[News] Palestinian Prisoners in Israel on Hunger Strike

[News at freedomarchives.org]

Palestinian prisoners in Israel on hunger strike

Tue Jun 21, 6:13 AM ET

BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AFP) - Palestinian prisoners jailed in 
<http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news/?p=Israel>Israel went on hunger 
strike to highlight their plight ahead of a summit between Israeli Prime 
Minister <http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news/?p=Ariel+Sharon>Ariel 
Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas.

The largest Palestinian detainees' rights group -- the Prisoners Club -- 
said practically all 8,000 Palestinian security detainees behind Israeli 
bars were following the order to refuse food.

"This strike is intended to remind Abu Mazen (Abbas) of the prisoners' 
cause and ask him to insist on a clear timetable for their release," said 
Issa Qaraqaeh, director of the Bethlehem-based Prisoners Club.

A spokesman for the Israeli prison services, Ian Domnitz, said hundreds of 
security detainees had refused breakfast but added that prisoners were 
eating food previously bought and stored in their cells.

Abbas has promised to raise the issue of prisoner releases with Sharon at 
their meeting in Jerusalem later Tuesday.

"This (the prisoners) is an issue of paramount importance and I hope to be 
able to obtain results during my meeting with Mr Sharon," Abbas told a 
prisoners' support group on Monday.

On Saturday, he told visiting US Secretary of State 
<http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news/?p=Condoleezza+Rice>Condoleezza 
Rice that the release of prisoners held by Israel was of "supreme 
importance" to advancing Middle East peace efforts.

Although the Israeli government has freed 900 prisoners since Abbas and 
Sharon last met in February in Egypt, around 7,000 still remain behind bars.

The Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 863-9977
www.freedomarchives.org 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20050622/b407522b/attachment.htm>