Palestinian civil society and human rights organisations mark Palestinian Prisoners’ Day with call for action against Israeli prison contractor G4S

17 April 2012
Joint Statement

Today, on Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, we the undersigned Palestinian civil society and human rights organisations salute all Palestinian political prisoners, especially those engaging in brave civil disobedience through ongoing hunger strikes in protest to the ongoing violations of human rights and international law. Emphasizing imprisonment as a critical component of Israel’s system of occupation, colonialism and apartheid practiced against the Palestinian people, we call for intensifying the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign to target corporations profiting directly from the Israeli prison system. In particular, we call for action to be taken to hold to account G4S, the world's largest international security corporation, which helps to maintain and profit from Israel’s prison system [1], for its complicity with Israeli violations of international law.

Imprisonment of Palestinians is a form of Israeli institutionalized violence encompassing all stages of the incarceration process. Palestinian political prisoners face systematic torture and ill-treatment during their arrest and detention at the hands of the Israeli military and are frequently and unjustifiably denied family and lawyer visits. Wide-ranging and collective punishments, including prolonged periods of isolation, attacks on prisoners by special military forces and denying access to education are used against Palestinian prisoners in an attempt to suppress any form of civil disobedience within the prisons. As of April 2012, there were 4,610 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons, including 203 child prisoners, 6 female prisoners and 27 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council. 322 Palestinians are currently held in administrative detention, without charge or trial.[2]

 

The severity of injustice and abuse suffered by Palestinian political prisoners has been the drive for many prisoners to begin hunger strikes at different intervals in protest against harsh prison conditions, torture and ill treatment and Israel’s arbitrary use of administrative detention. While the recent hunger strikes of Khader Adnan, who ended his hunger strike after 66 days, and Hana Shalabi, who ended her hunger strike after 43 days, resulted in individual agreements, Israel and the Israeli Prison Service’s policies therein remain unchanged and are now aimed at containing the hungers strikers through punitive measures as well as cutting off their contact with lawyers and family. Today, an estimate of over 1,000 Palestinian political prisoners are reported to have joined in an open hunger strike in addition to at least 8 others already engaged in an open hunger strike, including Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahleh, on hunger strike since 29 February 2012.  

 

In light of this increasing campaign of civil disobedience from within the prisons, we demand accountability for all corporations that both enable and directly profit from Israel’s continued violations of Palestinian prisoners’ rights being committed with impunity. Specifically, we call for action to hold to account G4S, the British-Danish security company whose Israeli subsidiary signed a contract in 2007 with the Israeli Prison Authority to provide security systems for major Israeli prisons.[3] G4S provided systems for the Ketziot and Megiddo prisons, which hold Palestinian political prisoners from occupied Palestinian territory inside Israel in contravention of international law.[4] The company also provided equipment for Ofer prison, located in the occupied West Bank, and for Kishon and Moskobiyyeh detention facilities, at which human rights organisations have documented systematic torture and ill-treatment of Palestinian prisoners, including child prisoners.[5] G4S continues to provide equipment to Israeli prisons.[6]

 

Moreover, G4S is involved in other aspects of the Israeli apartheid and occupation regime: it has provided equipment and services to Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank that form part of the route of Israel’s illegal Wall and to the terminals isolating the occupied territory of Gaza. G4S has also signed contracts for equipment and services for the West Bank Israeli Police headquarters and to private businesses based in illegal Israeli settlements.[7] A panel of legal experts concluded that G4S may be criminally liable for its activities in support of Israel’s illegal Wall and other violations of international law.[8]

 

We welcome the news that the European Union has announced that it has not renewed its contract for security services with G4S [9] following pressure from groups campaigning for Palestinian rights, and salute the previous decision of the Edinburgh University Student Association to block its contract with G4S.[10] We call upon other public and civil society institutions and also on  private companies to follow suit and end their relationships with this company that acts in service of Israeli apartheid and other violations of international law. We demand that the Palestinian leadership bans G4S from private and public tenders, and ask for the strict application of the boycott legislation in the Arab world against companies cooperating with the Israeli prison system.

