| [ 07/11/2009 - 10:45 AM ] |
 |
| AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- The Israeli military court in Ofer has turned down an appeal by two members of the Palestinian legislative council (PLC) against extension of their administrative detention. The Ofer court said that the six-month administrative detention against MPs Dr. Azzam Salhab and Nizar Ramadan should be enforced. The Israeli occupation forces arrested both MPs seven months ago only few weeks after serving almost 40 months in incarceration and held them in administrative custody that was renewed recently. |
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Israeli court turns down appeal by two detained PLC deputies
Gaza man sentenced to three life terms in Israeli court
Bethlehem – Ma'an – An Israeli military court sentenced a Palestinian man to three life prison terms on Thursday, after convicting him of the killing of three Israeli soldiers and injuring a fourth in a roadside explosion seven years ago, Israeli media sources reported.
Nahed Al-Aqra, a Gaza resident, was convicted by the Beersheba military court.
Al-Arqa was found guilty of placing an explosive device under the tank of the soldiers near the Netzarim base in Gaza.He was also accused and convicted of membership with the Popular Resistance Committees.
Mother of long-serving Palestinian prisoner dies
[MaanImages - Archive]
Maryam Salah, 77, passed away on Saturday whilst her son continues to serve a life sentence in an Israeli jail.
The director of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society in Bethlehem Abdullah Zghari said, "The staff of the prisoners' society and families of prisoners as a whole felt sorry over the death of Maryam Salah who spent the last 17 years of her life suffering at Israeli military checkpoints, and prison gates while visiting her son."
He highlighted that Maryam suffered from a brain clot a year ago, and remained bedridden. However, on 23rd of February 2009, she insisted on visiting Rizq at Beer Sheva prison in an ambulance – her final visit to her son.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Michigan woman imprisoned by Israel following settler takeover of Palestinian home
Friday, November 6, 2009
http://alethonews.blogspot.com/2009/11/michigan-woman-imprisoned-by-israel.html
Imprisoned American citizen and Michigan resident Ahlam Mohsen to be deported to the US after being arrested in a Palestinian home taken over by Israeli settlers in Occupied East Jerusalem.
Ahlam was a guest of the al-Kurd family when on the morning of 3 November 2009 Israeli settlers burst in and seized part of the building. Contrary to eyewitness accounts, the police claim the 21-year-old attacked them.
From the Givon prison in Ramle where Ms. Mohsen is currently awaiting deportation she reported that: "The Israeli police were violently pushing an elderly Palestinian woman. So I stepped in front of them. They told me to move and when I refused they started forcefully pushing me. Then they grabbed me and carried me into a police van. While I was waiting at the Israeli Ministry of Interior, the police officers kept telling each other that I was a `dirty Arab' and introducing me as 'Osama Bin Laden's sister'. One of them, threatened to `break my head'. None of the other non-violent demonstrators were targeted; the way they treated me, it's obvious that I was arrested because I'm of Arab descent."
The 40 settlers, accompanied by private armed security and Israeli police forces, entered a section of the home, threw out the family's belongings and locked themselves in.
The take-over came after an appeal submitted by the family's lawyer was rejected by the District Court. In their appeal, the Palestinian family was challenging an earlier court decision that deemed a section of the house illegal and ordered that the keys be given to settlers. The settlers proceeded to enter the house, while the court did not grant them the right to enter the property.
The al-Kurd home was built in 1956. An addition to the house was built 10 years ago, but the family was not allowed to inhabit the section because the municipality refused to grant them a building permit. Visibly unequal laws are used to make it possible for settlers to move into a home where it was declared illegal for Palestinian residents to inhabit. The Israeli authorities exercise their abilities to demolish and evict Palestinian residents, while ignoring building violations from the Israeli population in East Jerusalem.
The al-Kurds have become the fourth Sheikh Jarrah family whose house has been occupied by settlers in the last year. So far, 60 people have been left homeless. In total, 28 families living in the Karm Al- Ja'ouni neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah, located directly north of the
Old City, face imminent eviction from their homes.
See video:
http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2009/11/03/hancocks.fight.for.jerusalem.cnn
Ahlam is imprisoned in the Givon prison in Ramle. She is available for
interviews.
