According to Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights, the Israeli government seeks to enact a bill that will worsen the conditions of Palestinian detainees.
The new law imposes measures on the conditions of detention for Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons, with the aim of making them similar to those of the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit according to Israeli sources.
Shalit was captured by Palestinian resistance groups in June 2006.
  The bill, which is proposed by Member of Knesset Danny Danon from the Likud Party, will deprive Palestinian detainees of family visits and limit visits by Red Cross representatives to one every three months.
The bill will also deprive detainees of their right to continue their education in prison and prohibit detainees from watching TV, reading books and magazines, and the use of canteen services.
Palestinian detainees will be subject to unlimited periods of solitary confinement as a punishment procedure.
  This bill is part of Israel’s continued practice of torture and various forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment against Palestinian detainees.
These practices flagrantly violate human rights principles and international humanitarian law (IHL).
  According to information available to Al Mezan, should this become a law it will remain in place until the Israeli soldier who is believed to be held in Gaza is released.
The bill is to be submitted to the Ministerial Committee for Legislation and is expected to become law after receiving the Knesset’s backing.
The Israeli Prisons Administration expressed its concern that these measures would lead to instability and disobedience in the Israeli prisons.
    There are about 7,000 Palestinian detainees detained in Israeli prisons and detention centers.
725 of the 7000 are from the Gaza Strip.
Since 2006, families in Gaza have not been able to visit their relatives in Israeli prisons.
On Thursday 1 April 2010, all Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons announced a strike refusing their right for their families to visit them, as an act of solidarity with Gazan prisoners who are deprived of this right.
The strike continued until the end of April.
Palestinian prisoners are subject to various violations, which can be summarized as follows: ·         Being confined in places of detention which do not accord with international standards for the treatment of persons who are deprived of their liberty.
Places of detention do not provide protection from extreme weather conditions and large numbers of prisoners are held in cramped and confined spaces.
The lighting in detention facilities is bad and damages the eyesight of prisoners over time.
Essential maintenance is not carried out at these places.
   ·         Detainees are provided with poor quality meals and are insufficient in quantity, which leads to malnutrition.
·         The Prison Administration conducts arbitrary search campaigns during which prisoners are strip-searched.
The detainees are also beaten, hit with batons, tear gassed, shot with bullets and placed in solitary confinement for long periods of time and their belongings are confiscated ·         Detainees are not provided with adequate medical services which are limited to the provision of very basic health care for sick detainees.
·         Israel differentiates between those held on security charges and other detainees.
Torture and various forms of ill-treatment are practiced routinely against detainees held on security charges in Israeli detention facilities.
Security detainees are subject to longer detention periods.
Israeli law allows torturers to escape liability.
Al Mezan asserts the right of detainees to enjoy their rights, particularly the right to fair trial and other economic, social and cultural rights, and the right not to be subject to torture.
Al Mezan emphasizes the right of detainees to communicate with people outside the prison, including their right to family visits.
  Al Mezan expresses its strong condemnation of the systematic ill treatment of Palestinian detainees by Israel, which starts from the arrest stage, through to interrogation, unfair trial standards and detention conditions.
Al Mezan warns of the failure of the international community to condemn Israeli statements which express serious intent to prevent Palestinian detainees of their basic rights in violation of the UN Standards on the Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, the Convention against Torture, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Child's Right Convention and other international conventions.
     Therefore, Al Mezan calls on the international community to exert pressure on Israel to respect IHL and human rights standards.
Israel must abide by the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners and respect the right of detainees to periodic prison visits and communication with the outside world.
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Israel must ensure adequate detention conditions and the protection against torture and ill-treatment.
 Al Mezan also calls on the international community to take effective and urgent action to ensure the release of all Palestinian detainees who are detained as a result of the Israeli occupation.
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