Palestinian Political Prisoners

The EA flat is located close to the International Red Cross building.  Every Tuesday morning around 10:00 o’clock a.m. many people hold a Prisoners’ sit-in.  This is organized by the Prisoners’ Club.  We walked over this morning as we do each week to show solidarity with them. 

On a sunny day they also sit on chairs brought over from the Red Cross.   Since it was raining we wore our rain suits as today it meant standing out in the rain for an hour.  There is an awning by one of the buildings to shelter them from the weather.  Families of prisoners are usually holding enlarged pictures of their loved ones who are in prison. 

Every week there are members of the press who come and take video recordings and they are interviewed individually.  Today there were several members of the political party attending as well to make special appeals at the start of a new year.

It is interesting to note that during a demonstration the men take the lead and the women follow.  They do not walk together.

I was standing beside a young Palestinian woman who spoke some English.  When I asked her about the picture she was holding she said:  “this is my Father who has been in prison for 8 years.”  She went on to tell me that she was 10 years old when her Father who is a pilot was arrested and put in prison.  He is serving a life sentence.  The Red Cross has prioritized the visitation rights for families of prisoners and they provide advocacy on their behalf.  She says she feels fortunate to be able to visit him every two weeks. Then she added:  “but I would like him to be released so he can be home with his family.”  

Several times a week, the Red Cross supplies buses so that the prisoner’s families can go visit their loved one in Israeli prisons.  Those buses are waiting on the other side of the checkpoints like the one we monitor at Taybe –Irtah.  For the people visiting their family member in the prisons, it means getting up very early to stand in line at the checkpoint and  getting through that so they can get to the bus.  If someone is detained for some reason at the checkpoint the whole bus waits and that means less visiting time with their loved one when they get there.

This website is a good resource for information concerning International Law and Palestinian prisoners.   
 
 http://www.ifamericansknew.org/stats/pal-prisoners.html

“Since the beginning of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories in 1967, over 650,000 Palestinians have been detained by Israel. This forms approximately 20% of the total Palestinian population in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).”             – Palestine Monitor

Source: Addameer Prisoners’ Support and Human Rights Association (as of November 2009) and Reuters.

Susanne