4 apr 2014
Israel has called off the planned release of 26 Palestinian prisoners, placing already embattled peace talks in further jeopardy after both sides took steps Washington called "unhelpful".
Israel's chief negotiator, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, told her Palestinian counterparts on Thursday the planned releases cannot go ahead because the Palestinians had formally requested accession to several international treaties, a source close to the talks told AFP.
The Israelis saw this as a breach of conditions agreed for a resumption of US-brokered peace talks last July, the source said.
A frustrated US Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday demanded that recalcitrant Israeli and Palestinian politicians demonstrate leadership in the peace process.
The talks hit a new impasse when Israel failed to free the prisoners as expected at the weekend.
In response, the Palestinians formally requested accession to several international treaties, including the Fourth Geneva Convention, which provides the legal basis for Palestinian opposition to Israeli settlements in the occupied territories.
The source said Livni had told the Palestinian negotiators that her government had been seeking to expedite the releases at the moment the Palestinians submitted their accession request to UN bodies.
Livni urged them to cancel the applications and return to talks, the source said.
The Palestinians, however, insisted that the basis for future talks must change.
"Israel has a habit of evading agreements and conventions it has signed," Yasser Abed Rabbo, general secretary of the PLO executive committee, told AFP.
"That is why conditions for future negotiations must change radically," he added, without elaborating.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said Israel's decision had put further strains on peace efforts.
"The decision by the Israelis to delay the release of the fourth tranche of prisoners creates challenges," he said in Washington.
Carney said, however, that Kerry and the US negotiating team would not be deterred in trying to keep the peace effort alive despite recent setbacks.
Late Thursday, four rockets fired from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip slammed into southern Israel, a military spokesman told AFP.
He said there were no casualties and army radio said all the rockets fell in open countryside.
Palestinian security officials and witnesses early Friday reported Israeli air strikes on six facilities of the Hamas military wing around Gaza city.
No casualties were reported.
The Israeli military confirmed four air strikes and linked them to cross-border small arms fire from Gaza the day before, as well as the latest rocket fire.
Kerry phones Netanyahu, Abbas
US officials said that Kerry, who has pursued more than a year of intensive shuttle diplomacy, spoke by phone to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday afternoon, and to President Mahmoud Abbas later, but they gave no details.
His efforts appeared to be on the brink of collapse this week after Israel announced a fresh wave of settlement tenders and the PLO resumed international recognition moves.
Kerry threw down the gauntlet, telling both sides it was time for compromise at what he called a "critical moment" in the peace process.
"You can facilitate, you can push, you can nudge, but "The leaders have to lead, and they have to be able to see a moment when it's there."
Israel's government has announced the construction of thousands of settler housing units and its army has killed over 60 Palestinians and injured hundreds in the West Bank and Gaza since the negotiations began.
The Israeli government has also insisted that it maintain a military and civilian presence in the occupied Jordan Valley, which forms around a third of the West Bank, and has insisted that the PLO recognize it as a "Jewish state," despite having already officially recognized Israel decades earlier.
Israel's chief negotiator, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, told her Palestinian counterparts on Thursday the planned releases cannot go ahead because the Palestinians had formally requested accession to several international treaties, a source close to the talks told AFP.
The Israelis saw this as a breach of conditions agreed for a resumption of US-brokered peace talks last July, the source said.
A frustrated US Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday demanded that recalcitrant Israeli and Palestinian politicians demonstrate leadership in the peace process.
The talks hit a new impasse when Israel failed to free the prisoners as expected at the weekend.
In response, the Palestinians formally requested accession to several international treaties, including the Fourth Geneva Convention, which provides the legal basis for Palestinian opposition to Israeli settlements in the occupied territories.
The source said Livni had told the Palestinian negotiators that her government had been seeking to expedite the releases at the moment the Palestinians submitted their accession request to UN bodies.
Livni urged them to cancel the applications and return to talks, the source said.
The Palestinians, however, insisted that the basis for future talks must change.
"Israel has a habit of evading agreements and conventions it has signed," Yasser Abed Rabbo, general secretary of the PLO executive committee, told AFP.
"That is why conditions for future negotiations must change radically," he added, without elaborating.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said Israel's decision had put further strains on peace efforts.
"The decision by the Israelis to delay the release of the fourth tranche of prisoners creates challenges," he said in Washington.
