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Canceling POWs’ Ministry High Treason: Palestinians
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More
Palestinians are abducted by Israel.
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By
Maha Abdul Hady, IOL
Palestine
Correspondent
WEST
BANK, June 15 (IslamOnline) – Several Palestinian officials and
rights activists expressed resentment of the Palestinian Authority’s
(PA) decision to cancel the Ministry of War Prisoners, replacing it
with a Higher Body to take care of them. The move, taken at a time of
heated Israeli campaign of abductions, was dubbed “high treason”
against the detainees and the whole people.
President
of Palestinian Prisoner Club, affiliated to the canceled Ministry,
Essa Qraqie considered the PA’s decision unclear, stressing his
rejection to such a move.
“That
Ministry was expected to be strengthened and supported, due to the
increase of detentions and abductions during the current Intifada.
Israel
has detained more than 8,000 Palestinians since September, 2000. It is
vital to have a strong representative to follow up such a crucial
issue,” Qraqie told IslamOnline
Saturday, June 15, 2002
.
He
considered the move unconstructive, not reform, stressing the
cancellation decision to be the result of foreign pressure.
Qraqie
emphasized that the Ministry played a great role in helping the
Palestinians behind Israeli bars, adding the decision caused deep
resentment among the detainees.
For
his part, member of Palestinian Law Society in Jerusalem, Sameeh
Mohsin, pointed that the PA’s Ministries, in general, did not
achieve much. However, canceling the Ministry of War Prisoners came in
response to Israeli and U.S. pressures, not for the interest of
Palestinians.
“During
May, 2002, the Israeli occupation army detained more than 330
Palestinians – including 60 children, 12 girls and women. That
should have led to more attention to the issue of prisoners, not
canceling the Ministry taking care of their issue,” added Mohsin.
One
of those closely related to the issue, wife of a detained husband,
considered the move as “cancellation of a big part of the
Palestinian people”.
Om
Hisham, wife of engineer Bakr el-Aghbar, currently detained at Megiddo
prison in Israel, dubbed the move “treason to the Palestinian people
and a reward to Israel”.
“Before
the cancellation order, families of detainees used to face millions of
troubles and hardships to gain information about their detained
members. What will the case be now?” charged Om Hisham.
The
PA, on June 9, 2002, issued a Presidential Decree establishing the
“General Authority for the Prisoners Affairs” to replace the
canceled Ministry. Hisham Abdul Raziq, holder of the canceled post,
was appointed in charge of the new body.
Meanwhile,
the Palestinian Prisoner Club issued a statistic showing that more
than eight thousand Palestinians were detained, mostly during the
latest Israeli wide-scale aggression, starting March 29.
The
statistic added that 95% of the detainees were civilians, including
women, minor girls, sick people and children.
The
Palestinian detainees are exposed to the most terrible means of
torture and humiliation by the Israeli soldiers.
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