A Voice From Palestine
17/04/2010 — reham alhelsi-
While the whole world demands the release of the Zionist soldier Shalit, who was captured by Palestinians while he was on a mission to kill and destroy, the so-called “free world” continues to ignore that the Zionist entity holds a whole nation hostage.
The Palestinian people in occupied Palestine have been held hostage by a brutal military occupation, confined to ghettos build on their own lands.
Some 2.5 Million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are captives in their own homes, towns and villages, with military checkpoints locking them up, controlling and limiting their movement.
1.5 Million Palestinians are held hostages in the open-air prison Gaza, not allowed to leave even for urgently needed medical treatment.
In addition to that, there are over 7000 Palestinians locked up behind bars in Israeli dungeons.
These 7000 Palestinians unite occupied Palestine from the River to the Sea; they unite Jerusalem with Yafa, Jenin with Ara, Hebron with Nazareth, Gaza with Akka. These 7000 Palestinians unite families, unite the pain, unite the hope and unite the struggle for freedom.
Almost every Palestinian family has had at least one family member detained by Israel. Almost every Palestinian family has been abused by Israeli soldiers while visiting their loved ones. Almost every Palestinian family has known the pain of waiting, the fear of what might happen behind bars, the hope for a near release and a safe return home. Every Palestinian family knows the meaning of detention, has felt it directly through its members. Every Palestinian family knows the meaning of freedom, for we pay the highest price for the sake of this freedom, and we love our freedom, we cherish our freedom and we yearn for our freedom and would always fight for it.
Since 1967, Israel detained some 750,000 Palestinians, including 12,000 women and tens of thousands of children. During the First Intifada 116,000 Palestinians were detained. Since the beginning of Al-Aqsa Intifada in 2000, 70,000 Palestinians were detained, including 900 women and 8000 children. On average, 9000 Palestinians are detained yearly, including 700 children.
Alone during the first 3 months of 2010 Israel detained more than 1400 Palestinians, including 90 from Gaza (18 were fishermen and 1 child), 400 from Jerusalem and 7 female detainees. Latest statistics show that there are over 7000 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli detention; including 35 women, 337 children, 257 administrative detainees, 15 MP and 1 minister.
The Israeli Prison Authority (IPA) refuses to recognize the legitimate rights of Palestinian political prisoners and violates these rights on a daily basis. In addition to torture, physical and verbal abuse, repeated attacks and humiliation, Palestinian political prisoners in general suffer from medical negligence and are denied proper nourishment. Cells are daily raided and searched, often at night, and the private property of prisoners is destroyed or confiscated. Family visits are restricted or cancelled and Gaza, Arab and many West Bank prisoners are denied their visitation rights completely. In the last couple of months, families of prisoners on their way to see their children were abused and humiliated at Israeli checkpoints and parents were asked to undergo naked body searches. This forced the families to return without visiting their children.
Political prisoners are further punished by the IPA through being forced to buy their own food and water for extremely high prices from the prison canteen and to pay for the water and electricity they consume through high fines imposed on prisoners for trivial reason such as leaving the bathroom one minute later than decided by the jailor. These sums are withdrawn from the prisoners’ accounts without their knowledge.
Families of prisoners are further collectively punished by Israel: some families have their homes demolished, others have their property destroyed and often parents, siblings and children of prisoners are taken as hostages to pressure prisoners into confessing to things they didn’t do.
Avigdor Lieberman, current Israeli foreign minister, stated on 07.07.2003 in front of the Israeli Knesset in a discussion on Palestinian political prisoners that “It would be better to drown these prisoners in the Dead Sea if possible, since that’s the lowest point in the world.”[1], adding that as transport minister, he would be willing to provide the buses to take the prisoners there.
Since 1967; 198 Palestinian prisoners have been killed by the IOF while in detention; 70 as a result of torture, 71 killed in cold blood after being arrested, 50 as a result of medical negligence and 7 being shot dead inside prisons by the Israeli prison authorities. The latest victim of Israeli detention being Ra’id Mahmoud Ahmad Abu Hammad, 30 years old from Izariyyeh, Jerusalem who was killed on 16.04.2010 due to medical negligence.
On 07.04.2010, Palestinian political prisoners in 10 Israeli jails and 3 military detention facilities started a 24-hour comprehensive hunger strike in protest of the inhumane treatment they get on the hands of the IPA and its use of family visits to blackmail prisoners.
This action is to be repeated on the 17th and 27th of April. As reason for their strike the prisoners gave, among others, the humiliating treatment and the abuse their families endure during visits and the cancellation of family visits for Gaza detainees since 4 years and for many West Bank detainees.
Palestinians have often protested the inhumane conditions in Israeli prisons through general hunger strikes. Previous hunger strikes include the Ramleh strike of 18.02.1969 which lasted 11 days, the Neve Tirza strike of Palestinian female prisoners on 28.04.1070 which lasted 9 days, Asqalan strike on 13.09.1973 which lasted 24 days, and the open-strike in Asqalan on 11.12.1976 which lasted 45 days and was renewed on 24.02.1977 for 20 days, the Nafha strike on 14.07.1980 for 32 days, the Jneid strike in September 1984 for 13 days, the Jneid strike on 25.03.1967 which was extended to all other prisons and lasted 20 days, the Nafha strike on 23.06.1991 for 17 days, the comprehensive strike in all prisons on 27.09.1992 which lasted 15 days, the comprehensive strike on 15.08.2004 which lasted 19 days.
Tzahi Hanegbi, former Israeli ministry for internal security, said in 2004 after Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails declared a hunger strike against the inhumane prison conditions: “They can strike for a day, a month, until death. We will ward off this strike and it will be as if it never happened. He has ordered large, open grills to be set up to barbecue meat and for bread to be baked just outside the prison doors, to torture prisoners with the smells. Prison guards are encouraged to eat all this in front of the fasting prisoners.”[2] He later said: “for all I care, they can starve to death!”[3] The IPA often tries to break up these strikes by force which had lead to the death of some prisoners.
