Mohammed Mar'i Saudi Gazette RAMALLAH – The Israeli occupation authorities decided to amputate the leg of Palestinian prisoner Nahed Al-Aqra', a Palestinian lawyer said Saturday. Fadi Obaidat of the Palestinian Minister of Detainees and Ex-Detainees said that “the Israeli authorities decided to amputate Al-Aqra's left leg after the failure of a surgery to shorten it.” He did not specify the date of the surgery. Obaidat said that the Palestinian prisoner lost his right leg due to severe injuries that resulted from clashes with Israel forces in Gaza Strip in 2007. The Palestinian lawyer said that the Israeli authorities declined then to allow the transfer of Al-Aqra' to Jordanian hospitals for treatment. He added that the Palestinian prisoners is serving three life terms in Israeli prison for his role in military attacks against Israel during the second intifada. The Palestinian lawyer called on local and international human rights organizations to intervene to save the lives of 18 Palestinian prisoners due to the deterioration in their health because they were not receiving proper treatment from the Israeli Prison Service (IPS). Obaidat said that the Israeli government has never permitted private medical teams or any international delegation to visit prisons “despite the systematic torture and gross violations of human rights of prisoners as a policy of the Israeli government which was legitimized by the Israeli Knesset.” On April, some 1,500 Palestinian prisoners went on a hunger strike to demand improvements in their incarceration situation, including an end to solitary confinement and administrative detention. They suspended the 28-day hunger strike after Egypt brokered a deal between them and Israel, under which Israeli government should not renew the administrative imprisonment to nearly 300 Palestinians held without a charge. According to the recent Palestinian statistics, Israel is holding 4,900 prisoners in 23 prisons and detention camps in Israel and in the West Bank of whom 198 children, 8 females and 17 lawmakers from Hamas, Fatah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had repeatedly said the Palestinians will not sign any final peace agreement before Israel shuts down all its prisons and releases all the Palestinian prisoners, which were rejected by Israel.
