Israel continues to hold teen, missile victim arrested at border

PIC- Israel continues to hold Ayyub Atallah, 18, from the Gaza Strip, who has suffered extreme health complications after he was hit with shrapnel three years ago, the Gaza Prisoners’ Affairs Ministry said Tuesday.

Atallah was arrested on 26 June 2011 on the Beit Hanoun crossing while returning from a trip to get an artificial leg in Slovenia. He lost his leg after Israeli forces launched a missile in April 2008, the ministry’s media director Riyadh al-Ashqar said.

Atallah’s crossing of the border was done in coordination with Israel, which waited for his three-year treatment to finish ahead of his arrest. The detention poses grave danger to his health as he requires follow-up.

Israel has been in a frenzy as pressure mounts to see the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was captured by Gaza resistance forces in 2006. Senior Israeli officials, including the prime minister, have promised to tighten measures on Palestinian prisoners in a bid to circumvent a prisoner exchange deal.

The measures taken include restrictions on education, food, and visitation. Some seven of Hamas’s senior officials have been isolated and placed in solitary confinement in several Israeli prisons.
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Arab member of the Israeli Knesset Ibrahim Sarsour has revealed that a new law aimed at isolating Palestinian prisoners from their attorneys is being examined by Israeli lawmakers.

The law would allow Israeli authorities to cut Palestinian prisoners’ access to an attorney for reasons that it says could “threaten public security”.

The Knesset discussed the draft law Tuesday ahead of approving it in the second and third readings.

Meanwhile, the families of Palestinian prisoners are sitting and rallying at the Red Cross in the West Bank cities of Jenin and Tulkarem to demand an end to the recent escalated measures taken by the Israeli government.

They called on Arabs to use the Israeli spy recently arrested in Egypt as a bargaining tool to see the release of many Palestinians.

They also said that Israeli authorities have employed more than 172 international banned measures against Palestinian prisoners.

On Tuesday, Israeli authorities arrested Palestinian legislator Nasser Abdul-Jawwad, leading Palestinian journalist Nawaf al-Amer, and rights expert Fuad al-Khuffash, all in the West Bank.

Khuffash said in message through his attorney that his “arrest came as part of a campaign aimed at silencing any voice defending the prisoners and supporting their rights.”