The Center for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights “Hurryyat” condemns the Israeli occupation’s authorities blatant violation against new born children, who are less than a few weeks old from practicing their right to travel with their families, in a dangerous precedent of its kind. The right of movement is a guaranteed right as per the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 13) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Article 12). The Israeli authorities is collectively punishing  little children and their families despite providing identification documents, claiming that the PNA did not transfer newborns records to the Israeli authorities as it used to since 1994. However, the Palestinian authority stopped all proceedings with the Israeli side, as a result of the Palestinian leadership decisions of May 19^th 2020 to stop all security coordination and decomposition of signed agreements with the occupying state,

Hurryyat strongly condemns the Israeli violation that affects the rights of more than 25,000 new borns since the mentioned Palestinian leadership decision of May. Hurryyat considers this violation as an assult to the rights of these children,  an Israeli attempt to blackmail their families, and a political incitement against the Palestinian National Authority to impede its decisions. Hurryyat considers this violation as a racist practice affecting the rights of these children just because they’re Palestinians

Hurryyat is calling for the international community, the the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the UNICEF, and international human rights institutions to shoulder their responsibilities concerning what the Palestinian children are subject to, and condemn the Israeli policy that violates human rights affecting tens of thousands of Palestinian citizens who are not only deprived from their basic rights to travel but also putting extra financial burden as a result of losing the reserved airline tickets.

Hurryyat is stressing on the necessity to pressure the occupying state under the penalty of responsibility and accountability to permanently stop this policy since it affects many basic civil rights of those citizens such as education, treatment, labour, family boding, revive religious rituals …ect.

Its important to note that Hurryyat was able to document 8000 travel banning cases at al-Karama border crossing for security reasons, between 2014-2019 from different age groups and social sectors including 650 women.

On Friday, 24 June 2020, the Palestinian Disability Coalition (PDC), Al-Haq, Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, and the Center for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights “Hurryyat” submitted a joint parallel report to the United Nations (UN) Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities for its list of issues on Israel’s initial report. The joint report examines the Israeli occupying authorities’ widespread and systematic human rights violations targeting the Palestinian people, including Palestinians with disabilities, in the occupied Palestinian territory.

Recalling the broader context of Israel’s institutionalised oppression and domination over the indigenous Palestinian people as a whole, on both sides of the Green Line, and as refugees and exiles denied their right of return since the Nakba of 1948, the joint parallel report highlights Israel’s violation of its obligation to respect, protect, and fulfil the human rights of all Palestinians, including Palestinian persons with disabilities subject to its effective control, as Occupying Power, in the occupied Palestinian territory, focusing on violations of the right to life, health, and freedom from arbitrary detention as well as torture and other ill-treatment against Palestinians with disabilities in Israeli prisons and detention centres.

In particular, the joint parallel report highlights Israeli occupying authorities’ failure to fulfil the rights of Palestinians under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in the occupied Palestinian territory and their obligations under international humanitarian law and international human rights law applicable to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. Notably, the joint report highlights efforts to erase Palestinians, who are not mentioned once in Israel’s State report, as an attempt by the Israeli occupying authorities to absolve themselves of their legal obligations towards the Palestinian people. As such, the organisations call on the Committee to recognise the applicability of the CRPD in areas under Israel’s effective control, as Occupying Power.

In addition, the joint parallel report details Israel’s widespread and systematic policy of deliberate resort to lethal and other excessive force as part of a shoot-to-kill policy targeting the Palestinian people, including Palestinians with disabilities, with impunity. Recalling that 465 Palestinians, including 14 persons with disabilities have been killed by the Israeli occupying forces in the occupied Palestinian territory since the start of 2018, the organisations highlighted an escalation in the use of lethal force against Palestinians by the Israeli occupying forces, which systematically resort to rules of engagement for the use of live fire violating international human rights law.

Notably, 217 Palestinians, including 48 children, eight persons with disabilities, four health workers, and two journalists have been killed by the Israeli occupying forces during the Great Return March demonstrations in the occupied Gaza Strip. More recently, the Israeli occupying forces extrajudicially executed 31-year-old Palestinian person with disability Iyad Al-Hallaq in occupied East Jerusalem, in what amounts to a war crime. As the organisations note in their joint report, “Now, nearly two months since Iyad’s killing, the Israeli occupying authorities claim that none of surveillance cameras were working in the area at the time. This follows the imposition of a gag order on Iyad’s lawyer to conceal the truth surrounding the killing and to prevent Iyad’s lawyer from sharing information about court proceedings with the public.”

In February 2019, the UN Commission of Inquiry on the 2018 protests in the occupied Palestinian territory found “reasonable grounds to believe that Israeli snipers shot at journalists, health workers, children and persons with disabilities, knowing they were clearly recognizable as such.” In the joint parallel report on the CRPD, the organisations further highlight the Israeli occupying forces’ practice of permanently disabling Palestinians through excessive use of force, including through its “kneecapping” policy particularly targeting Palestinian youth. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), as of 31 August 2019, 149 Palestinians, including 30 children, have faced amputations due to injuries sustained during the Great Return March demonstrations.

In addition, the parallel report highlights Israel’s illegal closure of the Gaza Strip since 2007, which constitutes unlawful collective punishment over two million Palestinians and undermines a wide spectrum of rights owed to Palestinian persons with disabilities under the CRPD, in particular the right to equality and non-discrimination (Article 5), life (Article 10), access to justice (Article 13), freedom from torture and other ill-treatment (Article 15), liberty of movement (Article 18), education (Article 24), health (Article 25), work and employment (Article 27), and the right to an adequate standard of living (Article 28), amongst other rights enshrined under the Convention.

Highlighting the dire situation Palestinian patients from Gaza denied access to treatment, the organisations urged the Committee to request information on steps taken by the Israeli occupying authorities to fulfil the right to health of Palestinians, including access to healthcare, and to implement the recommendations of the UN Commission of Inquiry, amongst other international bodies and experts, to lift the Gaza closure with immediate effect and to realise the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination and return. The organisations also urged the Committee to examine the Israeli occupying forces’ deliberate policy to permanently disable Palestinians, including through “kneecapping”, in violation of Palestinians’ right to physical and mental health and to freedom from torture and other ill-treatment.

Finally, the report examines Israel’s long-term policy of medical negligence in Israeli prisons and detention centres, which has led to permanent disabilities and, in the most severe cases, death amongst Palestinian detainees. With Palestinians frequently injured by the Israeli occupying forces during arrest, they face additional health risks due to harsh Israeli detention conditions as well as systematic torture and ill-treatment sanctioned by Israeli courts. Acknowledging the inappropriate facilities in Israeli detention for Palestinian detainees and prisoners with disabilities, the organisations underlined Israel’s practice of delaying the delivery or provision of assistive devices to Palestinian persons with disabilities in detention, to an extent that jeopardizes their safety, health, and independence, in violation of Articles 20 and 26 of the CRPD.

Overall, the organisations, which will be engaging with the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities during the Committee’s pre-sessional working group in September 2020 as well as the subsequent review of the Israeli occupying authorities, urged the Committee to call on Israel, the Occupying Power, to respect, protect, and fulfil the rights of all persons with disabilities under its effective control as well as to report to the Committee on its compliance with the Convention therein. The organisations also urged the Committee to recognise Israeli judicial mechanisms as unwilling to genuinely prosecute international crimes committed against the Palestinian people, including Palestinians with disabilities, and to call for international justice and accountability at the International Criminal Court to bring an end to Israeli impunity and guarantee justice for Palestinian victims.

Read the full joint parallel report as a  PDF here.

