Israel halts Palestinian prison visits over demo fears
AFP
JERUSALEM - Prison authorities in Israel said on Monday they would not allow visits to Palestinians in two jails where demonstrations are planned to mark the continued detention of an Israeli soldier in Gaza.
"In order to prevent incidents with the protesters, on Tuesday we will not allow monthly family visits to Palestinian inmates of Hadarim and Shikma jails," a spokesman for the prison authorities told AFP.
Several hundred Palestinians convicted of anti-Israel activities including taking part in armed attacks are housed at Hadarim in central Israel and Shikma in the south.
Arab-Israeli rights group Adallah issued a statement calling the denial of family visits on Tuesday "populist and illegal," and accused the prison authorities of giving in to pressure from the demonstration's organisers.
But the prisons spokesman rejected the charge, saying that family visits would go ahead at other facilities such as Meggido in the north.
Shalit, who also has French nationality, was seized on June 25 2006 by three groups including the armed wing of the Islamist Hamas movement, which has ruled the Palestinian territory since ousting its Fatah rivals nearly a year later.
Conscript Shalit, 19 years old when he was captured, has become a cause celebre in Israel where his family has criticised the authorities for failing to secure his release.
Egypt has been trying, so far without success, to broker a prisoner swap deal that would see Shalit freed in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------