CAIRO, March 28, 2011 (WAFA) - Arab League Monday held Israel responsible for the deteriorating conditions of the Palestinian and Arab prisoners.

 In a statement, Assistant Secretary- General for the Affairs of Palestine and Occupied Arab Territories, Mohammed Sbeih, expressed the League’s grave concern for the lives of Palestinian and Arab prisoners, especially the ones who went on hunger strike today.

The statement came after prisoners in Nafha, Rimon, Eichel, Ashkelon and some wings of Naqab(Negev) prison started a hunger strike today against the Israeli humiliating measures; humiliating inspection of prisoners’ families,  policy of solitary confinement and unresponsiveness of the penitentiary administration to their demands.

He said that the Israeli authorities currently hold about 7300 Palestinians and Arabs in more than 23 prisons and detention centers. In addition, at least 310 children and 34 women are held in Israeli prisons, adding some Palestinians and Arabs were detained more than 10 times and dozens spent more than 20 years in prison.

He added “the humiliation and sufferings that the Iraqi prisoners faced in Abu-Ghraib prison is nothing compared to what Palestinians and Arabs go through in Israeli prisons. These violations require an immediate intervention from the Human Rights Organizations, Europe, United States and International Committee of Red Cross.

Sbeih condemned the Israeli doctors’ participation in torturing prisoners, calling on Medical institutions to inspect prisons and to demand the Medical syndicate in Israel to break its silence and take suitable procedures.  

Y.Y./F.R.