Families of political prisoners rally in Hebron

Relatives of political prisoners organized a sit-in and rally in the West Bank city of Hebron on Thursday, protesting an escalation in arrests by Palestinian Authority security forces. Hamas officials said the rally demanded the release of prisoners and an end to arrests, particularly as Palestinian factions meet in Cairo to discuss ending the politically motivated harassment Security forces "always escalate arrests during dialogue," one of them said. "With each session of conciliation, arrests and summonses increase in the West Bank," said another protester. "It’s shameful how security departments chase after the participants of peaceful sit-ins." Children of several prisoners chained themselves together during the rally, which was attended by Palestinian lawmaker Samira Halayqa and other representatives of the Palestinian Legislative Council. Others held signs saying "justice is absent”, “courts issue orders and security departments do not respond," and "What is the role of human rights organizations - what are you doing to achieve rights?" "We were hoping that the latest agreement would lead to the release of a big group of political prisoners who are detained illegally in the PA's prisons but surprisingly, the arrests and summons of men and women equally have increased," said a protester addressing the crowd. "Is this the unity as the security departments understand it, or are they working deliberately to sabotage any agreement or internal Palestinian conciliation?” Families also criticized the media, which they accused of downplaying the problem.