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</font><font face="arial" size=3><b>Prisons Service grills to combat
hunger strike <br><br>
</b>By Jonathan Lis, Jackie Houri and Arnon Regular <br><br>
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. <br><br>
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.<br><br>
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. <br><br>
During Sunday's cell searches, guards found several notes from prisoner
leaders containing directives regarding the strike. <br><br>
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. <br><br>
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. <br><br>
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. <br><br>
"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.
<br><br>
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. <br><br>
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.
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