Please contact:
Ahlam Mohsen +972.548.845.924
Sasha Solanas, ISM Media office +972.54.903.2981
http://alethonews.blogspot.com/2009/11/michigan-woman-imprisoned-by-israel.html
Imprisoned American citizen and Michigan resident Ahlam Mohsen to be deported to the US after being arrested in a Palestinian home taken over by Israeli settlers in Occupied East Jerusalem.
Ahlam was a guest of the al-Kurd family when on the morning of 3 November 2009 Israeli settlers burst in and seized part of the building. Contrary to eyewitness accounts, the police claim the 21-year-old attacked them.
From the Givon prison in Ramle where Ms. Mohsen is currently awaiting deportation she reported that: "The Israeli police were violently pushing an elderly Palestinian woman. So I stepped in front of them. They told me to move and when I refused they started forcefully pushing me. Then they grabbed me and carried me into a police van. While I was waiting at the Israeli Ministry of Interior, the police officers kept telling each other that I was a `dirty Arab' and introducing me as 'Osama Bin Laden's sister'. One of them, threatened to `break my head'. None of the other non-violent demonstrators were targeted; the way they treated me, it's obvious that I was arrested because I'm of Arab descent."
The 40 settlers, accompanied by private armed security and Israeli police forces, entered a section of the home, threw out the family's belongings and locked themselves in.
The take-over came after an appeal submitted by the family's lawyer was rejected by the District Court. In their appeal, the Palestinian family was challenging an earlier court decision that deemed a section of the house illegal and ordered that the keys be given to settlers. The settlers proceeded to enter the house, while the court did not grant them the right to enter the property.
The al-Kurd home was built in 1956. An addition to the house was built 10 years ago, but the family was not allowed to inhabit the section because the municipality refused to grant them a building permit. Visibly unequal laws are used to make it possible for settlers to move into a home where it was declared illegal for Palestinian residents to inhabit. The Israeli authorities exercise their abilities to demolish and evict Palestinian residents, while ignoring building violations from the Israeli population in East Jerusalem.
The al-Kurds have become the fourth Sheikh Jarrah family whose house has been occupied by settlers in the last year. So far, 60 people have been left homeless. In total, 28 families living in the Karm Al- Ja'ouni neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah, located directly north of the
Old City, face imminent eviction from their homes.
See video:
http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2009/11/03/hancocks.fight.for.jerusalem.cnn
Ahlam is imprisoned in the Givon prison in Ramle. She is available for
interviews.
Please contact:
Ahlam Mohsen +972.548.845.924
Sasha Solanas, ISM Media office +972.54.903.2981
Gazan Prisoners and the Winter
Gaza, November 4, 2009, (Pal Telegraph) - Nobody can deny the pain of feeling cold in every winter, foots and fingers freezing despite wearing heavy clothes and heating machines in houses , in the last week in Gaza strip rain fall, winds take everything in it's way. During these condition I thought of the Gazan prisoners in the Israeli prisons after I read the news about - Isrealis-preventing their families from sending the prisoners' clothes for the winter.When I met the prisoner Nafith Harb 's wife , She complained that she was prevented from visiting her husband - since 2007. She said, " every visit I was leaving home early in the morning and have to come back in the middle of the night , all of this to see him for a five and forty minutes . Many hard situation happened during the visits one - of them I'll never forget it - my prisoner husband didn't know our daughter because she was unable to visit him before ".
This family is one of many in Gaza strip .(This is the situation) In Israeli prisons there are 780 prisoners, specially in Nafha, Remon and ALnaqab prisons. 128 of them are in the list of the oldest prisoner, all of them prevented of visits since 2007.
Nafith spent 25 years in prison, many things happened to his family .One incident was-His son was injured during the war, the lonely mother said " I felt I'm unable to save my son, I was unable to go abroad for treatment, it was a hard fall, we need him beside us". God help those prisoners' wives, facing the life in such miserable conditions, alone and are completely responsible for a family -while/as they can do nothing for their beloved.
The lovely grandmother said," our six sons and daughters married, now we have 21 grandchild , not one of them has seen their grandfather except in a photo, I'm waiting for them to grow up- to tell them about their grandfather , our hero "
In the same place while it was raining, I talk to Khaled Abu Asha 's wife, According to her: he spent three years in prison despite not being adjudge(Convicted)till now. The Israeli part, appeals that he should be imprisoned for the rest of his life.
