Commission of the Detainees Spox: Open Hunger Strike Is Response to “Israeli” Mistreatment of Palestinian Detainees
By Fatima Haydar
Beirut – In the past few days, the “Israel” Prison Service [IPS] announced its intention to take measures against Palestinian life imprisoned detainees – some 560 prisoners – which included the arbitrary transfer of detainees from their sections and rooms to new sections and rooms and different prisons.
This measure not only puts the families of the detainees in great suffering during family visits, but it also strips them from their social environment and affects their national and organizational role.
Lately, a growing standoff between IPS personnel and Palestinian detainees has caused extreme tension in “Israeli” prisons. And this week, Palestinian prisoners kicked off a series of protests against persistent mistreatment by the personnel.
Accordingly, the Supreme National Emergency Committee, which groups the detainees from several Palestinian factions, was founded to address the situation at this stage.
“The detainees had announced an initial step the protest that meals are to be returned on Mondays and Wednesdays of every week; in addition to rebellion against a set of IPS rules, regulations and instructions, among them is the issue of daily security checks in all rooms and sections,” Spokesman for the Commission of the Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, Hassan Abed-Rabbo told al-Ahed News.
Abed-Rabbo says that additional IPS personnel have been called in at different prisons.
“Suppression units and police dogs had also been called in with the aim of controlling any case of rebellion inside the prisons, as the IPS closed sections in Ofer, Nafha, Megiddo, Negev [al-Naqab] Prison, and Raymon,” the Commission of the Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs spokesman added.
He went on to say, “The IPS has responded with even harsher steps, including doubled isolation and removal of electrical devices from jail cells.”
“Definitely, these measures by the IPS would raise the level of risks that threaten the lives and safety of the detainees, in light of the provocative inspections carried out by the IPS personnel,” Abed-Rabbo noted.
The spokesman of the Commission of the Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs warned of the possibility that the IPS might commit crimes against the detainees by “beating them with batons, gassing them inside their rooms or physically assaulting them by police dogs or firing them with rubber and metal bullets in cases of confrontation and clash inside prisons.”
Regarding future measures, Abed-Rabbo said that detainees from all Palestinian factions will begin an open hunger strike in early September if the IPS does not reverse its measures.
“In order for the open hunger strike – as a strategic countermeasure – to achieve the desired objectives, it must be supported by diplomatic, political, legal, media and popular efforts from the entire Palestinian homeland by providing the political incubator and national protection at all levels,” he explained.
“This matter must be raised by the various Palestinian and international bodies, committees and humanitarian organizations in order to confirm the legality of the struggle of these prisoners against the occupation”, Abed-Rabbo concluded.
According to Palestinian figures, there are nearly 4,550 Palestinian detainees in “Israeli” jails, including 175 minors and 27 female detainees, along with 670 detainees held under so-called “administrative detention” without charge or trial.
For years, Palestinians jailed by the apartheid “Israeli” regime have used hunger strikes to demand better living conditions and an end to indefinite detentions.
