A third of Palestinian prisoners go on hunger strike - IOF soldiers detain 4 citizens including former minister

A third of Palestinian prisoners go on hunger strike
[ 04/05/2011 - 09:32 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Palestinians held in four Israeli prisons began an open-ended hunger strike on Tuesday.

The prisoner affairs ministry in Gaza has put their number at 2,000, a third of all Palestinians detained in Israeli jails.

They are demanding an end to the prison authority's policy of isolating prisoners and improvements in living conditions.

The strike will gradually escalate, said the ministry's media director Riyadh al-Ashkar. New prisoners will join the strike later because of the effect that will have on pressuring the prison authority to respond to their humanitarian demands.

The Hadarim prison would be the first to join the strike followed by Ofer, bringing the count to more than 2,800 prisoners, Ashkar added. Supportive steps will also be taken at the Negev prison where most of the prisoners are.

Ashkar explained how the strike would progress. The prisoners will go on hunger strike every Saturday and Wednesday in May. The next month, they will boost the number of days fasted to three or four, and more prisons will join them. If the prisons fail to respond to demands, they will declare a comprehensive strike effecting all prisons in the last stage.

Ashkar said the ministry has been frequently and directly contacting prisoners to follow their circumstances. They said Tuesday morning that they have high spirits and are armed with will, determination, and the support of the Palestinians.

IOF soldiers detain 4 citizens including former minister

[ 04/05/2011 - 09:29 AM ]

AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) rounded up four Palestinian citizens in Al-Khalil city and nearby Dora village including former minister of local government Issa Al-Jabari.

Eyewitnesses told the PIC that the IOF soldiers forced their way into the home of Jabari, 51, who was released from occupation jails less than six months ago and took him away.

The soldiers also detained a young man in the city while two others were arrested at a roadblock at the southern entrance to Dora.

In a separate incident, locals reported that IOF soldiers opened fire at a Palestinian car near Samu village, also in Al-Khalil, but the car sped away with no damage or injuries reported.



River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Bahar: Romanin arrest proves Israel in crisis

[ 04/05/2011 - 08:40 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Deputy speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council Ahmed Bahar has emphasized that Israel's policy of repeatedly arresting Palestinian figures ”has failed miserably”, and that attempts to eliminate their political and social action in the West Bank ”have ended without return”.

The statement came Tuesday, a day after Israel abducted Ali Salim Romanin, who represents the West Bank city of Jericho in the PLC. He was released from Israeli prisons just five months and some twenty days back after spending four and a half years in administrative detention without charge or trial.

Bahar suggested that the arrest reflects the depth of Israel's crisis and the extent of confusion that dominates decision-making circles in Israel.

Israel has failed to curb the steady effectiveness and influence of Palestinian lawmakers across the West Bank, despite all the plots devised to remove them from the community, Bahar said.

The senior PLC official condemned world silence over Israel's abuses of Palestinian elected officials, accusing UN agencies and rights groups of ”political hypocrisy”.

A statement by the PLC's Change and Reform bloc, asserted that the Romanin arrest was designed to torpedo Palestinian reconciliation efforts that culminated in the signing of a Hamas-Fatah unity deal on Tuesday in Cairo.

The unity deal means that the PLC would resume operating in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Haneyya calls for ending political arrest, media campaigns

[ 03/05/2011 - 12:20 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Palestinian premier Ismail Haneyya called for closing the file of political detention, stopping all media campaigns and promoting the culture of national harmony between the Palestinians.

Haneyya during his meeting with chief editors of newspapers and director of satellite channels on Monday said his government is ready to respond to the reconciliation agreement and its entitlements.

He noted that the next government is only entitled to prepare for the presidential and legislative elections and work on reconstructing the bombed areas in Gaza and having the blockade lifted.

The premier stressed that the signing of the inter-Palestinian reconciliation agreement should not be the end of the road, but it should be a new stage of concerted efforts and good faith so as to achieve all the Palestinian people's aspirations.

Islamic Jihad: Fatah security keeps arresting our cadres in Tulkarem - Haneyya calls for end to West Bank political arrests as unity deal culminates

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

PA rounds up four Hamas men in West Bank, summons dozens

[ 03/05/2011 - 12:18 PM ]

WEST BANK, (PIC)-- Palestinian Authority security forces rounded up four Hamas men and summoned dozens for questioning including women as Fatah and Hamas politicians near the signing of a national reconciliation deal in Cairo.

