Families of ailing prisoners fear the impact of Israel’s new bill
Mona Kandil
Press TV, Ramallah
Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails have always suffered from deprivation of basic human rights, torture and medical negligence, which have been on the rise lately.
The families of sick Palestinian prisoners are seriously worried about the health of their loved ones, after the Israeli Knesset passed a bill in the first reading to stop the funding of medical treatment for Palestinian inmates.
We visited the family of 48-year-old prisoner Abdelbaset Maatan, who is diagnosed with cancer. His wife says this new bill will add to the hardship of the ailing prisoners already suffering from medical negligence.
Abdelbaset, a father of four, spent over nine years behind bars, and was re-arrested last July and is now being kept under administrative detention without charge or trial. His family is urging all concerned institutions not to abandon the prisoners, particularly the sick inmates, in their battle against this extremist Israeli cabinet.
The Palestinian prisoners agree that confrontation is their only option in response to the Prison Service's measures against them and the continued attacks by the extreme right-wing Israeli regime.
Last week, the prisoners declared a disobedience campaign in response to policies adopted by far-right Israeli minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, that include solitary confinement, raids and search of rooms, confiscation of prisoners’ belongings, and bans on family visits as well as the closure of bakeries inside prisons and limiting shower time for each inmate to four minutes.
There are now about 4,700 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, including 150 children and 34 women. In addition to hundreds of prisoners with various illnesses, there are nearly 200 detainees who suffer from chronic diseases and 24 who are diagnosed with cancer.
In addition to their disobedience movement to protest the illegal practices by Israel’s prisons administration, Palestinian inmates are also planning to escalate their protest by starting a fresh hunger strike action on the first day of the holy month of Ramadan. The prisoners insist that the campaign can only end with their freedom or martyrdom.
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