFPP
Frug Street 30
Tel Aviv 63417, ISRAEL

Hunger Strike Ongoing, Violations Against Detainees Escalating

2011-10-09T05:10:00.000-07:00

Sunday October 09, 2011 03:51 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

Palestinian Minister of Detainees, Issa Qaraqe’, stated Saturday that Palestinian political detainees in Israeli prisons are going on with their hunger strike to demand their legal rights, despite Israel's escalating measures aimed at breaking their strike.

Qaraqe’ added that the Israeli Prison Administration claims it is negotiating with the detainees and listening to their demands, but its main aim is to delay the “talks” as long as possible without seriously listening to the legitimate demands, the Ma'an News Agency reported.

The minister’s statements came during a visit to a solidarity tent in the Duheisha refugee camp in Bethlehem, where a number of residents are holding a solidarity hunger strike.

Qaraqe’ stated that the Israeli Prison Administration is “physically and emotionally torturing the striking detainees, placing dozens of them in solitary confinement, and even preventing them from having plastic cups for water and salt in their rooms.”

He also stated that the detainees in Asqalan Prison are now also boycotting the prison clinic due to the harsh treatment they face when seeking medical attention. As a result, the prison police are forcibly dragging them to the clinic.

All sorts of communication with the detainees are now blocked, visitations denied, TV sets and radios confiscated, and communication denied between the detainees in different sections of Asqalan prison.

The minister said that the health conditions of four detainees in Asqalan currently in solitary confinement are seriously deteriorating.

The Israeli Prison Administration also forced 65 striking detainees in Ohali Kidar Prison into solitary confinement by placing every four detainees in one tiny cell, and also confiscated their watches to keep them confused.

The 53 striking detainees in Shatta Prison are undergoing attacks and psychological abuse inflicted upon them by the prison administration and guards.

In Ofer prison, the prison administration placed 12 striking detainees in solitary confinement after attacking and beating them.

Qaraqe’ issued an appeal to the International Red Cross to act quickly and visit the striking detainees, and warned of a potential humanitarian crisis in all Israeli prisons and detention centers.

He said that all activities and protests held in solidarity with the detainees, in Palestine and in exile, would continue and escalate until Israel abides by international law and starts treating the detainees in accordance with all international treaties, including the Fourth Geneva Conventions.

Four Palestinian female prisoners to join hunger strike

2011-10-08T18:25:00.000-07:00

[ 08/10/2011 - 06:13 PM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- Four Palestinian female prisoners are to join the open hunger strike waged by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli occupation jails starting on Sunday, well informed sources said on Saturday.
The sources said that two of the prisoners were in the Damon jail serving multiple life sentences and 20 years respectively.
They added that the other two were in the Sharon jail and were serving administrative detention and six years respectively.

Prisoner hospitalized after health fails in hunger strike

2011-10-08T18:22:00.000-07:00

[ 08/10/2011 - 04:04 PM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- A Palestinian prisoner who joined the mass hunger strike rocking the Israeli prisons has been transferred to the hospital after his health deteriorated drastically.

Prisoners in Shata prison said the prisoner was taking part in an open-ended hunger strike that was declared thirteen days ago by thousands of prisoners. They added that his health “seriously” deteriorated, prompting the Israeli prison authority to transfer him to a hospital in the 1948-occupied territories.

The prisoner strike is aimed at improving prison conditions and ending the use of solitary confinement against the captives.

Medics say that if the human body goes without food for 11 to 14 days, the digestive system begins to become damaged, placing the life in danger.

Haneyya: Government will use all means to free prisoners

2011-10-08T18:19:00.000-07:00

[ 08/10/2011 - 12:43 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haneyya said Friday that the government in Gaza was endeavoring to see the release of the Palestinian captives in the Israeli occupation prisons, calling on the resistance forces to stay firm in their conditions in a prisoner trade-off with Israel.

Haneyya declared during a sermon in Shafi’i mosque in Gaza city that the prisoners’ cause had turned from a Palestinian cause to an international one, saying: “We will bring the issue to the arenas of the world and mobilize it in the international forums.. And none of us will compromise on the freedom of the captives.”

This comes as more than 7,000 Palestinian prisoners have joined a mass hunger strike that began 11 days ago.

The Palestinian premier noted that the world community calls for the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit but disregards the Palestinian captives.

Haneyya vowed to use all possible means to see that the prisoners are released. “We will use all possible means in order to free the captives and restore their freedom,” he said.

Haneyya also reiterated opposition to negotiations with Israel as well as the UN statehood bid.

“We are not begging for a state, but we want to extract it from the fangs of the occupier (Israel). Like we liberated Gaza, we will liberate the remainder of Palestine,” the Palestinian PM said.

“The (Palestinian) state will come not by a decision from the White House or the United Nations, but by the decision of this struggling people and a stance by the [Muslims],” Haneyya went on to say.

Bardawil calls for uprising with aim of freeing prisoners

2011-10-08T18:17:00.000-07:00

[ 08/10/2011 - 11:20 AM ]

KHAN YOUNIS, (PIC)-- Senior Hamas official Salah al-Bardawil has called for a popular uprising with the aim of freeing the Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli prisons.
“The time has come for the Palestinian people to rise up to free the captives. The [Israeli occupier] will not be able to stand against such an uprising and will succumb to the conditions set by the resistance,” Bardawil said during rallies organized by Hamas in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis on Friday evening.

Bardawil emphasized that the resistance forces would not give in to Israel’s demands in a prisoner swap with Hamas and refused any deal outside of the conditions according to the resistance forces.