Carney said, however, that Kerry and the US negotiating team would not be deterred in trying to keep the peace effort alive despite recent setbacks.
Late Thursday, four rockets fired from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip slammed into southern Israel, a military spokesman told AFP.
He said there were no casualties and army radio said all the rockets fell in open countryside.
Palestinian security officials and witnesses early Friday reported Israeli air strikes on six facilities of the Hamas military wing around Gaza city.
No casualties were reported.
The Israeli military confirmed four air strikes and linked them to cross-border small arms fire from Gaza the day before, as well as the latest rocket fire.
Kerry phones Netanyahu, Abbas
US officials said that Kerry, who has pursued more than a year of intensive shuttle diplomacy, spoke by phone to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday afternoon, and to President Mahmoud Abbas later, but they gave no details.
His efforts appeared to be on the brink of collapse this week after Israel announced a fresh wave of settlement tenders and the PLO resumed international recognition moves.
Kerry threw down the gauntlet, telling both sides it was time for compromise at what he called a "critical moment" in the peace process.
"You can facilitate, you can push, you can nudge, but "The leaders have to lead, and they have to be able to see a moment when it's there."
Israel's government has announced the construction of thousands of settler housing units and its army has killed over 60 Palestinians and injured hundreds in the West Bank and Gaza since the negotiations began.
The Israeli government has also insisted that it maintain a military and civilian presence in the occupied Jordan Valley, which forms around a third of the West Bank, and has insisted that the PLO recognize it as a "Jewish state," despite having already officially recognized Israel decades earlier.
Ziad Yousef Hasan 31
Israeli Occupation Forces arrested on Friday, a Palestinian after raiding his house in al-Zababdeh village in Jenin governorate in the north of the West Bank.
Israel's Channel 7 claimed that Israeli Army arrested a "wanted" Palestinian by the Israeli authorities, and transferred him to one of the interrogation centers.
In Durah village, south of Hebon, Israeli army forces searched the house of Akram Omran after raiding and searching his house.
Army Kidnaps A Palestinian Near Jenin, Interrogates Two
Several Israeli military vehicles invaded the Zababda town, in the northern West Bank district of Jenin, and kidnapped one Palestinian. The army also interrogated two brothers and threatened to kidnap them.
Israeli Channel 7 said that the army kidnapped a “wanted Palestinian”, and moved him to an interrogation facility.
The kidnapped Palestinian, Obeida Za’tary, 22, is a student of the Arab American University in Jenin; he is from Hebron, in the southern part of the occupied West Bank.
The soldiers, including undercover forces, detonated the main door of the residential building where he lives, and kidnapped him. The building belongs to resident Anis Abbas.
Soldiers also interrogated Taha, 27, and Mahdi, 26, the sons of Abbas, and threatened to kidnap them should they conduct any future political activities. The two brothers are former political prisoners.
In related news, soldiers invaded Doura town, south of the southern West Bank city of Hebron, and broke into a home that belongs to resident Akram Omran.
The soldiers violently searched the home for several hours, and interrogated the family.
On Thursday, soldiers kidnapped Ziad Yousef Hasan, 31, a soccer player of the Jericho Crescent Club.
He was moved to the Etzion military base near Bethlehem before he was moved to the Israeli Military Court in Beit El Israeli settlement, the Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA) reported.
Jamal Ayesh, head of the club, said Ziad was heading from his town, Qosra, near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, to Jericho to participate in training before a match between his team and the Beit Leqia Club.
Israeli Occupation Forces arrested on Friday, a Palestinian after raiding his house in al-Zababdeh village in Jenin governorate in the north of the West Bank.
Israel's Channel 7 claimed that Israeli Army arrested a "wanted" Palestinian by the Israeli authorities, and transferred him to one of the interrogation centers.
In Durah village, south of Hebon, Israeli army forces searched the house of Akram Omran after raiding and searching his house.
Army Kidnaps A Palestinian Near Jenin, Interrogates Two
Several Israeli military vehicles invaded the Zababda town, in the northern West Bank district of Jenin, and kidnapped one Palestinian. The army also interrogated two brothers and threatened to kidnap them.
Israeli Channel 7 said that the army kidnapped a “wanted Palestinian”, and moved him to an interrogation facility.
The kidnapped Palestinian, Obeida Za’tary, 22, is a student of the Arab American University in Jenin; he is from Hebron, in the southern part of the occupied West Bank.
