PLO libel: Israeli prisons commit "acts of revenge against Palestinian prisoners, raids of prison wards, spreading diseases, and killing of prisoners"

Official PA TV program Topic of the Day

PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs Spokesperson Thaer Shreitah: “The occupation state today is the intelligence services state. Everything that they are carrying out inside the prison stems from the instructions of the Israeli Security Agency and the Israeli intelligence services. The acts of revenge against the prisoners, the raids of the prison wards, spreading diseases, killing prisoners (sic., see note below regarding PA libel on medical abuse of Palestinian prisoners) – all these crimes are being committed according to direct orders of the so-called Israeli intelligence officers.”

Libel on medical abuse of Palestinian prisoners - The PA claims that Israel abuses Palestinian prisoners through medical neglect, medical experiments, and by intentionally infecting them with diseases. However, the International Red Cross regularly visits these prisoners and has not documented or accused Israel of any of these claims. Likewise, lists of demands occasionally issued by the prisoners during hunger strikes—such as during one in 2011—include no demands relating to these claims. PMW has documented prisoners talking about how they "lack nothing" in the prisons and that "the worst thing about Israeli prison" is riding in a prison vehicle that has no padding on the seat. When PMW contacted the Israeli Ministry of Health in 2007 regarding PA claims of medical experiments on prisoners, the ministry responded: "Clinical testing on prisoners in prison was never approved, never performed, and is most certainly not taking place at present."