Palestinian Prisoners in “Israeli” Jails: The Endless Pain

Zeinab Essa

The Palestinian detainees behind "Israeli" bars: a story of misery whose chapters narrate endless pages of sufferings and pain.

To summarize: More than 5000 Palestinians live in the dungeons of "Israeli" jails.
Those detainees, among who are hundreds of children and women, are daily subject to all kinds of psychological and physical torture.

Meanwhile, Palestinian organizations raise a ‘silent scream' against "Israel's" violation to all human and prisoners' law.
Amid all this, the battle of empty stomachs remains the only weapon for Palestinian prisoners to remind the Arab and international world of their just case.

"Israeli" Jails: No Humane

In an attempt to shed light on the Palestinian detainees' miseries, moqawama.org interviewed the head of al-Mezan for Human Rights Center, Issam Younes.

"The Palestinian prisoners are disturbed among 20 "Israeli" jails that lack any sort of humanitarian necessary conditions," he explained, and provided the following examples:

-The "Israeli" jails are full of insects, cockroaches, rats, and sometimes scorpions that penetrate into the Palestinians belongings and sleeping bags. In al-Naqab desert places, snakes are greatly present in the detainees' cells.
- The "Israeli" authorities deprive the prisoners from sleep either by imposing harsh jail conditions or rather by ongoing investigations, which may continue for more than 20 consecutive hours.
-Despite the fact that there are around 1400 Palestinian prisoners suffering from harsh illnesses, medical treatment is absent most of the time.
-"Israeli" jail authorities oblige the detainees to stand for long hours in both hot summer and freezing winter. They also subject them to sexual harassment and rape threats as well as various sorts of psychological pressures.

"The "Israeli" conditions imposed on the Palestinian detainees lack the minimum level of humanity," he summarized.

"Israel" Blew Swap

Concerning the "Loyalty to the Free" swap, dubbed by "Israel" as the Shalit deal, Younes stressed that "Israel" blew up the first part of this operation.
"Some of the freed Palestinian prisoners were recaptured by "Israel" and are subject to all kinds of threats," he added.
 In parallel, Younes considered "It is so difficult to count the number of Palestinian prisoners in the Zionist jails, as the numbers change on daily bases, and sometimes every hour with the ongoing "Israeli" policy of administrative detention."
"The administrative detention resembles a stark example of arbitrary detention," the Palestinian activist added.
He further iterated that "By adopting this policy, a person is detained for an unlimited period without charge, even without appearing before a court."

Hunger Striking the Only Weapon

On the hunger strike battle that led to the freedom of some detainees, Younes warned "More than 3 months on hunger strike both prisoners Samer al-Issawi and Ayman's Shrawna are in critical health condition."
"They are in a state of continuous deterioration, and Shrawna lost sight due to "Israel's" refusal for either medicating or releasing him," he added.
Moreover, he cautioned that "both prisoners lost sensation in all parts of their body."
In this context, the head of the Palestinian Human Rights center confirmed that "In the absence of any International pressure on "Israel", Palestinian prisoners found no way to defeat the "Israeli" jail but with their souls."
"They insist that freedom is the only price for their suffering lives and the only track for achieving the absent justice," Younes emphasized.

 With a soberly view, he expected that "nothing will change as long as "Israel" enjoys an international protection against its humane crimes."
""Israel" feels that it is above the international law. Thus, the Palestinian prisoners feel unknown fate is their only future," the Palestinian activist acknowledged.
Meanwhile, he emphasized that "the political division on the Palestinian level, also the absence of Arab regime's pressure negatively affect the national Palestinian Prisoners cause."

"It seems that "Israel" understands nothing but the language of resistance," Younes underscored.

Source: moqawama.org