She said " I was pregnant ( six months)- when he was arrested.My husband asked me to name him (Mamoon). My child does not know his father , he think his big brother is his father and calls him Daddy , I fell sorry when I look to him .If his father spents the rest of his life in prison ( Mamoon ) will never see him"
Who can imagine the feelings of (Mamoon ) when his mother tells him the truth ?, Will he understand why - that he will never see his Daddy again ! ,How can one explain to this child that - His father is alive but he can't touch him because he is in prison ! .
The sad wife told that she is still prevented from visiting her husband or to send him money or clothes . At first she was sending the money to other prisoner families in West Bank to buy him his needs, but now even those families can't send him any thing .
The prisoners' families feel worry for their' sons' in prison. They urge the prison authorities to provide them with clothes, shoes and covers to protect their bodies from cold and diseases ,which will attack them easily in such 'bad' conditions,.The management of the prisons must provide for the poor prisoners and meet their needs.
All these stories about Prisoners and their families disrupt lives and all these 'old' methods of dealing with prisoners is unjust?
By Noor Swairki
Pal Telegraph Reporter in Gaza
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Apartheid Israel releases six more Palestinian MPs
| [ 03/11/2009 - 09:40 AM ] |
 |
| From Khalid Amayreh in the West Bank The Israeli occupation authorities on Monday released six Palestinian legislative council members who were abducted from their homes and offices nearly 42 months ago. The abduction was aimed at forcing Hamas to release an Israeli prisoner of war and also to rob Hamas of its election victory. The freed hostages include Ahmed Eton and Wael Husseini, both from al-Quds ( Jerusalem ), and Khalil Rabbaei, Samir al Qadi, and Maher Badr, from al-Khalil ( Hebron ) and Mahmoud al Khatib from Bethlehem . The six MPs are all affiliated with the pro-Hamas Change and Reform Bloc which won the 2006 legislative elections at the expense of the secular Fatah organization. On Sunday, the Israeli occupation authorities released Hatem Qafisha, another Islamic MP who had been languishing in Israeli detention camps for several years. With the release of the seven MPs, fifteen pro-Hamas legislative council members remain in Zionist custody. The longest-serving Islamic captive MP is Nayef Rajoub who has been sentenced to 48 months in jail. The abduction of the MPs from their homes and offices is considered a crime pursuant international law. No concrete charges were ever leveled against the abductees who were accused of “affiliation with a militant organization” and “taking part in an election under the rubric of a militant organization.” The 2006 elections had actually been okayed by Israel and the United States which had thought that Hamas wouldn’t win the elections. Israel had hoped the abduction of more than 45 pro-Hamas MPs, in utter violation of international law, would force the Islamic liberation movement (Hamas) to release from its custody an Israeli occupation soldier taken prisoner during a military operation in the middle of 2006. Hamas refused to budge to the Israeli bullying, insisting that Israel must release a thousand Palestinian prisoners from its jails and dungeons in exchange for the Israeli prisoner. Israeli officials quoted by the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz on Monday stressed that there was no connection between the release of the Islamic parliamentarians and the Shalit affair. The Palestinian Authority (PA) has prevented the reconvening of the Legislative Council, apparently fearing the council would take decisions or make moves the American-backed regime in Ramallah would view as harmful and inexpedient. |
Eighteen members of Palestinian parliament remain in Israeli prisons, 7 soon to be released
31.10.09 - 20:54
Bethlehem / PNN – Seven Palestinian Legislative Council deputies who were arrested after winning the elections in the Change and Reform bloc are slated to be released from Israeli prisons early next month.
With the end of the sentences that were imposed by an Israeli military court, the parliamentarians should be able to return to their homes just as their terms in office come to a close. Arrested shortly after the PLC elections in 2005, the Hamas-linked deputies were never able to properly assume their positions.
After 42 months in prison, parliamentarian Hatem Qafisha from Hebron, Maher Badr, Mohammad Ismail Al Tal, Mahmoud Al Khatib from Bethlehem and Wa’el Husseini from Jerusalem, are among those who are slated for release.
