PLO official tells Belgian MP that Israel commits “crimes” against Palestinian prisoners – "hundreds of sick prisoners are actually waiting to die as a result of crimes being committed against them"
Official PA TV News
Official PA TV newsreader: “Director of [PLO] Commission of Prisoners and Released Prisoners’ Affairs Maj. Gen. Qadri Abu Bakr briefed Belgian Parliament Member Marco Van Huis of the Labor party on all the details of the cause of the prisoners in the Israeli prisons. Maj. Gen. Abu Bakr noted that the occupation army and the Israeli governments that have come one after the other have carried out more than one million arrests against the Palestinian people, and he emphasized the escalation in the level of crime inside the occupation’s prisons and that there are hundreds of sick prisoners who are actually waiting to die as a result of the crimes being committed against them (see note below regarding PA libel on medical abuse of Palestinian prisoners -Ed.). Parliament Member Van Huis noted that the [Belgian] Labor party treats the Palestinian people’s cause as the top priority of its foreign [policy], and that its support for ending the occupation and achieving freedom are starting with efforts to expose the occupation’s crimes, boycott it, and impose sanctions on Israel as an occupation state.”
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."