The Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails dissolved on Sunday morning the regulatory committees representing them as a major protest step against repressive measures before staging a mass hunger strike on the first of September.
Today’s protest step means that the Israeli prison service (IPS) and its jailers will have to deal with each prisoner individually instead of tackling their issues through their representatives.
In a statement the Palestinian Captive Movement’s High Emergency Committee said that the dissolved regulatory committees would not be reactivated before the IPS responds to the prisoners’ demands.
The prisoners also intend on Monday to wear detention uniforms in prison yards and during stand-up counts.
Next Thursday 1000 prisoners will launch and participate in an open-ended hunger strike before others join in according to a mechanism prepared by the High Emergency Committee.
The Captive Movement urged the Palestinian masses to stand by the prisoners and organize various events sit-ins and protests during their battle against the Israeli jailers and their repression.
Last Monday and Wednesday the Palestinian prisoners refused to leave their cells for routine security checks and take the meals served to them as part of initial protest steps intended to pressure Israeli jailers to improve their incarceration conditions and end recent repressive measures.
However tensions started to run high in all Israeli jails after the IPS responded harshly to the prisoners’ protest steps on Friday.
According to the Palestinian Commission of Detainees’ and Ex-Detainees’ Affairs the IPS dispatched on Friday additional special forces to its jails carried out raids on cells confiscated electrical appliances used by the prisoners and transferred several inmates to other jails and isolation cells.
