Jamming Palestinian hunger strikers’ phones risks our crops, locals say
Negev residents say effort to disrupt communication between protesting detainees is also crippling computerized irrigation systems
Residents of the small Negev community of Nitzana have reportedly complained that the army is jamming local cellular networks in an effort to disrupt communication between hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners at a nearby jail, and the move is endangering their crops.
Locals told Channel 10 the IDF measure has incapacitated cell phones and network-based farming equipment including irrigation control computers.
Residents said the measure was threatening their crops, especially in light of the expected heat wave next week.
The tiny desert community of Nitzana is situated some 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the Saharonim Prison, where some of the hundreds of striking Palestinian are incarcerated.
Palestinian prisoners are not allowed mobile phones, however prison authorities have recently uncovered several attempts to smuggle cell phones to prisoners, including by an Arab-Israeli lawmaker who went to jail for it.
On April 17, an estimated 1,200 Palestinian prisoners, mostly from the Palestinian Authority’s Fatah organization and including many convicted terrorists, declared an open-ended hunger strike in a bid to improve their conditions in Israeli prisons.
The strike is led by Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti, who is serving five life sentences for murder after he was convicted in a civil court in 2004 of initiating and planning multiple terror attacks against Israeli civilians during the Second Intifada.
Among the demands made by Barghouti and fellow prisoners are the resumption of a second monthly visit by family members (a benefit that was cancelled by the International Committee of the Red Cross last year due to budget cuts), the prevention of family meetings being cancelled for security reasons, extending the length of each visit from 45 minutes to an hour and a half, and the restoration of academic studies and matriculation exams to prisoners. Other demands include more television channels being available in cells, and the installation of public telephones in security wings.
Palestinian officials said some 1,500 Palestinian prisoners were ingesting only water and salt. Israeli authorities have put the number of the hunger strikers at 1,200.
On Friday, the ICRC said its delegates were able to visit hundreds of hunger strikers for the first time since the protest was called. The ICRC had been denied visiting rights for nine days, a spokesman said, adding that the group hoped to be able to visit all the prisoners in the next days.
Earlier this week, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club warned that Barghouti’s health has seriously declined and that he was refusing medical treatment.
Some 6,500 Palestinians are currently detained by Israel for a range of terror offenses and crimes. Around 500 are held under administrative detention, a controversial counter-terror practice that allows for extended imprisonment without charge.
Palestinian prisoners have previously mounted hunger strikes, but rarely on such a scale.
Agencies contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.