[Friday, June 13, 2014] Gaza, Occupied Palestine; Palestinian Researcher and head of the Census Department at the Palestinian Ministry of Detainees, Abdul-Nasser Ferwana, stated that the Palestinian political prisoners, held by Israel, have the legitimate right to use all options to break free and escape their illegitimate detention.His statements came after the Israeli Prison Authority announced, Friday, that it located a tunnel under a bathroom in one of the rooms in Shatta Prison, where Palestinian detainees are serving life-terms.
The Prison Authority also said that the detainees who tried to escape even modified their clothes to look like prison guards, in an attempt to facilitate their escape.
It stated that the four-meter long, and half-meter wide, tunnel was located in a section where detainees of the Islamic Jihad are held, adding that all 120 detainees held in that section were transferred to different Israeli prisons.
Ferwana stated that the detainees have the right to ensure their freedom, to return home to their families, and that this right includes attempting to escape from prison, individually and in groups.
“All political options are shut, the detainees have little chance of being freed, and are facing atrocities and ongoing violations,” Ferwana said. “The detainees used whatever techniques and methods they could, in an attempt to gain their freedom.”
“Such escape attempts date back to when Israel occupied historic Palestine in 1948; the largest escape in the history of the region was on July 31, 1958, when around 190 detainees rebelled, and held several jailors captive, and eventually 77 detainees managed to escape.”
The Palestinian official stated that many escape attempts were unsuccessful, but one of the most successful attempts, following the Israeli occupation of the whole of Palestine in 1967, was an escape from the Central Israeli Prison in Gaza, when six detainees managed to escape.
“Despite strict Israeli security and military measures, the detainees frequently attempted to escape, and Israel escalated its violations against all detainees.” Ferwana said, “Israel also used those attempts in order to impose tighter illegitimate measures against the other detainees.”
