With changing Israeli conditions, prisoner negotiations have no credibility, says PLC member Issa Qaraqa'a

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PNN, (Bethlehem) Najib Farag Wednesday, 27 December 2006

Palestinian Legislative Council member Issa Qaraqa'a sits on the Negotiating Committee for Prisoners. But he says that committees are useless if the Israeli position on its dealings with the issue of Palestinian political prisoners in its prisons does not change. He said that it gives false hope to both prisoners and their families.

Qaraqa'a noted that the Palestinian experience on the issue has been entirely negative due to the continued Israeli imposition of new conditions and standards in the possibility of release. This has led to the abject failure of these committees, Qaraqa'a said.

The PLC member and former Director of the Palestinian Prisoner Society made these notes while commenting on the possibility of forming a joint Palestinian – Israeli committee to negotiate the criteria for releasing Palestinian political prisoners following the meeting between President Abbas and the Israeli Prime Minister.

He did say, “I hope that the Israeli mentality has been able to absorb the importance of the issue of prisoners in Palestinian society and knows that it is the cornerstone to the test of any stability or peace in the region.”

The Israelis deal with Palestinian political prisoners as “terrorists” and “criminals,” instead of “freedom fighters” or members of the armed resistance. Under international law the Israelis cannot hold Palestinians in their prisons for several reasons. Two are the geographical position of the prisons themselves. As the occupation of the West Bank is illegal, so are the military installations and settlements that house the prisons. As for the prisons inside Israeli boundaries, just as it contravenes international law for the occupier to put its population on the land of the occupied, it is illegal to take the occupied into its own borders. International law also stipulates the legitimacy of resisting occupation in any form, therefore trying any Palestinian in the Israeli Military Court system is also illegal.

Qaraqa'a pointed out that daily arrests have not stopped. He said that the Israelis have a timetable of five years to ensure that they no longer hold any more political prisoners, without exception or discrimination.

Earth, a planet hungry for peace

Apartheid Wall


The Israeli Land-Grab Apartheid Wall built inside the Palestinian territories, here separating Abu Dis from occupied East Jerusalem. (IPC, 7/4/04).

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank, like a Python (Alquds, 1/25/03.

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