For her part, PLC deputy and member of the International Campaign to Release Kidnapped Representatives, Huda Naim, said, “The continued detention of representatives is an indicator of unlawful interference in the political process. The message that is given to the citizen in any future election is that those elected by the people are threatened with arrest by the occupation forces.”
She added in this week’s comments, “The location for a legislator is in the parliament, not in a prison cell.”
In the same context Naim warned of arbitrary actions taken by the Israelis that include intimidation of voters and candidates alike that would lead to a fraudulent outcome in any future election.
“Continued detention is a heinous crime that requires the international community to take a decisive stand to pressure the Israeli occupation in the direction of the release of the House of Representatives,” PLC deputy Naim said.
Out of the tens that were arrested upon election, 15 PLC deputies from the Change and Reform bloc, including the Speaker, two from Fateh’s parliamentarian bloc, and one leftist remain in Israeli prisons.
The seven slated to be released are expected on 2 November.
Bethlehem / PNN – Seven Palestinian Legislative Council deputies who were arrested after winning the elections in the Change and Reform bloc are slated to be released from Israeli prisons early next month.
With the end of the sentences that were imposed by an Israeli military court, the parliamentarians should be able to return to their homes just as their terms in office come to a close. Arrested shortly after the PLC elections in 2005, the Hamas-linked deputies were never able to properly assume their positions.
After 42 months in prison, parliamentarian Hatem Qafisha from Hebron, Maher Badr, Mohammad Ismail Al Tal, Mahmoud Al Khatib from Bethlehem and Wa’el Husseini from Jerusalem, are among those who are slated for release.
For her part, PLC deputy and member of the International Campaign to Release Kidnapped Representatives, Huda Naim, said, “The continued detention of representatives is an indicator of unlawful interference in the political process. The message that is given to the citizen in any future election is that those elected by the people are threatened with arrest by the occupation forces.”
She added in this week’s comments, “The location for a legislator is in the parliament, not in a prison cell.”
In the same context Naim warned of arbitrary actions taken by the Israelis that include intimidation of voters and candidates alike that would lead to a fraudulent outcome in any future election.
“Continued detention is a heinous crime that requires the international community to take a decisive stand to pressure the Israeli occupation in the direction of the release of the House of Representatives,” PLC deputy Naim said.
Out of the tens that were arrested upon election, 15 PLC deputies from the Change and Reform bloc, including the Speaker, two from Fateh’s parliamentarian bloc, and one leftist remain in Israeli prisons.
The seven slated to be released are expected on 2 November.
Deported BU student to test Israeli movement restrictions
Bethlehem - Ma'an - An early-evening court appearance on Tuesday saw Israeli prosecutors deliver a statement declaring 21-year-old student Berlanty Azzam to have been illegally residing in the West Bank.
Berlanty, a fourth-year Business Administration student at Bethlehem University three credits shy of graduation, was seized from a minibus on her way back to Bethlehem from a job interview in Ramallah on 29 October. She was kept at an Israeli military checkpoint inside the West Bank for five hours, then blindfolded and transported to the Gaza Strip, where her family lives.
Lawyers from the Israeli human rights group Gisha were denied permission to visit Berlanty before she was forcibly removed from the West Bank and transferred into Gaza.
According to a spokesperson at Bethlehem University, the Israeli court set a hearing date of 12 November, which she called "good news" since a slow court process would make it unlikely for Berlanty to be able to travel back to Bethlehem to finish her degree.
The spokesperson said Israeli lawyers had indicated their intent to defend Berlanty's deportation as legal, since she did not have a permit to live in the West Bank.
Gisha, the firm defending Berlanty, said it would argue that the young woman left Gaza legally, with a permit to visit Jerusalem in 2005, and returned to a Palestinain area. They will argue that Israel has no jurisdiction to determine which Palestinian areas Palestinians can live and travel in. Their stance is that as a Palestinian Berlanty does not need a permit to live in Bethlehem, an area under Palestinian Authority control. Moreover, Berlanty did not need a permit to remain in the West Bank after entering, and no such kind of permit existed in 2005, so she couldn't have requested one.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Detainees punished for hunger strike at Nafha prison
Salfit – Ma’an – Palestinian hunger strikers at Israel's Nafha prison have been denied family visits since the start of their protests against constant bunk raids and maltreatment by Israeli prison guards, Kadura Fares, head of the Palestinian detainees’ society, said Wednesday.
