Israel urged to release Spanish aid worker in West Bank
Spanish rights organizations and activists have signed a manifesto calling for the release of a humanitarian aid worker, Juana Ruiz Sánchez, who has been detained by the Israeli regime for more than a month without trial.
Sanchez, who has been living in Palestine for 35 years, was detained by heavily armed Israeli troops on April 13, 2021 on charges of being involved in “terrorist activity” and “funding terrorism” for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Israeli troops reportedly intimidated Juana, her Palestinian husband and mother-in-law, saying they were taking Sanchez for interrogation.
Earlier this month, an Israeli military court charged her with funneling large sums of donations from European governments to a Palestinian group.
Sanchez, a Spanish citizen, has been working for the health organization ‘Health Work Committees’ (HWC) in the West Bank.
“The undersigned, organizations and people involved in solidarity in our country, want to convey to the public opinion and Institutions the great concern we have for the situation of Juana Ruiz Sánchez,” read the manifesto.
The aid worker “has been arbitrarily detained and imprisoned” for days with no specific charge.
The NGO, Sanchez was working with, has carried out dozens of health and social projects in the occupied Palestinian territories, including providing healthcare services to residents in West Bank villages, and vaccinating children in East Jerusalem al-Quds, the manifesto added.
Israel has systematically refused to provide vaccinations and women's healthcare services in the West Bank, it said.
The health organization is “being targeted intermittently” by the Tel Aviv regime, “under a policy of repression, attrition and dismantling of Palestinian civil society organizations,” the manifesto added.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem al-Quds, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip during the Six-Day War in 1967. It later had to withdraw from Gaza but has been occupying the other territories since.
About 700,000 Israelis live in over 230 illegal settlements built in the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds. The international community views the settlements as illegal under international law.
Emboldened by former US president Donald Trump’s all-out support, Israel has stepped up its illegal settlement construction activities in defiance of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334, which has pronounced settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds “a flagrant violation under international law.”
Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent state with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital.
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