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Hundreds March for Palestinians Held in Israeli Jails

Palestinians hold up pictures of loved ones in Israeli custody at a rally in the West Bank city of Nablus called to protest recent reports of abuse and even torture © Zain JAAFAR / AFP
Palestinians hold up pictures of loved ones in Israeli custody at a rally in the West Bank city of Nablus called to protest recent reports of abuse and even torture © Zain JAAFAR / AFP
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Hundreds March for Palestinians Held in Israeli Jails

Palestinians hold up pictures of loved ones in Israeli custody at a rally in the West Bank city of Nablus called to protest recent reports of abuse and even torture © Zain JAAFAR / AFP
Palestinians hold up pictures of loved ones in Israeli custody at a rally in the West Bank city of Nablus called to protest recent reports of abuse and even torture © Zain JAAFAR / AFP

Hundreds of Palestinians marched to protest the treatment of prisoners held in Israeli jails on Saturday, following reports of abuse and even torture.

Relatives held up pictures of prisoners and waved Palestinian flags during separate demonstrations in Ramallah and Nablus in the occupied West Bank.

"Even if the whole world submits, we will not recognise Israel," chanted the protesters in Ramallah.

Thousands of Palestinians have been detained in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October, the United Nations human rights office said this week.

They have mostly been held in secret and in some cases subjected to treatment that may amount to torture, the OHCHR said in a report.

"For 10 months, we haven't known anything about our sons," Latifa Abu Hamid, a mother of four prisoners, all sentenced to life, told AFP.

"We want to check on them and see them. We want to know their situation... We want our sons."

According to the Prisoners Club, a Palestinian watchdog, about 9,700 Palestinians are currently in Israeli jails, including hundreds under administrative detention.

The NGO estimates that arrests have doubled since October 7 compared to the same period last year.

The OHCHR report said that since the October 7 Hamas attacks, thousands of Palestinians -- including medics, patients, residents and captured fighters -- have been taken from Gaza to Israel, "usually shackled and blindfolded".

"They have generally been held in secret, without being given a reason for their detention, access to a lawyer or effective judicial review," this week's OHCHR report said.

Testimonies for the report suggested that Israel had subjected prisoners to "a range of appalling acts, such as waterboarding and the release of dogs on detainees", UN rights chief Volker Turk said.

The UN report was released the day after Israeli military police questioned soldiers arrested on suspicion of sexually abusing a Palestinian detainee.

At the Ramallah demonstration, Umm Abdullah Hamed detailed how her brother, son and nephew had all been given multi-decade sentences.

"We feel like any family of a prisoner," Umm Abdullah Hamed, whose brother, son and nephew have all been sentenced to decades in prison, said at the Ramallah protest.

"We ask God Almighty to hasten their relief and freedom, God willing," she added.

 

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Arab World

Lebanon: Families of Victims Commemorate Port Explosion, Adhere to Justice

A scene of massive destruction in the port of Beirut after the explosion (Archive - AFP)
A scene of massive destruction in the port of Beirut after the explosion (Archive - AFP)
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Lebanon: Families of Victims Commemorate Port Explosion, Adhere to Justice

A scene of massive destruction in the port of Beirut after the explosion (Archive - AFP)
A scene of massive destruction in the port of Beirut after the explosion (Archive - AFP)

The fourth anniversary of the Beirut Port explosion comes amid a blocked horizon for the resumption of the judicial investigations, which have been stalled for two and a half years.
The families of the victims will mark the occasion on Sunday at 5 p.m. by holding two demonstrations. The first begins from Martyrs’ Square in central Beirut, and the second from the headquarters of the Beirut Fire Brigade in the Karantina area. They will later gather in front of the Lebanese Emigrant Statue in the vicinity of the port.

William Noun, brother of victim Joe Noun, called for a massive participation in the event, in order to convey a message to the officials that their “cause will remain alive.”
He told Asharq Al-Awsat that the positions to be launched during the demonstration will all converge on one goal – the “completion of the investigation... so that the Lebanese people know the truth about what happened and (uncover the identity of) those responsible for the crime that killed our brothers.”
The explosion that rocked Beirut on Aug.4, 2020 claimed the lives of 230 people, injured more than 5,000 and destroyed a third of the capital’s buildings.
“The confrontation is difficult with a political team that has no goal other than to undermine the investigation,” Noun said.
Since the judicial investigator Tariq Al-Bitar issued the prosecution list in early July 2021, and included the names of politicians and security leaders, the plan to end his judgeship began through dozens of lawsuits filed by the political defendants against him, which led to the cessation of his procedures since December 23, 2021.
The United Nations Special Coordinator in Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, met on Saturday with the families of a number of victims, who renewed their “resolute endeavor to uncover the truth and enforce justice and accountability.”
The families shared their experiences of the unprecedented tragedy that shattered their lives, homes, and communities, adding that despite their relentless pursuit of truth and accountability over the past four years, their efforts have been in vain, with the investigation into the explosion stalled.
The special coordinator echoed the UN secretary-general’s call for an impartial, thorough, and transparent investigation to bring truth, justice, and accountability.