Vermonters for a Just Peace in Palestine/Israel
Prisoners Archive - November 2008
Treatment of Prisoners and Detainees by Israel and Others
Prisoners Archive - November 2008
Treatment of Prisoners and Detainees by Israel and Others
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Three hunger-striking former fighters moved to hospital from PA prison Ma’an News Agency 11/30/2008 Nablus – Ma’an – Three former Palestinian fighters have been hospitalized a day after they and ten others began a hunger strike demanding their release from a Palestinian Authority (PA) prison. The hunger-strikers are all members of the Al-Aqsa Brigades, the armed wing of Fatah. They are held in the PA’s Juneid prison near the West Bank city of Nablus as a part of an amnesty agreement with Israel. Under the arrangement, fighters, usually Fatah members, agree to give up their weapons and serve a term in prison exchange for a “pardon” from Israel. These thirteen have not received their pardons after a year in prison and are demanding that Israel resolve their dilemma. Two prisoners were transferred to hospital on Sunday afternoon. A third prisoner, who started the hunger strike one day earlier and suffers from a previous injury, was taken to hospital Sunday evening. Israeli MK suggests Palestinian prisoners be used as human shields to prevent projectile attacks Ma’an News Agency 11/29/2008 Bethlehem – Ma’an – Hamas and Islamic Jihad prisoners in Israel should be used as human shields to protect Israeli targets around Gaza, according to the suggestion of an Israeli Knesset member published in the Hebrew daily newspaper Maariv in Saturday. Member of the Knesset (MK) with the center-right Likud party Gilad Arden was quoted in the paper responding to the reports of eight injured Israeli soldiers after several projectiles were launched from the Gaza Strip. Ma’an has not received any statements from Palestinian factions claiming responsibility for the attacks. According to the Israeli news source Yedioth Ahronoth, however, the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) claimed responsibility for the mortar fire, as well as the Izz Ad-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, which is affiliated with Hamas. Arden told the paper that the Israeli government should transfer Palestinian prisoners. . . Nablus prisoners start hunger strike over term lengths Ma’an News Agency 11/29/2008 Nablus – Ma’an – Thirteen Palestinian prisoners affiliated with the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of the Fatah movement, have begun a hunger strike in response to "foot dragging" on the part of the Israeli army in regard to their sentences, the governor of Nablus told Ma’an. The 13 prisoners were originally apprehended PA security forces and held at the Jneid Prison in the West Bank for their own protection, as they were wanted by Israel and targeted for arrest and even extra-judicial assassination. Several have been behind bars for more than one year. The prisoners who are on hunger strike were identified as: Sameh Al-Asmar, Mohammad Tayseer Melhim, Mohammad Mershed, Husni Al-Salaj, Mohammad Mansur, Haitham Te’mah, Sa’ed Sarisi, Kayed Al-Masri (a 15-year-old boy), Sabri Al-Kurdi, Tareq Suleiman, Mu’taz Teryaqi and Hassen A’rayshah. Ailing Palestinian prisoner shunted between several prisons, aggravating health conditions Ma’an News Agency 11/29/2008 Hebron - Ma’an – The family of 60-year-old Palestinian prisoner Ahmad Al-Qiq said the man, who suffers from health problems, was transferred between Israeli prisons between four and six times in the past weeksA few weeks ago Al-Qiq was transferred to the Negev prison, then again transferred to the Ramlah prison where his medical condition worsened. He may then have been transferred back down to the Negev prison and then a few days ago made the trip to Ofer Prison near the West Bank city of Ramallah. According to his family Al-Qiq was sentenced to four months in prison and despite the existence of several known health conditions, he has been transferred to several prisons during his sentence. After ignoring his health condition for months, Dweik undergoes surgery Palestinian Information Center 11/29/2008 GAZA, (PIC)-- The presidency of the PLC stated that speaker Aziz Dweik, 61, underwent on Friday a surgery in the Israeli Ramla prison hospital after the prison administration ignored his health condition and did not provide him with medical treatment for long months. Dr. Ahmed Bahar, the acting speaker of the PLC, strongly condemned the IOA for continuing to detain Dr. Dweik and maltreating him despite his old age and poor health condition. Dr. Bahar appealed to all Arab and Islamic parliaments, international associations and human rights organizations to intervene for the release of the PLC speaker from Israeli jails in order to receive appropriate medical care. In a new development, confirmed information received by the Hamas Movement said that a serious infectious disease started to spread among Palestinian prisoners in the PA Juneid prison in the West Bank. Israel releases Salfit PLC staffer following 29-month detention Ma’an News Agency 11/29/2008 Nablus/Salfit – Ma’an – Israeli authorities released a Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) chief of staff from the West Bank city of Salfit on Friday following a 29-month prison detention. The 40-year-old legislative aide, Ibrahim Abu Madi, was released at noon on Friday, according to Ma’an’s correspondent in Salfit. Abu Madi was originally detained during an arrest campaign carried out against deputies and other officials affiliated with the Hamas movement. Israeli authorities refused to comment on what criminal suspicious, if any, led to the arrest of the legislative official. [end] Israel releases