The final statement issued by the sixth conference of the European Alliance in Support of Palestinian Prisoners Ramallah and Europe (via Zoom technology) on 12/13/2020

Under the slogan "All solidarity with sick prisoners and freedom for Palestinian prisoners", the European Coalition for supporting Palestinian Prisoners held its sixth conference in Ramallah and Europe, with broad participation from 45 Arab and European countries, Russia and the United States through Zoom technology, on 12/13/2020, amid extremely complex circumstances in which they are living the prisoner movement, especially the sick prisoners who suffer from a real danger that threatens their lives in light of the continuing Israeli recklessness and the outbreak of the Corona virus, and the occupation authorities and their prison administrations deny the rights of prisoners guaranteed by international laws and agreements, which led to the martyrdom of a number of them, the last of whom was the captive martyr Kamal Abu Waar .

The conference witnessed a wide Arab, European and international presence that included important elite of Arab parliaments, jurists, representatives of institutions, bodies, parties, international human rights committees, and solidarity movements with the Palestinian people. And a wide crowd of leaders and activists of the Palestinian and Arab communities in the countries of European Diaspora and the diaspora, and representatives of the European Coalition Coordination Committees around the world.

From Palestine, the Palestinian Ministry of Health, the Authority for Prisoners and Executives Affairs, the Palestinian Prisoners Club, the Addameer Foundation, the Center for the Defense of Freedoms and Civil Rights, the High Commission for Prisoners 'Affairs and Executives, the Abu Jihad Center for Prisoners' Affairs at Al-Quds University, the popular campaign to release Commander Marwan Barghouti, and the public movement to defend children, many families of prisoners, freed captives, and specialists in the affairs of prisoners and freedmen.

The convening of the sixth conference in Palestine through Zoom technology, and with this broad participation from the countries of Europe, Asia, Africa and North America, reaffirms the growing international support and solidarity with the struggle of the Palestinian people, in order to end the Israeli occupation, and to achieve the legitimate national rights of the Palestinian people, foremost of which is their right return, self-determination, and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.

This broad participation in the conference also confirms the growing international solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners and detainees in the Israeli occupation prisons, especially the sick among them, and also affirms the rejection and condemnation of poor health care and medical negligence policy that practiced by the occupation authorities and the Israeli prison and detention centers administrations against these defenseless which led to the martyrdom of many of them, and the last of them was the captive Kamal Abu Waar.

The interventions affirmed the full solidarity with the male and female prisoners, especially the sick prisoners, in their struggle to achieve their rights to freedom and human dignity, and the interventions revealed the number of Palestinian prisoners and detainees in the Israeli occupation prisons, which amounted to approximately 4,400 prisoners from all groups of the Palestinian people, among them (700 sick prisoners, 543 sentenced for life, 170 children, 41 female prisoners, 380 administrative detainees).

Approximately 700 prisoners suffer from various diseases, including 300 medical cases suffering from serious and chronic diseases such as cancer, kidney failure, liver cirrhosis, paralysis, amputation of limbs, pressure, diabetes, mental illnesses, and those with bullets before and during their arrest, and these need immediate interventions and transport them to civilian hospitals to provide appropriate and rapid treatment for them to save their lives. As there are 11 prisoners suffering from cancer, and approximately 15 prisoners are kept permanently in the so-called Ramla Prison Hospital, which is a small clinic that does not have the lowest medical facilities that are available in mobile medical clinics, and the place is very poor, the doctors are soldiers and amateurs of the prison administration, they do not hold medical certificates that qualify them to deal with patients and provide them with treatment, and this applies to the clinics located in 22 prisons, detention centers. Perhaps the murder of the martyr Kamal Abu Waar on November 10, when it left him prey to cancer that exhausted his body and led him to death, the biggest witness to that, between the discovery of his illness and his martyrdom for almost a year, and with the martyrdom of Abu Waar, the number of martyrs of the captive movement rose to 226 martyrs, half of them whose lives rose to Heaven is the result of medical crimes. This is in addition to hundreds of others who died after their release from prison from diseases inherited from prisons as a result of torture, medical neglect and ill-treatment.

On the other hand, and as a result of the Israeli policy of indifference and racism, the number of prisoners who have been infected with the Corona virus has reached nearly 140 so far. And the prison administration has not taken the necessary safety and prevention measures to protect prisoners and detainees, and everything it has taken and what it has done does not meet the minimum level, including what exacerbated the suffering of the injured when it transferred them to jails and wards that claimed to be isolation, which are dirty places where moisture and dirt are spread and are not suitable for human life.

In parallel, Palestinian prisoners are subjected to policies of torture and ill-treatment in a systematic manner, from the first moments of arrest, through the various stages of investigation and during the trial process and serving the sentence inside prisons, and not ending with conditions of detention and poor health conditions. Israeli doctors have always participated in violent physical torture inside interrogation centers, and sometimes inside prison clinics, or by not documenting the effects of torture in accordance with international and ethical standards for the medical profession and by not reporting these crimes.

