The NGOs Al Haq, Miftah, and Defence of Children International/Palestine (DCI/PS), proponents of the Durban Strategy of anti-Israel demonization, used the occasion of Palestinian Prisoners Day on April 17, 2007, to issue statements consistent with this strategy.  Al Haq’s press release accuses Israel of continuing to violate international human rights and humanitarian law.  The statement also criticizes Israel’s arrest of members of the Palestinian Legislative Council arguing the Geneva Convention prohibits the taking of hostages.  Ironically, Al Haq failed to note the application of the Convention to Gilad Shalit.  Miftah’s press release accuses Israel of “misus[ing]” administrative detention to impose “collective punishment” and makes the incredible claim that “hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have endured the dismal conditions of Israeli prisons.”  DCI/PS’s press release claims Israel’s military court system is a “discriminatory system” used to “suppress and oppress Palestinian children.”  DCI/PS also claims Palestinian children are “assaulted, beaten, and tortured during the interrogation process.”  No sources are provided to verify these statements and similar statements made by the NGOs B’tselem and HaMoked have been found by Israeli courts and NGO Monitor to be without merit.  DCI/PS makes no comment about the abuse of children by Palestinian terrorist organizations or the violent propaganda aimed at Palestinian children sanctioned by the Palestinian Authority.
In contrast to these one-sided statements, Physicians for Human Rights- Israel also issued a press release to mark the day, but stated that Palestinian prisoners were “not significantly discriminated against” vis à vis other prisoners.