As the United Nations and the world commemorates the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture on 26 June 2020, Palestinian Civil Society Coalitions stand in solidarity with Palestinians prisoners, who have suffered the devastating effects of torture and ill-treatment, and unequivocally condemn all forms of such treatment occurring in Israeli prisons, interrogation facilities, and detention centers.

The absolute and non-derogable prohibition against torture, enshrined under article (2) of the International Convention against Torture and ratified by the Israeli occupying state on 3 October 1991. Nevertheless, since its creation, the occupying state enforced and developed laws and practices that led to both the systematic use of torture and to absolute impunity for the perpetrator of this crime. Historically speaking, several torture methods were used against Palestinians, that included but were not limited to shaking, the baby chair, covering the head with a bag, forced listening to loud music, the closet, ripping of nails, and many other methods that were used to extract confessions from Palestinian detainees. In fact, since the beginning of the occupation in 1967, 73 Palestinian detainees were killed in Israeli interrogations.

The Israeli occupation authorities never stopped resorting to torture as the standard operating procedure in extracting confessions from Palestinian detainees. In point of fact, the crime of torture is committed with the complicity of the Israeli judicial system. At the end of 2019, the intelligence agency “Shabak” subjected a number of detainees at al-Mascobiyya interrogation center to severe physical and psychological torture, without any form of monitoring and protection. Those detainees included university students, human rights defenders, and political leader. One of them is Samer al-Arbed who was transferred to the hospital only after three days of his arrest, Samer arrived to the hospital unconscious and with life threatening injuries including 11 broken ribs and a renal failure due to the severe torture methods he was subjected to. Samer along with the rest of the mentioned detainees are still suffering from injuries obtained during their interrogation period, not only for the severity of the injuries, but also because of the occupation’s systematic policy of medical negligence in Israeli prisons.

During interrogations, Palestinian detainees suffer from different forms of both physical and psychological torture. The methods used against them include, but are not limited to harsh beating, sleep deprivation, solitary confinement, stress positions, the denial of hygiene needs, sexual harassment, threatening and intensive psychological torture including the use of family members and/or other detainees. The used threats include threats of rape, torture, and revocation of residency.

The severe torture and humiliation Palestinian detainees suffer from leads to injuries, broken bones, fall unconscious, vomiting, back pain, and bleedings from different parts of the body (nose, mouth, hands, legs[1] and genital area). In addition to this, the detainees also suffer from the false assessment made by doctors at the interrogation centers, who almost in all cases state that the detainees are qualified for interrogations disregarding the clear evidence of torture. Not only doctors are complicit, but also judges at military and civil courts who constantly extend the detention periods for purposes of interrogations regardless of the clear signs on torture and the detainees’ need of medical care.

These cases as others, are a proof of the gross systematic use of torture and most importantly the complicity of the Israeli judges at both the military and civil courts in committing the crime of torture. In fact, torture has been legitimized by a series of Israeli High Court decisions. In High Court decision number 5100/94 in 1999,[2] the court did not make an absolute prohibition against torture. Despite the fact that this decision claimed to state that torture is ill-legal in Israeli laws, but still, the High Court made permissible the use of “special means of pressure” in the case of a “ticking bomb” scenario, where interrogators believe that a suspect is withholding information that could prevent an impending threat to civilian lives as stated in Article (1)34 of the Israeli Penal Code of 1972. This exception constitutes a grave legal loophole that legitimizes the torture and cruel treatment by the Israeli intelligence interrogators against Palestinian detainees and also protects interrogators who are granted impunity for their crimes.

Moreover, the Israeli High Court, in the Tbeish case number 9018/17 in 2018,[3] issued a ruling which expanded the concept of a “ticking bomb” scenario to include cases that are not imminent security threats. In this case, the judge based his ruling on previous decisions and broadened the element of immediacy not to be limited with a time frame.

Israeli High Court decisions made accountability difficult for the crime of torture and it gave impunity to those who commit this crime and/or are complicit in it. In point of fact, local organizations, in the past years, have annually submitted tens of complaints of torture, and only one of them, a sexual harassment case, was open for investigation. However, rather than pressing a list of charges against the perpetrators, in this case, it was closed without indictment. Furthermore, according to the Public Committee against Torture in Israel (PCATI), about 1,200 complaints of torture during Israeli interrogations have been filed since 2001. All the cases were closed without a single indictment.[4]

Palestinian Civil Society Coalitions affirm that the Israeli occupying state with all of its agencies continues to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity. According to the Rome Statute, torture is a war crime (Article 8 (2) (a) (ii)) and if committed in a systematic and wide-scale approach it also amounts to a crime against humanity (Article 7 (1) (f)).[5] We call on the international community to hold Israel accountable for its war crime and crimes against humanity and to put an end to its sanctioned absolute impunity.

[1] The hands and legs of those detainees suffered great injuries mainly due to the cuffs used to chain them for long hours.

[2] HCJ 5100/94, Public Committee Against Torture in Israel et al. v. Government of Israel et al., Judgment. An English translation of the Court decision is available at: http://www.hamoked.org/files/2012/264_eng.pdf [accessed 5 December 2019].

[3] HCJ 9018/17, Firas Tbeish et al. v. The Attorney General. An English translation of the Court decision is available at: http://stoptorture.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/F.-Tbeish-Ruling-Nov.-2018.ENG_.pdf [accessed 22 December 2019].

[4] Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, Torture in Israel 2019: Situation Report,  it can be found here:  Situation Report 2019.

[5] For further information check the Rome Statute of International Criminal Court at: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/InternationalCriminalCourt.aspx

As one of the activities that lies within the framework of the International Day to Support Victims of Torture’s revival, which falls on 26 June of each year, The Center for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights “Hurryyat” is publishing this paper to highlight the main principles of effective application of the  UN Convention against Torture.  The occasion this year comes six years after the State of Palestine accessed the convention. An assessment was implemented to study the concept of an effective application of the agreement that lies within the extent of the Palestinian bestead. It was found that the Palestinian government endorsed several decisions and decrees prohibiting torture, and drafted individual and unified codes of conduct for the security and police agencies that include the prohibition of torture, as well as opening these departments to the monitoring process of Civil Society Organizations allowing them to visit detention and interrogation centers.

According to the aforementioned, it must be emphasized that the criterion for effective implementation of the provisions of the UNCAT is through taking a set of judicial and legislative measures that would harmonize Palestinian legislation with the provisions of the Convention against Torture (UNCAT) and the criminalization of torture as a detached crime in Palestinian law. Accordingly, it is crucial to put in place executive regulations that enable judges to calculate moral compensation for victims of torture and ill-treatment, and until that is achieved, the official authorities should take urgent measures to combat and reduce the crime of torture, as follows:

First: Assuring the respect of the relationship basic elements between the public prosecution as the only body authorized to initiate and investigate the public lawsuit and members of the judicial police from the security and police agencies according to the Criminal Procedures Law No. 3 of 2001. This as a matter of fact requires the interpretation of the concept of the military affair in accordance to the objective criterion, not the personal as explained by the Constitutional Court in its decision related to the interpretation of Article 53 of the Police Law presidential decree of 2017.

Second: Establishing the national mechanism for the prevention of torture and respecting the international standards that regulate its work and ensuring its independence and commitment to implement its recommendations without invoking any circumstance to evade the immediate implementation of these recommendations.

Third: The Ministry of Interior is requested to establish a national government team whose mission is to conduct a prompt and impartial investigation whenever an act of torture was suspected to take place within the legal and judicial jurisdiction of the State of Palestine and to refer perpetrators of this crime to the related authorities to hold them accountable, putting into consideration that the crime of torture does not drop by statute of limitations

Fourth: The Palestinian government is requested to endorse Article 22 of the Convention against Torture, according which this state recognizes the jurisdiction of the Committee against Torture to receive and study complaints from individuals who claim to be subjected to torture in its jurisdiction.