 

We also note that G4S is being actively opposed by other civil society groups elsewhere in the world for its role in controversial deportation and imprisonment regimes, abuse of workers rights, violations of universal human rights standards and its involvement in the privatisation of public services. Let us work together to expose not only G4S, but also the roles of imprisonment and private security companies as political tools to silence and intimidate communities all over the world.

 

Amid hunger strikes and the highly publicized prisoner exchange deal in October, Palestinian prisoners’ issues have gained recent attention in international spheres. However, despite this increased focus and the criticisms of these practices by United Nations bodies, there has been no institutional changes made by Israel in regard to the human rights violations being committed against Palestinian political prisoners and detainees.[11] In an attempt to counter Israel’s unwillingness to change its policies and the lack of accountability for its countless human rights violations, alternative measures such as preventing participation by companies such as the G4S proves to be one of the few remaining effective steps towards pressuring Israel to comply with international law.  It is time overdue to break this chain of international complicity.  

 

  

Addameer Prisoners’ Support and Human Rights Association Sahar Francis General Director	Aldameer Association for Human Rights Khalil Abu Shammala General Director
The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) Ismat Quzma Coordinator	Al Mezan Center for Human Rights Issam Younis General Director
Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights Najwa Darwish General Director	Defence for Children International Palestine Section Rifat Kassis General Director
Ensan Center for Human Rights and Democracy Shawqi Issa General Director	Hurryyat - Centre for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights Helmi Al-araj General Director
Jerusalem Center for Legal Aid and Human Rights Issam Aruri General Director	Ramallah Center for Human Rights Studies Iyad Barghouti General Director
The Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network Allam Jarrar Steering Committee Member   Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling Maha Abu Dayyeh General Director	The Grassroots Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign Jamal Jum’a Coordinator

   
   
    

[1] http://www.whoprofits.org/articlefiles/WhoProfits-PrivateSecurity-G4S.pdf

[2] http://www.addameer.org/files/Brochures/addameer-palestinian-political-prisoners-brochure-2010.pdf

[3] http://www.whoprofits.org/articlefiles/WhoProfits-PrivateSecurity-G4S.pdf, p.7

[4] Article 77 of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits the transfer of prisoners from occupied territory to the occupying country.

[5] http://www.whoprofits.org/articlefiles/WhoProfits-PrivateSecurity-G4S.pdf, p14-15

[6] http://corporateoccupation.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/targeting-israeli-apartheid-jan-2012.pdf, p.135

[7] Ibid.

[8] http://www.russelltribunalonpalestine.com/en/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/RTOP-London-Session-Findings.pdf, p.18

[9] http://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:118611-2012:TEXT:EN:HTML&tabId=1 (registration required)

[10] http://www.bdsmovement.net/2011/edinburgh-university-students-vote-to-ban-g4s-8279

On Palestinian Prisoners Day, the Suffering of Palestinian Prisoners in Israeli Jails Doubles

PCHR

Tuesday, 17 April 2012 07:00

Ref: 45/2012

Today, 17 April 2012, marks the Palestinian Prisoners Day, which has been devoted by the Palestinian people to support the cause of Palestinian prisoners detained in Israeli jails.  Since 1979, Palestinians have commemorated this day, which marks the anniversary of the release of Palestinian prisoners in the first prisoner swap deal of 17 April 1974.

This year, the Palestinian Prisoners Day comes at a time in which the suffering of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails doubles as a result of violations of their rights.  These violations have recently peaked by the forcible transfer and deportation of prisoners, the latest of which was the forcible transfer of a female prisoner, Hanaa Shalabi, to the Gaza Strip on 01 April 2012.

