Lebanese Prime Minister Salim al-Hoss stressed on Thursday that Israel's withdrawal
unconditionally from south Lebanon to the internationally-recognized border
according to UN resolution 425 is the main solution for the Israeli occupation and its
consequences.
 
In a statement he made in Beirut on Thursday on the occasion of the world day for
the closing of Khiam camp, al-Hoss said, "We voice Lebanon's official solidarity
with the call to close off this detention center of a black history which stands as an
evidence on the Israeli brutality and its inhuman practices against the Lebanese
citizens."
 
Al-Hoss vowed to spare no efforts to achieve the withdrawal of the Israeli forces
unconditionally from Lebanon and ending the sufferings of the Lebanese people
under the Israeli occupation.
 
Meantime, a sit-in was observed on Thursday in front of ESCWA's headquarters in
Beirut for mothers and relatives of the Lebanese detainees in the Israeli jails on the
occasion of the national and world day to close off Khiam detention center.

Taking part in the said sit-in were Lebanese first lady Mrs. Andrea Lahoud, political
and social figures, citizens and the press.
 
Mothers of the detainees observed a hunger strike and called for putting an end to
the continued sufferings of their children in the Israeli jails.
 
Meanwhile, two Palestinian legal establishments Mandella and the al-Damir have
joined the media campaign started on Thursday to close off Khiam detention camp
which was established by the Israeli occupation forces in south Lebanon in 1985.
 
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Mandella establishment said that the
follow up committee in backing the cause of the Lebanese prisoners and detainees
in the Israeli jails will observe a massive sit-in front of the UN premises in Beirut to
call for the closure of the said detention camp which includes 155 children, men,
women and old people without any charges nor trail, besides 19 Lebanese held by
Israel in Eiloun prison in al-Ramlah since 1989.
 
For its part the al-Damir establishment called for immediate release of all the
Lebanese detainees. It stressed that the absence of international responsibility
encourages Israel to behave irresponsibly and take oppressive measures against the
Arab detainees, noted that 14 detainees died in mysterious conditions during the past
years.
 
For its part, the follow-up committee in support of the Lebanese detainees in the
Israeli jails and detention camps said on Thursday, in a statement that the Lebanese
detainees in the jails of Israel and its agents were exposed to torture, and this
resulted in the death of many of them.
 
In a message he sent to the UN secretary general and handed over to the executive
secretary of ESCWA (the Economic Social Committee for West Asia), Hazem
al-Bablawi, the committee said that the Israeli occupation forces have held in
al-Khayyam camp since its establishment in 1985 some 2000 Lebanese citizens
including 500 women.
 
The statement added that Israel is currently holding in the camp some 160 detainees
including six women who are tortured by electricity wire, and extracting their nails
and hairs and other sorts of psychological tortures. The committee explained in its
message that 14 detainees dies as a result of the torture and that infectious diseases
threaten 50 detainees.
 
The committee called on the international community to interfere with Israel to
permit members of the International committee of the Red Cross to enter into the
camp and get acquainted with conditions of the prisoners inside it.