Ramallah, 16 May 2024 (TDI): The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates has condemned in the strongest terms the policy of mass arbitrary detention followed by Israel.
The Ministry has called for strengthening accountability mechanisms for Israel for its violations and crimes against Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
It believes that the occupying power employs such actions as an integral part of the system of persecution and oppression it practices to perpetuate its colonial regime in Palestine.
Essentially, the Ministry considers such actions, especially the court system against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, as an additional war crime.
“It is one of the arms of the occupation that contributes to consolidating the colonial occupation of the Palestinian land,” the Ministry explained the Israeli court system.
Furthermore, “It considers with great seriousness what a large number of children, women, and men who were forcibly kidnapped from the Gaza Strip during the past months are exposed to as a result of the systematic torture policy that Israel uses against them,” the Ministry indicated.
It also listed ways of torture including sexual violence, rape, starvation and deprivation of medical care.
“The continuing brutal occupation policies have reached unprecedented levels, which led to the death of dozens of Palestinian prisoners under torture in illegal Israeli detention centers,” it lamented.
The Ministry expressed its fear that this fate could be shared by thousands of those who were recently forcibly kidnapped in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including Jerusalem.
More importantly, the Ministry cited serious findings from a recently published CNN report.
“This has been confirmed by numerous reports and press investigations from Israeli and international media,” it narrated.
The Foreign Affairs Ministry quoted sources of information as the testimonies of dozens of Palestinian detainees from the Gaza Strip who have recently been released and the testimonies of some Israelis working in secret detention centres.
“It show the ugliness of the crime to which detainees from the Gaza Strip are exposed inside secret detention camps in the Negev desert,” it explained.
Transparent International Investigation
The Ministry has called for a transparent international investigation through existing international committees and the formation of mechanisms to ensure that Israel is held accountable for its violations and crimes.
Moreover, it denounces these crimes as they are war crimes and crimes against humanity punishable by the founding Rome Statute.
It also calls on the International Red Cross to move quickly to visit the secret detention centres and learn about the conditions of those kidnapped from the Gaza Strip.
The Ministry believes that such efforts must be undertaken for submitting reports to the competent international courts.
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Additionally, it requests that Israel must be questioned regarding the immediate disclosure of the secret detention camps, names, and conditions of detainees from the Gaza Strip.
Lastly, identical letters have been sent to the Special Rapporteurs of the United Nations and international bodies with jurisdiction regarding war crimes and crimes against humanity against prisoners and detainees for immediate action.
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