Fifth: Enacting Family Protection law, and considering the silence of official employees in taking effective measures that hold perpetrators of discrimination-based violence as a form of torture and ill-treatment.

Sixth: The government should address the ineffective existing civil procedures that should provide adequate redress to victims, and working on activating mechanisms that are accessible to victims of torture and ill-treatment, by establishing a national fund to provide redress to victims of torture. The establishment of this fund serves in overcoming the mandatory assignation between criminal and civil action as a condition for civil compensation, whereas, obtaining prompt and adequate compensation for acts of torture and ill-treatment under Article 14 of the Convention is a multi-level right.

Finally, we are approaching the world’s human rights activists and believers  of the principles of human rights and international law that it is necessary to support the Palestinian people’s right to be liberated from occupation as the main violator of the rights of the Palestinian people, foremost of which is their right to self-determination.

Hats off to our prisoners in Israeli jails who are subject to systematic torture by the occupation authorities including ailing prisoners who are living tragic situations as a result of the Prison Authority’s failure to provide them with appropriate treatment, which causes them constant suffering that can be considered as a form of torture and ill-treatment, so it is necessary to work together towards a Torture-Free Palestinian state where no human rights violations exist.

The Center for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights

25/06/2020

Joint Statement

On Land Day Civil Society Urge Accountability and End to Israel’s Illegal Closure of Gaza

Date: 30 March 2020

For the past two years,[i] Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip have gathered on a near-weekly basis to participate in the Great Return March demonstrations at the Gaza perimeter fence, calling for an end to Israel’s illegal closure of the Gaza Strip and the realisation of Palestinian refugees’ right of return to their homes, lands, and property, as mandated by international law.[ii] The Great Return March started on 30 March, a central date in Palestinian collective memory, marking Land Day, which commemorates the killing of six Palestinians citizens of Israel in 1976 and the injury of 70 others by Israeli police, while protesting Israel’s expropriation of thousands of dunums of Palestinian land in the Galilee.[iii] The 1976 wave of land dispossessions epitomized Israel’s consistent and ongoing practices to deprive the Palestinian people of its homes, lands, water and other natural resources.

Rooted in institutionalised oppression, displacement, and dispossession of the indigenous Palestinian people since 1948, Land Day has come to symbolise Israel’s systematic appropriation of Palestinian land and property as part of its prolonged settler-colonial endeavour,[iv] which has continued amidst the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.[v] While COVID-19 continues to spread in Palestine and around the world, with nine confirmed cases in the Gaza Strip as of 29 March 2020,[vi] the organisers of the demonstrations in Gaza have cancelled commemorative events over concerns for Palestinians’ health and safety.[vii] On both sides of the Green Line, Palestinians have called for a ‘digital demonstration’ to mark Land Day,[viii] whereas civil society groups are organising a livestreamed rally and Twitter storm between 8–10 pm (Palestine time) on 30 March to call for an end to the Gaza closure.

Since 2007, against the backdrop of 52-years of brutal Israeli military occupation, Israel has imposed a comprehensive land, sea, and air blockade and closure, considered an unlawful collective punishment of two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The closure has led to the collapse of essential services, profound levels of poverty, food insecurity, unemployment, and aid-dependency, and the contamination of most of Gaza’s water supply.[ix] Movement and access restrictions, now a state of exception imposed globally by the pandemic, have been a daily reality for Palestinians in Gaza for nearly 13 years. Compounded by Israel’s active de-development of the Strip and repeated military bombardments, the closure has undermined all aspects of life in the Strip, crippled Gaza’s healthcare system, and violated Palestinians’ right to health, thereby weakening Palestinians’ capacity to adequately prevent and mitigate the impacts of what could be a catastrophic COVID-19 outbreak.[x]

Despite repeated warnings by the United Nations (UN) that the Gaza Strip will become uninhabitable by 2020,[xi] third States have consistently failed to take action to lift Israel’s illegal closure. Instead, the past two years have seen further bloodshed and suffering for the Palestinian people in Gaza, the result of Israel’s widespread and systematic resort to lethal and other excessive force to suppress the Great Return March. Since 30 March 2018, the Israeli occupying forces have killed 217 Palestinians in the context of the demonstrations, including 48 children, nine persons with disabilities, four paramedics, and two journalists, reflecting Israel’s widespread and systematic disregard for Palestinian life, health, and bodily integrity, and a deliberate shoot-to-kill and shoot-to-maim policy.[xii]

Last February, the UN Commission of Inquiry on the 2018 protests in the occupied Palestinian territory, found “reasonable grounds to believe that Israeli snipers shot at journalists, health workers, children and persons with disabilities, knowing they were clearly recognizable as such.”[xiii] The Commission called on Israel to lift its blockade on Gaza with immediate effect and to align its rules of engagement for the use of live fire with international human rights law, urging all parties to uphold the right to health of Palestinians and ensure the treatment of protest-related injuries, while calling on third States to activate universal jurisdiction mechanisms to ensure accountability for suspected war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the Gaza Strip.[xiv] Yet, since the adoption of these recommendations by the Human Rights Council on 22 March 2019,[xv] no effective measures have been taken to implement these urgent calls.

On Land Day, the undersigned organisations call for effective measures to uphold international justice and accountability for widespread and systematic human rights violations committed against the Palestinian people. Our organisations urgently call on the UN and third States to bring an end to the Gaza closure, to take effective measures to implement the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry, and to call for the opening of an investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) into the Situation in the State of Palestine.[xvi] Finally, we urge the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber to immediately recognize the occupied Palestinian territory, comprising the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, as being within the Court’s jurisdiction, so that the Prosecutor may begin her long-awaited investigation into suspected war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against the Palestinian people, including within the context of the Great Return March in the Gaza Strip.

As we commemorate Land Day, our organisations stress that, in the absence of accountability, third States have allowed Israel’s pervasive impunity to prevail, while the root causes driving the demonstrations in the Gaza Strip over the past two years have remained unaddressed.[xvii] Seven decades since the Nakba, it is long time for third States to adopt effective measures to uphold the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people.

Signatory organisations:

• Members of the Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council (PHROC), including:
  • Al-Haq – Law in the Service of Mankind
  • Al Mezan Center for Human Rights
  • Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association
  • Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR)
  • Defense for Children International Palestine (DCIP)
  • Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center (JLAC)
  • Aldameer Association for Human Rights
  • Ramallah Center for Human Rights Studies (RCHRS)
  • Hurryyat – Center for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights
  • The Independent Commission for Human Rights (Ombudsman Office) – Observer Member
  • Muwatin Institute for Democracy and Human Rights – Observer Member
• Palestinian Counseling Center (PCC)
• Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network (PNGO)
• Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem (CCPRJ)
• The Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy (PIPD)
• Women’s Center for Legal Aid and Counseling (WCLAC)
• Habitat International Coalition – Housing and Land Rights Network

[i] Al-Haq, “30 March: 15 Palestinians Killed, more than a Thousand Injured, as IOF Violently Suppress Palestinian Protestors in the Gaza Strip,” 31 March 2018, available at: http://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/6252.html; Middle East Monitor, “Gaza halts Great March of Return for Three months,” 27 December 2019, available at: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20191227-gaza-halts-great-march-of-return-for-three-months/.

[ii] For more information, see Al-Haq, “Q&A The Great Return March: One Year On,” 25 May 2019, available at: http://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/6044.html; and Al-Haq, “Al-Haq Reaffirms Rights-Based Root Causes of Great Return March at its One-Year Commemoration in the Gaza Strip,” 30 March 2019, available at: http://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/6078.html.

