News / Palestine

Palestinian prisoners dissolve regulatory committees in protest against Israeli repression

Sunday, 28 August 2022 5:23 PM [ Last Update: Sunday, 28 August 2022 5:23 PM ]

This file photo by Palestinian media shows Israeli forces raid cells of Palestinian prisoners at a detention facility.

Palestinian freedom fighters languishing in Israeli prisons have dissolved their representative bodies in protest against the Israeli regime’s repressive measures.

The Palestinian Prisoner Society (PPS) said that the prisoners dissolved on Sunday morning the regulatory committees representing them before staging a mass hunger strike beginning in early September.

At least 1,000 prisoners will participate in an open-ended hunger strike before others join in according to a mechanism prepared by the High Emergency Committee.

The PPS said the decision to go on hunger strike will depend on the position of the Israel Prison Service (IPS). Israeli jailers will now have to deal with each prisoner individually instead of tackling their issues through their representatives.

The prisoners also intend to wear detention uniforms in prison yards and during stand-up counts on Monday.

Tensions have been high since Friday, when the IPS dispatched additional special forces to its jails, carried out raids on cells, confiscated electrical appliances used by the prisoners, and transferred several inmates to other jails and isolation cells.

In recent days, the prisoners have refused to leave their cells for security checks and returned the meals as a protest step approved by their representatives.

This came after the IPS reneged on agreements that were reached last March with the regulatory committees representing the prisoners.

There are around 4550 Palestinian resistance fighters in Israeli jails, including 31 women and 175 minors.

A large number of Palestinian prisoners are also being held in Israeli jails without any charge or trial under the so-called administrative detention where incarceration periods can be renewed indefinitely.

Read more:

Israel has detained over 9,000 Palestinian kids since 2015: Advocacy group

Over 7,000 Palestinian prisoners are currently held in some 17 Israeli jails, with dozens of them serving multiple life sentences.

Israeli authorities keep Palestinian prisoners under deplorable conditions lacking proper hygienic standards. They have also been subject to systematic torture, harassment, and repression all through the years of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories.

According to the Palestine Detainees Studies Center, about 60% of the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails suffer from chronic diseases, and a number of them have died in detention or after being released due to the severity of their cases.

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