OVER 100 Fatah-affiliated prisoners in Israeli jails entered their third day on hunger strike yesterday, prisoner representatives said.
The 120 prisoners, all held in Nafha jail, are demanding that detainees be returned to their former wings after being moved to other sections last week. They are also demanding family visits, an end to solitary confinement, public telephones, a kitchen and bakery, and the return of a canteen.
A spokesperson for Fatah prisoners, Nashat al-Wahidi, said that the prison leadership of all political factions met on Thursday in Nafha to discuss conditions for detainees and Israeli escalations. Fatah-affiliated detainees said in a letter that their open hunger strike will continue until their demands are achieved.
National and Islamic factions in the Gaza Strip are planning a series of activities to support prisoners at the beginning of next week, al-Wahidi added. Earlier this week, Hamas-affiliated detainees in prisons across Israel threatened a ‘campaign of disobedience’ after the Israeli Prison Service said it plans to separate prisoners affiliated to Hamas in Nafha prison from those affiliated to Fatah, a prisoners’ rights group said.
There are currently at least seven Palestinian detainees on hunger strike, including Muhammad Allan, who entered his 49th day without food this week to protest administrative detention. Around 5,750 Palestinians are currently being held in Israeli jails, over 400 of whom are held under ‘administrative detention’ the term used by the Israeli forces for incarcerating Palestinians without trial or charge.
• The leader of a Jewish extremist group in Israel called for arson attacks on churches in front of Israeli students, Israeli media reported on Thursday. Benzi Gopstein, leader of anti-Arab group Lehava, called for the burning of churches at a panel held this week for Jewish yeshiva students, using ancient Halachic, or Jewish law, to condemn what he called Christian ‘idol worship’.
There has been a long line of attacks on Christian and Muslim holy places in both Israel and the occupied West Bank in which the perpetrators were believed to be Jewish extremists. Despite announcements by the Israeli government in May 2014 to crack down on violent attacks carried out by Israelis against Palestinians, prosecution rates of Jewish extremists remain non-existent.
