RAMALLAH: The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society has claimed in a statement that, according to data from the Ministry of Education, 65 high-school students are currently in Israeli custody and have been unable to take this year’s secondary school examinations.
The incarcerated students, the society said, face harsh conditions, including torture, separation from their families, and the denial of their right to education.
The society added that Israeli authorities have intensified campaigns targeting the arrest of Palestinian students, and that rights previously secured for Palestinian prisoners — including access to education — have been removed, and that detention conditions have significantly deteriorated.
Prisoners’ right to education, the society said, was something they struggled for many years to establish, despite repeated attempts by the Israeli authorities to deny it. However, the prison system has now removed “all rights” of prisoners and transformed prisons into “open spaces for torture and abuse around the clock.”
The society called on international human rights organizations and relevant UN bodies to assume their responsibilities regarding the escalating crimes committed against detained Palestinian students, and urged them to act immediately to pressure the Israeli authorities to halt their policy of targeting students and depriving them of their right to education, to ensure the protection of imprisoned children and students, and to end the systematic torture policies that flagrantly violate international humanitarian law, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa visited the town of Sebastia in the Nablus governorate, accompanied by several ministers, in a show of support for the town’s resilience amid ongoing targeting by Israeli occupation forces and colonists.
The visit was attended by Nablus Gov. Ghassan Daghlas, municipal leaders, and representatives of local institutions and national organizations.
The visit carried a political and national message affirming the Palestinian people’s attachment to their land, heritage, and identity. Mustafa said Sebastia is not merely an archaeological site but “a living Palestinian model” of resilience, development, and determination, reflecting the Palestinian people’s commitment to their history and future despite ongoing challenges.
He argued that current developments extend beyond attempts to control land and form part of broader efforts to transform the Israeli occupation into a project of ethnic cleansing, adding that such attempts would ultimately fail.
