Ultranationalist Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir issued this morning an amendment to the law on the administrative release of Palestinian prisoners, canceling a previous policy that had allowed the early release of some Palestinian prisoners from prison. This is part of Ben-Gvir’s efforts to make life difficult for Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli prisons, who, in the past, were eligible for early release due to a lack of space to house them. Ever since he became officially a part of Israel’s extremist government ever, Ben-Gvir has made it a mission as holy as a promise to impose sanctions on Palestinians, on top of them the prisoners, to make their lives even more miserable than it already is due to the Israeli occupation. Sanctions imposed on the prisoners since Ben-Gvir assumed office include controlling the amount of water that the prisoners can use, reducing the duration of showering so that prisoners are allowed to shower at a specific hour, and locking bathrooms designated for showering in some prisons. Other measures include providing the prisoners with bad bread, as well as doubling the raids and searches against them using stun grenades and sniffer dogs. Among these measures are also the approval in a preliminary reading of a draft law depriving prisoners of medical treatment and some surgical operations, and the approval of the Ministerial Legislative Committee in the Israeli government of a draft law approving capital punishment for prisoners involved in the armed resistance. Other racist measures imposed by Ben-Gvir on the prisoners are the doubling of the solitary confinement of prisoners, removing television sets from some sections where detainees are held, escalating transfers of the leaders of the prisoners’ movement, particularly those serving life terms, and threatening in some central prisons to close public facilities on Fridays and Saturdays.
Source: En – Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA