Poland in Palestine

The situation of Palestinian prisoners held in Palestinian prisons is a difficult topic that requires attention from the international community. Regardless of the reasons for placing a particular person in prison, regardless of whether they are of a criminal or political nature, there is always the question of assessing the conditions of serving a sentence from the perspective of inalienable human rights.

We had the opportunity to talk about this with Minister Q. Abu Baker, who heads the Commission for Detainees and Post-detention Affairs. In his opinion, the practices used in Israeli prisons are far from universal standards of human rights protection. Palestinian prisoners are harassed, denied medical assistance and the right to contact their legal representatives.

Of particular concern is the use by Israel of the so-called administrative detention - a special preventive measure that allows deprivation of liberty for a period of up to 6 months without criminal proceedings and a trial on the basis of an administrative order issued by the occupying military authorities. Such practices make justice an illusion. You can read more about this on the website of the well-known Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem: https://www.btselem.org/topic/administrative_detention

Poland understands the situation of Palestinian prisoners in a special way. In our turbulent history, during the periods in which we fought for independence with the occupiers, the best among us served sentences in foreign prisons. Even now, Polish prisoners of conscience are imprisoned in Belarus.

Poland will monitor this issue.