Protesters in Hebron mark Prisoners Day

17 April 2011 | International Solidarity Movement

Remembering Palestinian prisoners in Hebron

 

A Palestinian girl shows a photo of a relative held in Israeli jails.

Today, approximately 1,000 protesters in Hebron marked Palestinian Prisoners day with a demonstration calling for Israel to release Palestinian prisoners. At the same time thousands of prisoners joined in a one-day hunger strike to protest their treatment and their legal rights as prisoners.
Protesters in Hebron began by gathering at the Eben Roshd school in Hebron City. Amongst the participants were families of prisoners, members of the Palestinian Authority and international activists. After speeches by family members and local authorities, the demonstration continued with a peaceful march from the school to the Manara square. Protesters carried pictures of imprisoned family members and banners calling for Israel to release prisoners and uphold international laws.
Prisoners Day commemorates the release of Palestinian prisoner Mahmoud Hijazi in the first prisoner exchange between Palestine and Israeli in 1974. According to a report released today by former Palestinian detainee Abdul Nasser Farwana, just about every Palestinian household has had members jailed. According to the report Israel has arrested around 750,000 Palestinians since the six day war in 1967, including nearly 12,000 women and tens of thousands of children
Today over 6,800 Palestinians, from the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem, and 1948 Palestine, are currently imprisoned by the Israeli state according to ADDAMEER. Of those, over 300 are children, 34 are women, 18 are elected Palestinian representatives and almost 300 are ‘administrative detainees’ – that means that they have been detained without trial not having been charged with any crime or seeing the evidence against them.

Abbas: No peace deal until political prisoners freed

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- President Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday that no peace deal could be reached with Israel until all political prisoners were released.

Abbas' comments were made in a televised address ahead of Palestinian Prisoners' Day on Sunday.

The Palestinian Authority said around 6,000 Palestinians were currently in prison inside Israel and that Israel had detained over 70,000 Palestinians over the last decade.

Twelve Palestinian lawmakers are in jail in Israel, the government said in a statement.

UN Humanitarian Coordinator Maxwell Gaylard expressed concern over the treatment of Palestinian detainees and insisted that "the rule of law must be applied to all of the approximately 6,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli detention, in line with international human rights and humanitarian law," in a statement from his office.

"Israel's policies and practices regarding Palestinian prisoners raise a number of concerns, including a lack of clarity on the legal status of such prisoners, the location and conditions of their incarceration, the need for access to legal counsel and representation, the issue of administrative detention, and the prevention of family visits for detainees from Gaza," the statement said.

Gaylard noted that the practice of detaining Palestinians in Israel was contrary to the Geneva Conventions, and he expressed particular concern for the plight of Palestinian women and children detained in Israel.

The PA said Israel had "systematically violated the most basic rights granted by international and human rights conventions through inhumane treatment, restrictions on movements, killings, deportation, and detention," since Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza.

Since 1967, Israel has detained more than 750,000 Palestinians, including women and children, a government statement said.

Over 200 Palestinians have died in Israel prisons. Of these, 74 were murdered, 70 died after being tortured and seven were shot dead by prison guards, the PA said.

The longest-serving political prisoner in the world was Palestinian, the PA said. Nael Al-Barghouti has been detained in Israel for 33 years. His brother, Fakhri, is also in an Israeli prison.

Fatah Youth called on the international community to protest Israel's violations of international law, particularly its imprisonment of Palestinian children, the long-term detention of Palestinians without charge or trial, the physical and psychological torture of political prisoners and the refusal to allow Gaza residents to visit their detained relatives.

In a statement, the youth movement noted that since 1967, around 40 percent of Palestinian men living in the occupied territories had been detained by Israel.

Hamas: Prisoners to be free if more soldiers captured

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Hamas lawmaker Ahmad Bahar on Sunday urged Palestinian factions to form militant groups with the aim of capturing Israeli soldiers.

The deputized Palestinian Legislative Council speaker said kidnapping soldiers would pressure Israeli authorities to release Palestinian political prisoners. He made the remarks in a speech commemorating Palestinian Prisoners' Day in Gaza City.

