Protest against travel ban for sick ex-detainee

Dozens of ex-female prisoners staged a protest in front of a Nablus hospital on Saturday to demand that Israel allows a former prisoner to leave the West Bank for vital medical treatment. Last month, director general of the Nablus district Tayseer Nasrallah said Israel informed the PA that Amal Jumaa, 41, would not be granted approval to travel to Jordan because "there is enough healthcare in Israel." Jumaa suffers from cancer of the uterus and other serious health issues complicated by her time in jail. She was arrested for membership of Fatah's armed wing and released in the Oct 18. prisoner exchange deal between Hamas and Israel after having served nine years of an 11-year sentence. Coordinator for the ex-female prisoners Lina Jawabra told Ma'an that the protest aimed to pressure Israel to allow Jumaa to travel to Jordan. The group may organize a hunger strike in Nablus and other West Bank cities if Israel upholds the travel ban. “Israel should treat Jumaa as a humanitarian case,” Jawabra said, calling on officials responsible for the recent exchange deal between Hamas and Israel to improve Jumaa's release conditions by allowing her to leave the West Bank. Jumaa said last month that Israel's rejection of her application to seek medical treatment in Jordan was "a decision to execute her." She was among 27 female and 450 male prisoners released from Israeli jails in the first phase of an exchange deal which saw captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit released by Hamas. In the second phase of the agreement, Israel will release 550 further prisoners in two months, a process Hamas officials say has been guaranteed by Egypt.