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

[ 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.

Researcher: 23 lawmakers in Israeli custody

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.

Occupation transfers Sheikh Hasan Yousef and his son to administrative detention

[ 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.

Group: Israel resumes isolation of PFLP leader

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.

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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.

Barghouti: Prisoners were not consulted over swap deal

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.

PFLP warns against any harm befalling Saadat

[ 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.

IOA isolates detained Palestinian MP

[ 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.

Resheq: Exchange deal an historic accomplishment

[ 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.

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

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.

PFLP military wing to Netanyahu: Don't test us

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.

Israel welcomes Shalit swap with mixed emotions

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

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.

Jailed Legislator Rejects Expulsion Plea Bargain

Tuesday October 04, 2011 10:30 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

Detained legislator Ahmad Attoun, of Jerusalem, rejected an Israeli Court offer of expulsion from Jerusalem in exchange for his release. He also refused to sign a document stating that he will not return to the city.

Legislator Ahmad Attoun

Attorney Fadi Al Qawasmi, one of the defense lawyers in Attoun’s case, stated that the Israeli Prosecution demanded extending the detention of Attoun until all legal procedures are concluded, according to the Safa News Agency. The Israeli Prosecution claims that Attoun, a resident of Jerusalem, “illegally entered Israel."

Al Qawasmi added that after listening to defense and prosecution arguments, the Israeli court decided to release Attoun and ordered a NIS 50.000 bail.

The court also ruled that Attoun must sign an affidavit stating that he will not enter Jerusalem without an Israeli permit, or until the High Court rules that he is allowed into the city. He rejected this condition because he is from Jerusalem and insists on his legal right to be there.

Attoun was kidnapped by undercover forces of the Israeli army last week. He was near the protest tent in the proximity of the Red Cross in Jerusalem, where several legislators and elected Palestinian officials from Jerusalem are protesting Israeli orders of expulsion from their city.

ICRC: Israel must comply with law over MP's detention

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The International Committee of the Red Cross on Monday urged Israel to comply with international humanitarian law following the detention of a Palestinian lawmaker.

Israeli police on Monday stormed a protest tent in front of the Red Cross offices in Jerusalem and detained Hamas-affiliated MP Ahmad Attoun.

"In connection with the arrest of Ahmed Attoun, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, in Jerusalem today, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is calling upon the Israeli authorities to comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law," a statement said.

"Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 prohibits Israel, regardless of its motive, from forcibly transferring Palestinians.

"Under international humanitarian law, East Jerusalem is an occupied territory, and its Palestinian residents are protected persons within the meaning of Article 4 of the Fourth Geneva Convention," the statement added.

Ahmad Attoun had taken shelter in the ICRC building along with another Hamas legislator and a former Hamas government minister after Israeli authorities revoked their Jerusalem residency permits.

An Israeli police spokesman and a security guard at the ICRC building said paramilitary police disguised as Palestinians had grabbed Attoun at the entrance to the offices and arrested him.

Attoun was taken into custody a day after President Mahmoud Abbas mentioned the men's case in a speech on his return to the occupied West Bank from the United Nations, where he applied for recognition of full Palestinian statehood.

The other two Hamas men remained inside the ICRC building.

In the speech, Abbas accused Israel of "ethnic cleansing" that included "decisions to expel elected representatives" from Jerusalem.

In a statement issued in June 2010, after Israel ordered them to leave Jerusalem, the three Hamas men wrote: "We as sons of Jerusalem have never left it before ... we emphasize that we will remain here and never leave it."

The ICRC said it had informed the three Hamas members that ICRC premises had no special status and the ICRC could not prevent police entering the building to arrest them.

Reuters contributed to this report

Israel detains Hamas lawmaker in Ramallah

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces detained Hamas lawmaker Sheikh Fadel Hamdan overnight Wednesday, a Ma'an correspondent reported.

Hamdan, a member of the now-defunct Palestinian legislative council elected in 2006, was detained after Israeli forces raided his Ramallah home.

The Hamas-affiliated parliamentary party the Change and Reform Bloc issued a statement calling the detention "an unsuccessful Israeli policy."

An Israeli army spokeswoman said Hamdan was arrested and taken for security questioning.

Hamdan is the third Hamas MP detained by Israel in as many weeks.

Prisoners’ Affairs Ministry: Israel arrested 420 Palestinians in Ramadan

[ 07/09/2011 - 08:00 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- The Ministry of Prisoners’ Affairs has said that the Israeli occupation authorities placed 420 Palestinians in detention during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in a fresh report released on Wednesday. It was that month that Israel carried out one of the most massive arrest sweeps in Al-Khalil in years, rounding up some 190 Palestinians there in just a few days. Among those arrested that month were 45 minors, four women, three of whom are wives of Palestinians already detained in the Israeli prisons, and three members of the Palestinian legislature. The new report also documented the repressive circumstances that continued inside the Israeli prisons throughout the Muslim holy month. It said that special units continued to carry out search raids in the Megiddo prison during the morning meal ahead of the Ramadan fast, and that some 40 prisoners suffered from food poisoning from spoiled food served to them in the canteen. Other repressive acts were also reported. Prisoners in the Negev prison were once again required to wear uniforms whenever leaving prison in spite of prior agreements. All books were also removed from a sector in Damon prison, where a ban was also placed on books brought in by family members during visits. Also that month, the prisoners were banned from bringing foods into the prison and were also prohibited from receiving extra funds during Ramadan to purchase extra materials needed for the month as well as for the Eid al-Fitr holiday, marking the end of the Ramadan. The report says that Israeli occupation authorities froze all funds for the education of prisoners enrolled in the open Hebrew university until further notice, under an official decision to stop the education of Palestinian prisoners inside the prisons. Also on the political level, the Israeli legislative body, the Knesset, approved amending a law allowing the prison administrations to ban security prisoners from receiving lawyer visits without referring to the courts or providing justification. More than 50 prisoners were transferred to administrative detention, including Palestinian MP Mohammed Mutlaq Abu Juheisha and Ayed Doudein, who has spent more time in administrative detention than any other prisoner. Other prisoners, such as MP Marwan al-Barghouthi, were place in solitary confinement. Another prisoner was isolated for smuggling a letter over to his 85-year-old mother, the report highlights.