The soldiers, including undercover forces, detonated the main door of the residential building where he lives, and kidnapped him. The building belongs to resident Anis Abbas.
Soldiers also interrogated Taha, 27, and Mahdi, 26, the sons of Abbas, and threatened to kidnap them should they conduct any future political activities. The two brothers are former political prisoners.
In related news, soldiers invaded Doura town, south of the southern West Bank city of Hebron, and broke into a home that belongs to resident Akram Omran.
The soldiers violently searched the home for several hours, and interrogated the family.
On Thursday, soldiers kidnapped Ziad Yousef Hasan, 31, a soccer player of the Jericho Crescent Club.
He was moved to the Etzion military base near Bethlehem before he was moved to the Israeli Military Court in Beit El Israeli settlement, the Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA) reported.
Jamal Ayesh, head of the club, said Ziad was heading from his town, Qosra, near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, to Jericho to participate in training before a match between his team and the Beit Leqia Club.
3 apr 2014
The Palestinian Prisoner Society (PPS) revealed on Thursday that detainee Youssef Abdul Rahim Khatib was subject to drug injection while being arrested by Israeli occupation forces (IOF). An injection was found in the area where Khatib was arrested, his uncle said, adding that the injection caused him “a sudden blackout and breathing difficulty”.
In this regard, PPS executive director Abdullah Zaghari said that the injection will be examined at a specialized laboratory to identify the substance used in the injection. According to Zaghari, the incident represents one of the most serious precedents ever committed by the IOF.
Along the same line, Yousef Khatib, 26, was arrested after IOF soldiers broke into his uncle’s house in Beit Jala and destroyed its properties using sniffer dogs and bombs.
In another development, five Palestinian prisoners continue their hunger strike in Israeli prisons. The detainees said they would continue their strike until their demands were met, Al-Ahrar Center reported.
Fouad Khuffash, the director of Ahrar Center, identified the five hunger strikers namely Aymen Etbish, 32, who has been on hunger strike for 35 days now to protest his administrative detention and 24-year-old Amir Shammas’s hunger strike has by now reached its 83rd day, leading to a deteriorating physical condition. The list also includes Ahmed Al-Khatib, 30, Daoud Hamdane, 33, and Salah Salaht, 37, who have been without food for three consecutive days.
Khuffash further corroborated the existence of several prisoners who are threatening to go on hunger strike and have already refused their meals because of the frequent violations against them in Israeli prisons.
Prisoner Club reveals injection of prisoner when arrested
The Palestinian Prisoner Club Society(PCS) discovered that the Israeli occupation Forces(IOF) injected Palestinian prisoner, Yousef al-Khatib with a morphine when he was arrested. Prisoner's uncle declared that they found a medical injection shot in the place of arrest. He added that Yousef suffered syncope and breathed fast and got violent blueness.
"We are sure that he was exposed to poisonous spray on his face. However, finding the shot assured that Yousef was subjected to injection and transferred on a brace with blood in his eyes," he said.
Abdullah al-Zaghari, the executive director of PCS, assured that the shot will be introduced to an international criminal investigation to define the material used against the prisoner, considering that it is too violent.
It is knownthat Yousef al-Khatib was arrested when IOF broke into his uncle's homein Bayt-Jala on Wednesday at dawn , deploying sniffers and massive bombs. Khalid al-Khatib's home was totally demolished.
In this regard, PPS executive director Abdullah Zaghari said that the injection will be examined at a specialized laboratory to identify the substance used in the injection. According to Zaghari, the incident represents one of the most serious precedents ever committed by the IOF.
Along the same line, Yousef Khatib, 26, was arrested after IOF soldiers broke into his uncle’s house in Beit Jala and destroyed its properties using sniffer dogs and bombs.
In another development, five Palestinian prisoners continue their hunger strike in Israeli prisons. The detainees said they would continue their strike until their demands were met, Al-Ahrar Center reported.
Fouad Khuffash, the director of Ahrar Center, identified the five hunger strikers namely Aymen Etbish, 32, who has been on hunger strike for 35 days now to protest his administrative detention and 24-year-old Amir Shammas’s hunger strike has by now reached its 83rd day, leading to a deteriorating physical condition. The list also includes Ahmed Al-Khatib, 30, Daoud Hamdane, 33, and Salah Salaht, 37, who have been without food for three consecutive days.
