PLO urges action on Israel over prisoners

The PLO demanded “immediate intervention” in a formal letter to the 28 European Union (EU) member states and the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) except Australia, which has recently stopped referring to East Jerusalem (al-Quds) as occupied.
 
A copy of the letter was also sent to the governments of Brazil, South Africa and India.
 
In the letter signed by Saeb Erekat, the head of the Negotiations Division of the PLO, concern was raised over Israel’s detention of Palestinians without charge or trial, known as “administrative detention.”
 
He also called on world leaders to take action over the condition of the hunger-striking prisoners in Israeli detention.
 
    “I am writing on behalf of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and President Mahmoud Abbas to request your immediate intervention on behalf of the approximately 130 Palestinian detainees and prisoners currently on hunger strike in Israeli prisons,” Erekat wrote in the letter.
 
    “We call on you to call on Israel to annul the policy of administrative detention and to condition deepening your bilateral ties with Israel pending fulfillment of all its obligations.”
 
As many as 5,000 Palestinians are currently being held in Israeli prisons, with 200 being held in administrative detention. According to Israel Prisons Service (IPS), 250 prisoners are refusing food, while 75 of those on hunger strike have been hospitalized.
 
The Palestinian request comes shortly after the Israeli parliament approved the first draft of a bill aimed at allowing the force-feeding of the Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike.
 
The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has voiced concern over the deteriorating health of the Palestinian detainees in administrative detention.