MORE than 200 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails joined on Sunday the over 1,800 hunger striking Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, according to the media committee of the strike.
The decision to join the hunger strike came as the Israel Prison Service continues to reject negotiating the demands of the hunger strikers, the committee added. For the 35th day in a row, about 1,800 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are continuing the Freedom and Dignity hunger strike amid strict repressive measures by the Israeli authorities to break their strike.
The hunger strikers are calling for better access to medical care; increased visit duration from 45 to 90 minutes; removal of glass barriers during family visits; improved detention conditions including easing restrictions on the entry of books, clothing, food and other gifts from family members; installing phones to enable prisoners to communicate with their families and an end to the policy of administrative detention.
Palestinian factions in the central occupied West Bank city of Ramallah have called upon the Palestinian people to partake in a ‘Day of Rage’ tomorrow, during the planned visit by US President Donald Trump to the occupied Palestinian territory.
Trump is scheduled to arrive in Israel today, to meet with Israeli President, Reuven Rivlin, and Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in Jerusalem. Tomorrow, Trump will meet with Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, in the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, and then stop in occupied East Jerusalem, to visit the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the Western Wall – reportedly to become the first sitting US president to visit the contested holy site that stands adjacent to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
In a statement released Saturday titled: ‘A call for unity and assimilation with our brave prisoners,’ Ramallah-based Islamist and nationalist factions urged the public to join rallies to express their rejection to the resumption of peace talks between the Palestinian Authority and Israel under US sponsorship.
The statement called for a general strike today in the occupied West Bank, the besieged Gaza Strip, and Israel, to coincide with Trump’s visit. Members of the Higher Follow-up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel have affirmed their support for the strikes, initially called for by the Palestinian national committee set up to support a mass hunger strike in Israeli prisons that entered its 34th day on Saturday.