Khuffash further corroborated the existence of several prisoners who are threatening to go on hunger strike and have already refused their meals because of the frequent violations against them in Israeli prisons.
Prisoner Club reveals injection of prisoner when arrested
The Palestinian Prisoner Club Society(PCS) discovered that the Israeli occupation Forces(IOF) injected Palestinian prisoner, Yousef al-Khatib with a morphine when he was arrested. Prisoner's uncle declared that they found a medical injection shot in the place of arrest. He added that Yousef suffered syncope and breathed fast and got violent blueness.
"We are sure that he was exposed to poisonous spray on his face. However, finding the shot assured that Yousef was subjected to injection and transferred on a brace with blood in his eyes," he said.
Abdullah al-Zaghari, the executive director of PCS, assured that the shot will be introduced to an international criminal investigation to define the material used against the prisoner, considering that it is too violent.
It is knownthat Yousef al-Khatib was arrested when IOF broke into his uncle's homein Bayt-Jala on Wednesday at dawn , deploying sniffers and massive bombs. Khalid al-Khatib's home was totally demolished.
Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) arrested on Wednesday four Palestinians including a child from occupied Jerusalem, Wadi al-Hilweh Information Center reported no Thursday. Meanwhile, an Israeli court has sentenced the Jerusalemite citizen Fadi Jubeh to two months imprisonment for allegedly attacking an Israeli policeman after preventing his access to al-Aqsa Mosque three years ago.
The court threatened to extend Jubeh's sentence for four months in case he would not surrender himself, his lawyer explained.
Fadi Jubeh is a brother of two detainees who were arrested a year ago for affiliation with Hamas movement.
The court threatened to extend Jubeh's sentence for four months in case he would not surrender himself, his lawyer explained.
Fadi Jubeh is a brother of two detainees who were arrested a year ago for affiliation with Hamas movement.
Israeli forces on Wednesday arrested a Palestinian for illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition in al-Ram village north of Jerusalem, residents said.
The man was searched while at a shop in the village, and the gun was found in his possession, residents of the village said.
The man was searched while at a shop in the village, and the gun was found in his possession, residents of the village said.
A citizen from Nablus was shot Wednesday evening by the guard of an Israeli settlement south of Nablus city in the Northern West Bank.
SAFA News Agency reported quoting eye-witnesses that the guard opened fire on a group of farmers working in their land. Mohamed Jazi, 35, was seriously injured and carried to a hospital in Nazareth by an Israeli ambulance.
According to SAFA News Agency, the citizens were physically assaulted by the guard before being shot.
The agency further reported that dozens of Israeli army patrols and troops were dispatched to the area and blocked the road between Ramallah and Nablus. The soldiers arrested three youths who were present with the injured citizen for investigation.
Eye-witnesses reported that the shooting incident occurred 1500 meters away from the settlement, which belies the occupation’s claim that the young men were trying to sneak into the settlement.
SAFA News Agency reported quoting eye-witnesses that the guard opened fire on a group of farmers working in their land. Mohamed Jazi, 35, was seriously injured and carried to a hospital in Nazareth by an Israeli ambulance.
According to SAFA News Agency, the citizens were physically assaulted by the guard before being shot.
The agency further reported that dozens of Israeli army patrols and troops were dispatched to the area and blocked the road between Ramallah and Nablus. The soldiers arrested three youths who were present with the injured citizen for investigation.
Eye-witnesses reported that the shooting incident occurred 1500 meters away from the settlement, which belies the occupation’s claim that the young men were trying to sneak into the settlement.
The mother of Palestinian prisoner Omar Massoud, who has been held by Israel since 1993, displays a picture of him ahead of his release, at his family's house in Gaza City
By Ahmad Melhem
While Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas presses Israel to release the final batch of long-term Palestinian prisoners, thousands others are languishing in Israeli jails, and their plight unheard by the main Palestinian factions.
Nahed al-Aqra, 42, is a Palestinian prisoner in an Israeli occupation jail who lost both legs. Every Tuesday, his mother, Umm Mazen, participates in a weekly sit-in in front of the Red Cross headquarters in the city of al-Bireh in the center of the West Bank. A handful of officials and parents of detainees also take part in these sit-ins.
Despite the public, factional and organizational absence from the events in support of the detainees, Umm Mazen does not tire of holding a picture of her son sitting in a wheelchair at the weekly sit-in.
