Cancer-stricken Palestinian prisoner dies in Israeli jails

Cancer-stricken Palestinian prisoner Sami Abu Diyak, from the West Bank district of Jenin, died on Tuesday in Israeli occupation jails due to medical negligence, said the Palestinian Prisoner Society.


Abu Diyak, 36, was detained in 2002 and was diagnosed with intestinal cancer as well as kidney and lung failures couple of years ago.

Yesterday, the Palestinian Prisoner Society (PPS) has warned that cancer-stricken prisoner Sami Abu Diyak may die any moment after his health condition reached a very critical stage.

In a letter he wrote a few days ago, the Palestinian detainee Sami Abu Diak said he wanted to "die in my mother's lap."


Today, and due to the deliberate medical neglect by "Israel," Abu Diak died, alone and handcuffed on a cold bed.

Although Abu Diak was suffering from an advanced stage of cancer and other serious health problems, the Israeli court rejected all pleas to release him to receive proper medical care.

The PPS held the Israeli occupation government fully responsible for the racist crimes committed against Palestinians, including the physical and psychological torture and medical negligence of prisoners, among other violations, calling for an investigation into these crimes.
The death of Abu Diak brings the number of Palestinian prisoners who died in Israeli jails since 1967 to 222 prisoners.

At least 700 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails suffer from serious health conditions, of whom 160 prisoners are in need of urgent medical follow-up.

Palestinians have accused the Israeli authorities of failing to provide proper medical treatment or even delay treatment to ill prisoners causing as a result deterioration in their health.

According to Addameer Prisoners Support and Human Rights organization, “in regard to adequate medical attention and treatment, Article 91 [of the Fourth Geneva Convention] emphasizes that “every place of internment shall have an adequate infirmary…” and that “Internees may not be prevented from presenting themselves to the medical authority for examination.” In addition to this article, Article 92 asserts that “Medical inspections of internees shall be made at least once a month…”. It is evident that the withholding of treatment, or access to a medical professional, is a violation of these specific provisions, and therefore a violation of international humanitarian law.”

HRW vows to continue documenting Israeli abuses despite deportation of its director

Human Rights Watch (HRW) vowed today to keep on documenting Israeli abuses of the Palestinians despite the deportation of its Palestine director Omar Shakir, according to an HRW statement, saying the deportation “reflects the [Israeli] authorities’ intensifying assault on human rights.”


Shakir will depart Israel later tonight after Israel’s Supreme Court upheld the government’s deportation order on November 5 and gave him until November 25 to leave.

HRW said Shakir will continue to monitor human rights abuses in the occupied territories from another HRW office in the region.

Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, said the deportation of Shakir “will not succeed in hiding [Israel’s] human rights abuses.”

He said that this decision “shows why the international community must reboot its approach to Israel’s deteriorating human rights record. A government that expels a leading human rights investigator is not likely to stop its systematic oppression of Palestinians under occupation without much greater international pressure.”

Israel revoked the work visa of Shakir, a United States citizen, in May 2018 on the asserted grounds that his advocacy violated a 2017 law that bars entry to people who advocate a boycott of Israel or its settlements in the occupied West Bank. A district court in April, and then the Israeli Supreme Court, found that this position constitutes grounds for deportation under an expansive reading of the 2017 law.

“Neither Human Rights Watch nor Shakir as its representative has ever called for a boycott of Israel. Human Rights Watch has urged businesses to stop operating in illegal settlements as part of their global duty to avoid complicity in human rights abuses – just as it calls on businesses to comply with this duty in many other countries,” said HRW in its statement.

Recently, Israeli authorities have sought to undermine the work of human rights activists, including denying entry to a number of other international rights defenders, maligning Israeli rights advocates, imposing burdensome financial reporting requirements on them, and raiding the offices of and arresting Palestinian rights defenders. In October, Israeli authorities prevented an Amnesty International staff member from traveling out of the occupied West Bank for undisclosed “security reasons.”

This is the first time the government has used the 2017 law to try to deport someone who is lawfully inside Israel and the first time it has ordered a Human Rights Watch staff member to leave in the organization’s 30 years of working in the country, said HRW.

“Today, Israel deports Shakir because Human Rights Watch urges businesses to shun illegal settlements,” said Roth. “Who’s next – someone who calls for the International Criminal Court to examine possible crimes in Israel and Palestine or correctly calls the West Bank 'occupied’ rather than 'disputed’?”