Bahar urged the captors of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit to insist on their demands for a swap deal to release Palestinian detainees. Shalit was seized in a cross-border raid in June 2006. Negotiations to secure his release have so far failed.

The UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Palestine Maxwell Gaylord on Sunday urged Israel to comply with international human rights law in its treatment of Palestinian prisoners, particularly women and children in Israeli jails.

In a statement from his office to mark Prisoners' Day, Gaylord noted that the practice of detaining Palestinians in Israel was contrary to the Geneva Conventions.

"Israel's policies and practices regarding Palestinian prisoners raise a number of concerns, including a lack of clarity on the legal status of such prisoners, the location and conditions of their incarceration, the need for access to legal counsel and representation, the issue of administrative detention, and the prevention of family visits for detainees from Gaza," the statement said.

Dweik slams international double standards towards issue of prisoners

[ 18/04/2011 - 01:47 PM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- Speaker of the Palestinian legislative council Dr. Aziz Dweik strongly denounced the international double standards and hypocrisy towards the issue of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Dr. Dweik made his remarks in a sit-in organized by families of prisoners on Sunday outside the Red Cross headquarters in Ramallah city on the 37th Palestinian prisoner day. Dr. Dweik stated in his speech that the international community blatantly turns a blind eye to thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and only pays attention to one Israeli soldier detained in the Gaza Strip. He said this sit-in was aimed to remind the world and human rights organizations of the suffering of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and their families. The speaker also appealed in his speech to the international community to do justice to the two Palestinian lawmakers and one former minister who resorted to the Red Cross building in occupied Jerusalem after Israel decided to expel them from their native holy city. The speaker also referred to the suffering of isolated prisoners, women and children locked up in Israeli jails and expressed hope the international community could enable them to live in dignity like humans. In Al-Khalil city on the same day, hundreds of Palestinians and families of prisoners went on a march in solidarity with prisoners in Israeli jails following a ceremony organized by the Palestinian prisoner society to commemorate the Palestinian prisoner day. Massive crowds also gathered in Gamal Abdulnasser park of Nablus city to mark the day. They carried banners demanding freedom and rights for Palestinian prisoners.

Report: More than 130 prison raids in 2010

[ 17/04/2011 - 05:36 PM ]

VIENNA, (PIC)-- A report by Vienna-based Friend of Humanity International documents that this year was ”not normal in the lives of Palestinian prisoners”, as the Israeli prison authority more than 130 cell raids on Palestinian prisoners this year alone. The report details human rights violations that took place in Israeli prisons throughout 2010. Its release was time to coincide with the Palestinian prisoner day observed on April 17. The report documents that special security units and soldiers sprayed gas and used fists and electric batons and isolated prisoners in a year rife with abuses. The entire population of prionsers was transferred that year from sector 5 to sector 3 in the Hadarim facility, the report reveals. The same incidence recurred around ten times in the Nafha prison, as soldiers searched for smuggled cell phones, prompting violent clashes with prisoners that eventually turned into crackdowns. The report says that female prison guards carried out humiliating and provocative strip searches on female prisoners as male soldiers watched.

Palestinians enraged after suspects accused in Itamar incident

[ 17/04/2011 - 05:33 PM ]

