Israeli Prison hell for Palestinians
JVL Introduction
We commend the painful and agonising report by B’Tselem on the brutal experience of Palestinian prisoners in many of Israel’s prisons. Since October 7th the prison population has increased exponentially, doubling within two weeks and the number held under administrative detention – ie without charge – has risen from c. 1200 before October 7th to 3,660 by April 2024, see eg . here from Al Jazeera
There have been reports on the dreadful conditions and treatments of Palestinian prisoners before eg here on the BBC and here from Amnesty International but the personal testimony gathered and analysed by Bt’Selem makes for crucial, although harrowing reading. There have also been up to 60 deaths in prisons since October 7th, a dramatic increase on the appalling record evenbefore October 7th.
Posted below is the opening paragraph of the summary report. The link below includes links to three short videos, many extracts from individuals’ testimonies as well as links to the full and summary reports.
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This article was originally published by B'Tselem on Fri 2 Aug 2024. Read the original here.
Welcome to Hell - The Israeli Prison System as a Network of Torture Camps
“Welcome to Hell” is a report on the abuse and inhuman treatment of Palestinians held in Israeli custody since 7 October 2023. B’Tselem collected testimonies from 55 Palestinians held during that time and released, almost all with no charges. Their testimonies reveal the outcomes of the rushed transformation of more than a dozen Israeli prison facilities, military and civilian, into a network of camps dedicated to the abuse of inmates as a matter of policy. Facilities in which every inmate is deliberately subjected to harsh, relentless pain and suffering operate as de-facto torture camps.
“We were taken to Megiddo. When we got off the bus, a soldier said to us: “Welcome to hell.” From the testimony of Fouad Hassan 45, from Qusrah in Nablus District
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There does not seem to be much difference between the way Palestinians are treated and Jews, Russians and Gypsies were treated during WWII. One also has to remember that after the war some European Democracies immediately made an effort to re conquer their colonies and paid little attention to human rights there. The West is not that superior even if all these countries call themselves democracies.
Sad but well documented. There are, I believe, requirements under international humanitarian law for prisoners to be detained, and serve time in the occupied territory. This rarely gets a mention when we read reports of the Zionist treatment of prisoners?
This is of course horrific. And it is supported by our own British government.