The Palestinian National Council (PNC) briefed the regional and international parliamentary associations on the conditions of Palestinian prisoners and detainees in the Israeli occupation prisons.

The Palestinian National Council, in identical letters sent by the Speaker of the Council Mr. Saleem Al-Za’anoon to more than ten regional and international parliamentary forums and unions, on the occasion of the Palestinian Prisoner Day, which meets tomorrow 17th April 2019, whereas the issue of prisoners is a central issue at the top of the priorities of Palestinian people and institutions at all levels, due to prisoners national sacrifice, which they have afforded for their people's freedom.

In these messages, PNC explained that the Palestinian prisoners and detainees are prisoners of war and freedom fighters, and the relevant international conventions apply to them. Thus must be released immediately.

PNC called on the world parliaments and unions to pressure the Israeli Knesset to repeal its racist legislation against Palestinian prisoners and detainees in particular, as the Israeli Knesset legislation violate the Fourth Geneva Convention.

PNC urged the parliamentary unions to demand that the relevant human rights organizations should meet their responsibilities to the Palestinian prisoners and respond to the incitement campaigns and punitive measures led by the occupation against the prisoners, the most recent of these is the Israeli occupation piracy of the money paid by the Palestinian government to the families of the prisoners and martyrs, which is part of the tax revenues collected by Israel for a fee on behalf of the Palestinian government.

PNC, in its letters held Israel - the occupying power - legally responsible for the violations committed against the prisoners, calling for the necessity of forcing the occupation to abide by the rules and conventions of international humanitarian law, which guarantees the protection of the rights of the prisoners, specifically the third and fourth of the Geneva Conventions 1949, which is binding on the occupation and must be applied to Palestinian prisoners as prisoners of war.

PNC also called for the obligation of Israel - the occupying Power - to abide by articles (90) & (91) of the Geneva Convention, to ensure the right of the Palestinian prisoner to receive the necessary treatment and to receive adequate health care

In its letters, PNC pointed out that since 1967 the Israeli occupation has arrested about one million Palestinians from all categories and segments of society. About (6,000) Palestinians are still in their prisons, distributed among (23) prisons, and detention centers, (47) female prisoners, (250) children, (430) administrative detainees, and approximately (1,800) prisoners suffering from various diseases as a result of torture, poor health care and deliberate medical negligence.

The Palestinian National Council explained that the vast majority of prisoners were subjected to one or more forms of physical and psychological torture and cruel and inhuman treatment, contrary to the provisions of Articles (83-96) of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, and constitute a violation of articles (3) & (31) of the same Convention, and a violation of the Anti-Torture Convention 1984, resulting in the death of (218) martyrs prisoners since 1967.

PNC points out that the policy of detention carried out by the Israeli occupation, against the Palestinians prisoners, and transfer them outside the borders of their occupied country, constitute a war crime and a flagrant violation of the provisions of Article (76) of the Fourth Geneva

Convention, which stipulates that protected (imprisoned) persons should be held in their country.

The occupation continues also to pursue the policy of administrative detention, contrary to article (78) of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

It is worth mentioning that the Palestinian people commemorate the 17th  of April every year the "Palestinian Prisoner Day", which was approved by the Palestinian National Council (PNC) in recognition of the sacrifices of the heroic prisoners and detainees in Israeli jails and in support of their steadfastness.