NABLUS, (PIC)-- The Palestinians have rejected claims by Israeli invesigators after two Palestinian youths were accused of being behind the killing of a family of five Israeli settlers in the Itamar settlement southeast of the West Bank city of Nablus on March 11. The Israeli claim lacks evidence for the accusations, said Qais Awad, the mayor of Awarta village, where the men were arrested and near where the Itamar village lies. Police had cracked down on the village for longer than a month, arresting hundreds and searching nearly every home, in search of a clue to the killer. Private land was also confiscated and homes were destroyed during the raids. Awad said the charges were placed to cover up the continued attacks police have made as they have placed the village in turmoil. He hinted that the possibility remains that the Israeli forces that seized the village could have fabricated evidence and placed it at the crime scene. He called for the formation of a committee to investigate the charges. A West Bank council head said that more settlements would be built in response to the killings. The men arrested were identified as Amjad Mohammed Awad, 19, and Hakim Mazen Awad, 18. Police said they operated individually and stabbed the family of Jewish settlers to death. They claimed that six others who aided them to conceal the knives and burn the cloths allegedly used in the incident were arrested. Meanwhile, the central Israeli court in Nazareth has submitted an indictment against three Palestinian men for planning to carry out an operation against Israeli targets. The men were alleged to have planned to form a cell in January 2009 that would have carried out operations against Israeli police and soldiers in response to the Israeli massacres earlier that month. Family of Awarta teen deny allegations   Published yesterday (updated) 18/04/2011 18:15   AWARTA, West Bank (Ma'an) -- The family of one of two teens charged by Israeli forces in the murder of a settler family last month is contesting the allegations, saying 19-year-old Hakim Awwad was too ill to have carried out the gruesome attack. Nouf Awwad told Ma'an on Sunday - the day reports of the allegations against her son were made public with the lifting of an Israeli gag-order on the case of the slain settlers - that Hakim was still recovering from a recent surgery, which prevented him from walking long distances and required him to use the toilet every hour. "We have the medical records, he is in unstable health," she said, adding that the family is gathering the papers to present as evidence in defense of Hakim. She said Hakim had undergone testicular surgery in November at the Rafidiya Hospital in Nablus. "He was at home [the night of the murders] and went to bed at 9:30 [p.m.]," she said. Hakim, who was detained in early April during the third sweep of detentions carried out by Israeli forces, has remained in detention since that time, and has had no contact with his family. Nouf said she "could not rule out" the idea that her son had been tortured and confessed under duress. The mother said her daughter, Hakim's sister, Julia had also been detained during the month-long series of sweeps. She said Julia had been released exhausted, and said she had been harshly interrogated and put under "severe psychological pressure," and had collapsed more than once during questioning. Head of the village council Qais Awwad said he suspected much of Israel's investigation had been carried out using torture to extract confessions from residents, and repeated his insistence that international investigators, or at the least observers, be present as the investigation continued. Hakim was one of two teens from Awarta named in a briefing document obtained by AFP, in which Israel's internal security agency Shin Bet said it had arrested two main suspects and five suspected accomplices. "The two, residents of the village of Awarta, confessed during the investigation to planning and carrying out the attack and staged a reconstruction," the Shin Bet document said. Six of the men arrested in connection with the case are members of the Awad family from the village of Awarta, and a seventh, a resident of Ramallah, was a friend of one of the suspected accomplices, the document said.

Jabr: Prisoners in Israeli jails experiencing harsh conditions

[ 17/04/2011 - 05:28 PM ]

JENIN, (PIC)-- Ibrahim Jabr, who was recently released from Israeli occupation jails, said that the Palestinian prisoners were experiencing cruel incarceration conditions. Jabr, 47, told the PIC in an interview that the prisoners were planning to escalate their protests against such conditions topped by the solitary confinement, which he said is not fit for a human being. He said that the Israeli prison authority deliberately confuses the prisoners and make them live in an unstable condition. Jabr, a Hamas leader in Jenin, lashed out at local and international institutions for not living up to the prisoners' expectations, describing the Red Cross as a "lifeless body". He expressed absolute indignation at the world that does not care less about 6,000 Palestinian prisoners while giving full attention to the sole Israeli soldier held by Palestinian resistance.

The liberation of detainees is a top priority

 

17-04-2011,10:01
 

Al Qassam website – Ezzedeen Al Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Resistance Movement Hamas, has confirmed that the Palestinian detainees will be liberated by the strength of the right; this right will not be lost no matter how long ago.

Abu Obaida, Spokesman of Al Qassam Brigades, said in a statement on Sunday, 17/4/2011, "Al Qassam Brigades considers that the issue of the detainees is a central part and a top priority for the resistance."

"I do not say this as a matter of slogans, but we sacrificed to liberate them, our history witnesses on the truth of what we say."