The hunger strike, which began Monday, has reportedly been answered by “repressive” actions by the prison administration against Palestinian detainees. Fares said the prison administration also sent some prisoners to isolation cells for their involvement in the strike.
The hunger strike, which began Monday, has reportedly been answered by “repressive” actions by the prison administration against Palestinian detainees. Fares said the prison administration also sent some prisoners to isolation cells for their involvement in the strike.
Prisoner Society: more than 2,000 cases of torture in Israeli prison during past year
26.10.09 - 15:31
Ramallah / PNN – President of the Palestinian Prisoner Society, Qaddura Fares, reported today that during the past year there have been more than 2,000 cases of torture in Israeli prison.
The Israeli administration has exerted, and continues to do so, violence, beatings, and physical and psychological torture against Palestinians, said Fares on Monday. He described daily evidence of the “barbarism of the occupation forces against prisoners.”
Among the thousands is Majid Rantis who has been detained since 18 September 2001. He was sentenced by an Israeli military court to 15 years.
According to a document drafted by a lawyer of the Prisoner Society, Rantis was interrogated for 70 days during which time he was beaten, held in solitary confinement and deprived of sleep. The man finally lost his left eye due to one of the beatings and underwent surgery on 6 July 2005. It was acknowledged that his loss of sight was a result of the beatings.
A PPS lawyer also reported on Fares Awad from Aroura Village who was beaten in such a way as to cause problems with the main artery of his heart.
He was arrested on 26 June 2006 and sentenced by a military court to four and a half years in Israeli prison. Awad arrived in good health, having even been granted a checkup by the prison doctor upon arrival. After five months in Ofer Prison he was taken to the Russian Compound for investigation where he was blindfolded, handcuffed, and beaten.
During the some odd 70 days of ongoing interrogation, a blow to the chest led to a loss of consciousness. Awad was taken to Hadassah Hospital, Ein Karem, on 29 June 2006 where he was not given a diagnosis.
He later was transferred to Mount Scopus and then to Ashkelon where he is suffering several problems, including a rise in temperature. He was taken to a clinic there where he was given Akamol, common headache reliever. After his condition worsened Awad was given other drugs, but began to suffer from liver problems. He now can no longer walk.
The case files continue with lists of victims who have spent long stretches of time in tiny spaces or tied to school chairs. The Israeli government is one of the few world wide that openly advocates interrogation methods considered torture by international standards.
Ramallah / PNN – President of the Palestinian Prisoner Society, Qaddura Fares, reported today that during the past year there have been more than 2,000 cases of torture in Israeli prison.
The Israeli administration has exerted, and continues to do so, violence, beatings, and physical and psychological torture against Palestinians, said Fares on Monday. He described daily evidence of the “barbarism of the occupation forces against prisoners.”
Among the thousands is Majid Rantis who has been detained since 18 September 2001. He was sentenced by an Israeli military court to 15 years.
According to a document drafted by a lawyer of the Prisoner Society, Rantis was interrogated for 70 days during which time he was beaten, held in solitary confinement and deprived of sleep. The man finally lost his left eye due to one of the beatings and underwent surgery on 6 July 2005. It was acknowledged that his loss of sight was a result of the beatings.
A PPS lawyer also reported on Fares Awad from Aroura Village who was beaten in such a way as to cause problems with the main artery of his heart.
He was arrested on 26 June 2006 and sentenced by a military court to four and a half years in Israeli prison. Awad arrived in good health, having even been granted a checkup by the prison doctor upon arrival. After five months in Ofer Prison he was taken to the Russian Compound for investigation where he was blindfolded, handcuffed, and beaten.
During the some odd 70 days of ongoing interrogation, a blow to the chest led to a loss of consciousness. Awad was taken to Hadassah Hospital, Ein Karem, on 29 June 2006 where he was not given a diagnosis.
He later was transferred to Mount Scopus and then to Ashkelon where he is suffering several problems, including a rise in temperature. He was taken to a clinic there where he was given Akamol, common headache reliever. After his condition worsened Awad was given other drugs, but began to suffer from liver problems. He now can no longer walk.
