Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
The head of the Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, Major General Qadri Abu Bakr, and the Ambassador of the State of Palestine to Belgium, the European Union and Luxembourg, Abd al-Rahim al-Farra, met Thursday with representatives of the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the ministry's headquarters in Brussels.

  Major General Abu Bakr briefed the Deputy Ministers of Foreign Affairs for Bilateral Relations and Middle East and North African Affairs, Goran Korman and Uber Korman, and the Palestinian file official in the ministry, Frederick Koppens, about the conditions of prisoners and detainees inside the Israeli occupation prisons.

Major General Abu Bakr said, "Palestinian prisoners are subjected to daily crimes that violate all international norms and laws, and they are deprived of the minimum level of their rights as prisoners of liberation movements, and they are subjected to assault and racist and retaliatory abuse, and the curve of these crimes is on the rise."

Major General Abu Bakr talked about the overall suffering of male and female prisoners, and focused on the policy of administrative detention, sick prisoners, detention of corpses, female prisoners and children, house arrest and old prisoners, and those who have been sentenced to life imprisonment or high sentences, in addition to piracy and theft of Palestinian Authority tax funds.

Major General Abu Bakr warned against leaving space for the extreme right-wing Israeli government, which targets Palestinian prisoners, and the scale of attacks during the past weeks is the best evidence of that, especially in light of the growing voices of extremists, including ministers, politicians, and military personnel, led by the so-called Minister of Internal Security Itamar Ben Gvir.

Major General Abu Bakr wished the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to have a real role in putting an end to the suffering of the Palestinian prisoners, giving them their rights, not leaving them prey to the Israeli occupation and its tools, and holding this extremist government accountable, which publicly calls for the killing of male and female prisoners, and gave the green light to the police, prison administration, and repression units freely. Acting to impose a new fait accompli based on retaliatory and punitive grounds.

The meeting was attended by Major General Abu Bakr and Ambassador Al-Farra, Head of the Studies and Documentation Unit Abdel Nasser Farwana, Media Director Thaer Shriteh, and Deputy Ambassador Hassan Balawi, who witnessed the answer to all the inquiries of the Ministry's representatives.