The Prisoners´ Institutions and Human Rights reported that the Israeli occupation forces arrested 429 Palestinians, including 32 children and 10 women, during the month of July.
The Prisoners ´Affairs and Human Rights Institutions (Prisoners´ Affairs Authority, Prisoners Club, Addameer Prisoner Care and Human Rights Foundation, and Wadi Hilweh Information Center - Silwan), in a fact sheet issued today, Wednesday, indicated that the occupation authorities have arrested (201) citizens of Jerusalem, and (46) citizens of Ramallah and Al-Bireh, (35) citizens of Hebron, (34) citizens of Jenin, and (22) citizens of Bethlehem, while (20) citizens of Nablus and (15) citizens were arrested, and (17) citizens from Qalqilya, eight from Jericho, (15) from Tubas, three from Salfit, in addition to (13) citizens from Gaza.
Thus, the number of Palestinian prisoners and detainees in the occupation prisons during the month of July 2020 reached nearly (4,500) prisoners, of whom (41) were female prisoners, while the number of child detainees reached nearly (160) children, and administrative detainees reached about (360), and the number of orders reached Administrative detention issued (98) administrative detention orders, including (33) new and (65) extended orders.
The report issued by the institutions includes a monitoring of the most important policies of the occupation that it implemented against prisoners and detainees during the month of July, most notably how the occupation prison administration transformed the Corona epidemic into a tool of punishment, harassment and terror against prisoners.
The prisoners are in a constant confrontation with the prisoner and the epidemic
During the month of July, the occupation prisons administration continued to announce new infections among the ranks of the guards and the "Nahshon" forces in particular, and they are the only source of transmission of the "Corona" virus infection to the prisoners isolated from the outside world. It also announced the infection of the two prisoners Kamal Abu Waer, who suffers from laryngeal cancer. And Abdullah Sharaka several days after his arrest.
The occupation forces did not stop carrying out the daily arrests against citizens, which increased the possibility of spreading the epidemic among the prisoners, and even escalated their implementation, targeting all groups, including women, children and the sick.
The case of the prisoner Kamal Abu Waer, who suffers from cancer, who was announced by the prison administration that he was infected with the "Corona" virus, after his transfer from "Gilboa" prison to an Israeli hospital, for an operation, and days after his injury, Abu Waer underwent surgery to put a breathing tube for him, After that, despite his difficult health condition, he was transferred to the so-called "Ramla Clinic" prison, where the prisoners are called a "slaughterhouse", due to its lack of any of the health and medical facilities needed for the sick.
In effect, the prison administration has transformed the epidemic into a tool of punishment and deprivation of the rights of prisoners, as part of the tools of violence that it exercises on prisoners, and it placed the prisoners in a double isolation process, which automatically exacerbated a set of crises inside prisons, including the crisis of the introduction of clothes and "the cantina", especially with the irregular visits. The families of the prisoners who have recently resumed after an earlier decision to suspend them as part of the emergency measures linked to the epidemic.
And the narration of the results of the prisoners ’samples remained confined to the narration of the prison administration, despite the repeated and continuous calls made by human rights organizations for the existence of a neutral medical committee to supervise the results of the samples and examine the health conditions of prisoners, especially patients. However, the prison administration continues to ignore all calls and demands. And its systematic violations continue, through psychological and physical torture, as the epidemic was present as an essential part of the terrorist operations that were practiced against the detainees, especially the newly arrested, to pressure them.
Prisoners ’institutions confirm that in the times before the outbreak of the epidemic, the detention conditions of prisoners were difficult and inhuman, and this intensified with the situation imposed by the epidemic and the subsequent use and transfer operations by the prison administration to impose a more difficult reality, apart from the environment that the prison structure constitutes. It is fertile for the possibility that the epidemic will spread widely among prisoners, as a result of overcrowding in cells and cramped spaces.
Detention Centers: "Quarantine" and Unfair Policies
The Israeli occupation forces are pursuing unfair policies to restrict the prisoners and detainees, especially with the situation imposed by the "Corona" virus, and the pandemic is being used to undermine the work of lawyers and prevent them from visiting the prisoners, and the ban extends to their families. In addition, some detention centers that are not suitable for human detention have been transferred to quarantine for the newly detained persons for a period of (14) days without referring them to investigation and without providing the simplest methods and tools for sterilization and prevention.
The so-called "quarantine" centers are divided into three detention centers: the "Hawara" detention center, the "Gush Etzion" detention center and "Hasharon" prison. Male and female prisoners, male and female detainees, and detainees suffer from poor and difficult conditions in "Al-Hajar" centers, which lack the minimum means of preventing disease.
The prisoners at the Hawara Center confirmed that the tragic and harsh conditions they suffered from, as each room contained 6 detainees and a small bathroom, and the necessary checks were not conducted for them, the rooms were not sterilized or cleaned, and the detainees were not provided with masks, and the rooms were full of rodents and mice, in addition to The suffering of the prisoners who were quarantined due to the lack of food and bad, and the lack of drinking water, which forced them to collect the jailers ’waste from water bottles and soda cans (Coca-Cola) to be used in filling tap water.
The situation in "Etzion" is no different, as the arrested detainees suffer from the arrogance of the occupation and its uniqueness with them despite the difficult epidemiological conditions, such as preventing them from contacting their families throughout the "quarantine" period, preventing them from going out to the rush, and leaving them prey to hunger, as the food is of poor quality and out of date. Often times, hygiene is almost non-existent and there are no cleaning and disinfection materials. The prison administration supplies the detainees with rotten and damp blankets and does not provide them with new clothes. The testimonies of some detainees confirm that they did not change their clothes during the period of stone. The sick detainees suffered medical negligence in quarantine, and they were not provided with their medicines, the lack of which may affect their health.
