BRUSSELS, May 18, 2017 (WAFA) – Pax Christi International Wednesday called on Israel to immediately enter into serious dialogue with Palestinian prisoners who have been on a hunger strike for 32 days.
The international organization alongside its member organizations and partners expressed their deep concerns about the situation of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, especially those who have been on a hunger strike for one month and whose situation is deteriorating.
“Their health is in danger and they are being subjected to violent and coercive measures and policies by the Israeli Prisons Service (IPS) and special units, attempting to push the prisoners to end their hunger strike,” said the organization in a press statement.
“The prisoners who are on a hunger strike are engaged in a legitimate, nonviolent action to demand their basic rights, including an end to torture and ill-treatment, the use of administrative detention, unfair trials, the detention of children, demeaning detention conditions including sleep and food deprivation, insufficient medical care, solitary confinement and the denial of the right to education,” added the organization.
“Their requests are just and in line with international law as humanitarian and human rights standards protecting prisoners,” it affirmed.
Pax Christi International welcomed the recent statement of the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, in which he has called on Israel to comply with international law on detention.
It urged “the rest of the international community also to speak up to support the demands of Palestinian prisoners and to insist that Israel immediately enters into serious dialogue with the prisoners about their demands before it is too late.”
“This year marks 100 years since the Balfour declaration, 70 years since UN resolution 181, and 50 years since Israel began its occupation of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights and the annexation of East Jerusalem. The hunger strike of the prisoners once again draws attention to basic human rights violations against the background of 50 years of harsh occupation.”
K.F./M.K.
