palestinian solidarity

international | rights, freedoms and repression | opinion/analysis Tuesday April 12, 2005 15:55 by l

Dear All, please circulate this call to as many contacts. Solidarity
with
the Palestinian Political PrisonersCall out for actions on April
17th
attached you will find two documents the first is the call for the
solidarity action, and the second is a letter we are asking people to
send
to the ICRC, people who are intrested or looking for more information
please write to: solidaridad_palestina@yahoo.es thanks alot for your
support and keep the good work. best regards Solidarity with the
Palestinian Political Prisoners

Call out for actions on April 17th

8000 Palestinians are currently being held as political prisoners by
Israel, including around 350 Palestinian children and 91 Palestinian
women.
These prisoners face forms of torture and mistreatment during their
arrest
and detention, and are consistently denied family and lawyer visits.

April 17th is the International Day in Solidarity with Palestinian
Political Prisoners. It is marked by demonstrations through out the
Occupied Territories with families demanding the release of prisoners.
Many
of these demonstrations take place outside the offices of the
International
Committee of the Red Cross, as this body is responsible for maintaining
contact with prisoners, as well as delivering clothes and other
essential
items.

We are calling on the Red Cross to take more meaningful steps
in the monitoring of prisoner conditions. Despite the grave violations
of
prisoner rights that take place in Israeli prisons, the ICRC mission in
the
West Bank and Gaza Strip is not carrying out frequent visits to central
Israeli prisons and has failed to deliver urgently needed supplies such
as
shoes and clothes.

We will be demonstrating outside the ICRC in as many cities as possible
on
Friday April 17th, in solidarity With Palestinian political prisoners
and
their families – demanding freedom for all political prisoners.

We are trying to build this campaign and
support the Palestinian prisoners. People are very encouraged to donate
and
support the campaign financially. Please send donations to this bank
account:
Bank name: Cajastur
Bank main address: Plaza de la Escandalera 2, 33003 Oviedo, Spain
Account holder: Escanda
Account number: 2048 0022 6 9 0340014716
Branch address: Plaza Alfonso X el
Sabio, 33630 Pola de Lena, Spain
International code for bank account
(IBAN): ES25 2048 0022 6903 4001 4716
International code of bank
(SWIFT): CECAESMM048

Attched you will find a copy of the letter that should be sent to the
ICRC.
The letter should be sent to the following addresses: Postal address
International Committee of the Red Cross 19 avenue de la PaixCH
1202
Geneva Fax general: ++ 41 (22) 733 20 57 Phone ++ 41 (22) 734 60 01 We
call
on all Palestine solidarity groups and political prisoners support
groups
to endorse this day of action and sign onto a letter we are delivering
to
the ICRC. To endorse or receive more information please contact:

solidaridad_palestina@yahoo.es
http://sumoud.tao.ca/


-----------------------------------

Letter to ICRC

Dear Mr. Kellenberger,

We address this letter to you as President of the International
Committee
of the Red Cross on the occasion of Palestinian Prisoner Day, April 17.

As Palestinian and international solidarity organizations, we are
extremely
concerned by the situation of Palestinian prisoners inside Israeli
prisons
and detention centers. Approximately 8000 Palestinians are currently
being
held as political prisoners by Israel, including around 350 Palestinian
children and 91 Palestinian women. Almost all of these prisoners face
some
form of torture or mistreatment during their arrest and detention.
Their
conditions of detention are extremely poor, and in some cases,
life-threatening. The majority of these detainees are being held in
violation of the IV Geneva Convention in prisons outside of the West
Bank
and Gaza Strip.

As the guardians of international humanitarian law, the ICRC is
responsible
“…to take cognizance of any complaints based on alleged breaches of
that
law” (Article 5.2c of the Statutes of International Red Cross and Red
Crescent Movement). In the case of Palestinian prisoners however, this
responsibility has quite clearly not been fulfilled. It appears to us
that
the ICRC has preferred to quietly accept Israel’s considerable and
increasing violations of the rights of Palestinian prisoners without
taking
any meaningful action.

