PA accuses Israel of implementing a “policy of deliberate neglect” against Palestinian prisoners
Official PA TV News
Official PA TV newsreader: “The occupation is continuing the policy ofmedical neglect against our prisoners in the occupation’s prisons (sic., see note below regarding PA libel on medical abuse of Palestinian prisoners), which has caused dozens of them to ascend to Heaven as Martyrs…
Prisoner Iyad Omar (i.e., arrested in 2002 as part of Israel’s counter-terror Operation Defensive Shield; PMW was unable to determine the nature of his crimes) from the Jenin refugee camp, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison, suffers from brain cancer as a result of the prison management’s policy of deliberate neglect, while the occupation is preventing his relatives from visiting him and inquiring after his health.”
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."
Operation Defensive Shield – a large Israeli military operation in April 2002 in response to the many suicide bombings during the PA terror campaign (the second Intifada, 2000-2005). Israel put Arafat under siege and invaded six of the largest West Bank cities in an attempt to destroy the terror infrastructure.