UN Concern For Palestinians On Hunger Strike
Israel: UN Concerned For Palestinian Prisoners On Hunger
Strike
More than a dozen United Nations institutions operating in the occupied Palestinian territories today voiced concern at a reported hunger strike by over 2,900 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel and reminded the country’s authorities to comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law.
The UN special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Terje Roed-Larsen, urged Israel to make every effort to find, with the prisoners, an appropriate resolution to the hunger strike which the Palestinians launched to demand an end to inhuman conditions, including beatings and prolonged periods of solitary confinement. They are also seeking to secure family visits as well as access to adequate health care and medical treatment.
The UN agencies reminded Israel of its obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention, governing the protection of civilians in time of war, and other relevant human rights instruments providing for the protection of detainees and prisoners.
According to the Israeli Prison Service, more than 2,900 prisoners have joined the hunger strike that began on 15 August. The Palestinian Authority quotes a slightly higher figure. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross more than 8,000 prisoners are currently detained by Israel on security grounds. Of these, more than 90 are women and 360 are children, according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
Secretary-General Kofi Annan supported the
statement and hopes that the matter will be resolved soon in
a manner consistent with international humanitarian law, his
spokesman said. In New York earlier this week, the Bureau
of the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable
Rights of the Palestinian People said prisoners were
routinely subjected to “inhumane conditions of
incarceration, including arbitrary and indiscriminate
beatings, humiliating strip searches, solitary confinement
for excessive periods of time, and severe restrictions on
family visits.” It voiced particular distress at reports of
continued use of torture and other forms of ill-treatment of
the detainees.