Tulkarem man after two-year detention Ma’an News Agency 11/29/2008 Tulkarem – Ma’an – Israeli prison services released a Palestinian detainee on Friday evening, Muhammad Tanbouz of the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem, after he completed a two-year sentence. The 20-year-old Tambouz was arrested from his home in the Iktaba neighborhood of Tulkarem on 1 February 2007. He was released on Friday evening from Rimon prison. Muhammad Tambouz is affiliated with the Fatah movement. [end] Female ex-prisoner says Palestinian female captives denied medical treatment Palestinian Information Center 11/28/2008 RAMALLAH, [PIC]-- Palestinian ex-prisoner Kholod Al-Masri, who was released from Israeli jails on Thursday, affirmed that Palestinian female captives in Israeli jails were living in harsh prison conditions and deliberately denied proper medical treatment. Masri, who is a councilor in Nablus municipal council, was speaking to the Palestinian center for defending the prisoners shortly after she was released. "We call on the international community to immediately mobilize to rescue Palestinian female captives in occupation jails as they indeed live in a very miserable condition amidst deliberate medical neglect on the part of the Israeli jailors", she said. She explained that sick Palestinian female captives suffer a lot before they could be allowed to check up; and in spite of that hardship, the jail doctor refuses to render proper medical services to them, and gives them Akamol tranquilizer only regardless of the sickness. Imprisoned PLC speaker undergoes surgery following Israeli delay Ma’an News Agency 11/28/2008 Bethlehem – Ma’an – The imprisoned speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) underwent surgery on Friday despite Israeli delays and "medical negligence," according to the de facto speaker in the Gaza Strip. Dr. Aziz Duweik has been imprisoned for the past 28 months in an Israeli jail even though he has been "long suffering due to medical negligence by the Israeli prison authorities," the de facto PLC office in Gaza said on Friday. According to a statement sent to Ma’an, Duweik underwent surgery inside the Ramla detention facility to remove kidney stones on Friday. Ahmad Bahar, the deputy PLC speaker in Gaza, denounced the continued imprisonment of Duweik and the "harsh treatment by Israeli soldiers there," holding them "fully responsible if something happens to him. " Army: ’Targeted killings comply with Court rulings’ Uri Blau, Ha’aretz 11/27/2008 Human rights activists are considering filing a motion accusing the army of contempt of court following Haaretz’s report yesterday that the Israel Defense Forces have assassinated Palestinians in apparent defiance of High Court of Justice guidelines for such operations. Yoav Leff, spokesperson for the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, said he intends to contact the Attorney General and request that he looks into the report. In a conversation with Brigadier General Yair Naveh, who was the GOC Central Command at the time, he told Haaretz: "Never mind the court’s instruction, I don’t know when the court issued them. "He added he preferred arresting suspects. Brigadier General Avichai Mendelblit, Chief Military Advocate General, reacted to the publication by saying the article - which will appear in full in Haaretz’s weekend supplement - was "annoying and misleading. US National Lawyers Guild Calls for Freedom of Dweik, Sa’adat Palestine Media Center – PMC, Palestine Media Center 11/25/2008 The US National Lawyers Guild called for the freedom of Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian political prisoners held in the jails of the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) on the occasion of the November 25, 2008 meeting of the Israeli military trial against Sa’adat. DPA reported Monday that an IOF trial of the Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), Abdelaziz Dweik, scheduled for Tuesday in the IOF detention center of Ofer west of the West Bank city of Ramallah, was again delayed. Israel currently holds over 11,000 Palestinian men, women and children as political prisoners. Ahmad Sa’adat, the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), has been imprisoned by Israel for over two and one-half years, after being abducted from the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) prison at Jericho on March 14, 2006 during a 10-hour siege by the IOF. PFLP holds rallies in support of jailed leader Sa’dat Ma’an News Agency 11/25/2008 Ramallah – Ma’an – Palestinians across the West Bank and Gaza rallied in support of Ahmad Sa’dat, the jailed leader of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Sa’dat’s deputy, Abd-Ar-Rahim Mallouh addressed a rally in the West Bank city of Ramallah, saying that prisoners in Israeli jails should be viewed as freedom fighters. He said Israel’s maltreatment of prisoners amounts to “state terrorism. ”Sa’dat was locked in a Palestinian Authority (PA) prison in Jericho when Israeli forces seized him in 2006. The PA imprisoned him in 2002, following the PFLP’s assassination of the Israeli tourism minister and right-wing figure Rehavam Ze’evi in 2001. “The Palestinian Authority, resistance factions, organizations and average citizens must stand to protect what prisoners have been imprisoned for and what historic leaders such as [PFLP founder] George Habash,. . . Report: Only 6% of abuse claims against IDF lead to charges Amos Harel, Ha’aretz 11/26/2008 Just 6 percent of the 1,246 investigations opened by the military police regarding offenses against Palestinians and Palestinian property in the territories during the first seven years of the second intifada have led to indictments, according to a report to be released