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Erekat calls on EU, Japan to pressure Israel to respond to Palestinian prisoners' demands

May 25, 2017 at 8:04 am

The Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), Saeb Erekat, yesterday called on the European Union (EU) and Japan to “exert every effort” to pressure the Israeli government to respond to the demands of the Palestinian prisoners who have entered their 38th day of an open-ended hunger strike.

Erekat’s remarks came during his meeting with the EU’s Special Representative for the Middle East Peace Process, Fernando Gentilini, and the Japanese Ambassador for Palestinian Affairs and Representative of Japan to the Palestinian Authority, Takeshi Okubo.

The chief Palestinian negotiator based his demands on the international human rights law and the Geneva Conventions of 1949.

Read: What prisoners mean to the Palestinian Authority

He described the Israeli government’s denial of the Palestinian inmates’ demands as a “flagrant violation” of human rights, international law and international legitimacy.