5,000 Palestinians prisoners in Israeli jails go on hunger strike

Crescent International

Rajab 09, 1435 2014-05-08

Daily News Analysis

by Crescent International

Thousands of Palestinians in Israeli jails have gone on hunger strike in solidarity with the 120 other prisoners held in “administrative detention” who are on hunger strike since April 24. Palestinians held in administrative detention are not charged with any crime and have never been convicted in a court of law but continue to be illegally held by the zionist regime.

Beirut, Crescent-online
Thursday May 08, 2014, 08:43 DST

In what must be one of the largest mass hunger strikes in the world, more than 5,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails went on a one-day strike today. The hunger strike is in solidarity with another group of Palestinian prisoners that have been on hunger strike for nearly two weeks.

On May 7, Palestinians in Gaza also held a rally in solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. They marched to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), calling for international intervention to stop Israel’s detention policy.

Gaza is under Israeli-Egyptian siege and little or no food is permitted to enter the tiny Strip where more than 80 percent of the population is food deficient, according to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).

Currently there are 5,224 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Society. Of these 186 are held in “Administrative detention”, including nine Palestinian Legislative Council members, according to the prisoners’ rights group Addameer.

“Administrative detention” is a ploy used by the Zionist occupiers to incarcerate Palestinians for a six-month period without charge or trial and then routinely extend the six-month period. In this manner, some Palestinians have been in “administrative detention” for years.

This is completely illegal under International Law but the Zionist regime does not care about any law, international or other. It is a pariah state that routinely kills Palestinians, steals their land and even arrests and imprisons children and women.

On April 24, 120 Palestinians held in “administrative detention” went on an open-ended hunger strike to draw attention to their plight and bring an end to their illegal detention.

People around the world have expressed solidarity with the Palestinian hunger strikers but most Arab regimes have failed to do so or even condemn the zionists’ illegal policies.

The Arab regimes’ silence that amounts to complicity with Israeli crimes prompted senior Hamas official and deputy head of the Palestinian parliament, Ahmad Bahar, to condemn them for failing to support the Palestinian prisoners.

“Arab leaders and the Arab League must break their silence and support the Palestinian prisoners. We want real action from Arab foreign ministers who meet and do nothing to help thousands of Palestinians languishing in Israeli jails,” Bahar said.

Considering that almost all these regimes torture detainees in their own prisons, it is unrealistic to expect the Arab League that is made up of the same illegitimate regimes to speak out about the Palestinians’ plight.

Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli jails are subjected to torture, sleep deprivation, and other forms of abuse. Human rights groups have criticized Israeli prison authorities for committing gross rights abuses in jails and mysterious deaths of inmates in custody.

According to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the Zionist regime has detained more than 800,000 Palestinians since 1967.

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