[iii] Al-Haq, “The Nakba 70 Years On: Israel’s Failure to Erase Palestinian Collective Memory,” 15 May 2018, Rania Muhareb, available at: http://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/6215.html.

[iv] Al-Haq, “Palestinian Land Day Observes Decades of Israeli Land Expropriation,” 30 March 2005, available at: http://www.alhaq.org/publications/7367.html.

[v] See, e.g., Mondoweiss, “Israeli military confiscates Palestinian field clinic for virus victims — B’Tselem’s ‘shocking’ report,” 28 March 2020, available at: https://mondoweiss.net/2020/03/israeli-military-confiscates-palestinian-field-clinic-for-virus-victims-btselems-shocking-report/.

[vi] Al Jazeera, “‘Catastrophe’: Fears over outbreak of coronavirus in Gaza,” 26 March 2020, available at: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/fears-outbreak-coronavirus-gaza-200326111450748.html.

[vii] Middle East Monitor, “Gaza halts Great March of Return for Three months,” 27 December 2019, available at: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20191227-gaza-halts-great-march-of-return-for-three-months/; Al Jazeera, “Palestinian groups cancel mass Gaza rallies due to coronavirus,” 28 March 2020, available at: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/palestinian-groups-cancel-mass-gaza-rallies-due-coronavirus-200328172443167.html.

[viii] See Arab 48, “Follow-up Committee calls for commemoration of Land Day with a ‘digital demonstration,’” [Arabic] 27 March 2020, available at: https://bit.ly/3bELYNH; see also Palestinian Ministry of Information, “Ministry organizes a unified broadcast wave and calls for organizing digital demonstrations on social media to commemorate the eternal Land Day,” [Arabic] 28 March 2020, available at: https://minfo.ps/home/details/9166.

[ix] Al-Haq, “On World Water Day, Al-Haq Recalls Israeli Water-Apartheid Amidst a Global Pandemic,” 23 March 2020, available at: http://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/16625.html.

[x] OHCHR, “COVID-19: Israel has ‘legal duty’ to ensure that Palestinians in OPT receive essential health services – UN expert,” 19 March 2020, available at: https://www.ohchr.org/FR/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25728&LangID=E; see also David Mills, Bram Wispelwey, Rania Muhareb, and Mads Gilbert, “Structural violence in the era of a new pandemic: the case of the Gaza Strip,” The Lancet, 27 March 2020, available at: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30730-3/fulltext?fbclid=IwAR12qORQanzoTqmXfwRX6D-OGjy9aNrthA-K9CjWmUVSrvmm2fkQ3LNXrYY.

[xi] See, e.g., UN Country Team in the occupied Palestinian territory, “Gaza in 2020: A Liveable Place?,” August

2012, available at: https://www.unrwa.org/userfiles/file/publications/gaza/Gaza%20in%202020.pdf; UNCTAD,

“Report on UNCTAD assistance to the Palestinian people: Developments in the economy of the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” 6 July 2015, UN Doc. TD/B/62/3; UN Country Team in the occupied Palestinian territory, “Gaza Ten Years Later,” July 2017, available at: https://www.un.org/unispal/document/gaza-ten-years-later-un-country-team-in-the-occupied-palestinian-territory-report/.

[xii] See Al-Haq, “Al-Haq Welcomes Report of UN Commission of Inquiry on Great Return March,” 28 February 2019, available at: http://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/6097.html; see also Al-Haq, “Israel Deliberately Injures and Maims Palestinian Civilians, Prevents Evacuation of Wounded, and Denies Access to Vital Healthcare Facilities Outside the Gaza Strip,” 18 April 2018, available at: http://www.alhaq.org/monitoring-documentation/6243.html.

[xiii] OHCHR, “No Justification for Israel to Shoot Protesters with Live Ammunition,” 28 February 2019, available at: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/Pages/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=24226&LangID=E.

[xiv] UN Human Rights Council, Resolution 40/13, 22 March 2019, UN Doc. A/HRC/RES/40/13, para. 11; UN Human Rights Council, Report of the independent international commission of inquiry on the protests in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, 25 February 2019, UN Doc. A/HRC/40/74.

[xv] See Al-Haq, “Al-Haq Welcomes Adoption of UN Commission of Inquiry Recommendations on the Great Return March,” 23 March 2019, available at: http://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/6085.html.

[xvi] See Al-Haq, “Palestinian Human Rights Organisations Submit Amicus on Territorial Jurisdiction of the State of Palestine, to the Pre Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Court,” 19 March 2020, available at: http://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/16609.html.

[xvii] Al-Haq, “Al-Haq Reaffirms Rights-Based Root Causes of Great Return March at its One-Year Commemoration in the Gaza Strip,” 30 March 2019, available at: http://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/6078.html. See also Al-Haq, “Palestinian, Regional, and International Civil Society Organisations Submit Written Statements to the UN Human Rights Council,” 4 February 2020, available at: http://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/16417.html.

• The immediate release of more than 1000 Palestinians, who are among the more than (5000) imprisoned by Israel who are among the groups most at risk of infection with the COVID-19 (Corona) virus. These prisoners include those with underlying diseases and chronic illnesses (700), (41) female prisoners, and (180) child prisoners, as well as at least (430) administrative prisoners, who are detained by the occupation without charge or trial.
• The immediate cessation of nightly raids and detentions of Palestinians across the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, which increases the risk of infection of the detainees and their families in the raided homes.
• The immediate halt of the use of arbitrary detention and administration detention, interrogations, and transfer between prisons and detention centers, as all these measures carry the risk of causing new COVID-19 infections.
• An increase in the number of ICRC staff working in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, to respond to the urgent and new demands of the pandemic.

We have real and justified fears about the health, safety, and basic rights of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel based on the conditions of these prisoners’ incarceration and recent developments inside the Israeli occupation’s prisons, as well as Israel’s criminally negligent behavior in the past, which has resulted in serious health implications for dozens of prisoners.

We also demand that the International Red Cross increase the number of its staff working in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, as the current staff cannot play an effective role in the event of an emergency. This must necessarily include a leading role of the ICRC in the medical examination of prisoners and the supervision of the procedures of managing the occupation prisons under the current situation.

Our fears of the spread of Corona virus in Israeli prisons are compounded by the following developments:

• The Israeli Occupation’s Prisons Authority does not provide the minimum precautions necessary to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus, which increases the level of danger in the overcrowded cells that lack the minimum required sanitary conditions.
• The Israeli Occupation’s Prison Authority imposed new structural measures that put the prisoners in additional isolation, while not taking any precautions to limit the danger of transmission from prison guards and other staff. This, despite the fact that occupation authorities have already confirmed cases of suspicion and infection among prison guards, interrogators, and military court personnel.
• Israel has suspended all family and legal counsel visits since the onset of the crisis, further isolating the prisoners, while taking additional punitive measures, including the reduction of dozens of food and other items, including sanitary products, usually available to them through the canteen.
• A number of Israeli interrogators, soldiers, and officers, who are the only contact prisoners have with the outside world, have either tested positive or been quarantined. Yet, not tests or protection measures have been taken to protect the prisoners.
• Since the onset of the crisis, Israeli military courts, which are a tool of oppression, have imposed additional harsher conditions to their procedures and there are serious fears that the courts will resort to using administrative detention orders against detainees under the pretext of the current emergency.

Palestinians imprisoned by Israel are protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention. They are entitled to their basic human rights, including the right to proper healthcare. As an occupying Power, Israel also has a legal and moral obligation to ensure the safety, health, and wellbeing of thousands of Palestinians it has imprisoned unjustly and under illegal conditions.