PA security chiefs have openly rejected the agreement between parties ruling Palestine and vowed to continue targeting Hamas in the West Bank, as it sees the group as a security threat to the Israelis.

Locals reported Tuesday that preventive security nabbed three of those men in the Askar refugee camp. All of the men have been previously held in the custody of the PA security forces.

The fourth man was taken while responding to a call for questioning by intelligence in the West Bank city of Al-Khalil.

The same day, dozens of Hamas supporters were summoned, including several women, among them the mother of a man detained in Tulkarem.

In a related development, security agencies in Nablus have brought 19 men in Al-Juneid prison to a military tribunal where it was ruled that their trials would be postponed until June 12.

Some of those men have been held prisoner for over five months after a long period of interrogation and torture, according to statements by their relatives.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

IOF soldiers detain six Palestinians

[ 03/05/2011 - 11:08 AM ]

AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) stormed West Bank cities and village at dawn Tuesday and detained six Palestinians for interrogation.

Local sources said that IOF soldiers broke into Nablus and nearby villages and rounded up six youths. In a similar storming operation the soldiers burst into Bethlehem city and its Aida refugee camp and detained two young men.

In Ramallah, soldiers were seen roaming the streets of Nabi Saleh village, after closing its entrance, and clamping a curfew, locals reported.

Hebrew media said that the IOF raised alert in 1948 occupied Palestine and West Bank areas in anticipation of any violent reaction to the killing of Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Families of detainees want their sons free from PA jails

[ 01/05/2011 - 09:51 PM ]

WEST BANK, (PIC)-- Families of Palestinian detainees in PA jails in the West Bank said Sunday that the immediate release of their sons from jails would be the most important indicator and introduction to national reconciliation.

"despite the pains and agonies that still exist in the hearts of hundreds of Palestinian mothers, wives, and children of the political detainees in the PA jails, we welcome the Palestinian reconciliation that would unite our people again and would restore the Palestinian social fabric on the right track", said the committee of the detainees' families in a statement they issued Sunday.

They also confirmed that they have received promises from high-ranking Palestinian leaders that their loved ones would be released soon from jails, warning that any breach of those promises would constitute big blow to the reconciliation efforts.

Moreover, the committee urged media outlets to contribute into halting political detention by exposing any political arrests or summonses, calling for the immediate halt of such abhorred practice once and for all.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Abu Zuhri: Israel to blame for death of shocked Palestinian girl

[ 23/04/2011 - 04:55 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Hamas has held Israel responsible for the death of a Palestinian girl who suffered severe psychological trauma after Israeli soldiers blocked her from touching her father during a jail visit.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in a press statement on Saturday that Israel was to blame for the death of the girl Abeer al-Iskafi after she was psychologically traumatized during a jail visit to her father Yousef al-Iskafi from Al-Khalil.

He called the crime a ”depiction of the inhumane treatment and the policy of deprivation experienced by Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and their families”.

He added that the incident requires increased efforts to promote the prisoners' cause internationally and induce greater pressure on Israel to stop its maltreatment of Palestinian prisoners and ensure their release.

Abeer al-Iskafi, 11, died Thursday night after a long period of sickness that followed severe psychological trauma she sustained after she was prevented from touching her father during a visit while he was held in Israeli custody.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Israeli court imposes house arrest on two Jerusalemite children

Israeli court imposes house arrest on two Jerusalemite children

[ 23/04/2011 - 07:34 AM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli magistrate court in occupied Jerusalem imposed house arrest on two Palestinian minors at the pretext of attacking Jewish settlers' houses.

The court sentenced Ibrahim Siyam, 15, and Yazan Siyam, 16, to one week house arrest in their homes in Silwan town south of the Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem.

It also ordered their families to escort them to and from school for five days after the conclusion of the house arrest.

Local sources said that the children were detained and questioned over the past two days before they appeared in the court hearing on Friday.

Israeli interrogators question Jihad prisoners
Palestinian prisoners suffer amid medical neglect
Palestinian man arrested in Al-Khalil Saturday morning

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Qabaha urges Abbas to release Natsheh from jail

[ 22/04/2011 - 01:59 PM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- Former minister of the prisoners and ex-prisoners Wasfi Qabaha has urged Thursday Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas to immediately release Palestinian businessman Nabil Al-Natsheh from PA jails.

