B'Tselem report - Barred from Contact {edit}

[Englander]

Barred from Contact: Violation of the Right to Visit Palestinians Held in Israeli Prisons

Israel holds in prison more than 9,000 Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The vast majority are held in prisons situated inside Israel 's sovereign territory, and not in the Occupied Territories .

Holding these prisoners and detainees in Israel flagrantly breaches international humanitarian law, which prohibits the transfer of civilians, including detainees and prisoners, from the occupied territory to the territory of the occupying state. Israel 's disregard for this prohibition is one of the main reasons that the prisoners and their families are unable to exercise their right to visits in a reasonable manner.

This report sheds light on the many difficulties and the suffering faced by the prisoners' families, residents of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, in their efforts to visit their relatives imprisoned in Israel .

Although Israel has the obligation to enable residents of the Occupied Territories to exercise their right to visit their relatives imprisoned in Israel , the task has been performed, since 1969, by the International Committee of the Red Cross. Relatives from the Occupied Territories who want to visit can do so only on the designated visiting days and on the transportation that the ICRC organizes, provided they received the relevant permit from the Israeli military authorities.

Because of the obstacles entailed in obtaining a permit to enter Israel , many Palestinians are able to visit their imprisoned relatives only once every few months. Many others are denied a permit and are thus unable to visit at all. In addition, the visit itself entails a grueling journey that can take almost 24 hours because of the checks and delays.

Israel's arbitrary and disproportionate policy not only infringes the right to family visits, it also results in violation of other rights and principles of international humanitarian and human rights law, as well as domestic Israeli law. Another consequence of the policy is the large number of minors, some of them only four or five years old, who make the visit alone, without an adult accompanying them. The visit, usually held behind a reinforced glass wall that does not allow any physical contact between the visitors and their imprisoned relatives, is a difficult experience in itself. The prohibition on physical contact also applies to all minors, age 6 and above, that are visiting their parents or siblings.

In light of the report's findings, B'Tselem urges the government of Israel to transfer all Palestinian prisoners to detention facilities inside the Occupied Territories . If the transfer requires the building of new facilities, Israel must ensure that it constructs the facilities while respecting the rights of the residents of the Occupied Territories, in particular their property rights.

Also, so long as Palestinians are held inside Israel, B'Tselem calls on the government of Israel to:

* ease the granting of permits to enter Israel for family visits;
* increase the speed and efficiency of issuing permits;
* take measures to shorten the travel time to and from the prison, and ease the hardships entailed in the visits;
* refrain from imposing a sweeping restriction on all minor children from making physical contact with the prisoners, and improve the conditions in which the prisoners and their relatives communicate with each other during the visits.

Link;
B'Tselem

[Tom Joad]

1. In contrast, the most notorious Israeli murderer is getting all the visits he wants

Rabin's killer gets first conjugal visit
The Associated Press

Published: October 25, 2006
JERUSALEM The wife of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's assassin spent her first conjugal visit with her husband in a secluded cell equipped with a double bed, television and private bathroom, prison authorities said Wednesday.

Yigal Amir's wife, Larissa Trimbobler, stayed for eight hours, Prisons Service Orit Shtelzer said. The visit took place in keeping with Prisons Service policy of allowing prisoners, even convicted murderers, to enjoy conjugal visits in prison cells set aside specifically for this purpose.

This was the first time since the 1995 assassination that Amir had enjoyed complete privacy in a room not covered by security cameras. Amir will now be able to request conjugal visits once a month, Shtelzer said.

The visit capped a two-year legal battle by Amir, serving a life sentence without parole for the assassination, to have children with Trimbobler, who he married from his prison cell by proxy in 2004.

Last June the Israeli Supreme Court upheld their right to conceive, but limited their efforts to artificial insemination because the Shin Bet security service opposed allowing them conjugal visits, citing security reasons. The Shin Bet recently reversed its assessment that Amir posed a security threat, allowing the visit to go ahead.
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I would not be surprised, of course, if this man is freed under a future Israeli govt that includes Lieberman. But anyway, it just goes to show you how even the most notorious killer in Israel gets not just brief visits from family, but overnight, visits from his wife.

Many of the Palestinians are being held in administrative detention, and not even charged with a crime or brought to trial.

What do we expect of an increasingly apartheid-like state?

[breakaleg]

2. The video of children going to visit relatives is heart-wrenching.

I have a 9 year old and I don't allow him to cross the street by himself. It's shocking to think that looking out for his wellbeing, which I consider a necessity, is actually a luxury that not everyone has. I can't imagine putting a 4 year old on a bus by himself for what could be a 24 hour journey in those conditions.


http://www.btselem.org/english/Video/200610_The_Prisoners_Children.asp