today by the human rights organization Yesh Din. The report, which bases its data on information provided by the military prosecution, also found that although some 2,000 Palestinian civilian noncombatants were killed by Israel Defense Forces fire during that time, according to human rights groups (defense officials say the number is far lower), only five soldiers and officers have been convicted of killing civilians, four of them on negligence charges. A total of 13 have been indicted. "A soldier who hits a bound Palestinian detainee or shoots an unarmed civilian knows the chances he will. . . Israeli army storm Hebron college and arrests eight students Report, Addameer, Electronic Intifada 11/25/2008 On 30 October 2008, at 10:15am, the Israeli army stormed the faculty of the Palestine Technical College in Arroub refugee camp, Hebron and arrested students from some of the classrooms. The students were blindfolded, shackled, and then repeatedly beaten, slapped, and punched all over the body. They were then taken to Gush Etzion military detention center. At 9:00pm two of the boys were released, however, eight of them are still in detention in Ofer Prison. None of the boys are older than 16. Hatem is a teacher at the Palestine Technical College. He was the only teacher present in the playground area at that time. One of the soldiers shouted at him, "Where are the boys that threw stones? "This was in response to an allegation that stones had been thrown at an Israeli civilian car by a person who came from the refugee camp and who had been wearing a black jacket. Jordanians visit relatives in Israeli jails Agence France Presse - AFP, Daily Star 11/26/2008 AMMAN: More than 30 Jordanians left the kingdom for Israel on a rare trip on Tuesday to visit their relatives who are imprisoned in the Jewish state, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said. "A bus left for Israel this morning, carrying 37 people who are relatives of 16 Jordanian prisoners in Israel. They will visit the inmates on a one-day trip," Nassar Habashneh said. The visit, the second in two years and the third since Jordan and Israel signed a peace treaty in 1994, was due to take place on November 18, but it was postponed by Israel for "procedural issues," the ministry has said. In 2006, 37 Jordanians representing 16 families visited their relatives in Israeli jails during a trip organized by the Foreign Ministry. Opposition groups, including the Islamic Action Front, accuse the Jordanian government of "negligence" in its handling of the prisoner issue. Palestinian expert says Israeli torture of Palestinian prisoners is ‘routine’ Ma’an News Agency 11/23/2008 Ramallah – Ma’an – It came as no surprise to Abdun-Nasser Farawna when the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronot published a report about a “top secret” Israeli intelligence document authorizing the use of torture against Palestinian prisoners. Farawna, a former prisoner and an expert in prisoners’ affairs, said torture “began in 1967 as a policy which later got legal coverage and judicial immunity. It aims at destroying Palestinian and Arab prisoners both physically and psychologically. ”To Farawna, Israel’s use of torture is neither secret nor new. Farawna said the legalization of torture in Israel dates back at least to thereport of a government commission headed by Supreme Court President Moshe Landau in 1987. Landau was charged with examining government interrogation techniques. His committee came up with a two-part report. Jailed activist accuses Israeli prison guards of torture Ma’an News Agency 11/23/2008 Bethlehem - Ma’an - An International Solidarity Movement (ISM) activist detained in an Israeli jail condemned Israel on Saturday for conditions that he said qualified as "real torture. " Vittorio Arrigoni accused Israel of treatment "manifestly violating every human and civil right" during his ongoing detainment in an Israel jail in Ramle, calling Israeli actions toward himself and two others "against every international law. " Arrigoni is an ISM activist detained in an Israeli prison since his arrest on a Gaza fishing boat. He apparently gave up on a previously announced hunger strike in exchange for his telephone, according to the activist. "In order to report these regrettable events I had to stop my hunger strike so that I could have back my telephone," he said. In a statement received by Ma’an, Arrigoni wrote that he had spent recent hours "locked in a piggish toilette full of fleas and parasites and without drinking water. Barghouthi: IOA measures against Gaza war crime Palestinian Information Center 11/20/2008 RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- MP Dr. Mustafa Al-Barghouthi has charged that the Israeli occupation authority’s measures against the Gaza Strip, siege and closure of crossings, constituted a war crime and a blatant violation of the international laws and the Geneva Convention. The MP also denounced the Israeli occupation forces’ detention of Palestinian fishermen and foreign activists off the Gaza coast, describing it as "a kidnapping". He said in a press statement on Wednesday that the deteriorating conditions in the Strip herald a humanitarian disaster as the IOA was blocking the entry of fuel, foodstuff and other basic materials into the Strip for more than two weeks. The IOA has turned Gaza into a big prison and is exercising collective punishment against it, Barghouthi said. The lawmaker called for an immediate end to the IOA "crimes" against the Palestinian people and urged the world not to treat Israel as a "state above the law". Five seized at East Jerusalem house demolition protest Ma’an News Agency 11/19/2008 Bethlehem – Ma’an – A Palestinian and four internationals were taken into Israeli police