• Palestinian Society Prisoner’s Club
• The Center for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights “Hurryyat”
• Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs
• Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association
• Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council Top of Form
• Higher Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees affairs follow up
• Mandela Foundation for Human Rights , Prisoners and Detainees Care
• Jerusalem Prisoners Families’ Committee
• The Campaign to Free Marwan Barghouti and all prisoners
• Al-Haq Organization
• Wadi Hilweh Information Center – Silwan
• The National Committee for Saving the lives of Prisoners
• Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center
• Ramallah Center for Human Rights Studies
• DCI – Defense for Children International – Palestine
• Al Mezan Center For Human Rights
• Aldameer Association for Human Rights

Save us from the Coronavirus so that the Prisons don’t turn into Cemeteries

The feeling of imminent threat and danger to our lives in Israeli prisons is growing day by day, even hour by hour. The Coronavirus is spreading and is threatening the region and entire world. We are always hearing new instructions and regulations by the Israeli government to its population, like all governments in the world on what to do to stop the spread of the virus. When it comes to our situation, the political prisoners in Israeli jails, we are not hearing or seeing any measures or even answers to our most basic questions; what if the virus spread in prisons? What are the practical and humane steps that will be taken by the prison authorities?

The only thing we are told from the prison administration is that they are taking all cautionary measures and for us this is not acceptable; especially knowing that there are now hundreds of sick prisoners who are suffering many health problems, some are sever like asthma, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, etc.

We are sending this appeal to the world and all those concerned for human rights to save what is left of us who have lost our freedom and to save us from this virus that is threatening our lives and nothing is being done by those who are responsible and accountable under international law. Medical negligence and indifference has haunted Palestinian prisoners for decades and many lost their lives due to such behavior. We say this as we also hear that the Israeli medical system cannot even handle the current amount of patients in its own society and that number is increasing. If this is the situation that means we expect no response when it hits the prisons unless international pressure mounts.

The only way and hope to stop the spread of this disease is due diligence, prevention and hygiene. The Israeli prison administration does not provide us with the required sterilization supplies, tools or even face masks. They behave in formalities that are more like threats rather than conducting tests or taking precautions. We only have contact with the outside world through the jailers who are indifferent in their approach to us and  can possibly carry the virus and pass it on to us and nothing is being regulated from that end. They, in turn, if they fall ill, are able to take measures by moving away from the public and receive necessary treatment.

We hold the prison administration, the Israeli government, those who are silent about what is going on, and all those who defend human rights, the full responsibility of our wellbeing and health.

To the free people of the world, we say: Do not leave us to die in our prison beds as this infection spreads without anyone showing any care. What does the world expect of us? To rebel as some prisoners have in some countries only to be killed by bullets before they were eliminate by the virus?

This is a cry to the whole world, and we have lists of cases of those who are suffering from poor health conditions in Israeli prisons, knowing that the numbers of patients is much higher.

The Palestinian Prison Committee for the Defend of Human Rights

These are some of the ill prisoners:

1. Mutasem Radad – Stomach Cancer and low immunity.
2. Khaled El Shawish –
3. Mansour Mokdi
4. Kamal abu Waer –
5. Ahmad Saada – Stroke
6. Walid Daka –
7. Saedi El Garbali
8. Zamel Shalouf
9. Mukdad El-heeh
10. Khalil Musalm barak’a
11. Alaa Ibrahim Ali
12. Ayman Hasan Kurd
13. Saleh Daoud
14. – Muhamad Jaber El Hroub
15. Raed El Houtry
16. Hamza Il Kaloti
17. Ibrahim Issa Abda
18. Ez Eldien Karjat
19. Mitwakel Radwan
20. Osama Abu El Asal
21. Khalil abu Nima
22. Fawaz Ba’ara
23. Mahmoud abu Kharabish
24. Fuad Al Shubaki
25. Abd El Iz Aljab’a
26. Nasri Assi
27. Mamdouh Al Danani
28. Ahmad Ebaied
29. Muwafak elarouq
30. Ibrahim Abu Mukh
31. Musa Sufwan
32. Isra Ja’abeis
33. Yousef Iskaf
34. Nabil Harb
35. Yasri El Masri

In a systematic and blunt manner, the Israeli occupation authorities violate the standards of International Humanitarian Law and the Human Rights Law in their way of treating ailing prisoners. The Israeli government deliberately endorses racist laws that undermine the legal status of prisoners, depriving them from their basic rights, and their early release in any way possible.
The Israeli Prison Services IPS is determined to break prisoners’ immovability and resistance in accordance to the Israeli Knesset laws through a systematic policy that violates the provisions of the International Humanitarian Law IHL. This is empathized through the series of inhumane practices that include overcrowding in prison cells, poor ventilation, lack of sun exposure, the limited break time, lack of proper meals , lack of cleaning supplies, exposing prisoners to radiation, lack of periodic medical examinations, psychological and physical abuse, beating, strip searching, confinement, spraying them with gas and deprivation of family visits which can aggravate the physical and mental health situation of prisoners and increase the probability of contracting various diseases that can be avoided if appropriate arrest circumstances and proper health care were provided.

Statistics & Numbers
According to the database of the Center for Defense of Liberties & Civil Rights “Hurryyat” of September 2019, the Israeli medical negligence policy caused the death of 63 prisoners inside the Israeli hails since 1967, of whom three lost their lives since the beginning of this year
1. Faris Baroud who died on February 6, 2019 after spending 28 years behind bars.
2. Nassar Taqatqa who died on July 16, 2019 after one month of his arrest as a result of torture, and medical negligence.
3. Bassam al-Sayeh who died on September 8, 2019 after a long struggle from Leukemia, bone cancer and cardiomyopathy, however, his early release has never been approved by the Israeli authorities despite the continuous and wide requests, according to the racist law enacted by the Israeli Knesset on December 26, 2018 forbidding the release of sick prisoners under the pretext of resisting the occupation, labeling this action as terrorism.
Two other prisoners were deceased during 2018,
1. Mohammad Marshoud: was shot by a settler and directly arrested on April 9, 2018. Marshoud was not able to survive the injury, he died in less than 24 at an Israeli hospital.
2. Aziz Oweis: May 20, 2018 who lost his life as a result of medical negligence, beatings and abusing.
Not only the Israeli authorities caused the death of these prisoners, but also it refuses to release their bodies to their families for a respectful burial according to Palestinian religious and national traditions. An example is the martyr Anees Douleh who died in prison on August 31, 1980 after 12 years of imprisonment, and his body is still detained until this moment.
In addition; tens of prisoners died shortly after their release as a result of the diseases that they suffered from is prison, including Walid Shaath, who spent eighteen years in prison and died six months after his release, Seitan Al-Wali who from the occupied Syrian Golan Hights who spent 23 years in prison and died after less than three years of his release. Naeim Sharawnah who was released among the first phase of the Swap Deal of 2011 after 19 years of imprisonment, but died in two years. Zuhair Lubbadeh died in less than a week after his release of a long Administrative Detention.
Others like Saied Shamlakh, Jameel abu-Sneineh, Atef abu-Baker, Amjad Alawneh, Moslem al-Doudie, Mousa Juma’a, Adnan al-Balboul, Zakariya Issa, Ziad Hamed, Ayed Jamjoom and many others.

