References

Protocols, Treaties, and Other Documents

Introduction

The Expert Meeting on the Legal Status of Palestinian Prisoners in Israeli Jails (‘the meeting’) convened in Gaza on 18-19 April 2000 (hosted by PCHR in cooperation with the Palestinian Ministry of Ex-Prisoners and Detainees Affairs and Hussam Association for Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners). The meeting discussed and deliberated the status of Palestinian and Arab prisoners incarcerated in Israeli jails. The illegality of the transfer of those prisoners from occupied territories to Israeli jails was highlighted. 

The meeting reaffirmed the significance of international human rights and humanitarian law and in particular the IV Geneva Convention, and the Minimum Standard Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners to this critical issue of international concern. 

Conclusions and Recommendations

In so doing the meeting calls upon the State of Israel to:

1. Immediately release, without exception Palestinian and Arab political prisoners in accordance with existing agreements between the State of Israel and the PLO, and to commit itself to adhere to process which ensures the release of all Palestinian political prisoners. 

2. Abide by the principles espoused in international law when dealing with Palestinian and Arab prisoners in their treatment and release. 

3. In the meantime, to treat all Palestinian and Arab prisoners held in Israeli jails in accordance with international law, including the Third and Fourth Geneva Conventions of 1949, the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and the Standards Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.

4. Immediately improve the conditions of detention, in particular, inter alia:

4.1. Access to legal counsel of choice, including allowing access to all lawyers from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to consult prisoners in private and in respect of their rights;

4.2. Full access to family visits;

4.3. Full medical service without discrimination, and immediate access to medical care for all prisoners needing medical attention;

4.4. Access to telephones;

4.5. Provision of ventilated rooms by removal of asbestos wall in front of windows and provision of heating;

4.6. Access to higher education in Arabic without censorship, provision of computer in study room;

4.7. Immediate removal of all prisoners from isolation.

5. End the use of administrative and arbitrary detention, and to cancel emergency legislation providing for these practices;

6. Release all Palestinian and Arab prisoners who have completed their sentence;

7. Immediately release, without exception, all Lebanese hostages, held illegally as confirmed by the decision of the Supreme Court on 16 April 2000;

8. Immediately release all prisoners held in Al Khiam and other prisons in South Lebanon, whose lives are under serious threat and whose welfare is the responsibility of the State of Israel. Furthermore the State of Israel must redress and compensate all prisoners held in Al Khiam prison, all of whom were held illegally and subjected to torture. The State of Israel is also responsible for holding legally accountable all those responsible for the illegal incarceration and torture of prisoners in Al Khiam.

The meeting furthermore calls upon the PLO to:

1. Link the issue of Palestinian and Arab political prisoners in Israeli prisons to the political process and to suspend all political agreements with the State of Israel until the release of all these prisoners is secured.

2. Determine and adopt a schedule of release, which is in the best interest of the Palestinian and Arab political prisoners in Israeli jails. Such schedule must not accommodate any discriminatory standards of release. The schedule may, to the extent that it contributes to this aim, draw upon international models of prisoner release, which models guaranteed the release of prisoners in achieving a just and peaceful resolution to such conflicts. 

3. Immediately engage the State of Israel, to ensure that such release is achieved swiftly. 

The meeting furthermore calls upon the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to:

1. Reconvene their conference, adjourned on 15 July 1999 and adopt measures to enforce the Fourth Geneva Convention in the Occupied Palestinian Territories in fulfillment of the intentions of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolutions. 


The meeting furthermore calls upon the international community to:

1. Apply all international, regional and municipal conventions and agreements to ensure compliance by the State of Israel in meeting the aforesaid release of Palestinian and Arab prisoners in Israeli jails.

Torture

Torture is one of the most atrocious violations of human rights. The State of Israel has practiced torture widely in the oppression of the Palestinian people.

In this regard, the meeting emphasizes the following:

1. The State of Israel has ratified the United Nations Convention against Torture and all Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (‘the Convention’), which is legally binding. The Convention defines torture and prohibits the use of torture in all circumstances whatsoever.

2. The meeting urges the State of Israel to follow the recommendations of the Committee against Torture (CAT);

3. The State of Israel is called upon to ratify articles 20 and 22 of the Convention against Torture.

4. Compliance with the Convention means the practice of torture, in all its forms, must end.

5. No steps should be taken to continue the practice of torture, under any guise. In this regard the proposed amendment to the penal law should not be passed.

6. The State of Israel must fulfil its obligations under the Convention by promptly and impartially investigating all alleged acts of torture, prosecuting perpetrators and punishing all those found to be responsible for such acts (articles 4, 12 and 13). 

7. The State of Israel must further ensure that all victims of torture obtain redress, and adequate compensation to ensure as full rehabilitation as possible (article 14)

International Community

8. The international community, and particularly the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention, must take it upon itself to enforce the State of Israel’s compliance with its obligations under this Convention.

Finally, the meeting encourages Palestinian, Israeli, and international non-governmental organisations, lawyers and health personnel to convene a conference dealing in detail with the issue of torture, particularly redress and compensation for victims and accountability for those responsible for torture.