The Israeli Military Court in Ofer Israeli prison held on Monday a session on the case of Lieutenant Fuad Al Shobaky,  the financial advisor of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) accused by Israel of being responsible for the Karen A ship which was captured by Israel in 2002 carrying on board weapons and ammunition.

Al Shobaky was held in Jericho Palestinian prison and was kidnapped along with Ahmad Saadat, secretary-general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and several other political detainees after the Israeli army surrounded the prison in 2004 and broke into it.

The prison was guarded by European guards appointed by the EU as part of an agreement reached with the late president, Yasser Arafat; the guards left the prison compound shortly before the army attacked it.

During the court session, Shobaky presented an extended initial testimony in which he denied the Israeli allegations.

He said that the late Palestinian president, Yasser Arafat, formed a committee to probe this incident and the committee called on any person and all countries, including Israel, to present any proof they might have, but no proof was submitted.

Shobaky slammed the silence on the United States and the United Kingdom on the Israeli violation to the agreement which was supervised by the US and the UK in which both countries vowed to protect Shobaky and Saadat while imprisoned in the Jericho prison.

The Israeli army surrounded the prison and broke into it before kidnapping Shobaky, Saadat and other political detainees.

Saadat and some of his comrades are accused by Israel of planning the assassination of the Israeli Tourism Minister, Rahbaaam Zeevi.

In spite of his sickness, Shobaky, 69, informed the court of repeated attacks against him, physical and psychological torture he was subjected to during interrogation.

He added that Israel refused his request to receive proper medical treatment even on his own expense, and said that he is derived from his visitation rights.

He also denied the Israeli allegations that he has contacts with foreign countries including Syria and added that he always acted within his post and duties.

He said that part of his duties is being in charge of the finical affairs of Palestinian forces present in more than one Arab country, and added that he was in contact with these forces as part of his job but never contacted any non-Palestinian system.

Israel claims that Al Shobaky confessed that he is involved in the Karen A ship and that he said that the millions of dollars that Israel and the international community transferred to the Palestinian Authority were used, under direct orders from Yasser Arafat, in financing a huge shipment of weapons and ammunition.

Israel also claims that senior Palestinian officials are involved in this issue.

Furthermore, Israeli security sources claimed that Al Shobaky said during interrogation that he met in 2001 with Iranian envoys who proposed military aid to the Palestinian Authority, including constructing factories for manufacturing weapons, and providing the Palestinians with the needed technology to develop combat tools.

The sources also claimed that Al Shokbay confessed of involvement in smuggling arms under direct orders from Arafat, and involvement in financing Palestinian cells.

The court decided to hold another session on October 28 for further deliberations.

The Israeli Authorities renewed administrative detention orders on Sunday against two underage female detainees from Bethlehem. The two detainees received three more months of detention without any formal charges or trials.

The two detainees were identified as Salwa Riziq Salah, 17, and Sara Yasser Saleh, 17.

The Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) reported that Salwa and Sara were kidnapped by the army on June 5, 2008 and were immediately moved to administrative detention.

The PPS slammed the Israeli violations and the continued detention of female detainees as more than 80 female detainees are still imprisoned by Israel. Some of them are mothers, others are children and a number of them are sentenced to high terms.

The PPS called on the international community to intervene and release all detainees from Israeli prisons as more than 10,000 Palestinians are still imprisoned by Israel. 

The Waed Society which defends Palestinian detainees and freed detainees, considered the Israeli decision to release 450 Palestinian detainees as a success for the Palestinian Resistance and a clear proof of the justice of the Palestinian demands and cause.

The Society demanded that Palestinian factions holding the Israeli corporal Gilad Shalit captive to remain steadfast on their demands for releasing detainees who are sentenced to high terms and were not released after the Oslo agreement more than ten years ago.

The Society also welcomed the steadfastness of the Palestinian resistance its demand that the detainees who will be freed should be members of all Palestinian factions without any geographical and political discrimination.

It also called on the resistance to start a “new area of abducting Israeli soldiers and trade them with Palestinian detainees” as there are more than 11000 Palestinian detainees imprisoned by Israel and deprived from their basic rights.

An Israeli military court sentenced on Thursday a Palestinian resident from the northern Gaza Strip city of Beit Hanoun with a 12-year-imprisonment.

The Israeli court issued the verdict against Ali Qasem aL-Kafarna, a local leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), who was detained by the Israeli troops during an Israeli invasion of Beit Hanoun in 2006.

During the first Intifada of 1987, aL-Kafarna used to be wanted for the Israeli occupation authorities. Later on he moved to Syria, until he came back to Gaza in 1995, upon arrival of the Palestinian police forces.

Lawyers of the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) visited a number of detainees in a several Israeli prisons and detention centers. The detainees complained of mistreatment, abuse and lack of medical attention.

In Hasharon prison, one of the PPS lawyers met with detainee Reema Daraghma, from Tubas, who informed him of her very bad health condition.

Daraghma told the lawyer that she was examined by the prison doctor and that he prescribed medications for her but the prison administration insists that she does not need those medications and refused to provide her any needed meds.

She was barred from her visitation rights since more than nine months without being informed about the reason behind this act.

The lawyer also met detainee Sanaa’ Shihada, from Qalandia refugee camp in Ramallah, who also complained of bad treatment against her and the other detainees.

Also, another PPS lawyer visited a number of detainees in Shatta Israeli prison who informed him of the bad living conditions and mistreatment they are subjected to.

The lawyer met detainees Moammar Asad Sabah, from Jenin, who was kidnapped by the army in 2003 and was sentenced to 23 years imprisonment.

Sabah told the lawyer that the prison administration is barring the families of the detainees from bringing clothes, shoes and other necessary supplies to the detainees.

 Detainee Baha’ Al Jallad, from Tulkarem, said that he is suffering from a heart condition and needs an urgent open-heart surgery but the administration is neglecting his urgent needs.

He added that the administration is baring detained brothers from being in the same prison or room, and is barring them from visiting each other, in an attempt to keep them separated which makes it even more difficult for their parents to visit them.

Al Jallad also said that the detainees do not have money and that they have to buy most of their food from the prison canteen which is overpriced.

Detainee Wajdi Ahmad Al Jallad informed the lawyer that the administration is imposing high fines on the detainees without any proper cause, an issue which is placing more pressure on the detainees.

In Ohhali Kidar (Be’er Sheva) Prison, a PPS lawyer met with detainee Mohammad Ata Abdul-Ghani, from Tulkarem, and was kidnapped by the army in 2002.

Abdul-Ghani was sentenced to three life-terms, and is suffering from chronic back pain, Osteoporosis and other health issues but was never seen by a specialized physician and is not provided with the needed medical treatment.

Abdul-Ghani told the lawyer that the Prison Administration ignoring the basic rights of the detainees, including their right to medical treatment.  

The two lawyers visited several detainees from different Palestinian areas and many of the detainees complained that they were under interrogation and torture for extended periods, and a number of them required medical treatment due to extreme torture they were subjected to.