Female and male prisoners are estimated in Israeli jails as 5700 prisoners, of whom 700 are suffering different diseases, 297 cases are in critical health situations as the table below shows:

297 Critical Health Situation
13 Cancer & Tumers
21 Eyes
30 Heart Diseases
16 Diabetes & Blood Pressure
9 Blood and Vascular Diseases
9 Paralysis
36 Bone problems
53 Kidneys & Esoteric Diseases
22 Mental and Psychological Diseases
20 Lung and breathing problems
68 Shooting injuries

Among the most prominent ailing prisoners are Sami abu-Diak, Mutasem Raddad, Mansour Mouqadeh, Yusri Masri, Alaa’ Hams, Khalid Shaweesh, Nahed Aqra’, Riyad al-Amour, Mohammad Brash, Fawwaz Ba’ara, Ibrahim Alqam, Ibrahim Bitar, Murad abu-Muailek, Fuad Shoubaki, Adel Hurreibat, Sami Oreidi, Mohammad Mirdawi, Nabeel al-Natsheh, Isra’a Ja’a bees, Saeid Banna, Kamel Mansour, Salam al-Zaghal, Sa’ad al-Deen Jaber, Mourhan Awwad, Ayman al-Kurd, Kamal abu-Wa’ar, Othman abu-Khurj.

Palestinian Prisoners according to the International Law
The medical negligence policy clearly underlines the IPS and its’ medical crews’ disregard to the rights of Palestinian Prisoners and violation of the IHL and its provisions. Moreover, depriving the ailing prisoners of the rights granted by International conventions of Human Rights, especially the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners of 1957 issued by the United Nations, which stipulates in (Articles 22 and 25) the need to provide at least one qualified doctor for each prison with a reasonable knowledge of psychiatry and in charge of making daily visits to ailing prisoners. Article 30 of Third Geneva Convention relative to the treatment of prisoners of war of 1949 states that:

”Every camp shall have an adequate infirmary where prisoners of war may have the attention they require, as well as appropriate diet. Isolation wards shall, if necessary, be set aside for cases of contagious or mental disease. Prisoners of war suffering from serious disease, or whose condition necessitates special treatment, a surgical operation or hospital care, must be admitted to any military or civilian medical unit where such treatment can be given. , even if their repatriation is contemplated in the near future. Special facilities shall be afforded for the care to be given to the disabled, in particular to the blind, and for their. Rehabilitation, pending repatriation.
Prisoners of war shall have the attention, preferably, of medical personnel of the Power on which they depend and, if possible, of their nationality.
Prisoners of war may not be prevented from presenting themselves to the medical authorities for examination. The detaining authorities shall, upon request, issue to every prisoner who has undergone treatment, an official certificate indicating the nature of his illness or injury, and the duration and kind of treatment received. A duplicate of this certificate shall be forwarded to the Central Prisoners of War Agency.
The costs of treatment, including those of any apparatus necessary for the maintenance of prisoners of war in good health, particularly dentures and other artificial appliances, and spectacles, shall be borne by the Detaining Power.”
Article 13 of the same convention states that “Prisoners of war must at all times be humanely treated. Any unlawful act or omission by the Detaining Power causing death or seriously endangering the health of a prisoner of war in its custody is prohibited, and will be regarded as a serious breach of the present Convention. In particular, no prisoner of war may be subjected to physical mutilation or to medical or scientific experiments of any kind which are not justified by the medical, dental or hospital treatment of the prisoner concerned and carried out in his interest.
Likewise, prisoners of war must at all times be protected, particularly against acts of violence or intimidation and against insults and public curiosity. Measures of reprisal against prisoners of war are prohibited.”
The costs of treatment, including those of any apparatus necessary for the maintenance of prisoners of war in good health, particularly dentures and other artificial appliances, and spectacles, shall be borne by the Detaining Power”.

Regarding the access to health care; Article 85 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, article 29 of the Third Geneva Convention and articles 25 & 26 of the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners has indicated the importance of providing medical services and personal hygiene. However, the IPS policy does not take into account these legal provisions and does not provide the minimum appropriate terms and humane arrest conditions. Clinics lack specialized physicians and medical equipment. It is worth mentioning that the Ramleh prison is the only prison that has a clinic and provides medical care for patients, yet; the procrastination in the surgical procedure, the torment of ailing prisoners while being transported with no consideration to their medical status or privacy, increase their suffering, specially that the IPS does not hesitate to practice harassment, intrusions and night searches in this clinic, with no consideration to the medical status of the prisoners which surpasses them to prefer the stay in their prison other than being treated.
Hurryyat’s Requests:
In light of the grave and continuous violations of the Israeli occupation, represented by the Israeli Prisons Administration IPS, by practicing medical negligence against ailing prisoners, the Center for the Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights “Hurryyat” demands:
• Working at the regional and International levels to pressure the Israeli government to release ailing prisoners in critical health situations, holding it responsible to their lives.
• Prosecute the Israeli authorities responsible for the medical negligence policy causing death of ailing prisoners, and threatening the lives of those in critical situations despite the threat to their lives and refusing their early release.
• Pressure to enable the World Health Organization to implement its decision on improving health and living conditions of prisoners and detainees, and the formation of a fact-finding committee to visit Israeli prisons, exposing the whole world to the Israeli intentional medical negligence.
• Enable committees of medical specialists to meet ailing prisoners and provide appropriate treatment for them.
• Open the Israeli jails doors to delegations, international institutions and fact-finding committees to perceive arrest and health conditions of ailing prisoners.
• Providing appropriate arrest conditions according to the relevant international standards.
• The provision of appropriate treatment for ailing prisoners to alleviate their suffering.
• Secure legal assistance to ailing prisoners and enhance the role of lawyers in this regard to obtain their medical files and provide reports from specialized doctors about the ailing prisoners’ health conditions.
• Launch an international campaign to expose the international community to the suffering of the ailing prisoners and work on the release of those suffering from serious illnesses.

A Thank You Letter for Hurryyat
Dr. Abdallah Jarrar
Orthodontist

My name is dr. Abdallah Jarrar and I work as a dentist in the city of Jenin. I began suffering with the prevention of travel in June 2009, one month after I was released from Israeli prisons after a detention period that lasted 19 months.

In 2007, while I was returning to the Faculty of Dentistry at Damascus University, I was arrested at Al-Karama crossing. Three months later I was sentenced to 19 months in prison. After my release, I tried to travel so that I could complete my studies at Damascus University, but I was turned back and informed that I was forbidden to travel abroad without specifying a period. As a result, I joined Al-Quds University so that I would not miss the academic year and complete 4 years of dental education at the university. In addition to the injustice and oppression I was subjected to at the prison, I was prevented from traveling and had my involvement in the labor market and working life delayed as a result.

The travel ban makes you feel that you are in a massive prison. You are cut off from the outside world. Even if you do not have any need to travel, this prohibition deprives you of your most basic rights. Which is the freedom of movement, which makes you feel that you are still inside the cells and walls of prisons in the Negev and Majedu.

After getting my bachelor’s degree in 2013, my ambition was to complete a master’s degree in dentistry which was not available in Palestinian universities and I tried to travel to start preparing for this subject but was returned again without mentioning the reasons.

I started the year in an excellent condition and started processing to open my own dental clinic in Jenin. I would often feel very upset whenever I see my colleagues’ doctors traveling to participate in scientific conferences abroad and achieve their ambition in their scientific and professional development and I am deprived of this right. In 2015, I tried to travel again to attend a scientific course abroad but was denied entry. After this attempt I gave up and haven’t tried to travel again for three years.

In 2007, my mother became ill, forcing her to travel to Jordan for treatment and stayed there for a year. I felt pain as I could not stand by her side in a time when she needed me the most, and I was only able to bring her comfort through speaking to her through the phone. This makes you feel that this prohibition is only an attempt to avenge the person all the way even if he got out of prison and served his sentence, he is still under their rule and oppression.

In 2018, I tried again to break this curse. However, even nine years after my release, they still considered my travel to be prohibited, knowing that during this period I have not been arrested or interrogated even once. What was the reason for the ban?

