RAMALLAH – The Palestinian Ministry of Detainees and Ex-detainees on Tuesday said that Israel is holding 5,100 Palestinian and Arab prisoners in its 17 prisons and detention camps.
The ministry said in a statement on the occasion of the resumption of peace talks between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Israel 537 prisoner are serving life sentences. It added that Abdullah al-Barghouthi, of Hamas movement, is serving 67 life terms and additional 250 years for masterminding bombing attacks that left 67 Israelis killed. It added that Israeli is holding 250 children mainly in the Majido, Sharon and Offer prisons. The statement added that 14 female prisoners are serving their terms in the Israeli jails. The ministry said that 13 Palestinian legislators are behind Israeli bars, including member of President Mahmoud Abbas Fatah's Central Committee, Marwan al-Barghouthi, the Secretary-General of Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Ahmad Sa'adat and the Hamas leader in the West Bank, Hassan Yousef. It added that Israel holds 104 prisoners who were arrested before the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, the majority of them are serving life sentences for the deadly attacks against Israelis. The Palestinians have conditioned the resumption of the peace talks, which came to a halt in 2010, with a freeze of settlements construction, release of the 104 prisoners and negotiation based on 1967 borders. According to the ministry, 1400 prisoners are sick 18 of whom are suffering from cancer, paralysis, diabetes, blindness and high blood pressure and also need special medical care that Israeli authorities refuse to extend. The statement said that 204 prisoners died in Israeli prisons since its occupation of Palestinian territories in the June 1967 war due to torture and medical negligence. The ministry concluded that 11 Palestinian and Arab prisoners are holding hunger strike against their detention in Israeli jails. On Sunday, the government of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu voted in favor of establishing a team of ministers to overlook the identity of the Palestinians to be freed, with 13 ministers supporting the motion, seven against and two abstaining. The decision to release prisoners is widely objected by hawkish, right-wing politicians as well as some members of bereaved families. Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said that ministers who voted to release long-term Palestinian prisoners were forced to choose between “a bad decision and a worse decision.” The Israeli Army Radio said that the team to oversee the release of the prisoners will consist of Netanyahu, Ya'alon, Justice Minister and chief negotiator Tzipi Livni, and Science Minister (former head of Shin Bet) Ya'akov Perry. According to the report, the prisoners will be released gradually in several batches, and the first batch will be in early August.
