Late last week, negotiations concerning a prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas concluded without an agreement, although previous reports from both the Palestinian and Israeli sides had generated hope for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and their families, in addition to the family of the war prisoner, Gilad Shalit. Shalit was taken by the Hamas military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, and has been prisoner for two years.
The Israeli-Hamas negotiations, mediated by Egypt, began a long time ago and were put on hold or failed numerous times. But this time, both sides were hopeful that the negotiations would be successful.
However, negotiations stopped, and with no agreement reached. Israel, as usual, subsequently conducted a policy of collective punishment, arresting ten Palestinian legislative members and political leaders who are supposedly associated with Hamas in West Bank. The aim of this collective punishment was to put additional pressure on Hamas to accept the Israeli conditions for agreement. According to Hamas, the most difficult Israeli condition for it to accept is the subsequent deportation of 140 of the Palestinian prisoners who would be released in a deal.
Among the new prisoners are Dr. Nasser el-Sah'er from Nablus, who was a former minister and legislative council member; Nizar Ramadan, a Hebron legislative council member, and Khaled Tafesh, a Bethlehem legislative council member.
Indeed, it is not the first time that Israel has proposed such a policy. Following Shalit’s arrest, Israel arrested 41 Hamas political leaders in West Bank, most of them Legislative Council members and Ministers. These detainees included Abed el-Azeez Idwaik, the Chairman of the Legislative Council. Today, most of them remain imprisoned.
In its first reaction, Hamas leader and legislative member, Musher El-Masri, from Gaza, said that “this makes the issue of agreement more complex and we will surely not give any concession. This might push Hamas to raise its demands and conditions in the coming negotiation." Issa Qaraqi', the Coordinator of the Prisoners’ Committee in the Legislative Council, described these Israeli arrests as "gang conduct."
The recent arrests were a result of a recommendation from the committee formed under the leadership of then Israeli Justice Minister Daniel Friedman. In a special meeting to discuss the prisoner exchange file, the committee took two days to finish the terms of the exchange. Together with the arrests, other actions taken by Israel against Palestinian prisoners include preventing prisoner family visits, confiscating TVs and radios, and solitary confinements.
The most recent arrests were to put more pressure on Hamas. This means that these are not typical imprisonments, but are kidnappings and as such these prisoners are hostages. Needless to say, this violates International Humanitarian Law and the Fourth Geneva Convention, which expressly prohibits the taking of hostages. The question is: what do we do if this violation occurs through official decision and as a direct result of Justice Friedman’s government committee recommendations?
And what of the violated rights of the thousands of Palestinian prisoners who have the right to family visits, which will be prevented according to the committee recommendations? If implemented, it would violate Article 116 of Geneva Convention that states, "Every internee shall be allowed to receive visitors, especially near relatives, at regular intervals and as frequently as possible.”
Currently, there is also publicity of Israeli soldier testimonies on what happened during Israel’s attacks on Gaza. In an interview with al-Jazeera, an Israeli soldier who served in Operation Cast Lead told the reporter that they killed many civilians by carrying out direct orders from commanding officers. He said that he was surprised that his military leadership is saying that it did not know about the civilian deaths. The soldier added that “No, they know what we did and what they ordered us to do.”
Finally, it seems that the international courts and the United Nations should not need any more evidence to follow-up and prosecute Israel for war crimes and violation of international humanitarian law. But the issue here is not in the shortage of documents, files, or evidence—it is the lack of political will to implement real and serious actions to protect the rights of Palestinians.
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