According to various reports, hunger strike martyrs include:
1 Abdel Qader Jabir Ahmad Abu Al-Fahim, from Jabalia RC, Gaza, killed on 11.05.1970 during the Asqalan hunger strike.
2 Rasim Mohammad Halaweh, from Jabalia RC, Gaza, killed on 20.07.1980 during the Nafha hunger strike.
3 Ali Shehadeh Mohammad Al-Ja’fari, from Dheisheh RC, Gaza, killed on 24.07.1980 during the Nafha hunger strike.
4 Anis Mahmoud Douleh, from Qalqilia, killed on 31.08.1980 in Asqalan
5 Ishaq Mousa Al-Maraghah, from Silwan, Jerusalem, killed on 16.11.1983 in Beir Al-Sabi’
6 Hussein As’ad Ubeidat, from Jerusalem, killed on 04.10.1992 during the Asqalan hunger strike.
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One form of punishing Palestinian political prisoners who protest Israeli inhumane treatment is isolation. Solitary confinement is used as a punishment for the slightest thing, to humiliate prisoners and to isolate them from the outside world. According to the “Detainees Centre for Prisoners Studies” there are currently 19 Palestinians prisoners in solitary confinement, including female prisoner Wafa’ Al-Bis from Gaza. Usually isolation orders are extended without reason and prisoners who are placed in isolation remain so for many years and have no access to other prisoners, no contact with the outside world or to news from other prisons.
Prisoner Mu’taz Hijazy is spending his 8th year in isolation and Jamal Abul-Haija, Ahmad Al-Mughraby and Hasan Salameh are currently spending their 5th years in solitary confinement. In isolation, many Palestinian prisoners are subjected to all forms of physical, psychological and emotional suffering. Isolation cells have an area of only 1.8m x 2.7m, including the WC. The cells are damp, badly ventilated with only one small window (causing respiratory diseases) and there is almost no room for movement. Isolated prisoners are deprived of family visitation. Family members, who often make the long and hard trip to the Israeli prisons, are often turned back without being allowed to see their loved ones. Also, those who have family members locked up as well inside Israeli jails are not allowed to see them. For example, Jamal Abul-Haija “is not allowed to see his wife Asma’a Abul- Haija, a former prisoner whose life is withering with cancer. Also, he is not permitted to see his small son and two daughters or to meet any of his three sons who are imprisoned in the occupation jails.”[4] Other punishments include sending the prisoners to the “snooker”, which a very small room (180cm x 150cm). The only facilities in the room are two containers for drinking and washing after urinating. Prisoners locked up in the “snooker” are allowed to go to the toilet only once a day. A number of isolated prisoners are in need of urgent medical treatment but do not receive it. A report of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club mentions:[5]
Hassan Salameh: suffers from an injury in the stomach inflicted upon him on his arrest.
Mohammed Jaber Abdoh: suffers from urinary tract problems.
Mu’taz Hijazy: suffers from the brutal assault on him, because of which he was transferred to the intensive care unit. He has been in solitary confinement for the past 8 years.
Yehya As-Sinwar: in need of medical treatment.
Palestinian political prisoners currently in isolation:
1 Ahmad Sa’dat
2 Yehya As-Sinwar
3 Thabet Merdawi
4 Hasan Salameh
5 Ahmad Al-Mughraby
6 Abdallah Al-Barghouthi
7 Mohammad Jamal An-Natsheh
8 Ibrahim Hamed
9 Mu’taz Hijazi
10 Jamal Abul-Haija
11 Mahmoud Issa
12 Saleh Dar-Musa
13 Hisham Ash-Sharabaty
14 Muhawish Ne’mat
15 Atweh Al-Amour
16 Iyad Abu Hasnah
17 Muhannad Shreim
18 Ahed Ghalmeh
19 Wafa’ Al-bis
According to “the Center for Prison Studies” there are 2000 Palestinian and Arab prisoners with medical problems, 550 of them are in need of surgery. Many prisoners suffer from cancer, heart diseases, high blood pressure, respiratory and kidney diseases, diabetes, severe inflammation, bone and skin diseases, paralysis, vision loss, dental problems and other malignant or chronic diseases. Some suffer from past injuries inflicted upon them by the IOF during their arrest, or by the Israeli prison authority and the Israeli intelligence (Shabak) during interrogation and after it. Many await an inevitable death because of medical negligence, lack of appropriate medical treatment, medications and specialists to treat their cases. Reasons for the deteriorating health conditions among Palestinian prisoners include: torture, overcrowded cells, lack of hygiene in cells, high degree of moisture, dirty mattresses, unhealthy and inedible food.
Today, there are 16 Palestinian prisoners who suffer from cancer, which, according to several reports, is on the rise among Palestinian prisoners inside Israeli jails and among those who have been released. At least 160 Palestinian prisoners suffer from heart, kidney and blood pressure problems, 80 suffer from diabetes, 18 are paralyzed, 2 blind, tens have become handicapped in one body part after being shot at by the IOF just before their arrest and at least 12 suffer from Hemiplegia. In addition to physical suffering, more than 40 Palestinian prisoners suffer from mental and psychological ailments due to the interrogation methods used by the Israeli Shabak and the IPA which include torture. Urgently needed medical treatment is denied and often protests are needed to force a treatment or action. There are no specialists and no doctors for emergencies at night. No special diet is provided for patients who suffer from diabetes, high blood pressure and often food is out-dated and poisonous. Patients who need continuous medication for their chronic disease are often deprived of the medication as punishment.
Palestinian patients are treated either in the so-called prison clinics or are sent to the Ramleh prison “hospital”. Both the “hospital” and the clinics lack basic medical equipment and supplies and are run by military personnel with little to no medical training. They are not allowed to see a specialist or be taken to a special clinic or get treatment in Israeli hospitals. Dany Naveh, former Israeli health minister, gave orders preventing Palestinian prisoners from receiving treatment in health facilities: “let them be treated where they lie … we don’t want these murderers in hospitals.”[6] At least 41 prisoners are constantly hospitalized at the Ramleh prison hospital and at least 28 prisoners are dying in Israeli prisons. Palestinian prisoners who need urgent treatment get interrogated in the so-called prison clinics and are blackmailed into giving information or admitting to things they didn’t commit. According to one report, upon arrest, Palestinian political detainees are first taken to the prison clinic for a medical test to determine their weak points so these might be used by Shabak during interrogations. Patients are transferred in vans to the Ramlah prison “hospital” instead of in ambulances and they are hand and leg cuffed. They are also hand and leg cuffed during the operations which are often conducted without anesthetic. All ailment and diseases, no matter how malignant, are “treated” with pain killers, expired or useless medicines and those who do get operated end up in a worse situation than before the operation. There is also a lack of medical equipment for chronic cases or artificial limbs and a lack of isolation rooms for patients with infectious diseases.