According to an unpublished report prepared by the Palestinian Prisoners Club, a copy of which was obtained by Al-Monitor, the number of detainees in Israeli prisons reached over 5,000 in early 2014. Three detainees have been on an open hunger strike for about two months now, while four others are in solitary confinement. Despite this, public support events remain mostly “weak and inefficient.”
Al-Monitor spoke by phone to former detainee Khodr Adnan, who is considered the instigator of hunger strikes in Israeli prisons after having gone without food for 66 days at the end of 2011. “The weakness of the public support movement is due to factional, partisan and political disputes and conflicts, in addition to the Palestinian Authority’s bureaucratic approach,” Adnan said.
Adnan, who has led several public events in support of the detainees, added: “The scenario involving detainees going on hunger strike in the occupation’s prisons, which always ends with success, has weakened the interaction and motivation of some people. They were not aware that a detainee could die any moment.”
“Any Palestinian organization can excite the public, but the [hunger] strikers do not fall in the same category. We no longer see some of them as Palestinians, while they achieve things without public support and in the absence of official media coverage,” he added.
Palestinian factions are completely absent when it comes to organizing events in support of the detainees. Their participation is usually restricted to important occasions such as Palestinian Prisoners Day, which takes place yearly on April 17.
Khalida Jarrar, a member of the Legislative Council and the political bureau of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), told Al-Monitor that political parties do not play a significant role in supporting the detainees.
“The political distress in the Palestinian street affects the popularity of events in support of the detainees. The status quo has created a feeling that the events are just a routine measure and have not resulted in the release of detainees,” she added.
“However, the issue of detainees unites the Palestinian people, despite their different political affiliations. The political divisions have not affected this issue because the detainees are united inside the prisons,” she noted.
Holmi al-Araj, head of the Center for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights, told Al-Monitor that popular unity with regard to the actions supporting the detainees “has ups and downs depending on the situation inside the prisons.”
According to Araj, the weak public support for issues concerning detainees stems from “national concern, the multitude of issues preoccupying Palestinian citizens as well as the economic conditions, political division and the bad internal situation, which all resulted in a feeling of distrust among Palestinians with regard to the daily performance [of the government].”
Araj added that the division gave rise to discord and a lack of national unity in the efforts to support the detainees, despite the latter’s presence in the mind and soul of the Palestinian people.
The lack of popular support of the activities concerning the detainees is added to the staggering or limited coverage of the Palestinian media.
The spokeswoman of the Palestinian Prisoners Club, Amani Sarahne — who's considered by the Palestinian media to be a main source of information on detainees — explained to Al-Monitor the lackluster coverage of detainees by the Palestinian media. “While all Palestinian media outlets provide an acceptable level of coverage of the detainees' cause, this is only because of pleas by human rights institutions that follow this national cause closely,” she said.
“Usually, [these outlets] merely report the news. Comments on the information are immediate but fade away soon, and disappear as if no harm was done [to the prisoners], even though it is a cause that concerns each Palestinian. The whole of Palestinian society is held in prison,” she added.
Sarahne called for a serious strategic media plan that would strive to carry the detainees’ voice to international ears. Coverage should not be limited to the local media and more light must be shed on the violations of prisoners’ rights, since they are the source of many humanitarian stories that have so far been transmitted without much professionalism.
About 1,000 detainees suffer from various illnesses, including 160 who suffer from chronic diseases caused by delays in diagnosis and failure to provide appropriate treatment, according to the report prepared by the Palestinian Prisoners Club.
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), an organization that closely follows the health conditions of detainees inside Israeli prisons, told Al-Monitor that it received about 300 to 400 medical records of detainees. ِAccording to these records, detainees suffer from various illnesses, from simple malaise to chronic diseases that require complex treatments.
Mahmoud Mahamid, a PHR board member, told Al-Monitor that “many factors affect the health conditions of the detainees, both on physical and psychological levels.” These factors include assaults at the moment of arrest or inside the detention center, torture policies adopted by soldiers and wardens, in addition to solitary confinement policies and harsh conditions related to hygiene, heating and ventilation, according to Mahamid.
Mahamid said that the detainees also suffer from poor treatment and incompetence of the medical staff, who adopt security and political standards rather than professional and international ones. In addition, they suffer from systematic delays in providing the appropriate treatment and neglect periodic medical examinations, and the late diagnosis of chronic diseases such as cancer led to the death of a number of detainees, as was proven in the case of martyr Maysara Abu Hamdiyeh.
