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Abbas: Prisoner Jaradat died as a result of torture

By JPOST.COM STAFF

PA president says Palestinians facing "unprecedented Israeli escalation against prisoners," requests UN inquiry to investigate death.

PA President Mahmoud Abbas at PLO meeting in West Bank, January 29, 2013. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamad Torokma

"We are facing an unprecedented Israeli escalation against our youth and children protesting the practices of the Israeli occupation and settlers, especially against the prisoners," Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Tuesday, the official PA news agency Wafa reported.

Abbas said that Palestinian forensic evidence proved that prisoner Arafat Jaradat died as a result of torture in an Israeli jail, adding that the PA wouldn't adopt the theory "until an international commission of inquiry approves it." 

Referring to the issue of Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails, Abbas stated: "We do not know what are the serious security crimes they’ve committed for the Israelis to re-arrest them."

Abbas stressed the agreement existing with the Israelis regarding the release of prisoners detained prior to the Oslo agreement, saying that the detention makes the situation "very difficult."

"What worsens it [the situation] is that the Israeli government is facing our young people, for the first time since a while, with live ammunition, and then they appeal to the PA to self-regulate and prevent demonstrations," he stated.

Commenting on the recent escalation of violence and the ongoing demonstrations in the West Bank, Abbas said the protests come in response to attacks.

"If Israelis stop their attacks and the continuing of detention of prisoners, there will be no need for demonstrations," Wafa quoted Abbas as saying.

Commenting on inducing calm to the situation in the West Bank, Abbas said the PA does not want the demonstrations to escalate, but to "reach a peaceful solution based on international legitimacy."

PLO Executive committee member Saeb Erekat on Tuesday delivered an official letter from Abbas to the United Nations, calling to form a committee to investigate the death of prisoner Arafat Jaradat, Wafa reported.