Fifteen Palestinians being held in Israeli prisons are suffering from cancer and are at risk of dying, the Hossam Association of Palestinian Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners has said.15 people with cancer out of 5,500 prisoners?
The organization said in a statement that they believed the number was in fact higher, as the 15 include only those who have been diagnosed with cancer, but many others have tumors whose malignancy is not known because Israeli prison authorities have limited their access to tests.
The organization blamed Israeli authorities for contributing to an environment in which Palestinian prisoners faced a heightened risk of cancer due to high levels of radiation inside prison cells.
The group said that Israeli authorities set up devices to jam satellite and telephone signals near rooms where Palestinians are being held. They also pointed to the use of radiation in security scanners that prisoners are forced to go through during frequent searches and examinations.
The statement also said that a number of prisons are located near the Dimona nuclear reactor as well as toxic waste dumps in the Negev Desert, another factor which it said contributed to the high incidence of cancer.
In the US, about 1 in 30 males under the ages of 49 are expected to get cancer. That would translate to over 180 male inmates developing some sort of cancer out of 5,500. 15 seems to be awfully low, statistically.
The accusation of radiation from metal detectors is equally silly. Metal detectors give out a fraction of the background radiation that everyone is exposed to every day.
And if Dimona was sending out tons of radiation, then why do people live there?
As usual, Palestinian Arabs throw accusations at Israel, hoping that something will stick. This might not be as absurd as the charge (repeated by the UN) that 800,000 Palestinian Arabs have been in prison, but it is pretty close.