In "Hasharon", the quarantined detainees are housed in separate and isolated rooms, with dirty blankets that are not allowed to be washed, and clothes that cannot be replaced. Some detainees obtained clothes from civilian prisoners, which they washed for use. In addition, there is no privacy for the female detainees - there is a bathroom without a door - and they were threatened with being locked up, tied to their beds in rooms full of cameras. They were only rarely tested for "corona", and they were not provided with masks. The female detainees lived in conditions similar to the detainees who were quarantined in the former detention centers in terms of poor food, filthy rooms, lack of means of protection and the lowest means of living.
Prisoners Fadwa Hamada and Jihan Hashima in isolation: harsh conditions and inhuman treatment
The occupation prisons administration continues to implement its punitive measures against female prisoners and prisoners languishing in the occupation prisons. At a time when the world is committed to all preventive and safety measures in light of the increasing spread of the new Corona virus, the two prisoners, Fadwa Hamada and Jihan Hashima, are isolated in the isolation of the "Jalameh" prison in a room that lacks the least. The components of human subsistence for more than two months.
The two prisoners were transferred to isolation in “Al-Jalameh” prison after the administration of “Al-Damun” prison claimed that the two prisoners confronted a female prisoner, where they were isolated for hours, tied with plastic handcuffs in a room in “Damoon” prison before they were transferred to the isolation of “Jalameh” prison on the tenth of June the past. Although they were informed of the end of their sentence, they have not yet returned to their room in "Damon".
Hamada and Hashima are facing many difficulties since we got them. They shower, but they use the sink to manage their affairs. The two prisoners suffer from medical neglect, as they only received their medication after 21 days of isolation, and because of the harsh conditions and the isolation that is extended without knowing its length of time, the two prisoners also face difficult psychological problems. Hours.
In light of the Corona pandemic and the unfair conditions of isolation against them, the cell is not sterile in addition to being dirty, and the two prisoners clean it when detergents are available, while they were not provided with sterilizers and / or masks. They did not conduct any tests, knowing that Hamada suffers from blood pressure and needs her medication.
Jerusalem: Continuous arrest campaigns
The occupation authorities continued to carry out arrests in the city of Jerusalem, and the Wadi Hilweh Information Center monitored (201) arrests in the city, including six females, (22) minors, and a child less than (12 years). The highest rate of arrest was in the town of Issawiya, which is subject to operations A systematic arrest targeting the town in an escalating manner since the middle of last year, as during the month of July the cases of detention in it reached (50) arrests, followed by the rate of detention in Silwan town (32) cases.
The occupation authorities continued to target Jerusalem officials, including the governor of Jerusalem, Adnan Ghaith, who was arrested from his home in the town of Silwan, and transferred to the cells of the "Ashkelon" detention center and spent about three weeks in the occupation intelligence investigation. This arrest is part of a series of prosecutions and arrests that Ghaith has been subjected to since he took over. His responsibilities two years ago, including decisions prohibiting him from entering the West Bank, traveling, and communicating with Palestinian leaders.
The occupation intelligence also summoned the Deputy Governor of Jerusalem, Abdullah Siyam, and arrested the Secretary of the Fatah Movement in Jerusalem, Shadi Mutour, during a stand against the arrest of Governor Ghaith in front of the "Magistrate Court" building in West Jerusalem, and at the beginning of July, they targeted Fatah cadres to arrest and summon, and the targeting extended to reach Prisoners who were released from detention the moment they were freed.
The arrest of released prisoners, the moment they were released, turned into a policy pursued by the occupation authorities against the prisoners of the city of Jerusalem. To the families of the prisoners before the date of their release, and among them were:
* The Jerusalemite prisoner, Sultan Abu Al-Hummus, was arrested upon his exit from the door of the Negev Prison, after serving his seven-year sentence, and after several hours of detention, he was released on condition of being deported from Jerusalem for a period of 5 days, and the occupation intelligence transferred him from Jerusalem to the entrance to Jericho.
* Al-Maqdisi prisoner, Muhammad Musa Abisan, was arrested upon his release from the Negev Prison, after serving his four-year sentence, and extended his detention for 24 hours, then he was released on condition of deportation from Jerusalem.
* Prisoner al-Maqdisi, Bakr al-Maghribi, was arrested upon his release from the door of the Negev prison after serving his five and a half years sentence, and his detention was extended for 24 hours. His brother Muhammad was also arrested, and then they were released the next day.
* The occupation forces arrested the freed prisoner, Muhammad Ali Al-Ghoul (16 years), after he had served his 12-month sentence upon his arrival at his home in Ras al-Amud in the town of Silwan. Home confinement for a period of 5 days, lack of communication between them, and a one-month ban on celebrations.
* The occupation authorities deported the liberated prisoner, Anwar Sami Obeid, from Jerusalem for a period of 4 months, and handed him a decision to prevent contact with (14) young men from Issawiya. Previously, the occupation authorities imposed a night home detention on him for a period of four months.
The institutions reaffirm their previous and repeated demands to put pressure on the Israeli occupation authorities to release sick prisoners, women and children, and to allow a neutral international committee to review the conditions of the prisoners and the results of the samples that are taken for the prisoners, and again direct their demands to the International Committee of the Red Cross, as a body of competence, to double their capacity In the occupied Palestinian territories, to be able to cover the needs of prisoners and their families, and to help them communicate and provide what they need in light of the ongoing pandemic.
