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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’s Salam Wins Enough Support to Become PM, Angering Hezbollah

Judge Nawaf Salam, president of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) speaks at the ICJ at the start of a hearing in The Hague Netherlands May 16, 2024. (Reuters)
Judge Nawaf Salam, president of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) speaks at the ICJ at the start of a hearing in The Hague Netherlands May 16, 2024. (Reuters)
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Lebanon’s Salam Wins Enough Support to Become PM, Angering Hezbollah

Judge Nawaf Salam, president of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) speaks at the ICJ at the start of a hearing in The Hague Netherlands May 16, 2024. (Reuters)
Judge Nawaf Salam, president of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) speaks at the ICJ at the start of a hearing in The Hague Netherlands May 16, 2024. (Reuters)

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun summoned Nawaf Salam, head of the International Court of Justice, to designate him prime minister after most lawmakers nominated him on Monday, a big blow to Hezbollah, which accused opponents of seeking to exclude it.

The choice of Salam underlined the major shift in the power balance among Lebanon's sectarian factions since the Iran-backed Shiite group Hezbollah was pummeled in a war with Israel last year, and its Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad was toppled.

The presidency said Salam, currently outside the country and due to return on Tuesday, had secured the backing of 84 out of parliament's 128 lawmakers, and Aoun had summoned him to assign him to form the government.

Salam won backing from Christian and Druze factions, and prominent Sunni Muslim MPs, including Hezbollah allies and opponents of the group who have long demanded it give up its arsenal, arguing it has undermined the state.

But lawmakers from Hezbollah and its Shiite ally the Amal Movement, which hold all the seats reserved for Shiites in parliament, did not name anybody, indicating they currently do not intend to participate in Salam's government and raising the prospect of a sectarian rift if they remain outside cabinet.

Senior Hezbollah lawmaker Mohammed Raad, whose Iran-backed group had wanted incumbent Najib Mikati to stay in the post, said Hezbollah's opponents were working for fragmentation and exclusion. He said the group had "extended its hand" by electing Joseph Aoun as president last week only to find the "hand cut".

"Any government at odds with coexistence has no legitimacy whatsoever," Raad said. The group would act calmly and wisely "out of concern for the national interest", he added.

Last week's election of army commander General Aoun was another sign of shifts in the political landscape, in which Hezbollah had long held decisive sway.

Aoun's election and the designation of a new premier are steps towards reviving Lebanese government institutions which have been paralyzed for more than two years, with the country having neither a head of state nor a fully empowered cabinet.

Faisal Karami, a Sunni lawmaker aligned with the group, said he had nominated Salam, citing demands for "change and renewal" and pledges of Arab and international support for Lebanon.

Head of the Christian Free Patriotic Movement MP Gebran Bassil said Salam was the "face of reform". "Hope is in change," said the lawmaker, who was once allied with Hezbollah.

The new administration faces huge tasks including rebuilding areas levelled by Israeli airstrikes during the war with Hezbollah, and launching long-stalled reforms to revive the economy and address the root causes of the collapse of Lebanon's financial system in 2019.

Aoun said he hoped for a smooth and fast government formation because "we have great opportunities abroad", a reference to pledges of foreign support.

HEZBOLLAH MPS ARRIVE LATE

The prime minister must be a Sunni Muslim according to Lebanon's sectarian power-sharing system, which parcels out state positions on the basis of religious affiliation. The presidency goes to a Maronite Christian and the speaker of parliament must be a Shiite Muslim.

Hezbollah lawmakers attended their meeting with Aoun later than scheduled, delaying their arrival as they saw the momentum building behind Salam, a Hezbollah source said, according to Reuters.

Hezbollah believed a political understanding had been reached on Mikati's election before the group agreed to elect Aoun last week, the source said.

Salam took over the presidency of the ICJ, which is based in The Hague, as it held its first hearing in 2024 on a case filed by South Africa accusing Israel of genocide in the Gaza Strip, which Israel has dismissed as baseless.

Aoun, in his former role as commander of the US-backed army, played a critical role in the implementation of a US-brokered ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah.

The terms require the Lebanese army to deploy into south Lebanon as Israeli troops and Hezbollah withdraw forces.