custody at a protest in East Jerusalem on Wednesday, according to a statement. The five were demonstrating against the demolition of a Palestinian family’s home in Sheikh Jarrah, an East Jerusalem neighborhood, where the house was demolished by Israeli forces on 9 November. The home, which belonged to the Al-Kurd family, was built on private Palestinian property, the statement claimed. Later on Wednesday afternoon, all five protestors were released without charges. Aside from the one Palestinian seized by Israeli police forces, two of the jailed protestors are from Denmark, one is British and another is from Sweden. All five were temporarily jailed in the Israeli “Russian Compound” prison in Jerusalem. The family’s house was slated for demolition in order to pave the way for a 26-story. . . Who stole Palestinian prisoners’ money? Ali Waked, YNetNews 11/19/2008 Palestinian Ministry for Prisoner Affairs allots millions of shekels every year for residents held in Israeli prisons. Ynet learns PA has launched investigation into disappearance of inmates’ canteen allowance; senior official arrested - Government corruption - the Palestinian version:The Palestinian Authority has appointed a commission of inquiry into two serious corruption affairs in the Ministry for Prisoner Affairs. A senior ministry official was arrested recently on suspicion of stealing hundreds of thousands of shekels allotted to Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. The inmates, most of whom are jailed in Nafha Prison in the Negev, were meant to use the money to purchase products at the jail’s canteen. Desperate TimesBarak plays hardball with Hamas, wants to limit prisoner visitations / Hanan Greenberg Defense minister proposes. . . Two Palestinian lawmakers sentenced to prison terms Ma’an News Agency 11/19/2008 Hebron –Ma’an – Two Palestinian members of parliament were sentenced to lengthy prison terms and fined by an Israeli military court on Tuesday. Lawmaker Samir Al-Qadi was sentenced to 42 months in prison and a 7,500 shekel fine. Al-Qadi was originally sentenced to just 28 months. Bassem Az-Za’arir was sentenced to 26 months in prison and 9 months probation. Both men are members of Hamas’ Change and Reform Bloc, and are from the West Bank city of Hebron. It is noted that Az-Za’arir and Abd Ar-Razeq were released on bail three months ago. Other lawmakers from Hebron will be sentenced on the 24th, 25th, and 26th of November. Over 40 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council are in prison. Israel rounded up dozens of deputies, including members of Hamas and Fatah, in response to the capture of an Israeli soldier by Palestinian fighters in 2006. Hamas: Egypt detained nine Palestinian patients Ma’an News Agency 11/17/2008 Gaza – Ma’an – Egyptian security forces detailed nine Palestinian patients on Monday who traveled to Cairo for treatment, taking them to an unknown location, Hamas-affiliated media reported. According to Hamas’ Al-Aqsa satellite channel, Egyptian forces arrested the patients during a raid. A Three-year-old girl is reportedly among the detainees. The Egyptian government has denied the incident and says it will open an investigation. The patients all traveled to Egypt from the Gaza Strip. Among the alleged detainees is the brother of a Hamas lawmaker named Mushir Al-Masri who accompanied his 3 year-old daughter to Egypt treatment. The other patient detainees are: Hussam Mahmoud Ar-Ramlawi, Iyad Ali Hassan Salem from Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip. Salem is reportedly paralyzed. Salem’s brother Muhamad Ali Hassan, Muhammad Said Radwan, Nour Khamis Al-Masri. . . Israel releases PLC member with Hamas after 28 months in prison; 46 still detained Ma’an News Agency 11/14/2008 Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israeli army released member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) for the Hamas bloc Mahmoud Musleh in prison on Thursday. Musleh was seized from the West Bank city of Ramallah, where he lived and worked, in the days following the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in June 2006. Musleh was one of 56 PLC members taken from Ramallah at the time; 46 of his colleagues remain in prison. He was released after 28 months of detention. [end] MIDEAST: Palestinian Factions Torture Opponents Cherrie Heywood, Inter Press Service 11/15/2008 RAMALLAH, West Bank, Nov 14(IPS) - Unity talks between the two main Palestinian political factions Hamas and Fatah failed before they even began this week following Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas’s refusal to release 400 Hamas prisoners held in PA jails in the West Bank. Hamas, which controls the Gaza strip, demanded their release as a precondition for attending the talks which were due to take place in Cairo under Egyptian mediation. Last week Hamas released 80 Fatah political prisoners from Gaza’s jails and demanded the PA reciprocate. According to human rights organisations, the bitter political rivals continue to imprison, torture, persecute and abuse their political opponents as the power struggle for supremacy across the Gaza Strip and the West Bank intensifies. These are the two main Palestinian territories. Israel to try troops over Palestinian abuse video Middle East Online 11/14/2008 JERUSALEM - The Israeli army is to try several soldiers suspected of posting a video on YouTube that shows them humiliating a bound and blindfolded Palestininan, a statement said on Friday. The clip posted last week showed soldiers from the crack Golani Brigade forcing a prisoner to repeat degrading remarks in Hebrew while they looked on and laughed. "The inquiry regarding the issue is in its final stages, and it has been found that the event occurred fifteen months ago in