{"id":93086,"date":"2017-05-29T12:00:23","date_gmt":"2017-05-29T11:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=93086"},"modified":"2017-05-28T17:50:06","modified_gmt":"2017-05-28T16:50:06","slug":"hunger-strike-ends-prisoners-declare-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2017\/05\/hunger-strike-ends-prisoners-declare-victory\/","title":{"rendered":"Hunger Strike Ends, Prisoners Declare Victory"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Palestinians in Gaza City celebrate after hundreds of Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails suspended a 40-day hunger strike on 27 May. The end of the strike, which coincides with the start of Ramadan, came after marathon negotiations between Israeli prison authorities and strike leaders. Ashraf Amra APA images<\/p><\/div>\n

27 May 2017 – <\/em>After 40 days without food, hundreds of Palestinian prisoners have suspended their hunger strike in Israeli jails.<\/p>\n

The end of the strike came after 20 hours of intense negotiations between the strike\u2019s leaders, including imprisoned Fatah<\/a> figure Marwan Barghouti<\/a>, and the Israel Prison Service<\/a>, according to a statement issued Saturday [27 May] morning by the prisoners solidarity committee.<\/p>\n

The committee hailed the agreement as a \u201cvictory for the Palestinian people and the prisoners in their epic defense of freedom and dignity.\u201d<\/p>\n

It added that Israel was forced to negotiate after realizing that the prisoners \u201cwere ready to continue until victory or martyrdom and that the use of oppression, violence and other violations failed to weaken them, but rather strengthened their resolve.\u201d<\/p>\n

The statement says Israeli authorities accepted some of the demands of the prisoners, but does not provide details.<\/p>\n

However Israel Prison Service sources told the Ma\u2019an News Agency<\/a> that the agreement, reached between Israel, the International Committee of the Red Cross<\/a> (ICRC), and the Palestinian Authority<\/a>, would grant prisoners a second monthly family visit to be funded by the PA.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe move effectively reinstated the number of family visits that were traditionally provided to Palestinian prisoners, before the ICRC reduced the number of visits they facilitated last year from two to one visit a month, sparking protests across the Palestinian territory,\u201d according to Ma\u2019an.<\/p>\n

But the Israeli prison spokesperson reportedly \u201cdeclined to comment on whether any of the other demands were met.\u201d<\/p>\n

Strike-breaking efforts<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some 1,500 prisoners began their hunger strike on 17 April<\/a> to demand improvements in conditions and an end to solitary confinement<\/a>, heavy restrictions on family visits and administrative detention<\/a> \u2013 prolonged imprisonment without charge.<\/p>\n

They also called for Israel to ease restrictions on the entry of books, clothing, food and other items from family members.<\/p>\n

Israel quickly resorted to harsh<\/a> punitive measures<\/a> in its effort to break the strike, including transferring prisoners between prisons, subjecting leaders to solitary confinement, blocking visits by lawyers and confiscating personal belongings.<\/p>\n

As the strike continued and the health of many prisoners sharply deteriorated, Israel increased psychological pressure<\/a>: media reports suggested Israel would resort to the dangerous and medically unethical practice of force-feeding<\/a> and Israeli ministers publicly smeared Marwan Barghouti in an apparent effort to discredit him and break the strike\u2019s unity.<\/p>\n

By Friday night, 834 prisoners remained on hunger strike, according<\/a> to the Tel Aviv newspaper Haaretz<\/em>, and 18 remained hospitalized.<\/p>\n

Solidarity<\/strong><\/p>\n

Activists in Palestine and around the world have organized solidarity actions with the hunger strikers. Many posted on social media about taking the \u201csalt water challenge<\/a>\u201d \u2013 symbolically drinking only salty water, as the hunger strikers do, to raise awareness about their struggle.<\/p>\n

The last mass hunger strike occurred<\/a> in 2014, when hundreds of prisoners protested the use of administrative detention. Before and since, individuals have waged individual hunger strikes, in some cases reaching three months<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The end of this strike coincides with the beginning of Ramadan. Some prisoners had announced<\/a> the intention to fast by refusing even salt and water during the hours of sunrise to sunset. This could have placed their already weakened bodies in even graver danger, and sharply increased pressure on Israel.<\/p>\n

_________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Ali Abunimah – <\/em>Co-founder of <\/em>The Electronic Intifada and author of <\/em>The Battle for Justice in Palestine<\/a>, now out from Haymarket Books, and of <\/em>One Country: A Bold-Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 electronicintifada.net<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

27 May 2017 – After 40 days without food, hundreds of Palestinian prisoners have suspended their hunger strike in Israeli jails. The end of the strike came after 20 hours of intense negotiations between the strike\u2019s leaders, including imprisoned Fatah figure Marwan Barghouti, and the Israel Prison Service, according to a statement issued Saturday [27 May] morning by the prisoners solidarity committee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-palestine-israel-gaza-genocide"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93086\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}