Hope finally came in the middle of 2019 when I was complaining to a relative in a wedding that I had missed dozens of conferences, courses and educational opportunities due to the travel ban as well as being prohibited to support my mother during her illness. He told me that there is a human rights organization called The Center for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights “Hurryyat” who provides legal assistance for cases similar to mine and focuses on lifting the travel ban.

I called the director of the center, Mr. Helmi al-Araj, and explained my situation to him and he encouraged me to apply and give the center a shot, so I visited the center in a last attempt to hope to succeed this time.

When I arrived, the treatment was respectful, and I sensed their seriousness towards my case. Taking upon themselves the burden of pleading and defending me at no cost.

Two months later, I was told that my problem had been solved, that the ban had been lifted and that I was able to travel wherever I wanted. My happiness at hearing this news was indescribable and my joy was equal to the happiness I felt when I got out of prison and on my graduation day. I traveled to Jordan and this is just the beginning to compensate for what I missed in previous years.

I call on everyone to support The Center for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights “Hurryyat”, Civil Rights organizations and other like-minded centers for their humanitarian and legal services related to travel and other matters, and to provide media coverage and sponsorship to such centers in order for them to be able to reach a wider audience and help as many people as possible.

Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim

Bilal Yameen
Tal – Nablus
Those who do not thank people are not thanked by God; to those who have removed the darkness and suffering from me, the words are racing to thank them… the words are racing to form a thank you letter that is only worthy for those who deserve it (The Center for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights “Hurryyat”). The Center took the initiative to support and stand by my side and help in lifting the unjust travel ban which caused me a great deal of suffering. The ban prevented me from traveling in which I was deprived from visiting religious sites and my siblings in Jordan. Your leading institution has come to alleviate this suffering by lifting the travel ban, where I felt a great deal of happiness I had not felt before. Having Hurryyat contact me and inform me of the travel ban being lifter was one of the happiest moments of my life. That was the happiest moment of my life. I want to say thank you on behalf of my family and I for what you have done. Many thanks and God bless you and your support for all you do to those who are oppressed.

Bahja al- Sa’ady
Beauty Expert

Never in my life was I ever banned from traveling which is why I was shocked upon first hearing about my ban. Freedom to Movement is a basic right that was stripped away from me.

For a long period of time, I felt that I was a prisoner in my own country, and every passing flight above my city was a reminder of my situation.

This travel ban has harmed me on more than one level, occupational, psychological and medical.

Occupational: I wanted to travel outside Palestine to attend courses to raise my qualifications in Dubai, Turkey and Jordan, but I missed many opportunities and invitation as I was not able to.travel and attend them.

On the health level: I used to be treated in Amman but had to stop treatment because of the ban.

On the psychological level, I will never be able to forget the sight of my family passing through the Karama crossing border for a vacation in Amman. The Israelis separated me from my family, and I had to return to Ramallah by myself, reinforcing the feeling that I was trapped in this country and limited to these procedures.
In order to solve the problem, I went to several parties and institutions seeking legal advice. The Center for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights “Hurryyat” worked hard to lift the ban and was able to do so on April 18th, 2019.

To make sure, I went to Jericho to check that the ban had been lifted. I bought the exit tax and boarded the bus from the Jericho break. At Al-Karama crossing I was beyond happy when they opened the gate for me to board the bus that would take me to the Jordanian side. When I got there and did the necessary work, I passed the duty-free shop and bought a pack of cigarettes and waited for my entry. Just to make sure that the ban has been lifted indefinitely.

What I wished for came true…

I will try to use the time to catch up with some of what I missed. I will go to Amman to spend the Eid holiday with the family and visit my doctor for a checkup.

In September, I was able to join an advanced workshop to improve my work in Jordan.

A thanks is sent to all those who extended a helping hand to help me lift the travel ban and travel after suffering for three years. In particular, the center of Hurryyat represented by Helmi Al-Araj and the lawyer, Abeer Baker, on their continuous and determined efforts to reach a positive result. I hope that this role will continue for Hurryyat and other civil society organizations in highlighting this important issue and providing legal assistance to those affected by the occupational policies and violations of human rights, especially those affected by the travel ban as it is a basic right according to international law. It especially affects their right to work, treatment and social communication with their family and relatives, as it happened to me. My experience with the center has been successful and fruitful, and I hope that the Center will continue its role in serving Palestinian citizens and helping those who are prohibited from traveling, because after the harsh experience that I have experienced over the past 3 years I have become more knowledgeable and aware of the suffering of those who are prohibited from traveling and the harm done to them and their families and therefore demonstrating the importance of such institutions to provide service and assistance to those affected.

Bahja al- Sa’ady

The Center for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights held three training sessions during July on the Convention against Torture under the title “Responsibility and Obligations of the Duty-Owned Law Enforcement Officials”. Investigating officers, operations, the Executive Force and the legal advisers of the Preventive Security Service in the West Bank governorates all participated in these sessions. These meetings are part of a series of activities of the “Torture is Destruction of Human Dignity” project implemented by the Center for the second consecutive year in partnership with bunch of NGO networks funded by the European Union. The first meeting was held in Nablus with the participation of targeted officers in the northern governorates, the second in Bethlehem with the participation of officers from Bethlehem, Hebron and Jericho. The third meeting was held in Ramallah with the participation of officers from Ramallah, Al-Bireh, Jerusalem and Salfit in the headquarters of the Preventive Security Directorate in Jerusalem, in the presence of Ms. Basima Adwin, Director of the EU Democracy and Human Rights Program.

In these meetings, Hurryyat praised the fruitful, constructive and continuous cooperation with the Preventive Security, especially at this stage of the Palestinian conflict in which it needs to combine all efforts to fight for the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and promote the culture of individual human rights in the Palestinian society. Hurryyat thanked the Preventive Security Services represented by Major General Ziad Hab Al-Reeh, the directors of the directorates and the Legal Department represented by its president and advisors for their enthusiasm to hold such meetings aimed at strengthening the principle of the rule of law.

These meetings included a serious and constructive dialogue on the national and legal responsibility that reinforces the importance of obeying to the rules of international human rights law and guaranteeing the enjoyment of these rights by the Palestinian citizens included in the international human rights conventions to which the State of Palestine acceded in early 2014 as well as stressing the importance of the status of these conventions in national law and the need to harmonize national laws in line with these conventions, including the Convention against Torture.

Hurryyat also referred to complaints by a number of citizens that they had been subjected to torture, in which these reports have emerged in the media recently with some security and police agencies. The sessions also included a training on how to deal with torture cases and approached them in terms of the measures taken by the Government to respond to these allegations and their compatibility with the Convention against Torture, in particular article 12, which stipulates that the competent authorities should conduct a prompt and impartial investigation whenever there are reasonable grounds to believe that an act of torture has been committed. In the same context, the Center reported that it sent an official letter to the Ministry of Interior in this regard as the competent authority and asked it to form an official investigation committee to investigate the above allegations.

In the three meetings, Hurryyat presented an extensive analysis of the Convention against Torture in terms of concept, purpose and criminal responsibility for the perpetration of the statute of limitations of torture, as well as the mechanism for distinguishing between torture and ill-treatment, and stressed the importance of prohibiting torture in all circumstances and to ensure that no statements made as a result of torture are cited, And practical exercises were done by the trainees in a form of groups. The trainees were also trained on how to address the victims’ right to a solution and compensation, Hurryyat proposed the establishment of a national fund to compensate victims of torture as a legal alternative because of the reluctance of torture victims to access justice for reasons related to either the absence of a law criminalizing torture or the lack of jurisdiction of regular courts to hear such cases and other reasons that formed the objective basis for this. Hurryyat praised the accession of the State of Palestine to human rights conventions, especially the Convention against Torture and the Additional Protocol to the Convention on 28 December 2017, without making any reservation, as well as working on the formation of the National Committee for the Prevention of Torture. Hurryyat considered these steps and other training meetings and visits to detention centers are steps taken in the right direction implemented by the State of Palestine to emphasize its direction towards the prohibition of torture to a Palestinian society free of torture.

