The Palestinian Authority prisoners’ affairs minister said that 16 Egyptians, out of 46 Arab captives, are in Israeli prisons.
Issa Qaraqe said there are 4,600 Palestinian male and female prisoners in 17 prisons and camps inside Israel.
Qaraqe left Cairo Monday morning to Jordan after a one-day visit.
He had come from Ramallah to attend an Arab League meeting preparing for a conference for solidarity with Palestinian and Arab captives on 11 December in Baghdad that will seek to draw international attention to the prisoners’ issue.
Following a meeting with Arab League chief Nabil al-Araby, Qaraqe said he would submit the prisoners’ issue for discussion at the United Nations General Assembly, in a bid to win Palestinian captives recognition as prisoners of war, and to demand that an international inspection team investigate the inhumane conditions and arbitrary measures that Arab prisoners are suffering inside Israeli prisons.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