the area of the Gaza Strip," the statement from the military said. "Some of the soldiers involved are still in active service. At the end of the inquiry, these soldiers will be charged in a disciplinary trial. "The Israel Defence Force considers this to be a grave incident and a serious infraction, and is treating it as such. Furthermore, the IDF is taking additional action in order to prevent such incidents in the future. IDF to court-martial soldiers filmed humiliating bound Palestinian Haaretz Service, Ha’aretz 11/14/2008 The Israel Defense Forces ruled on Thursday it will court-martial four infantrymen who were filmed verbally abusing a bound and blindfolded Palestinian at what is believed to be a checkpoint in the West Bank, Channel 10 reported. According to the report, IDF chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi ordered an investigation into the incident, tapping GOC Northern Command Gadi Eizencot to oversee the probe. Last week, soldiers from the Golani infantry brigade posted a video on YouTube depicting a blindfolded Palestinian being forced to repeat phrases in Hebrew as the soldiers manning the checkpoint laugh in the background. One of the lines is: "Golani will bring you a log to stick up your ass. " As the detainee repeats the words, the soldiers are heard laughing raucously in the background. Israeli court extends detention of alleged stone-throwing children Ma’an News Agency 11/12/2008 Ramallah – Ma’an – The Israeli military court at Ofer detention center in the West Bank extended the detention of eight Palestinian students until 14 December on Wednesday citing a need for ‘further investigation. ’The court rejected a petition to release these detained students on bail. The students all attend a school in Al-Arroub, in the southern West Bank. The children are accused of throwing stones at Israeli troops. Mahmoud Hassan, an attorney for the Addameer Prisoners’ Support and Human Rights Association, condemned the court’s decision, saying the students will be prevented from continuing their studies. Hassan added that the detention center where the youths are held “lacks the minimum requirements of humanitarian law. ” Two Palestinian women released from Israeli prisons Ma’an News Agency 11/12/2008 Tulkarem – Ma’an – The Israel Prison Service released on Wednesday two Palestinian women prisoners, after both completed two and a half year sentences. Thirty-six-year-old Wadha Fuqaha isfrom Ramallah in the central West Bank ,and 23-year-old Falastin Nakhlah is from Al-Jalazun Refugee Camp near Ramallah. Both women are affiliated with the Islamic Jihad movement. Fuqaha was detained on 22 June 2006. Her husband Yousif served some seven years in Israeli jails, most recently a seven-monthterm beginning in 2005. [end] Youth center worker sentenced to 10 months in prison Ma’an News Agency 11/12/2008 Nablus – Ma’an – The Israeli military court Salem sentenced Mathfar Thuqan on Wednesday an administrator at the Youth Center in Balata Refugee Camp in Nablus to 10 months in prison and a 2,000 shekel fine. Thoqan has two brothers in Israeli prisons, Amir who is serving a life sentence, and Arabi who is sentenced to 18 years. [end] IOF troops demolish house under construction Palestinian Information Center 11/12/2008 RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces at dawn Wednesday demolished the home of Nasser Shalash in Shakaba village, west of Ramallah city, at the pretext of lack of construction permit. Local sources said that the soldiers escorted a number of bulldozers that flattened the house, which was under construction, and leveled a sheep pen. Witnesses said that the soldiers handed demolition notifications to owners of seven houses in the village at the same pretext. In Nablus, IOF soldiers rounded up three members of the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the armed wing of the PFLP, after ambushing them in one of the city’s streets. Eyewitnesses reported that the IOF special forces beat the three after detaining them with their riffle butts. In another development, relatives of the prisoner Alaa Brejiah, 37, appealed to legal and human rights groups to intervene and save his life. Israeli police kidnaps a Palestinian reporter in Jerusalem Saed Bannoura & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center News 11/11/2008 The Israeli police kidnapped on Monday at night Abdul-Baset Al Razim, a Palestinian reporter from Jerusalem after breaking into his home in Abu Dis and searching it. The Police and members of the so-called border-guard units, broke into the house of Al Razim casing excessive damage, confiscated his laptop, several documents, his mobile phone and took him to an Al Maskobiyya prison in Jerusalem. His wife voiced an appeal to local and international human rights groups and the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate to intervene for his release, especially since he suffers from several chronic diseases and needs regular medical checkups. She added that some of the medications her husband is taking cannot be skipped but the police kidnapped him without allowing him to carry any of his medications. Lies abound: Presence of political prisoners affirmed in West Bank and Gaza Ma’an News Agency 11/9/2008 Bethlehem – Ma’an – Human Rights organizations confirmed on Sunday the existence of political prisoners in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Fatah categorically insists they do not have political prisoners and Hamas, though also guilty of the phenomena, said on Saturday that conciliation talks cannot go forward until its West Bank affiliates are released. Hamas withdrew from the long-anticipated Cairo national conciliation talks early Saturday, less than one day before their scheduled start. The party