The Israeli government coalition has decided to submit a new bill to the Knesset (Israeli parliament) that calls for refraining from funding medical treatment for Palestinian prisoners.
The bill was proposed by MK Anat Barko of the Likud Party, who claimed that "the Israeli government has, for many years, offered free medical treatment to Palestinian prisoners who have come to Israel to kill its citizens."
“This treatment costs the Israeli treasury NIS 40 million ($11 million) a year," said Barko, who added that patients in Israel “need this amount of money more than Palestinian terrorists.”
Her stances were supported by Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, who considered the bill a deterrent to carrying out operations against Israelis. He enlisted the support of the Ministerial Committee on Legislation affairs.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs released a report complaining that "the occupation prisons’ administration continue its policy of neglecting the health conditions of prisoners and detainees, especially those with chronic diseases, as it is deliberately ignoring their diseases and not dealing with them seriously.”
In its report, the Commission included a number of sever cases in several Israeli prisons.
Among these cases is prisoner Bassem Naasan, 24, from a village north Ramallah, who suffered an injury in his left leg before his arrest and has problems in his colon. He is in urgent need to carry out an operation as soon as possible.
Another case is that of prisoner Yasser Rabaiah, 44, from Bethlehem city and now detained in Ashkelon prison. He has been suffering from cancer for a long time, and his health condition has been exacerbated by the procrastination of the occupation prisons’ administration, which is not providing for him the necessary treatment.
Prisoner Mahdi Hujeir, 27, from a village north Ramallah, was also mentioned in the Commission’s report for suffering from severe nerve problems, and often experiences convulsions.
Those responsible or the prison’s patients in Ofer prison are only providing him with sedatives to make him sleep without giving him any appropriate treatment.