Those who urgently need medical help have often to wait long before receiving the appropriate treatment, i.e. if they are lucky enough to get any treatment at all, and are often left to die a slow and painful death or are treated with mere painkiller and other unknown medicines, no matter how severe the case is, while those who suffer from minor ailments end up with severe problems after they get “treated” at the so-called prison clinics. Examples exist of prisoners who needed urgent surgery but didn’t receive it, and of others who had to wait years before they were finally operated, with the condition of the patients not getting better after the operation, and others who lost their eye-sight, movement in their limbs and caught serious diseases after being “treated”. There are cases of prisoners suffering from diabetes where the deliberate delay in providing the needed medical help had led to the amputation of their limbs. Several registered cases of mass food poisoning inside the prisons strengthen what many prisoners and prisoner organizations say about Palestinian prisoners being used against their will and knowledge as test persons in medical experiments conducted by the Israeli prison authorities. One very disturbing fact is the rise in the number of cancer patients. Many reports mentions prisoners who were healthy before being detained and later developing cancer; some while in detention and other immediately after their release.
A number of prisoners with cancer were only released when their condition became hopeless and the Zionist entity wanted to avoid having the prisoner dying in its jails. Some of these cases include:
Hayel Hussein Abu Zeid: 37 yrs old from the Golan developed Leukemia while in jail and was only released when his condition proved critical and hopeless. Hayel died in hospital on 07.07.05.
Murad Ahmad Abu Aakut: 29 yrs old from Hebron, developed cancer and was release when it reached a critical stage on the condition that he comes back to prison after treatment. Murad died in hospital Jordan on 13.01.07.
Sitan Nimer Al-Wali: 42 yrs old from the Golan, was released in July 2008 as he developed cancer, still being treated.
Faiz Abdel Hadi Zeidat: 48 yrs old from Bani N’em in Hebron, developed cancer in jail and was released on 02.06.2009 to get treatment.
Hamzah Yousif Tarayra: 22 yrs old from Bani N’em in Hebron, developed cancer in jail and was released in August 2009 to get treatment.
A very recent case reported late March 2010 is that of a Palestinian prisoner who first had a mild eye infection but the IPA refused to provide needed medical treatment causing the prisoner to become blind in both eyes. Another case is of Nahid Al-Aqra’ who lost his leg due to injury before his arrest in 2007 and now faces losing his second leg (left) due to untreated infections. Raid Darabieh, 36 years old, from Jabalya RC, was diagnosed with kidney stones and was operated by the Israeli prison authority 4 times in the back and spine after the discovery of a tumor in the spinal cord. All operations failed, leaving Darabieh with open back-wounds and the loss of feeling in his feet, making him a cripple. Anas Shihadeh had an Appendectomy without any anesthetic being used. During the operation his heart stopped beating 3 times. Nur Alasa, 23, suffered from kidney failure and cirrhosis of the liver after being given pills by the Israeli prison authority as treatment for his cold. Ahmad Mustafa An-Najjar from Silwad in Ramallah and Imad Addin Zu’rub from Gaza had several operations that failed. Mohammad Abu Wahdan was tied to the bed in the “hospital” by his hands and legs and was left to die a slow and painful death. Jum’a Muhammad Musa, 66 years old and a father of 8, died on 24.12.2008 in Israeli jails after spending 10 years in the so-called Ramlah prison “hospital”. Musa was given all sorts of medicines causing him only more pain and suffering, and an injection given to him caused paralysis in his left arm and leg.
Since 1967 50 Palestinian prisoners have been killed while in detention as a result of medical negligence. Moreover, hundreds of detainees suffering from chronic diseases died after being released from jails such as Walid Al-Ghoul, Abed Wahab Al-Masri, Talal At-Tahhan, Saleh Dardonah, Ahmad Khadra, Mahmoud Abu Mathkour.
Medical negligence is one systematic policy of the IPA. Another is torture and other forms of physical abuse. 70 Palestinians prisoners have been tortured to death inside Israeli dungeons and interrogation cells. Torture is used systematically against Palestinians in Israeli jails. Israeli laws legalize torture and allow Israeli intelligence services to use “moderate degree of physical pressure”, whatever that is, against Palestinians and Arab prisoners and protect these interrogators from prosecution.
For the use of severe physical pressure, interrogates of Shabak (general security services) have to get the “permission” of their superiors. Torture is not only limited to male adult Palestinian prisoners, females and children are also tortured to extract confessions. The Israeli interrogators use over 80 methods of physical and psychological torture, including severe beating, shackling, depriving the detainees of sleep, burning detainees with cigarettes, removing their nails, shabih, freezing or boiling baths, standing for long hours, sexual harassment. “All of the detainees who are detained exposed to inhuman treatment, fettering hands and legs and covering eyes. 99% of them are beating, 93% are deprived from sleeping, 92% are forced to stand for a long time, 88% are exposed to “shabh” policy and 68% are exposed to stay what-so called fridge for hours and days” … “Concerning Israeli usage of the methods of torture for trade, Amnesty International report entitled the trades of pain stated;” Israel is the most productive state in producing different methods of torture in order to be source for trade such as shackling, chemical substances, tear gas, electro-shock and poisonous drugs.”[7]
Among the over 7000 Palestinian prisoners locked up inside Israeli jails, there are 313 “Veteran Prisoners”. The “Veteran Prisoners” is an expression used by prisoner movements and organizations to refer to Palestinian prisoners who have been locked up in Israelis jails since before the signing of the so-called peace agreement between Israel and the PLO in May 1994. Of these 126 are from the West Bank, 125 from Gaza, 41 from Jerusalem, 20 from Palestinians areas occupied in 1948 and one prisoner from the Golan. There are 115 Palestinian prisoners who have spent more than 20 years inside Israeli jails. These prisoners are called the “Deans of Prisoners” and among them there are 14 “Generals of Patience”, a term given to Palestinian prisoners who have been locked up behind Israeli bars since more than 25 years.
These prisoners are:
1 Na’il Saleh Al Bargouhti, 52 years old, Ramallah, in prison since 04.04.1978 (32 years) and is thus the longest-standing political prisoner in the world.