declared it could not take talks seriously while its West Bank activists remained in Palestinian Authority (PA) prisons. According to Hamas, the PA is holding 400 Hamas activists behind bars. According to Fatah there “are no political prisoners” in West Bank prisons. Member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) for Fatah Mohammad Al-Lahham confirmed that. . . European MPs reach blockaded Gaza by sea AFP, YNetNews 11/8/2008 65-foot boat carrying pro-Palestinian activists, European politicians docks in Strip in protest of Israeli sanctions imposed on Hamas. British MP: Even prisoners have rights, rights to have food and medicine and to live in dignity. People here in Gaza don’t have those rights -A boat carrying pro-Palestinian activists and European politicians was allowed to dock in Gaza on Saturday despite a strict Israeli blockade, in the third such voyage in less than three months. The 20-metre (65-foot) "Dignity" arrived in Gaza at 9:30 am after departing from Cyprus on Friday to protest against the Israeli sanctions imposed after the IslamistHamas movement seized the Gaza Strip in June 2007. On board were 11 European politicians, most of them British, and activists of the US-based Free Gaza Movement who last month completed a second successful attempt to reach the Gaza Strip. Political prisoner completely paralysed as a result of torture Palestinian Information Center 11/7/2008 Ramallah, (PIC)-- Palestinian sources in the West Bank said that Amer Ghazal, a political prisoner in one of Abbas’s jails has suffered complete paralysis as a result of the torture he underwent at the jail. The sources, which preferred to remain un-named, said on Friday that Ghazal underwent severe torture, including prolonged periods of (Shabh), which takes several forms; the tying of the feet and hands together behind the body, usually sitting on a low stool and the hanging to a door or a ceiling by the feet of the hands. Ghazal is detained at the notorious Junaid prison in Nablus. This prison has been named by the Palestinian citizens the (Maslakh) which means the abattoir or slaughterhouse. Another political prisoner, Bashir al-Dhaher (42) was reported a few days ago to have gone on an open-ended hunger strike to protest the sever torture he underwent, according to sources. VIDEO - B’Tselem: JAG informs High Court will not amend indictment in shooting of bound Palestinian International Solidarity Movement 11/7/2008 On 4 November 2008, the judge advocate general, Brig. Gen. Avichai Mandelblit, informed the High Court of Justice that, despite the court’s suggestion that the prosecution consider filing more serious charges against Lt. Col. Omri Borberg and Staff Sgt. L. in the case involving the shooting of a bound and blindfolded Palestinian in Ni’lin, he decided to leave the indictment as it is. Attorney Dan Yakir, of the Association for Civil Rights, stated on behalf of the petitioners - the Association for Civil Rights, B’Tselem, the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, and Yesh Din - that, "We regret that, despite the severe criticism voiced by the High Court, the JAG remains firm in his opinion that abuse of a bound Palestinian detainee by a senior officer and shooting him is, at most, unbecoming conduct. The High Court now has the task of determining the appropriate response for such serious acts. ”. Addameer Update: Military judge rejects appeal on continued detention of Salwa Salah and Sara Siureh Addameer Prisoners' Support and Human Rights Association, International Solidarity Movement 11/7/2008 Letter of appeal - Dear Friends, I am writing to inform you that on November 2, 2008 the Military Judge at Ofer Military Court rejected the appeal by Addameer Attorney Mahmoud Hassan to reduce the administrative detention order of Salwa Salah and Sara Siureh. This means that both girls will remain in prison until their current administrative detention order ends on January 3, 2009. It is not certain that both girls will even be released on this date. Administrative detention orders can be renewed indefinitely under Israeli Military Law. Both girls are now in Damoun prison in Israel and are being held with the other Palestinian adult female detainees. They have now spent more than 5 months in Israeli prisons, being held without charge or trial. Background - Salwa and Sara were both arrested from their homes in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on June 5, 2008. VIDEO - IDF troops film themselves humiliating bound Palestinian Haaretz Service, Ha’aretz 11/7/2008 Channel 10 on Thursday released footage taken by Israel Defense Forces soldiers of themselves humiliating a bound and blindfolded Palestinian man at a West Bank checkpoint. The footage shows the Palestinian kneeling and repeating sentences given to him to say by the soldiers, who belong to the Golani infantry brigade. One of the lines is: "Golani will bring you a log to stick up your ass. "As the detainee repeats the words, the soldiers are heard laughing raucously in the background. Later Thursday, the army issued a harsh condemnation of the troops’ actions. "The IDF views this incident gravely and condemns it. Behavior of this kind goes against IDF values and its soldiers’ expected norms of behavior," the IDF Spokesman’s Unit said in a statement it released. Ministry of prisoners: Israel is responsible for kidnapping four women from Gaza Palestinian Information Center 11/6/2008 GAZA, (PIC)-- The ministry of detainees and ex-detainees in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday held the IOA fully responsible for the lives of four Palestinian women who were abducted during the incursion of IOF troops into central Gaza and taken to an unknown destination. In a statement received by the PIC, the ministry