Minister slams inaction for Palestinian prisoners

After a UN summit on Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails, the Palestinian Prisoners Minister said Saturday that the international community is responsible for prisoners' rights. "The entire world, as well as the United Nations, are responsible for protecting Palestinian prisoners ... deprived of their basic rights as stated in international law," Issa Qaraqe said in comments from a press conference after the summit released on Saturday. The UN International Meeting on the Question of Palestine met in Geneva earlier this week, and Qaraqe had said he would ask the summit to force an end to Israel's detention of Palestinians without charge. In comments after the meeting, the minister slammed Israel's administrative detention policy as a "punitive tool," and said the hunger strikes of Hana Shalabi and Khader Adnan had sent a message to the world that the policy would be resisted to the point of death. Addressing the Geneva summit, Qaraqe called for the establishment of the Commission of Inquiry, referral to the International Court of Justice, and visits to Israeli detention centers by the International Committee of the Red Cross. Palestine's ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour told the meeting's closing session on Wednesday that the summit had clarified Palestine's intention "to seek legal status for Palestinian prisoners as prisoner of war, with all that would mean." Over 4,400 Palestinians are held in Israeli jails, according to latest figures from the Israeli prison service.