2 Fakhri (Asfour) Abdallah Al Bargouthi, 55 years old, Ramallah, in prison since 23.06.1978 (31 years, 9 months)
3 Akram Abdel Aziz Mansour, 47 years old, Qalqilya, in prison since 02.08.1979 (30 years, 8 months)
4 Fouad Qasem Arafat Al-Razem, 51 years old, Jerusalem, in prison since 30.01.1981 (29 years, 2 months)
5 Ibrahim Fadel Jaber, 55 years old, Hebron, in prison since 08.01.1982 (28 years, 3 months)
6 Hasan Nimir Ali Salma, 51 years old, Ramallah, in prison since 08.08.1982 (27 years, 8 months)
7 Othman Ali Misleh, 57 years old, Nablus, in prison since 15.10.1982 (27 years, 6 months)
8 Sami Khaled Salameh Younis, 77 years old, from ‘Ara, in prison since 05.01.1983 (27 years, 3 months)
9 Karim Yousif Fadil Younis, 51 years old, from ‘Ara, in prison since 06.01.1983 (27 years, 3 months)
10 Maher Abdel Latif Younis, 52 years old, from ‘Ara, in prison since 20.01.1983 (27 years, 2 months)
11 Salim Ali Ibrahim Al-Kayyal, 56 years old, from Gaza, in prison since 30.05.1983 (26 years, 10 months)
12 Hafith Qundus, 46 years old, from Yafa, in prison since 15.05.1984 (25 years, 11 months)
13 Issa Abed Rabbo, 46 years old, from Dheisheh RC, in prison since 20.10.1984 (25 years, 5 months)
14 Ahmad Farid Shehadeh, from Ramallah, in prison since 16.02.1985 (25 years, 2 months)
Every now and then we are read in newspapers, on websites or watch on TV reports on Gilad Shalit, the Israeli occupation soldier who entered occupied Gaza to kill innocent Palestinians civilians and who has been made a “victim” in American and European media. Some European countries have even granted this occupation soldier honorary citizenship and his parents were flown from country to another to give interviews on the “suffering” of their son and demand his release. One particular report showed a photo of Gilad’s supporters standing near tens of life-size cardboards of the soldier. Palestinians demanding the release of their fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters and children would not need to make hundreds of copies of one prisoner because we have thousands behind bars. The hypocrisy is that while the world demands the release of this one single Israeli occupation soldier, it is silent about the thousands of innocent Palestinian civilians, including women and children who are kidnapped from their homes in the middle of the night, from their schools, from their work place and locked up in Israeli dungeons.
Palestinian political prisoners lost their freedom in the fight for the freedom of Palestine and for our freedom. Their “road of suffering” begins with the minute of their arrest. They are often brutally beaten by the IOF upon arrest, to be then handed over to the Israeli intelligence “Shabak”, who don’t hesitate to use all forms of physical and psychological torture to extract confession. Those who survive the Shabak interrogation are then handed over to the Israeli prison authority, which runs some Nazi-like prison facilities, death cells waiting to engulf Palestinians. Here, Palestinian prisoners are subjected to an inhumane treatment much similar to methods used by the Nazis in Concentration camps, such as conducting medical experiments on powerless prisoners, or neglecting their injuries and ailments leaving them to die an agonizing and slow death, or defining Palestinian prisoners according to their given numbers and not as human beings with names.
Despite all, these Palestinian prisoners fight as one against the injustices inflicted upon them, against the atrocities of their executioners. Their fight is a daily fight; for they have to fight for the food they eat and the water the drink and the air they breathe. They fight for their right to see their families, to get medical treatment, to get decent food fit for human consumption, to sleep at night, to walk and see the sun during the day, to read books and newspapers, to watch television and hear a radio and get legal support. It is a daily fight to survive a prison institution that is run by a terror state that wouldn’t hesitate in shooting at unarmed prisoners who go on hunger strikes in protest of the treatment they receive; A prison institution that wouldn’t hesitate in sending a terminally ill Palestinian prisoner back to his cell with a pill of Acamol; a useless pain killer, and ignore his screams of pain all night long; A prison institution that wouldn’t hesitate to lock up blind and handicapped Palestinian prisoners in isolation cells which are not fit to be used as a pig’s pens; A prison institution that feeds and thrives on the lives of Palestinian children, women, men and elderly.
Almost every single day there are news and reports of nightly raids, of mass arrests, of more suffering inside Israeli jails, of more horrors and new crimes being committed against Palestinian prisoners by the Israeli prison authority. No matter how many times we raise the issue of Palestinian prisoners, we will not do them justice. Those who are locked up behind bars are denied the sight of the green meadows of Palestine and the smell of the Taboon bread. They are denied the sight of their families, the hug of their mothers, the talk with their fathers. They are denied the chance to say goodbye to those family members who die waiting and hoping. They are denied the sight of their children, seeing them grow up, sharing their joy, comforting them. They are denied all this because of their love of Palestine and their fight for freedom, which is a legitimate right.
Every nation has the right to fight for its freedom, for its legitimate rights and for the future of its children. These freedom fighters locked up behind Israeli bars also depend on us to fight for them, to carry their fight to the outside world, to remind the world of their suffering and their sacrifices. It is our word they depend upon, our word to inform those at home and those far away, to mobilize people on their behalf, to uncover the crimes being committed against them behind locked doors, and to keep their issue on the top of our national priorities.
Unfortunately, while some arrests make the headlines, tens of other arrests remain sidelines, numbers added to the list of thousands locked up inside Israeli jails. Regardless of the excuses given, ALL Palestinian prisoners deserve our interest and our work and campaigning for their freedom, and they don’t deserve to be reduced to a single line added to certain petitions whenever we find it appropriate or necessary. And as long as there is still one single Palestinian political prisoner in Israeli jails, it is our duty to talk about them, to write about them and demand their release, every single one of them! It is our duty to mobilize local and international support and efforts for their protection and release. It is our duty to expose the crimes committed against them and the daily violation of their human rights starting with their right to be free. The 7000 Palestinians are our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, children, cousins, they are our families, they are us, every single one of us. Their pain is our pain, their suffering is our suffering, their struggle is our struggle, their captivity is our captivity and their freedom is our freedom. We are their voice and they depend on us to keep their issue alive and not forgotten.
According to latest statistics there are:
Over 7000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails
35 Palestinian women inside Israeli jails
337 Palestinian children inside Israeli jails
15 members of the Palestinian Parliament
19 Palestinian prisoners in isolation cells
257 Palestinian administrative detainees
2000 Palestinian prisoners in need of medical care
16 Palestinian prisoners suffer from cancer
160 Palestinian prisoners suffer from heart, kidney and blood pressure problems
80 Palestinian prisoners suffer from diabetes
12 Palestinian prisoners suffer from Hemiplegia
40 Palestinian prisoners suffer from mental and psychological ailments due to the interrogation methods used by the Israeli Shabak and the Israeli prison authorities, which include torture
198 Palestinian prisoners have been killed by the IOF since 1967: 70 as a result of torture, 71 killed in cold blood after being arrested, 50 as a result of medical negligence and 7 being shot dead inside prisons by the Israeli prison authorities
313 Palestinian “Veteran Prisoners” have been locked up in Israelis jails since before 1994
115 Palestinian “Deans of Prisoners” have spent 20+ years inside Israeli jails
14 Palestinian “Generals of Patience” have spent 25+ years inside Israeli jails
For a list of Palestinian Martyr prisoners please see (http://poppiesofpalestine.wordpress.com/zionist-crimes/prison-martyrs/)
Sources:
http://www.addameer.info/
http://www.dci-pal.or/
http://www.palestinebehindbars.org/
http://www.waed.ps/
http://www.ahrar-pal.info/
http://www.sabiroon.org/
http://www.alasra.ps/
http://www.elasra.ps/
http://ppsmo.org/
[1] http://imeu.net/
[2] http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=3088
[3] http://globalresearch.ca/articles/AVN408A.html
[4] http://www.friendsofhumanity.info/
[5] http://www.ppsmo.org/
[6] ibid.