reported that Israeli special units backed by air cover encircled on Wednesday morning amid intensive gunfire the house of Al-Humaidi family and forced everyone out before rounding up four women and two men, pointing out that the IOA refuses to admit the kidnapping of the four women. The ministry appealed to Egypt in its capacity as the truce sponsor to urgently intervene to get the four women released. In the same context, the Palestinian center for human rights explained Wednesday that theIsraeli military aggression started on Tuesday at about 0830 pm. Three women abducted during Gaza attack are released; fourth woman in hospital in Israel Ma’an News Agency 11/6/2008 Gaza – Ma’an – Israeli forces have released three Palestinian women who were taken from the Gaza Strip when Israeli troops invaded Maghazi Refugee Camp on Tuesday night, while another was still in an Israeli hospital of the city of Beersheba on Thursday. Released detainees Hanan and Sharihan Hassan Al-Hamidi said they “were interrogated and assaulted for several hours,” during their detention. The family of the fourth woman, Hanin Al-Loh, asked international institutions to secure the release of their daughter, who they said was shot in the back, hand, and leg, duing the Israeli incursion. The released women said Al-Loh was injured and left alone in the street bleeding for an hour before she and the others were abducted by Israeli soldiers. Two men, the husbands of the women detainees, were also abducted during the same raid. Palestinian released from Israeli prison after four years Ma’an News Agency 11/6/2008 Tulkarem – Ma’an – Israel released on Thursday Rasem Aqawi to his home in the West Bank after spending four years at the Negev Prison. Aqawi was received by residents of his hometown, Allar, a village near the city of Tulkarem. Samara said the Palestinian detainees are living in worsening conditions in Israeli jails. He said Israel has banned families of prisoners from giving clothes to their relatives inside the prisons. Rasem called on human rights institutions to intervene assist Palestinians in Israeli jails. [end]  Articles
Gaza: A Human Tragedy under Siege Hany Ramadan – Cairo, Palestine Chronicle 11/27/2008 ’Gaza’s tragedy is one of the most appalling in modern history.’ The Gaza Strip has been living under an Israeli 16-month-old despicable siege, which is now reaching its most harshly shocking pinnacle. In addition to blocking the flow of food, medical supplies, and basic needs, Israel has recently barred the fuel supplies from reaching the impoverished strip. As a result, wide blackouts have reigned over the besieged city of about 1.6 million civilians. The majority of Gazans are now using candles to light up their homes and streets. Several law experts and human rights activists agree that Gaza is now the world’s largest "open-air prison" where civilians are denied their basic human rights. "Israel is atrociously controlling the lives of 1,700,000 civilians in Gaza, which is now the world’s largest open-air prison," Raji Sourani, law expert and director of the Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), told IslamOnline.net. Lack of fuel supplies in Gaza is toughly affecting its hospitals andbringing about death to hospitalized patients of critical health conditions. The Makings of History / Green Leaf in the Bukharan quarter Tom Segev, Ha’aretz 11/13/2008 For some 20 years, maybe even more, I have known a Palestinian housepainter who used to sneak into Jerusalem to look for work. Over the years, much has befallen him. He has been a collaborator of the Shin Bet security service, a heavy drug user and a thief; for about 10 years he was in and out of prison. In the meantime he has turned into a real "mensch," a husband and father. He survives with legal methadone and works, too. He now holds a blue Israeli ID card, given to temporary residents, and lives in a hostel for the homeless in Jerusalem, not far from Mea She’arim and the Bukharan Quarter, where his polling station is located. What excitement! He will soon turn 40, but this week was the first time in his life that he was allowed to participate in an election. He lost his polling information card, of course. What excitement! He will soon turn 40, but this week was the first time in his life that he was allowed to participate in an election. He lost his polling information card, of course. The telephone number where residents can find out the location of their polling station was constantly busy - of course. We sent a fax to the special number reserved for the deaf. An hour or two later someone called and in a booming voice gave us the number and address of his station. A Palestinian refugee’s open letter to Obama Abdelfattah Abusrour writing from Ramallah, occupied West Bank, Electronic Intifada 11/6/2008 Dear President-elect Barack Obama, I would like to congratulate you on this victory, a victory that is not only yours, as you said in your speech, but also for those who believed in you, and who are full of hope for the change you promote and the wish that it comes through you and your efforts to lead your country and the world for a legacy and a heritage that is meaningful, and plant hope in a time of despair. I have been fortunate and blessed in my life. I received a scholarship to continue my studies in France where I stayed nine years. I returned to my occupied country with a PhD because I believed that I could make a change and that I am a change-maker in breaking cultural stereotypes, and could show another image of my people and their beauty and humanity through nonviolent resistance against the ugliness and violence of the Israeli occupation. This was my goal in creating the Al-Rowwad Center with a group of friends, to allow our children