On the occasion of Palestinian Prisoner’s Day, which falls on April 17 every year, in a powerful display of solidarity, crowds gathered at the entrance of Columbia University today in support of Palestine and the students who established the Gaza solidarity encampment.
In Gaza, 34,000 Palestinians lost lives in Israeli strikes since October 7, 2024, mostly children and women.
The scene at Columbia University was filled with passionate students standing together to demand justice and advocate for Palestinian rights. The Gaza Solidarity Encampment, organised by dedicated students, made a profound statement on this significant day, drawing attention to the plight of Palestinians and urging an end to the occupation.
As the voices of support echoed across the university entrance, the message was clear: it is time to take action and bring an end to the injustices faced by Palestinians.
Every year on April 17, Palestinian Prisoner’s Day is observed to honour the thousands of Palestinian detainees in Israeli custody. Advocates use this occasion to demand the protection of prisoners’ human rights and the release of those held without charge.
Recently, Israel released 150 Palestinian prisoners who had been detained during the Gaza genocide, reported Al Jazeera.
Among them were two Palestine Red Crescent Society workers who reported experiencing abuse during their 50-day imprisonment in Israel, according to a Reuters report.
The date of April 17 was chosen by the Palestinian National Council in 1974 to commemorate the release of Mahmoud Bakr Hijazi, who was part of the first prisoner exchange between Israel and Palestine in 1971.
Hijazi had been serving a 30-year sentence for attempting to sabotage the Nehusha Water Institute in central Israel in 1965. His release was exchanged for an Israeli guard named Shmuel Rozenvasser.
In the occupied Palestinian territories, one out of every five Palestinians has been arrested and charged at some point. This rate is twice as high for Palestinian men compared to women, with two in every five men having experienced arrest and detention.
There are 19 prisons in Israel and one in the occupied West Bank that house Palestinian prisoners. Since October, Israel has restricted independent humanitarian organizations from visiting these prisons, making it difficult to ascertain the exact numbers and conditions of detainees.
As of Tuesday, an estimated 9,500 Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank remained in Israeli custody, according to the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, a West Bank-based rights group supporting Palestinian prisoners.
Addameer collaborates with human rights organisations and prisoner families to gather information on the conditions faced by detainees.