Bardawil warned that the Israeli occupation authorities were at pains to break the will of the prisoner and resistance movements as well as the Palestinian people by imposing tight restrictions on prisoners inside the Israeli prisons.

Bardawil also reiterated Hamas’s commitment to upholding Palestinian rights, saying that “when the Palestinian negotiator (i.e. PA president Mahmoud Abbas) went to New York amid applause and cries, we said ‘no’, for fear that we would be bargaining the rest of our rights for the sake of a failed state and failed international relations that would take our people into a dark tunnel for the next twenty years.”

“How can we agree when we see compromise on the Palestinian people, land, and holy sites,” Bardawil added.

Thousands of Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli occupation prisons have joined a hunger strike over the past couple of weeks to protest inhumane conditions inside the prisons.

Israel To Release Remains of Abu Zent , 35 Years Later

2011-10-08T18:09:00.000-07:00

Saturday October 08, 2011 13:35 by Mais Azza - IMEMC & Agencies

Israeli authorities have decided to release the remains of Hafeth Abu Zent on Sunday at Jaljolia checkpoint near the West Bank city of Qalqilia. The body had been kept for 35 years in the so- called Israeli Cemetery of Numbers, the Ma’an News Agency reported.

Abu Zent

An official in the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Mohammad Dwiqat, reported that the Israeli authorities have officially informed the Palestinian group of the decision, after keeping the corpse since May14th, 1976.

He added that the decision was made only after all necessary examinations were completed; including a DNA test. The members of the Palestinian National Campaign for the Release of Martyrs Bodies will gather in the West Bank city of Nablus to organise arrangements regarding reception of the body, in a manner befitting Abu Zent's role in defending his land and people.

Dwiqat also said that there are 350 more bodies of Palestinian men in the Cemetery of Numbers, which is located within the Green Line.

The lead coordinator of the campaign thanked the al-Quds Center for Legal Aid and Human Rights, in facilitating the Israeli Supreme Court decision to release the remains of Abu Zent.

Abu Zent was born in the West Bank city of Nablus on May 24th, 1954, and was killed near the Palestinian Valley area, whilst conducting a military operation in response to the death of a Palestinian child.

Detainees in Rimon prison suspend hunger strike

2011-10-07T19:35:00.000-07:00

RAMALLAH (Ma’an) -- Detainees in the Israeli prison Rimon said Friday that they would suspend a hunger strike for one day as the administration agreed to discuss demands.

The prisoners’ society said detainees held a session with the prison’s administration and will meet again Monday. If the administration rejects their demands, a general strike will begin Tuesday.

The statement added that the committee which met with the administration was formed of detainees from Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Egypt's ambassador to the Palestinian Authority, meanwhile, met with the prisoners minister in Ramallah to express solidarity with detainees who are on hunger strike.

Yasser Othman met Issa Qaraqe and conveyed a message from the Egyptian leadership that Cairo supported the Palestinian detainees and their struggle against poor jail conditions.

The ambassador called on the Israeli government to respect international norms and human rights in dealing with prisoners, and to preserve their dignity and rights to just treatment while in jail.

Qaraqe thanked the the ambassador for Egypt's support of the Palestinian people and cause.

Palestinians jailed in Israel went on a mass hunger strike on Sept. 27 to protest harsh conditions imposed since Israel toughened restrictions on them in a bid to force the release of a captured Israeli soldier.

Gilad Shalit was captured just outside the Gaza Strip in 2006 and Hamas is seeking the release of more than 1,000 prisoners in return for his freedom.

Thousands of demonstrators staged rallies in the West Bank and Jerusalem this week to support prisoners who are refusing food.

The strike was launched by detainees affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, protesting the treatment of PFLP leader Ahmad Saadat, who has been held in isolation for three years.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced in June that Palestinians would see curbs on their prison rights until Shalit was handed over.

Rights groups say the clampdown includes preventing access to books, educational programs and new clothes, expanding solitary confinement, cutting back on family visits and forcing detainees to meet their lawyers with their hands cuffed.

A senior Hamas official warned that rather than bow to Israeli pressure, militants would abduct more Israeli soldiers to push their demand for a mass-release of Palestinian inmates.

According to Qaraqe, around 6,000 Palestinians are currently detained in Israeli prisons.

Detainee's mother dies in Gaza

2011-10-07T19:33:00.000-07:00

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The mother of a Palestinian detainee died in Gaza on Thursday without seeing her jailed son, a prisoners' center reported.

Hajjeh Aminah al-Khatib's son Omran was detained in 1997 and sentenced to life in an Israeli jail.

Israel banned families in Gaza from visiting detained relatives in 2007. The ban was imposed after militants in Gaza detained Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

In June, the International Committee of the Red Cross called on Israel to lift the ban, noting that under international humanitarian law, detainees held in relation to the conflict had a right to family visits.

"The decision by the Israelis is of particular consequence for children, whose ties to their detained parents may become frayed or may even be severed," ICRC said in a statement.

Between June 2007 and June 2011, more than 30 relatives of detainees died without being able to bid farewell to their loved ones, ICRC reported.

Jerusalem captives' families hold protest at the Aqsa Mosque

2011-10-07T18:14:00.000-07:00

[ 07/10/2011 - 06:11 PM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Families of Jerusalem captives held a protest at the Aqsa Mosque after the Friday prayers outside the Dome of the Rock.
Protestors held pictures of their loved ones in Israeli occupation jails and called on the Arabs and Muslims to campaign for their release and not to ignore their issue.
They chanted for the release of their imprisoned relatives, and called for the captives issue to be highlighted especially as they have been on hunger strike in all occupation jails for the past ten days.

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