Over 125 Palestinian women arrested by ‘Israel’ since start of 2022, says PPS

Occupied Palestine (QNN)- Over 125 Palestinian women have been arrested by the Israeli occupation since the start of the year, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) said on Wednesday.

In a statement marking the National Day of Palestinian Women, which occurs on the 26th of October each year, the PPS confirmed that about 125 Palestinian women have been arrested since the start of 2022. The highest number of women arrests was recorded in the occupied city of Jerusalem.

There are currently 32 Palestinian female detainees held in the Israeli occupation prison of Damon, including two women held under Israel’s administrative detention without charge or trial — they are Shorouq al-Badan and Bushra al-Tawil.

Among the thirty female detainees are a minor, identified as Nufouth Hammad from Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, 6 injured women — the worst case is Israa Jaabis — and 7 mothers.

The first female detainee is Fatma Bernawi, who was arrested in 1967 and sentenced to life imprisonment.

17 women had high sentences, the highest of which goes for Shurouq Dwayat and Shatella Abu Ayyad who were sentenced to 16 years, and Aysha Afghani who was sentenced to 15 years, the PPS said.

The PPS noted that over 17,000 Palestinian women have been arrested since 1967 by Israeli occupation authorities.

The PPS said the Palestinian female detainees held in Israel’s Damon prison have been suffering from harsh conditions since the moment of their imprisonment, including medical negligence, denial of education, denial of family visits, including for mothers with young children, solitary confinement, overcrowded cells which are often filled with insects and dirt, and lack natural light.

The female prisoners have been also subjected to some form of psychological torture and ill-treatment throughout the process of their arrest and detention, including various forms of sexual violence that occur such as beatings, insults, threats, body searches, and sexually explicit harassment.

These techniques of torture and ill-treatment, the PPS said, are used not only as means to intimidate Palestinian women detainees but also as tools to humiliate Palestinian women and coerce them into giving confessions.

The Damon prison is located in Northern Palestine in the forests of Carmel in Haifa. It was established during the British mandate, thus it lacks modern day infrastructure. These facilities, designed for and by men, consequently rarely meet the gender-specific needs of women prisoners, according to Palestinian prisoner’s advocacy groups.