On the Palestinian Prisoners' Day MPPM demands their release

On April 17th, Palestinian Prisoners' Day, MPPM reaffirms its solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners and administrative detainees in Israeli jails, reiterating its support for their courageous struggle for the freedom of their people, for the recognition of their status as political prisoners, for the respect of their rights and their dignity, against the degrading conditions to which they are subjected in Israeli prisons.

In this year 2020, Palestinians locked up in Israeli jails — already systematically subjected to torture, ill-treatment, punishment and humiliation — face an increased threat to their health and lives as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

The conditions of detention of Palestinians in Israeli prisons do not meet the minimum international standards established by international humanitarian law. Added to this is the institutionalized framework of medical negligence by the Israeli authorities and the repeated refusal even by the Supreme Court of Israel to provide adequate medical services to Palestinian prisoners and to take urgent measures to prevent the spread of the virus in the prison system.

At the end of March, about 5,000 Palestinians, including 183 minors and 43 women, were being held in Israeli prisons. Of the total, 430 are in administrative detention, without charge or trial. About 700 prisoners are sick, 200 of them with chronic and serious illnesses that put them at even greater risk if the pandemic spreads through prisons.

A report prepared by the Palestinian Prisoner Society (PPS), Addameer – Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association and the Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners' Affairs Committee, for the year 2019, reveals that Israeli forces continued to use torture as a tool of revenge and coercion against prisoners. According to this investigation, 95% of detainees are subjected to torture, from the moment of arrest, through interrogation and even after their transfer to detention centers.

Five prisoners lost their lives in Israeli prisons in 2019, victims of systematic policies of torture and slow death, including the delay or denial of medical treatment, the use of access to medical care as a coercion tactic, and harsh detention conditions and torture in interrogations.

The policy of administrative detention is used by the Israeli occupation authorities to detain civilian Palestinian citizens, male or female, and prolong their detention indefinitely, without trial or any charges brought. During 2019, were issued 1,035 administrative detention orders.

The Israeli authorities intensified the arbitrary detention of Palestinian children and youth, victims of multiple forms of torture during and after their arrest. During 2019, the Israeli occupation forces arrested 889 minors.

The detentions affect almost all Palestinian families, both in the territories occupied in 1967, in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, and in the Gaza Strip, as well as in Israel, in exile and in the diaspora. The Israeli occupation authorities carry out a policy of collective punishment against the families of prisoners, which can range from summoning them for interrogation or arrest, raiding their homes and looting their belongings, to the extreme measure of demolishing their homes. In 2019, the Israeli authorities demolished eight houses of prisoners or their relatives.

The issue of prisoners is one of the central political issues for a just solution to the Palestinian question, along with the end of the occupation of the West Bank and the siege of the Gaza Strip, the status of Jerusalem and the refugees' right of return.

MPPM reiterates its solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners and detainees who are victims of Israeli repression and demands their release.

MPPM calls on all peace and freedom-loving people to show solidarity with the struggle of the Palestinian people and demand the respect of their legitimate rights.

MPPM demands that the Portuguese government, in compliance with the provisions of the Constitution of the Republic, undertakes to denounce the violations of human rights by Israel and to comply with international law.

MPPM also urges the Portuguese government to recognize the State of Palestine, in compliance with international law and the United Nations resolutions.

17 April 2020

The National Directorate of MPPM