The case files continue with lists of victims who have spent long stretches of time in tiny spaces or tied to school chairs. The Israeli government is one of the few world wide that openly advocates interrogation methods considered torture by international standards.
Report: Israel creates military court for Palestinian children
Published Monday 02/11/2009 (updated) 03/11/2009 12:21
Bethlehem – Ma’an – An Israeli judge has announced the establishment of a new military court dealing solely with the sentencing of Palestinian children.
Ma’ariv, the daily Hebrew-language newspaper, wrote that “from now on, Palestinian children will be brought in front of military judges under the new structure of a special military court to sentence children under the legal age of majority to avoid the recent situation where children have been brought to normal military courts.”
The sentencing of children under the legal age of majority in regular military courts constitutes a contravention of the Convention of the Rights of the Child, which Israel ratified in 1991.
The establishment of the court was announced by Israeli judge Lieutenant Colonel Aharon Mishnayot.
An inauguration ceremony for the new children’s military court was held on Sunday at Ofer Prison in the West Bank, Ma’ariv said.
According to the Palestine branch of the organization Defense for Children International (DCI), an average of 9,000 Palestinians are prosecuted in two Israeli military courts in the West Bank each year, among them an average of 700 children, some of them as young as 12.
Bethlehem – Ma’an – An Israeli judge has announced the establishment of a new military court dealing solely with the sentencing of Palestinian children.
Ma’ariv, the daily Hebrew-language newspaper, wrote that “from now on, Palestinian children will be brought in front of military judges under the new structure of a special military court to sentence children under the legal age of majority to avoid the recent situation where children have been brought to normal military courts.”
The sentencing of children under the legal age of majority in regular military courts constitutes a contravention of the Convention of the Rights of the Child, which Israel ratified in 1991.
The establishment of the court was announced by Israeli judge Lieutenant Colonel Aharon Mishnayot.
An inauguration ceremony for the new children’s military court was held on Sunday at Ofer Prison in the West Bank, Ma’ariv said.
According to the Palestine branch of the organization Defense for Children International (DCI), an average of 9,000 Palestinians are prosecuted in two Israeli military courts in the West Bank each year, among them an average of 700 children, some of them as young as 12.
Palestinian prisoners in Nafah Jail declare hunger strike
Date: 2009-11-03 15:39:39
Occupied Jerusalem - paltoday - Detainees at Nafha prison, made up almost entirely of Palestinians, have undertaken a hunger strike, the Palestinian detainees’ society announced on Tuesday.
The detainee's society announced in a statement that the current hunger strike is a reaction to prison guards performing cell searches at night and preventing detainees from carrying money to purchase food from the prison cafeteria.
Nafha prison, located in Mitzpe Ramon, has seen its detainees pursue hunger strikes on dozens of occasions as a result of prison guard aggression and the deprivation of family visits.
The detainee's society announced in a statement that the current hunger strike is a reaction to prison guards performing cell searches at night and preventing detainees from carrying money to purchase food from the prison cafeteria.
