Abbas: Palestinian prisoners should be treated as POWs

PA president vows to free jailed Palestinians

Ilan Ben Zion is an AFP reporter and a former news editor at The Times of Israel.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (Issam Rimawi/Flash90)
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (Issam Rimawi/Flash90)

The Palestinian Authority will ask signatory nations to demand the application of the Geneva Conventions in the West Bank, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Tuesday.

“We will demand that [Israel] regard prisoners as POWs, and that they receive the individual rights accorded to them” in the Geneva Conventions, which deal in part with the treatment of civilians during wartime, and international humanitarian law, he said in a speech given to mark Palestinian Prisoners Day.

During a visit to the Maldives, Abbas addressed directly the Palestinian prisoners who announced a hunger strike saying, “the prisoner issue is of utmost importance” to him.

“We won’t rest until you will all go free and not a single prisoner will remain in Israeli prisons,” he told them.

Most Popular
read more:
If you’d like to comment, join
The Times of Israel Community.
Join The Times of Israel Community
Commenting is available for paying members of The Times of Israel Community only. Please join our Community to comment and enjoy other Community benefits.
Please use the following structure: example@domain.com
Confirm Mail
Thank you! Now check your email
You are now a member of The Times of Israel Community! We sent you an email with a login link to . Once you're set up, you can start enjoying Community benefits and commenting.