[7] http://www.waed.ps/en/#
While the whole world demands the release of the Zionist soldier Shalit, who was captured by Palestinians while he was on a mission to kill and destroy, the so-called “free world” continues to ignore that the Zionist entity holds a whole nation hostage.The Palestinian people in occupied Palestine have been held hostage by a brutal military occupation, confined to ghettos build on their own lands.
Some 2.5 Million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are captives in their own homes, towns and villages, with military checkpoints locking them up, controlling and limiting their movement.
1.5 Million Palestinians are held hostages in the open-air prison Gaza, not allowed to leave even for urgently needed medical treatment.
In addition to that, there are over 7000 Palestinians locked up behind bars in Israeli dungeons.
These 7000 Palestinians unite occupied Palestine from the River to the Sea; they unite Jerusalem with Yafa, Jenin with Ara, Hebron with Nazareth, Gaza with Akka. These 7000 Palestinians unite families, unite the pain, unite the hope and unite the struggle for freedom.
Almost every Palestinian family has had at least one family member detained by Israel. Almost every Palestinian family has been abused by Israeli soldiers while visiting their loved ones. Almost every Palestinian family has known the pain of waiting, the fear of what might happen behind bars, the hope for a near release and a safe return home. Every Palestinian family knows the meaning of detention, has felt it directly through its members. Every Palestinian family knows the meaning of freedom, for we pay the highest price for the sake of this freedom, and we love our freedom, we cherish our freedom and we yearn for our freedom and would always fight for it.
Since 1967, Israel detained some 750,000 Palestinians, including 12,000 women and tens of thousands of children. During the First Intifada 116,000 Palestinians were detained. Since the beginning of Al-Aqsa Intifada in 2000, 70,000 Palestinians were detained, including 900 women and 8000 children. On average, 9000 Palestinians are detained yearly, including 700 children.
Alone during the first 3 months of 2010 Israel detained more than 1400 Palestinians, including 90 from Gaza (18 were fishermen and 1 child), 400 from Jerusalem and 7 female detainees. Latest statistics show that there are over 7000 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli detention; including 35 women, 337 children, 257 administrative detainees, 15 MP and 1 minister.
The Israeli Prison Authority (IPA) refuses to recognize the legitimate rights of Palestinian political prisoners and violates these rights on a daily basis. In addition to torture, physical and verbal abuse, repeated attacks and humiliation, Palestinian political prisoners in general suffer from medical negligence and are denied proper nourishment. Cells are daily raided and searched, often at night, and the private property of prisoners is destroyed or confiscated. Family visits are restricted or cancelled and Gaza, Arab and many West Bank prisoners are denied their visitation rights completely. In the last couple of months, families of prisoners on their way to see their children were abused and humiliated at Israeli checkpoints and parents were asked to undergo naked body searches. This forced the families to return without visiting their children.
Political prisoners are further punished by the IPA through being forced to buy their own food and water for extremely high prices from the prison canteen and to pay for the water and electricity they consume through high fines imposed on prisoners for trivial reason such as leaving the bathroom one minute later than decided by the jailor. These sums are withdrawn from the prisoners’ accounts without their knowledge.
Families of prisoners are further collectively punished by Israel: some families have their homes demolished, others have their property destroyed and often parents, siblings and children of prisoners are taken as hostages to pressure prisoners into confessing to things they didn’t do.
Avigdor Lieberman, current Israeli foreign minister, stated on 07.07.2003 in front of the Israeli Knesset in a discussion on Palestinian political prisoners that “It would be better to drown these prisoners in the Dead Sea if possible, since that’s the lowest point in the world.”[1], adding that as transport minister, he would be willing to provide the buses to take the prisoners there.
Since 1967; 198 Palestinian prisoners have been killed by the IOF while in detention; 70 as a result of torture, 71 killed in cold blood after being arrested, 50 as a result of medical negligence and 7 being shot dead inside prisons by the Israeli prison authorities. The latest victim of Israeli detention being Ra’id Mahmoud Ahmad Abu Hammad, 30 years old from Izariyyeh, Jerusalem who was killed on 16.04.2010 due to medical negligence.
On 07.04.2010, Palestinian political prisoners in 10 Israeli jails and 3 military detention facilities started a 24-hour comprehensive hunger strike in protest of the inhumane treatment they get on the hands of the IPA and its use of family visits to blackmail prisoners. This action is to be repeated on the 17th and 27th of April. As reason for their strike the prisoners gave, among others, the humiliating treatment and the abuse their families endure during visits and the cancellation of family visits for Gaza detainees since 4 years and for many West Bank detainees.
Palestinians have often protested the inhumane conditions in Israeli prisons through general hunger strikes. Previous hunger strikes include the Ramleh strike of 18.02.1969 which lasted 11 days, the Neve Tirza strike of Palestinian female prisoners on 28.04.1070 which lasted 9 days, Asqalan strike on 13.09.1973 which lasted 24 days, and the open-strike in Asqalan on 11.12.1976 which lasted 45 days and was renewed on 24.02.1977 for 20 days, the Nafha strike on 14.07.1980 for 32 days, the Jneid strike in September 1984 for 13 days, the Jneid strike on 25.03.1967 which was extended to all other prisons and lasted 20 days, the Nafha strike on 23.06.1991 for 17 days, the comprehensive strike in all prisons on 27.09.1992 which lasted 15 days, the comprehensive strike on 15.08.2004 which lasted 19 days.
Tzahi Hanegbi, former Israeli ministry for internal security, said in 2004 after Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails declared a hunger strike against the inhumane prison conditions: “They can strike for a day, a month, until death. We will ward off this strike and it will be as if it never happened. He has ordered large, open grills to be set up to barbecue meat and for bread to be baked just outside the prison doors, to torture prisoners with the smells. Prison guards are encouraged to eat all this in front of the fasting prisoners.”[2] He later said: “for all I care, they can starve to death!”[3] The IPA often tries to break up these strikes by force which had lead to the death of some prisoners.
