The start of the second month of the Palestinian prisoners’ hunger strike was marked with a red sign that reflects the nature of the next stage and serves as a warning of the nature of how future solidarity with prisoners will be which saw a dramatic shift by taking an upward trend ringing the bell of danger that threatens the lives of the prisoners.
In the town of Huwara south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus dozens of citizens demonstrated on Thursday (18/5/2017) evening in solidarity with the prisoners. They shut down the main road crossing through the town’s center which settlers usually use when moving between settlements located on the lands of nearby villages and towns. The demonstration ended with the martyrdom of Hussein Hilal Bani Shamsa 23 from the neighboring village of Beita and the injury of Magdy Ashtia a photographer working for the Associated Press news agency (AP).
Ashtia who witnessed the incident and was moderately wounded in the hand said “An Israeli settler driving a car arrived at the closed road and started blowing his horn so that people open the road for him. He then moved quickly and hit into a parked ambulance.”
He added that the settler remained in his car for protection until an Israeli occupation army patrol arrived in. He got out of his car and began shooting randomly from his automatic weapon which led to the injury of Ashtia and the killing of Bani Shamsa.
Martyr Beni Shamsa is a released prisoner who tasted the pain and injustice of jailers and who according to his friends has not missed any solidarity event with the prisoners since the start of their hunger strike.
Following his martyrdom the number of Palestinians killed since the start of the prisoners’ strike more than a month ago has risen to five. He is the second Palestinian to be shot dead during a pro-hunger-strike demonstration after the killing of Saba Obaid from Salfit.
Popular anger official silence
Support for the prisoners’ hunger strike in the last few days has taken a more confrontational form by reaching out to the points of tension with the occupation and not limiting solidarity activities to staying inside Palestinian cities and town as the Israeli occupation continued to ignore the hunger strike and the threat it imposes to the lives of the prisoners.
Although 32 days have passed since the start of the hunger strike it does not appear that the hungry stomachs of the prisoners have not yet managed to influence officials in the Palestinian Authority to act seriously to support their demands.
Zahir Al-Shashti a leader in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) told the Palestinian Information Center that: “What happened in Huwara and other places indicates a new approach adopted by the occupation based on suppressing the activities of solidarity with the prisoners using full force and reflects the arrogance of the occupation and its settlers” adding that this new trend comes at a time the occupation seems too reluctant to respond to the demands of hunger strikers.
“It is time for the leadership of the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization to head to the International Criminal Court to document all crimes committed by the occupation against the Palestinian people in general and Palestinian prisoners in particular” he said.
He noted that the escalation of the Israeli occupation against prisoners and Palestinian citizens is a proof of the success for the prisoners and their strike but the lack of serious and effective handling of the issue by the Palestinian Authority pushes the occupation to further proceed with its aggression and arrogance.
Al-Shashti warned that there are serious and critical cases among the striking prisoners warning that if their demands are not dealt with the next period will see fall of martyrs among the striking prisoners.