These violations are part of a systematic policy adopted by Israeli occupation authorities against Palestinian prisoners, subjecting them to cruel, inhuman and degrading conditions, denying them access to medical care, constituting medical negligence which has caused deaths; practicing methods of torture against them; placing some of them in solitary confinement; depriving them of family visitation; and banning them from receiving academic education, according to a decision issued by the Israeli Prison Service on 20 July 2011.[1]

According to the figures and statistics PCHR possesses, more than 4,700 Palestinian prisoners are still held in Israeli prisons and detention facilities, mostly inside Israel, in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, particularly Article 76 which stipulates that “protected persons accused of offences shall be detained in the occupied country, and if convicted they shall serve their sentences therein.” The majority of the Palestinian prisoners are from the West Bank, and they include 9 women and 190 children, as well as 320 prisoners who have been placed under administrative detention; the latter category includes 27 Members of the Palestinian Legislative Council and former ministers. 

PCHR expresses its utmost concern for the continued deprivation of family visitation of at least 475 Palestinian prisoners from the Gaza Strip, lasting more than five years now and causing deterioration to these prisoners’ psychological and health conditions in violation of international human rights law.  At least 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in a number of Israeli jails are expected to start an open ended hunger strike to pressurize the Israeli Prison Service to heed to their demands, including abolishing the policy of solitary confinement; ending the application of the Shalit Law; stopping attacks against prisoners, providing prisoners with adequate health care; and allowing family visitation to Gazan prisoners.  It is worth noting that at least 10 prisoners have been on hunger strike in protest against the policy of administrative detention. 

On the Palestinian Prisoners Day, PCHR draws the attention to escalated violations of the rights of Palestinian prisoners and the deterioration of their conditions because of Israel’s insistence to adopt a series of measures against them, which violate human rights principles and the international humanitarian law, which Israel, as a party to the relevant treaties, must respect.  PCHR also draws the attention to the international silence regarding such violations, which proves suspicions towards the international community’s disregard of international humanitarian law.   

Since its establishment, PCHR has systematically and continually followed up the cases of thousands of prisoners in Israeli jails.  PCHR has provided legal aid to prisoners and their families, and has documented and reported on violations of their rights.  In this context:

1. PCHR calls upon the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to fulfill their obligations under the Convention;

2. PCHR calls upon international human rights organizations to follow up cases of Palestinian prisoners and request their governments to exert pressure on Israel to stop its illegal practices against Palestinian prisoners and release them;

3. PCHR calls upon the European Union to activate Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which provides that both sides must respect human rights as a precondition for economic cooperation between the EU states and Israel. 

---------------

[1] See “PCHR Condemns Punitive Measures against Palestinian Prisoners in Israeli Jails,” Press Release, Ref: 70/2011, PCHR, 21 July 2011.

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

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.”

Families relieved by prisoner swap

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.

Women Prisoners: WOFPP Newsletter September 2011

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

PCHR Condemns Collective Penalties against Palestinian Prisoners in Israeli Jails

PCHR

Thursday, 06 October 2011 07:30

Ref: 100/2011

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) strongly condemns collective punishment measures being taken by the Israeli prison authorities against Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails who have organized a hunger strike in protest to their deteriorating detention conditions. PCHR is also concerned over the health conditions of the prisoners who have now been in an open hunger strike for nine consecutive days, as the Israeli prison authorities have refrained from providing medical care to them. PCHR calls upon the international community to exert pressure on Israel and compel it to respect international law, including ending the systematic cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention centers. 

Palestinian and other Arab prisoners initiated a hunger strike, which has progressively extended to all Israeli prisons and detention facilities. First, prisoners from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in Rimon and Nafha prison in Israel declared a hunger strike on 27 September 2011, demanding an end to the solitary confinement of 20 prisoners, some of whom have served more than 10 years in solitary confinement. They also demand an end to the three-year incommunicado detention of PFLP Secretary General, Ahmed Sa’adat. Later, prisoners in other prisons and detention facilities joined and organized a three day hunger strike. This move was expanded when prisoners declared an open hunger strike until their demands were met. Their demands include: ending the policy of solitary confinement; allowing graduate education; allowing family visitation - especially for Gazan prisoners who have been deprived of family visitation for more than five years; stopping the imposition of financial fines; stopping raids and humiliating checks of prisoners; refraining from tying the hands and feet of prisoners during family visitations or meetings with lawyers; and improving the health conditions of hundreds of sick prisoners and providing them with adequate medical care. 