At a time when the Israeli occupation prison authorities are diligent in their grave and systematic violations of the rules of international law that they exercise against Palestinian prisoners and detainees, they continue to ignore the fair trial guarantees that provided by international humanitarian law and human rights laws, especially the standard minimum rules for the treatment of prisoners 1955, and other International declarations and agreements that guarantees the rights of prisoners and detainees.

The prisoners and detainees face these practices with the will, determination to stand firm in the face of the oppression and tyranny of the occupation by declaring collective and individual strikes that open for food.

At the same time that the Sixth Conference expresses its grave concern about this dangerous situation on the lives of prisoners and their health conditions, especially in light of the diligence of prison administrations and their disregard for human life and the lives of imprisoned children, the conference calls for the implementation of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, and to bind Israel ( the state of the occupation) forces to respect and implement international laws in their dealings with Palestinian prisoners and detainees, and it also calls on the international community to take decisive and clear measures to punish Israel and hold it accountable for its crimes against the Palestinian people, and the captive movement in particular, and impose international sanctions on it. The sixth conference announces the launch of an international campaign in solidarity with the prisoners, and that 2021 will be the year of loyalty to the prisoners.

That is why the European Alliance for Supporting Palestinian Prisoners (EAPP) calls for the mobilization of all Palestinian, Arab and international efforts and joint action to achieve the following goals:

First: Working to change conditions, researching disease-causing factors and ending them, as well as making changes and improvements to the health conditions inside Israeli prisons to ensure better medical services, secure appropriate treatment and end the policy of deliberate medical negligence practiced by the occupation authorities and Israeli prison administrations against prisoners, and to exert pressure on occupation government, in order to immediately release seriously ill patients, to save their lives.

Second: Abolishing the policy of administrative detention, and releasing all administrative detainees.

Third: The release of children, women and the elderly.

Fourth: Releasing the bodies of the captured martyrs that are being held by the occupation authorities, and handing them over to their families to be buried in accordance with the established rules and customs.

The European Alliance affirms that it will work in coordination and cooperation with all Palestinian, Arab and international human rights institutions and all participants in the conference, including parliamentarians, jurists, and representatives of parties, associations and activists for the following.

1- The formation of a permanent international medical committee from the International Committee of the Red Cross and the World Health Organization, made up of international full-time and volunteer doctors, which should visit prisons on a continuous basis to inspect sick prisoners and provide them with treatment. And continuing pressure on the occupation authorities to allow them to visit Israeli prisons and detention centers.

2- Forming a legal medical team that includes Palestinians and internationals who are able to read medical files and reports related to detainees, express opinions and observations on them, and raise them internationally.

3- Internationalizing the issue of the prisoners and speeding up the referral of the crimes committed against them to the International Criminal Court and to the international criminal judiciary, so that Israel does not remain as an occupying power above international law and is able to go with impunity.

4- To request the states party to the Third and Fourth Geneva Conventions to hold an urgent meeting to oblige Israel, as the occupying Power, to respect these conventions and implement them to the occupied territories.

5- Calling on the United Nations and the Human Rights Council to activate the mechanisms of investigation committees and fact-finding committees on Israeli practices against the prisoners and work to implement its recommendations in this regard.

6- Forming a team concerned with political relations to go to European parties, associations and institutions to coordinate efforts among themselves and raise the pace of solidarity with the honorable and brave people, as well as to go to the European Parliament, national parliaments and various European governments.

7 - Rejection of the occupation government's decision to deduct prisoners' allocations from clearing funds and the formation of permanent international and Arab specialized committees to provide financial and moral support to prisoners, work for the rehabilitation and care of freed prisoners, especially children and the sick of them, and call on Palestinian businessmen to assume their responsibilities in this regard.

8- Documenting the working papers, interventions and discussions submitted to the Sixth European Conference in a special book and issuing it as soon as possible, to serve as a reference for researchers and those interested in documenting Israeli human rights violations and Palestinian prisoners in particular.

The European Coalition for Supporting Palestinian Prisoners is concluding the work of its sixth conference to express its support for the prisoners in the prisons of the occupation, and to extend its thanks and appreciation to all participants and observers, and reaffirms that it will continue its efforts to internationalize the issue of prisoners and detainees in all international forums, and in order to pursue the occupation government and its leaders who commit crimes against the prisoners, and it will continue its efforts in order to free the prisoners, especially the sick prisoners, because their detention and torture, and the practice of neglecting their policy constitutes a human crime against them, and the conference decided to hold its next seventh conference in Sweden under the slogan of all solidarity with the prisoners in the prisons of the occupation.

Freedom for prisoners and speedy recovery of prisoners Glory to the martyrs

European Coalition Coordination Committee for Supporting Palestinian Prisoners

Brussels 16-12-2020