Netanyahu asks Abbas for calm after death of prisoner

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday called on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to restore calm after protests broke out in the occupied West Bank over the death of a 30-year-old prisoner in an Israeli jail. According to Israel Radio, Netanyahu, in a message to Abbas, asked the Palestinian leader to prevent a new intifada following clashes with Israeli troops triggered by the death of Arafat Jaradat during interrogation by agents of Israel’s internal security service, Shabak. Netanyahu’s letter was conveyed by his special negotiator with the Palestinians, Yitzhak Molcho, whom the Israeli premier had sent to Ramallah, the radio added. In a gesture to the Palestinians, the Israeli premier ordered the release of tax money collected by Israel on behalf of the Palestinian Authority which had been withheld after Palestine’s upgrade to a non-member observer at the United Nations. Palestinian minister in charge of prisoner affairs Issa Qaraqaa told reporters that a third Intifada has already started, blaming Israel for the death of Jaradat under torture. “The Intifada does not need a decision to kick off, but rather it is a spontaneous matter, whose spark is ignited by Israeli actions,” the minister said. The latest tensions over Palestinian prisoners, thousands of whom had joined their colleagues on a hunger strike, comes ahead of a visit to the region next month by U.S. President Barack Obama in a bid to breathe life into the moribund Middle East peace process. “If the U.S. President wants to visit in a calm region, he should take the step of pressuring Israel to release Palestinian prisoners, especially those on hunger strike, or else he will come to an inflamed Palestine, and the occupation is the culprit,” Qaraqaa said. He said yesterday’s death brought to 203 the number of Palestinian prisoners of war who died in Israeli jails since 1967, 71 of them died under torture, demanding an international fact-finding mission to investigate Jaradat’s death and methods used by Shabak agents. The Palestinian minister said that Abbas had told families of prisoners on hunger-strike that Palestine will seek to join the Geneva Conventions and other international organisations after its status upgrade, a move that will provide protection to Palestinian prisoners. He said Jaradat was suffering a severe health condition and fear because of torture, adding that Israel sanctions physical and mental torture against Palestinians detainees.