The spokesman confirmed "Al-Qassam Brigades, in the anniversary of Dr. Abdel Aziz Rantisi martyrdom, will continue working for the liberation of the Palestinian detainees by all means." 

He noted that the battle with the Zionist enemy will not deter the Brigades to do its duty in liberating the Palestinian detainees.

Captives fast to mark Palestinian Prisoner Day

[ 17/04/2011 - 12:54 PM ]

WEST BANK, (PIC)-- 6,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons have gone on hunger strike to mark Palestinian prisoner day on April 17. About 245 of them are children. The strike serves as a prelude to an open-ended hunger strike to be concluded when the prisoners demands for medical attention and an end to the Israeli prison system's policy of isolation are met. According to a report released on the Palestinian prisoner day by Abdul Nasser Farwana, just about every Palestinian household has had members jailed, if not the entire family as has sometimes happened. The report details that Israel has arrested some 750,000 Palestinians since the 1967 war and occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, including nearly 12,000 women and tens of thousands of children. The report says that most of the arrests were unrelated to occupation's security as alleged by Israeli occupation security forces, as the arrests have taken place in a manner that contradicts international and humanitarian law, in terms of how the conditions and places of arrest and the torture used to elicit confessions. There has also been no consideration for the special needs of women, children and the ill. Figures have it that 820 of the current detainees have been sentenced to life in prison, including five women. The Tadhamon prisoner rights organization has released another report on this day and said it has information proving that mass numbers of Palestinian children held in the prisons were subjected to torture or brutal treatment as they were arrested by Israel occupation force soldiers. Many were hospitalized due to the torture they underwent during violent interrogations, the report says, noting cases of degrading treatment, sexual assault and repeated threats.

Legal victory against detainee threatened with deportation

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- The Israeli military court at the Ofer base ordered the release of two Palestinian men, following a legal battle to prevent their deportation, lawyers said.

Taleb Bani Odeh was released on the condition that he remains under house arrest in his family home, with an imposed fine of 10,000 shekels ($3,000), while and Mahmoud Abu Zuweiyed was released without prejudice, lawyer Jawad Bulos from the Prisoner’s Society told Ma'an.

Bulos said the victory came as a partial one, adding that six other Palestinian prisoners whose release dates have passed, have also been threatened with deportation, either to the Gaza Strip or abroad.

The men, detained before the creation of the Palestinian Authority and the registration of residents with new identity cards, do not - according to Israel - have the right to reside in the West Bank or Gaza.

An offer was made to deport the men to Jordan, but the suggestion was refused by Jordanian officials.

The Prisoners Center has decided to challenge the deportation orders, and demanded that the men be granted residences.

Israeli TV shows Palestinian torture

17-04-2011,12:51

 

Al Qassam website - Palestinian prisoners are forced to strip to their underwear in front of cameras by Israeli soldiers. (File photo)

Israel’s Channel 2 TV station has released video footage showing Palestinian detainees being tortured by Israeli troops in the regime’s desert prison of Naqab (Negev) back in 2008.

The footage showed one Palestinian died and several others sustained injuries due to the torture by the Israeli soldiers, Qodsna news agency reported.

The Israeli forces have “used tear gas and stun grenades” against Palestinian detainees, the video shows.

The footage also demonstrates that medics were prevented from treating the wounded Palestinians.

In late December 2010, a human rights group called Public Committee Against Torture in Israel revealed that Palestinian detainees are systematically denied the right to meet a lawyer during interrogations.

Being shackled to chairs for long periods, sleep deprivation, intimidation, torture and abysmal detention conditions are some of the cases the human rights group documented in its report.

Israel claims that its army is “one of the most moral armies” in the world as it treats prisoners and detainees with honor.

But in recent years videos have come out, showing how Israeli soldiers abuse and humiliate blindfolded and handcuffed Palestinian prisoners.

Palestinian detainee exiled to Malaysia

14-04-2011,12:55

 

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Al Qassam website - Detainee Maher Odah, 48, from Ein Yabroud village near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, was forced into exile on Wednesday evening after the Israeli government decided to deport him to Malaysia.