Indeed, the worsening situation of Palestinian prisoners and detainees
has
been widely documented by many of the Palestinian human rights
organizations listed below as well as international and UN bodies.

Israel continues to practice torture and other forms of mistreatment
against Palestinian detainees including severe beatings, being tied in
painful and contorted positions for long periods of time, psychological
abuse, and long periods of solitary confinement, and pressure to
collaborate with the occupying forces. These abuses are not restricted
to
Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip; two Palestinians with
Israeli citizenship recently launched a hunger strike following 54 days
of
detention in inhuman conditions in an Israeli detention center.

We are particularly concerned with reports from Facility 1391, a secret
prison reportedly in the North of Israel where prisoners report being
raped
and sodomized by interrogators.

Inside Israeli prisons, Palestinian prisoners frequently report attacks
by
prison guards including the firing of tear gas inside prisoner’s cells,
beatings, denial of food and medical treatment and long periods of
solitary
confinement. Women prisoners report that they have been stripped naked
by
prison guards and shackled spread-eagled to prison beds in solitary
confinement.

A large number of Palestinian prisoners are in urgent need of medical
treatment and yet receive little more than basic pain relievers.
Prisoners
report that provision of medical treatment is often used as another
form of
coercion against them by the prison authorities.

We are particularly concerned about the situation of Palestinian child
prisoners. As we are sure you are aware, in 2002 the UN Committee on
the
Rights of the Child has publicly raised the treatment of Palestinian
child
prisoners by Israel.

Of particular concern is Israel’s continual treatment of Palestinian
children 16 years and over as adults in violation of the UN Convention
on
the Rights of the Child. Furthermore, there is no child-specific
treatment
for Palestinian children.

Despite these grave violations of prisoner rights, the ICRC mission in
the
area only carries out visits to central Palestinian prisons every six
months. The ICRC has failed to adequately address our very real
concerns
for Palestinian prisoners during these visits, including the provision
of
urgently needed clothes, shoes and other personal needs for prisoners.

Furthermore, the ICRC has not adequately followed the cases of the 19
Palestinians who have been deported from the West Bank to Gaza Strip.
As
“persons deprived of their liberty”, they are entitled to
accommodation,
work, regular visits and contact with family and friends.

While we understand that Israel places very real structural obstacles
in
front of the work of the ICRC, this situation must be urgently
addressed.
We therefore call on you, in your position as President of the ICRC, to
immediately take steps to fulfill the following measures:

*To take effective and public action to end the practice of Israel’s
incarceration of Palestinian prisoners from the West Bank and Gaza
Strip in
areas outside of the occupied territories.

*To take effective and public action against Israel’s widespread use of
torture against Palestinian detainees.

*To take effective and public action against the practice of Israel’s
deportation of Palestinian prisoners from the West Bank to the Gaza
Strip.

*To fulfill the ICRC’s mandate in regards to above-mentioned deportees,
as
persons deprived of their liberty. This includes visits and following
up
the situation of these people in regards to accommodation, work and the
right to see families, friends and colleagues.

*To immediately demand that sick and injured prisoners are provided
with
adequate and appropriate medical treatment.

*To take effective and public action to pressure Israel to open the
secret
prison Facility 1391 to representatives of the ICRC and Palestinian
lawyers.

*To urgently increase the frequency of visits by the ICRC to Israeli
prisons.

*To insist that visits by ICRC staff to Israeli prisons also include
the
provision of urgently needed items such as clothes, underwear, shoes,
sanitary products and educational materials.

*To pressure Israel to allow unobstructed family visits by Palestinians
from the West Bank and Gaza Strip to their relatives in Israeli jails.
Most
importantly, these visits should take place unobstructed by glass or
other
barriers.

*To increase the visibility of the work of the ICRC to the Palestinian
public, in particular the actions you carry out around the above
measures.
This should be done in much closer coordination with Palestinian human
rights organizations.