General coordinator of the Kasr al-Kayd (Break the Shackles) International Campaign Ahmad Abu Taha warned Monday that the Israeli occupation started to implement the decisions opted for by the cabinet on Sunday to crack down on Palestinian detainees.
Abu Taha said the assault by Israeli occupation troops on Section 1 in Negev jail and the abrupt searches of Palestinian prison cells are actual manifestations of the measures adopted by the Israeli cabinet.
According to Abu Taha such oppressive measures make part of Israeli attempts to step up pressure on the Palestinian resistance Hamas in particular so as to release the captive soldiers held in the blockaded Gaza Strip and push for a prisoner swap deal at the soonest time possible.
Abu Taha further noted that similar crackdowns were executed by the Israeli prison authorities following the capture of the Israeli soldier Shalit in 2006. Visit-bans physical abuses violations of prisoners’ human rights strip searches and solitary confinement were among the policies pursued by the Israeli prison service to pressurize Hamas to release Shalit.
On Sunday the Israeli cabinet approved a series of punitive measures against Palestinian detainees particularly those affiliated with Hamas. The cabinet further adopted a decision to withhold the bodies of slain Palestinian activists in an attempt to quash anti-occupation activism across the Palestinian territories and urge Hamas to release Israeli soldiers held captive in Gaza.
