The Permanent Representatives Committee of the OIC Member States convened at the General Secretariat headquarters in Jeddah on 18 May 2017 to debate the issue of Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in the Israeli occupation jails at a request from the State of Palestine. The Committee issued a final declaration in which it reaffirmed all the resolutions issued by the Islamic Summits and Foreign Ministers Councils relevant to the cause of Palestine, Al-Quds and the Arab-Israeli conflict. It also recalled the declaration of solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners as issued by the OIC Member States' Foreign Ministers Council at its thirty ninth session held in Djibouti on 15-17 November 2012. The Committee reiterated that the practices and policies pursued by Israel, the occupant power, against the Palestinian prisoners represent a flagrant violation of International Humanitarian law, the Human Rights Charter, the standard elementary regulations of prisoner treatment and other relevant international conventions. It also expressed its profound concern over the plight of more than one thousand Palestinian detainees and prisoners, led by imprisoned Palestinian leader and parliamentarian Marwan Barghouthi, who have begun an open-ended hunger strike on 17 April 2017. The Committee expressed solidarity with this peaceful, non-violent action, called the "Freedom and Dignity Strike", by the detainees and prisoners in protest of their inhumane treatment by Israel, the occupying power, and calls for respect of their rights in accordance with international humanitarian law and human rights law. It also condemned Israeli attempts to break the hunger strike by force, including through incitement, punitive measures, and threats of force-feeding which amounts to torture. The Committee reiterated its grave concern that there are more than 6,500 Palestinian civilians, including 300 children and 65 women, currently imprisoned by Israel, among them nearly 500 held in administrative detention without charge. These prisoners are being held under harsh, inhumane conditions and being subjected to physical and mental ill-treatment, including torture, severe interrogations, intimidation and solitary confinement, and denied access to proper medical care and family visits. --More 19:20 LOCAL TIME 16:20 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/1631335
