The Palestinian Prisoner on International Women's Day

Yesterday, humanity celebrated International Women’s Day, which falls on the eighth of March, and the United Nations chose to hold this year’s celebrations under the slogan “Gender Equality for a Sustainable Tomorrow.” It is clear that this choice emphasizes a first aspect related to the consolidation of women’s rights compared to men. And a second aspect stresses the social role of women in general and in sustainable development processes in particular.

As the news of the Russian invasion of Ukraine dominates these days, and with it the scenes of displacement, displacement and asylum, women are at the forefront in terms of suffering and bearing the burdens of childcare and many other family responsibilities, the humanitarian, moral and legal duties also necessitate paying attention to one of the most severe files of International Women’s Day containing injustice and oppression. And the violation of the most basic rights, namely the suffering of Palestinian women under the Israeli occupation in general, and the conditions of Palestinian female prisoners in the occupation’s prisons and detention centers in particular.

Recently, the Palestinian Prisoners Club issued a special report on the Palestinian female prisoners in Damoun Prison, which reflects most types of violations practiced by the Israeli occupation authorities in most prisons and other detention centers, which range from torture, deprivation of treatment, cut off electricity, unhealthy conditions in cells, and deliberate neglect during the conditions of the spread of Covid. 19- Other measures are part of a deliberately systematic policy of abuse.

The report said that the occupation continues to detain 32 Palestinian female prisoners, including 11 mothers, and the 15-year-old prisoner Nafth Hammad, who was detained from the occupied territories in 1948, and 6 wounded women need permanent medical care. The most prominent among them is the case of the prisoner Esraa Jaabis, who suffered 60 percent of her body with severe burns due to the bombing of the car she was traveling in, and the explosion of a gas cylinder inside it.

The report revealed that the methods of abuse practiced by the occupation authorities against female prisoners include shooting them during arrest operations, searching them naked, detaining them in cells with low conditions, and subjecting them to long-term interrogations accompanied by physical and psychological torture, shabeh in various positions, and restraint throughout the investigation period. Prolonged sleep deprivation, isolation, blackmail and threats, denial of visiting family members, preventing lawyers from communicating with female prisoners, and other things.

The data show that since 1967 the number of women prisoners has increased, exceeding 16,000, especially during the 1987 and 2000 uprisings. During the past year 2021, the occupation arrested about 1,100 women and girls, and the city of Jerusalem witnessed the largest number with the popular uprising in the months of April and May . If the occupying power adopts a similar methodology against Palestinian prisoners in general, the abuse of women prisoners in particular often takes the form of venting hatred, revenge and collective punishment. Thus, the celebration of International Women’s Day also requires shedding more light on the heinous and explicit war crimes that the Israeli occupation continues to commit against Palestinian women, and it is rare for any of those lamenting today to stop at Ukraine’s women.

cut off electricity, unhealthy conditions in cells, and deliberate neglect during the conditions of the spread of Covid. 19- Other measures are part of a deliberately systematic policy of abuse.

It is clear that this choice emphasizes a first aspect related to the consolidation of women’s rights compared to men. And a second aspect stresses the social role of women in general and in sustainable development processes in particular.