However, the Israeli prison authorities have refused to meet these demands and have escalated collective punishment measures against prisoners. It has placed dozens of prisoners in solitary confinement and transferred leaders of political prisoners to sections of criminal prisoners, in an attempt to break the strike. Moreover, it has omitted to provide medical care to prisoners, including old ones, have refrained from having medicines and foods. According to prisoners, the Israeli prison authorities have initiated a series of sanctions against prisoners, including withholding salt, which prisoners take to maintain the salt balance in their bodies, and electronic devices such as televisions after they had already censored some Arab news channels. Additionally, Israeli troops waged a campaign of raids and searches in detention cells, and used tear gas against prisoners. A number of prisoners were injured.

These latest punitive measures are part of a series of measures that have been taken by the Israeli occupation authorities as an effective translation of instructions given by the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in late June 2011, asking the Israeli prison authorities to limit “the privileges granted to Palestinian prisoners.” Since then, the Israeli prison authority has taken a series of measures against prisoners, including intensifying naked physical check of prisoners, and placing their leaders in incommunicado detention. In response, the prisoners have declared a series of protests against these measures and have organized a number of hunger strikes.

At least 6,000 Palestinians are currently detained in 22 Israeli prisons and detention facilities, most of which are inside Israel, in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, particularly Article 76, which stipulates that “Protected persons accused of offences shall be detained in the occupied country, and if convicted they shall serve their sentences therein.” These prisoners include 700 persons from the Gaza Strip (including 6 who have been detained according to the Illegitimate Combatant Code); 400 persons from Jerusalem and Arab areas within Israel; 251 children; and 37 women. They also include 307 prisoners who were arrested before the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, including 126 persons who have served more than 20 years in prisons, 27 of whom have served more than 25 years in prison. Additionally, the group includes 214 prisoners who have been placed under administrative detention, and 20 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council, most of them from the Change and Reform Bloc affiliated to Hamas.

PCHR strongly condemns these collective penalties and measures of intimidation, which are prohibited under international law, particularly Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and:

1- Calls upon the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment to present reports on the situation to the Human Rights Council to exert pressure on Israel to stop its practices against Palestinian prisoners.

2- Calls upon the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to intervene to stop collective penalties executed by the Israeli occupation authorities against Palestinian prisoners.

3- Calls upon international human rights organizations to follow up the issue of Palestinian prisoners and to intervene with their governments to pressurize the Israel to stop arbitrary measures against Palestinian prisoners and to ensure their release.

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.

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.

Prisoners’ Rights Group UFree Calls on UN to Stop Israeli Mass Arrests

23.08.11 - 13:30


Oslo – PNN – UFree, the Oslo-based European network to support the rights of Palestinian prisoners, has called on the United Nations and all other human rights supporters to speak out against Israel’s campaign of mass arrests now being waged in the West Bank.
Israeli military raids in the West Bank escalated on August 21 while at the same time attacks have stepped up in the Gaza Strip. As of now, more than 150 Palestinians residents of the West Bank have been arrested, mostly in Hebron.
In addition to detaining a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Israeli soldiers raided the house of the Mufti of Bethlehem in the al-Dheisheh refugee camp.
They also wounded three Palestinians and arrested two of them, and then refused to allow the Palestinian Red Crescent to care for their injuries. The raids are the most extensive in eight years, and have swept up children, the elderly, and lawmakers alike.
Mohammed Hamdan, the chairman of UFree, noted in a written statement issued today that Israel’s latest aggression comes just days before the Eid al-Fitr,  a three-day Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting. 
“This campaign of arrests in the West Bank and bombings in Gaza seems designed to wreak destruction not only on the people, but on our very culture," he said.
UFree promotes and defends the rights of Palestinian prisoners and detainees. More than 6,000 Palestinian prisoners are currently being held in Israeli jails, including about 300 children and more than 30 women living in often inhumane conditions, including torture and lack of medical care.

