Arab Parliament Calls for Ending Administrative Arrests against Palestinians

The President of the Arab Parliament addressed letters to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the Presidents of Regional Parliaments and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, condemning the systematic violations by the authorities of the occupying Power (Israel) against the Palestinian people by means of administrative detention following the events in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and the razing of lands in the Palestinian Negev with the purpose of isolating its inhabitants in their areas.

In his letters, the president of the Arab Parliament urged the international community to compel the authorities of the occupying Power (Israel) to respect and apply international law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention, to stop the policy of administrative arrests, to put an end to the suffering of administrative detainees and to release them immediately; as well as to expose the judicial and military procedures exercised by the occupying forces and the arbitrary practices of the Israeli occupation authorities against the Palestinian people, following administrative arrest warrants in the past year amounted to about 1600 arrest warrants out of a total of nearly 8000 Palestinians arrested by the occupying forces.

The President of the Arab Parliament indicated that the Arab Parliament condemns and rejects these measures that represent flagrant violations of international law, relevant United Nations resolutions, international conventions and resolutions of UN human rights organizations, and considers these acts to amount to war crimes falling within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.

He reiterated that the Arab Parliament continues to expose these practices at the international level, and urged the international community to take urgent measures to halt these hostile policies and to ensure international protection for the Palestinian people and its legitimate right to establish their independent state with Jerusalem as their capital.