According to various reports, hunger strike martyrs include:
1 Abdel Qader Jabir Ahmad Abu Al-Fahim, from Jabalia RC, Gaza, killed on 11.05.1970 during the Asqalan hunger strike.
2 Rasim Mohammad Halaweh, from Jabalia RC, Gaza, killed on 20.07.1980 during the Nafha hunger strike.
3 Ali Shehadeh Mohammad Al-Ja’fari, from Dheisheh RC, Gaza, killed on 24.07.1980 during the Nafha hunger strike.
4 Anis Mahmoud Douleh, from Qalqilia, killed on 31.08.1980 in Asqalan
5 Ishaq Mousa Al-Maraghah, from Silwan, Jerusalem, killed on 16.11.1983 in Beir Al-Sabi’
6 Hussein As’ad Ubeidat, from Jerusalem, killed on 04.10.1992 during the Asqalan hunger strike.
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One form of punishing Palestinian political prisoners who protest Israeli inhumane treatment is isolation. Solitary confinement is used as a punishment for the slightest thing, to humiliate prisoners and to isolate them from the outside world. According to the “Detainees Centre for Prisoners Studies” there are currently 19 Palestinians prisoners in solitary confinement, including female prisoner Wafa’ Al-Bis from Gaza. Usually isolation orders are extended without reason and prisoners who are placed in isolation remain so for many years and have no access to other prisoners, no contact with the outside world or to news from other prisons. Prisoner Mu’taz Hijazy is spending his 8th year in isolation and Jamal Abul-Haija, Ahmad Al-Mughraby and Hasan Salameh are currently spending their 5th years in solitary confinement. In isolation, many Palestinian prisoners are subjected to all forms of physical, psychological and emotional suffering. Isolation cells have an area of only 1.8m x 2.7m, including the WC. The cells are damp, badly ventilated with only one small window (causing respiratory diseases) and there is almost no room for movement. Isolated prisoners are deprived of family visitation. Family members, who often make the long and hard trip to the Israeli prisons, are often turned back without being allowed to see their loved ones. Also, those who have family members locked up as well inside Israeli jails are not allowed to see them. For example, Jamal Abul-Haija “is not allowed to see his wife Asma’a Abul- Haija, a former prisoner whose life is withering with cancer. Also, he is not permitted to see his small son and two daughters or to meet any of his three sons who are imprisoned in the occupation jails.”[4] Other punishments include sending the prisoners to the “snooker”, which a very small room (180cm x 150cm). The only facilities in the room are two containers for drinking and washing after urinating. Prisoners locked up in the “snooker” are allowed to go to the toilet only once a day. A number of isolated prisoners are in need of urgent medical treatment but do not receive it. A report of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club mentions:[5]
Hassan Salameh: suffers from an injury in the stomach inflicted upon him on his arrest.
Mohammed Jaber Abdoh: suffers from urinary tract problems.
Mu’taz Hijazy: suffers from the brutal assault on him, because of which he was transferred to the intensive care unit. He has been in solitary confinement for the past 8 years.
Yehya As-Sinwar: in need of medical treatment.
Palestinian political prisoners currently in isolation:
1 Ahmad Sa’dat
2 Yehya As-Sinwar
3 Thabet Merdawi
4 Hasan Salameh
5 Ahmad Al-Mughraby
6 Abdallah Al-Barghouthi
7 Mohammad Jamal An-Natsheh
8 Ibrahim Hamed
9 Mu’taz Hijazi
10 Jamal Abul-Haija
11 Mahmoud Issa
12 Saleh Dar-Musa
13 Hisham Ash-Sharabaty
14 Muhawish Ne’mat
15 Atweh Al-Amour
16 Iyad Abu Hasnah
17 Muhannad Shreim
18 Ahed Ghalmeh
19 Wafa’ Al-bis
According to “the Center for Prison Studies” there are 2000 Palestinian and Arab prisoners with medical problems, 550 of them are in need of surgery. Many prisoners suffer from cancer, heart diseases, high blood pressure, respiratory and kidney diseases, diabetes, severe inflammation, bone and skin diseases, paralysis, vision loss, dental problems and other malignant or chronic diseases. Some suffer from past injuries inflicted upon them by the IOF during their arrest, or by the Israeli prison authority and the Israeli intelligence (Shabak) during interrogation and after it. Many await an inevitable death because of medical negligence, lack of appropriate medical treatment, medications and specialists to treat their cases. Reasons for the deteriorating health conditions among Palestinian prisoners include: torture, overcrowded cells, lack of hygiene in cells, high degree of moisture, dirty mattresses, unhealthy and inedible food.
Today, there are 16 Palestinian prisoners who suffer from cancer, which, according to several reports, is on the rise among Palestinian prisoners inside Israeli jails and among those who have been released. At least 160 Palestinian prisoners suffer from heart, kidney and blood pressure problems, 80 suffer from diabetes, 18 are paralyzed, 2 blind, tens have become handicapped in one body part after being shot at by the IOF just before their arrest and at least 12 suffer from Hemiplegia. In addition to physical suffering, more than 40 Palestinian prisoners suffer from mental and psychological ailments due to the interrogation methods used by the Israeli Shabak and the IPA which include torture. Urgently needed medical treatment is denied and often protests are needed to force a treatment or action. There are no specialists and no doctors for emergencies at night. No special diet is provided for patients who suffer from diabetes, high blood pressure and often food is out-dated and poisonous. Patients who need continuous medication for their chronic disease are often deprived of the medication as punishment.
Palestinian patients are treated either in the so-called prison clinics or are sent to the Ramleh prison “hospital”. Both the “hospital” and the clinics lack basic medical equipment and supplies and are run by military personnel with little to no medical training. They are not allowed to see a specialist or be taken to a special clinic or get treatment in Israeli hospitals. Dany Naveh, former Israeli health minister, gave orders preventing Palestinian prisoners from receiving treatment in health facilities: “let them be treated where they lie … we don’t want these murderers in hospitals.”[6] At least 41 prisoners are constantly hospitalized at the Ramleh prison hospital and at least 28 prisoners are dying in Israeli prisons. Palestinian prisoners who need urgent treatment get interrogated in the so-called prison clinics and are blackmailed into giving information or admitting to things they didn’t commit. According to one report, upon arrest, Palestinian political detainees are first taken to the prison clinic for a medical test to determine their weak points so these might be used by Shabak during interrogations. Patients are transferred in vans to the Ramlah prison “hospital” instead of in ambulances and they are hand and leg cuffed. They are also hand and leg cuffed during the operations which are often conducted without anesthetic. All ailment and diseases, no matter how malignant, are “treated” with pain killers, expired or useless medicines and those who do get operated end up in a worse situation than before the operation. There is also a lack of medical equipment for chronic cases or artificial limbs and a lack of isolation rooms for patients with infectious diseases.
