PALESTINE
Mon 25 Nov 2024 4:37 pm - Jerusalem Time
Prisoners Club: Israeli occupation has arrested 435 women since the beginning of the war of extermination
The Palestinian Prisoners Club Association said that the Israeli occupation authorities have arrested more than (435) women since the beginning of the war of extermination, in the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem, and from the lands of 1948.
The club explained in a report issued on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, which falls on November 25 of each year, that there is no clear estimate of the number of women who were arrested from Gaza, as a number of them were later released, but it is certain that there are women who are still detained in the occupation camps, and they are subject to enforced disappearance.
Their number reached (94) female prisoners, including four female prisoners from Gaza, and among the female prisoners (31) are administrative detainees, among them (33) mothers, (25) female university students, (6) female journalists, and two female lawyers, and among the female prisoners: wives of prisoners, mothers of prisoners and martyrs, and sisters of martyrs.
The Prisoners Club added that "Palestinian women are facing the bloodiest phase in the history of the conflict with the occupation, with the continuation of the war of genocide, in addition to facing a series of unprecedented crimes and serious violations against them, with the escalation of arrests and attacks at various levels, including sexual assaults, which constituted the most prominent episode in the testimonies of female prisoners, specifically female prisoners from Gaza."
The Prisoners Club stressed that the concepts adopted by the international system in describing the reality of women under the term violence are no longer sufficient to describe the stage that Palestinian women are exposed to in light of the war of extermination, and the policies of horrific theft and deprivation, which constitute an extension of a long history of the policy of targeting women, and what we are witnessing today of crimes against women that were practiced throughout the decades of occupation, but the difference is the intensity of these crimes and their level and their unprecedented escalation, if compared to previous periods.
The club added: “Since the beginning of the war of extermination, the Israeli occupation forces have escalated systematic arrests of Palestinian women in all Palestinian geographies, and have not excluded minors. This has also included arresting women as hostages, with the aim of pressuring a family member targeted by the occupation to surrender himself. This policy has been one of the most prominent crimes that has escalated significantly, and has included wives of prisoners, martyrs, and mothers, including elderly women over seventy years old. It should be noted that this policy has affected other groups, not just women. Their detention as hostages has been accompanied by acts of abuse and threats that have reached the point of threatening to kill the targeted son or husband, in addition to the attacks they have been subjected to during the arrest process, in addition to the acts of vandalism that have affected their homes, terrorizing their children and sons, and seizing their money and gold jewelry.”
The occupation also carried out widespread arrests of women from Gaza, including minors and elderly women, and detained them in military camps, in addition to the “Damon” prison. In light of the occupation’s continued implementation of the crime of enforced disappearance against Gaza detainees, institutions do not have clear data on their numbers, or on those who remain under detention in the camps under the administration of the army. As for the “Damon” prison, the number of female prisoners from Gaza today is four, according to the report.
The club continued: “With the release of dozens of female prisoners from Gaza, they have given harsh testimonies about their arrests, their transfer to camps, the humiliation, abuse, and deprivation of all their rights they were subjected to, their threats of rape, their subjection to humiliating strip searches, their exposure to harassment, in addition to the obscene words and insults that the occupation soldiers deliberately used against them, and their forcing them to take off their veils for the entire period of detention, in addition to stripping them naked. Here we refer again to the United Nations report, which referred to reliable reports that two female prisoners from Gaza were subjected to rape.”
Hasharon Prison, as a temporary detention center for female prisoners before their transfer to Damon Prison, is witness to the strip searches that most female prisoners were subjected to, according to dozens of testimonies documented by institutions, in addition to the humiliating and degrading detention conditions to which they were subjected and the attacks, including severe beatings.