Hamas spokesperson condemns the Israeli deportation of the director of (HRW)

In a statement released on Monday, Fawzi Barhoum, Hamas spokesperson, strongly condemned Israeli planned deportation of Human Right Watch (HRW) director in Palestine, Omar Shakir, and said it is an attempt by Israel to conceal its crimes.


Shakir was ruled to leave the country on Monday after the Israeli High Court denied him a stay pending a hearing by a panel of seven judges after a panel of three High Court judges upheld in early November an April Jerusalem District Court ruling in favor of his deportation at the request of the Israeli Interior Minister due to his alleged support for boycott of Israel activity.

Indeed, the Israeli occupation is unable to see its crimes and violations being documented by such organisations, Barhoum added.

He insisted that this Israeli demeanor aims to block reality and hide its daily violations, including killing and targeting Palestinians, in order to evade accountability.

The Israeli practices should prompt the international community to defend the rights of the Palestinian people and hold the Israeli occupation accountable for the crimes committed against Palestinians.

Israeli forces kidnap 23 Palestinians in West Bank raids

Three children among 23 Palestinians Israel detained in Jerusalem, West Bank raids

Israeli occupation forces detained on Monday 23 Palestinians, including three children, from occupied Jerusalem and the West Bank, said the Palestine Prisoner Society (PPS).


It said Israeli police raided the Occupied Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiyeh in the dead of the night, breaking into homes and detaining at least 10 Palestinians, including a child.

Over the last several months, Issawiyeh, a Palestinian village of some 20,000 people, has been facing a rise in police harassment and raids that have disrupted daily life in the neighborhood.

Meanwhile, PPS said that three Palestinians, including a 17-year-old teenager, were detained from the southern West Bank district of Hebron.

In Bethlehem district, soldiers detained three Palestinians, including two in an Israeli military raid at al-Azzeh refugee camp, north of Bethlehem city, one of them a 14-year-old boy.

In the northern West Bank, Israeli military raided Anabta town, east of Tulkarm city, where soldiers detained a Palestinian, as reported in the PPS statement.

PPS added that a similar Israeli military raid was conducted in Attil town, northeast of Tulkarm, resulting in the detention of another man.

In Ramallah district, Israeli forces rounded up two Palestinians after ransacking their home in Kobar town, north of the city.

During ensuing confrontations, soldiers opened fire at local youngsters who protested the raid. No injuries were reported though.

In addition, PPS confirmed that a 13-year-old Palestinian was detained from Aqbat Jabr refugee camp, southwest of Jericho.

Two other Palestinians were rounded up at Tammun town, south of Tubas city in the northern Jordan Valley.

Israeli forces raids cells, assaults prisoners in Nafha jail

The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Sunday stormed cells in Nafha prison and assaulted many prisoners.


According to the Palestinian Commission of Detainees’ and Ex-Detainees’ Affairs, forces from the Metzada and Dora broke into and ransacked two cells in section 13 of the jail and wreaked havoc on prisoners’ belongings.

The forces physically assaulted the prisoners in those cells and transferred prisoner Adnan al-Shalabi to solitary confinement.

Later, the Nafha jail administration decided to close all cells and sections at the pretext of containing possible angry reactions from other inmates following the raid.

Israeli forces demolish coffee shop near Bethlehem

Israeli occupation forces Monday demolished a Palestinian coffee shop in the southern West Bank village of Battir, near Bethlehem, according to a local official.


Battir mayor, Tayseer Qattoush, said that Israeli forces escorted a bulldozer to the village to tear down the coffee shop owned by Wisam Oweinh.


He pointed out that the coffee shop was built of wood and stones that do not affect the nature of the area, but rather made the place look better, stressing that Israel aims to erase the Palestinian presence in large parts of Battir in order to annex the land for settlement expansion and construction.


Battir, six kilometers west of Bethlehem, is on the UNESCO world heritage list due to its ancient terraces and Roman-era irrigation system which is still used by villagers to irrigate their crops.

It is home to a Roman spring and bath, an eco-museum and some hiking trails. Its old town is known as the Seven Widows Quarter.

Israeli forces kidnap Palestinian in Bethlehem

The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Sunday evening kidnaped a Palestinian young man during a campaign in al-Rashayda village, east of Bethlehem in the West Bank.


According to local sources, the IOF kidnaped 38-year-old Faysal al-Rashayda after ransacking his home in the village, with no known reason.


Last week, 60 Palestinians were taken prisoners during IOF campaigns in different West Bank areas.