Ref:
34/2011

Each
year on 17 April, Palestinian Prisoners Day is commemorated in order to support
and recognize Palestinians currently in custody in Israel. Since 1979, the date marks
the release of Palestinian prisoners by Israel as part of a prisoner swap
in 1974. Between 1967 and 1988 more than 600,000 Palestinians were held in
Israeli jails for a week or more, constituting approximately 1/5 of the total
population. Moreover, from the beginning of the 2000 “Al Aqsa” Second Intifada, Israel
detained another 70,000 individuals bringing the total number of Palestinians
who have been detained in Israel
since 1967 to 760,000. Currently, approximately 6,500 Palestinians are
detained in Israel
including approximately 251 children and 37 women. These prisoners are held
in17 investigation and detention centers and prisons throughout Israel.
Additionally, approximately 241 administrative detainees and 14 members of the
Palestinian Legislative Council are held in custody by Israel.

PCHR
notes with particular concern the many violations of human rights and
humanitarian law that prisoners are subjected to while in Israeli detention. In
particular violations of Articles 7, 9 and 10 of the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights to which Israel is a State Party. Moreover,
under Israeli military regulations which are applied in the occupied
Palestinian territory (oPt), Palestinian children are treated as adults at the
age of 16. This is in blatant contravention of the UN Convention on the Rights
of the Child (CRC) which states that a child is anyone below 18 years old. Israel
is a signatory to the CRC. As a result, Palestinian children are subjected to
the same detention regime as adult prisoners.

Prisoners
in Israeli custody are often subject to cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment,
including poor detention conditions, denial of access to counsel or family
visits, deprivation of health care and many other policies that violate human
rights law. The UN Committee Against Torture has criticized Israel for failing to undertake credible and
effective investigations by Israel
into torture-related allegations. Prisoners in administrative detention face
the additional burden of not knowing when, or if, they will be released;
the Israeli administrative detention law allows for the arrest of persons not
charged with committing a crime and their detention for renewable 6 month
terms.

The
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights’ (PCHR) notes with concern that none of the
approximately 700 Gazans in Israeli jails have been allowed to receive visitors
for nearly four years. Not only are these prisoners denied visits but they are
also denied phone calls or mail from relatives. Only occasionally and
sporadically are these prisoners allowed to communicate through letters. The
blanket prohibition of family visits exacerbates the already difficult
conditions of confinement and constitutes a violation of international human
rights law.  

PCHR
commemorates Palestinian Prisoners day with the release of nine narratives
collected from family members of prisoners. These narratives highlight the
unnecessary hardship on both the prisoners and their families.

Narratives Behind
Locked Doors:

· The Transformation of
Palestinian Prisoners’ Visitation Rights over the Years

· Arwa Abdel-Rahim, a Mother of two
Prisoners

· Abla Sa’adat: A husband imprisoned

· Trying to See Her Brother – The Struggle of the
Family of a Prisoner from the West Bank

· No Family Visitation for Prisoners from Gaza: the
Case of Abdallah Inshahsi

· Family Visits Denied – the Mother of a Prisoner from
Gaza tells her Story

· Fairouz Afaf: A Former Prisoner Discusses Israeli
Prison Conditions in the 1970s

· Restrictive Family Visitation Rights for West Bank
Prisoners- the Case of Amal Fayez Juma’a

· The Mother of a Minor in Prison – Amal Abdul-Allah