The Israeli Action Committee for the Palestinian Prisoners and Detainees
heather on July 14th, 2006The Committee is an Israeli organization, which firmly believes that there can be no peace between Israel and Palestine so long as thousands of Palestinian so-called “security prisoners” and hundreds of administrative detainees continue to be held in Israeli prisons.
Members of the Committee believe that the Palestinian prisoners can and should play a significant role in advancing the peace process and in spreading the message that co-existence in the Middle East is indeed possible – but only if Israeli society pays attention to their hardships and puts an end to the systematic institutional discrimination against them – which exists first at the judicial level, and later on with regard to their imprisonment conditions and parole opportunities.
The committee members have made it their goal to:
• Work to change the existing norm, whereby parole boards routinely deny parole to long-serving Palestinian “security prisoners” after they finish serving two-thirds of their sentence;
• Act towards commuting the sentences of long-serving prisoners, especially those whose cases the government of Israel refuses to even discuss with the Palestinian Authority (e.g., prisoners who hold Israeli citizenship);
• Advance a public discussion within Israeli society regarding the problem of the Palestinian prisoners, raising public awareness to their cause;
• Bring about a change in the incarceration conditions of those classified as “security prisoners,” equating them to those of other prisoners.
In order to advance its activities, the Committee needs some financial support. A large part of the activity is done by volunteers, yet the expenses involved in legal representation demand resources. The Committee’s legal dealings are coordinated by Adv. Michael Sfard of Tel Aviv.
Since the beginning of 2006 Israel has kidnapped almost 2000 people - including members of the Palestinian parliament and government. About 9500 Palestinians are being held in Israeli prisons, 1000 of whom are held as administrative detainees, without trial. The Committee calls upon the international community to demand that Israel immediately releases all elected Palestinian officials and all administrative detainees, and to urge Israel to instigate a program for the gradual release of thousands of other Palestinian prisoners - primarily those 300 who are under the age of 18 and the 60 prisoners who have been incarcerated for 20 years or more.
Please help us achieve the goals we have set for ourselves. Please distribute this appeal as widely as possible, write letters and articles about the problem of the Palestinian prisoners, and also, please help us cover the expenses of our activities.
Donations can be deposited to The First International Bank (031), account number 246980, Zamarot Branch (064), swift code FIRBILIT. Cheques by mail (to the order of The Committee for the Palestinian Prisoners) can be sent to Anat Matar, 33 Bernstein-Cohen St., Ramat Hasharon 47213, Israel.
For further details: Tamar Berger – 972-54-5331484 ; tberger@netvision.net.il ; Sanaa Salame – 972-54-4805040 foadsult@zahav.net.il ; Anat Matar – 972-52-8560001 ; matar@post.tau.ac.il
