Call for the protection of Palestinian prisoners and end to their inhumane treatment in Israeli jails- Letter from the State of Palestine (A/ES-10/952-S/2023/731)

3 October 2023

Identical letters dated 3 October 2023 from the Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General, the President of the General Assembly and the President of the Security Council

I write to draw urgent attention to the critical situation of thousands of Palestinian civilians, including children, who are being held captive in Israeli jails and subjected to all forms of physical and psychological abuse, including violent interrogations, unhygienic conditions, medical negligence and acts of torture.

As stressed in our letter of 7 September 2023 (A/ES-10/950 -S/2023/655, the deplorable conditions being endured by Palestinian prisoners, including administrative detainees held without charge or trial, have been worsening as the extremist Israeli Government deliberately intensifies its ill-treatment of Palestinian prisoners and takes punitive measures against them, amounting to State terrorism. In addition to the restrictions imposed on family visits in violation of international law, Palestinian prisoners and detainees continue to be the targets of violent raids and searches, vandalism and destruction of their belongings, exploitation of personal and medical needs, abrupt and repeated transfers, and other abusive treatment.

Palestinian prisoners have repeatedly gone on hunger strike as a form of peaceful, non-violent protest against their captivity and abuse by Israel, the occupying Power. Among those prisoners is 34-year-old Kayed al-Fasfous, who has been on hunger strike for over two months – 62 consecutive days as at the time of writing – in protest against his administrative detention. Mr. Al-Fasfous, who is married and the father of one child, has been held without charge or trial since 2 May 2023. He had previously spent seven years in Israeli prisons, only to be arrested again and put in captivity.

Fears for the life of Mr. Al-Fasfous, who is struggling with deteriorating health, have prompted the launch of a hunger strike tomorrow by the more than 1,200 Palestinian administrative detainees, among them 20 children and 4 women, in protest against Israel’s illegal and inhumane policies and in solidarity with Mr. Al-Fasfous, who is being held in the Ramla prison clinic rather than being transferred to a civilian hospital for emergency medical care.

Israel bears full responsibility for Mr. Al-Fasfous’s condition and we demand that it release him forthwith, as his life is in imminent danger. Moreover, we reiterate our demand for the release of all Palestinian prisoners and administrative detainees and an end to Israel’s daily arrest of Palestinian civilians – with nine Palestinian children between the ages of 8 and 13 detained just today in Al-Khalil (Hebron) as they returned home from school and taken to an unknown location – as part of its continuous attempts to intimidate the Palestinian people and quash any legitimate opposition to its illegal colonial occupation.

I also regret to inform you that, since my previous letter, another Palestinian child, 17-year-old Muhammed Jibril Rumaneh, was shot and killed by Israeli occupying forces on 29 September near an illegal settlement near the city of Birah in the occupied West Bank. Israeli occupying forces, following shoot-to-kill orders and in blatant disregard for Palestinian life, today shot another Palestinian boy, 15-year-old Waseem Mohammad Nassar, at the entrance of Fawwar refugee camp near Al-Khalil, wounding him and later detaining him.

We reiterate once again that Israel, the occupying Power, is a serial, systematic and perpetual violator of children’s rights in occupied Palestine and must be held accountable. It must not continue to be exempted from the international list of violators of children’s rights and must bear the consequences of its illegal and barbaric actions against Palestinian children. Moreover, we call again today for international protection for Palestinian children and the Palestinian people as a whole, in line with international humanitarian law and the relevant resolutions regarding the protection of civilians in armed conflict.

International protection is becoming more urgent not only in the light of the intensification of violent raids by Israeli occupying forces throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, but also the intensification of violent raids by Israeli settlers, who persist, aided and abetted by the army and Government, with their daily attacks on Palestinian civilians, properties and holy sites. Settlers are terrorizing Palestinian families in villages across the West Bank and, as noted in our previous letters, have been forcibly displacing Palestinians from their homes at an alarming rate; more than 1,100 Palestinians, including children, have been displaced by settler violence since 2022, and the numbers continue to rise.

Moreover, extremist Jewish settlers continue to endanger the security and sanctity of the Aqsa Mosque/Haram al-Sharif, with recurrent raids by settlers, some of whom are performing rituals at a place that is solely for Muslim worship, violent attacks on Palestinian worshippers and constant acts of provocation and incitement, including repeated threats to carry out animal sacrifices defiling this most sensitive holy site, as witnessed again in recent days. Paradoxically, while the Israeli Government openly facilitates and supports such settler lawlessness, including by ensuring that Israeli occupation forces accompany settlers on raids, it continues to impose restrictions on Palestinian access to the Aqsa Mosque compound and churches in occupied East Jerusalem, violating Palestinians’ freedom of worship and the historic and legal status quo at the city’s holy sites.

The international community must demand an end to all such violations, provocations and incitement by Israel, the occupying Power, and its agents, whether army, so-called police or settlers, and demand that it fully respect international law and the historic and legal status quo at the holy sites in Jerusalem. We reiterate that Israel has absolutely no sovereignty rights in occupied East Jerusalem, including at the Aqsa Mosque/Haram al-Sharif, or any other part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Its presence is one of an illegal colonial occupation and apartheid regime that must be brought to an end.

We reiterate our calls for serious, collective action by the international community, including the Security Council, to pursue accountability for all of these crimes. The Palestinian people, including children and the thousands of civilians being held captive in Israeli jails, cannot continue to be left to the mercy of an occupier that continues to prove it has no regard whatsoever for international law or the human rights of the people it is occupying, subjugating and depriving of their most fundamental rights, including the right to self-determination and to live as a free people in dignity, security and peace in their homeland.

The present letter is in follow-up to our 802 previous letters regarding the ongoing historic injustice against the Palestinian people and the crimes being perpetrated by Israel, the occupying Power, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, which constitutes the territory of the State of Palestine. These letters, dated from 29 September 2000 (A/55/432-S/2000/921) to 26 September 2023 (A/ES-10/951–S/2023/706) constitute a basic record of the crimes being committed by Israel, the occupying Power, against the Palestinian people since September 2000. For all of these war crimes, acts of State terrorism and systematic human rights violations being committed against the Palestinian people, Israel must be held accountable and the perpetrators brought to justice.

I should be grateful if you would arrange to have the present letter distributed as a document of the tenth emergency special session of the General Assembly, under agenda item 5, and of the Security Council.

(Signed) Riyad Mansour

Minister

Permanent Observer