Head of the Censure Department at the Palestinian Ministry Of Detainees, Abdul-Nasser Ferwana, has stated that Israeli soldiers kidnapped more than 1,000 Palestinians since the three Israeli settlers went missing on June 12, 2014.Ferwana said that the latest arrests against Palestinians in the West Bank brought the number of those currently imprisoned by Israel to more than 6,200.
He added that Israel never stopped kidnapping Palestinians, as the army has been kidnapping approximately 35 each day, and that the vast majority of arrests take place in the West Bank, while 350 Palestinians have been kidnapped in occupied Jerusalem and historic Palestine.
The Palestinian researcher also said that the army kidnapped nearly 200 children, 13 democratically elected legislators, including the head of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), Dr. Aziz Dweik, as well as two former ministers, bringing the number of imprisoned legislators to 24, in addition to two ministers of former government.
The army also kidnapped 60 former prisoners who were previously released under the “Shalit Prisoner Swap Agreement”, bringing the number of detainees released under the deal, and then rearrested, to more than 80, in direct violation of previously signed agreements.
Israel is also threatening to re-impose their terms, in effect threatening to imprison them for life, or dozens of years, in direct violation of the prisoner-swap deal.
The Palestinian official stated that more than 180 of the recently kidnapped Palestinians have been detained under arbitrary Administrative Detention order, without charge or trial.
He called for keeping the issue of all political prisoners as a priority, and to expose Israel’s violations, especially since the arrests are ongoing and even escalating, while the Israeli Prison Authority is imposing sanctions against the detainees, and continuously punishing them.
