"Symptomatic of wider abuse." Aref Assaf, The Bergen Record, 09/03/04
Recent articles on the hunger strike by Palestinians in Israeli prisons
trivialize the abhorrent Israeli treatment of the nearly 8,000 prisoners.
The vast majority of Palestinian inmates are political prisoners who have been
arbitrarily imprisoned or detained for no legitimate security reason but for
political expression or simply because they are Palestinian.
They are asking for the end of systematic abuse by their Israeli jailers. A
hunger strike was their last option.
They make demands that under international law Israel is obliged to respect. The
protest calls on Israeli officials to address issues concerning the inhumane
treatment of prisoners by guards, as well as the overall harsh and deplorable
conditions of the prisons themselves.
Israel's 37 years of abuse of Palestinians, whether inside jail cells or
throughout the occupied Palestinian territories, only proves that Israel
continues to view itself above the law and the Palestinians beneath it.
Aref Assaf
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