UFree's website can be found at http://ufree-p.net/eng/

Addameer’s Quarterly Update 15 April - 15 July

Addameer’s Quarterly Update on Palestinian Prisoners covering the period between 15 April and 15 July 2011 is now available!

As always the Quarterly Update provides the most up-to-date detention and arrest statistics and a comprehensive overview of the important prisoner trends and news. This quarter, noteworthy trends included a notable increase in the arrest of Change and Reform parliamentarians, continued repression in East Jerusalem and the detention of 120 internationals who participated in the “Welcome to Palestine” initiative. In addition, the Quarterly Update gives background on individual prisoner cases, such as Ahmad Qatamish, Islam and Bassem Tamimi and Mohammed Halabiyeh, and summarizes the most relevant legal, UN and EU news, as well as Addameer’s activities over the reporting period.

For the first time since it was first published in April 2010, the Quarterly Update is also available in Arabic.

Hamas leader freed in mass prisoner release

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Israel moved Thursday to free 770 Israeli and Palestinian detainees, including a senior leader of Hamas, prison and Palestinian Authority officials said.

Israel prisons spokeswoman Sivan Weizman said the prisoners, among them 200 Palestinians, had almost completed their terms and were released due to overcrowding.

Hassan Yousef, a West Bank leader of the Hamas movement, was released despite having six weeks remaining of a six-year term for "membership of a terrorist organization."

After his release, Yousef told Ma’an the prisoners carried one message: The need to implement a unity deal and carry out the terms of the Cairo agreement in order to confront the occupation.

Yousef said the situation in the prisons is difficult due to recent restrictions.

“There are 40 detainees in solitary confinement, most of them are Hamas,” he said in an interview with Ma'an.

The Hamas leader stated that he does not support the September bid for Palestinian statehood at the UN.

"We don’t believe that this step is useful and won’t add anything except a few more UN resolutions," Yousef told Ma'an.

Rather, "we need practical resolutions that end the occupation," he said.

Negotiations over a prisoner swap deal with Israel for captured soldier Gilad Shalit only stopped one month ago, Yousef added, noting that he also participated in swap talks and it is Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu who is delaying the process.

He also hopes that the current demonstrations in Israel over housing prices can help to stop the Israeli government’s racist policies against Palestinians.

The Head of Gaza's Prison Ministry Riyad Al-Ashqar said a large number of prisoners were released Thursday because Israel was delaying the release of dozens of detainees who had completed their sentences.

Among them are more than 70 prisoners from the Negev jail alone, including 16 prisoners from Gaza. Mahmoud Al-Sherif was detained in April and scheduled for release in June, for example.

The ministry noted that all the prisoners had completed their sentences, so the mass release should not be interpreted as a sign that Hamas and Israel reached a deal to exchange a soldier captured in 2006.

In Ramallah, Deputy Prisoners Minister Ziad Abu Ain said the Palestinians were expecting "around 70 prisoners who have finished their terms of Israeli jails" but had no additional details.

The Center for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights reported on Thursday that a member of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine was also freed as part of the prisoner release.

Sufyan Abed Al-Halim Barakat, 40, had spent nine years in Israeli detention after being arrested for affiliation with the armed wing of the DFLP.

According to figures released by Israeli rights group B'tselem in April, there are 5,380 Palestinians being held in Israeli jails, 217 of whom were under 18.

AFP contributed to this report.

Gaza ministry: 370 Palestinians detained in May

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- The Ministry of Prisoners Affairs in Gaza released a report Sunday, tallying a total of 370 detentions carried out by Israeli forces targeting Palestinians during the month of May.

According to the report, among those detained were 40 under the age of 15, five women, two lawmakers, and 20 international peace activists.

The detentions were carried out during 540 invasions and raids on Palestinians ares, the report said. In 2009, the UN cataloged an average of 103 arrest and raid operations per week in the West Bank.

Group: 26 from Bethlehem arrested in May

	RAMALLAH (Ma’an) -- Israel arrested 26 residents of Bethlehem last month, the Palestinian Prisoners Society said Wednesday. Abed Khalil, the head of the rights group, said arrests increased in May among minors. The army destroyed property and used jeeps during the raids that arrested many schoolchildren, he said.

