Palestinian Prisoners Begin Their Hunger Strike

Wednesday 18 April 2012

Palestinian Prisoners Begin Their Hunger Strike

Some 2,300 Palestinians in "Israeli" prisons returned their meals on Tuesday as part
of a hunger strike that 1,200 Palestinian prisoner intended to continue indefinitely.

"In the framework of the Palestinian Prisoner's Day, around 2,300 security prisoners said they were refusing their daily meals, and around 1,200 prisoners said they were starting a hunger strike," "Israeli" Prison Service spokeswoman Sivan Weizman told AFP.

The prisoners are demanding the least of the legitimate and international human rights.
They are calling the end to administrative detentions and solitary confinement. They are also demanding that the Zionist authorities permit visits by families from the Gaza Strip and cancel its decision to ban prisoners from engaging in academic studies and reading newspapers.

Earlier this week, Palestinian prisoners' minister Issa Qaraqaa told AFP that "1,600 inmates would begin an open-ended hunger strike on Tuesday to protest against the conditions of their imprisonment."
Among the prisoners currently striking, four have been transferred to prison hospitals because of the fragile state of their heath, the Palestinian Prisoners Club says.

Two of them, Bilal Diab, 27, and Thaer Halahla, 34, have been refusing food for 50 days, with medics expressing concern over their deteriorating health.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Prisoners were joined by eight foreign activists who arrived in Occupied Palestine as part of the pro-Palestinian fly-in earlier this week.

The women, who are held at the "Israeli" "Givon" Prison, said they will refuse food as an act of solidarity with the Palestinians.

In parallel, Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank marked Palestinian Prisoners Day with ceremonies symbolizing long-hoped-for freedom from "Israeli" jails.
In Arraba village, south of Jenin, officials gathered to mark the day ahead of the expected release of Khader Adnan, whose 66-day hunger strike ended with "Israel's" surrender to free him from administrative detention.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by moqawama.org