The Palestinian National Council called in a statement, on Wednesday, upon the Israeli authorities to treat the Palestinian prisoners as war prisoners, after the state of Palestine became a member in the Fourth Geneva Conventions, and particularly the Third Geneva Convention.In a statement marking the Palestinian Prisoner Day, the council condemned the Israeli campaign of calling to adjudicate President Mahmoud Abbas after he signed Palestine’s letters of accession to a set of international conventions and treaties, particularly those concerned with prisoners’ affairs, WAFA reports.
The council stressed that its “support of the Palestinian leadership in its political and legal battle of defending the rights of our people in establishing their own state on their national soil with Jerusalem as its capital.”
Meanwhile, it described the Israeli pressures on Abbas and the Palestinian people as “political, legal extortion” which could cause the end of the peace process.
The council finally called upon the international organizations and parliaments to uphold their responsibilities and support the Palestinian people in the face of the “growing Israeli intransigence.”
Just Wednesday, Israeli forces abduted eleven people from Jerusalem and Beit Ummar to the south of Hebron, according to reports by local sources.
Six people, including a minor, were taken by Israeli forces at the gates leading to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
45 Palestinians were injured in the attack, according to one report.
Israeli forces kidnapped another person after breaking into and searching his house in the old city of Jerusalem, serving the family with a notice for their child to appear before Israeli intelligence.
Meanwhile, in Hebron, forces stormed Beit Ummar, where they abducted the Secretary General of the Anti-settlement Popular Committee in Beit Ummar, Khalil Abu Hashem, 47, along with his 18-year-old son, after breaking into and searching their houses, according to a report by spokesperson of the committee Mohammad ‘Awad.
‘Awad added that soldiers also took two people aged 18 and 21 years after breaking into, searching and wreaking havoc upon their houses.
He noted that soldiers blocked the main access road of the town for an hour and a half before retreating, and took the detained Palestinians to the settlement of ‘Etzion’.
Forces set up checkpoints in several neighborhoods in Hebron city ,as well as at the entrances of Halhul, Idhna and Saʻir, where they stopped Palestinian vehicles travelling along the way and inspected passengers’ ID cards.
In related prisoner news, Israeli Prison Service (IPS) said that it is going to transfer, on Wednesday morning, prisoner Dirar Abu Sisi and two of his cell mates to Nafha prison.
Internal sources of the prison confirmed that the IPS is to transfer Abu Sisi, Dirar Abu Jamous and Islam Wishahi. IPS asked them to prepare themselves to be transferred today, according to Al Ray.
Leadership Movement of Prisons (LMP) called the Palestinian prisoners to start an open ended hunger strike two days ago, in a solidarity movement to end the isolation of Abu Sisi and Ibrahim Hamed, by way of which the Israelis relented to the movement’s terms, ending the isolation of the two prisoners and transferring them to Nafha Prison.
In response to harsh Israeli prison practices, such as administrative detention — imprisonment without trial or the continuation of imprisonment after the completion of a sentence — denial of basic living amenities, restriction of visiting hours, and solitary confinement, Palestinian detainees have been refusing food provided by the Israeli prisons inside and outside of the West Bank and Gaza.