Israeli forces detain Hamas lawmaker

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces detained Hamas legislator Mohammed Abu Teir on Tuesday, army officials said.

Israeli soldiers ransacked Abu Teir's home in Kafr Aqab, south of Ramallah, before detaining the elected official, a Ma'an correspondent reported.

An Israeli military spokesman said Abu Teir was detained on Tuesday but could not immediately comment on the reason for his arrest.

Former PA Minister of Jerusalem affairs Khalid Abu Arafa told Ma’an he was concerned about Abu Teir's fate after Israel withdrew his Jerusalem identity card.

In December, an Israeli court expelled Abu Teir to Ramallah from his home in Jerusalem for the second time, after four months in jail for defying a previous ban.

He was previously arrested on June 30, 2010 for entering East Jerusalem after the interior ministry stripped him of his residence permit for his activity in Hamas.

Following Abu Teir's deportation to Ramallah in December, UN officials expressed concern. Robert Serry, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, said he was "worried" about the "potential precedent" that the trial set.

Abu Teir was elected to the Palestinian parliament from East Jerusalem in 2006 when Hamas won a landslide victory over the secular Fatah movement of Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Middle East war and unilaterally annexed it shortly after. About 200,000 Palestinians live there.

Israel regards the whole of Jerusalem as its "eternal, indivisible" capital, while the Palestinians lay claim to its eastern sector as the capital of their promised state.

UFree discuss in Gaza internationalizing Israel’s persecution of Palestinian MPs

[ 05/09/2011 - 12:13 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Palestinian MP Mushir al-Masri, who heads the international Free PLC members committee, has met with head of the European network to support the Palestinian prisoners (UFree) Mohammed Hamdan to discuss ways to internationalize the issue of Israel’s continued detention of Palestinian MPs. Meeting also with MP Rami Abdo, who chairs the Council for European Palestinian Relations, at PLC headquarters in Gaza on Sunday evening, the parties agreed that Israel is intent on systematically disposing of Palestine’s legislature, whether through detention or exile. MP Masri emphasized the need to coordinate and intensify efforts in exposing Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian MPs on all European forums, calling to form an international opinion that would pressure Israel to release them. For his part, UFree head Hamdan brought up the European Parliament’s recent decision in favor of the Palestinian MPs, calling on Abdo to coordinate functions in Europe that would shed light on the issue. Also during the meeting, Masri spoke about UFree’s efforts in keeping contact with European MPs, hoping that positions in support of the issue would be turned into practical steps.

Hamas lawmaker jailed for 6 months under administrative detention

RAMALLAH (Ma’an) -- An Israeli court sentenced Hamas-affiliated lawmaker Anwar Zuboun to six months in administrative detention on Sunday, Hamas officials said.

The sentence was condemned by Hamas lawmakers as part of Israel's "arrogance and systematic crime."

Another Hamas lawmaker Sheik Hassan Yousef was detained last week at a checkpoint in Nablus, less than a month after being released from Israeli prison after six years.

Israeli forces had previously detained 120 Palestinians, mostly Hamas supporters, in Hebron on August 21 in one of the largest detention operations in the city since 2003, Palestinian security officials said.

Administrative detention entails being detained without trial or any charge.

Israel has held thousands of Palestinians in administrative detention in the past and the practice has been widely condemned by human rights groups.

30 Palestinians killed, some 400 arrested in Israeli operations in August

[ 04/09/2011 - 07:30 PM ]

NABLUS, (PIC)-- The International Solidarity Foundation for Human Rights has released a report documenting that 30 Palestinians died and almost 400 were arrested last month in Israeli occupation operations in the occupied Palestinian territories. “Hardly a day goes by without observing killing and arrest operations on dozens of Palestinians, let alone the attacks by the [occupation state], its soldiers and its settlers against the Palestinians...,” the report says. While only three of those killed were from the West Bank, two of them in their early twenties, a total of 27 Palestinians were killed in mortar attacks and air strikes targeting the Gaza Strip that month. Five of them were under 18 years of age. During August, Israeli forces arrested more than 380 Palestinians, including 44 minors, in addition to dozens of Palestinian workers arrested beyond the green line. What made that month exceptional was that Israel launched one of the widest ranging arrest campaigns in the West Bank city of Al-Khalil in years, and it also carried out sweeps in Bethlehem, Jerusalem’s Silwan district, Tulkarem, Salfit, Ramallah, and Al-Beira. Among those arrested in August were Palestinian MPs Mustafa Mutlaq Abu Juheisha (Al-Khalil), Anwar al-Zabboun (Bethlehem), and Hassan Yousef - just one months after his release after six year stretch in detention. All of those MPs represent the Hamas party on the Palestinian Legislative Council. Another primary target were Palestinian news reporters. According to the ISFHR report, three journalists were arrested that month, including head of Al-Jazeera’s Afghanistan bureau Samer Allawi. He was arrested while departing to Jordan on Allenby Bridge after spending vacation with family members in the West Bank village of Sebastea.