PA official says negotiations to end prisoners’ hunger strike likely
Prisoners minister claims there are signs Israel could soon hold talks with strikers
Hunger striking Palestinian prisoners could soon hold negotiations with Israeli prison officials to end their 25-day protest, Palestinian Authority Prisoner Affairs Minister Issa Qaraqe said Friday.
Qaraqe said there were signs that negotiations could be imminent, but did not elaborate. The Israel Prisons Service did not comment on the claim, but Israeli officials have long rejected the prospect of negotiating the strikers’ terms of imprisonment.
Hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners have been on a hunger strike in Israeli jails since April 17.
Israeli authorities say 894 Palestinian prisoners have kept up the strike, while Palestinian officials say it is more than 1,000.
The hunger strikers have issued a list of demands including better medical services, family visits and more dignified detention conditions. But Israel has vowed not to negotiate with them, with Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan calling them “terrorists and incarcerated murderers.”
Israel says prisoners’ conditions meet all international standards.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) visited the leader of the hunger strike, popular Palestinian figure and convicted terrorist Marwan Barghouti, on Thursday for the first time since it began. Barghouti is serving five life sentences for his role in orchestrating deadly terror attacks during the second Palestinian intifada.
An ICRC spokesman was unable to provide an update on his health “in accordance with the principles of medical confidentiality.”
Earlier this week, Israel produced footage it said showed Barghouti secretly breaking his fast in his cell. His wife Fadwa rejected the footage as fake, saying it was “intended to break the morale of prisoners.” A lawyer, she has also called on the pope to intervene.
Some see the hunger strike as a strategic political move by Barghouti, who it is believed is wanting to demonstrate his influence on the Palestinian street ahead of a bid to succeed PA President Mahmoud Abbas.
“We are entering an extremely critical period” for the hunger strikers, Qadura Fares, head of the Palestinian Prisoners Club, said Thursday at a rally in Ramallah.
“A large number of prisoners can no longer move from their beds or take care of their basic needs.”
AFP contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.