The Palestinian Minister of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Issa Qaraqi’ on September 27 said that Palestinian and Arab prisoners have gone on a hunger strike to protest the Israeli Prison Service’s (IPS) measures against them and their families. Qaraqi’ said in a statement that the prisoners currently held in 23 prisons and detention camps in Israel and in the West Bank “returned their breakfast meals to protest deliberate violation of their basic rights by the IPS.” He added that the strike began after their representatives’ meeting with Israeli Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch in the Nafha (Rimon) prison to discuss the violation failed.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided in June to revoke the prisoners’ privileges in order to pressure Hamas into releasing kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Qaraqi’ said the IPS is barring Palestinian prisoners, mainly those in solitary confinement, from family visits, access to education, telephones and satellite channels. The IPS, the minister said, blocks the entry of clothes into prisons and imposes financial fines on prisoners. The minister said that the prisoners “are subjected to medical negligence and prevented from receiving appropriate medical treatment in hospitals.”
According to Qaraqi’, the strikers want better-quality food and cessation of strip searches of their relatives during the visits.