Nafha prison, located in Mitzpe Ramon, has seen its detainees pursue hunger strikes on dozens of occasions as a result of prison guard aggression and the deprivation of family visits.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Report: 4,524 Palestinians detained by Israel since the start of this year
| [ 31/10/2009 - 10:59 AM ] |
 |
| GAZA, (PIC)-- Researcher in prisoners’ affairs Abdelnasser Farwana reported Friday that he documented 4,524 Israeli arrests of Palestinian citizens since the start of 2009, 412 of them took place in October. Farwana said that the West Bank and Jerusalem witnessed the kidnapping of 3,456 citizens, while 1,068 others were kidnapped in Gaza, mostly during the last war, noting that there were children, women, patients and elderly people among those who were kidnapped this year. He also pointed out that the arrests declined in the Gaza Strip after the war, where 68 cases have been documented since the end of the war until end of October. The researcher said that his current report is on the total number of arrests and not on the number of citizens who were arrested during this year. In another context, the Palestinian center for human rights said in its weekly report that the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) wounded during the last week 41 Palestinian citizens in the West Bank, including five journalists, eight women and one child. The report also underlined that the IOF troops carried out 25 incursions in the West Bank and one in the Gaza Strip, during which they kidnapped 47 Palestinians. The report touched on the Israeli violations committed against Palestinian fishermen in Gaza and farmers in the West Bank as well as the policy of demolishing homes in occupied Jerusalem. |
Ghoul: Suffering of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails increase in winter
| [ 01/11/2009 - 11:18 AM ] |
 |
| GAZA, (PIC)-- Palestinian justice minister in Gaza and chairman of the legal committee in the Palestinian legislative council Mohammed Al-Ghoul has said that the suffering of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli occupation authority (IOA) jails double in the winter season. He called on human rights groups in a statement on Saturday to pressure the IOA into securing the prisoners' needs topped by adequate covers and clothes. Ghoul underlined that many Israeli jails such as Negev, Beersheba and Nafha are built of worn out tents through which rain seeps damaging the prisoners' belongings. He charged the Israeli prisons authority with delaying any change of the worn out tents while claiming that they are still fit for use. Many prisoners complain of pains in their joints and bones because the Israeli jailors force them to strip their clothes for search amidst high humidity in the jails, the minister elaborated. He asked international organizations to protect the Palestinian prisoners from such maltreatment and the bad weather conditions. Ghoul noted that the 800 prisoners from Gaza suffer more than others because they have been deprived of family visits for the past 30 months, which led to acute shortage in clothes and bedcovers. |
Israel releases Hamas lawmaker from Hebron
Hebron – Ma’an – Israel released Hatem Qafisha, a Hamas-affiliated member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) on Sunday, according to sources close to the official.
Forty-six-year-old Qafaish was seized by Israeli soldiers from his home in the city of Hebron at one in the morning on 6 November 2007, and has been held in administrative detention since then. He spent the past year in Israel’s Ketziot prison camp in the Negev desert.
On Monday, Israel is expected to release five other lawmakers affiliated to Hamas: Muhammad Badr, Khalil Raba’i, and Samir Al-Qadi from Hebron; Mahmoud Al-Khatib from Bethlehem, and Wael Al-Husseini from Jerusalem.
According to the Ad-Dameer Prisoners’ Support and Human Rights organization, Qafisha had been detained by Israel five times previous to his latest detention. He was elected to the PLC in January 2006 after campaigning from his prison cell.
Qafisha was also among the more than 400 activists Israel deported to Marj Al-Zuhur in southern Lebanon in December 1992. After returning to the West Bank in 1993, he chronicled his experience in exile in a series of articles in the Al-Quds newspaper. He intended to eventually to publish a memoir, but the manuscript was confiscated by Israeli prison guards.
Qafisha recently completed a PhD through correspondence courses while in prison, sources close to him say.
As a PLC member Qafisha worked to promote sports in the West Bank and had plans to renovate the Hussein football stadium in Hebron. These plans remain on hold since he was imprisoned.
Forty-six-year-old Qafaish was seized by Israeli soldiers from his home in the city of Hebron at one in the morning on 6 November 2007, and has been held in administrative detention since then. He spent the past year in Israel’s Ketziot prison camp in the Negev desert.
On Monday, Israel is expected to release five other lawmakers affiliated to Hamas: Muhammad Badr, Khalil Raba’i, and Samir Al-Qadi from Hebron; Mahmoud Al-Khatib from Bethlehem, and Wael Al-Husseini from Jerusalem.
According to the Ad-Dameer Prisoners’ Support and Human Rights organization, Qafisha had been detained by Israel five times previous to his latest detention. He was elected to the PLC in January 2006 after campaigning from his prison cell.
Qafisha was also among the more than 400 activists Israel deported to Marj Al-Zuhur in southern Lebanon in December 1992. After returning to the West Bank in 1993, he chronicled his experience in exile in a series of articles in the Al-Quds newspaper. He intended to eventually to publish a memoir, but the manuscript was confiscated by Israeli prison guards.
Qafisha recently completed a PhD through correspondence courses while in prison, sources close to him say.
As a PLC member Qafisha worked to promote sports in the West Bank and had plans to renovate the Hussein football stadium in Hebron. These plans remain on hold since he was imprisoned.
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