PHR believes that the proposed law regarding force-feeding prisoners who are on hunger strike and dispensing treatment against the prisoners' will contradicts the patients’ rights. It aims at using force to demoralize the Palestinian detainees who go on hunger strike and to end their protest. Such actions are usually carried out by the state or its delegates without the protester’s permission and despite his objection, to undermine his independence, in a blatant violation of the principles of the United Nations' Convention against Torture (CAT).
It's worth mentioning that PHR had lodged a protest against the bill last February, by means of a letter addressed to the legal counselor of the Israeli government, according to Mahamid.
Detainees have long complained about the small number of popular solidarity events in support of them, and they have sent messages from within prisons about this weakness and its impact on their struggle.
The lack of popular and institutional support constrains the prisoners’ movement, as there is little pressure exerted on occupation authorities to provide them their rights.
By Ahmad Melhem
While Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas presses Israel to release the final batch of long-term Palestinian prisoners, thousands others are languishing in Israeli jails, and their plight unheard by the main Palestinian factions.
Nahed al-Aqra, 42, is a Palestinian prisoner in an Israeli occupation jail who lost both legs. Every Tuesday, his mother, Umm Mazen, participates in a weekly sit-in in front of the Red Cross headquarters in the city of al-Bireh in the center of the West Bank. A handful of officials and parents of detainees also take part in these sit-ins.
Despite the public, factional and organizational absence from the events in support of the detainees, Umm Mazen does not tire of holding a picture of her son sitting in a wheelchair at the weekly sit-in.
According to an unpublished report prepared by the Palestinian Prisoners Club, a copy of which was obtained by Al-Monitor, the number of detainees in Israeli prisons reached over 5,000 in early 2014. Three detainees have been on an open hunger strike for about two months now, while four others are in solitary confinement. Despite this, public support events remain mostly “weak and inefficient.”
Al-Monitor spoke by phone to former detainee Khodr Adnan, who is considered the instigator of hunger strikes in Israeli prisons after having gone without food for 66 days at the end of 2011. “The weakness of the public support movement is due to factional, partisan and political disputes and conflicts, in addition to the Palestinian Authority’s bureaucratic approach,” Adnan said.
Adnan, who has led several public events in support of the detainees, added: “The scenario involving detainees going on hunger strike in the occupation’s prisons, which always ends with success, has weakened the interaction and motivation of some people. They were not aware that a detainee could die any moment.”
“Any Palestinian organization can excite the public, but the [hunger] strikers do not fall in the same category. We no longer see some of them as Palestinians, while they achieve things without public support and in the absence of official media coverage,” he added.
Palestinian factions are completely absent when it comes to organizing events in support of the detainees. Their participation is usually restricted to important occasions such as Palestinian Prisoners Day, which takes place yearly on April 17.
Khalida Jarrar, a member of the Legislative Council and the political bureau of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), told Al-Monitor that political parties do not play a significant role in supporting the detainees.
“The political distress in the Palestinian street affects the popularity of events in support of the detainees. The status quo has created a feeling that the events are just a routine measure and have not resulted in the release of detainees,” she added.
“However, the issue of detainees unites the Palestinian people, despite their different political affiliations. The political divisions have not affected this issue because the detainees are united inside the prisons,” she noted.
Holmi al-Araj, head of the Center for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights, told Al-Monitor that popular unity with regard to the actions supporting the detainees “has ups and downs depending on the situation inside the prisons.”
According to Araj, the weak public support for issues concerning detainees stems from “national concern, the multitude of issues preoccupying Palestinian citizens as well as the economic conditions, political division and the bad internal situation, which all resulted in a feeling of distrust among Palestinians with regard to the daily performance [of the government].”
Araj added that the division gave rise to discord and a lack of national unity in the efforts to support the detainees, despite the latter’s presence in the mind and soul of the Palestinian people.
The lack of popular support of the activities concerning the detainees is added to the staggering or limited coverage of the Palestinian media.
The spokeswoman of the Palestinian Prisoners Club, Amani Sarahne — who's considered by the Palestinian media to be a main source of information on detainees — explained to Al-Monitor the lackluster coverage of detainees by the Palestinian media. “While all Palestinian media outlets provide an acceptable level of coverage of the detainees' cause, this is only because of pleas by human rights institutions that follow this national cause closely,” she said.