According to Qabaha, the persistent detention of Palestinian leaders and prominent figures in the Palestinian community in PA jails contradicts the allegations of Fatah Movement of being keen on ending the Palestinian internal rift, stressing that Natsheh has an honorable record in serving the Palestinian people.

"Indeed, I expected that Abbas would order the release of all Palestinian political prisoners incarcerated in his jails across the West Bank on the Palestinian Prisoner Day, but sad to say it didn’t happen," Qabaha said in a statement he issued on Thursday.

He said that he passed a message of appeal through Palestinian prominent figure and businessman Munib Al-Masri on two occasion urging him to release Natsheh and other Muslim figures in Al-Khalil city, including Nedal Al-Qawasmi, Anas Rasras, Bilal Al-Muhtaseb, Zain Shabaneh, Anwar Haerb, Mohammed Al-Kharoof and others but to no avail.

Natsheh, according to Qabaha, suffers of neck cancer and that his health was badly deteriorating while in solitary confinement where he lives in extremely harsh conditions, underlining that the bad treatment and humiliation he received at the hands of the PA security forces couldn’t be grasped and imagined by the Palestinian people.

"The fact that the detention of Natsheh persisted despite all those appeals and in spite of his clean record indicates that there was indeed a group that doesn’t want to achieve the Palestinian national reconciliation.

In this regard, Qabaha called for the establishment of a wide and comprehensive national campaign to pressure the PA in Ramallah into releasing all political prisoners from jail, stressing that "chivalry and the principle of supporting the oppressed call on us to do so. "We can't accept the humiliation of the symbols of the Palestinian people at any cost," he stressed.

For their part, families of the kidnapped Palestinian citizens in Abbas’s jails didn’t buy the allegations of Fatah that it was striving hard to end the Palestinian internal rift, underscoring that he who indeed want to achieve national reconciliation shouldn’t arrest and torture his fellow Palestinians just because they oppose him politically.

Palestinian legislator MP Mohammed Abu Juhaisha, for his part, condemned the detention of Natsheh, stressing that Natsheh should be honored not denigrated, calling on high-profile and family leaders in Al-Khalil city to join hands in pressuring the PA into freeing him immediately and unconditionally.

Natsheh, who spent years in Israeli occupation jails and was among the 415 Palestinian leaders deported by the Israeli occupation authorities to south Lebanon in 1992, was kidnapped on December 7, 2010 at the hands of elements of the infamous preventive security apparatus in Al-Khalil city. No charges were tabled against him till now.

• Lawyer Essawi freed along with her two brothers from Israeli jails
• Palestinian captive placed into solitary because he asked to be treated as a POW

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Family committee of W. Bank detainees holds Abbas responsible for life of Natsha

[ 20/04/2011 - 09:55 AM ]

Al-KHALIL, (PIC)-- The family committee of West Bank prisoners held de facto president Mahmoud Abbas and Al-Khalil governor Kamel Khalil fully responsible for the life of senior Hamas official Nabil Al-Natsha who suffers from cancer in the neck.

Natsha is one of the most prominent national figures in Al-Khalil city and one of Marj Azzuhour exiles.

The committee affirmed that Natsha is locked up in a solitary cell and in dire need for ongoing medical care because of his cancer disease.

It said that the Palestinian Authority's preventive security postponed his military trial until next month after it delayed it many times before.

In another context, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) and the PA militias summon Palestinian young men for interrogation on a daily basis.

Mohamed Abdulrahman from Ramallah said the Israeli intelligence summoned him one day before the PA militias detained him and asked him about the questions the Israeli officer asked him during the interrogation.

He added that he saw many young men outside the office of the Israeli intelligence officer and one day later he also saw many others waiting for their turn to be interrogated outside the PA intelligence office.

Human rights organizations document dozens of summonses issued daily and alternately by both the IOF and the PA militias against Palestinian citizens in the occupied Palestinian lands. Some of the summoned citizens are detained after interrogation and some others are blackmailed and pressured before their release.

In another incident, different local sources on Wednesday reported that the PA militias kidnapped four Palestinian citizens thought to be affiliated with Hamas Movement in Al-Khalil, Nablus, and Ramallah cities.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Popular resistance: We will not make do with Shalit

[ 18/04/2011 - 02:13 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- The popular resistance committees said the capture of one Israeli soldier five years ago took the issue of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails a quantum leap forward, but the resistance would not make do with one Israeli detainee.

