Occupation authorities attack Palestinian detainees with tear gas

Ramallah (West Bank)- Families of Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails expressed their fears and concern over their sons' fates because of the arbitrariness of Israeli measures, especially after the incidents reported in Megiddo jail on 19 March in which dozens of prisoners were injured.

The Palestinian families staged a sit-in outside the Palestinian Red Crescent office in Beereh town of the West Bank protesting against the ill-treatment of their sons. They appealed to international human rights organizations to pressure Israeli prison authorities to stop using tear gas and incendiary bombs against detainees as was done in Megiddo jail when prisoners were protesting against the continuation of their detention.

Israeli sources had revealed last month that more than 180 administrative detainees (without trial) protested against decisions made by the prison authorities to renew their detention for an additional six months. The sources added that some of the detainees have had their detention renewed more than nine times.

A detainee who was released later said that Israeli soldiers broke into the prison and attacked the protesters with canes and rifle butts instead of assisting those who were injured or suffocated by the incendiary bombs and tear gas. The clashes between the soldiers and the detainees continued for more than six hours during which the detainees faced real danger.

There are more than 300 Palestinians detained in various Israeli prisons without trial or charge. They are held in accordance with the administrative detention regulations of the British Emergency Law which Israel is still using against Palestinian political prisoners.