Palestinians recount Israel jail ordeal

Four Palestinian activists recount their ordeal in Israeli jails, describing the prison conditions as harsh and Israeli guards’ behavior as inhumane.

“The conditions in Israeli jails are terrible. Prisoners are tortured physically and psychologically,” Hassan al-Kahlout, one of the four released Palestinian political prisoners told Press TV in an exclusive interview upon entering the Gaza Strip on Monday.

Prisoners “have no access to proper food and clothing even when their conditions prove to be critical and hopeless,” he added, calling on the international community to help free all Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.

Muniar Shebir, another released prisoner, described the tough condition of the prisons and how Israelis deny basic rights such as medical care and family visits to inmates.

The Palestinian ministry of prisoners and detainees in Gaza said there are currently 36 women and 450 children among nearly 8,000 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli detention centers.

There are also 125 inmates who have served for more than 25 years in prison and 1,500 others who are in urgent need of medical care, he added.

In late December 2010, a human rights group called Public Committee Against Torture in Israel revealed that Palestinian detainees are systematically denied the right to meet a lawyer during interrogations.

Being shackled to chairs for long periods, sleep deprivation, intimidation, torture and abysmal detention conditions are some of the cases the rights group documented in its report.

Israel claims its army is “one of the most moral armies” in the world as it treats prisoners and detainees with honor.

But in recent years videos have come out, showing how Israeli soldiers abuse and humiliate blindfolded and handcuffed Palestinian detainees.

On Monday, Palestinian demonstrators gathered in front of the Red Cross office in Gaza City, calling for the release of their relatives from Israeli jails.

Families of Gazan prisoners say they have not been able to visit their loved ones since September 2007, when Israel decaled Gaza a hostile entity.