"Only the Palestinians were active in the issue of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and they commemorate it on the seventeenth of April every year by marking the prisoner day, but when the Palestinian resistance was able to kidnap Shalit, international parties started to deal with this issue and many countries reacted with it after hearing about Shalit and knowing why he was captured," spokesman for the committees Abu Mujahed told Quds Press on Sunday.

Spokesman Abu Mujahed added that the capture of Gilad Shalit exposed the hypocrisy of the international community which moved when one Israeli soldier was taken into custody and ignored more than 7, 000 Palestinian prisoners being humiliated and maltreated in Israeli jails.

The spokesman urged the family of Shalit to pressure the Israeli government to respond to the Palestinian resistance's demands in order to conclude a prisoner swap deal leading to the release of their son.

He also warned the Israeli government of playing with fire or making any follies in order to release Shalit.

In a related context, media practitioners and specialists in prisoners' affairs called on Sunday for necessarily activating the issue of Palestinian prisoners locally and internationally.

This came during a symposium organized by the press and media department at the Islamic university.

The symposium addressed the press and media coverage of prisoners' affairs and the participants highlighted the role of the local and international media outlets in activating this issue.

Hamas Says Schalit Deal Will Only Proceed on “Our Terms”

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Palestinians enraged after suspects accused in Itamar incident

[ 17/04/2011 - 05:33 PM ]

NABLUS, (PIC)-- The Palestinians have rejected claims by Israeli invesigators after two Palestinian youths were accused of being behind the killing of a family of five Israeli settlers in the Itamar settlement southeast of the West Bank city of Nablus on March 11.

The Israeli claim lacks evidence for the accusations, said Qais Awad, the mayor of Awarta village, where the men were arrested and near where the Itamar village lies.

Police had cracked down on the village for longer than a month, arresting hundreds and searching nearly every home, in search of a clue to the killer. Private land was also confiscated and homes were destroyed during the raids.

Awad said the charges were placed to cover up the continued attacks police have made as they have placed the village in turmoil.

He hinted that the possibility remains that the Israeli forces that seized the village could have fabricated evidence and placed it at the crime scene. He called for the formation of a committee to investigate the charges.

A West Bank council head said that more settlements would be built in response to the killings.

The men arrested were identified as Amjad Mohammed Awad, 19, and Hakim Mazen Awad, 18. Police said they operated individually and stabbed the family of Jewish settlers to death. They claimed that six others who aided them to conceal the knives and burn the cloths allegedly used in the incident were arrested.

Meanwhile, the central Israeli court in Nazareth has submitted an indictment against three Palestinian men for planning to carry out an operation against Israeli targets.

The men were alleged to have planned to form a cell in January 2009 that would have carried out operations against Israeli police and soldiers in response to the Israeli massacres earlier that month.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Prisoners go on hunger strike to mark Palestinian Prisoner Day

[ 16/04/2011 - 05:06 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Palestinians held in Israeli prisons have decided to go on hunger strike on Sunday as a warning before going on an open ended hunger strike soon in order to have their demands met for an end to isolation and medical neglect, the Gaza ministry of prisoner affairs said on Saturday.

The ministry called on the Palestinian masses to take to the streets and show solidarity with those prisoners going on hunger strike as they mark Palestinian Prisoner Day in order to draw attention to their cause.

”The prisoner circumstances have reached the worst stage altogether. The prison administration has closed every door in front of them, and there remains nothing for them except to go on an open hunger strike until their legal rights are attained,” the ministry said in a fresh statement.

”The strike will not be successful unless there is a strong, parallel, and simultaneous solidarity campaign, in order to send a clear message to Israel that we will not renounce our prisoners, and we will not leave them easy prey for the Israeli prison system.”

The statement addressed Israel and the family of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured by resistance forces, asserting that the continued detention of Palestinian prisoners would force factions to try and capture more soldiers in order to negotiate the freedom of more Palestinian prisoners.

”If you want to regain your son Shalit, you must pressure your government in order to end its practices against those prisoners and meet the conditions of the factions and release the long time prisoners who have spent more than twenty years in detention.

Without that you will never see Shalit, but rather you will be forced to pay an even greater price should Allah permit that the resistance factions capture more soldiers.”

• Haneyya: Shalit capturers will not fail POW families
• IOF troops detain 845 Palestinians in three months including 105 children

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Abbas’s militia kidnap six Hamas supporters in Nablus and al-Khalil, raid the house of a Hamas leader just released from jail

Abbas’s militia kidnap six Hamas supporters in Nablus and al-Khalil

[ 15/04/2011 - 09:36 PM ]

WEST BANK, (PIC)-- Militias loyal to de facto Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas continued with their campaign against Hamas supports in the West Bank arresting six of them on Friday, according to local sources.

