Upcoming Spin Games: Prison Privileges

Israel's cabinet voted to end special privileges to Hamas prisoners. Here's what you need to know to respond to the expected spin games in tomorrow's papers. Haaretz writes:

Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann recommended stripping the Palestinian prisoners of all privileges not anchored in Israeli or international law, such as an education, television, newspapers and radio.

The Israel Prisons service announced at the weekly cabinet meeting that the recommendations will go into effect in the near future. The sanctions will include drastic limitations on family visits and the revocation of the opportunity to take high school matriculation exams or study at the open university. In addition to sanctions on entertainment media, the prisoners will be subject to stricter guidelines regarding the transfer of money for use at the prison canteen.

Prisoners will continue receiving:

Basic food
Health care
Sanitary conditions
Access to lawyers
Due process
Some degree of family visits
Access to Red Cross representatives (which Hamas denies Gilad Shalit)

We're not talking Club Med. But if any good comes from this, the knee-jerk criticism from Israel's neighbors in the Palestinian Authority, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Saudi Arabia will hopefully shine a spotlight on their woefully inadequate prison conditions.

Case in point: while in prison, Samir Quntar earned a social science degree married and divorced Kifah Kayyal, then later married Fadah Said Abdullah -- both security prisoners. Don't think Arab penal guidelines are so accomodating.

I've blogged news reports documenting how Palestinian kids deliberately get arrested in order to pursue an education, live well, and get street cred -- all at Israeli taxpayer expense.

Posted at 03:52 PM