“Usually, [these outlets] merely report the news. Comments on the information are immediate but fade away soon, and disappear as if no harm was done [to the prisoners], even though it is a cause that concerns each Palestinian. The whole of Palestinian society is held in prison,” she added.
Sarahne called for a serious strategic media plan that would strive to carry the detainees’ voice to international ears. Coverage should not be limited to the local media and more light must be shed on the violations of prisoners’ rights, since they are the source of many humanitarian stories that have so far been transmitted without much professionalism.
About 1,000 detainees suffer from various illnesses, including 160 who suffer from chronic diseases caused by delays in diagnosis and failure to provide appropriate treatment, according to the report prepared by the Palestinian Prisoners Club.
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), an organization that closely follows the health conditions of detainees inside Israeli prisons, told Al-Monitor that it received about 300 to 400 medical records of detainees. ِAccording to these records, detainees suffer from various illnesses, from simple malaise to chronic diseases that require complex treatments.
Mahmoud Mahamid, a PHR board member, told Al-Monitor that “many factors affect the health conditions of the detainees, both on physical and psychological levels.” These factors include assaults at the moment of arrest or inside the detention center, torture policies adopted by soldiers and wardens, in addition to solitary confinement policies and harsh conditions related to hygiene, heating and ventilation, according to Mahamid.
Mahamid said that the detainees also suffer from poor treatment and incompetence of the medical staff, who adopt security and political standards rather than professional and international ones. In addition, they suffer from systematic delays in providing the appropriate treatment and neglect periodic medical examinations, and the late diagnosis of chronic diseases such as cancer led to the death of a number of detainees, as was proven in the case of martyr Maysara Abu Hamdiyeh.
PHR believes that the proposed law regarding force-feeding prisoners who are on hunger strike and dispensing treatment against the prisoners' will contradicts the patients’ rights. It aims at using force to demoralize the Palestinian detainees who go on hunger strike and to end their protest. Such actions are usually carried out by the state or its delegates without the protester’s permission and despite his objection, to undermine his independence, in a blatant violation of the principles of the United Nations' Convention against Torture (CAT).
It's worth mentioning that PHR had lodged a protest against the bill last February, by means of a letter addressed to the legal counselor of the Israeli government, according to Mahamid.
Detainees have long complained about the small number of popular solidarity events in support of them, and they have sent messages from within prisons about this weakness and its impact on their struggle.
The lack of popular and institutional support constrains the prisoners’ movement, as there is little pressure exerted on occupation authorities to provide them their rights.
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) arrested Thursday morning two Palestinian citizens after raiding several towns, north of the West Bank. Occupation said that it arrested a Palestinian in Azzun town near Qalqilya, north of WB, and another one in Halhoul town, north of Hebron.
Security sources in Hebron said that Israeli military forces with vehicles stormed Hebron and roamed the streets, while other Israeli patrols stormed Beit Kahil town, north of Hebron.
The IOF stormed Yamoun town, west of Jenin, scoured the towns of Romana and Zabobah and erected checkpoints at the entrances.
Locals said that the IOF stationed in the vicinity of al-Arqam Mosque. The forces raided al-Zahra cemetery and set ambushes in the town.
The sources pointed out that the IOF stormed the towns of Romana and Zabobah, west of Jenin, and ransacked several houses on the outskirts of the towns near the Apartheid Wall, no arrests reported.
The IOF erected in the early morning a checkpoint at Jenin-Haifa road near the entrance of the two towns and stopped Palestinian vehicles, the sources added.
Security sources in Hebron said that Israeli military forces with vehicles stormed Hebron and roamed the streets, while other Israeli patrols stormed Beit Kahil town, north of Hebron.
The IOF stormed Yamoun town, west of Jenin, scoured the towns of Romana and Zabobah and erected checkpoints at the entrances.
Locals said that the IOF stationed in the vicinity of al-Arqam Mosque. The forces raided al-Zahra cemetery and set ambushes in the town.
The sources pointed out that the IOF stormed the towns of Romana and Zabobah, west of Jenin, and ransacked several houses on the outskirts of the towns near the Apartheid Wall, no arrests reported.
The IOF erected in the early morning a checkpoint at Jenin-Haifa road near the entrance of the two towns and stopped Palestinian vehicles, the sources added.