The occupation authorities detain the majority of female prisoners in Al-Damon prison, a central prison that they have historically used to detain them, where they face harsh and difficult detention conditions, as a result of the policy of collective isolation that they have adopted against male and female prisoners. In addition, female prisoners, in particular, were subjected to widespread attacks during the first period of the start of the war of extermination, including female prisoners being subjected to solitary confinement, attacks by the forces of repression, the seizure of all their belongings, and the deprivation of all their rights. In addition to the policies previously reviewed, female prisoners today suffer from the policy of starvation, by depriving them of additional food supplies, in addition to depriving them of treatment, which falls within the framework of medical crimes. The overcrowding imposed by the prison administration has also weighed heavily on female prisoners, which has led to the emergence of many tragic detention conditions inside the (Damon) prison, forcing many of them to sleep on the floor, in addition to the severe shortage of clothes and blankets, which is escalating in light of the harsh cold wave. Some female prisoners remained in the clothes in which they were detained for long periods, and were unable to change them. Female prisoners also suffered from the prison administration’s deliberate provision of them with undrinkable and dirty water, in addition to the repeated searches and raids of their sections, and the seizure of their extra clothes.
The club said that "Palestinian women, like all segments of Palestinian society, were targeted by administrative detention operations that have escalated in an unprecedented manner in history, as the number of administrative detainees until the beginning of this November reached more than (3443), including (31) female prisoners held administratively, including journalists, lawyers, human rights activists, and students, and the majority of them were charged with incitement on social media, which today constitutes the most prominent pretexts used by the occupation to arrest Palestinians in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, as well as the 1948 territories.
The report addressed the case of the human rights prisoner and activist Khalida Jarrar, who has been subjected to the crime of solitary confinement in Neve Tartessia prison for more than 100 days, where the occupation prison administration is holding her in tragic and harsh isolation conditions that affect all her rights. Based on several visits conducted by human rights organizations, there is real fear for her fate.
The club stated that the policy of solitary confinement, along with the collective isolation measures imposed on prisoners since the beginning of the war of extermination, constitutes one of the most prominent policies that have been escalated against male and female prisoners, and which is considered one of the most dangerous policies practiced by the Israeli prison system against prisoners over many decades.
It is noteworthy that the occupation forces re-arrested Jarar on 12/26/2023, from her home in Ramallah, and she was transferred to administrative detention, and an administrative detention order was issued against her. Throughout the past period, she was detained in Al-Damon prison alongside female prisoners, until she was transferred to solitary confinement since last August. Since her arrest, she has faced, like all male and female prisoners, harsh and difficult detention conditions, systematic abuse and crimes.
The report also addressed the case of prisoner Shaima Rawajbeh (25 years old) from Nablus, who has been administratively detained since last April, and who faces difficult and complex health conditions. Since her arrest, she has been suffering from a fracture in one of her feet, which later led to her suffering, after the cast was removed, severe muscle weakness, until the situation worsened and she was no longer able to walk, and she became completely dependent on female prisoners to meet her needs. Her suffering did not stop there, but she suffers from severe stomach problems, to the point that she is no longer able to eat any type of so-called (meals), as she vomits constantly, which led to her suffering from severe weight loss.
The Prisoners Club explained that the case of prisoner Rawajbeh is one of no less than (25) female prisoners who suffer from clear and difficult health problems, and they need urgent health care.
The Prisoners Club confirmed, based on the testimonies it obtained from Palestinian female prisoners and detainees, that the Israeli occupation continues to violate the rights of Palestinian female prisoners in detention and interrogation centers and prisons, in hospitals, medical clinics, checkpoints and barriers, as these violations affect all categories of Palestinian women, including teachers, students, mothers, girls and others.
The Prisoners Club called on the United Nations and all member states to pressure the occupying state to respect and abide by international law and international human rights law, and to implement the Convention against Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
He called on the contracting states to the Fourth Geneva Convention to end the physical and psychological abuse practiced by the occupation soldiers during the arrest of Palestinian women, and their illegal detention in the occupied Palestinian territory, and to end the practices of physical and psychological torture and degrading treatment during investigation and arrest.
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Prisoners Club: Israeli occupation has arrested 435 women since the beginning of the war of extermination