Situation in the OPT – Letter from Palestine

Letter dated 28 February 1989 from the Chargé d'affaires a.i.

of the Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine

to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

I have the honour to enclose a copy of a letter sent to Mr. Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, from Palestinian detainees in Ansar III detention camp (Ketziot).

The letter describes the unbearable inhuman conditions in this notorious detention camp. It also declares that the detainees have been on a hunger strike since 26 February 1989, and asks that the situation be brought to the attention of the United Nations.

We should be grateful if you would arrange to have the text of the present letter and its enclosure circulated as an official document of the General Assembly under items 37, 39 and 78 of the preliminary list, and of the Security Council.

(Signed) Dr. M. Nasser AL-KIDWA

Alternate Permanent Observer

Chargé d'affaires of Palestine

to the United Nations

.

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ANNEX

Letter from the Palestinian detainees in Ansar III detention camp (Ketziot)

addressed to the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization

From the depths of one of the bleeding wounds on the surface of our homeland, from the gloom of one of the most notorious contemporary swamps of oppression, from the precious land of Negev, from behind the wire of the Ansar III detention camp, we address this cry to you, this cry which rises from those tormented hearts which are crucified on the Star of David in the land of Negev, where the Palestinian dies a slow ad ugly death and is subjected to myriad forms of maltreatment and torture.

Our brother leader,

The deliberate policy of oppression and killing against our people and against this camp has not faltered, despite all the sufferings we have undergone as a result of various forms of torture and murder. On the sixteenth day of August two of our brothers were martyred and hundreds injured when live bullets and gases were fired at as the enemy launched a long assault against us in the vaults of this terrible prison. Another of our brothers also fell in this incident at the Megiddo prison in Lower Galilee, when he was struck by a bullet from the same criminal who wounded the Negev martyrs.

Our brother combatant

All this occurred without the lifting of one humane finger in assistance.  In spite of all that was happening, the authentic forces of humanitarianism and justice expressed no interest. Indeed, the only assistance which we have received in this respect is the recent report by European Ministers for Foreign Affairs on these violations occurring inside the homeland against the rights and dignity of our people. What occurs in this camp demonstrates the truth of what is being contrived and concocted against us and against our national existence.

You are well aware, our brother and supreme commander, that everything which happens now is a result of our determined commitment to representation by the Palestine Liberation Organization alone. What happened on 17 February 1989 constituted revenge against us in respect of our aformentioned steadfast political support for your leadership. In the face of all these events and of the conspiracies being hatched against our survival and existence in this camp, we have decided to initiate a public hunger strike as of 26 February. All that we request is that attention be drawn to this measure of ours before the United Nations and the Security Council and at any other places where pressure may be brought to bear upon Israel, with a view to inducing the latter to desist from such practices against Palestinian prisoners and against those prisoners of the uprising who are held in the detention camps.

Revolution until victory, until victory.

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