Ref:
48/2012

On
14 May 2012, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) concluded a
conference in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners.  This conference was organized in cooperation
with the Arab Organization for Human Rights (AOHR) and the Egyptian
Journalists’ Syndicate (EJS) in the EJS offices in Cairo.  This conference is part of support and
mobilization activities organized in support of Palestinian prisoners in
Israeli jails.

The
conference was aimed at introducing the cause of Palestinian and Arab prisoners
detained in Israeli jails and to highlight the suffering endured by them and by
their families, which undermined the ability of Palestinian prisoners and the
ability of their families to be steadfast against the Israeli occupation.

Members
of Palestinian prisoners’ families and ex-prisoners participated in the
conference.  These participants gave live
statements about the suffering of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and
about the suffering of prisoners’ families.  In addition, a number of public and official
figures, representatives of international and Arab human rights organizations,
representatives of political parties, parliament members, experts, media
professionals and writers from Egypt and other Arab countries participated in
the conference.

This
conference coincided with the declaration of an agreement reached between
Palestinian prisoners who have been on hunger strike and the Israeli prison
authorities.  During the conference, Raji
Sourani, Director of PCHR, announced that Palestinian prisoners on hunger
strike ended their hunger strike.  This
announcement was welcomed by the participants and by families of prisoners in
the conference.

Sameh
Ashour, President of the Egypt Bar Association and Director of the Arab Lawyers
Union, spoke in the conference and said that it is not only the Israeli
occupation that has an ugly face, but it is also the international community
that adopts a double standard strategy and the defeatist Arab regimes that fail
to support Palestinians.

In
his speech, the Ambassador of Palestine to Egypt and the Permanent
Representative of Palestine to the Arab League, Barakat al-Farra, stressed that
it is very important to provide continuous support to Palestinian prisoners.  He called upon all parties to provide all
possible assistance, without restricting such assistance to certain events.

Raji
al-Sourani, Director of PCHR, reviewed the harsh conditions which pushed the
Palestinian prisoners towards going on open hunger strike.  He called for daily support, not seasonal
support, for prisoners.  Sourani stressed
that it is important to open international investigations into detention
conditions in Israeli jails and into violations committed against Palestinian
prisoners.  He also emphasized that
Palestinians and Arabs must exert efforts to take the cause of Palestinian
prisoners to the UN General Assembly and seek a resolution on the legal status
of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

Hisham
Younis, Member of the Board of ESJ, praised Palestinian prisoners in Israeli
jails for their resistance and persistence on meeting all of their demands.
AOHR Secretary General, Alaa Shalabi, reviewed efforts currently exerted to
internationalize the cause of Palestinian prisoners and to address this cause
at all levels.

Secretary
General of the Arab Lawyers Union, Omar Zain, described actions taken against
prisoners in Israeli jails to be a racist war.  He called upon the International Committee of
the Red Cross, the UN Human Rights Council, UN bodies and all international
organizations to intervene in order to save Palestinian prisoners from slow
death and negligence.

Lawyer
Fadwa al-Barghouthi, the wife of a Palestinian prisoner, Marwan al-Barghouthi,
reviewed the efforts that have been exerted for 10 years to internationalize
the cause of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.  She appreciated the efforts exerted by
Egyptian human rights organizations.  Al-Barghouthi
called upon the Arab League to adopt a permanent Arab action plan to support
the cause of Palestinian prisoners.

The
mother of a Palestinian prisoner, Ibrahim Baroud, talked about the suffering of
many Palestinian prisoners who have spent more than 30 years in Israeli jails.  She explained that in the past 15 years, she has
been able to visit her son in Israeli jails only twice, noting that her son is
sentenced to 27 years of imprisonment.

Fuad
al-Razen, a former prisoner, noted that the international law guarantees the
right to family visitation and many other prisoners’ rights.  He noted that Israel denies Palestinian
prisoners access to their fundamental rights.  Al-Razen also explained that the rights that
prisoners are currently enjoying were grabbed through hunger strikes.

Mutasem
al-Shawa, from Palestine Section in the Arab League, read during the conference
a report on resolutions issued by the Arab League to internationalize the cause
of prisoners.

On
the sidelines of the conference, families and ex-prisoners in Israeli jails
held a series of meetings, including a meeting with the Deputy Secretary General
of the Arab League, Ahmed Ben Helli, in the presence of Raji al-Sourani.  In this meeting, prisoners’ families explained
in detail the suffering that they and their relatives in Israeli jails endure.  Mr. Ben Helli in turn talked about efforts
exerted by the Arab League in this area and promised of a new stage of
effective and serious actions in this area.

Today
morning, 15 May 2012, prisoners’ families and PCHR Deputy Director Jaber Wishah
met with President of the Arab Parliament Ali Adaqbasi in the Headquarters of
the Arab League.  During the meeting,
Wishah called upon the Arab Parliament to pay a special attention to the cause
of Palestinian prisoners.  He proposed
the formation of a committee in the Arab Parliament to follow up the issue of
prisoners. Prisoners’ families talked about their experiences and about the
suffering they and their relatives in prisons have been enduring.  Mr. Adaqbasi welcomed Wishah’s proposal and
invited the Palestinian delegation to attend the sessions of the Arab
Parliament and to follow up the tasks that will be implemented by the committee
to be formed in order to follow up the issue of Palestinian prisoners in
Israeli jails. Adaqbasi promised to take necessary action to internationalize
the cause of prisoners, and stressed that the Arab Parliament supports
Palestinian prisoners and their families.

The
Palestinian delegation will hold more meetings.  They will meet today with members of the
Egyptian Parliament and with members of the Egyptian Parliament’s human rights
committee and political committee.

It
should be noted that the visit of the Palestinian prisoners’ families to Egypt
and the meetings that they held were well covered by the print, audio and
visual media.