Odah was kidnapped by the Israeli army on March 14, 2010, after being perused by the for eight years.

He was placed under interrogation and was subjected to extreme torture for 45 days without being allowed to see a lawyer, before he was placed under administrative detention without charges or trial.

The Ahrar Center for Detainees Studies and Human Rights reported that Israeli prison officials and interrogators repeatedly told Odah that he will never be released unless he is deported.

His wife told the Ahrar Center on Wednesday that she received a phone call from an Israeli prison official who informed her that her husband was released, and was deported to Malaysia.

The Center denounced the ongoing Israeli violations against the detainees, and the illegal deportation orders as they violate the international law and the Fourth Geneva Conventions.

It demanded the International Community to act against the Israeli violations against the detainees and the ongoing violations and attacks against the Palestinian people.

Army arrests Hebron child after settlers attack home

HEBRON (Ma'an) -- Israeli soldiers detained a child from Hebron's Old City after settlers attacked the boy's home Saturday.

Mu'taz Al-Muhtaseb was beaten by soldiers and arrested, locals told Ma'an.

They added that Israeli forces came to the area after settlers from the illegal outpost Beit Hadasa attacked Mu'taz's home.

An Israeli army spokesman confirmed that soldiers arrested a Palestinian but said that the army was unaware of any beating or unusual incidents since his arrest.

He also told Ma'an that the incident came after several Israeli civilians hurled rocks at a Palestinian house. "When an IDF force arrived at the scene, they dispersed," the official said.

PCDD calls for boosted release efforts on Palestinian Prisoner Day

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

GAZA, (PIC)-- The Palestinian center to defend detainees has called for increased efforts to help release Palestinians held in Israeli jails marking Palestinian Prisoner Day on April 17. The rights group confirmed that the Israeli occupation government continues to engage in abusive practice against its Palestinian captives and called on rights groups to pressure Israel to abide by international conventions protecting the rights of prisoners taken by an occupying force. According to data provided by the PCDD in a fresh press release, the Israeli prison administration is currently holding 6,800 Palestinians, among them 36 women and 340 children. 304 of those prisoners were imprisoned before the Oslo Accords and 137 have been jailed for more than 20 years. Some 1,600 prisoners have fallen ill and are denied proper medical attention and doctor visits, the report states. The most prominent violation the PCDD highlighted was solitary confinement and medical neglect. PCDD director Ismail Thawabita vowed that the center would continue to fight for the Palestinian prisoners in ”all local, regional and international forums” until the day of their release. Thawabita called on Palestinian factions that have captured Gilad Shalit to stand firm on their demands to release the tortured resistance prisoners in a swap deal, confirming that the Palestinians support those demands.

Prisoners Day protests sees 1 detained near Ofer

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- One Palestinian was detained Sunday and others injured when Israeli forces dispersed a sit-in protest outside the Ofer prison, where tens were marking Prisoners Day north of Ramallah.

A youth coalition had organized the protests, in conjunction with the families of prisoners in the Ramallah area. The group held photos of imprisoned loved ones, and chanted slogans demanding their release.

Organizers said Israeli forces had launched tear-gas canisters and sound bombs at the group.

Spokesman Hassen Karaja said the group held the Palestinian leadership accountable for their failure to make the prisoners issue a priority.

IOF troops violently disperse relatives of Palestinian prisoners

[ 17/04/2011 - 05:34 PM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) and Ofer prison guards used force to disperse a peaceful rally by relatives of Palestinian prisoners held in that notorious jail on Sunday. Hundreds of Palestinians staged a sit-in before the military jail in which Israel is holding around one thousand Palestinian prisoners demanding their release. The participants hoisted Palestinian flags and photos of their relatives in the rally organized to mark the Palestinian prisoner's day. The IOF soldiers and prison guards engaged in fistfights with the demonstrators, two of whom were hurt in their eyes as a result of the use of sprays of unknown material against them while two others were arrested for attempting to climb the prison's wall to put a Palestinian flag on it.