The eighth international conference of the European Alliance in Defense of Palestinian Detainees, titled “Our Decision is Freedom,” kick-started today in the Spanish capital Madrid. Among the attendees are the General Supervisor of the Official Media, Minister Ahmad Assaf, the Head of the Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners Affairs Authority, Qaddura Fares, the Chairman of the National Library, Issa Qaraqe, and representatives of various Palestinian political parties and organizations. During the two-day conference, the participants will discuss topics such as the immediate cessation of deliberate medical negligence practiced by the Israeli occupation authorities against the prisoners, the conditions of Palestinian prisoners inside Israeli jails and the human rights abuses they are subjected to, and the accomplishments achieved over decades of Palestinian struggle. The primary objective of the conference is to internationalize the issue of Palestinian prisoners, mobilize support in Europe and worldwide for the Palestinian prisoners’ cause, and expose the Israeli occupation’s violations against them. In his opening speech, Qaddura Fares, the Head of the Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners Affairs Authority, emphasized that the Palestinian people are paying the price for their freedom with the bodies and lives of their heroes inside Israeli prisons and detention centers. He said that since 1967, the Israeli occupation has carried out over one million arrests, with more than 5,000 male and female prisoners currently held in 24 prisons, detention centers, and jails. This includes 38 women, 170 children, 700 sick prisoners, and 559 prisoners serving life sentences. Additionally, he said, 450 prisoners have been detained for over 20 years, and 22 prisoners were arrested before the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993. Fares noted that conditions inside prisons and detention centers are complex and dire, particularly with the rise of the Israeli far-right extremist ideology represented by the ultranationalist Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, who relentlessly targets Palestinian prisoners and seeks revenge against them.

Source: En – Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA