For four months Hussein Attallah from the northern West Bank city of Nablus has been suffering from cancer and medical negligence in Israeli jails. He passed away after serving more than two decades in Israeli jails characterized by medical neglect and disappointment.
Atallah was arrested 21 years ago on charges of ‘killing an Israeli policewoman’ which was described as ‘a civic crime’ according to Israeli law at the time. He was sentenced to 32 years in prison during which he suffered from severe pains. The most recent of which was cancer that affected his lungs spine liver pancreas and head at the same time.
Neglect and disappointment
According to his family Atallah passed away due to medical negligence by the Israeli Prison Service which denied him treatment despite his critical health condition and deterioration in recent months.
The family told the PIC reporter that it had filed a petition for his release because he suffered from cancer in five organs of his body after spending two-thirds of the sentence but the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) insisted he serves his full sentence.
The family pointed out that the disease was not the only reason that killed its son but also the failure of institutions and official bodies including human rights groups which did not pay attention to his health condition in addition to hundreds of other cases of ill prisoners in Israeli jails.
Suffering from cancer
According to the lawyer of the Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners Affairs Association Youssef Nasasra the condition of the prisoner Attallah was very serious. He had cancer in five organs in his body including his lungs spine liver pancreas and head which was only discovered four months ago.
Nasasra added “Attallah who was at the Soroka Hospital was a resident of Nablus married and had six children and was sentenced to 32 years in prison of which he served 21 years.”
Atallah had told his lawyer that the medical staff at the Soroka Hospital informed him that his condition was very serious and that he should be released due to his critical condition. He was tied to his hospital bed with oxygen always connected to his body and was prevented from contacting his family.
Deliberate medical negligence
Raed Amer the Director of the Prisoner Club in Nablus told the PIC reporter: “The killing of prisoner Attallah is an expected result of the IPS policies and the medical negligence that the IPS deliberately practices against Palestinian sick prisoners.
Amer stressed that what is required now is to expose the practices of the occupation and the IPS which deliberately procrastinates when it comes to providing treatment for Palestinian prisoners demanding a broad popular movement of solidarity with the prisoners in general and sick prisoners in particular.
With Atallah’s death the number of prisoners who died (or actually killed) in Israeli jails has risen to 213 since 1967. Of these 72 prisoners died as a result of torture 60 prisoners died as a result of medical negligence 74 prisoners died as a result of deliberate murder upon arrest and seven prisoners were shot inside the prison cells.
