Israeli politicians are using Palestinian prisoners for elections purposes, Qaddoura Faris, head of the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS), a prisoner advocacy group, said on Wednesday, according to WAFA.
He was reacting to statements by Israeli Minister of Internal Security Gilad Irdan who announced, on Wednesday, several measures aimed at worsening the daily conditions of 6,500 Palestinians held in Israeli jails for resisting its occupation of the Palestinian land.
The new measures include reducing the amount of money prisoners get, from both their families and the Palestinian Authority, to purchase items from the prison canteen, their movement inside the wards, time for going into an open area, family visits, rationing food and water by taking away their cooking utensils, and reducing the number and types of books admitted to prisons.
“What Irdan has announced, regarding his recommendation to take away what the prisoners have fought for, is a nothing more than political bankruptcy in which the prisoners are used as an election auction between candidates of the Israeli parties,” said Faris in a statement.
He said that the Israeli Prison Service has already confiscated hundreds of books from prisoners in Hadarim prison, installed and operated surveillance cameras in Hasharon prison, along with other measures that have to do with rationing food and water to prisoners.
