Ref: 27/2014

In the context of its efforts to support the cause of the Palestinian
prisoners in the Israeli jails and as part of its goals to internationalize
this cause and mobilize an international public opinion in solidarity with them,
on Thursday, 12 June 2014, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) received
an international delegation from the committees of solidarity with the
Palestinian people in Spain, Venezuela and France. The delegation included Manu
Pineda, Valeria Cortes, Brigitte Challanole,  Arlette Charlot, and Olivier Bremond.

The visit aimed to explore living conditions of the Palestinian
prisoners in the Israeli jails, especially the prisoners who suffer from health
problems and the administrative detainees. The delegation members will organize
campaigns in their countries targeting politicians and members of the parliaments
in order to encourage them to support the cause of the Palestinian prisoners on
hunger strike.

The international solidarity activists will also organize a joint
international campaign in their countries to shed more light on the conditions
of the Palestinian prisoners who suffer health problems though reviewing the
suffering of Murad Abu M’eileq, whose case has been followed up by PCHR since
2005 as he is an example and representative of many similar cases in the Israeli
jails.

The delegation met with Jaber Wishah, PCHR’s Deputy Director for Branch
Affairs, in PCHR’s head office in Gaza. 
He reviewed the conditions inside the Israeli jails and the inhumane and
humiliating detention conditions.  Wishah
focused on the circumstances of the administrative detainees who have been on
hunger strike for more than 45 days. He also talked about the punitive measures
taken against prisoners, including preventing them from changing their clothes,
tying them for long hours, isolating them, conducting arbitrary inspections and
beating them.

Moreover, Wishah addressed Israel’s intentions to adopt the force-feeding
law that was passed in the first reading.  He explained the risks of the aforementioned
law through recalling the experience of 1980 when Israeli authorities used the force-feeding
policy to break the Palestinian prisoners’ hunger strike in Nafha prison. As a
result, Ali al-Ja’afari and Rasem Halawa died due to the insertion of the
feeding tube into their lungs instead of their stomachs.

During the meeting, Wishah shed the light on the case of Murad Abu
Mo’aliq, who suffers health problems. Abu Mo’aliq underwent 9 surgeries in the
Israeli jails as 170 centimeters of his intestines were enucleated. Abu Mo’aliq
still suffers due to his deteriorating detention conditions.

Wishah expressed PCHR’s willingness to fully cooperate with the
delegation members to ensure carrying out campaigns in their countries in
solidarity with the just cause of the Palestinian prisoners.