Mohammed Mar'i Saudi Gazette RAMALLAH – The Palestinian researcher and expert in prisoners' affairs, Abdulnasser Farwaneh, Friday said that Israeli forces have arrested some 75,000 Palestinians since the outbreak of second intifada in September 2000. Farwaneh said in a report on the occasion of the 12th anniversary of the second intifada, also known as the Al-Aqsa intifada, that Israel is holding 4,500 prisoners in 23 prisons and detention camps in Israel and in the West Bank of whom 198 are children, eight women, 14 members of Palestine Legislative Council and 215 in administrative detention. He added that 23 prisoners have been in Israeli prisons for more than 25 years. The researcher said that 79 prisoners died in Israeli prisons due to torture and medical negligence. Al-Aqsa uprising was sparked on Sept. 28, 2000, by a controversial visit to the Muslims' third holiest shrine by former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon. Farwaneh added that Israeli forces arrest nearly 12 Palestinians in its daily incursions in West Bank cities. Israeli defense establishment says the almost daily arrest campaigns in Palestinian territories are part of its war against Palestinian armed groups. The Palestinian Authority (PA) says that the Israeli raids hinder its security forces to tighten their grip on the Palestinian territories. The researcher added in his report that Israel continues to practice torture and other forms of mistreatment against Palestinian detainees including severe beatings, being tied in painful and contorted positions for long periods of time, psychological abuse, long periods of solitary confinement, and pressure to collaborate with the occupying forces. He added that hundreds of prisoners are suffering from paralysis, diabetes, blindness and high blood pressure and also need special medical care that Israeli authorities refuse to extend. According to the researcher, Israel is holding the remains of 250 Arab and Palestinian fighters in the secret Israeli cemeteries known as the Cemeteries of Numbers. With regard of the Israeli policy of deportation, Farwaneh said that Israel deported 280 Palestinians from the West Bank to Gaza Strip or foreign countries.
