Palestinian prisoners end hunger strike after key demand met

Israel conceded to one of the prisoners’ main demands – that they should have two family visits a month instead of just one.

Israeli soldiers arrest a protester near the West Bank village of Beita, near Nablus, on May 26, 2017, a day before Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails called off their hunger strike. Alaa BadarneShow more

Ramallah // Hundreds of Palestinians in Israeli jails have ended their 40-day hunger strike on Saturday under a deal brokered by the Red Cross.

About 30 of the more than 800 hunger strikers had been hospitalised in recent days, raising fears of an escalation of clashes with Israeli security forces in the occupied West Bank.

Palestinian analysts hailed the deal as a victory for the hunger strikers after Israeli authorities repeatedly vowed not to negotiate with convicted “terrorists”.

Palestinian Authority prisoners’ affair chief Issa Qaraqe said it had come after 20 hours of talks between Israeli officials and strike leader Marwan Barghouti.

An Israel Prisons Service spokeswoman confirmed the hunger strike was over but said the deal had been reached not with prisoners’ representatives but with the Palestinian Authority and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Israeli authorities conceded to one of the prisoners’ main demands – that they should have two family visits a month instead of the one they were entitled to before the strike, the spokeswoman said.

She said 1,578 prisoners participated in the hunger strike overall and 834 ended their fast on Saturday. Eighteen were being treated in hospitals.

The Red Cross had warned on Thursday that its doctors who have been visiting the prisoners were concerned about “potential irreversible health consequences”.

Red Cross spokesman Jesus Serrano welcomed end of the strike and said it would do all it could to facilitate the additional visits.

The resolution of the strike coincided with the start of the holy month of Ramadan.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas had urged his US counterpart Donald Trump to raise the issue with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his visit to the region last week.

He raised the issue again with Trump envoy Jason Greenblatt in a meeting at his headquarters in Ramallah on Thursday.

Demonstrations in support of the prisoners had been held across the West Bank, leading to repeated clashes with Israeli security forces.

They come as the 50th anniversary nears of Israel’s seizure of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, in the Six Day War.

The hunger strike was led by Barghouti, a prominent figure in the Fatah movement led by Mr Abbas, who has become increasingly unpopular.

Dubbed the “Palestinian Mandela” by supporters, Barghouti is serving five life sentences on charges of involvement in murders committed during the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, that have made him a hate figure for many on the Israeli right.

Israeli public security minister Gilad Erdan had vowed there would be no negotiations with the hunger strikers, calling them “terrorists and incarcerated murderers”.

Barghouti was moved to solitary confinement and received a single visit by the Red Cross to check on his condition on May 11.

On May 7, the Israel’s prison authority had shared video of what it said was Barghouti eating biscuits in a break from the strike.

But his wife Fadwa dismissed the footage as a “fake ... intended to break the morale of prisoners” and called on Pope Francis to intervene.

Palestinian analysts hailed the deal as a victory for the hunger strikers.

“It is very likely that the United States was directly involved in the discussions,” said one analyst, Hani Al Masri.

Abdel Majid Sweenem welcomed the fact that the Israeli authorities had been forced to negotiate with prisoner representatives after trying to avoid doing so at all costs.

“But we still have to see if Israel will respect its commitments,” he warned.

Hours before Mr Trump’s arrival on his visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories on Monday and Tuesday, the Israeli cabinet approved a rare package of confidence-building measures aimed at improving the Palestinian economy and easing housing construction.

The decision, which Israel said was at US request, was bitterly opposed by Mr Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners, the education minister Naftali Bennett and justice minister Ayelet Shaked.

* Agence France-Presse