RAMALLAH (Palestine Foundation Information Center) The Palestinian Commission of Detainees’ and Ex-Detainees’ Affairs has said that 90 percent of the Palestinian prisoners in Etzion jail have been exposed to beatings and physical abuse during their detention and transfer to the prison.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Commission said its lawyer reported this percentage following a recent visit he made to Etzion jail, where 105 detainees are being held.
The Commission’s lawyer described the prisoners’ incarceration conditions in Etzion as “miserable,” saying that the cells are overcrowded with detainees and most of them sleep on the floor due to an acute shortage of beds and mattresses.
The Etzion detainees haven’t enough blankets and clothes and are being locked up in cold cells, which are also flooded with water during the rainy season, the lawyer added.
The prisoners are also exposed to deliberate disturbance by Israeli jailers, who keep knocking on the doors of their cells at night to prevent them from sleeping, and sometimes they are forced to stay in the prison yard with no reason, while those with medical conditions are not provided with any health care.
All these mass punitive measures against the prisoners in Etzion have been taken in response to the cross-border operation that was carried out by the Palestinian resistance in Gaza last October, according to the lawyer.
The Commission affirmed that many detainees in the jail are held administratively, without informing them of the duration of their detention.
