In the Specialized Arab Hospital in the city of Nablus, four women stood in front of dozens of local Palestinian and international cameras to announce that they had been impregnated by their husbands via sperm smuggled out of Israeli prisons.

These are the two things the wives have in common, women who differ in age and hail from different cities in the West Bank: They are in the first few months of pregnancy by their imprisoned husbands, who are serving long sentences, and their husbands are affiliated with different Palestinian movements, including Fatah, Hamas and the Popular Front.

"I never expected that I would be able to become pregnant by my imprisoned husband. The occupation forces have banned me from visiting him for six months. I am now two months pregnant, and the doctor informed me that everything is going well," said Salam Nazzal, the wife of Ali Nazzal, who has been imprisoned since 2006 and is serving a 20-year sentence.

Like the other three women, Salam obtained sperm from her husband that had been smuggled out of the prison. For security reasons, all of the women refused to go into any detail regarding the circumstances of the smuggling.