RAMALLAH: “I am writing you regarding the urgent situation of thousands of Palestinians in Israeli occupation prisons, and particularly the desperate situation of four hunger strikers, to respectfully urge you to take immediate action in order to free our Palestinian prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons,” Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat wrote to European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. “The illegal behavior of Israeli occupation forces, and particularly the draconian laws against Palestinians, including so-called ‘administrative detention', has allowed Israel, the occupying power, to imprison around 800,000 Palestinian men and women, including children and the elderly, since the beginning of the 1967 occupation. These also include members of Parliament, such as Marwan Barghouthi and Ahmad Saadat,” the letter continues. The letter warns Ashton that Palestinians will hold Israel directly responsible should any of the four prisoners on hunger strike, particularly Samer Al-Issawi, die they “will also hold the international community partly responsible for enabling Israel to act with such egregious impunity.” Ashton and other members of the international community have already urged Israel to take action concerning the condition of the hunger striking prisoners. Al-Issawi, the man who has been on hunger strike for over 200 days, is being held under administrative detention without charge. He was released in a prisoner swap between Hamas and Israel. Under the agreement, he could not leave Jerusalem. He was captured by Israeli forces in Hizma, a town within the municipality of Jerusalem. Erekat concluded the letter with a call “to consider the importance of human rights and international humanitarian law in your bilateral relations and agreements with the State of Israel, as well as the need to find a resolution to the Palestine-Israel conflict through the implementation of the two-state solution on the 1967 border, and the promotion of peace, prosperity and stability in the Middle East.” BN
