Parents of Jerusalem prisoners hold protest demanding their release

Thursday November 15, 2007 06:36 by IMEMC Staff

Dozens of families of Palestinian detainees from Jerusalem currently imprisoned by Israel held a protest on Wednesday in front of the headquarters of the International Red Cross in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in Jerusalem.

Jerusalem

Their protest was held to demand that the issue of the Palestinian prisoners be brought up during the Annapolis summit on November 26th.  The families also demanded that Jerusalem detainees and detainees who hold Israeli citizenship be included in any prisoner release deal between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

The families added that Jerusalem detainees are always excluded from the agenda of peace summits, but that they should be included in this summit.  They brought a letter to the American Consulate in Jerusalem stating that “We demand that the American people pressure their government for the release of our sons.  If we are to live in peace in this region, all detainees, without exception, should be freed.”

Also, a neighborhood group from the Wadi al-Joz area brought a letter to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad, and the Minister of Detainees, as well as the head of the Palestinian negotiation team, appealing to them from the release of the detainees. 

The families stated that the detainees are facing ongoing violations of their rights and abuse inside the prison camps.  Parents of the detainees said that they are unable to visit their detained family members, especially those that are being held in Be'er Sheba prison, and that the Israeli Prison Administration continues to reject the demands of the detainees that their conditions be improved.  Prisoners are routinely denied medical care, and are living in squalid conditions in the prison camps.

Translated by; Saed Bannoura - IMEMC

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