Horrific conditions make Israeli jails ticking bombs

Immense heat in the Israeli jails and the miserable conditions of the Palestinian prisoners has created conditions which could backfire on the Israelis. The prisoners called on the Palestinian National Authority to handle their case or many of them would die soon. The Palestinian Minister of Detainees Affairs Eisa Qaraqe on Tuesday visited the Red Cross Headquarters in Ramallah complaining and urging the international body to take legal action against the Israeli authorities. Qaraqe said that the Palestinian prisoners are currently on a gradual hunger strike. He said the Red Cross should do something about the inhuman and miserable conditions of the jailed Palestinians, especially the sick ones. He explained that the Israeli authorities should immediately release Akram Mansour, Khalid Shaweesh, and Nahed Al Qarei who have cancer, and provide other sick prisoners with the necessary medical care. Prisoners in Al Ramallah Prison sent an official letter via a lawyer urging Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to get personally involved. This is because the Israeli authorities have officially said that medical files of all Palestinian prisoners have already been closed, and that none of the prisoners will get any kind of treatment. The letter, given to the Palestinian Ministry of Detainees Affairs stressed that 25 of the prisoners in Al Ramallah Prison permanently live in the prison's hospital. Nader Tubaish, a representative for the prisoners in Al Ramallah Prison said in the letter that President Abbas should personally take care of the cases of the sick prisoners in Al Ramallah. He said that the Israeli authorities told the prisoners that they will not get any more medications and that their medical records have already been closed. The prisoners stressed that tens of them would not survive without the necessary medical care. They said that Al Ramallah prison is a cemetery for the prisoners but they will resist should the Israelis go on with their aggression against them. Qaraqe added that 12 Palestinian prisoners have been living in solitary confinement for the past nine years. The Israeli authorities have prevented the Palestinian prisoners from continuing with their education and have suspended their General Secondary Certificate examinations. He stressed that the Israeli authorities are holding eight prisoners on a list for deportation from Palestine, which all constitute a serious violation of international law and the Geneva Fourth Convention. The Palestinian Prisoners Club said in a statement that the Palestinian prisoners are strictly prevented from having any kind of surgeries, stressing that many of them are in need for such surgeries, but the Israeli authorities refuse to allow them, and rarely provide them with light pain killers to increase the suffering of the prisoners. The club said that tens of prisoners have been wounded by the Israeli Army at the time they were arrested, and those wounds were used as a source of torture during interrogations. They said they are later denied the right to any kind of medical treatment. The club warned that the way the Israeli authorities are handling the Palestinian prisoners will have serious consequences when the prisoners fight back.