PALESTINAN FEMALES BEHIND BARS: THE VIOLATION OF HEALTH CARE RIGHTS

Abstract

This thesis examines Palestinian female prisoners’ experiences of imprisonment in Israeli occupational prisons. It tracks their health care experiences during and after prison, examining the health violations of their rights imposed upon them by the Israeli prison, which are guaranteed by international law for Palestinian females during their arrest and imprisonment by the Israeli occupation forces, to protect her, preserve her humanity and her health rights. However, these rights are neglected and Palestinian females are targets of all forms of violations and violation of fundamental rights. This thesis also aims to identify the Palestinian female administrative detainee and prisoner, focusing on the rights established to protect her by international law and the Geneva Conventions; look into health violations from an international legal perspective to identify whether these violations are international crimes and the consequences of these violations; point out the legal mechanisms available to counter these violations and determine the extent of the individual international criminal responsibility of the leaders and heads of the Israeli occupation for committing crimes falling within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. In her turn, the researcher followed the descriptive and analytical approach by studying the health care rights of Palestinian female detainees and prisoners from the start of the arrest to the release, according to the four Genova Conventions, CEDAW, and other international conventions. Extensive interviews with the female prisoners and the information that is released from them are the basis for the analytical material. iv The study’s result showed that Palestinian females were not extradited from detention or prison, the occupation did not take into account their femininity, and a curl treatment that is no different from that of men, without taking into account the basic human rights set out globally. The study also concluded the Israeli occupation forces are guilty of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity through violation of fundamental and health rights written in international conventions, and the occupation leaders and soldiers have a civil and criminal responsibility for these violations. The researcher provided a series of recommendations at the end of the study, the most important of which is calling on the Palestinian Authority to go to the International Court of Justice to get a legal characterization of the female detainees and prisoners, a legal judgment for their illegal health care rights violations. The researcher also recommended requesting the international community and organizations to increase their efforts to assist Palestinian female prisoners by compelling the occupation forces to apply international law and conventions.