Starting from tomorrow Monday 17/4/2017 thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails will stage an open-ended hunger strike to demand their dignity and rights. The start date of the mass hunger strike also marks Palestinian Prisoner Day. The prisoners are hoping with this step to gain their basic rights which the Israeli Prison Service deprives them of and which they had earlier achieved through a series of hunger strikes.
The hunger strike is a continuation of 23 mass hunger strikes the Palestinian national prisoners’ movement has launched in the Israeli jails since 1967 the latest of which was the mass hunger strike launched by Palestinian administrative detainees in Israeli jails in 2014 which lasted for 63 days. Furthermore Palestinian prisoners staged dozens of other hunger strikes both en masse and individual hunger strikes most important were the hunger strikes launched to protest administrative detention which had seen a rapid increase recently.
The supreme leadership of Hamas’s prisoners in Israeli jails announced its full support for the hunger strike which the prisoners plan to stage to gain their rights and to defend their dignity and freedom.
The Hamas leadership stressed in a statement that Hamas’s prisoners will join the hunger strike at Hadarim prison hand in hand with their other bothers from other factions.
There are 6500 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails 58 of them are women 300 of them are children 500 of them are administrative detainees (held without charge of trial) and 1800 of them are suffering various diseases.
Detailed demands of prisoners
PIC presents the most important demands by prisoners behind staging the open-ended mass hunger strike:
1.To install a public landline for all prisoners at all prisons and departments which allow them to contact their families.
2.Family visits:
A.To resume the second family visit suspended by the International Committee of the Red Cross.
B.To have a family visit twice a month and not to allow it to be interrupted by anybody.
C.To allow all first-degree and second-degree relatives visit their imprisoned relatives.
D.To increase the family visit’s duration from 45 minutes to an hour and a half.
E.To allow the prisoners to have a photograph with their families every three months.
F.To build necessary facilities at the prisons’ gates to provide comfort for visitors and families.
G.To allow children and grandchildren under the age of 16 during family visits.
3.Medical file:
A.To shut down the so called Ramla prison hospital because it lacks necessary equipment and medication.
B.To end medical negligence.
C.To allow regular medical checks.
D.To allow immediate surgery for needy cases.
E.To allow specialist doctors to check on prisoners from all medical fields.
F.To release handicapped prisoners prisoners with special needs and chronic diseases.
G.To exempt prisoners from the cost of medication.
4.To positively respond to the demands and rights of Palestinian female prisoners including special transfers to other prisons or direct meeting with family members without having a physical barrier during the family visit.
5.Transfer van (Bosta):
A.To treat prisoners in a humane manner while transferring them in the Bosta.
B.To return prisoners visiting clinics and courts to prisons and not to keep them at barriers.
C.To prepare barriers for human use and to provide meals for prisoners.
D.To add TV channels which suit the needs of prisoners.
E.To install air conditioners in prisons especially in Megiddo and Gilboa prisons.
F.To re-install kitchens at prisons and to make them under full Palestinian supervision.
G.To allow books newspapers clothes foods and the special items for Palestinian prisoners during visits.
H.To end solitary confinement policy.
I.To end administrative detention policy.
J.To re-install the education program at the Hebrew Open University for Palestinian prisoners.
K.To allow Palestinian prisoners sit for high school exams in an official manner and as agreed.