Report: Israel rounded up 1,200 minors since start of 2010

[ 31/05/2011 - 09:28 PM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- A report released Tuesday reveals a drastic escalation in friction between Israeli police and the Palestinian citizens of Jerusalem, especially those in the Silwan and Al-Issawiyya districts. Issued by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, the report documents that police since the beginning of 2010 rounded up 1,200 Palestinian suspected of throwing stones and kept some 760 of them in custody. About a third of those arrested were indicted and imprisoned until the end of the legal proceedings, the ACRI said. “The large numerical gap between the youth who were questioned and arrested and those who were actually indicted speaks to the suspicions of Palestinians, who believe that most of these arrests and interrogations are intended solely to intimidate the minors,” the report says. It details that in the past few months, wide-ranging clashes have erupted between Israeli police and Jerusalemites, where the police used excessive force killing one child in Al-Issawiyya after he breathed toxic gas that police hurled into residential areas. The report also highlights the police's use of collective punishment, violence, and pressure against the Palestinian population when enforcing Israeli laws in Jerusalem. It adds that complaints that civilians file against Israeli occupation authorities have often gone ignored.

Administrative detention of Hamas lawmaker extended

HEBRON (Ma’an) -- Israeli authorities extended Tuesday the administrative detention of former minister and legislator Nayef Rujoub for an additional six months, two days ahead of the end of his current term.

The 53-year-old lawmaker elected to the Hamas party, has spent six months in administrative detention so far this year, and had been slated for release on 1 June.

In 1989, Rajoub was detained for affiliation with Hamas and was imprisoned for one year. In 1992 he was detained or six months and was deported to Lebanon along with a second Hamas member. He returned to Palestine and in 2005 he was again placed under administrative detention.

In 2006, when Rajoub was serving as Minister of Waqf, he was imprisoned for four years in retaliation for the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit weeks earlier by armed groups in the Gaza Strip. Rajoub re-imprisoned shortly after completing the sentence.

Under a 1979 Israeli military law, Palestinians can be detained without charge for a period of up to six months, a period of administrative detention that can be renewed indefinitely.

At last count there were 222 Palestinians being held under the law, two of whom have been detained without charge for more than 43 consecutive months.

DCI-Palestine Detention Bulletin - Issue 16 - April 2011

DCI-Palestine

	DCI-Palestine's monthly bulletin on detention issues. Detention Bulletin - Issue 16 - April 2011

Addameer Quarterly Update on Palestinian Prisoners - April 2011

Addameer’s periodic report on violations against Palestinian political prisoners, containing up-to-date news and statistics. (pdf file ~,2 M)

Protesters demand Palestinian prisoner release at Brussels European Commission

[ 20/04/2011 - 08:07 AM ]

BRUSSELS, (PIC)-- Men and women from human rights groups in France, Germany, Belgium and Norway wore blindfolds and trapped themselves in barbed wire while others waved Palestinian flags, Israel-condemning banners and prisoner photographs, as they peacefully demonstrated in front of the European Commission in the Belgium capital Brussels. With involvement from more than 17 rights groups marking Palestinian Prisoner Day, the protests demanded that the world intervene against the Israeli policies of administrative detention without trial under claims of ”secret files” and the arrest of members of the Palestinian Legislative Council and other public figures. Palestinian prisoners have been subjected to torture, women in particular, and have faced harassment and physical and psychological torture, humiliation, degrading searches, assault and more, said European activist Luke Verwet. The activists highlighted the violations committed by the Israeli prison authority and the widely effected area, saying that most Palestinians in the West Bank had experienced detention. They also made it a focus that 676 prisoners from the Gaza Strip have been banned from family visits. According to statistics offered by the world movement for the defense of children, Israel is currently detaining 221 minors between the ages of 12 and 18. 75 other children are on house arrest despite their young age, a phenomon unknown to the rest of the world, Verwet said as he spoke during the events. Ten per cent of prisoners have been placed in administrative detention, Verwet said, elaborating that those men and women are usually held without charges for six months for alleged security purposes before their terms in administrative detention are extended.

