Palestinian P.O.W.s make up half of Israeli prison population

Tuesday November 20, 2007 10:26 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC

In anticipation of a possible prisoner release, the Israeli prison administration has released statistics on the Palestinian prisoner-of-war population.  The 10,580 Palestinians held in Israeli prison camps account for nearly half of all prisoners in Israel.

A Palestinian prisoner being abducted by Israeli forces

Of those, about 470 are residents of Israel, including East Jerusalem, and 81 are foreigners. The vast majority, 8,469, are residents of the West Bank, and 762 are from the Gaza Strip, according to the prison administration.

4,800 of the Palestinian prisoners are associated with the Fateh party, with Hamas second at 2,546. There are 1,370 prisoners affiliated with Islamic Jihad, while 460 are from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and 120 from the smaller Democratic Front. The remainder are members of smaller groups or no group.

The Palestinian prisoners-of-war are held in facilities administered by the Israeli prison administration, despite the fact that they are not engaged in criminal activity, only internationally-recognized resistance against an occupying military force.

There are 23,766 prisoners held by the Israeli prison administration, 13,965 held for criminal activity.  Most of the remainder are Palestinian prisoners of war.

israel | prisoners | news report saed at imemc dot org