[News] Palestinian Prisoners Hunger Strike Update...

[News at freedomarchives.org]

Prisons Service grills to combat hunger strike

By Jonathan Lis, Jackie Houri and Arnon Regular

Barbecues have been set up to grill meat near the cells of Palestinian 
security prisoners in an effort to combat a hunger strike that the 
prisoners launched Sunday.

Prisons Service guards confiscated cigarettes and candy, along with large 
quantities of salt, which the prisoners had hidden in their mattresses 
apparently to provide themselves with minerals during the strike. The 
guards also removed pens and newspapers.

In addition to setting up barbecues to whet the appetite of security 
prisoners, the Prisons Service is halting all family visits for the 
strikers, while radios and televisions have been removed from their cells.

During Sunday's cell searches, guards found several notes from prisoner 
leaders containing directives regarding the strike.

Nearly 1,500 security prisoners in four prisons have begun to strike, while 
an additional 2,400 are said to remain undecided regarding their 
participation.

The prisoners are demanding, among other things, that glass partitions 
separating them from visitors be removed and that public telephones be 
installed in the prisons. Public Security Minister Tzachi Hanegbi said 
Friday he will not give in to the prisoners' demands.

The first day of the strike passed relatively quietly, although a number of 
shivs and shovels were found in the search of prisoners' quarters. 
Officials said they believed most of the strikers do not plan on becoming 
violent, although prison medical services and local hospitals have been put 
on alert.

"If the strike were to stop due to our meeting the prisoners' demands, I 
will not view it as a success but rather that terror and attempted prison 
takeovers can continue in the future," Prisons Service Commissioner 
Lieutenant General Yaakov Granot said Sunday.

The military wing of the Fatah has threatened to conduct kidnappings in 
order to identify with the strikers. Protests tents were erected in 
Palestinian cities with pictures of imprisoned leaders, including Fatah 
Tanzim leader Marwan Bargouthi and Nasser Awis, head of the Nablus Fatah 
military wing.

A security prisoner calling himself Wattan (homeland) said that prisoners 
would not stop striking just because their personal items were confiscated. 
"A person who gives up food to achieve his goals will not fall because he 
doesn't get a newspaper or see television," he said.

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/465303.html


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