Ref: 43/2013

On Sunday morning, 16 June 2013, Mr. Jaber
Wishah, Deputy Director of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) for
Branches Affairs, received Ms. Claude Lèostic, President of the French NGO’s
Platform for Palestine, and Mr. Maxime
Guimberteau, Communication Officer of the Platform, in PCHR’s head office in Gaza City.

During the meeting with the visitors, Wishah
reviewed the human rights situation in the Gaza Strip, highlighting the
disastrous impacts of the Israeli closure imposed on the Gaza Strip.  The meeting discussed also the obstacles
imposed by the Israeli legal system on access of Palestinian victims to justice,
especially amendment no. 8 to the Israeli Tort Law (Liability of the State),
which exempts Israel of any legal liability arising from damage incurred to
residents of “a hostile territory” during a military operation.

The meeting further discussed possible means of
support for efforts made by PCHR and other Palestinian organizations in
pursuing suspected Israeli war criminals to hold them accountable for crimes
committed against Palestinian civilians. 

Additionally, the meeting addressed promoting
relations between PCHR and the Platform, and the possibility of using the
Platform’s work and relations with other groups in Europe, especially in France, to ensure Israel’s respect for Palestinian
human rights, in light of Israeli refusal to submit the comprehensive period
report to the UN Human Rights Council. 

At another level, the meeting discussed the
living conditions of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, and the two
visitors expressed their interest to get a detailed review of their living
condition and the policies adopted against them by the Israeli Prison
Service.  In this context, Wishah talked
about the deteriorating living conditions of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli
jails, and the policies of solitary confinement, administrative detention and
denial of family visitation. 

The two visitors expressed the Platform’s
desire to organize visits for prisoners’ families to France
to present the suffering of their relatives inside Israeli jails, in the
context of PCHR’s efforts to internationalize the cause of Palestinian prisoners
and in light of the successful visit organized by PCHR for families of
prisoners to France and Switzerland. 

PCHR and the Platform intend to launch a
European campaign against the policy of administrative detention, which has
been misused against many Palestinians who are still placed under
administrative detention.