The participants in the three meetings expressed the importance of the topics discussed and that they are of high importance as the legal benefit from them has been achieved which aims to promote the principle of the rule of law. It also contributed to breaking the barriers between the security services and civil society institutions and establishing the values of permanent joint cooperation in the legal struggle to preserve our national rights, especially the right to freedom, independence and salvation from occupation.

The Center for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights “Hurryyat”

August 4^th, 2019

Monthly Report issued by Hurryyat

The prisoners in Ramla prison clinic are demanding the release of the ailing prisoner, Sami Abu Diak, to spend the last remaining days of his life with his mother.

Center for Defense of Liberties & Civil Rights “Hurryyat” has emphasized in their Monthly Report the impact of the Center’s lawyer, Ibtisam Anatti, visits to prisons including Ramla, Megiddo, and Ofra in July 2019. The lawyer has stated that the health situation of the prisoner, Sami Ahed Abu Diak from Silat al-Zuhr in Jenin, imprisoned in Ramla is in continuous deterioration. The prisoner suffers from a cancerous stomach mass in the nerve center area. According to medical reports, the cancer has begun to spread throughout his body, especially around the lungs and stomach – there are 20 cancerous masses in the stomach, a mass in the abdominal stomach area, and there are 3 cancerous lumps – one in the left lung, and two in the right lung. Sami Abu Diak has undergone chemical treatment for a long period time; however, the results were negative. The prisoner is currently taking several analgesic drugs, the doctor told the representative of the prisoners that Sami dealt with a large amount of anesthetic, including several ones with a heavier dose. The doctors fear that Sami falls into a coma due to his heavy intake of medicine According to the hospital’s latest report, prisoner Abu Diak is the most difficult case in the prisons. The Red Cross doctor told the lawyer that the prison doctor informed him that they had claimed responsibility for him. The Red Cross doctor told the lawyer that the prison medical officer had informed him that his case is hopeless.

The prisoners in Ramla prison clinic are demanding the release of the ailing prisoner, Sami Abu Diak, to spend the last remaining days of his life with his mother. The lawyer has carried Sami’s message saying, “Whoever is sentenced to death is asked for a last wish, and my wish is to die between my mother’s arms and not to go to her dead.”

Sami Abu Diak states that he was subjected to a medical error in Soroka Medical Center, where he was being treated from a stomach infection, and underwent a surgery before being treated from the infections. The medical error has changed his infection into cancerous lumps. Assaf Harofeh Medical Center has confirmed that Soroka made a medical error on the expense of the prisoner.

The lawyer was able to visit the prisoners, Eyad Ahmad Moussa Hurraibat and Ahmad Abu Khader in Ramla medical clinic. Eyad, who’s from Khalil and has been given life sentence + 20 years in prison, has stated that he was half paralyzed but is currently able to walk due to continuous treatment and physical therapy. The prisoner Ahmed Abu Khader, representative of prisoners in the clinic, gave a brief statement about the health of the prisoners:

• Prisoner Khaled Jamal Moussa al-Shaweesh from Tubas, suffers from sitting in a wheelchair due to being half-paralyzed and struggles with semi-full disability in his right hand along with a permanent urine pouch.

• Prisoner Mansour Mohammad Abed al-Aziz Mokda from Salfit is disabled and uses a wheelchair at all times along with a permanent pouch.
• Prisoner Nahed Faraj Jadoo’ al-Akra’ suffers from amputated feet and is given painkillers as a method of treatment.
• Prisoner Saleh Omar Abed al-Raheem Saleh from Nablus has an injury in his spinal cord which resulted in him becoming half-paralyzed along with a urine pouch and diaper at the age of 22.
• Prisoner Motasem Taleb Dawood Radad from Tulkarem suffers from severe stomach infections (Cancerous type), issues in his bones, and semi-osteoporosis. The prisoner takes 28 pills in the morning and 28 pulls at night.
• Prisoner Said Abdallah Bashrat from Nablus suffers from kidney failure and washes his kidney 3 times a week. Will be released on August 1^st, 2019.
• Prisoner Mostafa Motasem Mostafa Daraghmeh from Tubas suffers from kidney failure and diabetes. Washes his kidney 3 times a week and will be released on August 19^th, 2019.
• Prisoner Mohammad Ghassan Nasser Abu Hwelie from Nablus has an injury in his left foot and is half-paralyzed; was told by the doctors that he needs to get a prosthetic joint.
• Prisoner Mohammad Hasneen form Gaza suffers from a deep injury to the leg due to an explosive bullet that penetrated his leg. They fear that they might have to amputate it.

During the laweyrs visit to Magedo prison, she was able to meet with:

• Prisoner Abed al-Ghanee Hamza Harz Allah from Jenin who is imprisoned for 2.5 years. The prisoner suffers from an increase in electrical charges in the head, causing him to faint several times, he is taking medication constantly and visits the clinic constantly and conducts periodic checks.
• Prisoner Ahmad Ghazee Ahmad Eghbareye from Jenin suffers from aching in the eyes and has stated that he did a surgery before being imprisoned and visited the medical clinic in prison and was diagnosed with dry eyes.
• Prisoner Mohammad Asad Sweedan had an accident in 1999 and as a result had to undergo surgery in the head, specifically right above his eyes because there was bone breakage in the skull and his right eye came out of the socket. When Mohammad was imprisoned, he was denied medical aid to continue his treatment. He was released from prison in 2014 and suffered from head pain and eye irritation. He had severe head inflammation due to platinum, bone erosion, and fatty lump behind the eye, which led to the emergence of the eye outside. He then returned to treatment. Another head operation was performed and 86% The eye was over-treated. In 2017 he was arrested again, and is now suffering from the same pain and eye issue, went to Barzlai Hospital and was told that he needed a bone transplant and must be converted to an eye specialist. He has not been converted until this moment. He also suffers from increased fat in the blood and was told to stop playing sports and is constantly taking pills. He also suffers from pain in the waist area, spasms in the left-hand area, and the head area on the left side. He was taken to the prison clinic and was told that he would be transferred to the Ramla prison clinic, but the prisoner refused due to the long distance and his deteriorating health.

On her visit to Ofra prison, the lawyer was able to visit the prisoner Raed Mohammed Ibrahim Badwan, who was arrested on August 6^th, 2015 and is still detained until now. Was arrested Jaba’ on charges of running over soldiers and was shot with six bullets – there are two bullets in his hand, a bullet in the throat, a bullet to the side of the lung, a bullet in the spine, and bullet near the kidney. He was taken to a hospital in Tasdiq, still suffering from bullets in his body, the prisoner stated that most of the bullets in his hand are still painful. He needs to follow up on the medical file and is in urgent need of a doctor because he is suffering from severe and intense pains.

During her visit to Gilboa Prison, Anati said that the prisoner Mohammed Ibrahim Safran from Ramallah was arrested on Ovtobor 19^th, 2017. He is married and has two children. He is sentenced to 8 years’ imprisonment. He suffers from an injury to the right leg in the thigh from that caused an 85% leg paralysis. He was arrested and injured. He underwent surgery at the Ramla prison clinic and is on painkillers. He said he was suffering from ailments and that the clinic was poor managed and were not treating ailing prisoners but instead the prisoners were treating themselves.

Center for Defense of Liberties & Civil Rights “Hurryyat”

July 28^th, 2019