In Nablus the militia kidnapped Haj Darwish Abu Samra (70) from his work place in the city of Nablus, just one day after kidnapping his son Abdul-Samad, who in turn was previously kidnapped and tortured.

The same militia kidnapped Saed Atari from the town of Deir Sharaf, in the Nablus district, after calling him for questioning, and only released him after midnight.

In al-Khalil the militia kidnapped Abdel-Karim Halyqa (58) who is an imam of a mosque at the Shayoukh town, just two weeks after his release from their jails where he spent 8 months in addition to spending 7 months at the General Intelligence HQ in al-Khalil and Jericho.

Mahmoud al-Mashni, a secondary school student and Muhammad al-Warasneh, a former prisoner at occupation jails, were also kidnapped a few days ago.

Abbas’s Militia raid the house of a Hamas leader just released from jail

[ 15/04/2011 - 09:02 PM ]

JENIN, (PIC)-- Elements affiliated with Abbas’s militia on Thursday evening raided the home of Ibrahim Jaber, a Hamas leader from the Jenin refugee camp who has just been released from Israeli occupation jails, and confiscated the green flags that decorated the house in celebration of his release.

Local sources told PIC that three vehicles carrying the PA militia stopped outside the house just before his arrival home and asked the family to remove the green flags which they decorated the house with to celebrate his release after spending three years in Israeli occupation jails.

They also told the family that they were “breaking the law” by raising the green flag which bears the words “There is no god but God and Muhammad is the Messenger of God”, they ordered them to remove those banners and they confiscated them.

Ibarahim Jaber is a Hamas leader who has been detained in Israeli jails more than 13 times and spent in total 12 years in occupation jails, his eldest son Musa’ab was killed in 2002 during the invasion of Jenin refugee camp by the IOF.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Shalit’s father: Netanyahu covers his failure by scaring people of consequences

[ 15/04/2011 - 02:05 PM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- The Israeli radio said today that the father of captured IOF soldier Gilad Shalit stated that the Israeli PM, Benjamin Netanyahu, and those around him are trying to cover for their failure to get his son freed by scaring the Israeli people that a deal with the captors would encourage further “kidnappings” of soldiers.

He added that Netanyahu plays on the common fear of the public when he keeps reminding them of prisoner exchange deal 26 years ago with Ahmad Jebril’s PFLP General Command.
River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Family of cancer patient appeals for releasing him from PA jail

[ 14/04/2011 - 12:44 PM ]

Al-KHALIL, (PIC)-- The family of prisoner Nabil Al-Natsha, detained by the Palestinian authority preventive security, appealed to human rights organizations and the Palestinian leadership to intervene to have him released, especially since he suffers from cancer.

His family said that Natsha has been in isolation cell for four months at the preventive security headquarters and in dire need for continuing medical treatment.

Meanwhile PA militia men from the preventive security kidnapped at dawn Thursday Sheikh Abdulkarim Halayka, 55, from his home in Al-Shyukh village, east of Al-Khalil city.

Earlier on Wednesday, militias from the intelligence apparatus broke into and ransacked the house of Hamas leader and ex-detainee Hasan Al-Wardiyan in Bethlehem city.

Local sources told the Palestinian information center (PIC) that a group of intelligence officers stormed the house of Wardiyan at 10 o'clock in the evening and wreaked havoc inside it.

They said the militias confiscated private documents and CDs, and handed his family a summons for interrogation at the intelligence headquarters in the city.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Change and Reform bloc lashes out at IOA for detaining of MP Badr

[ 14/04/2011 - 12:40 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- The Change and Reform parliamentary bloc has lashed out at the Israeli occupation authority for holding MP Mohammed Badr in administrative detention, describing it as a fresh indication of "Zionist arrogance".

It regretted that the Israeli violation of Palestinian parliamentary immunity was made possible with the help of international silence.

The bloc, in a statement on Thursday, said that the Israeli detention of lawmakers after releasing them from jail was indicative of the "Zionist terrorist and criminal mentality".

An IOA court on Wednesday renewed the administrative detention of MP Hatem Qufaisha after earlier sentencing MP Badr to a similar a six-month-term of administrative detention.

