AT LEAST 40 Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli prison of ‘Megiddo’ have joined the prisoners’ open-ended mass hunger strike, said the strikers Media Committee of ‘Freedom and Dignity’.
The mass hunger strike launched by more than 1,500 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails entered its seventh day on Sunday. Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails embarked on a mass hunger strike on Monday, April 17th to win back many of their rights that were taken away by the Israeli occupation prisons administration, which they had achieved through many past strikes.
The prisoners are demanding to be moved to prisons in the occupied territories as per the Fourth Geneva Convention, which would make it easier for their families to visit them, as well as lifting restrictions on family visits and better treatment at military checkpoints.
On Saturday night, hundreds of Palestinians clanged pots and pans while marching through the streets of Ramallah to express solidarity with the hunger strikers inside Israeli prisons. A number of rallies took place Saturday in the occupied Palestinian territory, as will as in Israel and abroad, amid growing support for the hunger strikers who continue to face harsh punishments for refusing their meals.
The hunger strikers have denounced the torture, ill treatment, and medical neglect of Palestinian prisoners at the hands of Israeli authorities, as well as Israel’s widespread use of administrative detention – internment without trial or charges – which is only permitted under international law in extremely limited circumstances.
Solidarity rallies have been organised daily since the strike began on April 17th. Fatah has now called for a general strike to be held on Thursday, April 27th, which is to include ‘all aspects of daily life’.
It has also called for Friday, April 28th to be a ‘Day of Rage’, and for all Palestinians to ‘clash’ with Israeli forces to express solidarity with the ongoing mass hunger strike underway in Israeli prisons, organised by imprisoned Fatah leader, Marwan Barghouthi.
The official Fatah statement urged the Palestinian people to especially ‘clash with the occupier in all seam zones’, referring to Palestinian areas in the occupied West Bank that fall between Israel’s separation wall and the Green Line and as well urged that ‘we clash with the occupier everywhere across our homeland’.
The statement maintained that Israel must be held responsible for the lives of all Palestinian prisoners and for ‘any unrest in the region that may emerge as a result of Israel’s stubbornness and indifference toward these prisoners’ demands’.
There is no doubt that the working class of the world, especially the working class of the UK, have a special responsibility to support and come to the aid of the Palestinian people, especially now, since the Trump-Netanyahu alliance is pledging to make Jerusalem the capital of Israel, and through a one- state policy turn the Palestinians into the permanent colonial slaves of the Israeli ruling class.
None of this would be possible if the UK had not in 1917 made the notorious declaration through its foreign minister, Balfour. This policy led to the seizure of Palestine by the Zionists with the founding of the state of Israel in 1948, and the creation of over a million Palestinian refugees. This policy is being accelerated today!
The UK working class must take it as a personal insult that on the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, the UK PM May is able to openly celebrate it and congratulate Israel on its ‘achievements’. The Palestinian leadership is demanding that the UK government apologise to the Palestinian people for the Balfour Declaration, and its consequences, and that the UK government must recognise the state of Palestine.
This is why on May Day workers must march with Palestinian flags to show their support for Palestine. They must also respond to any attacks on the Palestinian masses on April 27th and 28th by taking political strike action to demand that the UK government disown Balfour, stop arming and supporting Israel, recognise the State of Palestine, and that all Palestinian prisoners of Israel must be released!
