Arab League urges UN inquiry into Israeli jails’ violations

CAIRO – 5 May 2017: Palestine has called for holding an international probe into violations against Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons. The Palestinian Permanent Delegate to the Arab League Gamal al-Shobky urged on Thursday the United Nations to pressure Israel into abiding by Geneva Conventions on the occupied Palestinian territories.


It came during Shobky’s speech before the Arab League’s irregular meeting on the level of permanent delegates held in solidarity with the mass hunger strike by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

The pan-Arab body, “invites the United Nations and its relevant specialized agencies to send an international commission of inquiry to Israeli prisons,” Shobky said in a resolution adopted Thursday.

The Palestinian officials said about 1,800 prisoners are participating in the hunger strike that began on April 17, with detainees subsisting on only water and salt in protest of their conditions.

On the other hand, Israel Prison Service Spokesman Assaf Librati said earlier this week that Israeli officials will not negotiate with the prisoners.

The number of Palestinians in Israeli prisons at the end of 2016 numbered around 7,000, according to the report, of whom 42 were women. Some 300 of them are children, including 11 girls, according to a recent report published by the Palestinian Prisoners Club.


Families of Palestinian prisoners' protest (Palestinian Prisoners Club)