Palestinian Prisoners’ Day and the will to challenge and withstand

Ad-Dustour’s Sari Qadweh said that Israeli authorities have imprisoned around a fifth of the Palestinian people under its military occupation of their lands.

Qadweh said that in addition to committing murder and torture against Palestinians, Israel insists on imprisoning more than 5,000 Arab and Palestinian prisoners under inappropriate conditions, including impeding the Palestinian government’s anti-COVID-19 measures for Palestinians discriminatorily while applying such measures for Israelis.

He said that Palestinian Prisoners’ Day serves as an opportunity to draw global attention to the racist and terrorist Israeli policies that weaponise COVID-19 against Palestinians inside and outside its prisons.

He said that Israeli authorities purposely expose Palestinian prisoners to COVID-19 positive Israeli intelligence personnel through fabricated investigations, and continue to demolish Palestinians’ homes at a time when the World Health Organisation is urging people to stay home to be safe.

The columnist said that Israel practices procrastination and abuse against Palestinians and uses Palestinian prisoners as political pressure tools to implement the so-called US “deal of the century”.

He highlighted that Israel refuses to implement international agreements regarding Palestinian prisoners or treat them as prisoners of war.

In light of Palestinian Prisoners’ Day and the inhumane Israeli policies regarding them, Qadweh called on the UN, the Security Council, the Human Rights Council, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and all humanitarian organisations to move towards freeing Palestinian prisoners, especially women, children and the elderly.

He stressed that Israel allowing COVID-19 to spread among Palestinian prisoners is a crime against humanity and an act of state terrorism.