Palestinian prisoners cancel mass hunger strike as authorities relent
A demonstration in support of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons outside the offices of the ICRC office in Ramallah on 14 September 2021
Shatha Hammad reports in Middle East Eye:
Palestinian prisoners have suspended plans to hold a coordinated hunger strike after Israel agreed to halt punitive measures imposed on inmates in the aftermath of the Gilboa prison break last week.
Earlier this week, an umbrella prisoners’ group had threatened to go on a collective hunger strike on Friday in response to the Israel Prison Service’s recent campaign of “repression and abuse” against Palestinian prisoners, according to the Palestine Authority’s prisoners’ affairs commission.
Prisoners said the Israel Prison Service (IPS) escalated repression against the 4,650 Palestinian prisoners held in its various prisons after the escape of six prisoners from Gilboa prison on 6 September. Four of the escapees have been recaptured, while the search continues for the two who remain on the run.
Some 1,380 prisoners were set to begin the open-ended strike as part of a campaign to put pressure on the IPS until their demands were met.
The prisoners had outlined nine demands:
- bringing the policy of arbitrary repression and abuse to an end
- ending the punishments imposed on hundreds of prisoners
- releasing prisoners in solitary confinement into the rest of the general prison population; a return to conditions within the prison that prevailed before 5 September
- putting a halt to the arbitrary policy of administrative detention and ceasing the renewal of sentences for administrative detainees
- a return to family visits through fences instead of through reinforced glass
- implementing and expediting visits for families from the Gaza Strip
- installing a permanent public landline for prisoner use
- letting in canteen goods previously banned under the “Shalit Law,” including allowing in grocery items, vegetables, meats, and fruits
- allowing the delivery of clothing during family visits
Qadri Abu Baker, head of the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs, told Middle East Eye that the strike announcement came in response to the repression that the prison administration had carried out against the prisoners ever since 5 September, including withdrawing the various rights the prisoners had gained from the IPS in the past. The IPS has been escalating these repressive measures ever since 2019, deploying special units from the Israeli army and making use of new weapons against the prisoners.
“The prisoners today face an extremely dangerous situation, and we repeatedly warn against the endangerment of the lives of our prisoners and call upon all countries to intervene,” Abu Baker warned.
Violent suppression
Palestinian prisoners rely on hunger strikes both individually and collectively to achieve concessions on rights from the prison service.
Administrative detainees have engaged in individual hunger strikes, many of which lasted more than 60 days, in order to pressure the occupation and bring an end to administrative detention without charge.