The IOA was renewing its policy, which proved its failure, of attempting to paralyze the Palestinian legislative council, the bloc, affiliated with Hamas said, adding that the step proves the IOA bankruptcy.

The bloc asked all Arab, Islamic, and world parliaments to develop their positions from rejection of such IOA policy into pressures to save the Palestinian lawmakers.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Farwana: 750 thousand Palestinians kidnapped by Israel since 1967

[ 14/04/2011 - 09:10 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Specialist in prisoners' affairs Abdulnaser Farwana said Israel has kidnapped since 1967 about 750,000 Palestinians including 12,000 women and tens of thousands of children.

This came in a report he issued on the Palestinian Prisoners Day which falls on April 17.

Farwana stressed in his report that Israel kidnapped Palestinians across the spectrum without discrimination like, children, elderly men and women, girls, wives, mothers, patients, persons with special needs, academics, lawmakers, ministers and many more.

He added that the kidnapping of Palestinians are a daily event and a well established Israeli occupation practice, affirming that the vast majority of these kidnappings and detentions had nothing to do with security reasons, but they were intended for humiliation and revenge.

The specialist also asserted that all those who were either kidnapped or detained were exposed to some kind of abuse, humiliation or torture inside prisons or in public.

The report gave statistics about the number of Palestinian prisoners still in Israeli jails, saying there are more than 6,000 Palestinians in prison, 820 of them were sentenced to life imprisonment.

Among the prisoners, there are 37 women and 245 children under age 18 other than those who were children when they were kidnapped and now they are adults, according to the report.

There are also 180 prisoners administratively detained without charge or trial, 12 lawmakers and a number of officials. 302 prisoners have been in jail for more than 17 or 20 years.

202 Palestinian prisoners have died or been killed since 1967, 70 of them as a result of torture, 51 died of medical neglect, 74 were assassinated after their release and seven were shot dead inside jails.

In a related context, participants in a political symposium on Palestinian prisoners on Wednesday called for internationalizing the issue of Palestinian prisoners and spare it political differences.

The symposium was organized by Gaza community college of tourism and Al-Huriya media center with the participation of national figures, jurists, and human rights activists.

Farawana, who was one of the prominent participants in this event, denounced the Red Cross for its passivity towards the suffering of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and not moving to end the arbitrary measures taken against them by the prison administrations.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

IOA banishes Palestinian detainee to Malaysia

[ 14/04/2011 - 12:34 PM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) banished Palestinian detainee Maher Odeh to Malaysia rather than return him to his hometown Ein Yabrud in Ramallah.

Odeh was arrested on 14th March last year and after 45 days of cruel interrogation rounds he was held in administrative detention without trial or charge.

The Ahrar center for human rights and prisoners' studies said that Israeli interrogators failed to extract any confession from Odeh and offered him exile on repeated occasions but he refused.

His wife Um Anas told the Ahrar center that the prison manager told her over the phone that her husband was deported to Malaysia on Wednesday evening.

The center denounced the IOA policy of deportation or open prison terms against Palestinians. It appealed to the international organizations and human rights groups to bridle the Israeli violation of the international laws.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

PA prisoners' families call for their release

[ 13/04/2011 - 04:01 PM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- With Palestinian Prisoner Day coming next Sunday, the families of Palestinians held by the Palestinian Authority security agencies in the West Bank have renewed calls for the freedom of their relatives and to turn the pages of the past.

The PA currently holds more than 500 of such men in its prisons as the de facto PA chief Mahmoud Abbas has made fresh calls for a unity government with Hamas.

"Prisoner Day calls for us to turn the pages of the past and open a new page of brotherly ties and to pave the way for reconciliation and an end to the split by releasing those who have been abducted and held as political prisoners," said Mohammed Natshe, whose brother from Al-Khalil is currently held by the PA.

”It is irrational that Prisoner Day events are held and that the day gets special mention in West Bank schools without mentioning the suffering of more than 500 prisoners in the PA who are held on the same charges as the more than 6,000 male and 40 female prisoners in the Israeli prisons,” he said.

Separately, a Palestinian youth movement to end the Palestinian political split has condemned the PA security agencies after they destroyed a sit-in tent the movement set up in the West Bank city of Salfit. The militia men also summoned the activists to conduct investigations.

According to a statement released by the youth movement, the militia men engaged in a number of actions that clearly displayed ”tyranny and suppression of freedoms”. The PA intelligence service also summoned some of those activists for questioning.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian