Palestine brothers enter 29th year in Israel detention

Two Palestinian brothers, 57-year-old Abdul Jawad and  51-year-old Mohammed Shamasneh, have entered their 29th consecutive year in Israeli detention facilities, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club reported yesterday.

In an official statement, the organisation explained the prisoners were from the East Jerusalem town of Qatana, adding that they were arrested before the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993. They were repeatedly sentenced to life imprisonment.

The statement pointed out that the detainees’ mother had not been allowed to visit them for “five years due to her health”, adding that the Israeli authorities were continuing “to ban the children of the Abdul-Jawad from visiting him for security reasons.”

Abdul-Jawad is married and has three children, while Mohammed has three daughters. Both are currently being held in the Nafha detention centre.

Israel detains about 4,500 Palestinians in its jails, among them 41 women and 140 children below 18 years. Since the beginning of 2021, Israeli authorities have arrested nearly 1,400 Palestinians.

Nearly 550 inmates suffer from various diseases and require close monitoring and healthcare. At least 10 inmates suffer from cancer of varying degrees, including Fouad Al-Shobaki, 82, the oldest of the prisoners. So far, 368 jailed Palestinians have been infected with the coronavirus.

Some Palestinians have spent 40 years in captivity with 543 sentenced to several life sentences.

READ: Israel arrests 144 Palestinians in April