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) arrested Thursday morning three Palestinian youths from various areas inthe West Bank, after raiding their houses. Locals said the IOF stormedAzzun town, east of Qalqilyaprovince, and arrested Bajes Shbeita, 21.
Witnesses said that the IOF arrested Saed Zomaa’ra from Halhoul town, north of Hebron after ransacking his house, and led him to an unknown destination.
The IOF arrested a young Palestinian man who was selling donuts at al-Hamracheckpoint in Jenin, Locals added.
The forces arrested Wednesday three other Palestinian youths near Sawiya village in Nablus.
Moreover, The IOF arrested three Palestinian citizens, one of whom was transferred by ambulance without verifying if he was injured by bullets or beat by IOF soldiers.
Witnesses said that the IOF arrested Saed Zomaa’ra from Halhoul town, north of Hebron after ransacking his house, and led him to an unknown destination.
The IOF arrested a young Palestinian man who was selling donuts at al-Hamracheckpoint in Jenin, Locals added.
The forces arrested Wednesday three other Palestinian youths near Sawiya village in Nablus.
Moreover, The IOF arrested three Palestinian citizens, one of whom was transferred by ambulance without verifying if he was injured by bullets or beat by IOF soldiers.
For the second night in a row, dozens of Israeli soldiers invaded the village of Bil’in, near the central West Bank, city of Ramallah, broke into and searched dozens of homes.
Local sources in Bil’in have reported that the soldiers invaded the village, approximately at 2 after midnight, and started massive and violent searches of homes.
The Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Bil’in said five groups of soldiers invaded the village, and that each group contained around twelve soldiers.
The soldiers then violently broke into dozens of homes and searched them, causing panic attacks among the residents, especially the children.
The invasion came only one day after a similar invasion carried out by the soldiers against the village.
Bil’in village is known for its ongoing and creative nonviolent resistance against Israel’s illegal Annexation Wall, and its illegitimate settlements. The village is subject to frequent Israeli assaults.
Earlier on Thursday at dawn, dozens of soldiers invaded the Azzoun town, east of Qalqilia, in the northern part of the occupied West Bank, and kidnapped one Palestinian.
Local sources said the army kidnapped Bajes Nidal Shbeita, 21, after violently searching his family’s home, causing property damage. The soldiers withdrew from the village later on taking Shbeita to an unknown destination.
On Wednesday at dawn, soldiers invaded the Sahl area, in Beit Jala, near the West Bank city of Bethlehem, and kidnapped one Palestinian after detonating the main door of his home.
The kidnapped has been identified as Yousef Abdul-Rahman Khatib; a Palestinian child was injured in the Israeli attack, and the explosion caused damage to the family car.
Khatib fainted after the soldiers sprayed a chemical solution in his face, and was moved by the soldiers to an Israeli hospital. He is a former political prisoner from Qalandia, north of occupied Jerusalem.
Local sources in Bil’in have reported that the soldiers invaded the village, approximately at 2 after midnight, and started massive and violent searches of homes.
The Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Bil’in said five groups of soldiers invaded the village, and that each group contained around twelve soldiers.
The soldiers then violently broke into dozens of homes and searched them, causing panic attacks among the residents, especially the children.
The invasion came only one day after a similar invasion carried out by the soldiers against the village.
Bil’in village is known for its ongoing and creative nonviolent resistance against Israel’s illegal Annexation Wall, and its illegitimate settlements. The village is subject to frequent Israeli assaults.
Earlier on Thursday at dawn, dozens of soldiers invaded the Azzoun town, east of Qalqilia, in the northern part of the occupied West Bank, and kidnapped one Palestinian.
Local sources said the army kidnapped Bajes Nidal Shbeita, 21, after violently searching his family’s home, causing property damage. The soldiers withdrew from the village later on taking Shbeita to an unknown destination.
On Wednesday at dawn, soldiers invaded the Sahl area, in Beit Jala, near the West Bank city of Bethlehem, and kidnapped one Palestinian after detonating the main door of his home.
The kidnapped has been identified as Yousef Abdul-Rahman Khatib; a Palestinian child was injured in the Israeli attack, and the explosion caused damage to the family car.
Khatib fainted after the soldiers sprayed a chemical solution in his face, and was moved by the soldiers to an Israeli hospital. He is a former political prisoner from Qalandia, north of occupied Jerusalem.