to use theatre and the arts for social change and nonviolent means of self-expression to keep them alive, instead of becoming a number on a list of martyrs, or handicapped for the rest of their lives, or perish in prison. Liars Khalid Amayreh, Palestinian Information Center 11/4/2008 Palestinian Authority (PA) officials and spokesmen have been lying through their teeth lately about their increasingly vile treatment of the Palestinian people. These people have been claiming, nearly on a daily basis, that their American-paid and trained forces are not arresting political activists and that only "criminals"ť and "terrorist elements"ť are being hounded and arrested. Well, we who live here in the West Bank, don’t have to be presumptive about what is happening in our neighborhoods, streets, towns and villages these days. We see the daily arrests with our own eyes, we know the detainees, we know their families and their friends. Hence, we don’t even have to compare and contrast various accounts of the disgraceful onslaught by the PA against the Palestinian masses. Things are simply too plain to be controversial. Hence, it is our responsibility as journalists to communicate the truth and facts concerning this unmitigated wave of repression by the Ramallah regime against its perceived political opponents. LinksAdalah Adalah (Justice in Arabic) is the first non-profit, non-sectarian Palestinian-run legal center in Israel. The main goal of Adalah’s work is to achieve equal rights and minority rights protections for Palestinian citizens of Israel. Addameer Prisoners’ Support and Human Rights Organization: Addameer (conscience) is a Palestinian non-governmental, civil institution which focuses on human rights issues. Supports Palestinian prisoners, advocates for rights of political prisoners, works to end torture. Amnesty International Amnesty International (AI) is a worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights. AI’s vision is of a world in which every person enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards. Amnesty International USA Amnesty International (AI) is a worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights. AI’s vision is of a world in which every person enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards. Arab Association for Human Rights - HRA The HRA was founded in 1988 to promote and protect the political, civil, economic, and cultural rights of the Palestinian Arab minority in Israel and to further the domestic implementation of international human rights principles. It is an independent non-governmental organisation registered in Israel. Association for Civil Rights in Israel - ACRI In Hebrew - The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) was founded in 1972 as a non-political and independent body, with the goal of protecting human and civil rights in Israel and in the territories under Israeli control. B’tselem The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories. It endeavors to document and educate the Israeli public and policymakers about human rights violations in the Occupied Territories, combat the phenomenon of denial prevalent among the Israeli public, and help create a human rights culture in Israel. Boycott Israeli Medical Association UK: The Medical Committee for Boycott of the Israeli Medical Association (IMA) will document the systematic torture of Palestinian people by agents of Israel. It will publicise the practice in order to bring world opinion to bear on Israel. And it will challenge the Israeli Medical Association which has repeatedly failed to issue advice to doctors who are involved in any way with torture. Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch is an independent, nongovernmental organization, supported by contributions from private individuals and foundations worldwide. Human Rights Watch is dedicated to protecting the human rights of people around the world. Palestinian Center for Human Rights The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) is an independent legal body based in Gaza City dedicated to protecting human rights, promoting the rule of law, and upholding democratic principles in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Palestinian Prisoners Society The Palestinian Prisoner Society is a social and human institution and its members are prisoners inside prisons and released prisoners. Membership is open to every Palestinian prisoner inside and outside prisons who meets the conditions of membership. Physicians for Human Rights - Israel Physicians for Human Rights - Israel (PHR-Israel) was established in 1988 as a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, dedicated to promoting and protecting the medical human rights of all residents of Israel and the Occupied Territories. Public Committee Against Torture in Israel - PCATI An independent human rights organization founded that monitors the implementation conditions in detention centers and continues the struggle against the use of torture in interrogation in Israel and the Palestinian Authority. United Nations Information System on the Question of Palestine The main collection contains the texts of current and historical United Nations material concerning the question of Palestine and other issues related to the Middle East situation and the search for peace. World Organisation Against Torture OMCT is today the largest international coalition of NGOs fighting against torture,summary executions, forced disappearances and all other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in order to preserve Human Rights. It has at its disposal a network, SOS Torture, consisting of some 240 non-governmental organisations which act as sources of information.
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