The Palestinian ministry of detainee affairs says that more than 5,000 Palestinians are being held in Israeli jails across 23 prisons and detention centres, many of them without trial or charge, under administrative detention, a military procedure which allows suspects to be held without charge indefinitely. Some of the prisoners have spent nearly 30 years locked up because of their struggle against the Israelis and their support for their cause for national liberation.
Former freed prisoners have said that it is not possible to reach a peace settlement between Palestinians and Israelis without ending the issue of prisoners forever.
Atef Abu Saif, a former prisoner and editor of Seyasat magazine, said that the issue of Palestinian prisoners is one of the most important felt by every citizen. Statistics show that more than one fifth of Palestinians living in the occupied territories have spent some time in prison and many have paid the price of freedom.
“Any liberation of this country Palestine has to lead to the prisoners’ freedom. Palestinian prisoners are political prisoners, so anyone who supports freedom and human rights, and the rights of nations, ought to contribute to the release of these prisoners.” Abu Saif added.
For the first time in the history of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict since 1948, the year 2013 witnessed Palestinian political detainees winning their freedom through face-to-face struggles with their jailors in Israeli prisons and detention centres.
The prisoners, especially those detained under Israel’s administrative detention, initiated campaigns to free themselves through hunger strikes. The success of Khader Andan and Hana Shalabi, who won their freedom through hunger strikes, has encouraged more detainees to adopt the same approach.
Adie Mormech, International Human Rights activist, said that Palestinian prisoners are political prisoners and should not be behind bars. Palestinians have an international, legal right to resist occupation.
It is worth noting that in late 2013 the United Nations overwhelmingly voted to declare 2014 the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian people. On 17 April each year events take place inside the occupied territories and worldwide to show solidarity with the prisoners, call on Israel to improve their imprisonment conditions and call for their release.
A prisoner swap in late 2011 saw the release of over 1,000 Palestinian political prisoners in exchange for one Israeli soldier who had been held in captivity in Gaza for 5 years. However, Israel broke the deal when they re-arrested 8 prisoners on the same charges after the release of Gilad Shalit.
164 out of 1,027 Palestinians from the West Bank who were released in the swap were sent into exile in Gaza. 41 were forced to go and live in other countries.
Hani Al-Bassos, a political expert, said that it’s not easy for Palestinians to free political detainees from Israeli jails without using the power and pressure of the Israeli military forces, similar to the case of Israeli soldier Gilad Shali in which more than 1,000 Palestinian detainees were released from Israeli jails.
“I think one of the responsibilities will be laid on the international community to take action against the Israeli authorities to release them, as a large number of the detainees are held in detention without trial,” Mr Al-Bassos added.
In Gaza, the families of Palestinian political prisoners and detainees in Israeli jails have gathered every Monday since 1995 in front of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) office to show solidarity with Palestinian prisoners and hunger strikers.
Solidarity across the occupied Palestinian territories persists as the issue of Palestinian prisoners has united the Palestinian public everywhere, regardless of their political differences and affiliations.
The ministry of detainees affairs and x prisoners ministry said that one of the goals this year is to internationalise the issue of the prisoners, some of whom have spent over 25 years languishing behind bars from before the signing of Oslo Accords in 1993 between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization.
According to the ministry of detainees, over 200 Palestinian political prisoners have died inside prison since 1967 due to medical negligence.
According to the Palestinian NGO Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Addameer, there were more than 5,000 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails as of January 2014. The prisoners include 155 administrative detainees, 17 women and 154 children in addition to approximately 1,000 sick prisoners. Statistics by prisoners’ advocacy groups show that since 1967, Israel has imprisoned nearly 800,000 Palestinians.
Meanwhile, for more than five years between June 2007 and August 2012, Israeli forces have prevented family members in the Gaza Strip from visiting detainees.
Israel ended this comprehensive ban as part of an agreement to settle the mass hunger strike in April 2012, but continues to bar relatives, including children who have reached the age of ten, from travelling through the Erez checkpoint to its prisons.
Israeli occupation forces carry out almost daily arrest campaigns throughout the West Bank; this comes as Palestinian inmates are planning to hold protests in Israeli jails, an official from the Palestinian Authority (PA) has said.
The plan came as a response to Tel Aviv’s decision to scrap a fourth release of prisoners, Ziad Abu Ein, the PA deputy minister for prisoner affairs said on Friday. “The protests would include hunger strikes by the prisoners,” Abu Ein added.
The prisoners were supposed to be freed as part of US-brokered talks between the PA and the Israeli regime. Tel Aviv had promised to free the inmates and in exchange the PA pledged to freeze all moves to seek membership in UN organisations until April 2014.
As peace talks failed to release long-serving Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails, the families of the prisoners call on resistance groups to capture Israeli soldiers and settlers in order to exchange them for prisoners.
Securing the release of prisoners is a highly emotive issue in Palestinian society where they are considered freedom fighters
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