Britain 'ignoring' plight of Palestinian prisoners

The British Embassy has incorporated an image of captured Israeli soldier into its Facebook logo, drawing the ire of international human rights groups.  Caabu, the Center for Arab and British Understanding, has since issued a statement, calling on the British government to raise the issue of Palestinian prisoners with Israeli authorities. According to Amnesty International, around 680 Palestinian prisoners are denied family visits by the Israeli government.  Graham Bambrough, Parliamentary Officer at Caabu, said the plight of Palestinian prisoners is taking a backseat to the highly publicized detention of the Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit. “To view the actions of the British government one would assume that Gilad Shalit was the only individual in the region currently being held away from his family. Of course he should be released, but at present almost 700 Palestinians from Gaza are being denied visits by the Israeli authorities, whilst over 250 people are being held in detention without trial. These anonymous men and women are not the subject of personal video appeals by British Ministers, nor are their images incorporated into our embassy’s logo.” Bambrough also highlighted the issue of child detentions. “Caabu also urges the British government to look urgently at the issue of Palestinian child prisoners.  Some 211 children are being held by Israel, the majority on spurious charges and all of them are subject to sham trials in kangaroo military courts. I hope that the British government will urgently examine their cases and speak up publically and forcefully in their defence.” Caabu has led a number of parliamentary delegations to see Israeli courts and witness trials of minors, who are largely prosecuted for stone-throwing.  According to the group, around 700 Palestinian children are brought before Israeli courts each year, representing "serious breaches" of  the Fourth Geneva Convention, the UN Convention against Torture and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.