Palestinians protest against Israeli-held long-term prisoners

Source:AFP Published: 2014-4-17 23:53:01

Thousands of Palestinians across the West Bank and Gaza rallied Thursday in solidarity with Israeli-held prisoners, as peace talks near collapse after the Jewish state refused to free long-serving inmates.

To mark Prisoners Day, Palestinians were to take to the streets in the West Bank city of Ramallah, where Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas has his headquarters, and hundreds took part in early rallies in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip late Wednesday.

In the southern West Bank city of Hebron, some 2,000 people marched carrying photos of prisoners and waving Palestinian flags, and another 1,000 protested in the northern city of Nablus.

"We support our prisoners!" read banners.

The row over prisoners caused a new deadlock in US-brokered peace talks in late March, just a month ahead of their deadline, when Israel reneged on its commitment to release a fourth and final batch of Palestinian inmates.

The Palestinians retaliated by seeking membership of several international treaties, breaking their own commitment under the talks which US Secretary of State John Kerry launched in July.

"Prisoners Day has extra importance this year," said the Palestinian Prisoners Club head, Abdel Al al-Anani.

"The prisoners issue has become one of global significance, since it is the reason that peace talks have almost collapsed," he told AFP.

Prisoners minister Issa Qaraqe said in an interview with Voice of Palestine Radio that the move to sign up to the international treaties, including the Fourth Geneva Convention, could pave the way to guaranteeing Palestinian prisoners' rights.

Palestinian legal rights NGO Adalah listed "administrative detention without formal charge or trial, severe restrictions on family visits, collective punishments such as solitary confinement, [and] violent night-time raids on inmates" as alleged abuses carried out by Israel.

AFP

Posted in: Mid-East

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