Fearing Corona ... 5 thousand Palestinian prisoners demanding protection and waving a hunger strike

Raed Musa - Gaza

In light of great concern for their situation, five thousand Palestinian prisoners, who are staying in 22 prisons and detention centers, began today, Wednesday, protest steps against the Israeli occupation authorities in order to take health measures that protect them from the threat of the new Corona virus (Covid-19).

Among the steps taken by the prisoners' protest, according to the Prisoners and Editors Affairs Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, are the closing of prison units and the return of meals in various detention centers.

The head of the commission, Qadri Abu Bakr, affirmed to Al-Jazeera Net that the prisoners and women prisoners, including patients, women and children, face a real threat to their lives due to the "Israeli neglect policy", and accused the occupation authorities of "slow killing" against the prisoners.

Food withdrawal and sterilizers
In conjunction with the outbreak of the virus, the occupation authorities withdrew 170 commodities from prison stores (the cantons), including foodstuffs, sterilizers and soaps, and rejected the prisoners ’demands to supervise the prison kitchens instead of the criminal detainees.

Abu Bakr said that Israel practiced hostile policies against the prisoners, and constituted a real threat to their lives, and deliberately insulted them even after death by holding their bodies, noting that a decision taken by the Israeli Knesset (Parliament) a few months ago stipulated the prevention of early release of the prisoners, including the sick.

He described prisons as a fertile hotspot for outbreaks of disease and epidemics, where overcrowding and neglect of the prison administration for hygiene and health care.

Abu Bakr said that the Prison Authority withdrew doctors from prisons and kept the nurses only, despite the fact that the current reality in light of the spread of Corona virus calls for increased care and attention, not reducing services as bad in normal circumstances.

About 700 Palestinian prisoners suffer from diseases including the heart and cancer, and need urgent medical intervention, as well as dozens of disabled people, according to Abu Bakr.

He said that Israel had rejected repeated demands by the Palestinian Authority and international organizations to release the prisoners, or at least the sick, 42 ​​women and 200 children under the age of 18, to protect them from the risk of a Corona virus spread in prisons.

Israel also did not respond, according to Abu Bakr, to the announcement of the Palestinian Authority and the International Committee of the Red Cross, despite their willingness to provide doctors, preventive materials and sterilizers for prisoners in prisons.

Human rights endeavors
The Chairman of the Prisoners and Editors Affairs Committee affirmed that the political endeavors and contacts of the Presidency and the government remain with the United Nations and international human rights organizations, to pressure Israel to preserve the lives of the Palestinian prisoners, but Israel is a "state outside the law and harmful to the wall display all international laws and covenants."

Abu Bakr warned of deteriorating conditions inside prisons, the prisoners ’resort to expanding the circle of protest, and entering an open-ended hunger strike, if Israel did not take their current protests seriously.

"In light of the global health crisis caused by the Corona virus, prisoners are the most needy category of attention and health care," Suhair Zaqqout, a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza, told Al-Jazeera Net.

Since the spread of the virus, the ICRC has intensified its dialogues with the Israel Prison Service, especially after the suspension of the visits program for families and lawyers, and excluded ICRC delegates who have maintained visits to prisons in order to familiarize themselves with living conditions and ensure health care, according to Zaqout.

But Zaqqout refused to disclose the reality of the prisons at the present time, and said, "We do not speak publicly about the conditions of detention."

She also said, "It is not the work of the ICRC to demand the release of the detainees, which is a decision of the detaining authorities," but the committee welcomes any measure that would protect them and save their lives.

Alternative mechanisms
Zaqqout explained that there are authorities around the world who have released detainees with the outbreak of the virus, and every authority does what it deems appropriate to prevent the spread of Corona, and "the ICRC welcomes any action in this regard and encourages the detaining authorities to be transparent."

The ICRC announced several days ago that it was searching with the Israeli Prison Authority for alternative mechanisms to ensure that prisoners would communicate with their families following the suspension of the visits program.

In this regard, Zaqout said that dialogue is still ongoing to discuss the appropriate way to maintain communication.

She explained that the commission delegates carry verbal and written messages during their visits to prisons from the prisoners to their families to reassure them, but finding a direct and regular means of communication remains the responsibility of the detention authorities, which is the right of the detainee as stipulated in the Fourth Geneva Convention.