Those who urgently need medical help have often to wait long before receiving the appropriate treatment, i.e. if they are lucky enough to get any treatment at all, and are often left to die a slow and painful death or are treated with mere painkiller and other unknown medicines, no matter how severe the case is, while those who suffer from minor ailments end up with severe problems after they get “treated” at the so-called prison clinics. Examples exist of prisoners who needed urgent surgery but didn’t receive it, and of others who had to wait years before they were finally operated, with the condition of the patients not getting better after the operation, and others who lost their eye-sight, movement in their limbs and caught serious diseases after being “treated”. There are cases of prisoners suffering from diabetes where the deliberate delay in providing the needed medical help had led to the amputation of their limbs. Several registered cases of mass food poisoning inside the prisons strengthen what many prisoners and prisoner organizations say about Palestinian prisoners being used against their will and knowledge as test persons in medical experiments conducted by the Israeli prison authorities. One very disturbing fact is the rise in the number of cancer patients. Many reports mentions prisoners who were healthy before being detained and later developing cancer; some while in detention and other immediately after their release.
A number of prisoners with cancer were only released when their condition became hopeless and the Zionist entity wanted to avoid having the prisoner dying in its jails. Some of these cases include:
Hayel Hussein Abu Zeid: 37 yrs old from the Golan developed Leukemia while in jail and was only released when his condition proved critical and hopeless. Hayel died in hospital on 07.07.05.
Murad Ahmad Abu Aakut: 29 yrs old from Hebron, developed cancer and was release when it reached a critical stage on the condition that he comes back to prison after treatment. Murad died in hospital Jordan on 13.01.07.
Sitan Nimer Al-Wali: 42 yrs old from the Golan, was released in July 2008 as he developed cancer, still being treated.
Faiz Abdel Hadi Zeidat: 48 yrs old from Bani N’em in Hebron, developed cancer in jail and was released on 02.06.2009 to get treatment.
Hamzah Yousif Tarayra: 22 yrs old from Bani N’em in Hebron, developed cancer in jail and was released in August 2009 to get treatment.
A very recent case reported late March 2010 is that of a Palestinian prisoner who first had a mild eye infection but the IPA refused to provide needed medical treatment causing the prisoner to become blind in both eyes. Another case is of Nahid Al-Aqra’ who lost his leg due to injury before his arrest in 2007 and now faces losing his second leg (left) due to untreated infections. Raid Darabieh, 36 years old, from Jabalya RC, was diagnosed with kidney stones and was operated by the Israeli prison authority 4 times in the back and spine after the discovery of a tumor in the spinal cord. All operations failed, leaving Darabieh with open back-wounds and the loss of feeling in his feet, making him a cripple. Anas Shihadeh had an Appendectomy without any anesthetic being used. During the operation his heart stopped beating 3 times. Nur Alasa, 23, suffered from kidney failure and cirrhosis of the liver after being given pills by the Israeli prison authority as treatment for his cold. Ahmad Mustafa An-Najjar from Silwad in Ramallah and Imad Addin Zu’rub from Gaza had several operations that failed. Mohammad Abu Wahdan was tied to the bed in the “hospital” by his hands and legs and was left to die a slow and painful death. Jum’a Muhammad Musa, 66 years old and a father of 8, died on 24.12.2008 in Israeli jails after spending 10 years in the so-called Ramlah prison “hospital”. Musa was given all sorts of medicines causing him only more pain and suffering, and an injection given to him caused paralysis in his left arm and leg.
Since 1967 50 Palestinian prisoners have been killed while in detention as a result of medical negligence. Moreover, hundreds of detainees suffering from chronic diseases died after being released from jails such as Walid Al-Ghoul, Abed Wahab Al-Masri, Talal At-Tahhan, Saleh Dardonah, Ahmad Khadra, Mahmoud Abu Mathkour.
Medical negligence is one systematic policy of the IPA. Another is torture and other forms of physical abuse. 70 Palestinians prisoners have been tortured to death inside Israeli dungeons and interrogation cells. Torture is used systematically against Palestinians in Israeli jails. Israeli laws legalize torture and allow Israeli intelligence services to use “moderate degree of physical pressure”, whatever that is, against Palestinians and Arab prisoners and protect these interrogators from prosecution. For the use of severe physical pressure, interrogates of Shabak (general security services) have to get the “permission” of their superiors. Torture is not only limited to male adult Palestinian prisoners, females and children are also tortured to extract confessions. The Israeli interrogators use over 80 methods of physical and psychological torture, including severe beating, shackling, depriving the detainees of sleep, burning detainees with cigarettes, removing their nails, shabih, freezing or boiling baths, standing for long hours, sexual harassment. “All of the detainees who are detained exposed to inhuman treatment, fettering hands and legs and covering eyes. 99% of them are beating, 93% are deprived from sleeping, 92% are forced to stand for a long time, 88% are exposed to “shabh” policy and 68% are exposed to stay what-so called fridge for hours and days” … “Concerning Israeli usage of the methods of torture for trade, Amnesty International report entitled the trades of pain stated;” Israel is the most productive state in producing different methods of torture in order to be source for trade such as shackling, chemical substances, tear gas, electro-shock and poisonous drugs.”[7]
These prisoners are:
1 Na’il Saleh Al Bargouhti, 52 years old, Ramallah, in prison since 04.04.1978 (32 years) and is thus the longest-standing political prisoner in the world.
