Reuters AlertNet Full site
Homepage | Newsdesk | NGO Latest | Crisis briefings | Country profiles | MediaWatch | Jobs | Alerting | Login

NEWSDESK

ISRAEL-OPT: ICRC concerned by suspension of family visits to prisoners
22 Apr 2008 17:13:09 GMT
 Source: IRIN

Background

•  Israeli-Palestinian conflict

MORE >>
JERUSALEM/GAZA, 22 April 2008 (IRIN) - For families in the Gaza Strip with sons or daughters in Israeli jails, the past 11 months have been especially hard, as they could no longer visit their imprisoned relatives and have only had contact through brief written messages.

"This issue is a humanitarian concern for us, for the families and the prisoners," Katharina Ritz, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Jerusalem, told IRIN.

"It is very important the families have contact with the people in jail; and psychologically, for the prisoners, it is important to have contact with the family," she said, noting that families bring books and clothes for their relatives.

According to the Israeli rights group B'tselem, over 760 Gazans, including four women, are in Israeli jails. They are all there for "security" crimes - anything from alleged membership of an "illegal group" to proven acts of militancy.

The visits programme from Gaza, running since 1968, stopped shortly before the Hamas takeover in June 2007, during a period of intense violence in the enclave. Since then, Israel has not agreed to resume the system, in which the ICRC coordinates and facilitates the visits of close relations to the imprisoned Gazans.

"There was a government decision not to allow people out of Gaza, except for humanitarian cases," said Shlomo Dror from Israel's Ministry of Defence, referring to medical patients. Israeli officials also noted that Gilad Shalit, the soldier captured in 2006 by Palestinian militants, had not been allowed contact with his family.

"This is not a question of who deserves more; both sides deserve to have contact with their families," an ICRC official said.

Nearly one year without visits

"The last time I saw my son was on 17 May last year," Abu Rami said from Gaza City. His son, Rami, was arrested nearly five years ago and sentenced to 15 years in an Israeli jail.

"Before that, I used to go see him every 15 days," he told IRIN.

When he was able to visit, he had to leave his home at about 4am, returning after midnight the next morning, due to the long security checks and travel time to reach the prison inside Israel.

"But it was worth it, because I could see him; he is my only son," the father said, adding that Rami had only been allowed to touch his own four-year-old son once since his arrest, and the two have had no contact in the last year.

Communication with the family has been reduced to letters from the prison - which take about six weeks to arrive in Gaza.

He and hundreds of others still apply every week for permission to visit.

"This is a clear indication to me that the human contact the family visit programme provides is essential to the families," said Ritz.

The ICRC said that before June it relayed only about 10 messages a month between prisoners and their families, but now that number had risen to up to 300 a month, with officials stressing that these short messages, subject to military censors, are hardly ideal.

shg/ar/cb

© IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.IRINnews.org


AlertNet news is provided by
Email this article       Send comments

Emergencies

•  Israeli-Palestinian conflict

MORE >>

NGO latest

•  Climate Measures Can Reduce Displacement
NRC - Norway

•  Direct Relief International Recognizes World TB Day 2008
DRI - USA

•  Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories: Safety of medical workers under spotlight in joint campaign
ICRC - Switzerland

•  LWF Calls for End to Self-Destructive Cycle
LWF - Switzerland

•  Gaza surgeons meet to discuss weapon wounds
ICRC - Switzerland

MORE >>

Latest news

•  ISRAEL-OPT: ICRC concerned by suspension of family visits to prisoners

•  Clinton says U.S. could 'totally obliterate' Iran

•  Clinton says U.S. could 'totally obliterate' Iran

•  Hamas readies final response to truce deal with Israel

•  Hamas agrees preliminary deal on Israel truce-paper

MORE >>

IRIN news

Related articles

Breaking stories
ISRAEL-OPT: ICRC concerned by suspension of family visits to prisoners (1 minute ago)

Clinton says U.S. could 'totally obliterate' Iran (1 minute ago)

AlertNet insight
MEDIAWATCH: Women's Day, a time to grieve, a time to be inspired (1 minute ago)

Aid agency news feed
Climate Measures Can Reduce Displacement (1 minute ago)

Blogs
Israel threatens holocaust against Gaza?! (1 minute ago)

Maps
MAP: West Bank access and closure (December 2007) (1 minute ago)


Country information

Briefings
Israeli-Palestinian conflict - [Who works where]

Facts & figures
Israel
Statistics graphs
Human development index ranking (2005)
Chart for Human development index ranking
View more stats

Del.icio.us Del.icio.us  |   Digg Digg  |   NewsVine NewsVine  |   Reddit Reddit   
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-04-22T132034Z_01_JER14_RTRIDSP_2_PALESTINIANS-ISRAEL_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/JER14.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-04-22T130805Z_01_SJS02_RTRIDSP_2_PALESTINIANS-ISRAEL_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/SJS02.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-04-22T130740Z_01_SJS01_RTRIDSP_2_PALESTINIANS-ISRAEL-REUTERS_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/SJS01.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-04-22T121624Z_01_JER12_RTRIDSP_2_PALESTINIANS_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/JER12.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-04-21T133354Z_01_JER02_RTRIDSP_2_PALESTINIANS-ISRAEL-CARTER_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/JER02.htm

Palestinians wave flags and hold posters depicting Samir Quntar during a rally in the West Bank city of Ramallah April 22, 2008, marking the start of his 30th year of imprisonment. ...


More pictures | Galleries
Disclaimers |  Copyright |  Privacy |  Contact Us |  Feedback |  About Us |  RSS XML

Last updated:Tue Apr 22 17:18:43 2008