Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike to protest Israeli atrocities
RAMALLAH. April 2. KAZINFORM Palestinian prisoners in an Israeli jail went on a hunger strike on Thursday to protest Israeli atrocities. The Palestinian Ministry of Detainees and Ex-Detainees said that prisoners at Ofer jail returned their meals to the Israeli authorities, Kazinform refers to Arab News.
It was not immediately clear how many of the 1,000 prisoners in Ofer were on hunger strike.
The Palestinian ministry warned that prisoners in other Israeli jails would also go on hunger strike during April if the Israeli authorities failed to meet their demands. The hunger strikers want more access to education, telephones, satellite channels besides end to strip searches and solitary confinement. They also want improvement in the quality of food and increase in the number of family visits.
The ministry said that the families of prisoners would stop visiting them during April as a token of protest.
According to the ministry, Israeli guards strip search women family members before they are allowed to see their relatives in prisons.
According to Palestinian official figures, Israel holds more than 8,000 Palestinian prisoners from the West Bank and Gaza in its 25 jails and detention camps. Most of them have been in detention since the launch of the Palestinian intifada in Sept. 2000.
Meanwhile, Israeli military said it would not file any charges in the death of a Palestinian protester last year.
A spokesman for the group who attended the military trial said the demonstrators, including senior Fatah leader Abbas Zaki, were ordered to be freed without charges or conditions.
The military confirmed the 10 were ordered released.
The arrests were made on Sunday after about 150 demonstrators protesting against Israeli restrictions on travel from the West Bank walked through a lightly manned checkpoint outside Jerusalem with a donkey and a horse.
Israeli security forces halted the group a few hundred meters past the checkpoint but Pollak said the arrests were made after the protesters had delivered speeches and started walking back to the West Bank.
The 10 were detained along with five Israelis, who were released later that day.
A protest on Wednesday outside the military prison where the 10 were being held turned violent, with Israeli border police firing tear gas and rubber bullets at Palestinian youths hurling stones, Kazinform cites Arab News. See www.arabnews.com for full version.