Hundreds of Palestinians jailed in Israel go on hunger strike

Hundreds of Palestinians jailed in Israeli prisons launched Monday a hunger strike, demanding to improve their captivity conditions, in one of the largest protests in recent years.

About 700 prisoners joined the protest, which was announced overnight between Sunday and Monday, to coincide with the Palestinian Prisoners' Day.

The strike is led by Marwan Barghouti, a high-profile Fatah-linked prisoner, who is considered by some as a potential successor to President Mahmoud Abbas.

The prisoners said in a statement that they would fast until Israel accepts a 13-item demands list, including visitation rights and access to telephones.

Under Israeli regulation, prisoners are entitled to family visits once every two weeks. However, Palestinians from the West Bank need an entry permit to enter Israel and the Israeli authorities often deny such permits.

Even when a permit is granted, the families are required to wait in a yard outside the prison, sometimes for hours without sits or shades.

The prisoners also demand to have periodic medical checkups and to increase the number of visits by the International Red Cross.

Other requirements include installing air condition systems, allowing prisoners to keep books, newspapers, clothes, and food, as well as stopping administrative detentions, an indefinable incarceration without charges for renewable periods of six months, and solitary containment.

The Palestinian National Council, the legislative body of the Palestine Liberation Organization, and Hamas have expressed their support to the strike.

The Palestinian Prime Minister's Office said in a statement "A mass hunger strike started today calling for basic needs and rights of prisoners in an attempt to put an end to the practice of arbitrary administrative detention, torture, ill-treatment, unfair trials, detention of children, medical negligence, solitary confinement, inhuman/degrading treatment, deprivation of basic rights such as family visits and the right to education."

A statement released by Hamas warned the Prison Service against harming the hunger strikers. "Any delay in answering their just demands will explode the situation inside all prisons," the statement read.

The Israel Prison Service threatened to punish the hunger strikers. "Prisoners who decide to strike will face serious consequences," the Prison Service said in a statement, adding that "strikes and protests are illegal activities and will face unwavering penalization."

It also stated that "in accordance with the policy set by the minister of public security, the Prison Service does not negotiate with the prisoners."

According to figures provided in February by Israel's Prison Service, at least 6,820 Palestinians, including hundreds of minors, are incarcerated in Israeli prisons.

Most of them are jailed for participating in the struggle against the Israeli control over the West Bank and Gaza, lands that Israel seized in the 1967 Middle East War and where the Palestinians wish to establish their future state. Endit