April 17th marked Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, which commemorated the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian prisoners incarcerated by the Israeli occupation regime. Since Israel’s military occupation in 1967, over 800,00 Palestinians have been arrested and detained by Israeli authorities. Currently, Israel continues to detain 4,450 Palestinians, among them 32 women and 160 children all being held without charge or trial. 

Since this occupation, authorities have issued over 1800 military orders which regulate almost every aspect of Palestinians’ daily lives. This includes but is not limited to freedom of association, freedom of movement, social and cultural expression, education, land and property law and even pubic health.

These horrific regulations and crimes have most recently been highlighted in a horrific raid of the Al-Aqsa mosque, where Israeli forces killed 6 and injured a further 150.

It is time to end the silence. It is time for action. It is time for those guilty of violating international human rights and humanitarian laws to be held accountable.

It is time to denounce the ever increasing number of disgraceful crimes of this decades-long Israeli occupation and apartheid regime.