RAMALLAH, Monday, May 29, 2023 (WAFA) – The national and Islamic factions today stressed the need to intensify the activities in support of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody.

The factions called in a press statement for the need to step up such activities, particularly in front of international institutions, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and put pressure on the Israeli occupation authorities to release the prisoners.

They underscored the need to secure the immediate release of cancer-stricken prisoner Asef al-Rifai, 20, and terminally ill novelist Walid Daqqa, 61, whose medical conditions are further deteriorating due to deliberate medical negligence.

They affirmed their commitment to expanding the scope of popular resistance against the Israeli occupation and settler-colonialism as well as to maintaining the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as the sole, legitimate representative of the Palestinian people and activating PLO’s role and fundamental principles on the Palestinian refugees’ right to return, the right to-self determination and the establishment of independent and fully sovereign state, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

They urged concerted efforts to defend the Palestinian people’s land and rights, particularly where Palestinians are at the impending threat of forced expulsion and ethnic cleansing, such as in Ein Samia and the northern Jordan Valley.

They called for sanctions against Israel, the occupying power, and for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to open a formal investigation into war crimes committed by Israel against the Palestinian people.

K.F.