MIDEAST: Families Cry Out for Palestinian Prisoners

• by Eva Bartlett (gaza city)
• Monday, July 25, 2011
• Inter Press Service

Since 2007, the sit-ins have taken on greater significance: Gaza families want Israel to re-grant them the right — under international humanitarian law — to visit their imprisoned family members. This right was taken from Gaza's families in 2007, after the Israeli tank gunner Gilad Shalit was taken by Palestinian resistance from alongside the Gaza border where he was on active duty.

The sit-ins have grown, with over 200 women and men showing up weekly. On Jul. 11, ICRC and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) helped facilitate a demonstration from the ICRC office to the unknown soldier park, Jundi, to protest the ban on Palestinians from Gaza visiting their imprisoned loved ones.

'We can't send letters, we can't see him, we can't talk to him,' says Umm Ahmed of her 32-year-old son. Ahmed Abu Ghazi was imprisoned four years ago and sentenced to 16 years in Israeli prison.

'Because we have no connection with him, every Monday we go to the Red Cross. But nothing changes. Last week we slept outside the Red Cross, waiting for them to help us talk to our sons and daughters,' Umm Ahmed says.

'While our sons are in prison, their parents might die without seeing them again.'

For Palestinian prisoner Bilal Adyani, from Deir al-Balah, such was the case. On Jul. 11, Adayni's father died, after waiting for years to see his son again. The ICRC reports that over 30 relatives of Palestinian prisoners have died since the prison visits were cut.

Umm Bilal, an elderly woman in a simple white headscarf, walks among the demonstrators, holding a plastic-framed photo of her son when he was 16. The teen wears a black dress shirt, has combed and gelled hair, and smiles easily to the camera.

'Twenty years, ten months, he's been in prison. I haven't been allowed to visit him in eight years,' says Umm Bilal.

'The prison canteen should sell phone cards, clothes, or food, but Israel is making it difficult now. He wanted to study but in prison but he hasn't been allowed.'

In December 2009, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled with the Israeli government to deny families from Gaza visitation rights to prisoners in Israeli prisons. Among the stated reasons for the Court's decision were that 'family visits are not a basic humanitarian need for Gaza residents' and that there was no need for family visits since prisoners could obtain basic supplies through the prison canteen.

In June, 2011, Israeli Prison Service is reported to have taken away various rights of prisoners, including that allowing prisoners to enroll in universities, and blocked cell phone use.

'The world is calling for Shalit to be released. But he is just one man, a soldier,' says Umm Bilal. 'Many Palestinian prisoners were taken from their homes. Shalit was in his tank when he was taken. Those tanks shoot on Gaza, kill our people, destroy our land. Take Shalit, but release our prisoners.'

According to Nasser Farrah, 'there are over 7,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons, including nearly 40 women and over 300 children. Seven hundred prisoners are from the Gaza Strip.'

Other estimates range from 7,500 to 11,000 Palestinian prisoners. 'The ‘over 7000’ does not include the thousands of Palestinians who are regularly taken by the Israelis in the occupied West Bank, and even from Gaza, as well as those held in administrative detention for varying periods,' Farrah notes.

Under administrative detention, Palestinians, including minors, are denied trial and imprisoned for renewable periods, with many imprisoned between six months to six years.

According to B'Tselem, as of February 2011, Israel is holding 214 Palestinians under administrative detention.

Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention prevents forcible transfers of people from occupied territory. But Israel has been doing just that since 1967, and has imprisoned over 700,000 Palestinian men, women and children according to the UN.

Aside from denial of family visits, higher education, and canteen supplies, roughly 1,500 Palestinian prisoners are believed to be seriously ill, and are denied adequate healthcare.

Majed Komeh's mother has many years of Monday demonstrations ahead of her. Her son, 34 years old, was given a 19-year sentence, of which he has served six years.

'For the last four years I haven't heard from him,' Umm Majed says. 'He has developed stomach and back problems in prison, but he's not getting the medicine he needs.'

Nasser Farrah says this is a serious problem. 'Many have cancer and critical illnesses. Many need around-the-clock hospital care, not simply headache pills.'

A 2010-2011 report from the Palestinian Prisoners Society said that 20 prisoners have been diagnosed with cancer, 88 with diabetes and 25 have had kidney failures. 'Over 200 prisoners have died from lack of proper medical care in prisons,' the report says.

One of the ways ill Palestinians end up in prison is by abduction when passing through the Erez crossing for medical treatment outside of Gaza.

'The Israelis give them permits to exit Gaza for treatment in Israel or the West bank, but after they cross through the border Israel imprisons many of them,' says Farrah.

'We are a people under occupation. We have no other options to secure our prisoners' rights but to demonstrate in front of the ICRC. It's their job to ensure prisoners are receiving their rights under international humanitarian law.'

© Inter Press Service (2011) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service