90% of detained Palestinian minors tortured in Israeli jails

[ 19/04/2011 - 05:04 PM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- The Palestine branch of the international movement for the defense of children said in a statement on Tuesday that 90% of Palestinian minors detained in Israel were tortured one way or another. It said the Israeli occupation forces rounded up 1000 Palestinians less than 18 years old during 2010 mostly in Jerusalem and areas adjacent to the separation wall. It said that by the end of 2010 around 213 of those minors were still in custody and the number increased to 226 by March 2011. The legal coordinator of the movement lawyer Iyad Misk said that 700 Palestinian minors from the West Bank face trials each year at the hands of the Israeli occupation authority after detention and interrogation.

Palestine Prisoners Day – Narratives Behind Locked Doors

PCHR

Sunday, 17 April 2011 11:30

 Ref: 34/2011

Each year on 17 April, Palestinian Prisoners Day is commemorated in order to support and recognize Palestinians currently in custody in Israel. Since 1979, the date marks the release of Palestinian prisoners by Israel as part of a prisoner swap in 1974. Between 1967 and 1988 more than 600,000 Palestinians were held in Israeli jails for a week or more, constituting approximately 1/5 of the total population. Moreover, from the beginning of the 2000 “Al Aqsa” Second Intifada, Israel detained another 70,000 individuals bringing the total number of Palestinians who have been detained in Israel since 1967 to 760,000. Currently, approximately 6,500 Palestinians are detained in Israel including approximately 251 children and 37 women. These prisoners are held in17 investigation and detention centers and prisons throughout Israel. Additionally, approximately 241 administrative detainees and 14 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council are held in custody by Israel.

PCHR notes with particular concern the many violations of human rights and humanitarian law that prisoners are subjected to while in Israeli detention. In particular violations of Articles 7, 9 and 10 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Israel is a State Party. Moreover, under Israeli military regulations which are applied in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), Palestinian children are treated as adults at the age of 16. This is in blatant contravention of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) which states that a child is anyone below 18 years old. Israel is a signatory to the CRC. As a result, Palestinian children are subjected to the same detention regime as adult prisoners.

Prisoners in Israeli custody are often subject to cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment, including poor detention conditions, denial of access to counsel or family visits, deprivation of health care and many other policies that violate human rights law. The UN Committee Against Torture has criticized Israel for failing to undertake credible and effective investigations by Israel into torture-related allegations. Prisoners in administrative detention face the additional burden of not knowing when, or if, they will be released; the Israeli administrative detention law allows for the arrest of persons not charged with committing a crime and their detention for renewable 6 month terms.

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights’ (PCHR) notes with concern that none of the approximately 700 Gazans in Israeli jails have been allowed to receive visitors for nearly four years. Not only are these prisoners denied visits but they are also denied phone calls or mail from relatives. Only occasionally and sporadically are these prisoners allowed to communicate through letters. The blanket prohibition of family visits exacerbates the already difficult conditions of confinement and constitutes a violation of international human rights law.  

PCHR commemorates Palestinian Prisoners day with the release of nine narratives collected from family members of prisoners. These narratives highlight the unnecessary hardship on both the prisoners and their families.

Narratives Behind Locked Doors:

· The Transformation of Palestinian Prisoners' Visitation Rights over the Years

· Arwa Abdel-Rahim, a Mother of two Prisoners

· Abla Sa'adat: A husband imprisoned

· Trying to See Her Brother - The Struggle of the Family of a Prisoner from the West Bank

· No Family Visitation for Prisoners from Gaza: the Case of Abdallah Inshahsi

· Family Visits Denied - the Mother of a Prisoner from Gaza tells her Story

· Fairouz Afaf: A Former Prisoner Discusses Israeli Prison Conditions in the 1970s

· Restrictive Family Visitation Rights for West Bank Prisoners- the Case of Amal Fayez Juma'a

· The Mother of a Minor in Prison - Amal Abdul-Allah