Arabs Reported Held at Harsh Desert Prison

Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners are being held in unsanitary conditions with inadequate water at an Israeli desert prison near the Egyptian border, a Palestinian human rights group said Monday.

The Al Haq Palestinian legal aid group said two of its executive members visited the Kitziot Prison over the weekend and heard reports of “harsh and inhuman conditions” from Gaza lawyer Raji Sourani, who is detained there.

The prison was opened last month as a camp to house some of the 4,000 Palestinians arrested since an uprising began in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip in December.

Lack of Water

Al Haq, based in the West Bank town of Ramallah, said in a statement that the most acute problem faced by the prisoners is lack of water.

“Water is available only from slowly dripping taps, and though the prisoners have learned to collect the water as it drips, it is never sufficient to satisfy their thirst in the desert conditions, let alone to wash or perform the necessary ablutions before prayers,” the group said.

“An open sewer runs through the camp. The detainees are denied any access to information from books or radios and are denied any form of (relaxation). The prisoners are repeatedly subjected to collective punishment.”

Declines to Give Details

An Israeli army spokeswoman acknowledged the existence of the prison camp, nicknamed Ansar 3 after a prison camp where Israel kept several hundred Palestinian captives during its 1982-85 occupation of Lebanon.

But she said she was not authorized to give any details about the camp.