Israel’s prison regime can no longer go unnoticed
#AktuellesSafa Joudeh
The Israeli government could not have contained the outrage had any hunger striking prisoner died.
Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev would have us believe that Israel willingly and graciously conceded the demands of 2,000 hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners in the name of peace, and as an act of good faith towards Palestinian Authority presidentMahmoud Abbas. But neither Abbas nor the Israeli government could have contained the ensuing uproar had any of the prisoners died.
It was only in the last 10 days of the month-long mass hunger strike (four prisoners had passed the 70-day mark, seven had passed 50 days) that it gained visible media coverage. Canotta Squadra USA Israeli officials were quick to invoke security grounds.
In a interview with CNN on 7 May, Regev said: “These groups have put suicide on a pedestal and now I’m afraid they’ll kill themselves to instigate more violence.”
“These groups” are Palestinians, young and old, from an array of different backgrounds, arrested from their homes and at checkpoints: students, sportsmen, engineers, journalists, health workers. new balance homme For weeks they fasted, their flesh consumed by their own bodies, nervous systems shutting down, organs giving way. They were denied family visits, placed in solitary confinement, some reportedly beaten in prison hospital, emaciated limbs shackled to their beds, teetering on the brink of death.
A struggle reduced by Regev to a ploy meant to instigate reprisal.
The Israeli Prison Service eventually approved the prisoners demands — basic rights they were owed under international law and conventions — including an end to the policy of administrative detention, ending solitary confinement, and allowing family visits.
Israel’s “Guantanamo Bay” policies
This hard-won victory however, is only the tip of the iceberg. Air Jordan 1 Uomo The deeper issue of contention lies in the adjudication process employed by Israeli forces towards Palestinian prisoners, which mirrors that of the US State Department toward Guantanamo Bay detainees.
Under Milita [...]