2 Fakhri (Asfour) Abdallah Al Bargouthi, 55 years old, Ramallah, in prison since 23.06.1978 (31 years, 9 months)
3 Akram Abdel Aziz Mansour, 47 years old, Qalqilya, in prison since 02.08.1979 (30 years, 8 months)
4 Fouad Qasem Arafat Al-Razem, 51 years old, Jerusalem, in prison since 30.01.1981 (29 years, 2 months)
5 Ibrahim Fadel Jaber, 55 years old, Hebron, in prison since 08.01.1982 (28 years, 3 months)
6 Hasan Nimir Ali Salma, 51 years old, Ramallah, in prison since 08.08.1982 (27 years, 8 months)
7 Othman Ali Misleh, 57 years old, Nablus, in prison since 15.10.1982 (27 years, 6 months)
8 Sami Khaled Salameh Younis, 77 years old, from ‘Ara, in prison since 05.01.1983 (27 years, 3 months)
9 Karim Yousif Fadil Younis, 51 years old, from ‘Ara, in prison since 06.01.1983 (27 years, 3 months)
10 Maher Abdel Latif Younis, 52 years old, from ‘Ara, in prison since 20.01.1983 (27 years, 2 months)
11 Salim Ali Ibrahim Al-Kayyal, 56 years old, from Gaza, in prison since 30.05.1983 (26 years, 10 months)
12 Hafith Qundus, 46 years old, from Yafa, in prison since 15.05.1984 (25 years, 11 months)
13 Issa Abed Rabbo, 46 years old, from Dheisheh RC, in prison since 20.10.1984 (25 years, 5 months)
14 Ahmad Farid Shehadeh, from Ramallah, in prison since 16.02.1985 (25 years, 2 months)
Every now and then we are read in newspapers, on websites or watch on TV reports on Gilad Shalit, the Israeli occupation soldier who entered occupied Gaza to kill innocent Palestinians civilians and who has been made a “victim” in American and European media. Some European countries have even granted this occupation soldier honorary citizenship and his parents were flown from country to another to give interviews on the “suffering” of their son and demand his release. One particular report showed a photo of Gilad’s supporters standing near tens of life-size cardboards of the soldier. Palestinians demanding the release of their fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters and children would not need to make hundreds of copies of one prisoner because we have thousands behind bars. The hypocrisy is that while the world demands the release of this one single Israeli occupation soldier, it is silent about the thousands of innocent Palestinian civilians, including women and children who are kidnapped from their homes in the middle of the night, from their schools, from their work place and locked up in Israeli dungeons.
Palestinian political prisoners lost their freedom in the fight for the freedom of Palestine and for our freedom. Their “road of suffering” begins with the minute of their arrest. They are often brutally beaten by the IOF upon arrest, to be then handed over to the Israeli intelligence “Shabak”, who don’t hesitate to use all forms of physical and psychological torture to extract confession. Those who survive the Shabak interrogation are then handed over to the Israeli prison authority, which runs some Nazi-like prison facilities, death cells waiting to engulf Palestinians. Here, Palestinian prisoners are subjected to an inhumane treatment much similar to methods used by the Nazis in Concentration camps, such as conducting medical experiments on powerless prisoners, or neglecting their injuries and ailments leaving them to die an agonizing and slow death, or defining Palestinian prisoners according to their given numbers and not as human beings with names.
Despite all, these Palestinian prisoners fight as one against the injustices inflicted upon them, against the atrocities of their executioners. Their fight is a daily fight; for they have to fight for the food they eat and the water the drink and the air they breathe. They fight for their right to see their families, to get medical treatment, to get decent food fit for human consumption, to sleep at night, to walk and see the sun during the day, to read books and newspapers, to watch television and hear a radio and get legal support. It is a daily fight to survive a prison institution that is run by a terror state that wouldn’t hesitate in shooting at unarmed prisoners who go on hunger strikes in protest of the treatment they receive; A prison institution that wouldn’t hesitate in sending a terminally ill Palestinian prisoner back to his cell with a pill of Acamol; a useless pain killer, and ignore his screams of pain all night long; A prison institution that wouldn’t hesitate to lock up blind and handicapped Palestinian prisoners in isolation cells which are not fit to be used as a pig’s pens; A prison institution that feeds and thrives on the lives of Palestinian children, women, men and elderly.
Every nation has the right to fight for its freedom, for its legitimate rights and for the future of its children. These freedom fighters locked up behind Israeli bars also depend on us to fight for them, to carry their fight to the outside world, to remind the world of their suffering and their sacrifices. It is our word they depend upon, our word to inform those at home and those far away, to mobilize people on their behalf, to uncover the crimes being committed against them behind locked doors, and to keep their issue on the top of our national priorities.
Unfortunately, while some arrests make the headlines, tens of other arrests remain sidelines, numbers added to the list of thousands locked up inside Israeli jails. Regardless of the excuses given, ALL Palestinian prisoners deserve our interest and our work and campaigning for their freedom, and they don’t deserve to be reduced to a single line added to certain petitions whenever we find it appropriate or necessary. And as long as there is still one single Palestinian political prisoner in Israeli jails, it is our duty to talk about them, to write about them and demand their release, every single one of them! It is our duty to mobilize local and international support and efforts for their protection and release. It is our duty to expose the crimes committed against them and the daily violation of their human rights starting with their right to be free. The 7000 Palestinians are our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, children, cousins, they are our families, they are us, every single one of us. Their pain is our pain, their suffering is our suffering, their struggle is our struggle, their captivity is our captivity and their freedom is our freedom. We are their voice and they depend on us to keep their issue alive and not forgotten.
According to latest statistics there are:
Over 7000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails
35 Palestinian women inside Israeli jails
337 Palestinian children inside Israeli jails
15 members of the Palestinian Parliament
19 Palestinian prisoners in isolation cells
257 Palestinian administrative detainees
2000 Palestinian prisoners in need of medical care
16 Palestinian prisoners suffer from cancer
160 Palestinian prisoners suffer from heart, kidney and blood pressure problems
80 Palestinian prisoners suffer from diabetes
12 Palestinian prisoners suffer from Hemiplegia
40 Palestinian prisoners suffer from mental and psychological ailments due to the interrogation methods used by the Israeli Shabak and the Israeli prison authorities, which include torture
198 Palestinian prisoners have been killed by the IOF since 1967: 70 as a result of torture, 71 killed in cold blood after being arrested, 50 as a result of medical negligence and 7 being shot dead inside prisons by the Israeli prison authorities
313 Palestinian “Veteran Prisoners” have been locked up in Israelis jails since before 1994
115 Palestinian “Deans of Prisoners” have spent 20+ years inside Israeli jails
14 Palestinian “Generals of Patience” have spent 25+ years inside Israeli jails
For a list of Palestinian Martyr prisoners please see (http://poppiesofpalestine.wordpress.com/zionist-crimes/prison-martyrs/)
Sources:
http://www.addameer.info/
http://www.dci-pal.or/
http://www.palestinebehindbars.org/
http://www.waed.ps/
http://www.ahrar-pal.info/
http://www.sabiroon.org/
http://www.alasra.ps/
http://www.elasra.ps/
http://ppsmo.org/
[2] http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=3088
[3] http://globalresearch.ca/articles/AVN408A.html
[4] http://www.friendsofhumanity.info/
[5] http://www.ppsmo.org/
[6] ibid.
[7] http://www.waed.ps/en/#
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