Palestinian
Prisoners... the key to a break through!
The case of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli
prisons is becoming more and more precarious each day, especially since
it was assumed that Palestinian political prisoners would be released as
a result of the peace process.
The number of prisoners before the peace process
reached 12,700 prisoners, including some minors, old people, sick people,
and prisoners spending long-term sentences. These prisoners live under
hard conditions, are inhumanely treated and tortured, and isolated for
long periods.
With the peace process, hopes for the release
of Palestinian prisoners were raised once again, given that this is supposed
to be the normal result of peace. However, the reality was contrary to
the expectations:
-
On 13/9/93, the Declaration of Principles was signed, but
it had no direct or clear mentioning of the issue of Palestinian and Arab
prisoners in Israeli prisons. The number of prisoners at that time was
12,700 prisoners. However, Israel dealt with the issue of prisoners as
a step of “good intentions” and released 1,030 prisoners only.
-
On 4/5/94, the signing of the Cairo agreement took place.
Article 20 of the agreement stipulated releasing 5,000 Palestinian prisoners
out of a total of 10,600 Palestinian prisoners. The Israeli authorities
released 4,450 prisoners under condition that the released prisoners must
sign a paper saying that they “reject terrorism and support the peace process.”
But they refused to release prisoners from other Arab countries and Palestinians
carrying Jerusalem Id cards and Palestinians from inside the 1948 borders.
They classified the prisoners according to their political affiliations
in order to create a split between the Palestinian Authority and its citizens.
-
On 28/5/95, the Taba agreement was signed (Oslo 2) which
stipulated releasing prisoners in three stages. The Israeli authorities
released 1,100 prisoners out of 6000.
-
On 23/10/98, the Wye agreement was signed, in which there
was a verbal agreement to release 750 prisoners in three stages over a
period of three months. The Israeli authorities released 250 prisoners
on 20/11/98. 100 of them were political prisoners while the other 150 were
criminal and civilian prisoners.
Despair and frustration is now spreading among
prisoners and their families. There was also a series of protest measures
by prisoners' families who demanded the unconditional release of all Palestinian
prisoners. But Israel wanted, as it seems, to create a wide split between
the Palestinian Authority and its citizens through showing that the PA
is powerless even on the prisoner issue. This is particularly true since
Israel has been able to use the prisoners’ issue as a pressure tactic on
the PA for bargaining to get more concessions from the Palestinians.
The Wye agreement was a form of abandonment
from all previous agreements and a response to Israeli desires. For this
reason, it was easy to manipulate this issue. Israel applied its own constitution
thus retreating from what was agreed on in the 1995 agreement about “releasing
all prisoners who have spent two-thirds of their sentences, juveniles,
and all women prisoners”.
Since the beginning of January 1996, the case
of Palestinian prisoners remains at a standstill although there were some
moves on the Jordanian front when Jordanian prisoners were released in
three stages during 1998.
Only 96 Palestinian political prisoners were
released according to the Wye agreement. The rest were criminal and civilian
prisoners. Three prisoners in Megiddo prison started an open hunger strike
after the Wye agreement on 22/11/98.
Although Palestinian and Israeli negotiators
are conducting talks to release around 500 political prisoners, the Israeli
authorities have not halted their arrests against Palestinians. Israeli
authorities have arrested more than 180 Palestinians during November and
December of 1998.
[Back
to What's New]