Palestinians join hunger strike

JERUSALEM – Hundreds more Palestinian prisoners were joining an open-ended hunger strike in Israeli jails yesterday as Palestinian leader announced he would also fast for the day in a show of solidarity.

A total of 2 264 of the 3 800 prisoners who are being held in prison service-run detention centres were now refusing their meals, according to prison service spokesman Ian Domnitz. The latest prisons to join the protest included the Shikma top-security jail near the southern city of Ashkelon, where 296 inmates refused their first meal of the day, and Shaka near the city of Beit Shean, where 196 joined the protest, Domnitz told AFP.The majority of the estimated 8 000 Palestinian prisoners are held in centres run by the Israeli army but military officials had no figures for the numbers of the inmates refusing food.However a spokesman for the quasi-governmental Palestinian prisoners club said that around 4 000 prisoners were now on hunger strike.The Palestinian Authority has declared yesterday a day of solidarity with the prisoners.Abu Jihad, a Palestinian held at a military-run prison in the southern Negev desert, said that inmates had decided to refuse their food for the day in an act of solidarity but would not be observing a fast every day as it would amount to an act of “collective suicide.”The prisoners are demanding mandatory visiting rights as well as an end to what they regard as intrusive body searches and random inspections of their cells.Arafat paid tribute to the prisoners in a keynote speech before the Palestinian parliament as he also announced that he and fellow leaders would fast for the day.”The Palestinian leadership has agreed to joining in the fasting today,” he said.”I would like to express our affection for our heroic prisoners… We are proud of their work, their steadfastness and patience.They are now fighting their battle inside those prisons, those appalling prisons.”- Nampa-AFPThe latest prisons to join the protest included the Shikma top-security jail near the southern city of Ashkelon, where 296 inmates refused their first meal of the day, and Shaka near the city of Beit Shean, where 196 joined the protest, Domnitz told AFP.The majority of the estimated 8 000 Palestinian prisoners are held in centres run by the Israeli army but military officials had no figures for the numbers of the inmates refusing food.However a spokesman for the quasi-governmental Palestinian prisoners club said that around 4 000 prisoners were now on hunger strike.The Palestinian Authority has declared yesterday a day of solidarity with the prisoners.Abu Jihad, a Palestinian held at a military-run prison in the southern Negev desert, said that inmates had decided to refuse their food for the day in an act of solidarity but would not be observing a fast every day as it would amount to an act of “collective suicide.”The prisoners are demanding mandatory visiting rights as well as an end to what they regard as intrusive body searches and random inspections of their cells.Arafat paid tribute to the prisoners in a keynote speech before the Palestinian parliament as he also announced that he and fellow leaders would fast for the day.”The Palestinian leadership has agreed to joining in the fasting today,” he said.”I would like to express our affection for our heroic prisoners… We are proud of their work, their steadfastness and patience.They are now fighting their battle inside those prisons, those appalling prisons.”- Nampa-AFP