Arab League calls for extraordinary UNGA session on Palestinian POWs

The permanent delegates at the Arab League on Wednesday asked the Arab group in the United Nations Offices in New York to call for an extraordinary meeting for the UN General Assembly to discuss the plight of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Concluding their extraordinary meeting in Cairo, the Arab delegates underlined the need to continue efforts to hold a special session at the UN Human Rights Council to discuss the issue and to oblige Israel to abide by international human rights and POWs rights conventions. In a final statement, the delegates said that no peaceful settlement to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict could be reached without the release of Palestinian POWs. They urged the UN to send a fact-finding mission to assess the humanitarian situation of the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. They also asked the International Committee of Red Cross to shoulder its responsibility towards the Palestinian prisoners and their safety. They international community should press Israel to free Palestinian prisoners, particularly the elders, patients and women. They urged Arab countries to put in place the previous relevant international and Arab resolutions and recommendations to press Israel to free the Palestinian prisoners. They proposed launching an international campaign for solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners. They demanded Arab and Muslim countries to support the Arab fund for the rehabilitation of freed Palestinian prisoners.